Thursday, October 15, 2009

San Francisco Diary--Journal Of An Exile

Another week, another alternate reality. San Francisco is never inconsistent. Whatever you would expect a normal town to do, you can be pretty sure San Francisco will do the opposite. I think the thing that amazes me is The City's amazing ability not only to face the same situations as other cities and come up with weirdly different solutions, but also its ability to search and find problems to be solved that nobody previously knew existed.

Note: We've spent a little time on a couple of our articles discussing Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. But San Francisco's opinion (as mentioned above), though not shocking, is a bit skewed from the overall American opinion. As you would expect, there was some exhilaration among the disciples. The rest of the reactions ranged from surprise to anger (but not conservative anger). The most common response to reporters' polls was confusion as to why he would get the prize this early and with no accomplishments. Many responders added the specfic reasons for their surprise. One said: "Why now, when Guantanamo remains open and troop levels have dropped significantly in Iraq and have grown in Afghanistan?" Are you starting to get the drift?

San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos introduced a resolution urging the United States federal government to end the U. S. Military occupation of Afghanistan while providing humanitarian aid to support the recovery of the country from the effects of the war. So you would be guessing properly if he is angry about Obama getting a peace award while America is conducting a war, any war, for any reason, at any time, in any place. That was the typical angry reaction in San Francisco.

NOTE: The National Republican Congressional Committee issued a press release which said: "If Nancy Pelosi's failed economic policies are any indicator of the effect she may have on Afghanistan, taxpayers can only hope [General] McChrystal is able to put her in her place." San Fran Nan responded with her usual brilliance and humility, responding with feminist non-sequiturs rather than actual argument: "It is really sad, they really don't understand how inappropriate that is. I am in my place. I am the Speaker of the House, the first woman Speaker of the House, and I am in my place because the House of Representatives voted me there. But that language isn't something I've heard in decades." Obviously, the Committee's comment was talking about putting women in their place. It couldn't have been about putting idiots in their place.

Nancy is also probably unaware that there is a major defection in the California Congressional delegation. Former San Francisco Mayor and current senior Senator from California Dianne Feinstein has come out in support of McChrystal and the troop surge with 40,000 new troops. She has chided the Messiah for his indecision, adding that he is endangering not only the war, but the lives of American military men and women as well as Afghan civilians.

Note: It's been a very gay week in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Former San Francisco Supervisor and current State Assembly"man" Tom Ammiano attended a Democratic fundraiser at San Francisco's famous Fairmont Hotel to which Governor Schwarzenneger was invited as a guest honorary speaker. While he was speaking, Ammiano repeatedly yelled "you lie." Ammiano finally got up, and in his best drama queen fashion, stormed out of the room while loudly proclaiming "he can kiss my ass." Knowing all about Ammiano, "kiss" was probably not the appropriate verb, but that's another story for another time.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, known for his outspoken talk, is lambasting what he calls "highly inappropriate" behavior by San Francisco Democrats who were so openly hostile to the Governator. Brown elaborated that both the Governor and former President Clinton were invited to the fundraiser by the hosts, the organizers of the event. Clinton was unable to attend.

Note: The uncivilized behavior followed the Governor's earlier signature on a bill creating a state day to honor the slain San Francisco gay supervisor Harvey Milk Day. Ahnuld must not have heard the expression "no good deed goes unpunished." Ammiano was Milk's disciple and successor as the "Mayor of the Castro." None of that seemed to matter to the little twerp when there was an opportunity to act out. He occasionally forgets that once he was elected to public office his former career as a standup shock comic was supposed to be left behind. Democratic State Senator Mark Leno, also a graduate of the Castro Club, was appalled, and thanked the Governor for revisiting the Milk bill and deciding to sign it rather than veto it.

Note: Leno sponsored another gay rights bill which the Governor also signed. The Governor was under heavy pressure from multiple conservative and family groups not to sign the bill. But Mr. Maria Shriver seems to have gotten in touch with his gay side. For those who don't know, in upholding Proposition 8, the California Supreme Court held that all California gay marriages performed between its earlier decision upholding gay marriage and its subsequent ruling upholding Proposition 8's prohibition of gay marriage remained valid. That was a period of approximately five months. The bill provides two things: Gay couples who were married out of state will have their marriages recognized in California if the out-of-state marriage took place during that interim period. Those performed after Proposition 8 was upheld will not be treated as marriages, but will receive all the recognition California law gives to domestic partnerships.

The Governor would have been completely within his rights vetoing the bill, and would have suffered no serious political damage. He's a lame duck, and hasn't shown any desire to seek further political office. What political support that he still had from conservatives disappeared with the stroke of his pen on that bill. None of this had any effect on queen bee Ammiano.

Note: San Francisco had a large weekend rally to correspond with the one in DC requesting Obama to start doing something about his promises concerning gay marriage and gays in the military. Just like the confusion about Obama's peace prize, there seemed to be a large degree of mystification about why Obama continues to be paralyzed with indecision about the gay community's demands. But they just love the big lug. So a common remark was "I'd like to see it happen faster," said marcher Drew Wilhite who came to the event from Fresno. "But I understand that social change takes time." Wilhite maintains that Obama's unaltered lack of action is "a great start." Toward what, he wasn't entirely sure. He just likes presidential vows.

The event was preceded by a march across the Golden Gate Bridge which ended up at the demonstration in City Hall Plaza. Marcher Nell Barnes, also of Fresno, was not as kind as Wilhite. She said: "It's interesting to me that a man who comes from an oppressed race doesn't just do it, with a swipe of the pen." Barnes has not figured out that Obama is only half-black, and is therefore also half white oppressor. His measures will always be half-measures at best, and more likely simply half-assed.

16 comments:

Writer X said...

Nancy's comments are hysterical. Her delusion is really growing worse. She turns everything into an angry women's libber scenario. Is it safe to say that Feinstein is only half as less delusional? At least Feinstein can occasionally do something in the best interest of the country and not herself.

Regarding Arnold, our Phoenix paper has had no less than six stories of Maria driving while texting as that is what serves as real news in Phoenix. It's been riveting.

Where's Mark Morford? He must be taking his medication this week.

Thanks, LawHawk! I can live vicariously through you!

AndrewPrice said...

I'm glad to hear that Arnold doesn't seem interested in seeking further office. He makes the RINOs look like hard-right libertarians.

LL said...

GAY WEEK IN SAN FRANCISCO - I don't live there but I've visited. Every time I go there it seems like gay week. Do I simply have bad timing?

ARNOLD - I've seen the Republican who wants his job - the lady CEO who never voted - like ever... ANDREW, do you want the job? What about you, LawHawk? Please not another dunce Republican.

AndrewPrice said...

LL, I'll take the job if I don't have to move to California. I'll whip the state back into shape.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Careful dude. Whips and chains are de rigueur for SF. :-)

StanH said...

Well Lawhawk all’s well with the world, we know this because SF is still screwed up. The Nobel Prize and Barry deserve each other. Botox Nancy is more and more in a bunker mentality, you can tell this is so when she runs, and hides in her victim status.

Anonymous said...

WriterX: In their heart of hearts, people like Nancy Pelosi know that they don't deserve any position of public trust or power. So they have to have a psychological defense to convince themselves that they are truly worthy. For Pelosi, it's radical feminism. "They demean me because I'm a woman." Nope--they demean you because you're an idiot.

Morford was his usual crazy self, but it was a strictly local thing, and he wasn't going after anything that people outside of San Francisco would care about. And about half of the people in San Francisco wouldn't care either. I'm sure he'll have something juicy for us next week.

Anonymous said...

Andrew: The chances of electing a true conservative governor in California are somewhere between slim and none. But Ahnuld started out moderate-right, and had some very decent plans. But he's an actor, not a politician. He didn't understand carefully crafted programs with some incrementalism to undo the nanny state Gray Davis had created, putting California deeply in debt. His bold plans were too bold, badly presented, and the measures had no political organization behind them.

He won a couple, then started to lose, badly. He relied on his "star power," and never understood roll-up-your-sleeves political organizing. After three major and humiliating defeats, he developed Stockholm Syndrome. He's been a little cuckoo ever since.

LL said...

The White House’s fear of protests from Code Pink and other left-wingers has put the brakes on President Obama making any public appearances during his visit to San Francisco this week.
Obama is scheduled to parachute into Liberalville on Thursday afternoon and pick up a cool $2 million for the Democratic Party at a fundraiser at the St. Francis Hotel – then spend the night, before checking out early the next morning and heading to Houston for a community service forum hosted by former President George H.W. Bush.
The St. Francis event is about all the public will see of him here. Concerns about big and loud protests over the war in Afghanistan, the prohibition on open gays and lesbians in the military and other issues have squelched any thought of a trip to a local school or high-tech manufacturing plant that often accompanies such visits, said a source involved in the planning.
“You’re always sensitive about having your San Francisco moment here,” said former White House spinmeister Chris Lehane.
He still recalls a news conference he organized here in 2000 for then-presidential candidate Al Gore. It turned into a near-disaster when a “transvestite kept asking if he would support public funding for sex changes.”
“No matter how you answered, you get in trouble,” Lehane said.

(From Michelle Malkin, cross-posted here)

I normally don't do this, but it's so on-point that i couldn't resist

Anonymous said...

LL: It was a gay week in San Francisco. There are fifty other gay weeks in San Francisco, plus one specifically called Gay Pride Week. That makes 52 weeks a year. We "breeders" (as they call us) have learned not to notice unless one cause or another gets state or national attention.

If nominated, I will not run. If elected I will not serve (thank you, General Sherman). I remember when William F. Buckley ran for Mayor of New York. A reporter asked him what he would do if he woke up the morning after the election and found that he had won. Buckley's reply: "I'll demand a recount." The reporter then asked him what he would do if the recount still showed he had won. Buckley replied: "My first official act would be to order that they place nets under the windows of the editorial offices of the New York Times."

Anonymous said...

Joel: Apparently you've never seen Andrew in his biker drag. I think the expression is "butch ladies."

StanH: San Francisco politics make no sense if taken in the context of normal human activities. Nancy is one good example. Another is Willie Brown (the aforesaid Mayor). If The City had not imposed mayoral term limits about twenty-five years ago, he would probably still be in that office. He got about 90% of the liberal vote and nearly 100% of the black vote both times he was elected. And nobody would have admitted that on his watch, huge swaths of formerly black neighborhoods were bulldozed down to make way for immense city and private development, and that the black population went from 11.5% of the population to slightly more than 9% by the end of his second term. Obviously, liberal talk is much more important than reality to lockstep Democrats in San Francisco.

HamiltonsGhost said...

It's really funny watching the radicals thrash around. They're so used to being wildly indignant about everything that they even lash out at their allies and people who are willing to work with them. Ammiano is the typical drama queen who was ticked off because he wasn't the center of attention. He's a legislator who doesn't read any of the legislation, so he probably didn't have a clue that Ahnuld had signed two very gay-friendly bills. Too busy ad libbing to read the script.

Tennessee Jed said...

Liberals just have to govern their little asses off don't they. The whole gay thing would wear me down, and maybe it's not so much the gay part as the in your face, code pink, over-the-top, "we're here, we're queer" part of it. I guess I was just raised that public displays of lewdness are in poor taste. Hawk, bless your heart, it is such a beautiful city, it's just a shame it is so over the top liberal.

Anonymous said...

Hamilton'sGhost: These clowns are supposed to be working for the common good, but they're so arrogant that they can't conceive that anyone else could possibly support the same cause but not in exactly the same way. It won't change things much in San Francisco, but that leftist circular firing squad is going to do real harm in areas less crazed than San Francisco. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

Anonymous said...

Tennessee: Ain't it the truth? One of our local wags once said of The City, "she's like a famous but aging whore. Flashy and beautiful from a discreet distance, but up close you can see the signs of decay under the layers of peeling paint."

Anonymous said...

HamiltonsGhost: Just to give you an idea of how crazy this whole gay identity politics can get here, I mentioned Mark Leno, the state senator from San Francisco/Marin, who joined Willie Brown in condemning Ammiano's uncivilized behavior.

Some years back, Roberta Achtenberg, a radical lesbian member of the Board of Supervisors, was elected to the state assembly. Mayor Willie Brown appointed radical homosexual Mark Leno to fill the vacant seat. No problem, right? Wrong! The radical feminist lesbian organizations went ballistic, threatening all kinds of political repercussions. Why? That's easy, that's the "lesbian" seat on the Board, so a gay man was simply all wrong for the office. Ya can't make this s--t up.

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