In a rebuke to Gavin's proposal to hand illegal immigrants accused of a crime to federal authorities, the Immigrant Rights Commission passed a resolution urging Gavin to do no such thing. Instead of handing over those accused of a crime to the Feds which could lead to possible deportment, the commission said the city should keep them in the city and look into whether or not they're eligible for asylum instead and for the offenders to be put into community programs, programs like "arts and cultural affirmation activities." Also suggested, the occasional pillow fluffing. ... [continue]

Inspired by Gavin's plan to close the Embarcadero to traffic two weekends later this summer, Chris Daly decided to see Gavin's plan and raise him a street or two by proposing that Market Street should be closed to cars from Octavia to the Embarcadero. The only sort of traffic allowed will be buses, taxis, delivery trucks and a few other very important vehicular thingies. The reasons for it include helping MUNI buses move freely, getting more people out of cars and onto pub trans or bikes, helping save the environment, and because it’s kinda a cool idea (see, most every city that is considered world class). Also, as everybody knows, driving down Market Street is kinda impossible anyways so why not?... [continue]

Last week, Gavin introduced plans to close down parts of the Embarcadero from the Bay View to Chinatown between from 9 AM to 1 PM on Aug. 31 and September 14 for some sort of car-free free free-for-all. Plans include everything from yoga to roller rinks to bikers biking and a whole lot more for those seeing some frolicking. Good idea, right? Complaints to commence in 3...2...1....... [continue]

For those of you who think protests don't work, sometimes they do. Three years ago, an outlaw group of Giants' fans (the Crustacean Liberation Coalition) rallied others and staged a mighty protest against the Giants to reinstate Crazy Crab. With the exception of one magical night two years ago, Giants' management has pretended the Crab ever existed but have finally decided to embrace the Crab and tonight, for the first time ever, the Giants will host Crazy Crab Night. For the low, low price of just $26, you gain admission to a pre-game Crazy Crab party in Lot D, a Crazy Crab bobblehead (!), a free beer and a free crab sandwhich. The event will feature a DJ, "entertainment for the whole family," and an appearance by the Crab himself.... [continue]

Weird thing about the Giants this year is that they are fifteen games under .500 and yet considered to be a team that is better than expected. Even mildly enjoyable, especially compared to the last few years which brought on the same sort of enjoyment as would watching three Kate Hudson romantic comedies in a row. Now how can one say that of a team featuring some dude seemingly picked up from a local corporate softball league playing at third? Well, you can if the expectations were low. Really low. Like really, really low. At the beginning of the season, most fans and experts predicted that the team would lose somewhere around 140 games and be lucky to score even a run a game. We mean, how good can a team be if Bengie Molina is your friggin' cleanup hitter? Yet despite all that, the team has had just enough good pitching and just enough offense to at least be competitive in most of their games. ... [continue]

We don't think there are many people who would consider politicians as containing much in the way of a sense of humor or any sense of irony, but in an awesome move of political satire, Republican Senator Libby Dole of North Carolina added an amendment to an AIDS bill now winding itself through the Senate that would name it after recently deceased senator Jesse Helms. The bill would give about $50 billion dollars in funding to fight AIDS and other diseases around the world and with it, a possible lifting of a travel ban on people with HIV. What makes the amendment such a great bit of political satire (right up there with the New Yorker cover) is that Helms was a long time racist and homophobe who said any number of things against gay people and people with AIDS and fought any and all funding to try and help people with it. In fact, it was Helms who created the travel ban on people with HIV Oh wait...this just in....it's not a bit of satire. Dole is completely serious about what she's doing.... [continue]

We just found out the answer to the question of whether the A's were going to go for it and make a run at the playoffs or fold their tents for awhile-- they're folding. Just this afternoon it was announced that the A's traded Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Cubbies for right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher, catcher Josh Donaldson, infielder Eric Patterson, outfielder Matt Murton, and a bag of beans. Citing injuries, Beane said it was a move he had to do-- the recent eight game losing streak probably forced his hand.... [continue]

Finally, our long city nightmare is over. No, not the homeless, lack of affordable housing, Barry Zito, or hipster beards, but potholes-- lots and lots of potholes. To deal with them, the city is planning to spend $38 million to fix some of them.... [continue]

-Fire in Stockton destroys 50 homes [Chronicle] -Gay marriage in California could mean cha-ching for the state [Examiner] -Why do kids in Redding hate America? [KPIX] -Think again next time you get a txt message from somebody [Examiner] -Metallica still doesn't get this internet thingie [Wired] -People still don't understand why despite trading all their best players, rumors of trading other players, and playing in a crappy park, nobody goes to A's games [Mercury News]... [continue]

Here's todays sports news... [continue]

While the Democratic primary raged on and on and on, something that felt as long and grueling as sitting through the latest Indiana Jones movie-- twice in a row, and almost as painful-- two of the big questions were whom homegirl Nancy Pelosi supported (supposedly she was an Obamamaniac) and when she, along with the rest of the Democratic leadership, were going to get off their asses and end the damn thing.... [continue]

-So with the passage of Prop. G., a Proposition designed to try and keep the Niners in San Francisco, the question now is what the hell does it mean? Maybe something, maybe nothing. The whole thing has to be built and the Niners haven't made a decision as to where they're going to move. Even worse for the Niners is that with the economy as it is, it's even harder to convince some place to build them a stadium as there's not a lot of money to throw the team's way. Why should a city give a team money to build a stadium when they have no money to throw around? And it's not just a problem the Niners' face, but the A's too.... [continue]

We've been to a couple of Giants games this season and our usual reaction upon hearing the announcement of the starting lineup is "who?" Brian Horwitz? John Bowker? Jose Castillo? Just who are these guys?... [continue]

Let's check in with our local teams while the rest of the world is searching for Ronaldo...... [continue]

As disgusted as we were by the fact somebody left the remains of their microwaved 7 Eleven nachos on the guard rail of the 38 Geary, we have to admit to being somewhat amused by watching rider after rider walk by and stare for a few seconds to determine if getting a seat on a crowded bus was worth taking the chance that one bad jolt could cause half-eaten beans to wind up in their hair.... [continue]

But what precisely is the point of all of these stories? Other than buying an earthquake preparedness kit, what else is there we can do? If we, say, were 500 pounds, had a cholesterol reading of over 300 and were chain smokers and a doctor told us that there was a pretty darn good chance we would get heart disease, we could at least cut down from two packs of cigarettes a day to a pack. But if one fault decides they've had it with another fault and they go at it, what the hell can we do about it? It could also be said that the constant hyping of these stories could actually backfire. There is only so many times that one hears that the end is nigh before they stop listening to those cries. The Big One might not be that big, after all, if all those melting glaciers put us twenty feet under water. And aren't all those Jihadist's still out there looking to drop some WMDs on us? And whatever happened to the Avian Flu? There’s only so many things we can be scared sh-- less about. Besides, like we'll be able to afford to live here for the next 30 years.... [continue]

Here's todays sports news... [continue]

Here's todays sports news... [continue]

Here's what we've missed in the world of Bay Area sports while trying to figure out who the Oceanic 6 are...... [continue]

hen we last wrote about the San Jose Sharks, we were wondering where the hell captain Patrick Marleau's game went. It looks like he found it around the trade deadline (more on that below), and has been on a pretty decent stretch since then. As have the Sharks.... [continue]