The San Franciscan

Obama Feels No Pain

2011-11-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

Sicking the Department of Justice on California medical marijuana dispensaries may seem like good electoral strategy to Obama, but attacking the sick and disabled could backfire on Goldman Sach’s golden boy. After all, California voters approved medical relief for people dealing with chronic pain, and Obama’s decision to unleash U.S. attorneys against pot clubs because he thinks people still hate hippies is misplaced. I mean, even Sarah Palin says pot should be legal.

Time Is Come

2011-11-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

Demonstrations and teach-ins return to Berkeley. It's about time.

De-funding Globalization

2011-11-04T05:08:00.001-07:00

Reading through Bay Area coverage of the Oakland and San Francisco police clashes with anti-globalization protestors this week, I came across a useful suggestion in the Bay Guardian: transfer your funds from bailout bank accounts to credit unions. While this may be nothing new to pro-democracy advocates, it seems the time is right for the millions of us made homeless or jobless since 2008 to begin putting our money where our mouth is.

With direct deposit and online banking available no matter where you put your money, there's simply no reason to keep supporting Wall Street financial institutions.

No Food No Shelter No Medicine

2011-08-13T11:42:00.001-07:00

With demand at food banks in San Francisco and Marin counties up 70% since the 2008 bank bailout economic meltdown, the response by FEMA is to cut food bank funding by 40%. No, George Bush has not returned to the White House, just his policies. Of course, anyone who was paying attention five years ago -- as Obama was making his deals with Wall Street to become the next president of the US -- knew Obama's administration would further the worst attributes of both Reagan and Bush. Knowing this in advance was small consolation, as we now witness the complete collapse of our society.

Climate of Corruption

2011-07-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Austerity as a symptom of systematic theft has many faces; one of those is the closure of schools, libraries and state parks. Now we have the closure of courts.

After three years of layoffs and cuts to public services following in the wake of bank bailouts, America is becoming less of a society and more of a disaster. Homeless seniors and incarcerated youth are not a sign of cohesion, but rather a result of corruption.

The corruption of governance that caused this calamity has yet to be addressed. Indeed, the only argument between the White House and Congress is how much to steal from Social Security and other social programs to cover the bank bailouts and Pentagon misadventures. In this climate of corruption, it is not only difficult to imagine a prosperous, peaceful future, it is increasingly hard to conceive of interventions capable of preventing social collapse.

Fighting Fraud

2011-07-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Norman Solomon challenges Obama and the GOP in defense of Social Security and Medicare.

Reefer Sadness

2011-07-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Obama attacks medical marijuana.

Getting Sick

2011-06-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

As a Medi-Cal beneficiary, the cuts this week to my benefits emphasize the fact that we do not have health care in the US, rather, we have sick care. Now, low income people are not only not receiving health care, they are being penalized for getting sick. And with the cuts in payments to clinics, doctors and hospitals, getting sick is a given for those without resources.

No Nuclear

2011-06-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

No Nukes Action Committee plans an anti-nuclear conference and teach-ins for September in the Bay Area.

It Gets Better

2011-06-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Giants join the campaign against homophobia. World champions in more ways than one.

Clean Water Clean Air

2011-05-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

When I first encountered the Wise Use Movement — corporate funded vigilantism against environmentalists — it was just after CBS 60 Minutes aired its September 20, 1992 program Clean Water, Clean Air about community activists assaulted by corporate thugs. One of those threatened with murder was my closest friend.*

Over the last twenty years, efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice to make life miserable for those who advocate sane environmental policy has escalated. In 2006, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D)-San Francisco proposed a law that would make interfering with corporations in any way a federal crime.

In the current issue of Mother Jones magazine, James Ridgeway examines FBI harassment and incarceration of environmental activists, and the Homeland Security mindset that views these non-violent activists as a greater threat to America than militias that blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City.

*Recalled in this excerpt.

New College of California

2011-05-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

As a member of the class of 2001 at New College of California, 2011 marks our ten-year reunion. Unfortunately, the school closed in 2008, so there is nowhere to gather.

As an integral part of the community of San Francisco for over thirty years, the Mission District campus at 777 Valencia was once a beacon of progressive thought and learning that has yet to be replaced. As I celebrate it's memory alone, I leave readers with a remembrance by one of its more thoughtful faculty, edited for length but not content.

I feel that New College wasn’t a place but rather was a time when people came together to attempt to make the world a better place. Maybe New College can continue to create environments (through us) for contributions to the larger world. The present and future acts of those that made up the more substantial aspects of New College will determine it’s legacy, and whether it will have any lasting or sustainable humanitarian value.

For those of us who found New College more than a mirage, a utopic fantasia of “good will and good works”, New College will continue to evolve and morph through us, through human effort, and the capacity to link in the larger world.

I encourage you to start building the possibility of a conference -– invite a larger audience — challenge the community to use the experience to learn, to think, to continue radical processes of reflection that goes way beyond the domain of any single institution.

As thinking is the domain of people. And this is what we desperately need right now.

There are always spaces within collapse to move through, but sometimes they are narrow. Still it is incumbent on some of us to find those narrow spaces and move through them to secure the freedom of thinking of people on safer ground. A ground which safeguards and protects thoughts and minds rather than blowing them out and blowing them away.

Salmon Summit

2011-04-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

April 27, members of Congress will join Sacramento Delta communities in a discussion on how to restore salmon through better management of the river. The Salmon Summit begins a dialogue that is long overdue.

Injustice in America

2011-04-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

San Francisco International Film Festival, April 21-May 5, includes two films about injustice in America. Check it out.

Speier Takes on Pentagon

2011-04-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

According to Bay Area Congresswoman Jackie Speier, the main obstacle to justice in the US military is the Pentagon. With nearly twenty thousand rapes per year by fellow armed forces personnel, the cover-up of this crisis by the Pentagon not only systematically destroys lives, it actively perpetuates the impunity where victims are punished and perpetrators are promoted. Speier is committed to ending this injustice, but one still has to ask what it is about the military that leads to such human rights abuses, and more importantly, what militarization of society does to human values.

SLO Nuke

2011-03-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

John Upton reports on the relicensing process for California's Diablo Canyon nuclear plant. Situated three hundred yards from a seismic fault, the plant's safety cannot be estimated without further study, something PG&E is at odds with California oversight agencies and potentially the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission itself. In hindsight, the former governor's veto of these studies may come back to haunt PG&E, perhaps even derailing the future of nuclear power in the state.

Intestinal Fortitude

2011-02-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

Last year, Bay Area Congresswoman Jackie Speier took on Craigslist for cashing in on trafficking women and girls for prostitution. Now she's taking on the GOP for attacking Planned Parenthood. I know courage and integrity are rare commodities in Congress, but if we had a few more like her, the country wouldn't be in such a mess.

A Little Banged Up

2011-02-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

I think it was Jeff Bridges in the movie Seabiscuit who remarked that racehorses are like humans--just because they've been a little banged up by life doesn't mean they should be thrown away. I thought of that line when reading the story about Grimes Poznikov in this morning's San Francisco Chronicle. It's the kind of story that makes San Francisco the remarkable place it is.

Attitude Makes a Difference

2011-02-12T09:59:00.001-08:00

Unlike much of the country, tribes in California have no treaties with the United States. In fact, in the early days of statehood, California’s government paid a bounty on murdered Indians.

So it comes as a relief to all that the new governor of California, Jerry Brown, has made cooperation with Indian tribes a priority. One month into his term, California Fish and Game has reversed the former governor’s policy of denying fishing and gathering rights to North Coast tribes.

While battles over water and salmon habitat remain to be resolved, the tone in the state capitol has changed dramatically. That attitude makes a big difference.

Life Outside War

2011-01-28T10:32:00.000-08:00

The SF Art Commission photo exhibit Afghanistan in Four Frames opens at San Francisco City Hall on February 9.

Assume Stupidity

2011-01-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Just to prove newpaper editors are as ignorant as mainstream media consumers when it comes to understanding politics, the San Francisco Chronicle today ran a caption on the Congresswoman Giffords shooter to wit: "Giffords Shooter Delusional, Not Political." Oh, really? Delusional people can't commit violence based on political beliefs? Beliefs the shooter overtly proclaimed on the Internet? Has this editor never heard of the Oklahoma City bombing?

Based on considerable experience deciphering media incoherence, it's not unusual at all for headlines and captions to suggest conclusions completely out of whack with the facts, even when the facts are clearly explained in the article. The downside of this incompetence is that one never really knows when media is participating in a cover-up, or when they're simply screwing up. The fact that many readers mostly scan headlines, and only occasionally read whole articles, doubles the impact of this institutional ignorance.

One could write a book about incoherent news media practices, but suffice to say it's always best to assume stupidity first, malice second. The odds will be in your favor.

Another Milestone

2011-01-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

The announcement by the EPA to address water pollution in the Klamath River might expedite dam removals agreed to in 2010. Tribes and fishermen hope to get salmon restoration on track as quickly as possible.

Out of Control

2010-12-16T19:37:00.001-08:00

Monica Alonzo of the San Francisco Weekly reports on the abuses of Mexican immigrants by the US Border Patrol. Documenting the beatings, sexual assaults and attempted murders is difficult with the Homeland Security agency mired in secrecy, but the evidence available suggests Customs is rampant with agents ill-suited to the task. Reading Alonzo's account of the murder of Hernandez Rojas, an immigrant kicked and tasered while handcuffed, facedown on the ground, in custody, one has to wonder what is going on. The fact that despite almost impenetrable secrecy, 103 agents of US Customs have been arrested since 2004 for smuggling, money-laundering and conspiracy, speaks for itself.

City of Refugees

2010-12-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

About half of the students in San Francisco's public schools are considered low-income, and a third have lived in the US for less than two years. 826 Valencia tries to help them cope.

Native American Heritage

2010-11-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

This Testify Project short video reminds us that the natives of California were first murdered by militias commissioned by the State of California as an ethnic cleansing enterprise, and later sold as slaves to the white ranchers who settled on the stolen land. Something to think about during Native American Heritage month.

Sailing the Bay

2010-11-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

As a former sea captain and sailor, I can attest to the life-changing experience of getting it together on the water. For adolescents, it's a marvelous way to learn responsibility while having fun. As the Chronicle notes, there are many opportunities for learning these valuable skills, and it doesn't cost a fortune.

Opting Out

2010-11-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Bay Area youth fight to opt out of the military database.

Seventh Heaven

2010-11-01T09:40:00.001-07:00

In 2006, San Francisco’s US Senator Dianne Feinstein sponsored a bill criminalizing any type of activism targeted at corporations. Unable to push it through under President Bush, she had to wait for that year's keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention to become president before her dreams of a totalitarian state could begin to come true. With the recent arrests by Homeland Security of anti-war and environmental activists for the crime of showing documentary films criticizing the arms and energy industries, Feinstein must be in seventh heaven.

Demon Possession

2010-10-28T11:31:00.001-07:00

Bruce Wilson examines Teen Challenge addiction recovery centers in Colorado, where exorcism is used to cure people of homosexuality. As noted by recovery center staff, demon possession is a common problem.

Post on Prostitution

2010-10-22T18:27:00.001-07:00

In the wake of the Craigslist capitulation to human rights groups in the United States, the Washington Post joins the New York Times and Chicago Tribune in not accepting massage parlor ads. Maybe in time the San Francisco Weekly and Bay Guardian will follow suit.

A Threat to the Police State

2010-10-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

As Food Not Bombs approaches its thirty year anniversary of distributing food to economic refugees and disaster victims, Stephen Lendman looks at the ongoing harassment of the organization by the FBI and local police. As providers of meals to protestors at the RNC and DNC conventions, Food Not Bombs members have been targeted by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, giving a green light to local police departments to imprison them for voicing opposition to the American empire while ladeling bowls of soup.

Internal government documents obtained by ACLU suggest high-level concern that they’re turning Americans away from militarism, instead advocating social justice, including quality education, universal health care, and good living wage/essential benefits jobs – the direct opposite of current US policy under either dominant party.

Supported by Amnesty International in its efforts to feed the poor and educate the homeless, Food Not Bombs activists have been arrested over 1,000 times by San Francisco police alone.

Prison Road

2010-10-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

David Bacon takes a walk down prison road, the central California monument to failed public policy. As schools and social services statewide close down, only prisons are going up.

Only Fair

2010-10-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Pot possession in California is now an infraction, akin to littering and not paying a parking meter. Personally, I don't see how the state can equate the public menace of littering with the public benefit of inhaling a medicinal tonic. Still, if pot possession gets you sent to remedial class, then they ought to do the same to all those Porsche owners caught parking in crosswalks or blocking fire hydrants. It seems only fair.

Toklas Tea

2010-10-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Mother Jones reports on the cosmic convergence bringing Americans together for brownies and tea.

The Promise of Pot

2010-09-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Peter Coyote narrates this trailer from the new film about the therapeutic uses of cannabis, including cancer prevention.

Coca Colla

2010-09-28T09:00:00.001-07:00

As California prepares to vote on the legalization of marijuana, Bolivia explores new popular uses for coca. Both demonized by US agencies profiting from police and military actions against them, these medicinal herbs have been used for thousands of years as tonics and stimulants, much like their unscathed cousins consumed at high tea. Consumed widely in Bolivian cafes, as well as in sacred indigenous ceremonies, coca in its natural state holds great export potential for beneficial use; the only obstacle is restrictions developed in response to US drug war hysteria, a policy pursued mostly for reasons other than public health.

Craigslist Donation Burned

2010-09-22T17:26:00.001-07:00

The Center for Young Women's Development, a San Francisco non-profit that serves previously incarcerated women, has burned an unsolicited $100,000 check from Craigslist. Unwilling to take blood money from a corporation that profits from trafficking women and children for prostitution, the organization chose to make a stand on principle rather than help whitewash criminal corruption.

While much was made of Craigslist's removal of adult services from its website recently -- a move made only after years of bad press and lawsuits by attorneys general across the US -- Craigslist only removed the ads from its US site, not in the 39 other countries in which it ope

Breaking News

2010-09-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

I just read that a University of Washington meteorologist predicts a cold wet winter for the Pacific Northwest. Hello, it's always a cold wet winter in the Pacific Northwest--that's why we moved here.

SF UFO

2010-09-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

Jumping in our way back machine, we came across this rare photo of a Peace UFO hovering over San Francisco.

Newmark Nervous

2010-08-15T10:53:00.001-07:00

After being humiliated on CNN a couple weeks ago, Craig Newmark, owner of Craigslist, has rolled out yet another liberal apologist for his sex trafficking enterprise. Last week, Craigslist apologist Scott James, a reporter at the Bay Citizen news, wrote a dismal example of unethical journalism to promote a personal agenda on the topic. Today, the liberal flagship Mother Jones magazine continues in the same vein.

Newmark must be very nervous.

Let the Sunshine

2010-08-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

Peace and Freedom Party plans a protest tomorrow at the Auberge du Soleil, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's Napa County hotel. Labor organizers note that the hotel, restaurant chain, and winery owned by Pelosi is 100% non-union, and benefits from corrupt deals the lawmaker made through her role in Congress.

A New Day

2010-08-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Smithsonian repatriates a cache of sacred items to the Yurok.

Newmark's Nemesis

2010-08-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

FAIR Fund exposes Craigslist hypocrisy.

World's Oldest Oppression

2010-08-06T11:06:00.001-07:00

After a virtual Bay Area media blackout of the protest by 75 human rights organizations against Craigslist a month ago, the Bay Citizen has questionably covered the controversy surrounding online sex trafficking. Given that San Francisco-based Craigslist is a multi-billion dollar business, it is not surprising that corporate media is reluctant to cover a conflict that involves collusion between legitimate business and organized crime, but the fact that this industry is one of the most violent on the planet, those connections cannot long remain hidden.

The vast profits made through this virtual venue for what amounts to slave auctions may be new, but the horrors of the world's oldest oppression are not.

Update: By excluding information that doesn't fit with his personal bias, reporter Scott James persists in displaying his arrogance and ignorance.

La Nan

2010-08-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Sheehan calls out Pelosi over empire.

New News

2010-08-04T08:34:00.001-07:00

Welcome Bay Citizen.

Monterey Blues

2010-07-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

Humpbacks and Blues krill fest off Monterey.

Inherent Rights

2010-07-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

Northern California coastal tribes give notice to state that they will continue to gather resources under their inherent rights and not be regulated by California Fish and Game.

Climate Change

2010-07-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

As climate change remedies die in the US Senate due to the pervasive serious fraud infecting Congress, the battle is underway here in California, one of the leading economies in the world. Regional institutions might want to watch or weigh in on what happens here.

High Times in Bay Area

2010-07-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Oakland goes for the gusto.

Covering for Craigslist

2010-07-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

The Huffington Post covers the Craigslist protest in San Francisco July 8, and answers some tough questions about its criminal connections apparently ignored by local media.

Bay Area Republic

2010-07-13T09:29:00.001-07:00

Should the Bay Area secede from California? Some think we should at least threaten to do so.

SAR

2010-07-07T17:27:00.001-07:00

The Department of Homeland Security's Suspicious Activity Reporting initiative has been so successful in protecting airlines, DHS Secretary Napolitano has decided to extend it to Amtrak. Although not one criminal, let alone terrorist, has been spotted by the civilian snitching program, the millions spent on SAR has managed to nab several people of color speaking foreign languages in the New York Metro, as well as ruin the travel plans of Muslim Americans removed from airline flights for praying before takeoff. Who says racial profiling doesn't work?

The Terms of Terror

2010-07-04T10:17:00.001-07:00

A San Francisco Bay Area research group is handling the digitization and organization of the Guatemalan National Police archives recently discovered in a building in Guatemala City. As a repository of information, including the notorious death squads that plagued the indigenous Maya over a 36-year protracted struggle against the Guatemalan oligarchy, the archive might shine a light on both the murderous methods used, as well as on the consequences of US policy in the region.

Calling Out Craigslist

2010-07-03T12:12:00.001-07:00

Protest by leading human rights groups set for July 8.

Totalitarian Trajectory

2010-06-29T11:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court split 5-4 upholding the UC Hastings School of Law prohibition against subsidizing student organizations that practice discrimination. Think about that. The highest court in our land is divided almost evenly between justices who support legalized Christian bigotry against gays, and those who do not.

Located in the Civic Center of San Francisco, Hastings support for equality under the law was not surprising, but the atmosphere in our country’s capitol is very disturbing. Viewed from a San Francisco perspective, the dissenting opinion on Christian Legal Society v Martinez reminded me of another troubling attitude.

Back in 2006, San Francisco’s US Senator Dianne Feinstein sponsored a bill criminalizing any type of activism targeted at corporations. While this bill was not in support of bigotry, it does serve as a corollary to Christian bigotry in that both are oriented in favor of totalitarian government — one theocratic, one fascist. And as we have seen in the states of Israel, Iran, and Indonesia, the two are not necessarily exclusive.

Sutter Wealth

2010-06-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sutter Health siphons off $100 million from Marin General Hospital.

Law of the Land

2010-06-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

US Supreme Court upholds UC Hastings School of Law prohibition on subsidizing student organizations that practice discrimination.

Criminal Intent

2010-06-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Now that we've pretty much aired the topic of prostitution and the relevant politics of San Francisco, we'll return to the facts pertinent to the battle against Craigslist:

1. Prostitution is for the most part slavery.
2. Prostitution is run by organized crime.
3. Prostitution demand is supplied by human trafficking.
4. Prostitution is marketed on Craigslist.
5. Prostitution on Craigslist includes children.

So legalizing prostitution is legalizing slavery, slavery that demands new bodies trafficked from all corners of the globe, wherever desperate poverty lures the innocent into a living hell. But prostitution is not legal here, and Craigslist has chosen to profit from the human misery associated with it. By their choice, Craigslist has demonstrated callous disregard for humanity as well as criminal intent.

Let the battle begin.

Gay Male Establishment

2010-06-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

From what information I've been able to gather, it appears that the hub of support for legalizing prostitution and protecting sex trafficking in San Francisco is the gay male political establishment led by California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano. Former California Senator Carole Migden is apparently afraid to oppose this faction, as is the San Francisco Democratic Party she once chaired.

What I was somewhat surprised to learn, though, is that San Francisco Supervisor and past President of the Board of Education Eric Mar caters to this faction on this issue as well. Of course, he is an ambitious politician, but he also has a young daughter. Neutralizing him with the incontrovertible child sex trafficking facts might work. Who knows.

Shut Down Sex Trafficking

2010-06-26T17:26:00.001-07:00

After years of research documenting harms perpetrated against those in prostitution, Prostitution Research and Education, along with many other groups, is seeking accountability from Craigslist for facilitating online trafficking of women and children. Coalition Against Trafficking Women (CATW) and Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) are planning a protest July 8 at the Craigslist San Francisco headquarters. For more information see this announcement.

8

2010-06-24T11:25:00.001-07:00

8: The Mormon Proposition, coming to a theater near you.

Change of Heart

2010-06-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

One thing that baffled me was that Mayor Newsom -- who made national news by making San Francisco City Hall available for gay marriages -- took a strong stand against legalizing prostitution precisely because it would give organized crime free rein, while gay politicians like Ammiano and Migden -- who are righteous on almost everything else -- supported legalized prostitution. And it wasn't because the facts weren't available.

San Francisco politics can be pretty strange, but I find it hard to believe that those who carried on Harvey Milk's struggle for liberation would cave to partisan interests over such a fundamental human rights abuse.

I am hoping that in the interim they've had a change of heart, and will join us in shunning Craigslist.

Easy Dig

2010-06-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

As noted at Dead Horse blog, Obama was key to making the Gulf oil spill happen, and it wasn't all that hard to find out.

Cyberslavery

2010-05-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

As noted in a San Francisco Chronicle half-page ad last week, 100,000 underage girls in the US are trafficked for sex each year via Craigslist. Pimped in the Adult Services section, these enslaved children net $36 million a year for Craigslist. The Rebecca Project video about this cyberslavery helps answer some basic questions about the business. Further information and resources are available at Prostitution Research and Education.

Revivalist Hippie Revue

2010-05-26T09:26:00.001-07:00

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros revivalist hippie revue sounds like a good idea.

Parkmerced in News

2010-05-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

In default, but ready to triple in size.

Dancing the Salmon Home

2010-05-05T16:54:00.001-07:00

The Winnemem Wintu tribe from near Mount Shasta is seeking assistance from New Zealand in restoring their Chinook salmon run devastated by the US government.

FRONTLINE Unfair

2010-04-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Bay Guardian examines the role of PBS FRONTLINE in marginalizing single-payer healthcare.

Berkeley Students Divest

2010-03-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Berkeley student senate votes for UC to divest in US companies supporting Israeli military.

Feinland for Senate

2010-03-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

Marsha Feinland, U.S. Senate candidate from Berkeley, tells it like it is.

Learning Curve

2010-03-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

The Chronicle notes Day of Action against cuts to education.

Okay to be Gay

2010-02-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Dead Horse for this article about America's charming illiteracy.

Attacking the Peacemakers

2010-01-18T16:41:00.001-08:00

As activists mobilize for Peace of the Action, corporate media and pro-war progressives will be mounting attacks on the peacemakers. Led by Cindy Sheehan (a gold star mother), Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against War, and other opponents of U.S. imperial adventures, the media will draw on psychological warfare resources at the Pentagon and elsewhere to discredit and undermine the revitalized peace movement.

Homeland Security phone-tapping, e-mail hacking, and peace group infiltration is a key part of the federal government’s repertoire in keeping democracy down. We expect no less from the current White House.

The fact that the peace movement is led by the veterans and military families betrayed by Bush and Obama makes the current conflict more challenging for the secret agencies used to spy on American citizens, but not impossible. As we saw during the Vietnam War, when they can’t take you on directly, they resort to covert ops, using devious means to destroy movement morale by influencing the perceptions of employers, landlords, families, and allies. They will do this again.

Obama's Bonanza

2010-01-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

I just watched Sarah Palin's debut on FOX, and while her observation that Pelosi is not exactly in synch with her constituency might irk party faithful, her pro-Zionist posture is a godsend to President Obama. Indeed, after promoting the violently homophobic Rick Warren at his swearing-in ceremony, I don't see why Obama doesn't just make Palin part of his cabinet.

Prop 8 on Trial

2010-01-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

Legislating discrimination by popular ballot goes on trial in federal court today in San Francisco.

BDS PG&E

2010-01-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Billboard liberation in Union Square targets Israeli Apartheid.

Plastic Ono Lennon

2010-01-06T09:20:00.001-08:00

Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono band play the Fox on February 23.

Pro-War Progressives

2010-01-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

Cindy Sheehan lays into pro-war progressives like Code Pink.

Extinction History

2009-12-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

Berkeley looks at the history of species extinction in North America.

Maintaining the Myth

2009-12-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

Maintaining the myth of Obama the good, the noble and prince of peace is getting tougher for Madison Avenue now that Goldman Sachs' golden boy has been caught with his pants down so many times on Wall Street. But Nobel prizes and other trappings of phony philanthropia aren't enough for the bankers' buddy to bamboozle us any more. Soon, as former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown remarked, they'll have to get the Pope to make him a saint.

Hats Off to Hastings

2009-12-08T16:05:00.000-08:00

The screwball Christian Legal Society wants public universities to subsidize their private bigotry. Hats off to UC Hastings School of Law and the Ninth Circuit for not abiding with this nonsense.

Grande Finale

2009-12-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hearst Newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle) launched its cover for Obama and Wall Street today by suggesting his appearance at the conference end signals a "happy ending to the climate finale". A happy ending to Wall Street, of course, has nothing to do with environmental sanity or humanitarian resolution. Naturally, the Bamababies will fall all over themselves swooning to more empty promises and false hope from Goldman Sachs golden boy.

We're With You

2009-11-30T10:23:00.000-08:00

The best story I ever heard about Woodstock involved Creedence Clearwater Revival, the original band signed to perform at the now legendary 1969 festival in New York. Based in Berkeley, Creedence was somehow scheduled to perform at 3 a.m., and the story of what happened is best described by their lead singer, John Fogerty.

We were ready to rock out and we waited and waited and finally it was our turn... ...there were a half million people asleep. These people were out. It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud.

And this is the moment I will never forget as long as I live: a quarter mile away in the darkness, on the other edge of this bowl, there was some guy flicking his Bic, and in the night I hear, "Don't worry about it John. We're with you." I played the rest of the show for that guy.

AIM 40

2009-11-23T09:40:00.001-08:00

Indians of All Tribes gathered to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the occupation of Alcatraz, a milestone in the Civil Rights Movement.

The Battle Continues

2009-11-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle, a new book by David and Rebecca Solnit, includes excerpts from an interview with Public Good Project's former research director Paul de Armond. We haven't seen the book yet, but thought readers might like to know. David Solnit was an organizer for Direct Action Network during the November 1999 Battle in Seattle; his sister Rebecca is a San Francisco based author, a contributing editor to Harper's magazine, and a friend of Zapatismo.

Cannabis 2010

2009-11-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

The California campaign begins.

Freedom Archives

2009-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

The Freedom Archives on Valencia celebrates ten years.

#1 Son

2009-11-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

In a tribute to San Anselmo's number one son, The San Franciscan salutes Don Novello, otherwise known as Father Guido Sarducci.

Candlelit Candlestick

2009-10-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Chronicle remembers the 1989 World Series.

Hope in California

2009-10-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

Governor signs Harvey Milk Day into law.

Family on ICE

2009-10-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

In Family on ICE, the Pacific Sun looks at the brutality of the national security state.

Outlook Bleak

2009-10-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hard times have hit the northern side of the Golden Gate. Marin county, one of the wealthiest in the US, now has more health and human service problems than it can handle. The future, according to public agency and non-profit leaders, looks bleak.

Pelican Moon

2009-10-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

Last night we watched pelicans diving by moonlight on San Francisco Bay, the city skyline and Bay Bridge lit up on the horizon.

Greenwashing Big Oil

2009-09-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

The Alberta Tar Sands is the largest and arguably dirtiest industrial project in human history. So how do the oil companies go about defeating the First Nations and bona fide environmental networks opposed to the project? The answer according to Macdonald Stainsby and Dru Oja Jay, authors of Offsetting Resistance: the effects of foundation funding and corporate fronts, is to buy their own environmental group to negotiate with the government on their behalf.

That organization, Tar Sands Coalition (a Tides project), can then be counted on to help smother the grassroots environmental movement. As oil corporations like Tar Sands investor Sunoco look to defeat environmentalism and indigenous peoples from the Arctic to Patagonia, giant multi-billion dollar foundations like Pew Charitable Trusts are critical.

Using money-laundering operations like Tides to help them, Pew (same family that owns Sunoco), Rockefeller, Ford and Hewlett Foundations — all benefactors of the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation — can then effectively greenwash corporate fronts masquerading as environmental organizations. When organizations like The Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace, and Sierra Club can be bought off by big oil, the only thing to do is expose the colossal fraud. In their remarkable report, messrs. Stainsby and Jay have done just that.

Irish Language

2009-09-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Irish Language Immersion Weekend is October 2-4.

Preventing Change

2009-09-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

God save us from the social innovators.

Big Talk Little Walk

2009-09-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

Having forsaken every progressive principle he paid lip service to during his campaign, President Obama is now reduced to doing PR stunts like his address to America's youth. While this is a refreshing change from presidents landing on aircraft carriers, in essence it's the same thing: big talk, little walk.

Americans may have come to expect such shallow amelioratives in lieu of actual public service, but it's sad to see people like former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown saying we should lighten up on Obama. I mean, we're talking about the man who presided over the largest transfer of public wealth to the private sector in the history of the world, wealth that could and should have been used for such things as public health and education.

Willie knows better. Now we need to tell our kids.

March for Milk

2009-09-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

For those who were inspired by the movie Milk, this October 10-11 is an opportunity to join Cleve Jones and others portrayed in this memorable film in the National Equality March. Get out there and march for justice, march for Milk.

Foreclosure Tsunami

2009-08-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

I remember the shock of school closures and teacher layoffs a couple years ago, as well as health department cuts last year, but the rise in Bay Area mortgage delinquencies from 1% to 10% during that same timeframe is astounding. Statewide, that figure is close to 15%.