Well, you can't win them all. I chose Wednesday Aug. 29th to go to a Giants game which turned out to be one of the nicest days of the year. Unfortunately, the Giants could not do anything right and lost 8-0, one of the worst loses all month. Oh well, the day in the sun was nice.

This same sex marriage ruling is very surprising especially as it comes out of Iowa. I wonder how long it will last before it is challenged and/or overturned.

With my dislike of spider webs of any size, this monstrous web would be one that I would stay as far away from as I could. I just find them yucky and this super sized one would be too much.

After struggling with some unspecified or unknown illness for a couple of weeks I finally have the strength to sit down here an write a few lines but after opening the newspapers this morning I am not sure I want to. Then we have the upcoming race for mayor here in San Francisco which should be worth a few laughs except that this time the candidates are even more pathetic than in the past and Mayor Newsom does not have a serious challenger. With the high level of incompetency that exists under the dome at City Hall, it is a wonder that anything gets accomplished here.

Now some people are happy to see Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales resign but my question is this...who would be acceptable to both Republicans and Democrats? Also, would The Bush have the sense to nominate such a person? There should be someone who could run the department for the next 17 months and not be the center of controversy.

Say, did you see that article in the NY Times recently about the pollution problems in China? It was an eye opener and with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing only year away, what are they going to do make the air breathable??? And is Beijing really ready to handle so many visitors at one time?

1 - Merv Griffen
2 - Phil Rizzuto
3 - ???

Who is next THIS week?

(See posting of July 30th for other recent deaths.)

Some of these proposals are a bit scary but one thing I am in favor of is the complete elimination of the electoral college and electing the president by popular vote as we do all other office holders. I have always been in favor of that and am somewhere encouraged to see that some states are leaning in that direction finally. Election by congressional district should be a huge no-no. That would be worse than the electoral college especially since those districts are gerrymandered to death by our esteemed political leaders.

Global warming? Could this flooding in the New York City area be a sign of things to come? I don't know but I do know that I am not aware of such widespread flooding problems in the NYC subway system in my lifetime.
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Since posting the above I have learned that it was widespread band of violent thunderstorms that moved through the area which included a tornado in Brooklyn. Wow, a tornado in Brooklyn??? That is unheard of.

Why does the Board of Supervisors need to pass a Code of Conduct law for San Francisco's esteemed rulers? Isn't plain civil decency, supposedly learned at home during childhood enough? If parents have failed then their offspring don't really qualify to be in that position and no new set of laws is going to change anything. Really, do you think that The Ten Commandments have improved the behavior of the human race? Give me a break!

Well, if anyone doubts that the California Academy of Art University is not the largest or is not becoming the largest land owner in San Francisco they only need to take a look at the latest proposed acquisition of part of the flower mart South-of-Market. They have already a number of buildings in downtown San Francisco and nearby locations including the former First Congregrational Church at Post and Mason, a large apartment around the corner from me at 1080 Bush Street and the former home of Copenhagen Furniture on Van Ness Avenue, a rather large building in itself. The list goes on and on including the one which includes the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre on Sutter Street which stands to lose its performance space in the deal. Just how much space does that school need anyway? Everywhere you turn you see their name affixed to a building and you see their fleet of buses transporting students between campuses. It is quite a business they have going there.

As for the city's homeless, this letter to the editor caught my attention this morning and agrees with what I have long thought, that many of the homeless don't want to abide by society's rules:

"Regarding the long overdue sweeps through Golden Gate Park, I found this quote from your Aug. 2 article rather interesting. "I really enjoy myself - hanging out, being free, saying in the morning, 'I can do whatever I want.' "

Now someone tell me again that homelessness is not a choice."