Usually when a Presidential candidate announces his VP choice it's either to try and help him win some state or area that could help him win or to try and strengthen an apparent weakness. For example, Bill Clinton chose Al Gore to help him try and win the south. And in 2000, George Bush selected Dick Cheney to help alleviate concerns about his lack of experience and evilness. So with that, we announce that Ralph Nader's choice as his Vice President is our very own Matt Gonzalez....

Every year, California fills out a bunch of forms, dots a lot of i's, and writes up some reports to send off to the EPA for permission to be granted a waiver from EPA rules to create their own carbon dioxide emission limits. This all started in the 70s when California pollution wasn't so groovy and was made more of a priority recently when the state decided to do something about Global Warming as the Federal Government was too busy thinking Global Warming was nothing but the blabberings of a bunch of tree-hugging hippies and wanted that cute little polar bear to die. Everytime the state had sent out the request, the state had been granted a waiver. But not this year-- our request just got ixnayed. ...

As promised, the San Francisco Mime Troupe performed in Dolores Park for the public last Wednesday and last weekend. It was the premier of the group's show "Making a Killing," which lampoons the current administration. We dropped by the Sunday performance; the photo above is during a charming ditty where "Condi Rice" and "Dick Cheney" were arguing over who was more popular. ...

Here's todays sports news...

It's the Fourth of July! Streamers! Bunting! Brass bands! And in San Francisco.... the opening of the hotly-anticipated SF Mime Troupe production in Dolores Park! The acidly-political theater group (note: not actually mimes, though it would actually be hilarious if one year they did do an entire production in mime) is putting on free performances of "Making a Killing" every weekend at local parks throughout the area until October. This year's play is about......

Here's todays wrap up of the news...

You know that woman who was a Madame in the DC area who threatened to release all the names and info on her client list? Well, she just went out and released all the names and info on her client list. In an e-mail to a Washington D.C. radio station, the Madame, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, said she gave everything to "what I believe to be one of the most reputable and respected investigative news organizations in the country, to assist me with my needs." We somehow don't think she meant NPR. ...

We know we've been talking about the Traina sisters quite a bit lately, but we can't help but comment on the mostly fierce but somewhat questionable fashion sense of the closest thing we'll ever have to the Hilton sisters. (Even though the Traina girls, like, hate being compared to the Hiltons.) This is another photo from New York Fashion Week, and, frankly, we're at a loss for words. ...

First Viacom didn't want their stuff on YouTube. Then they did. Now, once again, they don't. So some poor schmos at YouTube are looking at missing the Super Bowl as they have to pull clips from Viacom shows. The guesstimate for the amount of clips on there is about 100,000. ...

Nancy Pelosi: Bitch stole Gavin's look! Dick Cheney: Easy there, Nancy Pants. By SFist Elaine......

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. ...

Not content to take over earth, Google just announced a partnership with NASA to start taking over outer space too. The partnership will allow Google to show all sorts of cool things like 3-D maps of the moon and Mars and will allow for real time tracking of the international space station and the space shuttle. You will also be able to watch weather patterns and other things from outer space so hopefully it'll make it easier for the President to see major Hurricanes that are about to hit major cities. ...

We interrupt our sports coverage to give you this story. It's maybe not a local story, but we're sure it's of local interest. In fact, it's of national interest because it's just that good. And here it is: Dick Cheney's daughter, Mary, is pregnant. You know, Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter (oh wait, are we allowed to say that? When John Kerry did, he got taken to the cleaners for outing somebody who was already out). The one who has had a longtime partner that gets hidden every time Mary is out doing some sort of political thingy. Yep, she's pregnant. Dick Cheney's granddaughter is going to have two mommies. ...

It's "The Rainbow Connection" by Kermit the Frog. This song could even bring a smile to Dick Cheney's cold, bitter heart......

We haven't voted yet as we were hoping to do a bit more studying before going in there. This whole IRV thing just means more work as now you have figure out who you want besides the guy you want. No more coin flips. ...

Last week's winner, the Guardian. The SF People's Organization is having a meeting this Saturday. Letters about guns in the Castro. Everything is better with strippers -- union woes, men against women, and a no-fatties proposal at the Lusty Lady. Hating on fixie bikes -- and big ups to SFist Sarah L for pointing out to us how awesomely combative the comments in response have gotten (typical comment: "My god man, do you have an......

After making more flip-flops than an Indonesian child-labor sweatshop, the Environmentalist-in-Chief finally decided to spend his Earth Day Eve and morning at Dick Cheney's favorite disclosed location, Meadowood Resort in St. Helena. Although nobody's exactly sure why W made the last-minute call to go Napa, mountain biking might have had something to do with it.

The perpetually well rested Bush spent Friday night in one of Meadowood's $4,000 a night suites, then motorcaded over to Las Posadas State Forest in Angwin Saturday morning for a 65-minute mountain bike ride of unreported distance.

The ride, which Bush made with his SS entourage, the vaunted Travis Air Force Base cycling team, and AP writer Scott Lindlaw, was part of a carefully scripted Earth Day itinerary meant to highlight Bush's concern for the environment and sustainable fuels. Unfortunately for the Earth and everyone who lives on it, Bush is more Soylent Green than Greenpeace.

We went to Myth burdened with expectations as high as the Transamerica pyramid two blocks away: the place was so popular we had to let the restaurant decide when we would eat there, all our suggestions being shot down by Open Table like a buddy of Dick Cheney. Nina Zagat whispered in our ear that this was one of the exciting places in her new guide. Michael You're Eating in My City Bauer wrote a review which was glowing in the dark, and named Myth on his 10 best new restaurants of 2005 list. And it was easy to find the restaurant itself: it was the one with the Ferrari parked in front. There are many ways to blow your money when you have too much, and this one is as show-off-ish as any, but this seemed a better omen of sophistication than, say, a tricked-up Escalade. The interior design is stunning: a wide square room with an open kitchen is lined up with bench against the opposite wall, and sleek booth on one side. Behind the booth sits a long and busy bar where you can eat on a stool. Then, behind a wall of exposed bricks making elegant arches, another long dining room with a high ceiling and the atmosphere of a hip cloister. A private room opposite the kitchen is separated with a large glass partition, so you can follow, while you are seating in the main room, the powerpoint slides the corporate suits are examining. Biotech is trending up on those charts. This is a dining room where you feel comfortable displaying your wealth conspicuously....

Man, there's isn't any Bay Area connection to Dick Cheney shooting that 78-year-old guy in the face? We're so jealous of DCist and Austinist right now. Well, we gotta content ourselves instead with reporting on the in-your-face shenanigans of Board of Supes President Aaron Peskin and gadfly Wade Randlett instead. We know, it's not nearly as good. According to Matier and Ross, Peskin and Randlett were both at the Chinese Parade VIP stand. (There's a VIP stand for the Chinese New Year parade? Our invite must have gotten lost in the mail.) Randlett, who heads up the controversial moderate-to-conservative group SF SOS, was there with his girlfriend Lorna Ho. Ms. Ho, interestingly, is the SF school district spokesperson, and SF SOS has consistently advocated against school busing as a solution for racial segregation in the district.) Anyways, so Peskin sees Randlett, and blows his stack. Peskin storms up to Ho's boss, Gwen Chan, and demands that Randlett be ejected, saying that Randlett wasn't on the invite list. Chan passed the message to Randlett, who was like, whatever, "We have some history." The quail's in the bush! See the metaphoric buckshot fly, after the jump!...

Dick Cheney and President Bush can draw a sigh of relief this morning as Chris Daly's resolution calling for the impeachment of the President was scuttled off to committee by Sean Elsbernd. The resolution directs the Clerk of the Board of Supes to send copies of the resolution to statewide political leaders, the Democratic National Committee, and members of the House Judiciary Committee where it will probably sit in a very large in-box on all of their respective desks along-side credit card offers, Value Pak coupons, and pleas from Hurricane Katrina victims for more money to keep them from being evicted. ...

Today is the President's State of the Union speech, which basically means staying completely away from the TV or the non-Lindsey Lohan obsessed internets for the night lest we get over-run with a tidal wave of bile that these things cause. We hear this year's speech is going to be a doozy too-- while W. shreds the constitution, all the Republicans in congress will sit back and smoke cigars lit by $100 bills given to them by Jack Abramoff. Which raises the question of what to do? Well, there's always NetFlix, of course, as well as good old TiVo. It's also a good night to go to the movies and while Brokeback Mountain is all too obvious of a choice, not to mention something we've all seen by now, we'd like to suggest the Underworld: Evolution as there's something appropriate about watching a blood-drenched movie featuring both Vampires, Werewolves and Kate Beckinsale in a black leather outfit. Ba Bow! ...

Min Jung Kim has decided to break up with 2005. We always thought that 2006 would be better for her anyway -- bad boys like 2005 are fun, but always end up causing you trouble. Supr.c.ilio.us turns in a year-end list of the top ten people they wished would link to them. We can't believe Dave Winer didn't link to their defense of snark (like we did). And Glenda B at Agendacide runs down......

On an irregular holiday schedule... We'll be keeping a close eye on new blog Oaky Ton, devoted to all things Oaksterdam. Speaking of Smokeland, after getting raided by the DEA, HopeNet is robbed the next day, and blame the feds for crashing through the door even though they had a key. Guest blogger Corey recaps the recent Warriors loss to the Pistons as though it were an IMDB entry. And M. C- shares a......

As you can probably tell, we have kind of a love/hate thing going on with the Chron over here at SFist HQ. But since it's Raves Thursday, we're highlighting the love! And you know who we love the most? No, not Jon Carroll. No, not Ken Garcia. We love Bad Reporter!!! God, we love Bad Reporter! Marry us, Don Asmussen!! Who else can monitor the state of San Francisco hair gel politics so trenchantly? Who else could draw Dick Cheney's pottymouth with such an adorable snarl of the lip? Maria Shriver's cheekbones! Gavin and Kimberly on the rug!! FROM WHAT SICK WELLSPRING DO YOUR GENIUS IDEAS ORIGINATE????? We can only stare, awed and envious, at the heights of brilliance to which Mr. Asmussen reaches on his always-changing publication schedule, and then, silently, move down the back page of Datebook to read the new Dear Abby's advice. ("Have you considered seeing a therapist?" It's always "have you considered seeing a therapist.")...

We San Franciscan's like to think that we come from a brave and hearty stock. Constantly living under the fear of the next Big One, we're the inheritors of a proud tradition of frontiersmen, sailors, miners, and hookers- the whole "Deadwood" c----sucking crowd. Which is why were a bit chagrined to read how our congresswoman, our representative as it were, handled the emergency evacuation of Capitol Hill yesterday. According to the Washington Post (via a tip by Wonkette), Nancy Pelosi was so encumbered by her "pinkish" high-heels that the Capitol police had to lift her out of them so they could evacuate her, causing the House Minority Leader to lose one of her heels. Luckily, shoe and congresswoman were soon reunited, which we don't think we can say about Nancy and her dignity. We also can't but help sigh over how it looks that the leader of a party commonly depicted as being nothing but a bunch spinelessness, brie-eating, elitists, had to be carried out by the police due to their fashionable shoes. After all, could you imagine Dick Cheney being carried out because of his shoes? Tom DeLay? Dennis Hastert? Sadly, we think not. ...

Over here at SFist's fortress of solitude (above Jerry's Tattoo and Java), we've just been informed that "Big" Dick Cheney is currently ensconced at the Mandarin Oriental downtown, and an entire block of Sansome has been shut down in order to protect him (and make your commute extra-fun!). Apparently he's making a west coast swing to lobby members of congress, including Representative Bill Thomas, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, to convince......

We may have been a bit dubious about all of this, but it appears as though those rallies and e-mails to Sen. Barbara Boxer worked. Today, during a joint session of congress to certify the electoral vote count, Boxer, along with several other Democratic members of Congress, forced a debate on the results of the Ohio election. Each electoral vote was certified as per usual up until the Ohio votes were read and then Boxer......

We may have just found our new "so best" pic, thanks to the folks at Late Night with Conan O'Brien who put together a little slideshow for Bill Gates' keynote address and Media Center PC demonstration at CES in Las Vegas. Bill fumbled with the remote after the system hung up, prompting uber-geek Conan to quip, "Who’s in charge of Microsoft?! —oh." Phillip Torrone of Engadget, who took the above picture, was there to......

Far be it from us to post stories making some spurious claim about some noted official and then disappear whenever they try to defend themselves. So when said noted official tries to defend themself, we'll be the first to bring it to ya'. Which brings us to BananaGate (HungGate?), the big talk-about-town item about whether or not Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom revealed too much of the First Couple’s sex life, even miming giving the Gavster......

We here at SFist were totally going to blog this debate because blogging is, from what we hear, the new black, but since we were also playing the officially sanctioned Wonkette Vice-Presidential Debate Drinking Game we were too hammered by the fourth Halliburton reference to finish up. Plus, Jon Bon Jovi was on last night's episode of The Real World and who cares about politics when John Bon Jovi is all set to stop being......