San Francisco Diary--Journal Of An Exile

Well, it's been an exhausting week so far. We've been treated to Barack Obama talking to the school kids. We've been treated to Barack Obama talking to the Congress (and America, in case you didn't notice). Town halls continue to be a source of excitement nationwide. Oh, and a communist, race-baiting 9-11 Truther from the San Francisco Bay Area slipped through multiple cracks in the Obama vetting process, and when exposed on national television, resigned his czar/commisar post during the Labor Day holiday weekend in order to minimize exposure in the MSM.

Note: The San Francisco Chronicle never misses an opportunity to headline a story in a way that would shame a sixth-grader running an elementary school newspaper. Their reaction to the resignation was outlined in a front-page article entitled "Progressives decry resignation of Van Jones." Progressives are angry at just about everyone who isn't an avowed communist. They are furious at the oh-so-weak President Obama for "buckling to conservative criticism of Jones's controversial past comments and actions." Yes, past. As in last week or so. For a full discussion of Jones's past, see Andrew Price on Van Jones and LawHawkSF on Van Jones.

They are angry at Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin who, among others, diligently worked to get the news of Jones's extremely questionable "past" out to the public, despite complete indifference or open hostility on the part of the mainstream media and the Obama front men. They are angry at all Republicans, most Democrats and the fickle finger of fate. They are angry that "only a few stepped up to protect Jones during the past few weeks." Protect him from whom? Himself? They are really angry with Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) who called for a Congressional inquiry into Jones's subversive activities.

Nancy Pelosi is bereft. She effuses that his book, Green Collar "showcased his sparkling intelligence, powerful vision and deep empathy." That's what they said about Lenin. "He was swift-boated" says Medea Benjamin, noted tree-sitter and co-founder of Code Pink (appropriately enough). And of course Mad Media Medea is lost in the irony of the fact that "swift-boated" means "the truth came out." "The timing was hideous for Van" says Eva Paterson a "civil rights" attorney who hired Jones after he left Yale Law School (but before he passed the State Bar, which was never). "Still, I find it very disturbing that real progressive people with a track record of lots of speeches and actions will find it hard to speak out," Paterson said. She neglects to mention that most of his speeches took place in front of radical, anti-American, pro-communist groups and gang members. His most famous speech, also called "incitement to riot" by the court, stirred up the L.A. thugs into burning down large swaths of the city in the wake of the Rodney King verdict in Ventura County.

Color of Change co-founder James Rucker (along with Jones) says that "instead of providing answers about Jones's background, the administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness." Sorry, Mr. Rucker. Beck, Malkin, and many others provided those answers. Did you, so closely connected to all of Jones's nefarious activities, think that the American public would have changed their minds after hearing that litany?

The author of the article, another sympathetic "progressive" named J. Garofoli (close, but no big banana), says "Often, an administration will send a representative to the Sunday morning TV talk shows to defend an embattled appointee. But none came Sunday. On ABC's This Week, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs only thanked Jones for his service to the country and said that Obama does not agree with his views." C'mon, Garofoli, even the Great Speechifier would have a hard time justifying retaining a self-annointed communist and race-hustler to the American public. Practice saying this to yourself: "San Francisco is not America. Normal people don't think like San Francisco progressives." I should also let you know that old-timers like me have another name for progressives: "fellow travelers." It means people who are not actually communists, but somehow always find themselves protecting and defending them.

NOTE: California Senator Barbara Boxer has once again demonstrated her absolute inability to see the ridiculousness in her silly causes. The latest round of stupidity came the day before Barack Obama's rambling and dishonest health care speech. Boxer has boldly decided that she is going to press her colleagues, Democrat and Republican, as to why they oppose a public health care option when they use one themselves. You must be kidding, Babs. You're about six ants short of a picnic. That public option that you are talking about is one available only to the bums in Congress, and doesn't even faintly resemble the public option that you want to shove down the public's throat.

Your plan is the Rolls Royce of insurance coverage while your Dear Leader is going to give the rest of us used Yugos. Only those evil rich people you want to impoverish to pay for crap health care for the rest of us can currently even dream of having a health plan as extensive and all-inclusive as yours. The only thing Obamacare and Congresscare have in common is that hardworking taxpayers end up paying for both. It remains to be seen what Babs and Nan will have to say now that Obama has claimed that the public option will be available for only a select few (million).

Note: The air in San Francisco has once again caused the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a ruling upholding a school district's refusal to let a band play a religious piece at a high school graduation. The piece selected by the students, who are about 30% Catholic, 40% Protestant, 10% Jewish and the balance of no discernible religious persuasion, is Ave Maria (the Franz Biebl version). It is a hauntingly beautiful piece of music, not recognizable by most people who are not even quite sure what it's about. Most non-Catholics who have heard and recognize the Ave Maria know either the Franz Schubert or Bach-Gounod compositions, but not this one. In fact, most Catholics have probably never heard it. See if you recognize it: Ave Maria-Biebl. And this was to be the instrumental version, not the sung version, removing the religious element entirely. Not that the Protestants, Jews and whatevers actually cared much that it's a Catholic song (but only if the words are included).

But at least the Ninth Circuit has finally learned something after a string of reversals at the Supreme Court which hold that traditional, deeply-ingrained music which has ceased to have peculiarly religious significance in a purely secular environment is not a forbidden religious exercise. And so have the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State lawyers who bring these cases. The school principal and superintendent were sympathetic to the students' desire to play that piece, but refused to allow it on the grounds that it might be an unpermitted use of religious music which could result in litigation detrimental to the school. Aha, said the Ninth Circuit. Why risk a reversal at the Supreme Court when we can narrow the issue to reasonable exercise of executive discretion on the part of the school authorities? Never mind that the Ninth Circuit's rulings are the sole reason the executives were afraid to allow the music in the first place.

The problem for the Ninth Circuit judges is their inability to quit while they're ahead. Had they left their decision at that, they had a strong likelihood of being upheld by the high court. But they just couldn't resist the temptation to throw in their distaste for anything religious under any circumstances, at any time, in any public place. They went on to say "Graduation takes place before a 'captive audience,' and the time is too short to guarantee a balanced program, unlike concerts, which can mix religious and secular pieces." And why were the judges so friendly toward "concerts?" Because they were overruled by the Supreme Court in a case with precisely those criteria. By intertwining their consistently incorrect reading of the Constitution regarding the non-constitutional concept of the wall of separation between church and state, and reiterating the students' argument of hostility toward religion into an otherwise fairly logical decision, they have opened the door for a successful appeal by the students.

NOTE: You can always tell when the Chronicle is hard up to fill news space because it will lead the article with "breaking news." That somehow gives it the aura of being important enough to be read right away so you don't miss something hot off the presses. So--breaking news: "Typical jumper: 40, white, single and a man." This may be new, it may even be interesting, but unless we just had three 40 year-old white, single men hold hands while jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge into the shark-infested waters below, this really isn't breaking news. In fact, it's not news at all. It's information. Since about 25 people jump from the bridge every year (a total of about 1500 since the bridge opened in 1937), it isn't even new, let alone news. I can think of two stories that might be news. The first would be that the proposed safety net that has been considered for over forty years to prevent the suicides had actually begun construction. The second would be that Mayor Gavin Newsom took a good hard look at his chances in the gubernatorial election coming up, and decided to end it all.

Note: Speaking of bridges, the closure of the Bay Bridge over the Labor Day weekend was supposed to end Monday night when the temporary detour opened while the new spans are being prepared for replacing the old seismic disaster-in-waiting. It actually opened at 7 AM Tuesday morning--close enough for government work. And what caused the delay? None of the Cal Trans executives, engineers or workers checked the eyebars on the old section before transferring the load to the new detour. The eyebars are the weakest part of the old bridge construction on the east side, and a major reason why the old section couldn't simply be retrofitted the way they did on the western span. So was there a careful ongoing inspection to look into those already questionable eyebars as construction proceeded? Nope. Late Sunday, a worker looked up and said "hey, there's a big crack in the bridge." Very scientific and very thorough, huh?

Note: For those of you who regularly look over my shoulder and read my Diary, I know you expected a note regarding a Mark Morford article. I'm in as much shock as you. Morford either changed his meds, or ran out. I knew something was wrong when his opening sentence was less than five hundred words long. He wrote an article on American arms-dealing. I didn't agree with it, but it was actually logical, reasonably argued, and not the least bit crazy. Maybe he was carried off by space aliens and replaced with a human being. I hope he's back and fully-recovered soon. He makes my job so much easier.