(Image credit: hailtothethief21) Is this for real?......

Well, frankly, neither had we. That is, until we read this crazy -- yet, not so crazy -- article on Republicans in Ohio switching party alliances and voting Democratic. 16,000 Republicans, to be exact. Now, why the heck would all these Republicans go Democrat? This is part of "The Plot." Instigated by Rush Limbaugh, the theory is that Hillary Clinton would be easier for Republican fave, John McCain, to beat at election time. By having......

Wallpaper, a sweet/sleazy duo from Oakland will be serenading the head-bopping Noise Pop fans at Rickshaw Stop on Saturday night. They will be opening for the hipster-loving band, Panther. Wallpaper's infectious electronic sound can be heard on their new EP, T REX that will be digitally released in late April. You might file their EP between Prince and MSTRKRFT - quite an adventure. We touched base with the lead singer who answered (quite humorously) our......

But don't get too excited, folks. Our way unpopular president will be at a Republican National Committee fundraiser at a private home in the posh Peninsula town. So alas, there is no chance to hear him speak, or watch him speak, or fall asleep during a W speech à la Senator Joseph Biden at the State of the Union address.......

In terms of propositions this year, especially SF propositions, it's a pretty lean year. Both A and B, in fact, seem to be so non-controversial that neither the SF Republicans nor Starchild appear to object. Then there's Proposition C....

Well, this is some depressing news. Marin's very own Hollywood transplant power couple, Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn, are getting a d-i-v-o-r-c-e. At least according to People Magazine they are. The couple, chained together in varying levels of wedding bliss for over 11 years, have two children. The two appeared together in two flicks: the film adaptation of Hurlyburly and Nick Cassavetes' She's So Lovely. (We love the latter. A lot.) And if......

Let's hope no oil tankers crash into the Bay Bridge this week -- Gavin's out of town again, this time bundled up for snow as he campaigns for Hillary Clinton in Iowa. Not quite as temperate in the middle of the country right now as it was in his last two vacation spots this month -- guess Gavin still owes the Clintons for backing him in 2003 against non-Democrat Matt Gonzalez, huh? The Republicans......

Filled with a combustible mix of conceit and twink rage, Leigh Wolf, hot piece of ass and President of the College Republicans at SFSU, interrupted Sean Penn's Dennis Kucinich-endorsement speech on Friday. Basically, he quietly held up a sign that (incorrectly) whined about Sean "supporting the moral majority's America's Enemies, " or something inane like that. Meaning to impress someone more than make an important or clear statement, Wolf's protest... oh, who knows? But......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. LAist saw national headlines soar this week with......

Here's a video posted on YouTube by the San Francisco State College Republicans. Yes, boo, hiss, etc. -- BUT they were trying to co-host a peaceful memorial for 9/11 victims with their democratic counterparts. Extending the olive branch and, according to the speech the guy gives, trying to whitewash this of political partisanship to whatever extent possible. Of course, some protesters showed up, once again proving that there are just too damned many opinions constrained within this predominately two-party system of ours. ...

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. ...

In case you missed it, President 25% Approval Ratings was able to ram through some legislation revamping all those FISA laws you keep hearing about. It's hard to make heads or tails of what the bill says as the administration, in a surprise to no one, won't tell anyone what it says, but it involves making warrants kind of unnecessary, the monitoring of anyone suspected as a "terrorist" and-- get this-- the oversight by one Alberto "Fredo" Gonzalez. That's more than letting the fox guard the hen house, that's letting Michael Vick run the SPCA. ...

So California is pretty much a Blue State, right? And it'll probably be bluer than blue over the next few decades or so considering the Republicans have been hell-bent on pissing off every Hispanic voter lately, right? So what's a Republican to do to change all that? Better ideas? Better Presidents? Better wars? How's about changing the rules so that the Republicans can get some of that California's electoral gold. ...

-- Jarring tale about employees wearing flip-flops and shorts to work? Or story about famous writers reading to employees at Google headquaters? You decide. [Chron] -- Making a buck out of lice-topped children. [Examiner] -- California wants construction equipment to run cleanly. [LeftInSF] -- Noontime Market Street shootings. [Chron, KTVU, KPIX] -- Republicans screwing with and screwing up the budget. [BeyondChron] -- Marke B. says bye-bye to Tammy Faye. [SFBG]......

--Local photog Thomas Hawk gets assaulted for taking pictures -- again. [Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection, via the SFist tips line. update: From last year! Sorry! Keep those tips fresh, folks!] --C.W. Nevius didn't start the fire. [The Chron.] --Republicans busted by SF State for stomping on Muslim flags with the word "Allah" written on them are now suing. Oh, that's rich. [CBS 5.] --You thought Ed Jew Borderline was awesome? If that was Madonna,......

Oh, what's become of our good old-fashioned hard-hearted conservative Republicans? Performance art?!?! What's next, long hair? Berets? Drapes and doilies? Irish cuisine? The Davis College Republicans are sponsoring some sort of symbolic art-game today (Tuesday) at 12:30 out on the quad, wherever the hell that is. They're calling it "Illegal Immigration Capture the Flag," and here's the ingenious twist that'll earn 'em an A in their semiotics seminar: "Illegal Immigrants team will vastly outnumber......

Here's todays wrapup of the news...

Now hating the war isn't just the domain of tree hugging hippies and the Defeatocrats-- it's the entire state of California. Today, State Senator Don Perata announced that he wants the entire state to vote on a referendum on pulling troops out of Iraq. Perata might be announcing it, but we see the evil workings of Barbara Streisand behind all this, probably in cahoots with David Geffen and Michael Moore. And even if Rosie lives on the East Coast, she probably has something to do with all of this too...

When we last left the Leno vs. Migden contest, there was much gnashing of the teeth over these two progessive titans matching up. As SFist Rita put it, What Would the Progressives Do? Should they side with Leno or with Migden? It's like when two really good friends have a party at the same time and one guy has a keg of Meisterbrau and another of Sierra. You want to drink the Sierra, but if you go to that party, would your other friend get pissed at you? So, to make sure the campaign didn't get too nasty a peacetreaty of such was signed with both Leno and Migden pledging to be all cute and cuddly during the campaign. And so within days, a Migden ally went all NAMBLA on Leno. ...

Last week, the Washington "Moonie" Times wrote a story saying that, in effect, that Nancy Pelosi requested that the Air Force provide her flights to and from Washington whenever she actually deigns to come home to the City by the Bay. The story is potentially embarrassing to Pelosi as it plays on the caricature of her being shrewish bitch who requests military planes while our brave sons and daughters are dying to fight the war on terror even though Iraq has nothing to do with it and even Republicans wish the war would end but they're still going to stop non-binding resolutions to stop it. Or something like that. As these things tend to happen, the story got out into the Republican echo chamber and you know what happens whenever that occurs-- the press has to cover it like it's an important story. Also, so called blabber mouths in politics and cable news spout it off like it's the unbridled truth without actually investigating it. ...

We really dread to be doing this, again, but here it is, your recap of the reaction to Gavin's admission that he's seeking counseling for booze. Or, as the NY Post puts it, "S.F. Sex Mayor In Booze RX." You know, we used to joke with our fellow -ists about how exciting our Mayor is compared to their boring, dreary Mayors (Gothamist's biggest scandal concerning Bloomberg was that he has bad fashion sense) but we're kind of over it. ...

-Republicans whine that Pelosi isn't being very nice to them. That sound you hear is the playing of the world's smallest violin. ...

Last night, Arnie wheeled himself out on his crutches to give everyone the State of the State speech. How is the state doing? Fabulous, as always. Why? Because we're all working together. And because we, not the children, are the future. In fact, he said California could be the shining example to the rest of the country on how to move forward on everything from health care to the environment. In his speech, he called us the "modern equivalent of the ancient city states of Athens and Sparta" which is high praise indeed. But who is Sparta and who is Athens? We think we're more Athens than Sparta but would that mean LA is Sparta? San Diego? Bakersfield? Or maybe we're Sparta and LA is Athens. We always preferred Athens over Sparta, but then again, if we were Sparta we could go up to some interloper and kick them into a giant hole while yelling "We are Sparta!!!!" at the top of our lungs like in that scene from the trailer for 300. Man, that movie looks awesome. ...

-Judge rules lethal injection in California a not very nice thing to do. -$1 billion bucks to go to easing congestion through Interstate 580 between Alameda County and the Altamont Pass....

While most of the 2006 elections are over, there's still a bit of a contention coming from, where else, Florida. In the Sarasota congressional race, a recount was held and 18,000 under votes were discovered. That meant those people voted for everything else but not for congress. This drew alarm bells from people because the percentage of under votes was higher than anywhere else. And, you'd have to figure that the one race people would vote on would be for congress instead of the school board or bond measures or a Sarasota style Question Time. Voters also complained that the machines garbled everything up and they never got a chance to vote. ...

Slowly and surely, our Governator is letting loose with his plans for the upcoming year, most of which came in an interview on "Meet Tim Russert." And let's just say Schwarzenegger is feeling a little cocky in light of his electoral stomping and all of the love thrown his way by the Democrats in the Assembly. So much so, he's getting flack from his fellow Republicans. ...

And so yesterday it was made official-- our Little Nancy is now Speaker of the House. No matter what you may think about her-- ultra-liberal, corporate sell-out, uninspirationalparty hack, and inspirational career woman-- it's a pretty big deal. Among other things it means, yes, pork, tons of pork headed to us. More pork than an All You Can Eat night at Jimmy Dean Sausage Emporium ...

-Union and police commission not getting along after two on the commission said that cops occasionally kill people. -Ammiano's bill to decrminilize dope moves forward....

It looks like the Federal Government is finally going to investigate certain fishy aspects of voting machines. And no, we're not talking Diebold. We're talking about Oakland's very own Sequoia Voting Machines. Why? Because one of their investors is a group of wealthy Venezuelan’s thought to have ties to Venezuelan crazy guy Hugo Chavez. Cause remember folks, throwing U.S. elections is for Americans and Americans only. Oh, and Republicans too. ...