Berkeleyside effortlessly tugs our heart strings today with a story about Paw Fund, a clinic for pets of homeless people started by Jill Posener, a photographer and onetime Animal Care Commissioner. Behold: more ›

Of the 204 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA "Obamacare") waivers President Barack Obama approved in April, nearly 20 percent are for "fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district." That is to say, many of the waivers were issued to companies in San Francisco. According to right-leaning D.C.-based site The Daily Caller, restaurants and "fancy" establishments like Boboquivari’s, Café des Amis, Café Mason, Franciscan Crab, Campton Place, Hotel Nikko, Tru Spa, among others, all received waivers. more ›

When President Obama's federal health care reforms finally kick in starting in 2014, it won't totally eliminate the need for San Francisco's city-wide universal health care coverage program, the Examiner reports today. According to projections from folks at HealthySF, the program could lose around 60 percent of patients it currently covers, which is not actually a bad thing - as it would alleviate a great deal of the program's cost to the city. Still, nearly 70,000 other San Franciscans will still be left without health care coverage under the President's health care bill. more ›

A federal judge in Virginia ruled President Obama's healthcare law unconstitutional, the first kind of ruling on Obama's landmark (and much needed?) reform. "Judge Henry E. Hudson of the Eastern District Court in Richmond, appointed by George W. Bush, ruled that the law's mandate that all Americans have a minimum level of coverage, or pay a fine if they do not, exceeds federal authority, " reports WBDJ.com. Virginia recently "passed a law stating that residents cannot be ordered to buy insurance." more ›

The Chron today has a helpful little public service tidbit for those who may be losing their subsidized COBRA health coverage on Monday, which is when the federal COBRA subsidy ends for those who began receiving it when it began in March 2009. The essential advice: Look into Cal-COBRA. You may be eligible for 18 more months of coverage, but as far as we know that's not subsidized, so this isn't very helpful. The other option of course is Kaiser. Don't go uninsured! What if your appendix bursts?! [Chron] more ›

A Northern California man was arrested in connection with making "threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over health care reform." Sparked by racist hate group The Tea Party (let's just say), the unidentified man, according to Associated Press, "made dozens of calls to Pelosi's homes in California and Washington, as well as to her husband's business office, reciting her home address and saying if she wanted to see it again, she would not support the health care overhaul bill that was recently enacted." more ›

After turning 70 on Friday, Nancy Pelosi headed to Glide Memorial Church in the Tenderloin on Sunday to celebrate the passage of a national health care bill. Praising the freshly-signed reform bill in an increasingly middle class-less city, CBS 5 reports that Pelosi explained to congregants that "passage of the legislation will make health care affordable for the middle class and will eventually provide coverage for millions of uninsured Americans." more ›

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday said the national health care plan could cost California billions. Gubernatorial hopeful and current Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner also chimed in with similar sentiments, followed by his Republican opponent Meg Whitman. And so are the three Republicans seeking to replace Senator Barbara Boxer in the November election. more ›

According to CBS 5/AP, "San Francisco officials said health care reform legislation passed by Congress won't do away with the city's universal health care program." Why? Well, according to Gavin Newsom and Public Health Chief Mitch Katz, the freshly signed bill excludes "thousands of local residents." That is to say, illegal immigrants qualify for coverage under Healthy SF, but not the new health care reform. more ›

California Attorney General Jerry Brown (and perhaps your next Governor?) subpoenaed the financial records from several health insurance companies yesterday. Why? Because he's he's worried that seven of the state's largest health insurance companies are raising premiums, unfairly so. more ›

While national health care faced a set back this week with the loss of the 60th Democratic senate seat, California took a step forward. A new state law sets limits on the length of time a patient must wait to see a doctor... more ›

So it seems even folks in the more wealthy, educated quarters of our fair city can succumb to superstition. The proprietors at the More Mojo clinic are throwing in their lot with the vaccine deniers at a session this weekend. more ›

We were reminded yesterday of the recent Whole Foods boycott that's been gaining steam in the past month. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey wrote a Wall Street Journal editorial last month opposing the single-payer option of health care reform and claiming health care is not a "right," further perpetuating myths propagated by the for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. more ›

What with all this ballyhooing over health care, would you like to test drive some alternative medicinal practices? Take, for example, the prickly art of acupuncture, the popular practice of inserting tiny needles into points on your body to relieve pain or promote therapeutic processes. As luck would have it, Community Acupuncture of Marin is offering free treatment for newbies in Tuesdays. "New patients receive the first treatment at our clinic for free when scheduled on a Tuesday. Returning patients who schedule to bring a new patient in with them will also receive their treatment free. Appointments required, mention the promo please." Visit Healing Arts of Marin for more details. more ›

On Saturday, your grandfather and his Shriner buddies protested Barbara Boxer's book signing in Danville. According to Mercury News, "[a]bout 100 people, many with picket signs, covered the sidewalks outside Rakestraw Books on Hartz Avenue and chanted such slogans as 'Boxer must go' and ''Save our freedoms'" and other things a drug-addled radio personality told them to say. more ›

Call it what you will, but hometown gal Nancy Pelosi's push to get the President's health care initiative through Congress before their August recess appears to be failing, and among those stalling it is another hometown gal, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who still doesn't know how we're going to pay for any of this shit. Her actual words relate more to creating new health care entitlements that the country's budget can't afford. To wit: "Entitlements are well over 50 percent of every dollar the federal government spends this year and are going straight up. If you add more entitlements, it's a problem." We would agree that a feasible plan for covering the costs of this plan should be laid out, but President Obama promises it won't add to the deficit. DiFi calls bullshit. Who to believe? more ›

Mario Pacheco, whose makeshift home dental clinic in Oakland was raided by authorities, guns drawn on Friday, tells CBS 5 today that he was "just doing what [he] could to help people." As it happens, he didn't have a license to practice dentistry and allegedly never called himself a dentist, but through referrals he performed dental work on low-income and uninsured patients, sometimes for free. He was wearing a white doctor coat when arrested, and according to reports his office was "filled with bloody gauze and dirty syringes," which doesn't sound all that nice and benevolent (especially the syringe part -- remind you of anything?). Yet another reason Pelosi better push that health care bill through the House! more ›

Delightful news, folks. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (a stem cell research funding agency established thanks to Prop 71 in the 2004 election) put their seal of approval on 15 grants to help fund blessed and beneficial stem cell know-how. Awesome. Said funding will go to Stanford ($3,930,000), UC Berkeley ($3,371,686), UCSF ($3,899,912), and the J. David Gladstone Institutes ($2,517,888) to "fund graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows working in stem cell research labs," reports SF Biz Times. After handing out the much-needed funds, CIRM President Alan Trounson said "'It’s important that we continue supporting these future stem cell scientists who are already making significant contributions.'" more ›

Steve Rhodes was at last night's vigil for Dr. George Tiller, the activist who was murdered this past weekend by an anti-abortion zealot. more ›

Because city health care programs are under the false impression that they are untouchable bastions of altruism and benevolence, a coalition of community groups, labor, and concerned citizens will hold mock funeral at 12:30 p.m. this afternoon, protesting budget cuts. However, the procession -- which starts at the Civic Center Plaza on the Southwest Green -- will march to City Hall and attempt to offer an alternate list for cuts (e.g., "police collecting overtime to investigate pedestrian right-aways," something called firehouse chauffeurs, Mayoral staff dudeskis, etc.). more ›

The American Academy of Dermatology is launching a new campaign to get girls from 16 to 29 years old (and boys in the same age range who live in district 5) to stop using indoor tanning beds. The campaign is called, fittingly enough, "Indoor Tanning is Out." How so? Because: a) only trash uses indoor tanning facilities, and b) indoor browning is associated with a significant increase in the risk of melanoma. (Though we think the AAD is primarily concerned with the latter.) more ›

After a federal judge blocked "a key provision of a new city program providing basic health care to uninsured residents, City Attorney Dennis Herrera is scheduled to petition the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today for an emergency stay pending appeal to help SF maintain the "Healthy San Francisco" program. The program, which would help uninsured San Franciscans receive health care, was scheduled to begin on January 2, 2008. According to CBS 5: more ›

Yesterday, presidential hopeful Joe Biden released details of his plan for the health care system, and coincidentally, we spotted this sign in an area of San Francisco that our 2001 Muni map calls "Apparel City." more ›

-- Magic Bullets: Along with Bonde do Role and JuiceBoxxx, this local outfit (heavy on the bass lines, rhythmic keyboards, and melancholic vocals) performs tonight at 9 p.m. at The Independent, 628 Divisadero; $13. more ›

Man, we can tell how long we've been doing this by the number of Zagat posts we've amassed! more ›

At 4:30 p.m. today, a rally and march led by a cast of security officers will take place in the financial district. (We'll try to grab some shots of the officers getting all Norma Nae-y.) Unionized security officers of the Service Employees International Union Local 24/7 are in a huff and not taking it anymore. According to the Chronicle: more ›

That idea of congestion pricing in San Francisco, meaning charging people to drive in certain places around the city, has moved from crazy pipe dream stage to crazy pipe dream planning stage. Recently, the city was awarded $180 million to study the idea and there are already two potential places being mapped out by the people mapping it out. Instead of charging cars to go downtown, the idea would be to take it to the bridge as it were. The first place would be on Doyle Drive, one of the roads that takes you to the Golden Gate Bridge . In fact, one of the conditions of all this money is that the city would just have to do such a thing. Another spot being considered is right outside of Treasure Island. They're thinking up the idea of maybe charging $1 or $2 a car and it could work by having people use the FastTrak system, or at least we hope so as being from the East Coast, having to stop constantly for tolls gets kind of tedious. Also a bad place to be if you've just started a mob war against the Tattaglia and Sollozzo families. more ›

Tom Ammiano announced a plan yesterday to give city IDs to those who don't have IDs, mainly immigrants-- legal or otherwise. The idea, pushed by immigrant advocates, will allow those without an ID to be given access to a whole range of city services they would not normally be open to, including health care, library privileges, and the ability to use municipal golf courses. Ammiano also said he's going to work with financial institutions to let people use the Ids to open accounts. more ›

Someone else viewed as unbeatable has a hail-Mary opponent from the progressive left -- and we're not just talking about Gavin Newsom and Chris Daly! That's right -- the stridently anti-war soldier's mom Cindy Sheehan has declared her candidacy against San Francisco's House representative, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. more ›

Gay marriage, GLBTQQGQQ$#@ discrimination, HIV issues, queers in the military, Donna McKechnie (we can only assume), health care, and more are what's on tap for tonight's presidential debate. Disgusting, we know. But 84% of eligible gays voted in the last election, so why not? (Who knew gays could even vote? Huh.) more ›