RAPE BY RAMP

Sorry for the harsh title, but this story really is a mindfuck. Per the Matier and Ross column titled Wheelchair ramp will cost $100,000 a foot:

"It's crazy," admits Susan Mizner, director of the mayor's Office on Disability. "But this is just the price of doing business in a historic building."

It’s unclear if the $1.1 million price tag for the proposed Supes Chamber wheelchair ramp includes sparkle and pink-pony decals.

More clear is the emotional backlash against the disabled, and against the Alioto clan, it will inspire.

Compared to the disastrous Muni Metro albatross old Joe left rotting around the neck of SF public transit, $1.1 mil for a ten-foot ramp is chump change.

But as Michela Alioto says, it’s all about the symbolism. I agree completely.


I was thinking of supporting Joe Alioto Veronese, mostly because of the way he double-crossed Mayor Newsom in electing Ms Sparks president of the Police Commission.



But now, just the name “Alioto” gives me pause. It’s the symbolism.

I was inspired by this story to visit Princess Sparkle Pony’s blog. It restores my faith in snark.

The Hunting of the Snark An Agony, in Eight Fits By Lewis Carroll, Henry Holiday

----- o -----

TWO DEGREES FROM HILLARY

[I have to post this now, before Hillary gets knocked out of the race.]

Press me, I’ll admit I’m a communist. Or a socialist. Or a democratic socialist. I’m definitely a Marxist, or something pointing stiffly in that direction.

It’s pathetic that in the USA communism is taboo. Most European countries have (mostly small) Communist Parties, I think. No big deal.

So, in my mind, it’s kind of neat that Hillary Clinton, for a summer internship while at Yale Law, chose a self-described communist law firm.

I spent five weeks of the summer of 1969 house-and-dog sitting in the Oakland Hills, up and around a winding road from College Avenue in Berkeley. Two summers later that house would be visited by Hillary Clinton.

The house belonged to Mal Burnstein and his wife. Mal had represented me and nine co-defendants in a successful seven week trial of one group of SF State 1968 Student Strike mass arrestees. Acquittals all around. I mentioned this in a previous post.

Mal was way too good for the venue. The judge had to call a quick recess at the end of Mal’s day-and-a-half summation because three of the jurors were sobbing.

The Commie law firm where Hillary interned in the summer of 1971 was Treuhaft, Walker, & Burnstein. BTW: Bob Treuhaft’s wife was Jessica Mitford, who called herself “Mrs Treuhaft” on the phone. I don’t know about my attorney, Mal Burnstein, but according to many sources, Treuhaft and Walker were CPUSA.

And, according to this New York Sun article, TW&B’s clients included the Oakland Black Panthers, who, at the time, were being gunned down by Cointelpro, and charged with killing cops.

I bring this up to contradict Hillary’s claim that she, as opposed to Barrack, is “fully vetted.” She's been investigated, but not all the mud has been thrown, yet.

From the Sun story:

One partner at the firm, Doris Walker, was a Communist Party member at the time. Another partner, Robert Treuhaft, had left the party in 1958, several years after being called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and labeled as one of America's most "dangerously subversive" lawyers.

In her book, Hillary refers to Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein simply as "a small Oakland law firm," at least according to the Sun article.

Based on her internship with TW&B, the hot-button terms that can fairly be associated with Hillary in political ads against her include: Communist, Black Panthers, Cop killer, Huey Newton, Violent radicals.

As in:

Hillary interned in 1971 with a Berkeley based Communist law firm that helped Black Panther Huey Newton beat cop killing charges, and defended other violent radicals and dissenters.

Everything in that statement is true except for “Berkeley-based.” The law firm was located in neighboring Oakland, which doesn’t pack quite the same zing as “Berkeley.”

The implied charge is that Mrs Clinton is secretly still a communist, waiting to seize power before displaying her true colors. Most observers, I guess, would call this charge ridiculous.

For me, it would be a reason to vote FOR her.

But there probably are some undead voters somewhere who'd want to arise from their Barcaloungers one more time to vote against “all that hippy crap.”

----- o -----

NTRP PROMISE DECEPTIVE

Last weekend at a practice for my 3.5 Mens USTA team (affiliated with the Gay Club) I chatted with an acquaintance who had been practicing on adjacent courts with another, non-gay, team.

My friend was unfamiliar with his team and expressed surprise at their conversation, about recruiting players who were underrated by NTRP (National Tennis Rating Program, maintained by USTA) so that they could dominate in the upcoming league play.

My friend, besides dissing people who purposely play down said, “ It’s kind of like cheating, Willie.”

I wholeheartedly agreed. And issued a summary statement with my usual subtlety and care:

The promise of NTRP is a fraud.

After my friend departed I continued the theme with others sitting on the bench, one of whom made a face and pointed in front of his chest at a guy sitting outside the fence, a prominent member of the Gay Club, who is a full time employee of USTA NorCal.

He had gotten a little drift so I boldly, of course, repeated my charge, and received well thought out defenses. My claim was based on eyewitnessing many many matches between players with the same NTRP rating that were not competitive, that is, there was little doubt who would win.

BTW: “NTRP” is a computer program maintained by national USTA that tracks each player’s match results and, based on those results, assigns each player a numeric rating from 1.0 (raw beginner) to 7.0 (grand slam seeds). For USTA team competition, the ratings are divided into half-point steps. So, I used to be a 3.0 player. I improved, so now the computer rates me 3.5.

So I did a little research.

Here’s what I consider to be the “promise of NTRP” taken from USTA NorCal’s website describing league play:

Teams are set up according to NTRP rating, so you're always sure that you'll be facing off against someone of comparable ability. That keeps the competition lively and the atmosphere social.

A reasonable person might conclude that he or she, if the system is working correctly, would have a substantial chance of winning (or of losing) any match played. Anyone who has played USTA league tennis knows this is not true.

So I found this in some FAQs regarding NTRP on the national USTA website:

7. What does it mean to play "competitively" with another player?

A "competitive" match is one in which the outcome is unpredictable (scores such s 6-4, 6-4 or closer). When one player consistently wins with only the occasional loss of a few games, the match is not "competitive." Properly rated, players within .2 of each other should be competitive in playing ability.

This explains why they don’t publish each player’s exact rating, say, to two decimal places. If they did this, a player could look at a prospective opponent’s exact rating, compare it to his or her own, and determine whether or not USTA thinks the match will be “competitive.”

The NTRP computer calculates ratings to multiple decimal points, but reveals the ratings only in half steps. They say I’m a 3.5 but they don’t say where I am within the 3.5 range.

The following charts show how NTRP, by its own definition, produces many “uncompetitive” matches.

The large box shows the full range of 3.5 players. The brackets indicate the range of competitive opponents .2 in red above the star (an individual’s rating), and .2 in green below the star.

Opponents within the red bracket will probably beat you, but you have a fighting chance. You will probably beat opponents within the green bracket, but they have a reasonable chance. Players with identical ratings should win half the time and lose half the time.

The black arrows above and below the colored brackets indicate matches that USTA considers “non-competitive.”

In the first illustration, you (the star) are in the middle of the 3.5 NTRP range. Only 20% of your matches will be non-competitive, 10% at the top and 10% at the bottom.

However, if, as in the second illustration, you are rated at the top of the range, 60% of your matches will feature non-competitive opponents.

Likewise if you are rated at the bottom of your range, except you’re gonna be a big loser.

We could get into more detail (if I weren’t so lazy) about singles vs doubles etc, but at the very least we see that the promise made by USTA NorCal is not sincere, and doesn’t paint a true picture of what a newcomer will discover.

----- o -----

RIPPED ON TWINKLE

“They blow this white stuff up your nose, and it’s like these time release pellets get lodged on the inside of your skull and it’s like looking at the ceiling of a planetarium only tactile, you know, like brain-tactile, and like every day you experience the complete life-cycle of the universe from Big Bang to Absolute Zero and back again.

“It’s draining,” Pud said.

Back from Amazonia, Pud is much the worse for wear.

His grandma got everything expunged, but Pud is beat, truly. “You never know when the snap crackle ‘n’ pop will start up again.”

It’s like his hubris has a shock collar now. He is daunted. It’s kind of sad. They say brain cells don’t regenerate. So it’s not like Pud can just start over.

[The above picture is from the Wikipedia article “Psychedelics, Dissociatives, and Deliriants.” In no way is it implied that this shaman and/or his tribe have ever had any contact with an American named Pud.]


NOT MUCH HAS HAPPENED

Locally, I see that Mayor Newsom has said “Fuck you” to Muni riders and Muni employees by hiring four gubernatorial campaign consultants out of Muni’s budget.

I haven’t caught up with the outcome (Peskin demands give-back) etc, but it’s the thought that counts.

The local election results were disappointing and predictable.

Sfmike pointed out an amusing development—the omnipresence of Jennifer Siebel ads on Pat Murphy’s SF Sentinel. Is this team-building? Let’s see… they got Kukla, now JS can be Fran… all they need is a one-toothed dragon to play Ollie.

Nationally, a participant in one illegal, immoral war and firm advocate (Bomb-bomb Iran) of more, John McCain is accused of sex with a woman not his wife, with little concern that the foreplay may have involved bribery and corruption.

No candidate for president has mentioned the need for NWPG (Negative World Population Growth), which for me means they’re not serious.

AMERICA’S SHAME

If we are going to achieve a sustainable world economy, NWPG must be accompanied by a shift from resource-consuming activities to artistic/symbolic activities. An example of the former would be desert dirt-biking, of the latter, singing.

America is embarrassed to sing in public, silly stupid cowards.

It’s like Americans would rather strip naked in front of a crowd than sing.

Look at the ridicule Ted Kennedy received for serenading a Texas audience with a Spanish song. Teddy has balls. And the crowd went wild.

Here… hear. I put my mouth where my money is:

Go ahead. Make fun of Ted. Make fun of me. Knock yourselves out.

So we have Barrack’s promise of “a new kind of politics.” I’m like, does that come before or after “the end of history”? I’m so skeptical I could… sing.

----- o -----

NICK PODELL, GROWN-UP

In commenting on San Francisco’s shameful response to the tiger mauling incident at its zoo, I mentioned the name of the Zoological Society head, Nick Podell [left in photo below], in less than flattering terms.

It turns out that Nick is a stand up guy. When things go wrong, the person in charge is supposed to take responsibility, not dodge it. It’s simply part of the job.

According to Fog City Journal’s excellent coverage of a special BOS committee meeting, Mr Podell spoke like a leader.

Zoological Society board chairman Nick Podell told the committee, "Under no circumstances is it OK for an animal to escape."

"I want to deliver a mea culpa for the zoo," he said. "There is no excuse and the focus of the Zoological Society is to make sure it will never happen again."

What a breath of fresh air!

As this blog continues to predict, Tigergate has just begun. The SFPD coverup-investigation, seeking to frame the victims, has officially come up dry. The investigation into criminal culpability on the part of present or past zoo officials has yet to begin.

Podell’s mea culpa may signal that the Zoo management coverup is starting to sink. His candor may serve as a personal floatation device.

----- o -----

THROW THE BUMS OUT

I have this vague memory of my mom explaining the meaning of the phrase, “Throw the bums out.” I was probably five years old.

She said that no matter who’s in charge, the people eventually get tired of them and want to “Throw the bums out.”

The same Sisyphean paradigm is central to Kenneth Burke’s The Philosophy of Literary Form.

It’s a cycle that repeats on it’s own.

In this context the Obama phenomenon finally makes sense to me.

When Obama promised a new kind of politics, I wanted to think he found a way to break the vicious Circle of Strife. I was of course skeptical.

Hope, I realize, is not a promise, it’s just a phase in a familiar, mostly dreary cycle.

Now I feel comfortable with what a vote for Obama means: Throw the bums out!

Bring the new bums in!

----- o -----

WHO'S MOST TO BLAME?

City Powers' attempt to pin the tiger escape on the victims has failed, at least according to this SFGate story:

S.F. Zoo mauling investigation winding down

The purpose of the SFPD investigation, it seemed, was to turn up evidence that the victims had committed a crime, also (and I wonder how legal this was) to discover evidence that would help the City defend any tiger related law suits.

Anyway, the victims were treated like criminals.

The police investigation into the tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo will soon be reclassified as "inactive" after a search failed to turn up evidence that the victims taunted the animal or committed other crimes, authorities said Friday.

With plenty of leaked information about marijuana, vodka, eyewitnesses, and rap sheets, everything was done to vilify the victims. I’d like to know Manuel Mollinedo’s blood alcohol level at the time of the attack.

No wonder poll results (non-scientific) show overwhelming public opinion still blaming the kids.

This graphic appears right next to the news story cited above.

I guess San Franciscans don’t require evidence to form an opinion.

Meanwhile, what about criminally negligent homicide charges against Mollinedo?

1. He knew (or should have known) it was unsafe.
2. He told potential visitors that it was safe.
3. A visitor died.

Clearly so far, City Powers is incapable of investigating itself, proving once again, that when push comes to shove, SF behaves like a xenophobic little hick town.

----- o -----

AN MLK-DAY STORY

It was probably the early 1980’s. My boss and I, which constituted the entire “company,” decided to hire a part time clerical employee.

I placed a notice with the student employment office at my alma mater, San Francisco State, and we eventually hired two of the eight or so people who responded to that notice.

One of the first calls came from a young woman I guessed was African-American. She was kind of difficult on the phone, as if she didn’t really want a job. I got the picture of her mom or dad standing over her while she made appointments for interviews.

There was difficulty nailing down a good time for the interview. I spent much effort explaining how to get to our office on public transit (something an enthusiastic applicant could easily figure out on her own). She had other probing questions, designed, I felt, to find something objectionable about the job.

I would have told her to forget it, she’d already failed the “excellent communication skills” part of the job description, but, because she was African American, I went ahead and scheduled the interview.

About half an hour later she called back.

“Monday,” she said, “is Martin Luther King’s birthday.”

This didn’t register at first. We were a small contracting firm, we worked when there was work. The only thing different about weekends and holidays for us was the availability of vendor services (UPS pick-up, the copy place’s hours). We took plenty of time off, but not necessarily on weekends or holidays.

“So…?” I responded.

“I can’t come in on MLK day”

I asked her to name a day that week that would be better for her.

“No,” she said, “I don’t want to work for a company that doesn’t take Martin Luther King’s birthday off.”

“Ok,” I said, “ thanks for your interest.

This always seemed ironic to me.

----- o -----

DREADLINE

I’m sorry. Call me prejudiced, but this headline scares the sh*t out of me:

WHITE HOUSE OKS MEXICAN TRUCK PROGRAM

I’m not the only one. According to this AP report via Raw Story:

The Teamsters Union, Sierra Club and Public Citizen joined together in a lawsuit filed in August seeking to block the program.

Teamsters AND Sierra Club?

According to the article, Congress passed legislation forbidding the program. The White House is claiming some semantic loophole, but basically they’re ignoring the will of the legislature, and my will also.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who won a 74-24 vote to block the program,

"When you open up U.S. highways to long-haul Mexican trucks without equivalent safety standards, it poses risks for American drivers,"

And/or, “Duh!”

----- o -----

SUPE SCORECARD

The upcoming special election on February 5, is already too depressing.

After so many years of human meat-grinding in Iraq, the presidential primary doesn’t offer an electable anti-war candidate to vote for. On other issues I’m agreeing so far with sfmike over at Civic Center Blog.

Actually the Let’s Buy Alcatraz proposition on San Francisco’s ballot will provide some amusement. I’m like, I thought we were saving up to buy the Brooklyn Bridge.

Anyway, local politics junkies are already talking about the November ’08 election, in which 7 of the 11 seats on Board of Supervisors are on the ballot.

Eleven of anything is too many for me to remember, so I made myself a visual aid.

First, from the Board’s webpage, a broad map of the districts.

Usually, half the board seats are up for election every two years. All the evens, then two years later all the odds. This November is the odds, plus, because of Ed Jew and all his strageness and alleged criminality, the seat for District 4 is also up for election.

I’ve taken the liberty of color-coding the current board members: red is conservative, yellow is moderate, and green is liberal. The Current Supe column shows who's there now. The Next Supe column shows who will be there after the November '08 election. The four solid-bars-across represent seats not at stake in November. A blank box means I don't know.

This analysis assumes that incumbents will hold their seats. With such an assumption, we see that conservatives are already guaranteed four seats on the new board, at least the same number as on the current board. And we see that there are only four seats really up for grabs.

Please note: three of the four conservatives achieved their incumbency through appointment by Gavin Newsom. The blog urges, once again: END APPOINTED INCUMBENCY!

----- o -----

PICTURE = 1,000 TEARS

It’s a sad and tedious task, perfect for an intern team.

SFGate has presented San Francisco’s 2007 homicides as clickable markers on a Google Map. Here’s a capture.

No number of words can describe the uneven geographic distribution as clearly as this one picture.

The map on SFGate’s site is interactive—by clicking on a marker you get the details of the particular homicide plus a link to the SFGate story about it.

Very sad.

----- o -----

GOOD OLD ZOO DAYS

As a student poet, say 19 years old, I was working assiduously though the melancholia part of the curriculum. A couple of fog-layered afternoons while I was still living at home by the zoo, I’d walk down to visit the largest land mammal in North America, the Kodiak bear.

I seem to remember two, but brown bears couldn’t be that social, so there was probably just the one.

Anyway, the Kodiak bear lived in a grotto similar to the now famous tiger grottos, a concrete platform separated from the public by a dry moat, with fake rocks sloping down into the moat on the bear’s side.

The nearby snack stand (now the Terrace Café) sold standard snack stuff including, oddly, bags of full sized marshmallows at prices that even indigent melancholy student poets could afford. [Note: “indigent melancholy student poets” would be all one word in German.] The zoo had very few visitors on dreary weekday afternoons.

I’d feed a whole bag to the Kodiak bear. Once getting his attention with the first one tossed onto his platform, he’d come to the edge of the moat for more.

I’d throw the marshmallows (I was a baseball player) and he’d catch them in his mouth. If he missed (usually my fault) he’d retrieve the errant piece.

I made the bear do more for each succeeding marshmallow until he wound up sitting on his haunches on the edge of the moat with his feet dangling over the side, the way a human sits on the edge of a swimming pool.

I made him wave one of his forpaws to ask for another marshmallow. We got the routine down before the bag was finished.

A couple of passersby marveled at the interaction, but I’m pretty sure a bear will do anything for marshmallows. I would.

The third time I returned to feed the bear, the snack bar had ceased selling marshmallows. Someone snitched.

The Kodiak bear is long departed. Zoogoers must content themselves with “grizzlies,” whose name sounds fierce, but who are in truth puny cousins to the mighty Kodiak!

Throwing marshmallows to bears today would probably get you arrested.

Marshmallows can’t be good for a bear’s digestion or dental health. But heck! Could you imagine being locked up and forced to eat only “healthy foods” for the rest of your life?

Who’d want to be a bear under those conditions?

----- o -----

THREE WORDS SINK OBAMA

In last Saturday’s New Hampshire Democratic Debate, there was a remarkable TV moment. Here's a one-minute clip.

The massage of TV is rhythm. Dead air, and stoppage are the mortal sins of broadcasting.

So, when local newsman Scott Spralding asked Mrs Clinton a question in which he stated that she is not likeable, the rhythm was broken. Hillary paused, and gave a human (as well as gently rebuking) reply, saying that the question had hurt her feelings.

Dumbshit Spralding apologizes.

Hillary praises Obama for being such a likeable guy, then begs for some reassurance.

We see Obama think, then speak:

You’re likeable enough, Hillary.

Talk about damning with faint praise!

Talk about ungracious!

Who the hell is Barack to pronounce on Hillary’s likeability.

When New Hampshireites saw this condescending superiority they didn’t like it. Those three words, I surmise, made up a lot of last-minute minds.

I guess nobody briefed Obama on New Hampshire’s thing about whippersnappers.

A gracious response from Barack or from Edwards would have been:

With all due respect, Mr Spalding, I think that question was rude. I like Hillary a lot.

Even stepping over and giving a hug would have been in order.

No, Obama and Edwards are at least as plastic as Hillary.

----- o -----

PRESERVE ZOO DOCUMENTS!

Tigergate promises to surpass last winter’s Gleegate as a blemish on San Francisco’s reputation. Once again City Powers is failing us.

Blaming young visitors from San Jose for getting tiger-mauled is similar to blaming visiting choirboys from Yale for getting curb-stomped.

The Tigergate story is easy to follow on SFGate and elsewhere.

Just a couple of comments:

City Attorney Herrera instructed the surviving victims to preserve phone related and other data. No mention of zoo records.

How about a letter and newsconference instructing Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo and all zoo and city personnel to preserve all records especially any documents containing tiger grotto measurements?

It’s my suspicion that Mollinedo’s assertion of 20 foot walls is the continuation of a deception. Mollinedo said he was relying on an office document that gave 20’ as the tiger wall measurement.

If there is such a document he should produce it. And, if there’s one document, I bet there are many others containing the same falsehood. Insurance and accreditation documents containing the 20’ measurement could indicate possible fraud.

These documents could be the most important element of the investigation.

Sam Singer coming in to help Mollinedo with PR makes me ask, Why is Mollinedo getting the big bucks when he needs a babysitter when trouble arises?

Mayor Newsom announces a special Rec&Park Commission meeting for Friday to discuss zoo issues. Whoa! Rec&Park cancelled their regular meeting scheduled for last Thursday. I don’t think this is legally sufficient notice for a public meeting. I checked Rec&Park’s website and saw no agenda posted.

I wonder if it’s going to be another Newsom fake question-time with Gavin doing his Phil Donahue imitation.

An unknown attorney on a cable news panel discussing Tigergate defended the surviving brothers’ decision not to talk to SFPD. The attorney said that such failure to cooperate

“would be suspicious in almost any circumstance, except when dealing with the San Francisco Police Department. Gavin Newsom and Heather Fong run that department like no other in the country,” he said. “These kids were smart not to talk to SFPD.”
[Quoted from memory.]

This seemed pretty harsh for a national news show. But when you consider the treatment the Yale choirboys received from the same cast of characters, you gotta go hmmm!

----- o -----

STILL TRUE

We remember how the “Judgment of Paris” brought about the Trojan War. If not, Wikipedia reminds us.

I came across this quote, which applies to the bleak corporate futures faced by young princes and princesses these days.

If Paris lived now, and preferred beauty to power and riches, it would not be called his Judgment, but his Want of Judgment.

Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
Columbia World of Quotation, via Bartleby

Paris might have been more prudent if he’d graduated with a big student-loan debt.

----- o -----

GOOD NEWS '08 (Symbolic)

We thank PageOneQ for pointing us to AARP’s fitness page and this terrific photo.

Martina has been named “Fitness Ambassador” by the American Association of Retired People.

In the picture first I see the lean strength of Martina’s arms. Then I see the totally weird look on her face.

It is not the look of roses that are looked at.

It’s the look of someone who’s been through a lot. The outstanding tennis career, her face says, is only one of the major stories in her life, and maybe not the most dramatic.

The part about her being an out of the closet Lesbian doesn’t bother AARP, the largest lobbying group in America. This is a good sign for the advancement of personal liberty everywhere.

Martina’s advocacy on non-gay issues is actually more controversial than the gay stuff.

Here’s a snippet, culled from wikipedia, of a 2002 exchange on air between Martina and (ick) Connie Chung:

Connie: (finishes reading a newspaper quote of something Martina had said) “…It's depressing. Decisions in America are based solely on the question of how much money will come out of it and not on the questions of how much health, morals or environment suffer as a result."

Martina: Yes, in America we are seeing centralization of power and the loss of personal freedom.

Connie: Can I be honest with you? I can tell you that when I read this, I have to tell you that I thought it was un-American, unpatriotic. I wanted to say, go back to Czechoslovakia. You know, if you don't like it here, this a country that gave you so much, gave you the freedom to do what you want.

Martina: And I'm giving it back. This is why I speak out. When I see something that I don't like, I'm going to speak out because you can do that here. And again, I feel there are too many things happening that are taking our rights away.

So, Martina don't take shit from Connie.

AARP loves Martina. So does most of the world. Including me.

Speaking of identity politics, the current primary match-up between Hillary Clinton, who could be the country’s first woman president, and Barack Obama, who could be the country’s first black president, has revealed to me (again) how little I care about race or sex when it comes to hiring.

When the work is important, and when there aren’t many people who can do the work well, I’m hiring based on ability, not sex or race or sexual preference. US President is such a job.

When it comes to a triple bypass, even the dumbest racist from the deepest backwoods will choose an African American surgeon over a Caucasian auto mechanic.

America obviously needs a major operation.

Even if we have to elect some straight white guy.

----- o -----

LAWYERS' DISREPUTE

The idea that a convicted swindler and two-time bail jumper belongs anywhere but in jail is preposterous.

Yet, that’s what lawyers for notorious ponzi-artist Norman Hsu argued in San Mateo Superior court earlier this week.

During his fifteen years as a fugitive Hsu maintained a surprisingly high profile and was a significant donor to Democratic candidates including, ta-da!, Hillary Clinton.

According to this SFGate story, Hsu’s lawyers don’t shrink from preposterousness:

Hsu's attorneys had sought to have the 1990s case dismissed or to allow Hsu to withdraw his no contest plea, saying his right to a speedy trial had been violated because authorities made little attempt to locate him - even as he attended fundraising events and was photographed with political candidates.

The idea that a man who jumps bail after pleading guilty (nolo), even has the right to a trial is ridiculous. The trial was over, the guy pleaded guilty, he escaped before sentencing.

Basically, the lawyers are saying that a fugitive (escapee) has the right to be hunted down assiduously, and that failure of the government to do so exonerates the escapee for the original crime.

What kind of intelligent, self respecting human beings could advance such arguments?

Lawyers.

Every so often we read about an escapee apprehended after many years on the lam during which time he (or she) has led an exemplary life. We are conflicted, at least in some cases, about sending such people back to jail.

To their credit, Hsu’s lawyers are not painting that picture. That would be just too preposterous, seeing as how their client is under Federal indictment for his (alleged) ongoing criminal career, and how he tried to commit suicide during his second interstate-flight.

----- o -----

ZOO, ZOUNDS!

I’m pretty sure I’ve never paid for admission to San Francisco’s Zoo.

Once, a friend and I went there for lunch on a pretty day; he was a Zoological Society member so entry was free. My impression then as decades earlier, was that zoo visits are a lot about birds and birdshit.

Whatever other species he or she might seek out, a zoo visitor will definitely experience birds: seagulls, pigeons, and those nasty little black things (“pickies” we called them in babytalk).

Governance of the zoo is murky.

The land (presumably improvements also) and animals are owned by the City and County and are administered by Rec and Park.

There is an entity called San Francisco Zoological Society, an organization with a 60-member board of directors.

And there’s some “joint board.”

In the wake of Tatiana’s breakout we learn the name of the SFZS board’s chairman, Nick Podell, whom a Bizjournal story states is a partner in a Burlingame real estate firm, MH Podell, Company. Nick is on the left in the below Chronicle photo.

Elsewhere, MH Podell Company is said to a sole proprietorship of someone named Michael Podell.

Certainly, anyone who can figure out how to be a partner in a sole proprietorship can run a zoo, or a spaceship for that matter.

There is so much to learn about San Francisco’s zoo, for instance:

A zoo seems mostly a family oriented entertainment venue. And zoo supporters are stereotyped as dodderers with just a bit more spunk than, say, Botanical Society members.

Recognizing an untapped constituency, SF Zoo reaches out to the city’s hordes of young professionals with Zoo II.

Zoo II is a social club of young professionals dedicated to expanding conservation, awareness, providing and encouraging financial support of the San Francisco Zoo while connecting to others in the community and enjoying a variety of social activities.

I’m sure that Zoo II admits “young professionals” of all ages, at least judging from this photo of the committee’s leadership.

Strangely the accompanying caption on the zoo’s website names only three of the four people pictured.

The 2007-2008 Zoo II Committee is led by Jeff McNulty, Chair and co-Vice Chairs, Ann Cheney & Sarah Gammill.

There is another “mystery” fourth person with the group of Tatiana’s victims, at least as reported in today’s SFGate.

Jennifer Miller, who was at the zoo with her husband and two children that ill-fated Christmas afternoon, said she saw four young men at the big-cat grottos

All previous reports mentioned only three young men in the group of victims. The victim-mystery deepens.

Anyway, no speculation yet on how the demise of Tatiana will affect Zoo II’s signature annual event, the Fur Ball, featuring

music from the DJ, cocktails and a variety of heavy hors' dourves.

The second annual Fur Ball is scheduled for June 28, 2008. The venue, get this, is the Lion House at the zoo. The Lion House is home, also, to the zoo’s tigers, and was home to Tatiana before she was gunned down.

How Tatiana’s absence will affect the Ball’s mood, or even attendance, is to be seen.

Wouldn’t it be perfect if they got a cute little kitty cat to fill Tatiana’s former place, I mean, in time for the party!

I wonder if the big cats are forced attendees at these Fur Balls. Talk about cruelty! Locked in a cage, perfectly sober, watching a bunch of young professionals drinking, and eating heavy hors’dourves—I’d be planning a breakout, too.

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Voters in California Congressional District 8 (shaded green below) have an opportunity to be heard nationally.

Nancy Pelosi, the poster girl for Democratic Party complicity with Satan, ur, I mean George Bush, pardon me… This gal Nancy must face the judgment of the voters in her safest of safe districts to gain re-nomination to be the most powerful woman in congress.

The primary, to be held in June ’08 should be a referendum on wars of aggression and on the use of torture. Pelosi’s complicity in Bush’s Iraq War and in the use of torture is, in the blog’s opinion, indictable in any reasonable war-crimes-prosecution venue.

Unusual in this race is Pelosi’s opponent, Cindy Sheehan, a woman as recognizable to TV viewers as Ms Pelosi herself.

Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, as made herself a thorn in the side of Bush’s Iraq propaganda machine. Ms Sheehan brings national name recognition and media interest along with a simple platform: immediate, unconditional removal of US forces from Iraq, and strict adherence to the Geneva Conventions by all US personnel and by all US citizens.

Ms Sheehan should be able to attract sufficient resources to frame the race in her terms, and if she sticks to Iraq and torture, she could very well unseat Nancy the war criminal.

Cindy might also suggest to Bay View Hunters Point residents that a vote for Pelosi is a vote for Lennar.

Anyway, just having the option is a ray of light in an otherwise dismal June for Congressional District 8 voters.

Fog City Journal recently reported that Cindy Sheehan has moved into a residence in the 8th Congressional District. This encourages us that she’s serious about putting up a fight.

Regarding “calendars”: 2008 is different from other years because it has three different elections for national office. Usually the most we get is two, but the shuffling of states to increase the influence of their own presidential primaries has resulted in an additional California election, coming up on February 5, 2008.

Here’s the Schedule of Elections for San Francisco in 2008.

I believe that ballots for all three elections with also contain various State and Local propositions.

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A NON-NEGATIVE THOUGHT

As we end a year (yuck) and begin another (yummy) I seek some basis for optimism, or at least for non-pessimism, which can be expressed in a true statement. I think I found one.

It's not impossible that something good could happen in 2008.

Happy New Year!

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THE NEIGHBORHOOD ZOO

We end the year with a significant local mystery: What’s up with the two surviving tiger-maulees? What was the nature of their visit to the zoo?

This human-interest side intrigues me, but doesn’t concern me.

What concerns me about the mauling incident (aside from empathy for the victims and their loved ones) is the attention it brings to my immediate neighborhood.

At least some changes are in store at the zoo. The question is, will it remain a zoo with approximately the same attendance patterns as at present? Or will some other “best use” be found for the land?

Put it this way: if the current zoo property were developed for housing, the quality of my life would decline significantly. I suppose this is true of any public park, but the attention makes me nervous.

Actually it would make a great facility for wheel-sports. Sometimes that’s what we used it for, as kids.

In my youth the zoo was still run by Rec and Park, and admission was free. (Just as the museums, the Conservatory of Flowers, and the Academy of Sciences were all free.)

After school sometimes we’d ride our bikes in the zoo, around the cages, past the aviary and the grottos. We’d lay out race courses. We could do this because there were absolutely no zoo visitors (or maybe one or two) to disturb. You know, a Wednesday in March, cold and windy, maybe rained earlier in the day.

Looking at the irregular network of pathways (all smoothly paved) from above, these grounds cry out for wheel-sports—bicycles, skateboards, roller skates.

For the time being, after removing the dumbest animal, disgraced director Manuel Mollinedo, they should probably remove the bigger animals, just on humane grounds. After that I hope they spend the next twenty years tweaking smaller-animal exhibits, until they finally give up and make it a roller park.

By that time I’ll be dead.

I was going to rant about the puling bureaucratic response of zoo director Manuel Mollinedo—blaming the victims in what he knows is a strict-liability situation, and claiming that his records show that the wall was 20 feet high—immediately after the mauling.

Judging from public comment, and from this Sunday Chron story, Mr Mollinedo is on his way out.

Another mystery is the paperwork that shows the wall as 20 feet high. The chances of this being an innocent “clerical error” approach zero. Was this paperwork relied upon for accreditation and insurance purposes? If so, we’re talking about possible significant fraud, which may have contributed to a death.

The mystery draws us into the new year.

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CHRISTMAS MEMENTO

After almost four years in UCSF’s Accounting Office I took a new job in the Radiology Department, which was a disaster and led to my early retirement from San Francisco’s largest employer.

A number of factors contributed to my failure, but mostly it was my supervisor and co-workers.

My supervisor, who was located in a separate facility on the other side of the city, was determined to help me as little as possible.

He offered no help, for instance, in my first attempt at complicated paperwork for retroactive payroll transfers. Worse, he signed off on the submittal without even checking it. Of course it had numerous errors, which sullied my reputation with the people processing it.

The supervisor’s name was Rex Jones and he was a lying son of a bitch. Recently a young UCSF acquaintance, whom I also see on the courts, phoned to tell me that Rex had died. My poor young friend was not prepared for the glee I expressed.

I’m reminded of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, tyrants and torturers of Romania, whom the rebels executed on December 25, 1989 “as a Christmas present to the country.”

Anyway, another factor in my failure was the non-support of my three peers on the new job, all female, all Asian. It was three months before I learned that one of these Asian women had applied for the job I had been given. She and her two friends were extremely bitter and determined that my failure would prove that Maria should have gotten the job.

“This is a situation I might have been able to handle, IF I HAD KNOWN ABOUT IT.”

The failure of my supervisor to explain this delicate situation to me was a hateful omission. In our first meeting after I found out, which was only after Maria had moved to a new job, I stared at Rex and said the words quoted above, one. at. a. time.

Months later it was Christmas and I received presents from each of the two remaining Asian women colleagues. I also got a present from Rex—a jar of some sort of honey, (you know the jar-size you get on a room-service tray… Rex’s gift was one size up from that).

The younger of the two women gave me a neatly wrapped in a large box, maybe 8” x 10” x 14”. There was no movement when shaken, so I figured it was something soft, like a scarf, in a box chosen for convenience rather than appropriate size.

I gave no presents to any of them.

I brought it home but never opened that big box from Susan Lin. I just set it aside, figuring the dishonesty and hypocrisy associated with it were nothing I needed to deal with.

And here it sat, two whole years, until last Saturday. I was invited to a dinner party thrown by people in my morning tennis group. I had to bring an item for a “white elephant gift exchange.”

So I happily brought the big, nicely wrapped box from my former UCSF “mobber.”

I had my misgivings: What if it’s something really valuable? Naw. What if it’s something way inappropriate? No, not a workplace gift.

I thought it was a funny story to tell—that I didn’t know what was inside the box.

To which one of the party guests responded, “What if it’s food?”

When my donation was finally picked and opened, it was even more awful than I could have guessed. It was a Christmas-decorated mug and place setting of hideous, garish design.

It’s the sort of thing that, if I’d opened it at home, would have gone straight into the trash. Had I opened it the office I would have had a dilemma about expending the energy to take it to my car, as opposed to just dumping it in the waste basket under my desk. The decorative paint looked toxic.

The malice of such a gift is that it imposes on the recipient the burden of disposal. Like giving someone a stack of year-old newspapers.

Out of twenty, it was the third worst white elephant gift. There was one child at the party, a six year old girl, who wound up with it. Her parents are smart enough not to let their child eat off that stuff.

I feel kind of guilty because I got the best present, four suitable-for-framing doodles from a nice guy who’s an architect; he’s all slice and dice on the court. I hate these guys who are good tennis players plus they have another talent.

Merry Christmas!

----- o -----

PALLIATION

A man with a good refrigerator don’t need no justification.
Hazel Motes, Wise Blood per P. Wilson

After our new refrigerator was delivered I had to put something in it so I went to the supermarket.

There are a few things I pay full price for but mostly I’m an eater of opportunity. I found my favorite ice cream on sale plus, I noticed a display of $1.79/can spray nozzle real whipped cream.

This is exactly what a bear would do—go for the fat.

The point is palliation, not cure for my S.A.D.—just to make it through one more winter.

Once one a beautiful ocean beach morning, coming on to windowpane we saw occasional equestrians along the waterline. One, a haughty looking, straight-backed formal; equitationist inspired this comment from my friend Jim: “Look at the animal riding the animal.”

And so I say, “Look at the butterfat riding the butterfat.”

If I just eat enough butterfat I can get back to my hibernation.

So I’m slopping down the hi-cal reading about the rising price and diminishing stockpiles of food worldwide, at least according to this IHT article with the ominous headline: World food stocks dwindling rapidly, UN warns

In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.

The story notes some supply and demand factors:

On the supply side, these include the early effects of global warming, which has decreased crop yields in some crucial places, and a shift away from farming for human consumption toward crops for biofuels and cattle feed. Demand for grain is increasing with the world population...

Part of the current problem is an outgrowth of prosperity. More people in the world now eat meat, diverting grain from humans to livestock. A more complicated issue is the use of crops to make biofuels, which are often heavily subsidized. A major factor in rising corn prices globally is that many farmers in the United States are now selling their corn to make subsidized ethanol.

So I’m thinking, what’s the point of exiting my cave if this is what we’ve come to. America must decide what to do with it’s food—feed people or feed their SUVs. Do we need to take a poll?

---

The quote at the top of this post comes from the funniest movie I’ve ever seen, Wise Blood, directed by John Huston from a novel by Flannery O’Connor. In it the main character, an itinerant, ignorant southern preacher, declares in reference to his own automobile (actually a jalopy), “A man with a good car don’t need no justification.” IMDB page here.

When you get frustrated with American Huck’nShuck Christopolitics, a Wise Blood rental could provide some palliation.

----- o -----

HIBERNATION

When the sun gets more than so low my spirits go with it. It’s S.A.D.

Bears avoid the issue, they sleep through it.

In my sad awakeness I had a tooth extracted and got a Vicodin scrip instead of a lollypop, and got fitted for partials, in a time pressured end of year insurance scramble. No fun.

In my sad awakeness I went days with the lifeless corpse of a refrigerator that was way too young to die, and replaced it instead of trying to repair it. Twenty-six hours after entering the order on-line the new one was delivered and is now chilling. I discovered something I already sort of knew—living without a refrigerator is no fun. And I learned something new:

Maytag Sucks!

I’m wide awake to see wet courts, unplayable.

I’m awake enough to perceive sneaky Gay League tennis recruiting tactics on the part of erstwhile team-mates, now new rivals. I’ve lived my life (mostly) and getting sandbagged is not a novel insult. Like the drama of infidelity, it’s not just painful, it’s boring. And the flying emails all sound so gdmf corporate.

I’m awake enough to watch the news. People tell me not to. Tis the season for a sound bite advocating torture, with a nativity scene in the background.

There’s no light at all.

I might as well just go back to bed.

Tomorrow night the sun will reach it’s southern solstice and then, theoretically, will start its northward climb again. But, like a patient after a near fatal disease, it’ll take many weeks to recover its strength.

Et in terra, pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

This translates: “And on earth, peace to men of good will.” It does NOT translate: “Peace on earth, good will toward men.”

Peace.

Christmas Phone Call
(excerpt)

Son: Mom, good news, I got a job!

Mom: That’s great son! What’s the job?

Son: It’s for the government. I’m going to be a torturer, specializing in waterboarding.

Mom: Are you sure…

Son: It’s perfectly legal. They fly me to countries where the laws allow it. And they put me up in really nice hotels. And, it really is helping our country. And the benefits are great.

Mom: Well, son, as long as it makes you happy, that’s all I care about. Your sister wants to say hello. Merry Christmas. I love you.

Son: Merry Christmas, mom. I love you, too.

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DO AND RE-DO WERE ON A BOAT...

It’s news to me that Sophie Azouaou is the “Fashion and Interior Design Critic,” of the San Francisco Sentinel.

The headline of this 12/10/07 Sentinel story is not news:

Sentinel Interior Design Critic Sophie Azouao Underwrites Benefit Magazine Remodel

Our August 28, 2007 post mentioned the remodel job in question, which was being donated by Sophisticate Interiors, Sophie’s company.

According to the Sentinel Story:

Benefit Magazine Inc, a Bay Area Media Company which provides the ‘inspiration and the resource’ for charitable giving in print, TV, and radio, is approaching its first anniversary and the re-launch of its flagship product, Benefit Magazine.

Somehow I thought the flagship product already had been re-launched.

The next paragraph of the Sentinel article contains more strangeness:

“Benefit Magazine is on the verge of releasing a vastly improved editorial product in terms of depth and quality of coverage and of aesthetic design. We have come a long way in the past year… "

-Benefit Magazine, Special Projects Director, Sophie Azouaou

So, Sophie is also working for Benefit Magazine.

Either Ms Azouaou gets around a lot, or not much at all.

I may have to send staff to investigate. Has the new regime actually published a magazine issue, made of paper and ink and staples and glue, that hands can hold?

Here’s Benefit Mag’s latest web presence, no upgrade here.

It shows this jpg of a cover.

If there has been in issue published recently, then much of the copy of the Sentinel Story is out of date, unless I misconstrue the meaning of “re-launch.”

Considering we have one publication, The Sentinel, reporting on another publication, Benefit Magazine, a puff piece really, I'd think someone on one of the staffs would be able to write a coherent story.

I guess I'd be wrong.

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DECEMBER LIGHT

Today is the third anniversary of my mother’s death. I still haven’t properly sorted and stored the papers from her safe deposit boxes. Every once in a while a document will spill from a shelf onto my bedroom floor.

Yesterday it was a duplicate baptismal certificate for my mother’s father. He was born in the 1880’s in “St Edward (Albion),” Nebraska. Why the confusion? They were and are two distinct towns. Probably the birthplace is one and the baptism site the other.

Buried in the basement are pictures of my granddad's family in their sod hut, somewhere between Albion or St Edward.

We have to zoom in pretty far before the town names appear on Google maps.

Just two generations from the sod hut appears … ta da … sfwillie.

During his second and final hospital stay, I was alone with my own father who wasby then going in and out of present tense, when I said something about my mom.

“Your mother is a beautiful woman,” my dad said.

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LENNAR BOMBS

Maybe the recently announced municipal budget deficit will spur radical action. Maybe San Franciscans are fed up with the duct-tape/crazy-glue approach to city finances.

I suggest we eliminate city government almost entirely, and outsource the whole thing to Lennar.

This could coincide with the renaming of San Francisco. Sooner or later we’ll realize that naming a city after a saint of a particular religion, especially a saint of the anti-gay, anti-choice Roman Catholic Church, is just too incorrect politically.

Name it Lennar City. Let Lennar run things directly, instead of through the charade of city government. There could be enormous economies.

Anyway these three stories came to me via Google Alerts the other day.

Past Tense – “Lennar bombed.”

The headline of this Orlando Sentinel story says it all

Crew detonates fragmentation bomb found on former bombing range site.

It’s about a Lennar development built on a Florida bombing range. Inspection for live bombs was sort of an afterthought. I’m sure that the middle school in the story, where bombs were found, prides itself in being drug-free and certainly gun-free, but they can’t be sure if the place is bomb-free.

Present Tense – “Lennar bombs.”

It’s not just any Palm Springs golf course Lennar is shutting down because of the slumping housing market, it’s a Jack Nicklaus designed golf courts. Oh, the sacrilege!

Lennar has shut down the Escena golf course in Palm Springs. They were supposed to build 1400 luxury homes starting at 400K and up. Jack Nicklaus designed the golf course. After building about 60 homes, they have stopped all building on the project, have not finished the club house, and now have closed the golf course. Those 60 people who bought golf course homes are screwed.

Quoted from implode-explode.com. "Re: Lennar shuts down Nicklaus designed golf course"



Future Tense – “Lennar will bomb”

It looks like we’re getting another Candlestick ballot measure on the June 2008 ballot. According to the SFGate story:

The new proposal - which would reach the June 2008 ballot following a signature drive - calls on the city to contribute public land and to subsidize portions of the project by tapping a city affordable-housing construction fund and by issuing bonds backed by future property tax revenue from the site.

The coalition sponsoring this ballot measure is led by Lennar Corporation.

I think the above quote means that taxpayers guarantee Lennar a profit.

The proposed ballot initiative, submitted by a group calling itself the African American Community Revitalization Coalition, would repeal measures passed by city voters in 1997 that approved $100 million in public financing and land-use rule changes to allow a new 49ers stadium and shopping mall at Candlestick.

Tentative name of the initiative: "Bayview Jobs, Parks and Housing Initiative."

Probably another dud.

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EYEING THE MAN

In my day, during the eucharist (bread and wine) portion of the Roman Catholic mass, great care was taken to keep the chalice (wine) and ciborium (hosts) covered at all times, unless there was some reason to uncover them. The ciboria have lids, chalices are covered by a starched cloth thingie.

We were taught the origin of this practice: olden cathredrals and churches frequently had pigeons and other fowl living in the rafters and high corners and cornices. It was considered gravely important that pigeon droppings not foul the body and blood.

This has something to do with Don Imus.

The “ho” part was bad, but the “nappy headed” part was worse. It implies that there is something wrong, unbeautiful, about African American’s hair.

How would we describe Don Imus’ hair?

Imus’ girlish tresses make the same statement as his pink and lavender shirts: Imus is so manly he can get away with it.

Anyway, there was footage yesterday of Imus walking from his limo to the front door of a building (presumably his studio). It must have been raining because the chauffeur was walking behind Imus with a big old umbrella at arms length to keep the star dry.

Imus was carrying his trademark grey-felt cowboy hat. He was carrying the hat against his chest, sort of under his chin, to protect it from any stray raindrops.

As he approached the door, and was under a protective awning, he put his hat on, and entered the building.

What kind of a cowboy is that?

In his comeback speech, as we see in the capture above, Imus wore his collar turned up--against the air conditioning maybe?

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