Going for Greed

Bailout Blunders #1

Where do we go from here? House Speaker Nanci Pelosi reiterated the Democrats' commitment to place the needs of Main Street before those of Wall Street . However, the problem remains that "protecting" the middle class is rarely effective when done by by those who do not feel the social and economic pressures felt by the middle or lower-middle class.

Regretting that the lending crisis is our reality says little when no member of the House, much less the Senate, face foreclosure, face living on the streets. Even if members of the House and Senate face reelection, few face any real threat of unemployment. Even if they lose a seat in Washington, most maintain law practices or posses wealthy spouses capable of sustaining a $100,000 plus income with a single-earner household.

Perhaps Republicans and Democrats need a closer look at the ills facing many of Americans. Perhaps economic leaders need to learn a tougher lesson than they'll learn from briefly losing their CEO or CFO or COO positions. Perhaps members of the 26 companies currently under Federal investigation by the FBI for their role in the sub-prime lending fiasco, should have more than their, so called, golden parachutes cut. Let's see these business and political leaders stripped of their silver spoons, blue blood, legacy birth rights and speculative wealth. Let's see these folks stripped of their designer clothes, luxury vehicles, chartered planes, overstuffed stock portfolios and company (or taxpayer funded) credit cards. From there we may see a different turn when it comes to the way they relate to "ordinary" Americans.

$700 billion dollar bailout isn't in the cards, at least not today. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blames Republicans for not passing the bill that she said would have given more oversight to the lending market, but let's not forget that politicians were the ones responsible for ensuring that the oversight was there far before this catastrophic collapse.

Who needs a bailout?

This whole bailout fiasco is intense, especially being unemployed at the moment. The worse off the economy gets, the more my confidence fades. Watching projects get canceled as companies decide to reign in spending, my heart palpates and my hands become clammy.

How did this become someone's home? How did a doorway become the entirety of a home, not just the entrance? When did a sleeping bag become an everyday item, rather than an occasional companion in the woods?

How did she go from out of a job to out of work to out of the workforce entirely? How did she reach for a bottle or a pill instead of a friend or the phone? We believe it can't happen to us, but her story warns us of an alternate ending to the story.

When Pigs Fly at Zeitgeist

From Conduit we headed to Zeitgeist, a biker bar on the edge of the Mission. The scene began quietly. Sitting at sappy, food infused pine benches we made friends with the tourists and looked intently at the pierced and inked bikers.

We quickly learned why the pink pigs fly high at Zeitgeist -- and so does almost everyone else.

Party bowls galore. I wasn't aware that this place had such a permissive policy of getting stoned in public. Lines of coke, totally unacceptable, but weed? Party on dudes.

Not sure what the deal is with these pigs, but the picture taker took a risk. Also overheard were several bizarre conversations, including this bit:

"How could you have eleven children?" ... "Your grandfather couldn't keep it in his pants." Followed by disparaging comments about Arabs.

Dessert @ Conduit

Dessert at Conduit, a new-ish San Francisco restaurant located at 280 Valencia, brings seasonal delights to mouth-watering heights. Delish!

Not really a foodie, I found myself absolutely at a loss for words as I sampled three deserts by pastry chef Majken Klare: Cake, Crêpe and Vacherin.

Such toned down names give the false impression that simplicity has to be bland. At Conduit it is anything but.
While the restaurant specializes in contemporary American Cuisine accented with French and Italian flourishes, the dessert menu takes traditional to an ethereal level.

The Crêpe, my favorite by far, was an elegant combination of Charantais Melon (Cucumis melo ), bacon and galia. The melon, a European Cantalope, holds a sweet, clean flavor with pleasing texture. Soft colors of the green rind and the mellow oraenge fruit appeal to the eye while the aroma tempts the palet.

Justice for Poets: Rightous Kill

Did a good cop really kill those who somehow beat the system? Should we forgive him if he did? How do fourteen murders over thirty years go unnoticed? How do we manage to sustain any commitment to justice? These are some of the questions raised by Righteous Kill.

Righteous Kill, from the writer of Inside Man, is less a cop-suspense film than it is a tragic story of love and betrayal. The film is simultaneously engaging and disquieting. Headliners Robert De Niro and Al Pacino play the story’s leads: a pair of veteran NYPD cops (Turk and Rooster, respectively) on the trail of a vigilante serial killer.

We’ve seen a whole subgenre of movies that re-cast their moral compass in a manner that compels them take lives in order to protect themselves or others – Taxi Driver and more recently The One, come to mind. Almost all the comic flicks involve vigilante justice, Batman isn’t testifying in court or filling out a police report. In Righteous Kill, it seems, someone is also dissatisfied with the injustices of the justice system.

From the out set we’re lead to believe it’s an inside job. The film opens with a crackly, black and white TV displays Turk, on what looks like an interrogation video. He states calmly that he murdered 14 people during his 30 years on the NYPD.

If this is the story, than what’s the point? Nothing left to figure out. Unless it’s the righteousness of the murders, the justice he’s bringing with a tainted badge. This confession lapses back to the first vigilante act: Turk convinces his partner, Rooster, to plant a gun on a kiddy-killer, who’d been acquitted for raping and murdering his girlfriend’s 10 year-old daughter. Here, so it seems, is where justice becomes a personal matter, where the line blurs and the killing begins. Back to the confession tape Turk claims he served justice when the system couldn’t.

While this is a well done genre film, what makes it worth the fare is the brolove shared by the pair of cops whose partnership has spanned three decades. Their bond is vulnerable and touching.

TEP allows 70,000 more riders, no budget increase

A nine percent increase to the city's bus lines and rail routes will make room for 70,000 additional riders without increasing the MTA's budget. This is according to the findings of the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP), which researched demographics and tracked rider ship to capture the most comprehensive picture of MTA's traffic in 25 years. Yet, not all San Francisco residents are pleased with the TEP's recommendations.

On Tuesday, September 16, the Municipal Transit Authority (SFMTA) Board held a special public hearing so those concerned by the changes the TEP calls for could state them on the record. Comments, however, were limited to one minute per speaker — down from the three-minute floor-time residents were expecting — due to the nearly 100 person long comment list at the start of the 3:30 hearing.

Recommended changes include: consolidating certain low-traffic routes (or route segments), increasing service on high-traffic routes, with additional increases during peak hours, while adding new routes and extending existing routes. The TEP's staff recommendations state that by shifting MTA resources to high-traffic routes it will reduce delays and increase reliability on all routes.

While objections to the TEP recommendations spanned a wide range of issues the most common among them were concern for how the changes would affect the elderly and the disabled. Cutting the 38 Ocean Beach line would force seniors traveling inbound (toward senior centers, doctor's appointments or downtown shopping) to take the 18 bus to 33rd St. and transfer to 38 Geary, arguably adding an additional 30 minutes to an already hour long commute.

"It's not broke, so don't fix it. I learned that in City Hall," said Veera Hail, referring to the route change proposed for the 38 Ocean Beach. "It's fine the way it is. Leave it alone."

The public comment required no action by the Board. Yet, TEP staff will incorporate Tuesday's community input session during their September 22 work session. The results of the work session will be presented to the SFMTA Board for approval on September 30. If approved at the SFMTA meeting, the TEP proposals will not take effect sooner then July 2009 at the earliest.