Fascist Imperial Dogs 1 - Tree Loving Hippies 0- After all that protesting and dancing and carrot juice drinking, the Berkeley City Council chickened out and said they erred in passing that January resolution that disinvited a Marine recruiting station and called them "unwelcome intruders." In that resolution, they also allowed Code Pink permission to blast all sorts of things at the station, gave them a designated parking space in front of it, and permission to protest on Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. Why Wednesday? Because it’s Hump Day! They did, however, refuse to issue an apology and used part of their mea culpa to lash out at the Bush administration and the war. This didn't satisfy some conservatives as Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina introduced the "Semper Fi Act" which would redirect money to UC Berkeley and give it to the Southern Heritage Coalition so they can sew more flags with the Confederate flag in them.
It's Got to be the Protest After
SFist Watches: The Superbowl Ads
We found it difficult to tear ourselves away from the "Puppy Bowl" and turn the channel to the Superbowl, but since we were going to skip through all that boring game stuff and just watch the commercials, we figured it wouldn't be too painful. Keep in mind, though, that since we've got TiVo, this is about the only time during the year we actually do watch commercials. Because of that we might not be able to tell whether these Superbowl ads were actually any better or worse than what's on TV on a nightly basis. But we'll still feel free to criticize nonetheless.
Impeach At The Game
Former SFist contributor Ted R. passed along this picture he took of an IMPEACH sign spotted at Saturday's Giants game during the national anthem. (We've helpfully circled the IMPEACH for you.)
What's With These Homies Dissing My Girl?
Poor Gavin. He goes on a little trip back east and his girlfriend posts on some blog and creates a major ruckus. Then everywhere he goes, tourist officials say bad things about his city. Like there's too much panhandling and prostitutes. Not to mention dirty. And expensive. Oh, and our convention facilities are not so hot but who cares about that?
Cycling: Hometown Boy Makes Good, Again
For most of the day it looked like a total Cinderella story for unknown Jason Donald, but when the very last rider of the 2007 Tour of California (TOC) prologue crossed the finish line Sunday, it was Levi Leipheimer who had tears in his eyes.
A Credit Agricole rider suffers his way up the last 300 meters to the finish line atop Telegraph Hill. Photo from SF_Chris.
Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the national anthem, Jean-Marc Marino of team Credit Agricole rolled down the starting chute at 1:00 p.m. sharp and the prologue was on. In a time trial like Sunday's prologue, riders race alone and against the clock rather than against each other en masse. Following Marino, 144 more riders attacked the course at one-minute intervals for the next two hours.
It's Back....
...Gleegate is back....
Hey, you might be wondering, whatever happened to those nice young boys from Yale who got pummeled by a few townies for singing the National Anthem all acapella style? Well, the answer would be nothing yet. Other than our city making ourselves that much more of an embarrassment.
And Now...More Gleegate
In today's Chron, there's a big story about the events that occurred on New Year's Eve. To do so, they interviewed a whole bunch of witnesses (most of whom are anonymous) and put it together into a cohesive whole. And guess what? Everybody corroborates the story of the Baker's Dozen choral group. Everybody. Which makes you wonder why nobody's been charged yet or what's up with Ken Garcia and why is Heather Fong lying but that's neither here nor there right now.
Sean Hannity Is On The Case
Last night, Sean Hannity weighed in on Choirgate and offered a $10,000 bounty to anyone with any information that would help lock the kids up who beat up the acapella group. Yes, the Yale choir story has made it to Hannity & Colmes. God help us all.
More on the Yale Choir Story
As expected, the beating up of members of the Bakers Dozen acapella group is now a full blown story with all the breathless reporting and graphics that comes with it. It's even gone national with Drudge reporting that the singers were beaten up "after singing the Star Spangled Banner" as if we here in San Francisco are so anti-American that we'll beat anyone up who sings the National Anthem.
Your SFist 2006 Sports Year In Review
We can't say this was one of the worst years in Bay Area sports but it has to be up there. One only has to look at the early part of this decade to see how far we've fallen. The A's and Giants were both perennial contenders and the Raiders were playoff bound. Only the 49ers and Warriors were woeful but well, beggars can't be choosers. We did get one Super Bowl appearance and one World Series out of our teams.
Review: Architecture In Helsinki
SFist reviews Architecture in Helsinki at Great American Music Hall May 23, 2006
Across The -ist Network
LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow.
California Catches Impeachment Fever
It looks like San Francisco's case of Impeachment Fever is catching on a state-wide level, a bill has been introduced calling for the House of Representatives to start with impeachment proceedings. Two key things about this one-- first off, it also calls for Cheney to be impeached too (which, by our reckoning would give us President Hastert. Unless it happens next year in which case it could mean President Pelosi!). The second thing is that somebody in Illinois did their research and discovered a little known clause in the House rules that says that state legislatures can call for impeachment proceedings. We're sure the House will get right to it.
Tanking in the Shark Tank
We sort of knew this was going to happen, but here it is: after officially jumping on the Sharks bandwagon last week, they have now lost three in a row to the Edmonton Oilers, a losing streak that started after the Sharks lost an epic, three OT Game 3. We would take some responsibility for causing the Bad Mojo, but after last night's game, Sharks fans only have themselves to blame for any sort of Bad Mojo, something that will happen when fans of a team boo another country's national anthem.
SFist Rants: We Want Our 7th Inning Back
One of our favorite things about baseball is the 7th Inning Stretch. There's something about a stadium full of people standing up and singing a completely quaint, nearly 100 year-old-song in our jaded, post-post punk, post-post modern, post-post-ironic age that gives us the warm fuzzies. But at last Sunday's Giants game, the Giants continued on with a new tradition that is slowly and quickly ruining the 7th Inning Stretch-- the playing of "God Bless America" right before "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
And yes, we do hate America, why do you ask?
BAAAAAART!!!
EssEffist has its hand over its heart as the BART flag is raised and its national anthem ("Dublin/Pleasanton train arriving, track 2") is played – BART was named the best public transportation system for 2004 by the American Public Transportation Association.

