Author Archives: gdewar

Random Reasons Why You Should Say “No” To the Phony Baloney Slot Machine Initiatives…

Posted on January 25, 2008 | Leave a comment

UPDATE: The LA Times does an analysis of the deals and finds that the campaign disinfo and reality part ways. Check it out.
One of the unintended consequences of having our Presidential primary in February is the onslaught of Yet More F*cking Ballot Initiatives, at the state and local level. In particular, anyone who’s even sort of registered to vote has been assaulted by countless ads promoting the expansion of slot machines for just four wealthy Indian tribes in Southern California (aka Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97).
There are plenty of reasons to vote “no” on these stupid things…here’s a few in random order:
-Most of the promises about revenue sharing are phony. The tribes get to decide how much and when to pay the state money, and the state has no legal ability to demand the money should they decide to go back on the deal. They keep repeating a $9 billion figure but that’s over 20+ years, and there’s no third party to assure that everyone’s living up to the deal.
-There is virtually no gaming enforcement in California now – and now they want to add 15,000 MORE slot machines to a virtually unregulated market. Compare this to Nevada, which has strict gaming laws, armed agents, and a tested enforcement mechanism to keep crime and dishonest payouts away from the customer. (BTW, did you know that Indian casinos in California refuse to disclose their payout rates, whereas in Nevada it’s required by law? The Indian casinos in SoCal don’t want you to know that at best their payout rates are 70%. In Nevada, it’s 90+%)
-Most Indians won’t benefit from all the money that will come pouring in. The 4 tribes that are putting up these deals have tiny memberships and make sure to keep as many people out as possible so they can keep all the money. Oh, and they keep saying how much they help “surrounding communities?” Unless all those desert towns are full of political consultants, lobbyists, lawyers, and advertising people, I don’t see that as the case. They sure don’t like letting unions organize their workers, and they don’t mind dumping their low wage workers onto county health systems so you and I pay their health care costs. WTF?
-Democrats in particular have no reason to support these initiatives – in 2006 when the tribes didn’t get every single thing they wanted from the Legislature, they immediately pumped out millions of dollars in dead-tree junk mail slamming anyone with a “D” next to their name, purely out of spite. Well, at least some white political consultants got their payday, right?
People supported the original Indian gaming measures as a way to allow tribes to try and build a financial base to support ongoing governmental and social services. I don’t know that this was necessarily a great deal to begin with – an Indian candidate for Congress I worked for years ago once said that he felt like the reliance on gaming and alcohol/tobacco sales was akin to that scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life” when Jimmy Stewart sees his hometown had he not been born.
That said, as a member of a tribe with Indian Gaming (in Wisconsin, where my cousin was tribal chair in the 90s), there were not a lot of options and most people wanted to do the right thing. Since then, however there has been a tremendous amount of money spent in politics, electing legislators and Governors and the like, there’s been plenty of money to spend on all sorts of unsustainable developments in a desert, and absolutely no way to enforce gaming laws to protect both the casinos and the customers, I just can’t vote for these things anymore.
It’s especially difficult when you see a few wealthy small groups of people do nothing for the many folks who could use real help in getting out of the cycle of poverty. But then again, poor Indians around the state aren’t lobbyists or political consultants, so I suppose in the eyes of the Sycuan, Agua Caliente, Pechanga and Morongo, those Indians “got what they deserved.”
Whatever. After years of being pro-Indian gaming, I’m voting “no” this time around….it’s not an easy decision but when something is so transparently bad a deal, I just can’t vote “yes” for some vague notion of “liberal guilt” popular in San Francisco, especially when I know plenty of Indians who are telling me it’s a bad deal for everyone.

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Posted in California Politics

Crap-tastic Crack Shack Sells for 935,000? Put This On A Billboard And Send It To the Hippies Of The World, Please!

Posted on January 23, 2008 | 1 comment

This just in: yet another crap-tastic crack shack has sold in San Francisco for $935,000. SocketSite has been following this one for a while so go there and see pics of this decrepit piece of real estate.
I seriously wonder if we should put this on a billboard, with a pricetag, on billboards that say “Memo to Hippies: The SF of the 60s is dead. Do not come here and expect to rent a room in a big nice house for cheap and live off of handouts. Unless you’re rich enough to buy this crapshack and renovate it to livable standards, please, stay away. Thank You.”
Or something. I mean, at this point, all the housing measures in the world (along with all the ones we’ve passed) don’t seem to mean much if even a craphouse like this is selling for almost a million dollars.
Put another way – how do you build lots of “cheap affordable” housing on super expensive dirt? More importantly, is it really feasible for anyone to build anything that’s not super expensive condos for wealthy childless couples anymore when you have garbage selling for almost a million bucks?

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Posted in California Life, San Francisco Politics

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Cloverfield Was Actually Pretty Good, Despite the Hype….

Posted on January 19, 2008 | Leave a comment

I had to take a break from all things current event related (what with the death and mayhem on MUNI and the ongoing mess that is local politics), so I went to the movies on Friday to see Cloverfield on opening day. And, I’m happy to say that for what it was, and for the purposes I selected it, the film did the job quite well.
J.J. Abrams and his talented team of directors and writers managed to pull of what hadn’t really been done before – do a “monster attacks a city” movie solely from the perspective of people caught in the middle of it who don’t know the hows or whys of what is going on – just that Bad Things Are Happening, and there’s no way to tell from moment to moment what one “should” do.
Although the hand-held camera perspective did get some people a little carsick-ish at times, the level of intensity once the sh*t went down was pretty realistic. More than once you wanted the guy holding the camera to turn around and get a better look at The Big Monster or whatever, but of course, that just made it more realistic and a lot scarier, since you had to imagine just what the heck was going on. And, as we all know, people imagining what is going on can come up with things way scarier than any Hollywood producer.
More importantly, the film did a really good job of portraying the sheer panic, chaos, and attempt at response by the government to a disaster than any I’ve seen in a while. If you’ve ever had the misfortune of being in a big natural or man-made disaster, there’s always that moment when you have that feeling like the ground just fell out from under you, and suddenly just about everything that seemed so important a moment ago means squat, and now, Sh*t Is Bad. If anything, it has made me wonder if I should be developing a Post Apocalyptic Workout as the Slackmistress has done, to prepare for the next big (quake, monster, zombies, terrorist attack, whatever). After Katrina, does anyone really think the federal government has even a small clue as to what to do in case of (quake, monster, zombies, terroist attack, whatever)?
One thing that I thought of as the credits rolled and the heroic music that would normally have played during a “typical” monster film was that it might have been kind of cool for the producers to put out a fake trailer after Cloverfield came out of what the film would have looked like had they done the 10000th Remake of Godzilla route. You can almost hear the dialogue: “Mr. President….Manhattan is under attack…by a…a… Space Bug!” “You can’t kill that thing with rockets and bullets….you need to use the nukes!” “Time to spray for bugs in Manhattan….American style!”
And so on.
Anyway, it was a great way to get away from the ongoing, bit-by-bit decay that seems to be enveloping Our Fair City, and our country in general, and aside from annoying ads for Mucinex at the theater, was worth the 9.50 I paid.
PS: For another film that provides that hand-held camera, “you are there” approach, go rent 84 Charlie Mopic. I saw this movie years ago, and the experience has stuck with me even though I only saw it once. Definitely worth seeing. And if you want to really get scared, go search for the hand-held real video our soldiers are shooting in Iraq. I’ve seen a few of these and all I can say is that if we don’t give these guys like, super nice treatment when they come back from that hell-hole, well then we suck.

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Posted in Pop Culture & Society

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Obama Speaks At The Women’s Building in SF – Quick Quick Quick Hit

Posted on January 17, 2008 | Leave a comment

Since I don’t have my trusty Mac with me, and am using the infamous San Francisco Public Library’s free computers, I can only do a quick post, sans photos. It was an interesting press event, with Sen. Obama talking to women about the challenges of making a living in the Bay Area, and some proposals he’s come out with to try and mitigate the cost of living for people who work.
This was probably the only time I’ve ever heard a politician call BS on “tax breaks” as a primary means of providing relief to those who work, since many times they can’t use the deductions on their taxes due to their income, while high income people can take the break. Sen. Obama suggested a break on payroll taxes for those who work (but don’t make a zillion dollars) as a start. Not bad.
It was kind of interesting to see the media swarm (pics to be posted) which packed the crowded room at the Women’s Building in the Mission. It was crowded, hot and yet there we all were, waiting for the Senator and taking pictures and notes at a furious pace. With only 19 days until the Mega Super Duper Big Primary to End All Primaries in A Whopping 20 states, it’s difficult for any campaign, big or small, to reach all voters in all places, so it was kinda nice to see at Presidential candidate speaking in San Francisco, in the Mission, no less.
Luke Thomas took some excellent photos (as always because he’s so talented) and they’re so much better than mine, you should just go to his site and check ’em out.
More later…the clock is ticking on my time here at the SFPL, and I have to update my other blog, as we have Yet Another Tragedy on the N-Judah line.
This, the day after we read that more MUNI money is being siphoned off to pay more salaries in the Mayor’s office, and a month after we heard that they gave the boss at MUNI a big pay raise. And all of this after we voted for a measure that was supposed to start MUNI reform – and immediately after the vote we get a string of accidents and deaths.
All I can say is…WTF?
PS: I had no idea that the “blogger lounge” at Macworld sponsored by Microsoft had free actual computers one could use (when I was here the other day I gave the lounge a quick scan and it looked like you had to bring a computer). Needless to say I wish I’d discovered this a few hours ago, and avoided the glares of the angry pervs who had to wait for their porn whilst I blogged about Sen. Obama…..

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Posted in Debunking Politicos Pundits + Spin, Democratic Party Chatter, San Francisco Politics

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State Sen. Jackie Speier for Congress! Hell Yeah! Read All About It at Melissa’s Blog!

Posted on January 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

I have been a big fan of Jackie Speier since I can remember, and have campaign buttons, mementos, and more from her many runs for office throughout the years. I have a campaign button collection that spans decades, but mostly includes rockin’ politicians such as Jackie. Heck, when I worked at the Big Company one of the jobs I got to work on was a cool mail piece for Jackie in her last run for State Senate – ironically enough against a world-class douchebag I had the displeasure of attending junior high with.
Oh but enough nostalgia. Go check out Melissa’s awesome writeup of the kickoff I missed because despite my Speier-supporting, I suck.
Anyway.
Check it out , and be sure to vote for Jackie Speier in the primary if you’re in Our Fair District!

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Posted in California Politics, San Francisco Politics

File This Under “WTF?”:The “Frozen Chosen” Are Using Anime in The Church?!?

Posted on January 13, 2008 | Leave a comment

One of the few benefits of Google Mail is that little strip that rotates various news links….today I saw one that Google deemed I’d be interested in….A Presbyterian minister using an anime series to teach folks about religion.
For those not familiar with the Frozen Chosen, they have like, a million meetings about every little detail and everyone has to butt in with what they think. There’s an old Presby joke that goes something along the lines of “How do you know you’re in a Presbyterian Church at night? Because there’s a committee meeting somewhere in the building.” Ok, if you’re not Presbyterian, the joke pretty much falls flat.
Anyway.
So the fact this guy could use anime at all , much less a series like Haibane Renmei (a favorite of mine), and not get 40 lashes for daring to think for himself, well I’d say that’s pretty interesting, to say the least.
Or not. Anyway, if you think anime is all Pokemon crapola, go rent a DVD or two of Haibane Renmei, or anything done by Satoshi Kon. Some of ’em take a little while to get started, but they can be quite entertaining.

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Posted in Pop Culture & Society

Can We Get TMZ.com to Cover The War and The Presidential Campaign?

Posted on January 10, 2008 | Leave a comment

I’m totally serious. I mean, when you read a paper like say, the San Jose Mercury News, which is mostly wire service filler, a handful of articles, and the Deep Thoughts of Clint Reilly, or watch CNN and see them stumble and bumble any sort of coverage that really tells you anything, you begin to wonder if maybe these crybaby MSM folks are just not up to the job.
Meanwhile, there’s TMZ.com, which has an army of video cameras and associated folks on the scene. Sure they may pay off sources, but they somehow manage to get the dirt. When pop culture train wreck Britney Spears tried to fake out the press and do a bunk to Mexico, there was TMZ, catching it all on tape. It’s as if Marcellus Wallace told the TMZ crew “If Britney goes to Indochina, I want a photographer waiting in a bowl of rice ready to put a lens in her ass” or something.
Imagine if TMZ was on the campaign trail, getting the real dirt on our candidates and also going after all the shenanigans of GW’s crew. I would imagine that in about a week, we’d have a total revolution or something.
But then again, who wants to look at a bunch of politicians in compromised positions? At least some of the celebs are attractive….

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Posted in Pop Culture & Society

Obama’s Supporters Rally in San Francisco 1/9: A Quick Review

Posted on January 9, 2008 | Leave a comment

As luck would have it, I was in the Civic Center around the time they were having a rally for Sen. Obama’s supporters in Northern California, so I gave up my lunch break to go take some photos and videos. I think the close results in New Hampshire (that tiny state way out there) mean that we’ll at least have some semblance of a “real” campaign by Democratic candidates, instead of a boring coronation for any one “inevitable” candidate.

On hand were a lot of local politicos, including DA Kamala Harris (who co-chairs the Obama Campaign in California), Supervisors Peskin, Daly, Dufty, and Maxwell, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, School Board reps Jane Kim and Eric Mar, and well, a whole lotta people, too many to fit in one quickie post (but I’ll append it later when I have more time).

Former California Controller Steve Westly was the “MC” for the rally, and I’ve given him a hard time in the past for some of his policies and rather boring speaking style, but I have to say he did a great job and his speech was really good. You can view videos from the rally here on YouTube, and a few photos on Flickr.

Personally, I like Sen. Obama for the simple reason that he attracts a lot of enthusiastic people, and gets people involved in politics who may not have done so before. I really do not want to do a retread of the disastrous, establishment campaigns of the Kerry 2004 or Gore 2000 campaigns (Gore is awesome but his campaign in 2000 was a stinker), and I like the fact that so many local “progressives” have chosen Obama over some jackass the Greens or the Freak Show Party might have put up.

Most importantly, having him, Sen. Clinton, and Sen. Edwards battle it out and actually ask people for votes will make whoever wins the nomination a better candidate in the long run. Again, look back at how Kerry steamrolled the front-loaded primaries only to prove to be a joke candidate who managed to pull off a FAIL despite all of GW’s problems.
And, don’t forget to buy your Adama for President shirts at my store, in the hopes that Admiral Adama might still get in the race!

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Posted in Democratic Party Chatter, San Francisco Politics

Get Off The Cross, Hillary, We Need The Wood!

Posted on January 7, 2008 | Leave a comment

One of the things I absolutely cannot stand about “politicians” is their inherent victim-complex that pops up when things get tough. Case study: Sen. Hillary Clinton’s tearful, “poor me” appeal to voters in New Hampshire, as polls now seem to show a big lead for Sen. Barack Obama.
Cry me a river, Senator. I’m sorry, but if you’re going into public service to make the big bucks or expect accolades from your millions of minions, you’re in it for the wrong reason. So tearfully appealing to voters about how tough it is for you because you’ve been on the cross, a martyr for La Causa, and you’re not getting enough toys, gifts and votes as a result makes most of us want to gag. (Especially after seeing the millions hubby Bill has been making on the rubber chicken circuit, and the millions you’ve made since becoming a Senator with all the access being the wife of an ex-President got you).
No one is “owed” anything in a supposed democratic republic such as ours, and if you want to be a public servant and put yourself out there for the cause, great. But don’t come around with your millions of campaign dollars and expensive, slick campaign machine, and tearfully beg for votes because you are “owed” them for all those years you spent traveling the globe in Air Force One as First Lady or whatever. Plenty of people do lots of things to help their fellow citizens, and they don’t get book deals or get to be a US Senator. When’s their parade?
More to the point, elections aren’t coronations for the elite. If the messy process of voting is that terrifying to Senator Clinton’s campaign, maybe she should go back to making money as a big corporate lawyer, and leave the messy business of running the country to those who can take a hit once in a while in the rough and tumble that is American politics.

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Posted in Debunking Politicos Pundits + Spin

“Change” Isn’t an Issue, it’s a Theme, Folks…

Posted on January 6, 2008 | Leave a comment

How dumb do you have to be to report about national politics these days? Case in point – every TV news yakker and whatnot all saying that “change is the issue” because Obama and Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses.
“Change” is not an “issue,” it’s a thematic element. What is the “change issue,” pray tell? It’s an example of how the media love to engage in buzzwords and spend most of their time responding to the word of the day, instead of really reporting anything.
For me, the most interesting thing was hearing Obama speak the other day, noting that in the past, you could get a lot of Democrats to show up to an event because they hated Bush’s policies – but that now, folks were looking to the future, and more people were showing up because they want to be for something that will change the broken dynamic that has failed to do much of anything worthwhile for anyone not in the elite.
That’s going to hurt Hillary “I was married to a President so I should be President” Clinton, who really doesn’t have a whole lot to say about anything that’s going to make things much different than they are now. If anything, she’s the kind of person as President who’d happily bomb people in another country just to show a pollster how “tough” she is. But she really doesn’t care much about the problems you or I face.
At least Obama’s trying!

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Posted in Debunking Politicos Pundits + Spin

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