“How much time do we have? 60 Seconds?!”  Yes Gavin.  Now please, go ahead and waste 37 of them.  Great, thanks.

(fast forward to 0:45…)

Gavin: “Willie, what the hell are you doing here?!”

Da Mayor: “I'm filling vacancies!” 

 Wait a fucking minute …did that really just happen?  What Willie Brown should have said:

Gavin: “Willie, what the hell are you doing here?!”

Da Mayor: “ME? Gavin, what the fuck are YOU doing here?!”  

Willie Brown has the startled look of someone who's been squatting in that office since Gavin peaced out to Hawaii back in November of '09.  You can't really blame Willie; I mean of all the places to run into Gavin Newsom you'd never expect it to be the mayor's office, amirite?  (HAHAHA GET IT?! ABSENTEE MAYOR JOKE, HIYOOOO!!!)

Could this video get any better*?  It's already reached the high standards set by such prestigious marketing campaigns as DeVry and the law offices of Ronnie Deutsch.  Oh wait, YES IT CAN; CUE THE ROCK AND ROLL OUTRO!!!  FUCKIN WAIL, MUUUSSSSEEE!!!  WAAUGGHHHH!!!!

*see 'cliche', like this post.

You may have heard that Virginia’s governor Bob McDonnell has decided to declare April as Confederate History Month. He claims that confederate history “should not be forgotten, but instead should be studied, understood and remembered,” Hey asshole how about you fucking remember what the Vice President of the Confederate bag of racist fucking assholes said when describing the historic government that you miss so goddamn much.

“new government … founded upon exactly the opposite idea [from that of the United States in 1776]; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”

Fuck this dickhead and his shitcunt of a brain.

Marc Caswell of the Western Addition sent this as a response to our post on the Sit/Lie graffiti:

It is already illegal to block the sidewalk in San Francisco, which is a real problem, especially for people with disabilities, by SF Administrative Code Section 1, Article 22. But the newly proposed Sit/Lie law would really just allow the cops to get more aggressive on anyone they feel like, be it protesters, park(ing) Day parties, sidewalk sales, or people just having fun on the sidewalk, and, of course, low-income folks. Remember, many people moved to San Francisco for its vibrant public life, so criminalizing merely existing on the sidewalk is counter to everything San Francisco stands for.

The law isn’t really the issue—it’s the message it sends to cops & the community that I have a problem with—and the idea of banning a specific physical act in a public space (that isn’t lewd or lascivious) seems insanely ridiculous. Of course, we can all sit in our cars at parking meters all day (the Tenderloin this happens a lot)—and that wouldn’t be illegal—so if you own a car, you can sit on public space (inside your car)… but meanwhile, you’re outta luck if you don’t.

The specific intent of the law—to limit street drug dealing or violence/threatening behavior—I don’t really see how sitting or lying relates to it. You usually want to stand up when doing either of those actions, so this law is really just a red herring to allow cops to get hard-line on anyone they feel like on the streets. And of course, this issue has been framed as a response to the current problems in the Upper Haight, but the law would be applicable city-wide. If they wanted to, those who support it could easily create a special district to enforce the sit/lie policy only in Haight, but they haven’t for obvious reasons.

Of course, this is all part of the bigger game.  Just as then-supervisor Gavin Newsom introduced a resolution to put a similar Quality of Life issue, “Care Not Cash” on the ballot for the first major District elections vote in November 2002, he and his conservative allies are doing it again: they want to turn out those voters who are “sick and tired” of panhandling and poor people, who will hopefully vote against the strong progressive movement in San Francisco. It’s all a big shell game, but in the end, if San Franciscans lose the right to exist on a sidewalk unless they are traveling from Point A to Point B, will we be a better, or worse off city?

Thanks Marc!

Mike Sugerman at CBS 5 is at it again! That lovable newsy is always on the trail of a hot lead (forget facts! what’s that!? who’s he!? Also, did he just say CYBERSPACE!? What is this?? The Net? A: I WISH!), and this time, he’s trying to figure out Foursquare. About a year too late to break any real FourSquare story, this video piece nevertheless features the delightful and adorable Brittney Gilbert of CBS Eye on Blogs (the tables are turned, Gilbert! The eyes are on you now!!) meeting Mayor Patrick Bateman Gavin Newsom. Thrilling.

Also, is Wendy Tokuda drunk? Or super high? Or is that just my fantasy speaking?

Because CBS5 is old media, they won’t let you embed video so you have to click a stupid link.