Warning: we're about to mix politics and baseball, something many fans welcome as much as a three-hour rain delay. And while all sides will insist there is no connection, the dynamics still bear watching.
We're talking about conservative billionaire Joe Ricketts, the patriarch of the Ricketts family that owns the Chicago Cubs. The New York Times reports that high-profile Republican strategists are working with Ricketts on a proposal to mount a $10 million super-PAC campaign linking President Obama to controversial comments of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, re-igniting the debate from the 2008 campaign.
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New Merced Mayor Tries to Repeal Tenant Protection Law
by Dean Preston‚
May. 18‚ 2012
Move to Increase Bank Evictions after Foreclosure Widely Criticized
Merced’s new mayor, Stan Thurston, is seeking to re-open the floodgates to mass evictions by banks and investors acquiring foreclosed properties in Merced. The Mayor is leading efforts to repeal Merced’s Just Cause for Eviction law that protects renters after foreclosure. The city council will vote whether to repeal the law on Monday, May 21, at Merced City Hall.
Since December, arbitrary evictions of tenants after foreclosure have been outlawed under Merced’s just cause for eviction law. The law applies to foreclosed properties and prohibits evictions of renters unless there is specific cause (like nonpayment of rent, nuisance, owner move-in, etc) for the eviction. Foreclosure alone is not grounds for eviction of tenants under the ordinance. Similar laws to stop arbitrary evictions have been upheld by California courts.
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Remembering Chuck Brown, 1936-2012
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
May. 18‚ 2012
I still have fond memories of growing up in DC, and part of the music scene that made us groove was our very own, unmistakable "Go Go" beat. Everyone was digging' it; from the kids drumming on their 5 gallon, plastic buckets at Dupont Circle, to the latinos jamming in the parks of Mount Pleasant, Go-Go was everywhere. During my halcyon days back in '99 as a volunteer and webmaster at DC Vote, (a non-profit dedicated to educating the public about DC's lack of real congressional representation), we often needed to put on events to heighten the public's awareness. There was only one man whose music we knew would inspire any DC crowd; the "Godfather of Go-Go", the one and only Chuck Brown. Chuck was a huge advocate for DC's voting rights and would go on to perform many concerts for our organization over the next few years. Last year, I happened to be back in DC on U Street, when suddenly, my friend and I spotted the legendary Chuck Brown on our way over to Ben's Chilli Bowl. Ironically, I'd just heard his latest CD, "We Got This", with his fabulous new tune "Love", featuring Ledesi, Marcus Miller and Jill Scott. "Yo Chuck!" we yelled, and he flashed that famous Chuck smile. Chuck Brown passed away this week at the age of 75, and we will sorely miss one of the great, musical geniuses the Washington, DC area has ever known.
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Payback the Movie; Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
by Buzzin' Lee Hartgrave‚
May. 18‚ 2012
Awesome photography that fascinates us with injustices that the poor endure as the rich and powerful abuse the few that can get work. The movie is part documentary with lots of talking heads. But, the story is brave in these impressive moments on the screen.
The movie is based on Margaret Atwood’s book of essays. The book probably is more exciting – however transferring real life to the screen injustice, murder, migrant workers and their rights. Some of the best haunting scenes are the oil-spill victims. This is not happy times in the old corral. The workers get treated as badly as the wild Horses around the world. No one seems to give a crap. Well, I do – and they have a right to live. After all – they are human beings. They shouldn’t have to go through physical pain just because some cowboy or farmer decides that you’re not working hard enough or fast enough.
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The Rise of “San Francisco Values” in the City of Love
by Randy Shaw‚
May. 17‚ 2012
San Francisco may have been more transformed from the mid-1960’s through the 1980’s than any other city. The city changed economically, demographically, physically, and culturally, a shift visually embodied in a downtown highrise boom, the youth scene in the Haight-Ashbury, and the Castro District’s emergence as a gay Mecca. These years saw People’s Temple and Jonestown, the Moscone-Milk murders, the displacement of thousands of low-income tenants by the Redevelopment Agency, and the enactment of rent control and other vital land use controls. David Talbot’s new book, Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terro and Deliverance in the City of Love, interprets these years as giving birth to a new set of progressive “San Francisco values.” But he offers a surprisingly uncritical account of the politicians and politics of this era, using the “San Francisco values” mantra to embrace forces often opposed to the city’s progressive direction.
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Obama, Marriage Equality & the Black Civil Rights Movement
by Harrison Chastang‚
May. 17‚ 2012
"A person should be judged by the content of their character" -- Dr. Martin Luther King, I Have A Dream Speech, August 28 1963.
Many Black ministers who denounce President Barack Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality claim that leaders of the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement would be absolutely against Same Sex Marriage, and that those leaders are probably turning over in their graves over a notion that the first Black President would endorse it. These ministers ignore the examples of how three of the best known leaders of the Civil Rights/Black Power Movement, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton, were willing to overlook religious, cultural and philosophical differences to achieve the greater goal.
Many, but not all of the Black Ministers criticizing President Obama’s decision endorsing Same Sex Marriage are Republicans who have long sought an issue to pull politically liberal but religiously conservative Blacks from the Democratic Party. Their calls urging Black Christians to vote against Obama this November because of the President’s position on Same Sex Marriage appear to be masked as a religious, not politically partisan action.
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School Beat: Let’s End the “War on Kids”
by Lisa Schiff‚
May. 17‚ 2012
“The War on Kids,” a recently re-promoted 2009 documentary about our educational system, ends with a horrifying scene of a young girl, no more than 7 or 8, screaming and crying as three law enforcement officers pull her up from a chair in a school office and handcuff her, oblivious to the girl’s hysterical sobbing. That one scene captures the primary message of the filmmaker: that our public school system is a fundamentally flawed institution designed not to educate, but to exert control over students who are a priori viewed by that system as criminals.
The film is fueled by a righteous anger at subtly destructive campaigns such as the “War on Drugs,” the corroding affects of which consume the bulk of the screen time. Tracing the lines from the hypocritical hysteria concerning drugs, weapons and youth, “The War on Kids” ends up offering an extreme critique of a public institution that is stretched to the breaking point. Director Cevin Soling’s main point though, is that “all efforts to improve the quality of education are doomed to fail if the system itself is not examined and understood to be the most significant impediment.”
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WB Coyle, the Horseman? Look Closer, Don’t Be Fooled. It’s a Trojan Horse!
May. 17‚ 2012
Ed Note: Below is another story about the WB Coyle TIC/Ellis Act disaster in North Beach. In light of the many longterm tenants evicted and the financial shenanigans underlying Coyle's scheme, this is a cautionary tale for those who have previously not understood the risks of purchasing TIC's created via the Ellis Act.
From Federal Bankruptcy Court documents and title searches, Dissolution Properties LLC (DP) is another one of William Bernard, WB Coyles, mastermind LLCs. In 2004 DP was a “trojan horse” brought forward to the walls of civilized society with the sole purpose of hiding assets and defrauding investors and lenders.
From its inception, DP would encumber millions in loans mainly with Trust Deed Investments (TDI). TDI is the hard money lender run by Phil Goldstein and operative Adam Kahn, who had previously loaned Coyle money on several other projects but had become skeptical of his investments.
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New York Times Misinforms Readers on Jerry Brown’s Budget
by Paul Hogarth‚
May. 16‚ 2012
Adam Nagourney’s report on Governor Jerry Brown’s May Revise budget got one obvious fact wrong – the state doesn’t have a “new” $16 billion shortfall. The budget deficit was already $8 billion, and now we have to deal with another $8 billion. But what also isn’t “new” about the New York Times article is the false notion (repeated ad nauseam by the traditional media) that Democrats and Republicans are somehow “equally” to blame for the budget crisis. We all know the Republicans refuse to raise any taxes whatsoever, but Nagourney claims with no evidence that Democrats are “reluctant” to make budget cuts – after they agreed to make $11 billion in cuts this year alone. Brown deserves credit for pushing some tax increases (even if they are only temporary), but the state has a structural $20 billion deficit left when Arnold Schwarzenegger. And when Jerry Brown had an opportunity to correct part of that wrong with a Vehicle License Fee, he vetoed the legislation.
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SEIU-UHW Blew $3.5 Million on Phony Ballot Drive
by Randy Shaw‚
May. 16‚ 2012
May 18, 2012
