Thursday, April 29, 2010

San Francisco Diary--Journal Of An Exile

Pictured: The Chambers of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. As the crime rate soars, the physical infrastructure of the city collapses, the debt grows by leaps and bounds, unemployment soars as businesses leave town by the droves, and the transportation system collapses, the Board this day was considering a resolution by Supervisor Chris Daly to support the Free Tibet movement.

NOTE: And speaking of the Board of Supervisors, Arizona's new illegal immigration legislation has the Board's panties in a bunch. How dare those racist primitives declare war on every brown person in an entire state? Since San Francisco never has racial problems or problems with illegal immigrants (see below), it was a simple matter of course that the Supes would be upset with those white people in Arizona reinstating Jim Crow and slavery.

So San Francisco's governing body has decided it would be a very good idea to boycott all things Arizonan (there is still a question whether that includes Arizona Iced Teas, which are manufactured in New York). What this cash-strapped city needs is to offend an entire state and the 60% of Arizonans who support defending Arizona's sovereign borders. They still need to work out the details so they can arrest illegal Arizonans who come to San Francisco for a visit.

At the same time, a less gutsy Mayor Gavin Newsom has the matter under review, but will be ordering that no public money will be spent on city employees traveling on city business to Arizona. The Board of Supervisors made it clear that our sanctuary city will not tolerate any interference with the tide of illegal immigration, gang violence, drug importation and cartel border wars. Newsom, on the other hand, is a little less sanguine about the whole thing since he has openly defied the Board's order that the police not report illegal aliens to the feds unless they have been tried and convicted of a crime first. Newsom was responding to the citizen outcry over a series of grisly murders committed by illegal immigrants who had been released from custody without having been reported to ICE because they hadn't been convicted of their previous felony charges yet.

Arizonans are, of course, shaking in their boots at the concept of San Franciscans not coming to their state. Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council says" "It's a really poor strategy--hypocritical, grandstanding, and a cheap shot." Because of extensive ties between San Francisco and Arizona, an unnamed source within City Hall has said that the proposed boycott could seriously damage as many as 2500 jobs in San Francisco. Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel Corporation points out that Intel has two chip plants in Arizona with 10,000 employees who will be negatively affected by a Bay Area boycott of Intel products coming from Arizona.

SunPower, an Arizona company, has just completed plans, lauded by Governor Schwarzenegger, for building a plant in Milpitas, a San Francisco suburb. SunPower manufactures solar panels, a concept beloved in San Francisco. But if SunPower loses major contracts because of the boycott, it has no reason to stay in California. And of course there's Hewlett-Packard which is developing flexible display technology with Arizona State University. San Francisco-based Wells-Fargo (which took no federal bailout funds) has dozens of branches in Arizona.

But those are mere details about jobs and income, and how can those be important when brown people are being rounded up in droves and sent off to internment camps by a racist state government? If there's one thing San Francisco considers important, it's principle. Just ask the Tibetans.

NOTE: And since you asked, our racial relations are excellent in San Francisco. Beside the sanctuary policy for illegals, we have watchdog Supervisor Chris Daly to keep us on the straight and narrow. At the most recent Board meeting to discuss the City bailing out the Municipal Transportation Agency, there was considerable discussion about the poor performance of Muni, the ridiculously high wages of Muni employees, the nearly total power exercised by the Transport Workers Union over the agency, and the need to preserve present routes and timetables rather than the elimination of routes and reduced service currently planned.

In case you don't remember his name, Daly is the supervisor who vowed to drop the f-bomb at least once during every meeting of the Board. The proposal before the Board for helping out Muni included some strings. Muni would have to reduce its 10% cuts in service by half. It also asked for concession on wages from the bus and train operators who are now the second highest paid transport employees in the nation. The proposal also said that the money from the City cannot be offset by Muni raising fares any farther than they've already done. But Daly put his finger on the real danger of attaching strings to any Muni bailout.

Daly disrupted the debate with one of his classic manic outbursts. "If the city wants to save money, it should look at agreements with all unions, beginning with the police. Supervisor Elsbernd targeting basically what amounts to a largely black and/or African American union not only has the issue of racial undertones . . ." His rant was interrupted by Supervisor Elsbernd demanding that Daly apologize for calling him a racist, and to cut off the race rhetoric. Presiding Supervisor Mirkarimi allowed Daly to continue anyway.

Elsbernd's completely logical argument is that the transport workers are the only ones whose salaries are rigidly fixed by the City Charter at a guaranteed rate of 90% of the highest paid transport workers nationwide. All other union employees, police or otherwise, have to negotiate their contracts from scratch. Only the transport workers have a guaranteed base from which they can only negotiate upwards. Said Elsbernd: "I just want every union treated evenly and fairly and collectively bargain." Board President Chu finally intervened, saying: "I am concerned about the suggestion that any of us are acting in a racially motivated way." I'm sure this will be very instructive for the citizens of Arizona.

NOTE: And speaking of our sterling record on perfect race-relations, Mayor Newsom has offered a $100,00 reward for the arrest of the young gentlemen who were among the roving gangs of disaffected youths who have been attacking elderly Chinese in the Bayview District. There have been injuries ranging from bumps and bruises to serious physical injury. But this case was a little different. Huan Chen, age 83, was beaten and kicked on January 24 while on his way to visit his ailing wife in a Bayview convalescent home. Huan died of his injuries on March 19. As The Chronicle put it: "The youths attacked him from behind and then fled, laughing."

NOTE: A former San Francisco network engineer was convicted of felony computer tampering. Terry Childs was found guilty of denying computer access to the City that employed him. He has already served two years in jail awaiting trial, so it seems likely the judge will reduce his potential five-year prison sentence by credit for time already served. It's another one of those "only in San Francisco" stories. Childs had the attitude so common among public employees that the City's resources were actually his own personal property. He had systematically engineered the system, which included police records, so that if the City ever got rough on him for some reason, he could block them from access. He had the only passwords that could unlock the system.

The jury did not want to impose the full $500,000 potential fine, since they found the city partially responsible in that it allowed any one person to have such singular and unique power over a major city computer network. Can't say I disagree with that. After Childs was fired for not revealing that he had a felony criminal past, he refused to give up the passwords. Estimates are that it cost the city about $200,000 to remedy the problems Childs had created. It could have been worse. Somehow, Mayor Newsom had a meeting with Childs during his incarceration, and got Childs to give up the passwords, which ended the need for further attempts to reconstruct and repair what Childs had done.

NOTE: And finally, speaking of Chris Daly, f-bombing Supervisor Extraordinaire, there has recently been contentious debate between Police Chief George Gascon and Daly over the proposed anti-bum sit/lie sidewalk ordinance. Daly he wants to consider a lying (as in not telling the truth, not sprawling out on the sidewalks) ordinance at the same time as the squatting ordinance. Says Daly, "If we are to determine what kinds of behavior are acceptable on city sidewalks, I'd like to see the discussion extend on how people relate to one another. At question here is how we best can build better relationships and a stronger sense of community."

Rather than say "huh?," which was my reaction, a spokesman for Mayor Newsom said: "If he's willing to amend it to also prohibit using the f-word during public hearings, it might be worth considering."

23 comments:

StanH said...

I hope Arizona can keep it’s nerve against the maelstrom of faux indignation, from blowhard politicians and the press.

Joel Farnham said...

LawHawk,

Off topic;

Have your brave supervisors decided to denounce the Tea Partiers from Quincy, Illinois? Yesterday, the Tea Partiers got rowdy and sang God Bless American along with the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Obama, of course, called in the Riot Crew in full regalia. He showed them who is boss. Do your brave supervisors want to chime in?

On Topic,

When will these people actually get a clue as to how they look from the outside?

StanH said...

Lawhawk did you see that the law in Arizona is going to cause illegal’s to leave Arizona…hallelujah!

If I were governor of AZ I’d buy bus tickets to San Francisco. You guys could use an extra 400,000 illegal’s?

Anonymous said...

StanH: I'm with you on that. My advice to the Board of Supervisors: "Physician, heal thyself."

Anonymous said...

Joel: I haven't seen anything from the Board about Quincy yet. It's hard to keep track of all their useless and counterproductive actions. I'm too busy planning my extended vacation to Arizona. And I have to renew my subscription to Arizona Highways.

Anonymous said...

StanH: San Francisco would be delighted to have them. After all, we need to fill all those redidential vacancies created by the law-abiding taxpayers who are leaving The City in droves. And come to think of it, that means there's more space in Arizona for the overtaxed, over-regulated San Francisco businesses to move to.

AndrewPrice said...

Frankly, these leftist boycotts are always fun. After Colorado passed the anti-gay rights initiative, everyone in Hollywood said they would boycott the state. Everyone in the state responded, "thank God!" That wasn't quite the response Hollywood had expected.

Soon after, South Park tore into Streisand. :-)

But all things come to an end and as soon as ski season came, they started making exceptions so they could go skiing. And that made us all very sad, that they had returned to our state. :-(

HamiltonsGhost said...

Lawhawk--It's nice to know the thugs have a sense of humor. No point in beating an old person half to death if you can't laugh about it.

Anonymous said...

HamiltonsGhost: Only thugs and hyenas laugh after mauling and torturing helpless prey. There isn't an ounce of humanity in these amoral young gangsters. This city risks the lives of its citizens to protect murderous illegal immigrants but turns helpless when it comes to protecting elderly legal Chinese immigrants.

Writer X said...

LawHawk, there are reports this morning that Arizona's illegal immigrant population is so outraged that they're moving to California. I guess free medical care, free schooling, and jobs aren't good enough. Keep the light on! All this because you ask people to follow the law? Unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

Andrew: I remember that Colorado boycott falling apart overnight. I think you've pointed out a good example of how well San Francisco's boycott of Arizona is going to work.

It wasn't long after the Streisand satire that South Park investigated the deadly "smug" cloud that was drifting into Colorado from San Francisco. I wonder if they have something similar in the offing for the Arizona boycott.

Anonymous said...

WriterX: It's quite an enigma. The Arizona illegals flee to San Francisco for coddling and freebies. The taxpayers and law-abiding citizens flee to Arizona to get away from the bankrupt and lawless city. Query: With the taxpayers gone, who's going to pay for the freebies for the illegals who will take over San Francisco? Mayor Newsom? Supervisor Daly? The unemployed farmers and farm workers in the Central Valley? The Delta smelt?

Unknown said...

LawHawk. Your mayor doesn't seem to be quite as enthusiastic about a boycott as your Board of Supervisors. Your crazy Board seems to be determined to act as if it's declaring war on an entire state.

Anonymous said...

CalFed: There are multiple reasons why Newsom didn't go as overboard as the Board of Supervisors. He has statewide ambitions (he's running for Lieutenant Governor), and a full-out assault on a state which is merely trying to protect its citizens doesn't play as well outside the big cities. Newsom is also a successful businessman, so his business sense is in conflict with his social liberalism. He can see that a full boycott would probably hurt San Francisco more than it would hurt Arizona.

From the purely political viewpoint, the Board was already in high dudgeon within minutes of the passage of the Arizona legislation. Newsom remained quite silent about the whole thing, hoping to dodge the issue. His major primary challenger, Los Angeles City Council Member Janice Hahn, came out in favor of a boycott almost as fast as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Newsom was quickly forced to secure his leftist Democratic base by doing something. He lagged a bit, and the action he took is not nearly as draconian as a full boycott. He simply ordered that no city funds could be spent on city employee trips to Arizona. And he immediately started carving out exceptions, such as an upcoming law-enforcement convention in Phoenix.

Tennessee Jed said...

Hawk, I think I've finally figured out the mindset of liberal San Franciscans. They are essentially, emotional six graders. {sic} nah, nah, nah nah, nah!

BevfromNYC said...

Oy vey...

BevfromNYC said...

Oh, Joel, I saw the video of the Tea Party in Quincy, IL with the "SS guards" marching in formation. I don't normally stoop to Nazi imagery, but that scared the poop out of me...

Anonymous said...

Tennessee: Good call. I know for a fact that you're right, because I was there last week for their promotion from Fifth Grade. LOL

Anonymous said...

Be: To which I'll add "Gott in Himmel." And that has nothing to do with the damned fools in the Nazi regalia in Quincy.

Anonymous said...

Joel and Bev: I finally got a chance to look at some of the videos of the Tea Party in Quincy. The Wehrmacht v. The Grannies. If this weren't so tragically and frighteningly wrong, it would be funny. The only thing missing was the Black Muslim Fruit of Islam to guard Obama like they guarded Michael Jackson and currently guard Obama's soul-mate, Louis Farrakhan. That was probably just an oversight.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, Yep, the smug cloud! LOL!

They made a huge deal about the boycott and the liberals screamed. Then nothing happened. Life went on like normal. No one missed the people who didn't come. Soon they were coming again.

I'll bet the San Francisco protest doesn't even get off the ground.

Anonymous said...

Andrew: I sometimes wonder why cartoon kids can see the ludicrousness of the San Francisco mindset, but alleged adults can't. It's truly mystifying. At the rate things are going, the town will soon be like Old Calcutta--a small population of the rich and isolated, and the mass of poor, dependent and criminal class. The middle class will have gone with the wind. And nobody's going to convince me that the Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights and Castro crowds aren't going to show up in Scottsdale and the resorts. They'll just make sure the paparazzi aren't around.

Anonymous said...

UPDATE: In a rally consisting of tens of participants, the voice of the nutcases spoke to The Chronicle (a willing MSM dupe) about the boycott.

An editor of POOR Magazine said at a noon rally Thursday at the 16th Street BART station that SB 1070 in Arizona, the anti-immigrant measure signed into law earlier this month "criminalizes indigenous brown people who are migrating across mother earth because of poverty, family or the forces of globalization."

Only in San Francisco could the ravings of an obscure loony discussing an issue as complicated as illegal immigration and state vs. federal law be treated as news by its daily newspaper of record.

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