We'll admit we've often asked ourselves this same question ... but now some actual scientists have gone ahead and put the scientific stamp of authority on the notion that if a person is kind of dumb, they are not capable of judging whether another person's idea is dumb, and therefore they are bound to make a stupid choice in an election. more ›

Back in October, the Yes on 8 "people" challenged California's Superintendent of Schools, Jack O'Connell, to a debate about gay marriage. According to Yes, even the remotest possibility of learning anything about gay marriage is harmful to children. Nothing hateful about that! more ›

Cultural Learnings of Blogosphere for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of -Ist-a-verse more ›

Since we've been doing a bunch of postings about our super-exciting congressional race, we'd love to come up with some clever title along the lines of "Everybody Hates Chris" but we are coming up with nothing. Sorry-- we're a little jet-lagged these days. Needless to say, we do have some Pelosi & Pals news today as the Washington Post has a big feature on some anti-lobbying bill she's been working on for awhile that could see the light of day if she does become Madame Speaker. Lots of bans on travel and gifts are involved and we'll see what happens the moment she does become Madame Speaker. Our guess is that it'll pass with loopholes a' plenty. more ›

Remember those heady days of 2004, when the Democrats thought they might have had a chance to take back the White House with Howard Dean? Well, we all know how that turned out. But it turns out a bunch of people took that whole grassroots, Internet, "taking back the Democratic wing of the Democratic party" stuff seriously enough that they started a group called Democracy for America, dedicated to furthering the mission throughout all levels of politics -- from local to state to national. Members of their local branch, SF for Democracy, were kind enough to sit down with SFist and outline what exactly it is they do. more ›

Last week's winner: The East Bay Express. What? No letters about Cody's? Fret not -- there's an article. (We had no idea the reason why there's no books on the shelves there now is because they were behind on their bills!) Also -- neighbors rat out neighbors for loud parties and for opening day-care centers. Cover: Fat acceptance movement (medical, civil rights, artistic, online). Good article, which makes the no fatties cartoon running later in the issue seem a little weird. Peruvian food in Richmond. The Ivy Room closes down this week, and their rants column "Haters Stand Up," about annoying fans of "conscious rap." And Savage Love says it's wrong to take advantage of polyamorists. more ›

It is kind of silly to assign politics to restaurants or diets. But Cha-Ya, a relatively new Japanese restaurant serving only vegan food, struck us as a magnet for people left of the Kucinic wing of the Democrat party. Maybe Green party supporters or unrepentant Chomskyists. Or just basic wanna-be commune-living combi-driving Berkeleyans, as Cha-Ya is the sister restaurant of the similarly named Shattuck Ave eatery. Of course, this being SF, the place is packed. more ›

Well, we'll tell you right now to use a pencil and not a pen to write this upcoming date down -- supposedly, Guns N Roses (in this incarnation: yes Axl, no Slash) have announced two dates at the Warfield next month, on Sept. 20 and 21, and the tickets ($75 a pop) are slated to go on sale this Sunday, August 20. more ›

Hey sports fans, in case you missed Sunday's episode of "Q&A" on C-SPAN--and judging by the ratings we're guessing that most of you did--host Brian Lamb interviewed the founder, President, and primary funder of Democracy Matters, a nonprofit foundation that focuses on grass-roots, pro-democracy reforms. more ›

It's all about good causes here at SFist. And while we're not sure if they really qualifies as a good cause, it's certainly a funny one. Matt Stewart is planning a wedding, and what really makes a for a rockin' reception is a good band. Being the superfan that he is, he thinks that he's offering a primo opportunity for fabulous publicity to one of the most enigmatic musicians of our time -- Axl Rose. From his introductory letter to Axl:

[W]ould there be a better way for you to jumpstart the new incarnation of Guns N’ Roses than by performing at a fan’s wedding, taking a dance or two with grandma, drinking a couple glasses of champagne, and vanishing into the night? It would pretty much be the greatest PR move in the history of civilization, and would immediately endear you and the band to millions of fans. Especially me.

Wednesday, you're doing a heck of a job! Tonight: Satisfy your craving for Germanic food and drink at Schroeder's, while also learning more about the development plans for Piers 27-31 with San Francisco for Democracy, a spinoff group from the 2004 Howard Dean campaign. The local Sierra Club and a rep for an anti-development citizens' group will speak; the corporation trying to develop the property cancelled at the last minute. Mmmm, sauerkraut. Thursday: Events listing fave Michelle Tea is at it again -- she's hosting a reading of underground and emerging writers in conjunction with the Gay and Lesbian Center at the Public Library. Authors Regie Cabico, Kaui Hemings, Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz, and Horehound Stillpoint will be reading. 5-8 pm in the Latino/Hispanic Room at the Main Library. In the same area, Cindy Sheehan is reading too, at Clean Well-Lighted at 7 p.m. and Friday: The DeYoung Museum sponsors events on Friday nights! This week, Egyptian belly dancing performances! The dancers of the Al Masri Restaurant on Balboa and 42nd will perform a dance history of the raqs sharki dance from antiquity to today. 6:45 and 7:45, free with museum admission. The Egyptian Consul General will be present as well. more ›

This was our first time at the Li'l Roxie, and we hope it won't be our last! (Please, please, say the rumors aren't true!) We squeezed past the teeny-tiny hallway and into a long, narrow, but spacious, comfy, and well-proportioned closet, and settled into our squeaky chair (we apologize to all our neighbors) for 90 minutes of SF DocFest electoral rage. We also picked up a ballot on our way in -- before you ask, it was an IndieFest optical scan, where choices (or "ratings") are marked with a circle. Call It Democracy, by Matt Kohn, is an exploration of the problem of electioneering in the 21st century -- from the oddities of the electoral college to Supreme Court shenanigans to missing electronic ballots to Colorado's electoral-vote splitting movement in 2004. Okay, we're not too liberaler-than-thou to admit it -- electoral reform is really not the most interesting topic in the world to us. So it's with a great deal of relief that we can report that this movie is not like one of those long DailyKos tinhat-wearing posts that you skip, or a long filmstrip with blue states and red states, or anything like that. The clips are interesting! The movie moves at a brisk pace! We didn't find ourselves trying to gouge our eyes out with a stick! That's good, right? Cameos by stapler-throwers John Bolton and Kevin Shelley, after the jump. more ›

Well, when we suggested that Sophie start a blog to help counter some of the diatribes by critics in her constituency, we were only partly joking. Sure, we were jealous that our friends in District Six have a blogging supe, and we don't. But really, we tend to like Supervisor Maxwell, being the child of activists ourselves. But her public perception is about to take a hit again, this time on an international level, and as usual, she doesn't entirely deserve it. more ›

Thanks to everyone who made it out in the rain to take pictures! "Small but spirited" is always our favorite description of a protest -- and by our count there were at least twenty people. Starting at Embarcadero, we took a series of trains, stopping first at Powell, then Civic Center, then finally the Castro. It's also so much fun to meet the people behind the blogs, and to get a chance to talk about photography, independent media, technology and constitutional law. Oh, and trade gossip about Matt Gonzalez. We love that guy. more ›

To follow up on our previous story, we're not sure whether the Muni photography ban is the biggest threat to our personal freedom, but we have a feeling that if we don't blow this all a little out of proportion, it will probably be ignored. Civil liberties in our country seem to be dying a death by inches, and what worries us more than simply having a rule banning photography on Muni station platforms is that it is being enforced without having been publicly reviewed or even codified in a legal document. Secret laws selectively enforced is not our idea of Democracy. more ›

Now, SFist and your Political Junkie are not really statisticians, but the preliminary data coming in from the RCV reports compiled by the Center for Voting and Democracy yield some pretty interesting results, as reported by the Examiner's Adriel Hampton. more ›

Here at EssEffist we've been getting it from all sides as to what we should call ourselves. SFist? EssEffist? Friscoist? Bayist? Fogist? First off, you can use any of these to get to our site, so link it and bookmark it however you like - they'll all take you to the same great place. Still, we want to hear from you, our dear readers, what you think we should call ourselves. And just like Donald Rumsfeld we bring you Democracy, whether you like it or not. Vote in our poll - and try not to be an a**hole and write a script or click and reclick for hours to guarantee your preferred result. We're working on the honor system here, folks. We'll leave this poll up all week and we'll reveal the winner on Monday. If we detect any shenanigans, we're totally going to go back and check every hanging and dimpled browser cookie to make sure we're on the level. So vote already! more ›

For those of you who thought the lamp posts, telephone poles, and coffee shop windows in town look too empty, fret no more! It's almost time for Supervisor elections!! more ›