Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul Push For Hemp Legalization In Senate Fight

Legalizing industrial hemp. the male plant that has no known psychoactive properties, is a step in the right direction. Leave it up to the states to fix what they broke. Will our over zealous Attorney General feel obligated to fight this one?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Location of proposed new Warriors arena would be an eye-sore

By: Glenn Dickey : sfexaminer.com – excerpt

n 1975, I advocated that San Francisco build an indoor arena in the area where the Moscone Center is now. The arena would have accommodated the Warriors and an NHL team. A commission appointed to study the plan voted it down by a one-vote margin.

So, the Warriors stayed in Oakland. The NHL team eventually wound up in San Jose, where it has thrived as the Sharks.

Now, new Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber are proposing to build a grand new arena on the Embarcadero; Lacob has taken the reins on this project, as he has with the team…

If you’re on the Embarcadero in daylight hours, you see people driving, walking, skate boarding, bicycling and just enjoying the beauty that is San Francisco Bay.

It makes no sense to ruin this by putting a huge structure there, especially since there are other spots in San Francisco, including two in nearby Mission Bay, where the structure would fit nicely.

A waterfront arena makes no sense, either, because anybody who has been driving on the Embarcadero in the 5-7 p.m. time knows that traffic comes almost to a stop at that time. If you add people coming to either games or concerts at that time … well, drop the almost… (more)

When pro-developer, Supervisor Wiener voices concerns over increasing traffic and transit on the Embarcadero you should consider the consequences. This is the first development project (that we are aware of) that he has questioned. Oakland should be doing more to keep the Warriors where they are. Can you build a better sound stage than the Oakland Coliseum? You cannot find a more appropriate place for a transit hub. Keep the Warriors there.

The Ethics Reform On The table

by Larry Bush on 05/10/2013 in Paper Trails – excerpt

Chiu, Herrera Put Ethics on the Agenda

Board President David Chiu and City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s proposed ethics reforms would force into the open a flow of money aimed at influencing City Hall that has been hidden by custom and law, identifying how play-to-pay politics tips the scale on decisions that cost taxpayers in swollen contracts, preferential approval of permits and ensnares even do-gooder nonprofits as allies.

In opting for heightened disclosure, the two city leaders laid aside for now adding new prohibitions such as enacting bans on contributions by lobbyists, fundraising by city commissioners or stretching the current ban on contractor contributions to include bundling of money contractors collect from others. Those are all features of ethics laws in force in other jurisdictions, notably Los Angeles and in Sacramento…

These hidden persuaders are playing a significant role in the current debate over waiving restrictions on the waterfront to allow 8 Washington’s luxury condos to rise higher than the former Embarcadero Freeway did, to position a new Warriors arena on piers sunk into the Bay with a cash cow of condos, office space, retail and housing linked at the seawall, and were intimately involved with Mayor Lee’s decision to support tax breaks for social media last year and the Mid-Market revival… (more)

Tom Steyer, S.F. activist, to host Obama

By Carla Marinucci :  sfchroinicle – excerpt

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer has invested millions of dollars to argue that climate change is “the defining issue of our time” and that blocking construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is pivotal to the nation’s environmental health and future.

On Wednesday, Steyer will have a priceless opportunity to raise the pipeline issue with President Obama, who will be a guest in his San Francisco home for a Democratic Party campaign fundraiser.

“We’re committed to the idea that this be talked about and known,” Steyer said in a telephone interview Tuesday. He has been working in Massachusetts this week on behalf of Rep. Edward Markey, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate who strongly opposes the Keystone pipeline.

“But I don’t think there’s anything we can say that he hasn’t heard,” Steyer said of Obama. “He knows exactly what’s right on this issue, and he knows what to do.”… (more)

 

Silicon Valley job growth hits dot-com levels, and that has some concerned

by Michael Mayday : tech.blorge.com – excerpt

Silicon Valley just hit a ominous mark: its job growth has just reached its dot-com levels. The realization came on Tuesday in the form of the 2013 Silicon Valley Index. The take away: things are good if you’re in the tech sector, and only if you’re in the tech sector.

The Bay Area, the index reports, added a 92,000 jobs in 2012 with 46 percent of those jobs — roughly 42,000 according to The Verge – coming from Silicon Valley. The Valley’s job growth rate improved as well: Santa Clara and San Mateo combined job growth increased by 3.6 percent, according to the San Jose Mercury News. San Francisco increased by 3.7 percent as well. For contrast, the state of California averaged 1.7 percent job growth for 2012.

 

Supervisor John Avalos wants San Francisco funds tied up in oil, gun firms redirected

By: Chris Roberts : sfexaminer.com- excerpt

A Board of Supervisors member wants to end San Francisco’s financial stake in the company that made the weapon used in the Newtown, Conn., massacre as well as investments with fossil fuel companies.

Among the companies and funds into which the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System invests its $15.4 billion pension plan is Cerberus Capital Management, a part owner of Bushmaster assault rifle manufacturer Freedom Group. A Bushmaster rifle was used to kill 20 students and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. San Francisco also invests in a still-unknown number of polluting fossil fuel companies, according to Supervisor John Avalos.
The supervisor introduced legislation Tuesday that could lead to The City divesting from fossil fuel companies as well as weapons manufacturers.
Rather than fund ventures that lead to pollution or violence, The City should invest with companies that “share our 
values,” Avalos said…  (more)

Do the Supervisor’s concerns re: investments, carry through to human rights issues? If they do, he may want to investigate SERCO, the mega-multi-national that implements the city’s restrictive parking policies. You have seen their employees  sucking the data out of the smart meters. (At least that’s what they appear to be doing. For all I know they are changing the rates and time limits.)  Ask the citizens of Chicago how SERCO treats them. SERCO is suing Chicago for lower than promised revenues. Hopefully SFMTA examined Chicago’s deal before signing the contract with them. Anyone know what percentage of the parking and ticket take actually goes into Muni operating funds vs what we pay SERCO to enforce that restrictive parking policies?

Orrin Hatch: Gun Background Checks Could Destroy Liberty, Cause Persecution

If we all carried AK-47s around we would be in the same state as Palestine, Lebanon, and Mali.

If owning guns is good for Americans, why is it not good for Palestinians and people in Lebanon and Egypt as well? Why is the US Congress so intent on keeping guns in American homes and on American streets and off the streets of other countries? Where do you draw the line between who deserves the right to own a gun and who deserves the right to own the ingredients of a bomb? They are both weapons. They both kill people.

I don’t hear gun lovers complaining about the checks at airports or in front of courthouses. There are limits and those limits shift with over time. We have a shift and Congress needs to listen to the people, not the gun lobbies.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost