Mowgli, Nick & Me in the Ville, 2009

Mom found murder: 14-year-old girl and19-year-old lover arrested

By Amy Kniss

Tylar Witt, 14, and her boyfriend Steven Boston Colver, 19, were arrested in San Bruno, Wednesday morning. Police suspect the pair had been on the run since Friday, June 12, after stabbing Witt’s mother 47-year-old Joanne Witt to death in the El Dorado Hills home mother and daughter shared.

Authorities discovered Joanne Witt’s body Monday morning. Coworkers at the county's Department of Transportation reported her missing after she failed to show up for work; police found Joanne Witt stabbed to death when they went to check on her wellbeing, after receiving the missing person report. Coworkers told police, and attendance records at the department confirm, that Joanne Witt had not been to work since June 10.

Of the weapon used in the murder, El Dorado Hills Sheriff’s Captain Craig Therkildsen reported: "It was some kind of stabbing instrument, but we don't know what it was." Police have not yet recovered the weapon.

Investigators suspect that Joanne Witt’s murder occurred because she wanted to prevent Tylar, Joanne’s 14-year-old daughter, from continuing to date 19-year-old Colver. Sergeant Jim Byers, spokesman for the El Dorado Hills Sheriff’s Department, told reporters: "We do believe that the relationship between the daughter and the boyfriend may have led to this murder.”

San Bruno Police are not releasing details regarding the specifics of the pair’s arrest. Yet, mall employee, Jeysol Urbina, who said she witnessed the arrests, told ABC7 News, that police blocked off the parking lot between an AT&T store and a Red Lobster restaurant in the strip mall. She also said she saw a black jeep surrounded by police cars.

"There was a guy and a girl dressed in black like gothic,” she said. Urbina also told ABC7 News, that the pair got pulled out and searched, but admitted she had not witnessed this part of the incident herself.

On Friday night, the night police believe Joanne Witt was murdered, Tylar Witt and her boyfriend Steven Colver rented a room at the Holiday Inn on Van Ness and California, in San Francisco. Monday morning, the day Joanne Witt was found murdered, the San Francisco Department of Transportation impounded Clover’s car, from the 500 block of O’Farrell Street.

Exactly how or when the teens made their way from San Francisco to San Bruno, where they were arrested for Joanne Witt’s murder, remains unclear. Police officials from El Dorado Hills plan on picking up Tylar Witt and Steven Colver in the next few days. Until then both are being held in San Mateo County.

Anarchists Attack Union Square Shops

By Amy Kniss

Union Square, San Francisco – May 1, 2009

High-end Union Square stores felt the wrath of a “black bloc” Friday night, just before nine p.m. That’s when, according to witnesses, a herd of about 50 protesters wearing black bandanas over their faces and cloaked in black hoodies tore through O’Farrell and Grant Streets, leaving havoc in their wake.

The group, police believe to be anarchists, may have splintered off from a May Day protest on immigration, before smashing at least 15 storefront windows in the Union Square shopping district. Debeers, Longchamp, Prada, Armani, Tumi, Guess and Montblanc were among the stores hit by the masked mob. Bystanders said the group shot paintballs and burned fake $100 bills while using bricks and sledgehammers to smash-in windows. Their message: down with capitalism.

The vandals may see their mission as successful, as employees of stores with smashed windows reported that sales, on Saturday, were slower than usual. Managers worried that the boarded up windows gave the impression that stores were closed or under construction.

The dissidents’ “black bloc” approach relies on the premise of revolutionary, anarchist street-action. The “black bloc” encourages participants to engage in direct action against the forces of corporate and state repression. Dressing in black with their faces and heads covered makes identifying individual participants nearly impossible. Zapatista rebels in Chiapas are known for using this technique. Thus far, its been successful in San Francisco: police have no suspects and have made arrests related to the anarchist outburst.

For more info: Watch the video at ABC 7 Bay Area: Protesters Vandalize Downtown Stores

Ex-Supervisor Ed Jew receives additional year of state-sponsored vacation

Ed Jew is headed to jail. Again.

Actually, Jew, the former San Francisco Supervisor, won’t start serving his sentence until July 1, when he is scheduled to surrender to police. The one-year jail sentence Jew received Wednesday, for lying about living in San Francisco when he ran for Supervisor in 2006, adds an additional year to the five-years-four-months he is sentenced to spend in federal prison for extortion.

Jew’s extortion conviction stemmed from an FBI sting in 2007. FBI surveillance video captured footage of Jew accepting $40,000 from the owner of a fast food restaurant in Jew’s district. The money was half of an $80,000 bribe Jew admitted to demanding from the District 4 business owner. In exchange for the cash, Jew promised his help in smoothing out the restaurant’s permitting issues.

With two convictions for what amounts to unethical behavior, Jew’s reputation as an upstanding citizen or honorable civic leader is shot. He deserves to be punished for abusing the power of his position and assaulting the public’s trust. But, logically, sending Jew to jail for up-to six years (though he’ll likely only serve four, at most) makes little fiscal sense.

Traditionally, in the U.S., removing individuals from society—the adult version of a “time-out”—is how we punish those who violate societal rules. Yet, this time-out technique is costly and teaches little to improve the character or societal contributions of the incarcerated. Those locked-up by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, in the U.S., cost taxpayers, in 2001 [the last date for which data was available], $22,632 per inmate, per day. If Jew served even six years of his initial sentence, his incarnation would cost taxpayers well over $100,000—twenty thousand more than the $80,000 the FBI caught Jew exhorting from the restaurant owner.

Jew’s lawyer complained about the harsh nature of the charges: "Between the federal and state systems, this punishment is serious. Most politicians don't receive sentences like this." He’s right; usually politicians get off with a slap on the wrist. And in that light this is a serious sentence, but mail fraud, bribery and extortion are serious crimes. Still, Jew will spend most of his time in the sort of facility where Martha Stewart spent a few months, on a so-called federally sponsored vacation – and possibly another eight months in country jail.

What’s the point of jailing Jew? To teach Jew a lesson for a crime he won't likely have the opportunity to commit again, even after serving his sentence? Why spend the money incarcerating a non-violent offender?

Maybe he should experience what it’s like not to have recourse to hot water or consistent electricity and live surrounded by garbage. Who is he to judge? No water use, garbage activity or power showed up for the Sunset District house where Jew claimed he lived when her ran for Supervisor.

Let’s slap a tracking bracelet on the ousted-supervisor and relegate him to pay his debt to society by serving his time in a shelter or one of the city’s single-resident-occupancy hotels. Make him spend the next five years volunteering in the neighborhood he represented, but never lived. His lesson may be long, but it should not be unnecessarily costly.

Amy Kniss SF Law and Politics Examiner

Sentient Supervisor settles score: Labor left seatless on Golden Gate Bridge Board

By Amy Kniss

Supervisor Chris Daly doesn’t much care for Larry Mazzola, Jr., nor does he have much reason to. The Local 38 Plumbers Union, of which Mazzola, Jr., is the assistant business manager, supported Rob Black against Daly in 2006. According to Daly, Local 38 set the tone to what Daly described as the “nastiest political race in San Francisco history" and spent $15,000 on an attack mailer that directed recipients to www.dumpdaly.com.

Daly prevailed in the 2006 race, despite Local 38’s opposition.

“This is what politics is about,” according to Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier. Political campaigns are brutal. “It’s part of what we do,” she continued, “it’s our job essentially.” Alioto-Pier acknowledges that Daly’s election bid was rough, but said, “Come on, get over it. Grow up.”

She believes once you prevail in an election you forget the sting and harsh encounters you endured in the campaign, or at least you should if you’re going to fairly and effectively serve the city and the residents of San Francisco. “The fact that he is still brooding about it really shows something about his character,” said Alioto-Pier.

Daly would agree and he doesn’t think that’s a bad thing. As a ‘sentient being,’ Daly says, “Sure, yes, absolutely, my personal experiences influence my political decisions.” He thinks this is true for us all, including Alioto-Pier: the personal-is-political and all that.

Mazzola, Jr., threw his wrench into the ring in his bid for the number-two seat on the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District Board (GGTD), knowing it was a seat traditionally, but not legislatively, reserved for a Labor representative. Perhaps Mazzola, Jr., thought Labor’s endorsement would provide mitigating circumstances powerful enough to pressure Daly into forgetting their bad blood, or at least approving Mazzola, Jr.’s, appointment to the GGTD. No such luck.

During the Rules Committee hearing to fill empty seats on the GGTD, March 5, the sentient Supervisor revealed that time had yet to heal the wounds he suffered at the hands of Local 38 back in 2006. Daly told Mazzola, Jr., flat out: "You’re not going to get my support.” Daly actually seemed surprised that Mazzola, Jr., would have such a sense of entitlement to appear before the Committee. “If I were you,” Daly said, “I wouldn't be standing in front of me asking for this position." To which Mazzola, Jr., replied, “I don’t want your support.”

With the hope that the matter could be settled eventually, the Rules Committee held off on filling the seats. When the Board of Supervisors revisited the GGTD appointments on March 31, Mazzola, Jr., was still the unanimous choice of Labor. Again the decision was postponed. Board President and Supervisor Daly both urged Labor to choose a candidate “more qualified” and informed on transportation issues to represent Labor on the GGTD.

Few believe this was an argument about personal qualifications, despite Daly’s assurance that the Board chose the most qualified candidate for the position when it appointed David Snyder the GGTD on Tuesday, April 14, 2009. Perhaps that is because, ironically, Supervisor Daly actually supported Mr. Mazzola, Jr., during an earlier bid for the GGTD seat — pre-2006 obviously. Daly said as much during the March 5 Rules Committee hearing. So, his claim that Mr. Mazzola, Jr., was “patently unqualified for the position” with the bridge transportation district appears somewhat disingenuous.

Supervisor Daly, however, says that his vote for Mazzola, Jr., in 2001, Daly’s first year in office, was a mistake. “In the last eight years,” Daly said, “it is one of five or six votes I regret.” When Daly took charge of the Rules Committee he vowed to limit such mistakes by making sure that candidates for all boards and committees were thoroughly vetted and qualified for positions before appointing them to serve.

Despite voting for Mazzola, Jr., in 2001, Daly maintains that his vote this week, against the Labor representative, was not motivated by Mazzola. Jr.’s ties to Local 38 or the union’s contributions to Rob Black’s 2006 campaign against Daly. Daly admits that Mazzola, Jr., was not qualified for the position on the GGTD in 2001: saying, “My standards have gone up as my career has gone forward. I shouldn’t have voted for him then.” Daly didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

While he maintains his commitment to elevated standards, Daly also says he’s able to let go of political bad blood. “I have the ability to work through things with people who are willing to move forward,” said Daly. He points to Burke Strunsky in 2002, an earlier opponent that Daly says ran a “mean-spirited” campaign. Daly worked with Strunsky on Proposition H. According to Daly, Strunsky basically authored the bill banning handguns in San Francisco. “So you see,” said Daly, “ I am capable of working with people who’ve opposed me.” He maintains, that the Mazzola, Jr., matter is less about Daly’s naive vote in 2001 for an under-qualified candidate or Local 38’s political tactics during the 2006 race than it is about the higher standards that Daly says the Rules Committee now holds appointment candidates.

For more info: Check out Fog City Journal's play-by-play coverage of the final appointment hearing during the Board of Supervisors' Meeting April 14, 2009

Oops she did it again: Background-check anyone?

Tamara Hofmann, 48, isn’t charged with a crime. Her 20-year-old boyfriend is. Sixto Balbuena, Hoffman’s former student, is charged with stabbing Samuel Valdivia, Hoffman’s 18-year-old student-lover, to death upon finding them together Hoffman’s bedroom.

With one lover dead and another jailed Ms. Hofmann may find herself lonely. She is not subject to criminal charges for sleeping with Valdivia, technically an adult at 18. Nor was Hoffman charged for engaging in a “suspected” sexual relationship with Balbuena, only 17 at the time, according to a 2006 Chandler police report.

Hofmann will likely face disciplinary action at El Dorado High School in Chandler, Az., where she was Valdivia’s math teacher. But what is to stop her from taking another student under her tutelage? Taking on young male students appears to be a pattern for Hofmann: one that causes her few consequences. After all, she secured a position in the Math Department of El Dorado High School after leaving her teaching position at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Az. when allegations surfaced that she was sleeping with Balbuena, a 17-year-old student.

Background-check anyone?

According to Sgt. Joe Favazzo, of the Chandler Police Department, Hofmann is under investigation for “potential misconduct” regarding her inappropriate relationship with Valdivia. However, since Valdivia was 18 when they were together, it is unlikely that Hafmann can be charged with criminal conduct – after all violating workplace prohibitions, like “No Sex with Students,” will only get you fired if no law is broken in the process.

Here's hoping the 48-year-old seductress finds herself with early-onset menopause. Perhaps that would curb her predatory appetite for her young male students. Until then, the Arizona Department of Education may want to consider revoking her teaching credential for “moral turpitude” or some such offense.

ABC Power Trip: SF Clubs Face Financial Ruin

By Amy Kniss

California is a fairly lax state when it comes to regulating the sale of alcohol – we sell hard liquor in supermarkets, we sell it on Sundays, we sell it until 2:00 a.m. and in many places we begin selling it again at 6:00 a.m. Businesses make money when people drink. No big deal.

That laid-back attitude may be changing, in San Francisco of all places!

California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is taking a closer look at local music venues that host shows without age restrictions. Venues like Slim’s, Bottom of the Hill, the Great American Music Hall, Cafe du Nord and the Fillmore are all at risk, according to an article in today’s SF Gate: State goes after legendary all-ages music clubs.

At issue is a seemingly obscure enforcement power claimed by the ABC, which if you want to get technical isn’t actually a matter of “law.” Despite the absence of a statute requiring clubs that hold music events open to minors, the ABC is insisting that half of such establishments’ revenue come from food sales – rather than (disproportionate) alcohol sales.

Fans and promoters of the local music scene are understandably concerned that ABC’s new “rules” will negatively affect emerging talent and clubs’ ability to preserve their livelihoods by attracting large audiences.

"Without these businesses, there's no local music scene - it's that simple," said Jordan Kurland, co-owner of San Francisco's Noise Pop music festival in an interview with The Chronicle. "It's such a special experience when you are young to see a band you love in an intimate place ... where they are able to charge a more reasonable ticket price. These small-capacity venues are very generous about paying bands, and, like any club in the world, they predominantly make their money off the bar, not off ticket sales."

What the ABC isn’t acknowledging is that California law explicitly permits minors to enter establishments licensed to sell liquor, so long as the establishment has the capacity to serve meals (California Business & Professions Code §§ 23787, 25665). Such establishments may maintain bars on the premises and function more as nightclubs, particularly late at night. According to California Business & Professional Code (§§ 23787): “The operation of such premises is limited solely to the service of meals and beverages at prearranged events of a social or business nature and where admission is by ticket only.” Notice the code mentions no age restriction on ticket purchasers, nor does the code specify any ratio requirement for food-to-alcohol-sales for venues providing ticketed admission.

Serving food allows bay area and California clubs to host as all-age events. This continues to be the case. The San Francisco Entertainment Commission doesn’t take kindly to assaults on its businesses, especially when it comes in the form of enforcing non-legislated “rules” (requiring equal sales of alcohol and food at all-age events) targeting revenue and limiting the operating conditions.

Look for this fight to continue as a legal battle arises over the ABC’s authority to impose restrictions that are not a matter of law.

Obama Subverts Congressional Oversight

Seriously? We need to persuade companies "to participate in programs funded by the $700 billion" bailout? The White House thinks so.

Why? Well these "poor" companies "desperate" for government money only want the handouts if they don't come with restrictions about how they may squander the money. Perhaps they're reluctant to take any greater restrictions than those Congress saddled on AIG,: none. It seems financial oversight, like restrictions on lavish executive pay, is a deal-breaker for organizations otherwise willing to accept tax payer cash.

The accommodating Obama administration agrees and has added more bureaucracy to circumvent Congress' attempt at oversight and satisfy the financial demands of companies in need of federal funds. How now brown cow.

Silly me. I thought when a company needs to borrow money than the lender sets the terms and regulates how the money is spend. If a homeowner seeks a home loan, the money can't then be used to buy a car, send a kid to college or pay for fertility treatment. Money borrowed has use restrictions. Why should companies that need bailout bucks get a pass, especially when their only recourse is refusing to accept the money?

President Obama, using "a special-purpose vehicle" to blatantly ignore the terms of Congressional oversight is ingeniousness and insulting. Even the Bush administration decided to apply executive-pay limits to firms participating in the bailout program.

The Ethics of Outsourcing Academics

Reading "The Dark Side of Freelancing," on a Harvard Business Review blog, got me thinking about the author's final question: Is there "something inherently lazy and unaccountable about outsourced intellectual labor"?

As a freelancer myself I want to say no. That it is just a byproduct of the pace and connectedness of our world. While I do believe that when it comes to corporate communications outsourcing intellectual labor, when transparent and fairly compensated, is perfectly ethical. However, I can't say the same when it comes to academics and the so-called "essay mills" that lurk in the Far East and many nations notorious for permissive sweat-shop cultures.

Working at UVA in graduate school showed me that too many students are ill prepared for any sort of robust academic/intellectual endeavor — most would rather rip their own teeth out than write an essay on Hobbes' State of Nature. Those from affluent means were more than willing to buy a pass on course requirements, even if that meant cheating. Despite the Jeffersonian "Honor Code," we found students desperate to "clear the academic bar" were willing to risk expulsion rather than put time and effort into writing a decent paper themselves. Students' willingness to "outsource" work and claim credit for the product points to grave ethical problems ahead (not to mention decreasing intellectual standards).

Commuter Nightmare: Woman Jumps Into Oncoming Traffic

When a woman jumps off an Interstate connector onto oncoming traffic, it's fair to say she may be taking her life in a new direction.When it happened today, ERIC S. PAGE, of NBC's San Diego affiliate station 7/39, posted a news article on station's website. Detailing the event, Page described the situation as "creating a commuters [sic] nightmare." Lack of appropriate apostrophe aside, Page is an idiot.

The woman, who leaped approximately 50 from the edge of the freeway connector into oncoming traffic on Interstate 8, wasn't even hit, despite the taking the plunge near the start of rush hour. Yes, the fall left her pretty banged up ("seriously injured"). Hitting asphalt at 50 feet usually has that effect. But Page's claim that the situation created a "commuters [sic] nightmare" is a little far-fetched. A body splattering on your windshield or a toxic spill or terrorists taking out a bridge, those are situations of which commuters' nightmares are made.

Rubber-neckers slowed down traffic for approximately half an hour. The CHP had cleared up the situation and had her all scooped up and carted off by 3:45. Talk about service, the report of her jump came in at 3:15.

eHow Featured in ABC News and Sacramento Bee

7 On Your Side

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In economic times like these, it is good to do more things yourself. Say change the oil or cut your families hair. The website www.ehow.com is helpful to some and a money maker to others.

The website eHow.com can show you how to do just about everything. A pretty big brag, but not that far off the mark.

Log on and learn to build rabbit cages or start an Internet business from scratch.

"You can imagine, tough economic times people feel a little more empowered. They want to do things themselves, they think twice about calling that plumber who charges $85 just to ring the doorbell," said Gregory Boudewijn from eHow.com

"Have you ever logged on to find out how to do something?" asked 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney.

"Yes, I do, every day," said Boudewijn

"What?" asked Finney.

"I have fixed my garbage disposal. My wife has learned to hang a pendent lamp in our dining room. I have gotten some tax advice -- a lot of information," said Boudewijn.

Amy Kniss uses the site a lot, too.

"I am not good at following real directions, like reading a VCR manual -- that is going to be a disaster, or whatever, how to connect my DVD player to something, it is probably not going to work out. But this, this, is written in basic steps," said Kniss.

And where does this advice come from? From people just like Amy. She writes articles.

eHow pays for advice based on the subject matter and how many read the articles.

"I started writing because it was kind of fun and basically you could write about what you know about and didn't have to do too much research. And from there I figured, 'you can actually make some money doing this'," said Kniss.

And she is, although she won't tell me how much she earns. Some writers are making $10 or so a month, others are actually earning a living, thousands of dollars every month.

"They are everyday people like you and me. People who have free time and expertise and sure there are some aspiring writers who like to be on our site and getting a portfolio of their work, but then there are just average people who are sharing information they have accumulated throughout their lives," said Boudewijn.

They check for plagiarism and have editors going through the articles as well.

www.ehow.com

Today's latest headlines | ABC7 News on your phone
Follow us on Twitter | Fan us on Facebook | Get our free widget

(Copyright ©2009 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Omegle: As Anonymous as You Want to Be

Omegle pairs up strangers for a random conversation about anything, everything or nothing. The site bills itself as "a brand-new service for meeting new friends."

Assuming you make new friends with people whom you know nothing about, don't necessarily share any common interests and may or may not live anywhere near one another. If you like making these sorts of new friends, then yeah, Omegle is the perfect service for you to meet.

When you access Omegle, its algorithm pick another user at random, shoves you together into a virtual version of an empty elevator, then slams the doors closed, leaving the two of you alone together in silence. You may choose to speak, mutter a few pleasantries or wait out the ride in silence until one of you reaches your floor.

What is the intimacy factor of sitting at your keyboard waiting for someone you don't know to enter your life? What words do you hope will appear? What will you say to a stranger that you won't say to your non-virtual friends. Will this format of anonymous conversation become a means of therapy for the uninsured or out of work?

While Omegle says the "chats are completely anonymous," it notes, "there is nothing to stop you from revealing personal details if you would like." What's more, there is nothing to stop you from making up any personal details you'd like. This sounds eerily similar to Hitchcock's "Stranger on a Train."

Perhaps this "service" will grow more sophisticated. Will there eventually be an option to select a topic for the chat before being paired with a stranger? Say if I wanted to talk about Congress or the 2010 CA governor's race, then I could enter that in a text field, and a stranger could select that topic? Also, how will this be monetized and what's to keep it from becoming some creepy anonymous sex-chat platform?

Google Gains Ground in Quest for World Domination

It's true: "You can decline to submit personal information to any of our [Google's] services, in which case Google may not be able to provide those services to you."

But it's important to know what Google considers "personal information" and how it handles said information.

How does Google handle "User communications", like your gmail account and its included chat features? Well, according to the company's Privacy Policy, "When you send email or other communications to Google, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services.

Wha? First of all, few of us consider that our email or IM exchanges are "sent to Google" rather than through Google. Unlike the phone company, or even a cellular service provider, that keep records that a call took place, between which numbers, when it occurred and how long it lasted, Google's retention of your exchange includes the actual content of the conversation. Google does not disclose how long it retains this content, presumably it does so in perpetuity.

We may soon see the day when our gmail conversation of today is subpoenaed, to prove anything from ongoing infidelity in a divorce proceeding to undeclared craigslist earnings in a tax or fraud investigation. I realize that once sent, emails exist in cyberspace indefinitely. Still, it is creepy to know that they also exist in Google's archives, where one day scholars may pour over them like they once examined the correspondence exchanges of great thinkers, wtiters, celebrities and politicizations.

Be careful what you say and where you say it.

If it's any consolation, Google makes its users this promises:

"If Google becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, we will ensure the confidentiality of any personal information involved in such transactions and provide notice before personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy."

Big Brother Is Watching

Here are a few aspects of your life that Google is watching:


Log information – When you access Google services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.

Location data – Google offers location-enabled services, such as Google Maps for mobile. If you use those services, Google may receive information about your actual location (such as GPS signals sent by a mobile device) or information that can be used to approximate a location (such as a cell ID).

Google only processes personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and/or the supplementary privacy notices for specific services. In addition to the above, such purposes include:

• Providing our services, including the display of customized content and advertising;
• Auditing, research and analysis in order to maintain, protect and improve our services;
• Ensuring the technical functioning of our network;
• Protecting the rights or property of Google or our users; and
• Developing new services.

Sensitive information

“Sensitive personal information” includes information we know to be related to confidential medical information, racial or ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs or sexuality and tied to personal information.

Will Castro's New Trigger Violence

You've got to give it to the owners of Trigger for their responsiveness. The auspiciously titled night club, set to open in the Castro in April, that drew controversy for its name's violent connotations -- not to mention its tagline: "With a vengeance" and gun logo -- quickly remade its website post haste.

Trigger spokesman Lord Martine denied the violent connotations of the club's name. He described Trigger as: "A fun, sexy, young, original name - an impetus for excitement and energy."

Perhaps his claim is not so misguided, given that the Castro hasn't been among the San Francisco neighborhoods where night life turns violent when partiers bleed out from the closing clubs.

While San Francisco residents, and anti-gun zealots, have every right to take issue with Trigger's name choice. They may be better served by taking a deep breath and consoling themselves with the fact that Trigger is not opening in North Beach, Mission or Tenderloin neighborhoods, where last-call often breeds drunken aggression and street fights.

Who's Most Likely to Commit Fraud?

What do Bernie Madoff, R. Allen Stanford and most of the other names that make the papers for perpetrating fraud have in common? That's right, they're men. More often than not they're also white men. Make that white men in management positions with advanced degrees.

So, who is most likely to commit fraud? Yeah, those guys (75% of those who committed fraud were men). Or at least guys very much like them. That is according to the results of a recent KPMG study that surveyed senior executives including CFOs and vice-presidents, across Canada, to find where the fraudsters lurk in corporate cultures. That the scamers were white wasn't actually among the study's results, but it's Canada, so of course they're white.

Strangely, an article published in this week's Business in Vancouver reports: Uneducated men in their 30s and 40s are among the most likely people to commit fraud.

The facts on this are a little confusing, according to the article: About 40% of fraudsters had no post-secondary education; 30% did. What about the remaining 30%? Did they have some post-secondary education? Were they raised by wolves without any formal education?

The report's credibility came under further question when it reported: Almost 70% of fraud cases were inside jobs; 20% involved outsiders. Eleven per cent involved both insiders and outsiders, according to the report. Almost 75% of fraudsters acted alone.

How could eleven percent of fraud involve both insiders and outsiders, if almost 70% were inside jobs and "20% involved outsiders"? 70%+20%+11%=101%

Maybe these guys didn't actually mean to commit fraud, they just never learned math.

Govt Owns 80% of AIG. Why does it ask for records?

I'm confused about something. If a stakeholder owns 80% of a business, wouldn't that stakeholder have access to the company's transaction and financial records?

Yes? Of course it would? I thought so.

How is it different when the stakeholder happens to exist in the collective form of the American taxpayers, whose more than $170 billion dollars were used by the Federal Reserve to bailout a failing company: A.I.G

As this is the case, why did members of Congress have to beg for the names of "partner companies" to which A.I.G. further doled out the bailout money? And it appears, taxpayers and Congress only received this concession as means of distraction. A.I.G. released the names of its payees just after A.I.G. revealed nearly the billion dollars in bonuses it released to upper management in the particular division of the company that spawned a national disaster.

As an 80% shareholder in the company, the Federal government should get up off its knees and stop begging. Instead it should grab A.I.G. by the throat and promise to break its financial windpipe if the company doesn't get its act together.

See which companies
A.I.G disclosed as partners.

Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable

If you want to know why newspapers are in such trouble, the most salient fact is this: Printing presses are terrifically expensive to set up and to run. This bit of economics, normal since Gutenberg, limits competition while creating positive returns to scale for the press owner, a happy pair of economic effects that feed on each other.

Read more of Clay Shriky's article: Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable.

Schools Prepare for On-Campus Threats

Will the economy tanking and the upsurge of people facing foreclosures, unemployment and bankruptcy erupt in increased levels of violence? How could it not? Coping with the stress of a life on the brink of disaster, whether real or preconceived, isn't a usually a recipe for calm or foresighted action.

Maybe schools and companies should be doing more to prepare for an armed attack. In the last decade, in the U.S., more students were killed on campuses as a result of gunmen than from earthquakes, fires and tornadoes combined! Yet, schools around the country still spend time each month practicing disaster drills, despite the infinitesimal percentages that such an event will occur.

It seems that some California elementary schools are not only revising their "Lockdown" procedures, but eliminating mandatory drills that prepare students for a natural disaster. Instead, these schools will instead practice for more realistic threats: Gunfire on campus, armed assailant in the building and civil disruption.

Students practice laying on the floor of their classrooms in the dark for a minimum of 30 minutes. They also learn where the safest places to hide from an attacker on campus and what a secured room looks like. According to one school's "Lockdown" procedure teachers should only resume normal classroom activities after a "recognizable school staff person" directs them to do so over the school intercom.

While admirable, school's efforts to prepare for a more likely threat seem less than adequate. Couldn't a gunman take a "recognizable school staff person" hostage and have her give the all clear over the intercom?

After all, you never know where a man with a grudge will decide to release his wrath.

Promises, Promises & an Ethics Pledge

Why would the Obama Administration require all new administration hires to pledge: "6.Employment Qualification Commitment. I agree that any hiring or other employment decisions I make will be based on the candidate's qualifications, competence, and experience"?

What other criteria would Administration officials use in "any hiring or other employment decisions," if not those "based on the candidate's qualifications, competence, and experience"? Oh, that's right, political hiring is less often about who you know than what you know. Provision six of the Ethics Pledge implies that the Obama Administration is less that fully confident in the decision making abilities of new executive branch hires.

Change you can believe in. But make sure to require those agents of change to pledge not to employ the shady hiring practices the Obama Administration swears it is above.

Read the Executive Order for Yourself: Ethics Commitments By Executive Branch Personnel

Taking Facebook to the Grave

It's not morbid to consider how you'll be remembered when you're dead or to whom you'll leave what. But this parceling out of our estate is more complicated than ever: who gets our virtual remains?

I know I've thought about it. More regarding my Gmail account than anything else, but the same goes for my Facebook, MySpace, PayPal, eBay accounts. If my obit be posted on my Facebook page, who's responsible for posting it? You've thought about it too, right? Maybe not quite in the same way, but you have.

It matters who knows what secrets my digital world holds. The emails I saved. The back-and-forth re-hashing of relationships with exs. The continuing conversations with those you swear you have no contact. Email expedience of secrets you promised to keep or the venting you do behind your partner's back.

The Pay Pal transfers, purchases or secret accounts. That stuff is private.

I'd feel more violated if my text messages or emails were read than if my "snail mail" were opened. For those of us under thirty emdash; hell under 40 emdash: our essential communications take place online. And if we want to preserve our reputation after death, we must take some precautions to make sure we tie up our digital loose ends.

Well, worry no more: Legacy Locker will keep your passwords safely vaulted and only release them to the person named by you, in the event of your death. The digital equivalent to a safety deposit box.

MacBook Ruins Writer's Life

Dear Steve Jobs & Apple Geniuses:

I am dissatisfied with my MacBook, despite its sleek exterior and sex appeal. I want a divorce; our relationship may be unsalvagable. We began on a faulty foundation: the first two computers were defective from the start, but not one to rule out a whole class by a few bad experiences I persisted.

That first year things ran smoothly, but as the months passed my MacBook became less and less reliable. Like my uncle Jerry who promises to fix the leaky faucet but three days later the kitchen's flooded. Its applications would stall and it took to ignoring my comands.

"Not responding." Thanks a lot. Our relationship soured. The difficulities in our relationship may cost me my job.

This is a subpar product. I have had problems with it since day one. I will not recommend the MacBook to anyone, in fact I will go out of my way to detail the issues I've faced and attempt to dissuade whomever I may from buying an Apple product. I would like to see my computer replaced, so I could return to work without forfeiting anymore of my income or losing any clients as a result of my MacBook-related technical difficulties.

Recovery.gov: Transparency of Farce?

Lovely. Right? Transparency = a web page. Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. President, but charts and graphs indicating how the money from your American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is being distributed does nothing for actual accountability.


According to recovery.gov $81 billion is going to "Protecting the Vulnerable." Who wouldn't want that? Cold hearted, anti-American folks? Maybe, but maybe those of us that have no idea who this money helps protect. Old people are vulnerable, but so are prisoners and the LGBT community and Iraqis. Is the $81 billion going to help protect all these vulnerable people? Maybe it should, but recovery.gov isn't providing a transparent account of whether it will.

Further more, the $111 billion allocated for "Infrastructure and Science," or any of the other broad and overarching categories, neither provides an exact breakdown of funds nor specifies the individual departments, contractors or organizations that will receive the bailout money. Isn't that the level of transparency we need at this point? Especially after we've seen so many institutions misuse their bailout money -- for parties, executive bonuses, private jets (like the one you used to fly to Chicago on Valentine's Day with Michelle. Too good for the D.C. restaurants or just too indifferent to the costs your romantic dinner levied on tax payers?).

Forget Blondes, Looks Like Bailed-Out Banks Have More Fun

Excuse me, Northern Trust, but hosting a golf event (undeniably a sport for the wealthy) at the Riviera Country Club in L.A., paying for lavish parties with A-List entertainment and swag from Tiffany's and footing the bill for travel expenses and hotel accommodations for hundreds of guests with tax payer funds is not cool.

After the Chicago-based bank accepted $1.6 billion from our generous Congressional bailout, the bank decided to do some wealth spreading of its own: paying millions in sponsorship fees to the PGA and millions more on parties for its wealthy clients (most of whom Northern Trust flew in for the event).

Congressional oversight anyone? No? We're taking the banks word that it was only using the institution's "operating funds" to pay for the event. Well, Northern Trust, if you take more than a BILLION and a half dollars from Congress, it doesn't really make sense that your institution actually has disposable "operating funds." But it's likely that you might if you didn't consider spending millions on lavish parties or event sponsorships part of a bank's "operating expenses."

Shame on you Northern Trust. Shame on Congress too for handing the money over, the institutional irresponsibility rests with you equally. What's more outrageous? Northern Trust laid off 4% of its workforce in December: 450 workers.

Here are the highlights provided by TMZ:

- Wednesday, Northern Trust hosted a fancy dinner at the Ritz followed by a performance by the group Chicago.

- Thursday, Northern Trust rented a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport for dinner, followed by a performance by Earth, Wind & Fire.

- Saturday, Northern Trust had the entire House of Blues in West Hollywood shut down for its private party. We got the menu -- guests dined on seared salmon and petite Angus filet. Dinner was followed by a performance by none other than Sheryl Crow.

There was also a fabulous cocktail party at the Loews. And how's this for a nice touch: Female guests at the Chicago concert all got trinkets from ... TIFFANY AND CO.

Yelp's Alleged Mafia Tactics

Extortion and blackmail claims abound in the East Bay Express article, out last Wednesday. News of 4,500 word story, "Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0," saturated info/media enclaves of the web within hours of the story's release. Showing up everywhere from The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital to CNET, Village Voice and FastCompany to PC World and Real Tech News.

Yikes! I bet Yelp wishes it could control these reviews, as it purportedly offered to do for countless bay area businesses. Lucky for us alternative weeklies like the East Bay Express still retain enough independence and journalistic integrity to expose dirty dealings and back door deals, rather than resort to such tactics for funding.

Mad Men vs. Trust Me

Fast forward from Mad Men nearly 50 years. We arrive at Trust Me, a new cable series on TNT. Since well before its mid-season debut the network has been hyping the show with unfettered fervor. TNT must seize this window of opportunity: during these next few months while Mad Men is on hiatus.

Both shows, ostensibly about high powered men in the creative departments at cutting edge advertising agencies, fall into totally different categories when it comes to execution. The macho, suave, sexism that makes Mad Man cool and relevant is precisely what Trust Me lacks. Instead of quiet self-confidence and dashing brashness, Trust Me coughs up weak characters lame with insecurities and an obsessive need to affirm their self-worth through uninspiring work.

Meet Mason, one of Trust Me's intentionally affable protagonists. He has an amazing job, as newly appointed Creative Director of some fabulous Chicago ad agency, and a gorgeous wife. But he is no Don Draper.

Instead, Mason is faithful, humble and domestic. He's neither clever or subtle and few in his department subordinates look up to him or take him seriously. He works haphazardly and takes everything personally. He whines and pleads desperately, apologizes awkwardly and dresses like he's a wannabe West Coast hipster.

Lack of Health Care: Cruel and Unusual?

Perhaps the state of California will put those foreclosed houses in your neighborhood to good use. After all, the 57,000 prisoners the state was ordered to release to reduce overcrowding will have to live somewhere.

The special three-judge panel ordered their release Tuesday, finding in the inmates' favor in a lawsuit alleging the "California prison system had deprived them of a constitutional level of medical and health care." Yes, the conditions of the overcrowded prisons were deemed "cruel and unusual," giving the inmates constitutional grounds to sue for their freedom.

Excuse me, constitutional right to a certain level medical and health care? What gives convicted criminals the right to these services; services and a standard of care unknown to 40 million non-institutionalized Americans? This is a slippery-slope sort of situation. If prisoners are granted a constitutional right to mental and physical health care, then we should expect the uninsured among us to file suit to make the same claim soon enough.

I find it unconscionable for the government to provide a standard of care to prisoners that goes far beyond what non-criminals receive.

Social Suicide Paparazzi Style

At 11:00 p.m. last night I flipped to the local news, looking for word on the economic stimulus package. However, the local ABC station was otherwise occupied, broadcasting a slow-speed police pursuit of a luxury vehicle. While the station still knew little, more than three hours into the chase, the speculative newscasters continued to babble for thirty uninterpreted minutes before ceding their coverage of the confrontation to the "hard news" coverage of Nightline (including an expose on the now infamous "Octomom").

Turns out, the car chase that began nearly three hours earlier had turned into a parked standoff by 11:30 p.m. The situation took a turn for the worst, so to speak, nearly an hour and a half after the chase came to a halt in Universal City, not far from where it began. The driver, who police believed armed and suicidal, shot himself in the head as LAPD officers and California Highway Patrol officers surrounded his $170,000 Bentley sedan.

L.A. is accustomed to televised police pursuits, even of the slow-speed variety made famous by O.J. Simpson in 1994. The Monday night chase marks the fifth police pursuit in the L.A. area that has transpired in the last two weeks. What makes this one stand out was less its crawling pace, than the new breed of celebrity obsessed paparazzi that were on the scene within minutes of the driver, a Pakistani business man, slowing his vehicle to a halt.

The smell of money, fame and the possibility of a blood drenched celeb drew the swarm of paparazzi from their usual posts near the entrances of hot Hollywood clubs and celebrity infused restaurants. The pack of photogs and the live feeds to the scene they provided complicated the situation for officers. But, alas, although the driver took his own life less than 25 yards of the zoom lenses, no site boasts footage of the blast or, for that matter, the police storming the car and bashing out the driver's side window with a crowbar.

Maybe some moments still remain sacred, even among paparazzi.

Tortures' Conviction Too Little Too Late

On my visit home for my uncle's 50th birthday party, I encountered yet another example of the depravity of my hometown -- the town that brought you the implant-slashing ex-fiancée and the shoplifting, baby toting moms. This time it was the conviction of 24-year-old Vanessa Woods and her 26-year-old lover Riginald Hardin for torturing their 20-month-old daughter, known in court documents as Baby Woods.

Convicted of felony child abuse and felony torture of a child the pair will serve 12 years on the abuse count and a life sentence on the torture charge. What's confusing about their convention is that the pair will be eligible for parole seven years into the life sentence. After 19 years in prison emdash; for inflicting third degree burns on their infant's feet and anus, second degree burns on her legs and burning her with cigarettes, among other atrocities emdash; the two could be back on the streets.

What sort of rehabilitation will Woods and Hardin receive during the decades they spend behind bars? There are no guarantees. Most likely they'll not receive any intensive treatment or counseling or rehabilitation of any substantiative merit. Usually I'm among the first to call for rehabilitation before retribution, but the heinousness of Woods and Hardin's crimes and their remorselessness make forgiving them unthinkable and freeing them unethical.

Porta-Potty Pyro

Few and far between are the homeless in my Russian Hill neighborhood. Our clean streets welcome the European tourists with their maps and their impeccable posture. The crime rate in this part of the city rarely draws attention. Until recently.

Over the last four months we've seen a spike in crime. Not violent or indiscriminate crime mind you, that would cause an uproar in a district of the city that feels entitled to the safety of its sidewalks and well-lit piece of mind. This recent outbreak is not of crime overall, but a particular and peculiar brand of arson: porta-potty pyrotechnics.

The outrageous antics and the lack of suspects even garnered the interest of the New York Times. No details are known about infamous arsonist(s); if it is, indeed, a lone lighter, no one can say for sure.

The relative calm of the neighborhood at night leaves few people on the streets to bear witness to such flamboyant acts. Leaving only the hardened puddle of melted porta-potty-blue and the residual oder of burnt feces and plastic to remind the tourists, exercise fiends and stroller-pushing nannies of the atrocities that occur on the streets after the affluent retire to bed.

Google's Quest for World Domination

Talk about creepy, as if we didn't have enough options for staying "connected" to one another. Google's Latitude allows you to expose yourself to your contacts, via a tracking mechanism downloaded to your phone, and track your contacts' every move.

This new "tool" only further increases the anxiety I feel whenever I venture out into the schlepping masses. I want to avoid people when I go out and this device might make that easier to do, providing me the location of those I want to avoid. However, the tool relies on the presumption of mutual transparency -- you share with me and I share with you. But it can complicate my efforts if I'm avoiding you but you know where I am.

I could set my location manually, so it looks like I'm at the movies when I'm really at the dinner you weren't invited to. My boyfriend could set his location to the gym or stuck in traffic, while he's really at the bar or still at work. The idea that we can double check someone's whereabouts is complete nonsense if the location pin-pointer is completely discretionary.

What's going to happen if people begin sharing their whereabouts on Facebook or via Twitter? Could the police subpoena records of locations tracked by the device? Google still knows your "real-time" whereabouts, regardless of the location you reveal to your contacts.

I understand the advantages of this tool for Google, but I don't see the advantages for users. The only thing Google Latitude will get you is ads targeted to your location and uninvited encounters with contacts you made no plans to see.

Kid Undercover; Chicago Cops Clueless

If a 14 year-old shows up as a Chicago police station wearing a police-like uniform shouldn't someone notice he's not a real cop? Apparently not. Should the kid be the one in trouble? Apparently so.

Such was the case two Saturdays ago when a boy walked into the station wearing what resembled an officer's uniform. He was told to go to the patrol room and then assigned to man a patrol car with another officer. The boy willingly obliged and spent the next five hours securing the city's streets, then returned to the station. Only back in the squad room, after five hours on the job, did officers realize that the boy's uniform wasn't legit: the star featured by regulation uniforms was missing.

The Chicago PD bumbled any coherent explanation for how the boy went undetected so long. Saying only that he looked older than 14 and had once taken part in a youth program sponsored by the department that would've familiarized him with some of the procedures.

Aren't these cops trained to detect crime? To look for things that appear amiss? Not only was the kid not wearing a department issue uniform, he wasn't even carrying a guy. Why wouldn't the partner he spent five hours with notice a missing gun or the fact that they were wearing different uniforms or that he'd never seen the kid before? I'm glad I don't live in Chicago.

Repossession by Force

Diamonds are forever, unless you break up and someone wants the ring back. Breast implants, however, are even more permanent. When gift giving, buyer beware: breast implants (or implants of any kind, for that matter), aren't returnable and should your lover leave don't expect her to leave the implants at the door before she slams it shut.

Apparently no one sent Thomas Lee Rowley the memo.

After Rowley's girlfriend left him the 28-year-old Victorville man decided to take matters into his own hands. Telling his roommate, "I'm gonna cut 'em out and get 'em back." Rowley set out to reclaim the implants, he says, he purchased for his 26-year-old ex girlfriend.

Waiting in the bushes outside his ex's mother's house, Rowley held a large kitchen knife. When his ex approached he leaped from the bushes and plunged the knife into her head and breasts more than six times. While his efforts were too imprecise to allow him to repossess the implants, they did serve to puncture one.

Rowley is now on trial for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, stalking, burglary, and false imprisonment. Too bad he didn't get the memo: if you give a woman breast implants, she takes them with her when she leaves.

Ex-Future-Son-In-Law

Stupidity may not run in the family of 36-year-old Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, but it certainly runs in the neighborhood.

Police arrested Martinez last month for agreeing to sell his 14-year-old daughter to their 18-year-old nebighor, Margarito de Jesus Galindo, in exchange for 100 cases of beer, a few cases of meat and $16,000 in cash. In California a girl as young as 16 is eligible to marry with her parent's consent; however,in California marrying a 14-year-old is never legal, regardless of parental consent. With $16,000 in play, why not purchase a fake birth certificate?

This sort of exchange might well have gone unnoticed, with the poor girl betrothed as a means to her father's ends. Yet, Mr. Martinez isn't as shrewd a business man as the deal suggests. When Galindo failed to fulfill the terms of the agreement, Martinez went to the police for help. This being a business arrangement, Martinez believed that the police were obligated to help him get his due.

Martinez's call to police landed him and his ex-future-son-in-law in jail. Martinez for attempting to sell his daughter into slavery for lewd and lascivious acts, statutory rape and cruelty to a child by endangering health. Galindo was arrested on suspicion of statutory rape, but prosecutors have not determined whether to file charges against him.

What makes the case a quagmire for authorities is Martinez's ethnic affiliation with an indigenous Mexican Trique community. It's common practice for Triques to arrange marriages for girls as young as 12. In such cases the exchange of money isn't seen as a payment for the child, but as a marriage dowry and the meat and beer the family's contribution for the wedding reception. State law, however, outranks cultural traditions, especially when those traditions involve the wellbeing of children.

Dance Team Disbanded

In tough economic times why would Jonesboro High School limit the employment opportunities of its young women by disbanding the school's dance team?

The kibosh came after parents witnessed the team's halftime performance during a January 13 basketball game and found the students' moves and grooves too edgy for the venue. The school forbid the women from practicing and performing for the rest of the year.

Watching the team's performance, in a now defunct You Tube video titled "The Sluts of Jonesboro," it's reasonable to see how some parents, meaning mothers, were offended. Why let their daughters give away what most men would pay for?

The stripper-esque dance routine, choreographed and executed by the students could look very good on a resume, for the sort of job opportunities that rarely require a resume when you look very good. In small towns like Jonesboro, a career as a "dancer" is as aspirational as any and more achievable than most.

Isn't high school is supposed to prepare students with skills they'll need to survive in the world? What makes the dance team's goals less valid than the basketball players, most of whom are far less likely to actually use their balling skills to support themselves or their family?
Jonesboro DanceTeam 2009

Police chase man who circles back, steals police car

When a police officer spotted two suspected burglars early this morning, he gave chase. Leaving behind his unlocked police cruiser. While the officer continued pursuing the suspects through the darkness, he became a crime victim himself. Exhausted after the unsuccessful chase the officer trotted back to his vehicle, as he approached one of the two men he'd been pursuing jumped into the driver's seat and sped past the reasonably dejected officer.

By dawn the Fairburn police had located the stolen car, but alas the ingenious thief continued to elude his captors and his victim. This is just embarrassing and doesn't speak well of the police force in Fairburn, Ga.

$825 Billion Economic Stimulus

California's cut of the proposed $825 Billion Economic Stimulus nears eight billion dollars, $7,854,800,000 to be exact. That breaks down to $213.70 per capita. While no state will receive more money overall, if the current package passes, than California, Alaska ($221.71), Mississippi ($214.23), Louisiana ($214.23) and North Dakota ($216.56) will receive more money per capita.

The current stimulus plan requires that $121.26 per capita, of the federal funds must be spent on transportation and infrastructure projects, with $66.11 allotted for school and college modernization, and $13.82, per capita, reserved for job training, according to The Wall Street Journal's recent report.

If California receives $7,854,800,000 from the stimulus plan and $213.70 of that money is allocated per state resident, that means it has a population of approximately 36,756,200, which is fairly close to the estimate for the state's 2008 population. But after adding up the $121.26 for infrastructure spending, the $66.11 for education modernization and the $13.82 for job training the state finds itself with only $12.51 left to spend.

Clearly spending on infrastructure will generate jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run, but in the long run education and job training are the better investment. Why build more roads, when far less people will be traveling to work?

Congressional Free-for-All

Watching the open remarks of the House of Representatives today makes me cringe. The odd spattering of issues on which representatives spoke was striking. How do they jump from the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Ox, to the millions of relief funds for House bill HR1 to House Resolution 87 -- amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Also, where the heck are the Republicans? It seems Democrats are the only ones making statements and calling for votes. Glad to see our two party system is working out so well.

Instant City: Portals of the Past

On the eve of the inauguration Americans endured the final hours of the Bush presidency and awaited the moment he would disappear from the Oval Office. During these hours of limbo a number of folks found refuge at the Elbo Room, where Instant City hosted a reading (and game show) honoring its Fall 2008 issue: "The Disappeared."

Appropriately, the theme of the readings, most from the issue, explored San Francisco's past through both imagined and historical iterations, the realm of not yet forgotten moments and places.

I live on Polk Street, so Alvin Orloff's "The Doomed Glamour of Polk Street," reinvented my perception of the street's former self. By my understanding the Castro of today is a tamer version of Polk St. in the 1970s, a lusty mix of boys and men and urgency and desire. In Orloff's piece humor effectively mediates a boy's aching need for acceptance and compassion.

Jon Longhi's "Bad night at the Chameleon," made me long for more crack-violence and performance art. His pacing and energy brought the story from the page to the stage. It felt at times like a one man show. I'll never be able to go to Amnesia (which was once the Chameleon) without thinking of Longhi's Bad Night.

Kevin Hobson, the night's first reader, began with a piece from the issue, called: "Along the Great Highway," about the Sutro's Baths, but just as I was getting into it he stopped. Something about buy the issue to find out what happens. I did. He continued with a crack-up piece that will resonate with anyone whose ridden a cross town bus in San Francisco. I was dying.

Cynthia Mitchell's "Eucalyptus," starkly contrasted the tone of the other pieces. Sadder and more vulnerable. The story of city kids, who were not street kids. They took shelter from darkest corners of the city, knowing no danger because such a life was the only one they knew.

The evening ended with Charlie Jane Anders' "My Breath is a Rudder." A swirl of perspective and creative possibilities, the willfulness of art and it's relation to the artist. Anders work was amusing ...

Pay to Play: Obama's Inauguration Sale

Our president-elect, Mr. Barrack Obama comes to us from the land of Lincoln. More recently, Illinois has been the land of corrupt governance embodied by former governor Rod Blagojevich, the man responsible for appointing Mr. Obama successor in the Senate. The naked ambition of Blagojevich's pay-to-play politics drew gasps from a nation unaccustomed to outright vulgarities.

When discussing the opportunities afforded him, as The Decider of who would fill Obama's vacated Senate seat, Rod Blagojevich reasoned: “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”

What's so bad about using what you have to get what you want? Isn't that what the incoming Obama Administration is doing with the inauguration? Pay-to-play, right?

The term describes situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage (play) in certain activities.

While House member Nancy Pelosi has introduced legislation prohibiting the re-sale of inauguration tickets, which were selling on the black market for tens of thousands of dollars. The tickets, which are meant to be free and distributed to the most deserving, present an obvious example of the incoming administration's permissive stance on pay-to-play politics. Coming from Illinois, perhaps such is the only sort of politics Mr. Obama knows.

It seems that, "Maximum $50,000 donors get up to four tickets to the swearing-in, the parade and one of several balls, among other festivities." If that's not pay-to-play, then what is?

The logic mirrors that of the former Illinois governor: “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden [inauguration tickets, in this case], and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing [but for $50,000, they're all yours]. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there [to cement my relationship with donors, who cares if they're from securities and investment industries].”

Those big wigs donating their way to the inauguration aren't simply interested in a seat over the parade route or the chance to experience an historic event, but an opportunity to gain access to the incoming administration. Trading money for access is the epitome of pay-to-play politics and it appears that the new Obama Administration isn't above it.

TV: A Fundamental Right?

It started a year ago: I began seeing commercials for the "Transition to Digital," scheduled to occur February 17, 2009. My reaction to the first of the many commercials: "What the hell? Seriously, the government is subsidizing converter boxes at $40 a pop?"

Did I miss when access to TV became a fundamental right and warranted government protection? No? Then what's going on with this and what's more, why is the Obama transition team wasting their time with efforts to delay the switch to digital? I guess I can sort of see their logic. The prospect of cutting the television cord (literally) for millions of Americans, could piss off a lot of folks And what do pissed off people do when they can't change the channel? They complain, loudly.

While the logic may make sense as a political tactic, why should the federal government shell out $40 coupons for the converter boxes? Whose fault is it that you've had the same analog TV since 1969 or that you rely on slight adjustments to those wiry rabbit ears to watch your stories? Not the government.

Access to TV isn't a fundamental right. If you don't buy, or can't afford, a converter box, tough. Stop smoking that pack a day from now till February and you'll have the money to buy the box yourself, and you'll have a little less cancer to boot. If you want news, listen to the radio, buy a paper, go to the library and logon to the Internet. TV isn't the only source of news, in fact it's probably the wost source.

In 2005, Congress passed the law requiring all TV stations to broadcast in digital by February 2009. That's going on four years of prep time. It's absurd that they're not ready to transition now -- because not everyone with an analog set is equipped with a converter box and networks, with deep pockets, fear they'll lose viewers. February 17 is the advertised deadline, some among us would like to see Congress come in on time with a project now and again. Let's start with transitioning to digital TV.

Yet, the delay is understandable. Obama's team is weary of upsetting an otherwise passive portion of the population. Keep them plugged in and all is well.

2009 Begins with BART Execution

Trained professionals, eh? According to information on the BART website its officers undergo the same training as Oakland police and sheriff's officers. Judging from the New Year's day execution style killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, at Oakland's Fruitvale BART Station, that training should be re-evaluated.

Claims that the stressful, chaotic conditions that the officers were experiencing early New year's Day fulled Officer Johannes Mehserle's response to Grant and the shooting. Strangely, no such gunfire erupted during the much more volatile protest that followed Grant's funeral a week later. While police fired tear gas into the crowd of protesters on January 7 in Downtown Oakland, not a single shot was fired.

The video of Grant's arrest shows a man on his stomach, face down, with his hands behind his back and BART officers surrounding him. From the camera's vantage point he doesn't appear to be struggeling or resisting the officers. The crowd of nearby passengers, from where the video was shot, seem to confirm that the force being used was excessive. For whatever reason, while Grant lay in a prone position awaiting handcuffing Officer Mehserle fired a single shot into Grant's back.

According to autopsy reports, the bullet tore through Grant's lower back and ricocheted from the concrete, back through Grant's lung, killing him.

The blatant and uncalled for nature of this shooting is cause for concern. If BART officers can't handle their weapons appropriately, and they received the same training as other Oakland law enforcement officers, we shouldn't be surprised by the continued excessive use of force in the East Bay.

Tourettes Flying

It's not often I've encountered a person with tourettes, but as I lined up to board my plane this morning a man to my right blurted out nonsensical phrases and jerked his head erratically. As insensitive as it may be, the close quarters in a plane often exacerbate what might otherwise be a slight annoyance: a crying baby, a lapse in personal hygiene or a contentious individual.

Shut up, right? Planes should be treated like libraries or dental offices, where quite, inside voices are both expected and required. While the rest of the passengers on my flight respected the decibel requirements, the tourettes guy couldn't keep his mouth shut.

To be expected, right? He has an illness. Along with it comes verbal tics, which are sometimes expressed as "coprolalia" (the involuntary use of obscene words or socially inappropriate words and phrases) or "copropraxia" (obscene gestures). While the Tourettes Syndrome's website contends that, "despite publicity, coprolalia/copropraxia is uncommon with tic disorders"; nonetheless, this man shouted "vagina, vagina, vagina" along with other choice words for the majority of the flight.

I couldn't help turning to see what was going on two rows behind me, but the man appeared oblivious to his outbursts. What made the situation so strange were the business related phone calls he made before we took off. They were perfectly comprehensible and professional. How could he control his tourettes while on the phone, but at no other time? I bet he just does it for kicks.