It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... more ›

Here's todays recap of the todays news more ›

Every now and then, we try to watch the national news so we'll get the jokes on the Daily Show the next day. So, even though Comedy Central's fake news outlets are on break this week, we were watching the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer last night and turning away when the Saddam Hussein on the gallows footage was on (like a game of hangman, we keep expecting a half-completed word to appear under his feet, with the letters S, T, and E filled in) -- when what comes on for the second news segment of the show but a career biography of Nancy Pelosi! more ›

We're tired of mojito-mixing Gavin Newsom now -- bring on the new guy in Oakland! Over on the sunnier side of the San Francisco Bay, former Congressman Ron Dellums is settling on in at 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza for his first full day on the job today. more ›

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Here we were, worried that this whole Congressman Mark "NAMBLA" Foley story wouldn't have any sort of Bay Area connection so we wouldn't be able to comment on it, but we were wrong. When your representative to Congress is the House Minority Leader, there's a connection to anything in politics. And there is a connection indeed to this story. more ›

More construction this weekend on the Bay Bridge "may affect traffic this weekend". We always love it when the papers say things like "could affect traffic." Of course it'll affect traffic, but they can never come out and say things like that. It's kind of like how lately you've been seeing a bunch of headlines like "Congressman Sending Love Notes to 16 Year Old Page Could Cause Political Problems." Gotta hedge your bets. more ›

Anyone who's interested in San Francisco history must see this movie. Director and MacArthur genius grant recipient Stanley Nelson (who previously directed the Emmy-award-winning The Murder of Emmett Till) has put together a sensitive and thoughtful history of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple that stays away from the usual pat explanations of the situation (as Nelson said in the post-screening Q&A, the story of "900 crazy people drinking Kool-Aid in the jungle") to outline a story that's even more disturbing when you realize how almost-acceptable the situation was that Jones created. As you can see in the picture at the left, Jim Jones was tight in San Francisco local politics, and was considered a key part of George Moscone's (short-lived) mayoral triumph in 1977. Peoples Temple promoted a religious doctrine of interracial brotherhood, responsibility for the poor, and a socialist utopia in which everyone looked out for everyone else. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Peoples Temple also participated in a number of progressive social movements, attending rallies and organizing get-out-the-vote campaigns, and as a result, Jim Jones was awarded a seat on the board of the San Francisco Housing Authority (!!!) before he fled for Guyana, killed a state congressman, and orchestrated the mass suicide of over 900 people. Our mouth kept dropping open at the footage that Nelson had obtained -- interviews with Jones's childhood acquaintances (all of whom agreed he was a weird little dude, torturing and killing cats so he could hold funerals for them), sermons by Jones at his Fillmore/Geary temple (now the post office next to the Fillmore Theater, where the downtown-bound 38 Geary stop is), footage of followers seeing Guyana for the first time, and the most chillingly, live film of the final days in Jonestown and the fateful visit by Congressman Leo Ryan (and a very young Jackie Speier) and tape recordings of Jim Jones urging people to "drink faster, faster, faster." Dude, we were freaked out. Interviews with survivors, Intersection for the Arts, and Jim Jones Jr. at the Q&A, after the jump. more ›

Nancy Pelosi maybe the second most powerful Dem in the country, but that doesn't mean she's getting any love from us hometown folks. For some, it's because if it wasn't for the fact she was constantly referred to as a "San Francisco Liberal" most of us wouldn't know she was our Congressman (Congresswoman? Congressperson? Congresswomyn?). For others, it's because she hasn't used her position as minority leader of a minority party to end the war, impeach the President, AND pass laws only allowing dolphin free tuna. As a result, progressive types have started up a movement to draft up Matt Gonzalez to run against Pelosi. Because nothing makes progressives swoon more than when the Shaggy Haired One bats his big, beautiful eyes in their direction. more ›

Cisco, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google — the companies that internet wags are now calling "The Gang of Four" — were subjected to a verbal smack-down on Wednesday in a hearing about those companies' involvement with known Communists. CNet News.com has a transcript of the hearing, in which California Representative Tom Lantos grills a representative from each company, repeatedly asking "are you ashamed." more ›

It's the name of a TV show, people! Our new District 6 election column. This week on Everybody Hates Chris -- Everyone Hates An Open Field. Matier and Ross report today that the dreams of the District 6 Anyone But Daly crowd were dashed as Christine Pelosi debunked the rumor first announced in Beyond Chron and announced that she will not be running for Daly's seat on the Board of Supes. (For some reason, she's listed as "Christina" Pelosi in the M&R column but it looks like her name is actually "Christine." Maybe name recognition was going to be a problem for her in the race.) Christine Pelosi, whose mother you may have heard of, is a former San Francisco deputy DA who is now a member of the DNC and the chair of the Platform Committee for the California Democratic Party. In her day job, Christine serves as Chief of Staff to Congressman John Tierney (D-Mass.) (who her mother then appointed to the Intelligence committee) and used to date (scroll down) now 63-year-old Texas Democratic congressman Max Sandlin (during which time her mother appointed him to the Ways and Means committee). Sandlin lost his bid for reelection last year (and is now dating a representative from South Dakota. What a player!) It sounds like all the rumors might have been started because the younger Ms. Pelosi just moved into SoMA, by the ballpark. Christine says, "I moved South of Market not to run for district supervisor but to be close to the ballyard where I can enjoy my beloved Giants, mindful that the last time Giants won the World Series, the Democrats won back the U.S. House and Senate." Isn't anyone going to run against Daly? What about you, District 6 resident Al Gore? Picture of Christina Pelosi (at left) with mom from Washington Life, from the 2000 Italian-American Foundation Gala more ›

Now that it's been revealed that the President was illegally eavesdropping on people and that his basic reaction was "suck on it," what was once the fevered acid flashback of a few hippies in Marin and Daily Kossacks is now suddenly going mainstream. The "I" word is out there and even if we're only talking about the equivalent of some unknown band suddenly generating a bit of a buzz and a faint whiff of interest from record execs, it's still generating some buzz. Maybe not the Strokes buzz, more Super Furry Animal Buzz, which is more buzz than it had before. Hopping on that buzz today is Barbara Boxer who sent a letter to four Presidential Scholars asking if they think what King George did rises to the merits of "impeachable offense." more ›

Julius Kahn must have done something right to have the 'Fistiest park in the city named after him. Whatever he did*, his best accomplishment is to have this playground to his name. Nested in the south side of the Presidio, facing the mansions of the well-to-do, it breathes the charme discret de la bourgeoisie. And it is a city park, so even you can afford it too. more ›

Yes, Rai-duh fans, we have ourselves a full-fledged QB controversy as yesterday, in his press conference, Norv Turner said that he was maybe, sort of, possibly thinking about benching Kerry Collins and replacing him with sportswriters' worst nightmare, Marques Tuiasosopo. Said Marvelous Marv Turner: "We're going to look at the quarterback thing, the quarterback situation, and say, 'Hey, is it time to look at Tui? With his mobility, would that help us?" more ›

It’s the kind of thing that's supposed to be bang-bang: local congressperson gets congress to vote on the naming of local post office after local hero and congress votes yes because nobody really cares what a post office is named. It happens so frequently and so easily that nobody can remember when anybody last raised a stink. So congresswoman Barbara Lee tried to get the Berkeley Post office named after long-time councilwoman, activist, and Berkeley icon Maudelle Shirek, only to see it get denied. The reason? Because that Maudelle? She hates America. more ›

Meet Dick. Dick is the congressman from Tracy. Dick is the powerful head of the House Resource Committee. He loves the environment. Dick, you see, as head of the House Resource Committee, is in charge of the committee overseeing the care of our environment. Things like poor endangered Fairy Shrimp or some of our national parks and coastlines. Lately, Dick has been getting into the news a lot over new environmental rules he's trying to establish. Like allowing off-shore drilling (no scientific evidence that drilling hurts the environment). Or selling off naming rights to several national parks and slapping ads on park vehicles (the budget has to be cut somehow, you know). Or telling fellow committee members that no wilderness proposal would be considered unless it allows for some sort of "mechanized access." more ›

For all those people wishing somebody, anybody, would get to the bottom of this whole steroid mess, have no worries, congress is here! This week, members of the House Government Reform Committee, having finished reforming the government, have asked several ballplayers linked in the steroid scandal, several ball players not linked in the steroid scandal, MLB baseball officials, and union officials to testify next Thursday in front of the committee about steroid abuse. Those players, including Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Jason Giambi, have pretty much refused to testify. As have most MLB officials. And so, yesterday, congress sent out subpoenas. Noticeably absent from all this is one Barry Lamar Bonds. This despite the fact he has become the poster-boy of alleged steroid abuse and despite the fact he's about to break the most famous record in all of sports. Not to mention despite the fact some people think this whole BALCO thing is nothing more than an attempt to get Barry. more ›

For those of you wondering why BART has been almost MUNI-like, it's because of a that's throwing everything off. Due to that little glitch, switching equipment is malfunctioning somewhere between Colma and Millbrae and the result is a stopped BART. In order to fix the problem when it occurs, BART drivers have to get out of the train, walk up the tracks and manually switch the thing themselves. The result of the little software problem has been delays up and down the line as trains have been held up anywhere from a few minutes to a full hour. SFist can fully vouch for the problems as we've missed our connections at Millbrae twice in the past week and the only thing that's kept us from having a severe case of Pub Trans Rage is memories of the N Judah. more ›

Walking dejectedly back to the first day of work in 2005, we noticed that the flags in town are flying at half-mast in honor of Sacramento's Democratic congressman Robert Matsui. Matsui, who had served in Congress continuously since 1978 (and who won reelection in November with 70.8% of the vote), died on New Year's Day from complications of an AIDS-like lymphomic cancer which destroyed his immune system. Matsui, who had been imprisoned with his family in a Japanese internment camp at the age of five months, is best-known for his work in seeking redress for the Japanese internment program (Quicktime video of Matsui's speech in support of the 1988 Japanese-American Redress Act), but was also the third-ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, the Democratic whip-at-large, and the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Matsui, who was chairing the subcommittee of Ways and Means that handles Social Security, in what would be one of his last public statements, had sharply criticized Bush's privatization plans. Matsui was one of only five Asian-American Congressmen. Schwartzenegger must now call a special election to fill Matsui's seat; Sacramento insiders believe that his wife, Doris Okuda Matsui, who served in the Clinton administration, may run. It's a hard day for Democrats of color -- Gothamist on Shirley Chisholm's death. picture from washingtonlife.com more ›