Free Republic

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 to enact a ban on the declawing of cats. Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Michela Alioto-Pier voted against the legislation. “It is well-documented and well-understood from a medical prospective that [declawing] is torture. It is a form of animal cruelty,” said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who introduced the legislation.

Last week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, the boy-wonder politician sought out by network cameras at the Democratic National Convention, profiled in Newsweek and the New York Times, was forced to pull out of the race for California governor before opponent Jerry Brown even officially declared his candidacy. Newsom's campaign wasn't sputtering. It never got off the ground. A candidate who raised nearly $6 million for his 2003 bid for mayor (with maximum contributions limited to $500) only raised a little over $3 million this time, according to the California secretary of state's office. It was a harsh political lesson....

I thought I read this somewhere about a year or two ago. Any help on this?

The Bay Bridge reopened just after 9 a.m. today, six days after a repair job on a cracked structural beam on the eastern span fell apart and plunged onto the upper deck. Tests conducted overnight and this morning on an altered version of that repair job showed that the fix was holding, Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said. At 9:01 a.m., a fleet of five California Highway Patrol cars escorted the first private vehicles allowed onto the westbound upper deck since the span was shut down Tuesday evening. About 10 minutes later, the lower deck reopened for traffic heading to the...

SAN FRANCISCO-CA --- In 2007, the last reporting period. the California Highway Patrol (CHP) reported 28 pedestrians fatalities, 440 cyclists injured, a total of 52 people killed in traffic accidents in San Francisco. Now, it's reported today that the city will no longer enforce the law for first time offenders of driving without a license. Worse, the new police chief endorses the proposal. San Francisco Police Chief Gascon is quoted as saying that the city is "trying to be sensitive to all of the communities we serve..."We recognize that this is a problem within the Hispanic community, where people working...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA --- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s approval rating among Californians is a measly 34 percent. Forty-four percent of the state’s voters disapprove of her performance. Her congress receives only 23 percent approval, while two thirds of California voters disapprove of their own delegation. Within her own party, Pelosi has only 51 percent favorable rating. Yet there she is, arrogant and unflappable. Refusing to let reporters into the ceremony introducing her latest health care reform legislation, beefing up the public option in her plan, while celebrating what she calls an historical event. What is it about San Francisco politicians,...

Forbes Magazine, famed for its exhaustive lists, has a new one: America's safest cities. The unusual thing about this list is that the list-makers used more than just violent crime statistics to assess the relative safety. Also among the data collected are the number of workplace fatalities, deaths by traffic, and deaths by natural disaster. San Francisco ranks #25 in the list of 40 major metropolis regions,behind New York (#8), Detroit (#12), Chicago (#15), and Los Angeles (#19).

Authorities on Tuesday closed a major bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland after a cable on its upper deck snapped during the evening commute.

Authorities said they are shutting down the Bay Bridge in both directions after pieces of the cantilever section fell during the late-afternoon commute, striking three vehicles on the upper deck, the California Highway Patrol said. Caltrans officials said the parts that fell were two high-strength rods and a saddle that were part of the emergency repair that delayed the opening of the bridge on Labor Day weekend.

The mayor of San Francisco is waging war against his own city hall over its decision to protect juvenile illegal immigrants from being deported -- even when they stand accused of felonies. Overturning the city's current policy, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted last week to stop handing illegal minors over to the feds unless they've been convicted of a serious crime. Their vote upends a year-old policy that sent more than 100 suspects into federal custody for deportation. The measure's sponsor, once an illegal immigrant himself, says innocent youths were being deported and their families were being torn apart...

SAN FRANCISCO-CA --- In 2007, the last reporting period. the California Highway Patrol (CHP) reported 28 pedestrians fatalities, 440 cyclists injured, a total of 52 people killed in traffic accidents in San Francisco. Now, it's reported today that the city will no longer enforce the law for first time offenders of driving without a license. Worse, the new police chief endorses the proposal. San Francisco Police Chief Gascon is quoted as saying that the city is "trying to be sensitive to all of the communities we serve..."We recognize that this is a problem within the Hispanic community, where people working...

Armed officers in full battle gear will be scattered throughout the Bay Area this weekend, rescuing hostages, fighting bank robbers and quelling terrorism at the Oakland Airport, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the NASA Ames Research Center and 22 other high profile sites. There will be the sound of gunfire and blasts — all part of Urban Shield, one of the biggest domestic terrorism drills in the country. For the first time in the three-year history of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department-sponsored exercise, there will be a foreign team of officers taking part and international observers. An eight-member team representing the French...

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors took the first step yesterday to prohibit the reporting youths accused of drug crimes to Federal immigration authorities. The measure, will pass next week, will be vetoed by Mayor Newsom, and be overridden by the Board, is packed with intriguing politics. First, from my debate on PBS’s KQED-FM, with the supervisor who has led the fight for the measure, Supervisor David Campos, I believe he is sincere in his concern for the “children”. as he calls them. He himself was an illegal entrant at the age of 14, and went on to earn a...

Nearly 1 in 10 San Francisco Muni riders boards a bus or streetcar without paying, costing the city's transit agency an estimated $19 million a year in lost revenue. The system averages almost 700,000 boardings a day. The findings, outlined in a study to be presented to the Municipal Transportation Agency governing board Tuesday, echoes what many Muni regulars long have griped about: Fare cheating is commonplace. Previous studies also reflected that fare evasion is enshrined in Muni culture.

"Willie Brown, don't you turn your back on me." It was the voice heard 'round the world, President Obama's, chiding me for stopping to talk with a Secret Service agent. I hadn't planned on being on the 32nd floor of the St. Francis. No way was I going to spend $15,000 for a ticket to a hobnobbing session with Obama and deep-pocket Democrats. But then came the call from the White House asking me to attend. So there I was, along with Dick Blum, Richard Goldman, Nancy Pelosi and some of the Bay Area's highest rollers - many of them...

A small band of sea lions that made their home on Pier 39 in weeks after Loma Prieta has ballooned to a record number in the past week. Perhaps it's a wildlife reunion to celebrate the quake's 20th anniversary next month. Regardless of the reason, the people who do the counting say they have never counted this high before. Last Friday, there were 1,585 sea lions hanging out at the pier. The experts at the Marine Mammal Center say they don't know what is behind the increase, but that they are hunting for clues. Record Number of Sea Lions Flock...

From ksfo.com - A Conservative Welcome Party for President Obama! President Obama will be in San Francisco THIS THURSDAY, October 15th at the Westin St. Francis Hotel to fundraise at a reception and dinner. Let's give him a proper Conservative welcome and protest the President and his liberal agenda! Hot Talk 560, KSFO is encouraging everyone around the Bay Area to converge across the street from the Westin St. Francis in Union Square, from 4-8pm to let President Obama know the Conservative movement in Ultra-Liberal San Francisco needs to be taken seriously! Wear your best patriotic outfits, bring American Flags,...

San Franciscans love us some President Barack Obama. But the question is, does he love us back? "After eight long years of being ignored like a problem only-child in a first marriage gone afoul, it feels almost unnatural for the President of the United States to pay San Francisco a visit," SFist laments. When he was in town campaigning for Senator back in 2004, he even refused to appear in public with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, worried conservative Illinois voters would take that as tacit support for marriage equality. He'll only be appearing at a Democratic Party fundraiser at...

Gavin Newsom loves Twitter. The San Francisco mayor is convinced his hometown microblogging service will change the world. How heartbreaking it must be, then, to read that a key Twitter coder can't wait to escape his "filthy... disastrous" town.

QUITE A WORLD SERIES MEMORY FROM SAN FRAN

A video popped up on YouTube Thursday morning that is sure to get attention. It shows a nasty verbal fight between two women on board a Muni bus. After exchanging profanity-laced verbal insults, the fight turned physical. While male passengers stood and watched, women stepped up to break up the fight. One young woman put her body between the two ordering them to stop. The fight moved down the aisle as the two women struggled to claw and kick each other. It was unclear when the fight happened, but the video was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday. The person who...

In "La Mission," an upcoming movie set in San Francisco's Mission District, Christopher Borgzinner plays a street thug who clashes with the main character, an ex-convict-turned-bus driver played by Benjamin Bratt. The 18-year-old Borgzinner was never in a gang as he grew up in the city's Portola neighborhood, but drew from what he saw going on around him and his own experiences as a young Latino to inspire his acting in the film. On Monday, real-life violence descended on Borgzinner as he rode a packed 9-San Bruno Muni bus to his acting class in the Mission, wearing the wrong-color shoes.

San Francisco - Over the last two years, three-quarters of San Francisco's uninsured adults have enrolled in a public program that guarantees access to medical services, an effort that is being touted as a national model during the rancorous debate over healthcare reform. More than 46,000 adults have enrolled in Healthy San Francisco since it was launched; this first-in-the- nation, city-run universal healthcare effort has received high marks in recent independent studies. The program is funded in part by an employer mandate, a controversial component of the plans under discussion in Washington. One analysis has concluded that this mandate on...

San Francisco dance station goes off the airEventually everyone's energy wanes and the aptly named dance radio station has officially run out of steam. San Francisco-based Energy 92.7 confirmed rumors that the station is going off the air on its Facebook page Thursday. No reason was given for the closure but a farewell party (with possible answers) will take place at The Lookout in San Francisco's Castro district Friday night at 5 p.m. "Dear fans, we just got the word. 7pm is the end of Energy 92.7," the station told its fans on Facebook. "Thank you all for your support....

Notorious "Wife Swap" star selling San Francisco homeThe most hated husband in America is packing his bags and leaving his San Francisco home. Noe Valley resident Stephen Fowler became a YouTube sensation and the object of ridicule at the same time after he was featured in an episode of "Wife Swap." Fowler became famous after he called a rural Missouri woman spending two weeks in his San Francisco home stupid and simple on the ABC reality show last January. He was condemned but his own wife and the rest of the reality watching country. And now the pressure of arguably...

If you want to see a FABULOUS time-lapse video of the San Francisco Bay Area, you have got to see this video (you need to have broadband for it to stream properly). I'd recommend you play the video in full-screen mode so you can see the spectacular time-lapse video scenes of the fog rolling in from the west over the San Francisco hills and the lights of the planes landing and taking off from San Francisco International Airport at night.

State and municipal governments, struggling with sinking revenue, are raising money by levying fees on consumers, slapping local businesses with back taxes and tweaking tax laws in ways that force many businesses to pay more. That is leading to accusations -- and, in some cases, lawsuits -- that governments are trying to rake in more money without officially raising taxes, sometimes illegally. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which can't easily raise taxes without a referendum, has approved a controversial cigarette "fee" of 20 cents a pack that takes effect next month. Last week, five retailing groups sued New York...

(09-17) 20:36 PDT -- Calling soda the new tobacco, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce legislation this fall that would charge a fee to retailers that sell sugary beverages. Newsom would need voter approval to tax individual cans of soda and sugary juice, but only needs approval from the Board of Supervisors to levy a fee on retailers.

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two independent Lutheran congregations in San Francisco watched the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis with special interest. St. Francis Lutheran Church and First United Lutheran Church were expelled from the ELCA in 1995 for violating church standards the assembly voted to change. The 2009 Churchwide Assembly approved a series of proposals to change the denomination's ministry policies, including a policy to allow Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers. "What does this mean?" was a question asked at council...

In this pet-crazy town, it sounds like a no-brainer: a proposed ban on the declawing of cats, framed by supporters as a simple animal cruelty measure. But the ban is opposed by the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and others. While the SFSPCA opposes declawing in general and does not practice it at its hospital, it argues that politicians shouldn't regulate the medical procedures. And the organization's director worries the proposed law could actually lead to more abandoned or euthanized cats. Crafted by San Francisco's Animal Welfare Commission, an advisory body, and sponsored by Supervisor...

September 7, 2009 Mass murder at 30,000 feet: Islamic extremists guilty of airline bomb plot Philippe Naughton Three British Muslims were found guilty today of conspiracy to murder thousands of passengers and crew in an unprecedented airline bomb plot that could have proved as deadly as the 9/11 attacks. After a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court, jurors found the ringleader, Abdulla Ahmed, and two other men, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain, guilty of plotting to use liquid bombs to blow up airliners en route from Heathrow to the United States. Another defendant, Umar Islam, was found guilty of a more...

If anyone in the Obama Administration wanted to do the least bit of vetting into the background of Van Jones, they could have started with the archives of the SFGate, where you can find the history of Jones' radical activism as a defender of criminals against Bay Area police, a supporter of cop killer Mumia abu Jamal and a radical supporter of America's enemies. In short, Van Jones has always been on the side of the perpetrator, be it criminals or al-Queda terrorists. His defense of Islamofascist terrorists didn't just begin after September 11, 2001. In this August 1998 Chronicle...

SAN FRANCISCO — With the close of this year’s legislative session fast approaching, a bill that would ban gun shows at the Cow Palace in Daly City is expected to go before the state Assembly by Sept. 11. SB 585, authored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, was approved in a 21-18 vote by the state Senate in June. The local community — the Cow Palace sits on the border of San Mateo County and San Francisco — doesn’t like the gun shows because they encourage illegal gun sales and violence, Leno told The Examiner. The location is near Sunnydale...

After two notable and high-end San Francisco hotels defaulted on large loans last month, the city's hotel economy - a key contributor to municipal coffers - has only become bleaker. On July 8, owners of the stately, 97-year-old Renaissance Stanford Court on Nob Hill defaulted on an $89 million loan. Three weeks later, the glitzy Four Seasons Hotel, built on Market Street in 2001, withheld payment on $90 million it owed. The explanation for the ailing hotel industry is straightforward: High unemployment and job insecurity have meant that patrons aren't willing to pay as much as they have in recent...

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The KCBS newsroom received calls Friday afternoon reporting an unusual and unpleasant smell in San Francisco. Most of the callers reporting the odor were in the city's Sunset and Richmond districts. A city spokesman said the sewage treatment plant didn't report having any problems and that everything appeared to be functioning normally. A Public Utilities Commission spokesman did say that he smelled something unusual in the Civic Center area. The stench could also be smelled for a time in the financial district.

A San Francisco supervisor's proposed legislation would make it more difficult for officials to hand over undocumented youths suspected of crimes to federal immigration authorities, a policy that, if approved, could have far-reaching impacts. The proposed law would require that juvenile suspects be convicted of a felony before San Francisco officials contact federal immigration authorities - unless the suspect is charged as an adult. Currently, immigration authorities are contacted at the time of a felony arrest - a change implemented last year by Mayor Gavin Newsom after the city's sanctuary city policy made national headlines. Newsom's change angered many in...

A crowd estimated at more than 1,000 showed up in San Francisco Friday to protest ObamaCare, right in Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's own district. NewsBusters has all the details. . . . . (Watch Video)

For those wondering just how strong the sentiment being expressed at Tea Parties and town hall meetings is growing throughout the nation, consider that about 1,000 people turned out to demonstrate against ObamaCare Friday in one of the most liberal cities in America...San Francisco. That's right, a Tea Party in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Cal.) own district. Speakers included KSFO's Brian Sussman, and California Republican Party Vice Chairman Thomas Del Beccaro. Also in attendance, and speaking to the crowd without a microphone due to problems with the sound system, was NewsBusters' own Noel Sheppard (video embedded below the fold, Sheppard...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A spokesman for BART's second-largest union announced Thursday that its members would begin a strike Sunday at midnight. BART's board of directors voted unanimously Thursday to unilaterally implement terms and conditions of employment for members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555. BART management held a special meeting today and in a 9-0 vote approved imposing the terms after the union rejected BART's final contract offer in negotiations Wednesday night. Jesse Hunt, president of ATU Local 1555, which represents about 900 train operators, station agents and power workers, said earlier Thursday that if the board took such a...

Brian Sussman (www.KSFO.com) announced this rally/protest. (The following is edited. More detailed info at www.bayareapatriots.com). Bay Area Patriots - Upcoming Event: Healthcare Protest! WHEN: Friday, August 14th. TIME: 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. WHERE: Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco. See www.bayareapatriots.com for directions, parking, maps. PLANS: A "Mock Town Hall Meeting." Since the Speaker won't come to us and answer our questions, we'll bring the Speaker to you! A Moment of Being Silenced…bring tape if you so desire as we'll have 15 minutes of silence! A Candle Vigil…for our missing representatives. Healthcare professionals, please wear your uniforms and lab coats,...

Video at link Nancy Pelosi claims protesters are "carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare."

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An American linguistics student traveling in northern Iraq didn't go on an ill-fated hiking trip because he had a cold—a twist of fate that prevented him from mistakenly wandering into Iran where his three friends were reportedly detained. The Swiss Embassy in Tehran was working Sunday to learn more about the Americans' fate through its contacts with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, spokeswoman Nadine Olivieri said. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran. Shon Meckfessel sat out the hike because he had a cold, his grandmother, Irene Meckfessel, told The Associated Press from her home in Carmichael, Calif....

San Francisco's annual homosexual pride extravaganza was missing one factor this year -- law enforcement. During the public event, people saw nudity, lewd acts, and other debauchery, plus open marijuana use. "And this year, due to some of the negative publicity San Francisco was getting, the San Francisco police department promised they would crack down on the nudity and lewdness on the streets," said Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. According to the pro-family activist, actions during the recent party were clearly illegal -- but police made no arrests.

The National Endowment for the Arts may be spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night "pervert" revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco. ... [S]ome of the NEA's grants are spicing up more than the economy. A few of their more risque choices have some taxpayer advocates hot under the collar, including a $50,000 infusion for the Frameline film house, which recently screened Thundercrack, "the world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and...

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival has come under siege after deciding to show a documentary about Rachel Corrie, a Washington state 23-year-old killed in 2003 while trying to prevent an Israeli military bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian's home. Whether Corrie naively put herself in harm's way in support of terrorists or was intentionally killed by the Israeli military is the nexus of the controversy. Compounding the issue, festival organizers invited Corrie's mother, Cindy, to speak after today's showing at the Castro Theatre of the film "Rachel." It is one of 71 films at this year's festival, which includes two...

A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations. The administration's discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial. *snip* He mentioned in...

Keep that towel handy. California parks officials can enforce a ban on nudity at any state beach, even in areas that have been informally designated as "clothing optional," a state appeals court says. The new policy will take effect immediately, although officers will decide whether to warn, cite or arrest violators, said Roy Stearns, spokesman for the state Parks and Recreation Department. "I'm pretty sure that we will try to tread lightly to get compliance at first," he said Monday, three days after the appellate court in Santa Ana published its ruling as a statewide precedent. "We're not in the...

Carole Migden with another misunderstood public figure We got a tip from a reliable source that Carole Migden is making an offer on a home in Potrero Hill -- which, not so coincidentally, is in supervisorial District 10. It has been long speculated that Migden, who lost her state senate seat to Mark Leno last year, plans to run for the D-10 supe slot next year. We sent an e-mail to her aide-for-life, Michael Colbruno, and ran the info by him. We're still waiting to hear back. Speaking of Colbruno, a PAC he's treasurer for recently gave $100,000 to Migden's...

Six years ago, homosexual activists made a huge fuss after Harry and Pepper, two male Magellanic penguins, shacked up at the San Francisco Zoo. Among other things, they claimed the birds, by behaving like stereotypical human homosexuals as glorified by network TV and the news media, were breaking homosexual stereotypes. One 2007 Web article was especially fawning (and rather graphic in describing penguin anatomy and reproductive rituals). Theirs was not love at first sight, readers learned, but these "lovebirds, attached at the wing," overcame their differences and fell madly in love. (The attraction purportedly had something to do with Pepper's...

The social and economic costs of lost productivity and wasted fuel from traffic-choked streets are estimated to be $87 billion a year, according to the Texas Transportation Institute’s 2009 Urban Mobility Report. So far, federal, state and local efforts — focused mostly on expanding road capacity — have been largely unsuccessful at slowing the growing congestion on U.S. roads. Transportation experts now advocate a different approach, changing the emphasis from increasing supply to reducing demand. To reinforce smart growth policies, plug mounting transportation funding gaps and achieve immediate traffic relief, London, Stockholm, Singapore, Milan and three cities in Norway have...