A recent spat of earthquakes in the homeland has prompted an Israeli MP -- Knesset Member Shlomo Benizri, the Pat Robertson of Israel -- to blame the country's attorney general, who recently upset God for ruling that same-sex couples could adopt, for the geological disturbances underfoot. Of course.......

State Attorney General Jerry Edmund G. Brown gave the OK for SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera to sue Ed Jew today. A civil lawsuit like this would permanently remove Jew from office. What's more, according to the Chronicle, Brown said: We find that it would be in the public interest, particularly for the (Board of Supervisors) and the residents and voters of District Four, to have a prompt judicial resolution of whether (Jew) has......

Huh -- remember that huge fight we all got into about whether or not to put cameras at high-crime intersections in SF? Turns out the cameras at the public housing sites are pretty much useless. To wit, they've only been used for evidence in two cases, neither of which were the homicides that they said the cameras would help solve. Whether this is because cameras don't deter crime, or because the restrictions that the civil......

Just passing along the word from ABC 7 that today is beleaguered District 4 Supervisor Ed Jew's last day to prove up his San Francisco residency to Attorney General Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown. In other deadline-related Ed Jew news, the other operative date to watch out for is Monday Tuesday July 10, which is the cutoff date for a special election for the seat if Ed Jew resigns. If Ed resigns over the looong July 4......

Hey, did you hear? City Attorney Dennis Herrera referred Ed Jew's case to the State Attorney General (Jerry Brown) for disciplinary action (.pdf). One of Jew's three lawyers is hoppin' mad. The picture's from SFMike and the two sound clips (30 seconds apiece) are from SFist Jim. Thanks, guys! powered by ODEO powered by ODEO What we're even more excited about, though, is the following Tapioca Ed sighting we received word of, from a reader......

Jerry Brown, our recenty elected State Attorney General and St. Ignatius College Prep alum, isn't afraid to take the Bush Administration to task for its weak stand on fuel efficency for SUVs, minivans and pickups. He's seeking more than the paltry one-mile-ish increase, to 23.5 miles per gallon from the current 22.2 miles by 2010. He called the change "absurd." Damn right. He posits that a standard of 10 miles-15 miles better would suit us far better. ...

You've undoubted heard by now of the controversy where AG AG (That's Attorney General Alberto Gonzales) fired a bunch of people for apparently less than above-board reasons. Well, maybe he had a good excuse for canning Kevin Ryan, former local U.S. Attorney. An article in the Washington Post cites the tesitmony that David Margolis, a Justice Department official, gave to congressional investigators. His testimony indicated that his opinion circa 2004 or 2005 was that Kevin Ryan was "having trouble managing [his office]." Furthermore, according to the article, Margolis said that Ryan wasn't on the initial "to be fired" list--and that Margolis indicated surprise on learning that. ...

There was more bible holding and swearing oaths today than a Pat Robertson "300 Club" revival as Jerry Brown also got sworn in today as the new Attorney General. Like the Board of Supervisors ceremony, this one was also attended by a non-blue tie-wearing Gavin (!). Also attending was Jerry's Linda McCartney, wife/aid Anne Gust. ...

-Pelosi's in charge. -The Governator gets his inaguaral today too even if he's still laid up. ...

he Calfornia Supreme Court yesterday decided to weigh in on Gay Marriage by agreeing to decide whether or not a ban on gay marriage is constitutional or not. At issue is whether or not the ban is discriminatory. How did we get here? Let's go take the Way Back Machine and see. ...

The new bishop of the Northern California Episcopal Diocese, Rev. Marc Andrus, was arrested at the federal building yesterday afternoon after leading a group of 200 protestors from Grace Cathedral to participate in a die-in against the Iraq war. Rev. Andrus, who was carrying a shepherd's staff, celebrated communion outside the building before lying down in front of the door of the building and getting himself arrested. The murder trial for 3-year-old Cha Cha (Chazarus......

We're being civic-minded tonight, which translates to giving you the scoop on election night parties. SFist Rita has already filled us in on the District 6 celebrations, though we don't know where Manuel Jimenez' shindig is happening. We hope he's not still mad at us. Music for America is hosting a big screen, non-partisan as far as District 6 is concerned, election results-watching party at 12 Galaxies (2565 Mission St. @ 22nd) with DJs.......

-Bechtel cutting and running from Iraq. -Daly now ahead in D6 race? ...

-Protestors march through the street's of San Francisco to throw out the Bush Regime. At last check, Bush Regime not thrown out. ...

Patricia Dunn, ex Chairwoman of H.P. is now officially having the worst week ever. Yesterday, it was her starting chemo for ovarian cancer and now today, she just got indicted by the California Attorney General. Dunn was charged with four felonies:

"using of false or fraudulent pretenses to obtain confidential information from a public utility, unauthorized access to computer data, identity theft, and conspiracy to commit each of those crimes."

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbq's and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it that made that makes the -ists ponder? ...

SFist Sarah L. tells us the latest in the East Bay! First, the quick and dirty: the Oakland Tribune reports: one dead, two injured, 3 alarm fire at a 6 story residential hotel in downtown Oakland early Friday morning . In the Berkeley Daily Planet, a new book alleges Oakland Mayor and Attorney General candidate, Jerry Brown, took money from the mob back in his gubernatorial days. Jerry's opponent, Chuck Poochigian (we're waiting on the......

This has been a rough week for your -ist pals, though you wouldn't know it from the great posts all over the network. Plagued with server problems, our tech team (led by the great Neil Epstein) toiled around the clock to solve the glitches as they arose. Seriously, we've said, typed, and thought the phrase "server problems" more in the past week than we have for the last 35 years combined. Why not say it......

There actually is a local component to this whole NSA wiretapping/eavesdropping scandal, one that is about to make the scandal more scandal-y. It involves AT&T and the claims of former AT&T technician Mark Klein that sometime in 2002, AT&T allowed the U.S. Government to build a secret room in their Folsom Street office for the express purpose of eavesdropping not just on phones, but the internet too. And yes, whenever we read about this, we picture guys in black suits, black ties, and black shades running around the AT&T offices led by a mysterious figure smoking a cigarette. ...

The very definition of a 'chilling effect' on free speech is when legislation or enforcement of new laws are so potentially onerous that people and organization self-censor out of fear and potential liability. Today, the users of Tribe.net were one of the first groups on the internet to feel that cool breeze, as Tribe have instituted their new Terms of Use with amendments to the provisions regarding mature public content, and presumably, any content......

Anil Dash shares some timely insights into online communities. Danah Boyd finds herself caught in the middle of the debate over Wikipedia. Tom Foremsi and felow journos sup on Google sushi while their old employers crumble around them. And Jeff Nolan explores some novel theories about Yahoo's purchase of del.icio.us. Headline of the week goes to Edward Champion for "New Podjack City." Eran explores the tenuous connection between The Facebook and The Agency. Google......

First the pit bulls rise against the humans -- and now it's the trees! A man sitting on a bench and minding his own business in North Beach's Washington Square Park was almost brained as a huge branch of the shade tree above him snapped off and fell. Fortunately, the branch just barely missed him. The tree will be humanely euthanized (i.e., cut down). Prurient brunchers have a new stop for eggs over easy: Sausalito is up in arms about reports of a nude swimmer sunning himself outside the windows of Spinnakers. To Sausalito's chagrin, he likes to flip over and do the backstroke. And Sonoma County Judge Elaine Rushing was sentenced to 10 days in jail and three years of probation for a DUI in June, when she was found with a .19 blood alcohol level, having driven her car with two flat tires into a wall. Because she was a judge in the county where she was arrested, the state attorney general's office handled the case. Cheap irony alert: Judge Rushing was noted in Sonoma County for the harsh sentences she handed down to drunk drivers. Rushing will perform community service in lieu of the clink. ...

You know how we're going to have this Very Special Election this November? And you know how one of the measures we're going to be voting on is a redistricting plan? Guess what? We're not going to be voting on it after all. Yesterday, a judge ruled that the measure has to be taken off the ballot because the measure that was approved by the state attorney general was different than the measure that everyone signed while being accosted at shopping markets. ...

Okay, we all know what the internet is best at -- porn, porn, rants and porn. Sure, blogging is nice, but it doesn't really pay all that well. There was certainly a point after the dot-bomb where the only people hiring HTML and Photoshop wizards were porn sites, and yes, we totally took their little nudie-photo color correction tests and sent them our resumes. Hell, we might have even considered acting in a few......

By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court voted today to overturn a decision by a San Francisco federal appeals court that allowed the use of medicinal marijuana. The court ruled that in cases such as these, federal laws prevail over state laws and so the Feds can prosecute Californians for smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes. There goes having to worry about too many pot clubs in the city. Voting against the ruling were Chief Justice......

Warren Beatty gave the commencement speech to the University of California class of 2005, wearing academic robes and going after Governor Schwarzenegger in what may be an opening salvo in Beatty's rumored campaign. Current front runners in the race for the Democratic nomination include State Treasurer Phil Angelides and fellow Hollywood millionaire Rob Reiner, after Attorney General Bill Lockyer threw in the towel. Schwarzenegger has seen his approval ratings drop to around 50% after......

Okay, we're going to go ahead and put our two cents in on this, while scrupulously avoiding actually linking to it -- we will, however, link to the LA Weekly's Nikki Finke's thoughts on Arianna Huffington's new project. Luckily, we were given an opening to snark a bit ourselves by none other than California Attorney General candidate Jerry Brown: Long ago, America's founders assumed an educated electorate and the deliberative discussions and reflections that......

We're a little late on this, but mazel tov to newly-affianced Mayor Jerry Brown of Oakland and his girlfriend of 15 years, Gap executive Anne Gust! (We apologize for using the picture of Jerry Brown with ex Linda Ronstadt, but Linda is apparently getting an invitation to the wedding so we figure it's all good.) Brown proposed on Gust's birthday two weeks ago, in their loft on Telegraph Avenue, after he cooked her a romantic dinner of BBQ chicken and peas. He was so excited he hadn't even bought a ring yet! Awwwwwww. It's a first wedding for them both. They're tentatively planning for a June 2005 wedding. Guess if you're the mayor, you don't have to worry so much about the year-long wait lists at popular Oaktown wedding spots like the rest of us. Sen. Dianne Feinstein will officiate (here's hoping she doesn't accidentally sell Brown and Gust out to the right wing in the process). And no registry -- all gifts should be sent to the Oakland School of the Arts. Cynics may say that this may have something to do with the fact that Jerry's planning on running for attorney general next year -- but we're choosing to see it solely as a move for love! Most importantly, though, Jerry! Are you going to go the route of all engaged bloggers and fill up your blogspot account with long accounts of trying on shoes and cake tastings and ofotos of fabric swatches? We can't wait! ...

Here at SFist, we like to highlight local bloggers who are at the top of their game. But sometimes we also like to use this column to show our support to kids who are new to the neighborhood. So even though this guy has only written one post (though it has gotten 46 comments so far), we want to encourage him to keep cranking away at his site. Who's the man in question? Why,......

In the "No s**t, motherf**ker" department, John over at the Legal Reader recently posted an excerpt to an AP story which points out that under California's weapons registration law, the chances you'll get a felony rap is in linear proportion to the amount of milk you need to add to coffee to resemble your skin tone. Black coffee? Felony. Cafe-au-lait? Felony. Just milk? Misdemeanor. The study of the law was initiated by state Attorney General......