Screw landfill reduction. Pink Plastic Bag Mafia forever! Photo credit: NY Times (via Inhabitat)......

It's kind of an interesting Presidential Race in that two of the leading Republican contenders, Romney and Guiliani, are basing their campaigns on bashing the liberal bastions they governed. The obvious reason is to throw some red meat at conservatives by saying not only are they not actually liberal, but that they based most of their governance on beating back gays, Jews, and dark skinned people liberals. So Rudy just put a commercial out saying that he tamed "America's Most Liberal City." This didn't sit well with New Yawkers, however, and Douglas A. Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, fought back and said, “Blame San Francisco. We’re not No. 1.” ...

Image: EFF The secret room at AT&T's Folsom Street facility is in the news again. Staffers from the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation are in DC this week and next, trying to convince Congress that telecoms shouldn't be given retroactive immunity for their cooperation with the NSA's secret (and illegal? or illegal-ish?) wiretapping programs. Mark Klein, the AT&T technician who spotted the NSA's wiretapping room in the AT&T building and blew the whistle, is......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist. NY Times Home Delivery, with 50% off home delivery. Truly CA, stories about California on KQED. SF Dish, where AMEX cardmembers can dish about restaurants. Wristcutters, which is in theaters now. Stylized Sculpture, at the Asian Art Museum. Busted Tees, where you can get free shipping with the purchase of three shirts! If you're interested in advertising on SFist or any......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist. NY Times Home Delivery, with 50% off home delivery. Cazadores, the one with the deer head. Truly CA, stories about California on KQED. SF Dish, where AMEX cardmembers can dish about restaurants. Wristcutters, opening next month. Beating the Babushka, available for purchase on Amazon. Stylized Sculpture, at the Asian Art Museum. If you're interested in advertising on SFist or any other......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist. NY Times Home Delivery, with 50% off home delivery. Cazadores, the one with the deer head. Truly CA, stories about California on KQED. World War Z, perfect as Halloween is coming up. SF Dish, where AMEX cardmembers can dish about restaurants. Interpol, tomorrow at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Wristcutters, opening next month. Stylized Sculpture, at the Asian Art Museum. Travelzoo,......

As is the custom around these parts, we would like to take a moment to thank this weeks' advertisers on SFist. NY Times Home Delivery, with 50% off home delivery. Cazadores, the one with the deer head. Stylized Sculpture, starting today at the Asian Art Museum. Walk for Hope, in town this weekend. Interpol, which is on sale now. Look Me In the Eye, which is apparently an instant best seller. SF Dish, where AMEX......

We'd like to take a brief moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist. NY Times Home Delivery, which has an all access delivery option at 50% off. That comes with Premium Crosswords! Cazadores, because it's got a deer head! Stylized Sculpture, starting next Friday at the Asian Art Museum. Walk for Hope, in San Francisco next weekend. SF Dish, where you can earn a $50 gift card. Look Me in the Eye, by Augusten......

Following up on yesterday's blotter, we're sorry to pass along word from today's Chronicle that one of the murder victims over the weekend, David Sterling, was killed on the way home Monday afternoon, after picking up a burrito for his girlfriend. Investigators think it was supposed to be a retaliation shooting from the guy shot in the garage by kids on bikes a day earlier, but because Sterling had no record and no known gang......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

--Hey! Did you ever do coke with Gavin? [Fog City Journal.] --Chris Daly explains himself. [SFGov.org.] --What's fun doing for Pride Weekend? [SFPartyParty, Bay Area Reporter, SF Weekly's All Shook Down.] --They busted JT Leroy. [Chron, via the AP.] --No more bottled water for the City and County of SF. [CBS 5.] --That local kid who tried to blow up the UC Riverside graduation? It was so he wouldn't have to tell his mom......

Here's todays sports news...

--Spot (at least) four problems with this picture! [zippy_monster on Flickr, from the SFist Flickr stream.] --Fight at the Metreon! [Chron Culture Blog] --Pat Murphy claims to feel bad about his nemesis Chris Daly getting deposed as chair of the Board of Supes Budget and Finance Committee. [SF Sentinel] --Chris Daly takes his reassignment like a man. [Fog City Journal] --Hey! Our Ed Jew coverage goes national! Thanks for the referral, reader DM! [TPMMuckraker.com]......

A controversy was brewing, surrounding the dismissal of Hope Briggs, who was originally scheduled to sing Donna Anna, and her replacement with Elza Van Den Heever, in the new SF Opera production of Don Giovanni, which kicked off the summer season on Saturday night. The explanation for the switch from the upper floors of the opera house was rather laconic, which left the door open to wild speculations. Was it, as this Berkely Daily Planet op-ed conjectured, due to the new media suite, which will record every performance on high definition from this Don Giovanni on and thus will put some demand on the singers to look good, conjectures the writer? ...

The acclaimed French-trained Guinean contemporary circus troupe Circus Baobab makes its US debut as part of the SF Int'l Arts Festival, performing The Jumping Drum, a fable about globalization and family, complete with acrobatics, stilt-walking, and African music. 5:30 p.m., $30, Project Artaud Theater (450 Alabama, x Mariposa). They're here through Sunday, and you may find it intriguing to learn that tomorrow's performance is in French. That's them on the YouTube above. Other events:......

Not content to make owning a dog just a little bit more difficult, Ross Mirkarimi now wants to make it even tougher to scoop sh--. It turns out that his anti-plastic bag measure is just the start of his rampant war against plastic and wants to move onto those plastic bags that are wrapped around a newspaper when they show up on your doorstep. ...

-Woman in San Francisco who was mysteriously shot in the head several weeks ago died last night.. -Memorial for James Kim set for Feb. 17 -Discussion on increasing toll fares on the Golden Gate Bridge postponed so more studying can be done. -Presidential candidates are California dreaming on such a winter's day. -Members of California GOP not very happy with the Governator. -TransLink cards finally sees the light of day. SFist is upset we didn't......

One day after Gavin's big My Bad moment, the big question is what does this all mean for him, the city, and his reelection bid. After all, as bad as this all sounds, politicians getting caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar falls into the realm of been there, done that.. Willie did it and nobody batted an eye. Guiliani did it and he's considered one of the big contenders for the Republican nomination. Gavin is still popular, the election isn't until November, and this is San Francisco and it's not like he's the only San Francisco politico who did something really stupid. But the one thing that seems to be sticking in everyone's craw, the one thing that could hurt more than anything else, is that he did this to one of his closest aides and friends. As somebody put it (we searched but couldn't find the link), this whole thing could be summed up by this eternal axiom: bros before hos. In other words, Gavin broke one of the cardinal rules of guydom....

If the sun is shining a bit brighter and the birds are chirping a bit chirpier it could only be because today is a big day-- as of this posting, our little Nancy is officially now the Queen. In fact, her little "First 100 Hours" plan is now on the clock. How excited is she? She's been throwing herself four days of parties in celebration of it, all to be later shown in an episode of C-Span's "My Sweet Inauguration Party." In a stab at snarkiness, the NY Times even refered to it all as a "Pelosi-Palooza." And the fact some of those parties could raise a little money for her and her party, well, that's just a happy little coincidence. ...

Hark! The herald angels at Left in SF heeded our plea and forwarded along some pictures of last night's singalong Christmas carol protest of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association's holiday party. As you may remember, the protest was directed at the GGRA's filing of a lawsuit to invalidate Newsom and Ammiano's citywide health care plan. (The plan was discussed in today's NY Times too). The protestors sang jolly songs like "You ruined our Merry......

One way of figuring out what'll happen to Barry is to look at all the teams who might be interested in him. Process of elimination and all that. Barry's agent has said there are lots of teams interested in him, but as John Shea pointed out, that's probably not true. So where then?...

With visions of sugar plum fairies dancing through their heads, the -Ists began to get into that holiday mood. Well, some did....

A few years back, it seemed like everyone we knew was vacationing in Thailand. To keep ahead of the curve in fashionable Southeast Asian travel destinations, we're heading over to the Main San Francisco Public Library (100 Larkin @ Grove) to see Wendy Yanagihara, author of “Lonely Planet’s Guide to Vietnam,” talk about her travels in said country and learn all about the off-the-beaten-path gems so we can nod sagely and make intelligent comments......

We return to the BNE graffiti story from a few days ago for a couple of reasons. First off is because the issue of whether graffiti is art or vandalism is still an issue in this city. But the main reason is because, well, it's an awesome story. See, there's this graffiti artist whose been putting the initials BNE in at least five cities throughout the world. In every way, shape, or fashion. Nobody knows who he is or even where is he (he's rumored to be in Japan right now) making him the Keyzer Soze of graffiti artists. ...

This HP story is getting crazier and crazier. Today, the NY Times is reporting that HP was thinking about planting spies in at least two publications to figure out what was going on. The idea was to either place undercover admin temps or cleaning crews at CNet and the SF office of the Wall Street Journal who would then do a bit of snooping and eavesdropping. Another memo uncovered mentioned planting HP spies next to certain people to tag along and investigate them. Wasn't there an episode of "Alias" like that where Sydney Bristow dressed up like an Office Temp complete with iPod and back tattoo to shadow some reporter only to discover they were really their long lost second cousin removed who supposedly died in a fiery motorcycle accident but really used it as a ruse to escape the Chinese? ...

Happy 10th birthday, Bitch Magazine! Back in 1996, local writers Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler kicked up a furor with their provocatively-named zine about feminism and pop culture -- and ten years later, the magazine's putting out its 33rd issue (the Hot and Bothered Issue), they've put out a best-of anthology (BitchFest), and Ms. Zeisler's good-naturedly matching wits with Deborah Solomon of the NY Times Magazine (the East Coast's own Aidan Vaziri). Calls for a......

Good ol' Chris Daly -- in an interview with the NY Times about Proposition H (reduces swelling), he said about the anti-H forces, "I'm crazy, but they're crazier." (Special bonus quote from the article: Daly is described as "a self-described far-left progressive." Yes he is!) Well, Daly may or may not be proven right as the NRA rumbles into town, so upset about the 58% yes on H vote that they filed suit directly in the state appellate court. Why don't they have to go through the Superior Court like everyone else, huh? They shoot their way in or something? Prop. H prohibits any SF resident from owning a handgun, and will require that everyone turn in their guns by April 1, 2006. Second Amendment advocates are claiming that the law makes us unsafer, would require cops to go gun-free, and would prohibit people from using guns in opera productions. Daly says police are exempt and operas and school plays can just use toy guns. Dennis Herrera, fresh from his 98% victory (almost as popular as Saddam Hussein!), says he's confident the city as a local municipality can regulate guns however it wants. ...

The only MacArthur we've ever encountered is the last BART stop to change from the Pittsburg/Bay Point and Richmond lines! Four folks in the Bay Area, though, have slightly different associations with the word, now that they've been awarded MacArthur genius grants of half a million dollars apiece. Three of our local winners are from Cal and one is from Stanford. From Cal, Lu Chen is a neuroscientist researching memory. Nicole King studies unicellular evolution, Michael Manga is a geophysicist studying Bay Area earthquakes, and from Stanford, Pehr Harbury is in drug bioengineering. The grant recipients can use the money for whatever they like. The other 21 winners this year include author Jonathan Lethem, an ergonomic violinmaker, a fisherman, a man who's been working to reduce auto emissions, and a rare book restorer. There was a hilarious article in the NY Times from a winner from last year, whose daughter takes great glee in defeating him at Candyland now ("I thought you were a genius, Daddy,"), and other Bay Area winners from last year (who included a local high school debate teacher) say they're all doing very well. ...

We headed over to Bimbo's last night with some degree of trepidation, since our favorite rock critic in the whole world, Kelefa Sanneh, had just described headliners the Go! Team as "a British indie-pop version of the Black Eyes Peas," and not in the good way. (Vote for Kelefa (and Will Shortz) in the Gawker NY Times hotties poll!) So okay, we were a little skeptical when the lights went down and the stage lights were set on "swively" and the fun "the band is coming on stage!!!!" music started up, and this teensy woman with a huge voice and hardcore British accent starts scream/rapping over the horn section and harmonica and bass and two drum sets. It also did not help our mood that there was a couple, the man-half of which with that distinctive indie-rocker b.o., making out with the thrashing arm and leg motions that only new couples with an exhibitionist streak like to do. But... it is a testament to the power of the Go! Team's relentless positivity!!!!! that we shook off our befuddlement and decided we were having a funky-fresh good ol' time! They were totally like a cartoon band, like Josie and the Pussycats, or Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi --like, we had this feeling that on the way to the gig, the Go! Team had just saved the universe from space creatures or stopped a series of bank heists or something, and that any second later, we would fade to black and the Hanna Barbera logo would do its trademark swoopy synthesizer rotation. ...

There are two great things about getting to compile this column -- one is the sense of camaraderie and sharing we get when our wonderful SFist colleagues or readers recommend, refer, or concurrently read (Christine, that's you) books from their online reserve list. There are so many books we've read only because we've checked them out, borrowed them, or purchased them from one of our fine local independent bookstores at the behest of a......