BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News

Why Republicans Should Regret Scott Brown�s �Massachusetts Miracle�

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:05:00 -0700

It�s been two months since Scott Brown�s surprising Massachusetts Senate victory, and Republicans might be regretting an outcome that they once saw as a turning point. Prior to Brown�s win, national Democrats were adrift, the base was deeply demoralized, and a path to finally passing health care reform was unclear. But Brown�s win changed this, providing a desperately needed wake-up call to national Democrats and the Obama Administration. President Obama is now more publicly critical of Republicans than at any time since his election, and is in a campaign mode that he would likely have delayed to the fall but for Brown�s win. Health care reform is set to be passed, the President is trying to mollify immigrant rights groups, and a series of events -- Texas� new conservative textbooks that completely distort history, Clarence Thomas� wife forming a group aligned with the Tea Party, Chief Justice Roberts� public criticism of the President -- could well drive disenchanted Democrats to the polls in November not by their hopes, but out of fear.

Will South Make Newsom the Angelides of 2010?

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:04:00 -0700

Mayor Gavin Newsom has entered the race for Lieutenant Governor, a job he ridiculed while running for Governor � and his supporters include San Francisco progressives who figure it�s an opportunity to get rid of him. Nonetheless, an endorsement list that includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Teachers Association and Sacramento�s legislative leaders (along with an opponent with unimpressive fundraising totals) should make Newsom the front-runner for the Democratic primary. But it won�t be pretty � given that Garry South (who ran his gubernatorial campaign) now works for his competitor, L.A. City Councilmember Janice Hahn. The Hahn campaign has been vicious on Gavin so far, using the kind of scorched-earth tactics that South is famous for. Newsom may win the nomination on June 8th, but he could end up suffering the same fate as Garry South�s last victim. Phil Angelides had much of the Democratic leadership behind him when he ran for Governor, but only won the primary after a bruising fight with South client Steve Westly. And it left him so bloodied that he went on to lose the general election by a landslide.

Panel to Review Torture Memo Author�s Anti-Rent Control Ruling

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:03:00 -0700

Torture memo author Jay S. Bybee, now a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, authored a controversial decision in September 2009 to invalidate a local rent control law in the city of Goleta, California. The Goleta law provides a strong form of rent control (known as �vacancy control�) for residents in mobile home parks. Last week, the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit ordered review of Judge Bybee�s anti-rent control ruling. Chances are the decision will be reversed, sparing mobile home residents in Goleta (and elsewhere in California) from higher rents and loss of equity in their mobile homes.

First Solve Prison Crisis, then Fix California�s Budget

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:02:00 -0700

To get a handle on the damage California�s current approach to incarceration is having on its citizens, consider this: In a recent 23-year period, California erected 23 prisons � one a year, each costing roughly $100 million dollars annually to operate, with both Democratic and Republican governors occupying the statehouse � at the same time that it added just one campus to its vaunted university system, UC Merced.

Speaking at an American Civil Liberties Union meeting in Pasadena this past Tuesday, prison reform activist Gary Gilmore pointed to several root causes for California�s move away from its earlier leadership role in progressive prison management:

New Immigrant Rights Campaign to Mount Largest March of Obama Era

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:05:00 -0700

�I cannot underscore strongly enough how pissed off the base is over the lack of action� -- Gabe Gonzalez, Center for Community Change

Last week, immigrant rights groups became the first major progressive constituency to issue a release publicly denouncing the Obama Administration. Blasting the White House for �escalating deportations and detentions� while taking no action toward enacting comprehensive immigration reform, national immigrant rights leaders are escalating a pressure campaign that will feature the largest march of the Obama presidency in Washington DC on March 21. The march comes amidst growing frustration over the President�s failure to advance an issue that galvanized enough Latinos to the polls in 2006 to give Democrats control of the House, and which helped elect Obama president in November 2008.

Within days of the public criticism, the President met with activists to frankly discuss the political realities of moving forward. Having used massive marches in cities across the nation to put immigration reform in the national spotlight in 2006, activists are now returning to this tactic as part of new campaign to escalate pressure on Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders. The goal is to finally pass comprehensive reform this year.

Progressives in Good Shape for DCCC; Carole Migden Returns

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:04:00 -0700

Two years ago, progressives swept the Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) � and then endorsed candidates that helped them keep their majority on the Board of Supervisors. They did this by running a slate that included big-name elected officials, and turned in their papers at the last minute so that Mayor Gavin Newsom�s allies were caught flat-footed. After that coup, I had assumed the moderates would be well prepared for 2010 � ready to field a formidable slate of DCCC candidates with their own big names to re-take control. But after the 5:00 p.m. deadline to file passed on Friday, the moderate field was underwhelming. Granted, they have some candidates who will make it competitive � especially on the West Side, where a record number of candidates have filed. But no one with major name recognition � while progressives have four Supervisors, two ex-Supervisors and two School Board members running. And one name will clearly make it interesting � former State Senator Carole Migden, who is running for a body that she first chaired in the 1980�s.

Pelosi: the Public Option is in Her Hands

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:03:00 -0700

Recently, Salon contributor Glenn Greenwald wrote a provocative piece that suggested Democrats only support a public option for health care if they're sure that it's not going to happen. If it wasn't for Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and bloggers at Firedoglake and the Huffington Post, the public option would have been dead months ago. Now, it appears (with no support from the White House) they have gotten 51 Senate Democrats on record to say they will vote for a public option via reconciliation. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin says he won't allow amendments to the health care bill on the Senate floor, but would actively whip Senate passage of whatever is in the House version that Nancy Pelosi sends over. But Speaker Pelosi does not believe there are 51 votes in the Senate to pass a public option. As her constituents, it's our job to tell her that's unacceptable ...

The Massa Mess

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:02:00 -0700

It didn�t take long for the Republicans to take advantage of the Eric Massa mess.

True to form, they jumped right on the bandwagon, accusing the Democrats of not responding appropriately to complaints that now former (as of March 5) U.S. Rep. Eric Massa of New York groped and had tickle fights with male staffers and cursed in his office. According to reports, he even allegedly asked a junior staffer in Barney Frank�s office to dinner and lived with male staffers in an apartment in D.C.

Spanjian Exits District 8 Race � Who Benefits?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:05:00 -0800

The most competitive and expensive race in San Francisco just got a little less crowded, after PUC general manager Laura Spanjian dropped out of the District 8 Supervisor race yesterday. Spanjian is moving to Houston, Texas � where she�s taking a job as Sustainability Director for Annise Parker, the first openly gay Mayor of a major American city. It�s also a good personal move for the Bay Area native (who has never resided outside of California), as her longtime partner lives in Houston and also works for the city there. But for local political junkies, the big question now is what Spanjian�s departure means for the race to succeed Bevan Dufty � and which of the three remaining candidates now stands to benefit the most.

Cinequest 20 Wrapup��Cooking History,� �Complaints Choir,� �Oil Rocks,� �Road to Sangam,� �The Exploding Girl�

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:04:00 -0800

Peter Kerekes� amazing documentary �Cooking History� brings half a dozen 20th century wars down from abstraction to human comprehension through an unusual lens. Cooking meals may seem trivial. Yet in hearing these men and women talk about preparing dishes for the German troops in World War II, the French troops fighting the Algerians, or even both sides in the Serbian/Croatian conflict, they reveal some human truths about war.