1. Two job opportunities
2. Nests, birds, plastic in the ocean. What more could you ask? Oct 29-31
3. EIS Study on master plan for SF Veterans Admin Center - comments until November 12
4. Lands End Lookout site visit November 6
5. SF Muni service cuts vs Central Subway - a tragedy that needn't happen
6. Can poetry save the world? Maybe - but your help is needed
7. Potpourri from the Population Institute
8. Global extinction crisis looms - new study
9. New Center focuses on the effects of climate change on the Farallones Sanctuary
10. Richmond's Measure U on KQED radio
11. Halloween on the Headlands--Pedro Point Headlands/and planting day Nov 7
12. Seed & Cutting Exchange, Palo Alto Nov 4/Garden Design Using Native Plants, Fremont Nov 8
13. Management of Stow Lake Boathouse concessionaire - community meeting Nov 3
14. Potpourri from Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics - yes, much of it dire. What did you expect?
15. Tree Talk: Interesting and Unusual Trees - Flora Grubb Gardens, Nov 4
16. Feedback: Prop B/eating maggots
17. Rivers of a Lost Coast - Sunday Nov 7
18. Angry America: Barack Obama - doing a little better than Americans think
19. Tom Torlakson for Supt of Public Instruction
1. Two job opportunities
A. Nursery Manager with Save the Bay
The Nursery Manager is responsible for managing Save The Bay’s two native plant nurseries, located in Oakland and Palo Alto, where we propagate more than 25,000 native wetland and adjacent upland plant seedlings annually.
http://www.savesfbay.org/work-save-bay
__________________________
B. Environmental Education & Habitat Garden Steward Internship - Presidio
http://johnmuir.ucdavis.edu/news/jobs/784/environmental-education-habitat-garden-steward-internship-presidio
************************************
2. Sharon Beals, photographer
Nests, Birds, Plastic in the Ocean. What more could you ask?
Building 116, Studio 9 , Hunter's Point Shipyard
October 29th, Friday night preview, 6 to 9 (tonight)
Saturday and Sunday 11 to 6
Cell is 377-4214 if you are lost
Directions: http://www.thepointart.com/contact.html
********************
3. From Julie Burns, Friends of Lands End:
The San Francisco Veterans Medical Center (VAMC), adjacent to the GGNRA’s Lands End/Coastal Trail, has issued a request for input to the Environmental Impact Study related to its long-range Institutional Master Plan and its plan to build over 900,000 square feet of new construction at Lands End. Comments are due by November 12, 2010.
The VA has identified four potential alternatives for evaluation in the EIS.
· Alternative 1 involves development within the existing SFVAMC site, which is a 29-acre site located at Fort Miley in the northwestern portion of the City of San Francisco. The site is bounded by Clement Street and private residential uses on the south and National Park Service lands on the north, east, and west. This Alternative would include approximately 924,200 square feet of new construction within the existing SFVAMC campus for patient care, research, administration, and parking, as well as renovation of existing buildings on the campus.
· Alternative 2 involves a combination of new construction within the existing SFVAMC campus, as well as relocation of some aspects of the medical center to an alternate site within the City of San Francisco. This alternative would involve construction of new clinical, research, and administrative buildings and renovation of existing buildings at the existing SFVAMC. In addition, this alternative would involve the construction of clinical, research, ambulatory care center facilities, and parking structures at an alternate site within the City of San Francisco.
· Alternative 3 involves relocation of the entire medical center campus to an alternate site within the City of San Francisco. This alternative would include construction of up to 2 million square feet of space for clinical, research, and administrative facilities, including a new ambulatory care center, inpatient and outpatient care, and parking.
Here is the link to the plan, 61 pages, but large file size so PDF download can be slow: http://www.sanfrancisco.va.gov/docs/IMP_2010.pdf
Here is a link is a visualization of the proposed development: http://www.sanfrancisco.va.gov/docs/IMP_2010.pdf
All comments should go to:
John Pechman, Facility Planner
San Francisco VA Medical Center (001)
4150 Clement Street
San Francisco, CA 94121
John.Pechman@va.gov
415-221-4810 ext. 4600. Please copy Julie Burns (julieburns@sealrock.com ) on comments.
************************************
4. Lands End Lookout Site Visit
Saturday, November 6, 2010, 10 am – 11 am
Merrie Way Parking Lot on Point Lobos Avenue (just up the hill from Louis’ Restaurant)
Anne Baskerville, Project Manager with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, will share and describe the current site plan, renderings, and construction schedule for the new visitor facility, to be known as the Lands End Lookout. Write trailsforever@parksconservancy.org or call 415-561-3054 to RSVP.
Anne’s talk will kick-off a monthly series of walks and talks focused on the many resources and ways to appreciate Lands End. On Saturday, December 4, Alex Hooker, San Francisco Stewardship Program manager, will describe restoration techniques with native plants. And, in January, Peter Winch from the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary will direct our attention west to the Pacific and the marine mammals off the coast of Lands End. All this, and regular updates on the status of the construction of the new Lookout….stay tuned. Write trailsforever@parksconservancy.org or call 415-561-3054 to learn more!
*************************************
5.
(Please, someone, tell me I'm dreaming.
The political process seems to decree that this Subway will go forward, despite the fact that it will pour money down a rat-hole, verge on non-functional, be very destructive, and will worsen already poor Muni service--it is a tragedy-in-the-making and it doesn't need to happen. Shifting the subject momentarily---another tragedy will be the capture of the House of Representatives by Republicans. Is it possible that a by-product of this gruesome prospect is that the GOP will take a meat-axe to some of these Democratic boondoggles? I can dream, can't I? JS)
Muni Service Cuts vs Central Subway
In December 2009, Muni service cuts included six discontinued routes, 16 foreshortened routes, and shorter operating hours for 22 routes--which will not be restored. With gigantic city budget deficits in the next three fiscal years, these cuts are just precursors. Even as they attempt to assemble funding for service restorations, Muni hopes to divert $164 million of NEW local funding and $88 million of NEW state funding for the Central Subway, the match required by the Federal Transit Administration for federal dollars received. This would drain the citywide Muni system to build the short 1.7 mile Central Subway. With a structural deficit of $609 million for fleet maintenance, Muni riders will increasingly suffer transit losses.
Instead, all service cuts can be restored, the fleet maintained, and citywide Muni revitalized--by better using the Central Subway's existing state/local funds of $384 million, including $124 million in Prop K sales tax dollars. In economic recessions, we must prioritize transit needs and hasten job creation, reallocating $943 million of federal funds to citywide public transit improvements. Also, consider the question:
Who Protects the Fragile Chinatown Marketplace?
The Central Subway may do what the 1906 Earthquake could not--make Chinatown disappear. Unbridled progress and technology do not necessarily soften the deleterious consequences of gentrification and disruptions due to new construction. When the 1906 Earthquake completely flattened Chinatown, City Hall and developers advanced plans to relocate the Chinese to Bay View-Hunters Point. But Chinese-American leaders sought help from fellow countrymen and the Dowager of the Ching Dynasty. With City Hall acknowledging Chinatown's economic worth in international commerce and tourism, Chinatown was rebuilt in its same location. One hundred years later, the Central Subway will exacerbate gentrification and relocation of the Chinese--but at an incremental pace that would likely raise few alarms. Construction disruptions, street digging and bus/traffic rerouting alone will hurt the fragile Stockton Street marketplace. The Central Subway's plan for dense development and commuter travel to CalTrain is the inexorable road to Chinatown's demise.
From newsletter of San Francisco Tomorrow, November 2010
*****************************************
6.
Can Poetry Save the World?
(Or at least one trusted and effective nonprofit?)
Join us in Creating an Online Collaborative Poem--A Virtual...River of Words!
Make a tax-deductible donation of $25 or more to River of Words and add a line to our online poem!
Here's the first line: "So much depends..."
A River by Prasadini Wickramasinghe, age 13, Sri Lanka, 2009 River of Words Finalist
For fifteen years, River of Words has been nurturing and inspiring young people to explore and protect the natural world, and to interpret and celebrate their homegrounds through poetry and art. As pioneers in the field of place-based education, we've watched our programs grow, migrating into classrooms, libraries, afterschool and outdoor programs in all fifty states and to over thirty countries.
Our "Watershed Explorer" curriculum is embedded in tens of thousands of classrooms, and we've developed a network of River of Words Coordinatorshoused at state departments of natural resources, universities, humanities councils and the like. The US EPA underwrites our annual anthology of youth art and poetry. The children's work is exhibited in museums, libraries, aquariums and venues around the world, educating and inspiring countless numbers.
Our annual youth environmental art and poetry contest, held in conjunction with The Library of Congress Center for the Book, is one of the most prestigious prizes a young person can win; being chosen a winner has indeed, helped many of them get into the college of their choice. Former River of Words participants are turning up in environmental studies grad programs, at the front of classrooms, on the shelves of bookstores, doing heartful, important work. Many of them cite the awareness, training and recognition they received from River of Words as seminal in their career/life paths.
And yet, our success has in some ways contributed to our current financial situation. As the program grew, so did the need and demand for our workshops, materials and services. As the contest grew, so did the time required to organize the entries for judging, acknowledge the participants with certificates, etc. River of Words began growing steadily from our very first year. Unfortunately, our funding and staff did not.
So now we are taking the time to re-imagine ourselves--laying off staff, putting many programs on hiatus--while we come up with new ideas. We may partner with an academic institution or another nonprofit; several promising opportunities have already turned up.
Each (tax-deductible) donation of $25 or more to River of Words entitles you to add one line (up to 150 characters) to our online collaborative poem, our River of Words, so to speak. To get your creative juices flowing we've started things off with a time-honored and provocative first line-so much depends--from William Carlos Williams' 1923 masterwork, The Red Wheelbarrow.
You can follow the poem's creation on our website, www.riverofwords.org, and also see how much we've raised to help save our organization. Your name and where you're from will be posted unless you ask for anonymity. The amount of your gift will not be posted.
Here are some ideas to keep our "river of words" wild and free-flowing. You might:
1. Flow with the current.
2. Change direction, like the Chicago River.
3. Create white water.
4. Pool a little so readers can slow down and see where they are.
Surprise is good.
Occasional references to actual rivers and puns on their names are good.
Mixing urban and rural imagery in unexpected ways is good.
The sun, moon and stars are always good.
Your line will be added in the order received, so it may not follow exactly the last line of the poem as it is posted at the moment you add yours. There will undoubtedly be many surprises as the poem unfolds. You can contribute (lines and money!) as many times as you like.
Have fun, and remember-the power of poetry comes from its concision. As we counsel in our poetry workshops: "Make every word audition for the page!"
IMPORTANT-BUT EASY- INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Click on the link below. It will take you to our secure "donation" page.
2. Type in your credit card or PayPal details and the amount of your donation.
3. Hit the "Review Donation and Continue" button. This will take you to a new page.
4. Right under "River of Words Donation" you'll see the word "Comments" in blue. Click on that and a box will appear.
5. Type your line of poetry in the box. Unless you add the word "anonymous" to the box we will include your name with your line of poetry.
Make your donation and add your line of poetry now!
Sample posting:
so much depends
on the measured flick of the salmon's tail
Billy Williams, Rutherford, New Jersey
Please help us keep our River of Words flowing. Forward this to your friends so they can jump in, too-we have the capacity to imagine, nurture and protect a sustainable and vibrant future if we learn to work together and take advantage of the amazing technology we have at our fingertips.
So much depends...on you!
********************************
7. From the Population Institute
* Study Links Population and Climate Change
A new scientific study indicates that reductions in projected population growth could significantly reduce projected carbon emissions and help to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The study, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), concludes that by slowing population growth to the lower U.N. population projection for 2050, carbon emissions would be cut by 16 to 29 percent over the next 40 years. The report was prepared by an international team of scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
* Wilberforce Award Announced
Dick Smith, one of Australia's most successful and recognized business leaders, is offering $1 million to "a young person under 30 who can impress me by becoming famous through his or her ability to show leadership in communicating an alternative to our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy."
* World Food Day Observed
This year World Food Day marked the fourth year in a row in which the observance was linked to a potential food crisis. Three years ago rising grain prices and shrinking grain reserves triggered a global food crisis. Two years ago, the world grain markets were recovering from a tripling of rice prices and a doubling of corn and wheat prices. Last year, the FAO reported that the number of chronically hungry had climbed over the 1 billion mark for the first time in history.
* UNFPA Releases The State of World Population 2010
On October 20th the United Nations Population Fund released their 2010 State of the World Population Report. The report links peace, security and development to women's rights and empowerment. It highlights that women who have access to the same rights and opportunities as men are more resilient to conflict and disaster and can play a greater role in reconstruction and renewal efforts of their societies. The report looks at stories of individuals who were affected by conflict or catastrophe in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haiti, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Timor-Leste and Uganda.
*********************************
8.
Global extinction crisis looms, new study says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/26/AR2010102607146.html?referrer=emailarticle
By Juliet Eilperin
A growing number of creatures could disappear from the earth, with one-fifth of all vertebrates and as many as a third of all sharks and rays now facing the threat of extinction, according to a new survey assessing nearly 26,000 species across the globe.
Eric Mills:
I've seen reports that we're losing between 30,000 and 40,000 plant and animal species every year due to human impacts, soon to be exacerbated by global warming and climate change.
And yet we can't seem to find the resolve to fix something as simple and obvious as the live animal food markets, or the African clawed frog problem in Golden Gate Park (seven years and counting......)
*****************************
9. From Jan Blum:
Now this is what I call a great "anchor" tenant for the Presidio. Great science is going to be happening all along the SF Coast from the Presidio, to the Exploratorium on Piers 15-17 and at the Aquarium by the Bay. Exciting science with great exposure opportunities for all of us and the youth in our lives.
http://sfappeal.com/news/2010/10/new-center-focuses-on-effects-of-climate-change-on-farallones-sanctuary.php
****************************
10. Richmond's Measure U, the Pt Molate casino issue
Recently on KQED radio - Amy Standin talks about Measure U - http://www.kqed.org/a/quest/R201010250833
Additional information: The Richmond Progressive Alliance (www.richmondprogressivealliance.net/
******************************
11. Halloween on the Headlands – Habitat Restoration Work Day
There will be a volunteer work day at the Pedro Point Headlands on Sunday, October 31st from 10 – 1.00pm.
You bring the tricks, we'll bring the treats! Meet at the firehouse at 9.45
Planting Day... Nov 7th
Please join us at the planting party and take home your flat or more to germinate and tend until January.
Sunday November 7th, 1.00 – 2.30pm
Pacifica Gardens (on Rosita Rd behind the Linda Mar School)
Bring flats if you have any. We will provide the seeds, the soil and the know how to be successful.
RSVP appreciated - Lynn4promos (at) aol.com
*************************************
12. Seed & Cutting Exchange, followed by a talk on Propagation Methods by Pete Veilleux of East Bay Wilds
Thu, Nov 4, 7-9pm
Peninsula Conservation Center 3921 E Bayshore Road, Palo Alto
Info: www.cnps-scv.org ● 650.260.3450 ● Free & open to all
Bring native plant seeds and cuttings from your garden to show and tell, and take something new home. The offerings range from easy-to-grow to hard-to-find. Don’t have any to share? There is usually enough for all, and then some. The exchange is followed by a talk by Pete Veilleux of East Bay Wilds. What is the best time of year to propagate from cuttings? Does rooting hormone really make a difference? Come and find out at the year’s most fun and informal meeting.
-------------
Garden Design Using Native Plants
Peigi Duvall of Indigenous Design
Monday, November 8 • 7-8:30pm
Fremont Main Library 2400 Stevenson Blvd, Fremont • 510.745.1401
Info: www.cnps-scv.org ● 650.260.3450 ● Free&open to all
How does one create an aesthetically pleasing native plant garden? How can you select the right plants for the right space and position them around paths, patios, decks, birdbaths, and water features? Learn from landscape designer Peigi Duvall who teaches garden design for Stanford Continuing Studies. Her gardens have been featured on the Going Native Garden Tour.
***********************************
13.
Management of Stow Lake Boathouse
Wednesday November 3, 2010 at 7PM
San Francisco County Fair Bldg Auditorium
9th Av & Lincoln Way
On August 19, 2010, The San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission selected Ortega Family Enterprises to run the historic Stow Lake Boathouse. The Department is in the process of negotiating a lease with Ortega and is hosting this Community meeting to solicit the input of community members.
***************************************
14. From Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics
Killer of aspen slows, but worries about a beloved tree remain – New York Times
Nation's forests help offset greenhouse gas emissions – Los Angeles Times
U.S. Forest Service releases report on Arkansas floods – Gov Monitor newsletter
(Bio)Mass confusion: High costs and environmental concerns have pushed biomass power to the sidelines in the U.S. – Wall Street Journal
Cleanup begun at Siskiyou mine: Crews racing to remove toxic waste at former Blue Ledge Mine before winter – Spokesman-Review
Parks eyed for fuel benefit: Protected areas may not be safe from natural gas development – National Geographic
Coconino Forest backs off Red Rock pass – Verde Independent
Forest Service moves to intimidation to collect more entrance fees – New West: Forest Service Moves to Intimidation to Collect More Entrance Fees - Here's how the Forest Service bullies us into donating many millions of dollars to the federal government. Read this and you'll think twice before filling that envelope with your hard-earned cash.
*********************************
15. Tree Talk: Interesting and Unusual Trees, with Jason Dewees
Thursday, November 4, 5:30 p.m.
You're invited to a Tree Talk about interesting and unusual trees, led by horticulturist and palm expert Jason Dewees at Flora Grubb Gardens, 1634 Jerrold Avenue between 3rd and Phelps streets. RSVP sarah@fuf.net
MUNI K, T, 23, 24, 44, 54, 91
***************************
16. Feedback
Donald Robertson:
> Hello, Jake, I often disagree with you regarding public transit, but on BART you are dead on. I've always said the MTC (and by extension, BART) lives in the East Bay and looks East. That needs to end. I will vote accordingly.
Michael Crabtree (about 12. Dancing at the Movies - Music Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYL3j27sSH8):
> Jake – The dancing at the movies clip lost me the moment the music started. I don’t care for Kenny Loggins and absolutely detest that song. The good news is that it works just as well if you turn the sound down on the clip and watch it while listening to almost any up tempo tune (that isn’t named “Footloose” or performed by Kenny Loggins). J
Interesting, Michael. I was befuddled by the presentation--it has to be a generational thing. Perhaps the song was part of my bemusement--there was just a lot going on that confused me. But I love to watch dancing per se, and that is what enthralled me.
Thanks for the feedback. I find others' reactions to be invariably interesting, and often I learn something.
Bruce Grosjean:
> Jake - I think I went through a similar back and forth on Proposition B but came up with an opposite conclusion. I suspect that you have already read this <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/28/BA501G2BIQ.DTL> piece in the Chronicle but if you haven't I would suggest you do. Is it too much to ask this $72K employee to pay $249.17 per month for Kaiser coverage for him and his partner? I think NOT!
Bruce: I agreed that there is a problem needing fixing. Re-read my last paragraph. My reason for voting No is to force them to sit down and look at the whole problem, rather than singling out those least able to defend themselves.
The subject of Prop B is not a topic that can be ignored--for the simple reason there is a problem, and it can't wait long. That fact will force them to sit down with other parties and look at the whole subject. They can do that, but only under duress, and a No vote would create the duress. Some constituencies--such as the victims of Prop B--are easy to beat up on, while others are sacrosanct--eg, police, fire, and higher mucky-mucks.
Voters have been generous to City workers in general, but indulgent when it comes to police and fire. For at least three decades there was almost annually a ballot measure for police and/or firemen, and voters always approved, for obvious reasons. Granted, police/fire work is hazardous and compensation should reflect that. However, the hazard is gone once they retire. And we know how successful administrators have been in inflating their own salaries as well as building empires.
Let's look at the larger picture, not a vulnerable segment that big-money people choose. (Did you look at who wrote this proposition?) Reform will happen, and, since the problem is urgent, I expect it will be in the next election, which I think is next year--the mayoral election. And it will pass, because it will have been written in consultation with a broader spectrum, as well as affected parties. If Prop B is approved--which it well may--it will take some of the pressure off looking at the other inequities.
And finally, be cautious about a newspaper making up your mind. They print what serves them, but they could just as easily have written a persuasive article proving the opposite. Ronald Reagan was a past master of choosing the "right" illustration that supports his POV--eg, the "Welfare Queen".
> As far as who wrote Prop B is concerned, I very much like Jeff Adachi and the job he is doing as SF Pub defender and I admire his courage on this issue which has many of his own attorneys pissed at him. This all sound too much like the French going ballistic over raising their retirement age a couple of years. I think what you say has merit and you may be completely right - BUT - hoping that a Prop B defeat will result in a rational "sit down and look at the whole problem" takes far more optimism than I can possibly muster. My private sector union pension can not hold a candle to what city employees have come to believe is their right, and even with SS and Medicare I pay far more than $249.17 for Kaiser coverage for me and my wife.
I understand your skepticism that the problem will be addressed if B is defeated. I am as skeptical and cynical as I can be about politicians and the political process, and I would never be persuaded by promises. What is crystal clear is that there is a crisis. Draconian cuts are being made to vital programs, and the situation will get worse, not better. So there won't be a choice--they will HAVE TO come to terms; voters are too outraged, and pols do pay attention when feeling is running that high with voters. But that is only if B is defeated; if it succeeds, I don't know whether we'll get the reform we need.
Jeff Adachi did not write B; he just carried water for the monied interests who did. I expect B will probably pass, and that Adachi will benefit politically. (Not that that was his motive; I don't know what his motive was, and whether he was courageous or not is something I don't know.)
> It seems to me that Prop B is a modest start to what most likely will be a long but very necessary process of realigning reality with expectations. Much of my 50 year working life was heavily involved in union negotiations and as a shop steward, sometime contentious actions against employers, all of which has given me some insights into the dynamics behind employer, employee relations, and I know that each side can see their own excess as fair and reasonable. I can see absolutely no reason to think that a defeat of Prop B will engender any kind of response to the "whole problem", but I can imagine that passing Prop B might then line up others for the same treatment, and that would be my hope.
Bruce, I think the difference in our views on this stems from the extraordinary crisis we're in, one that hasn't had precedence in our time, and possibly never. That is what will drive reform, and it can't be resisted. I don't want to drain any energy from the impetus to reform.
> ...I mentioned Jeff Adachi because you asked if I had looked "at who wrote this proposition" and he is the person that is generally cited. I can see no political agenda behind his position and as I said, I have admired his work for a long time. I once bumped into him on the street and told him how much I admired his work and we then had a nice conversation. He has made a life out of standing up for the disenfranchised among us and his 200K salary is minuscule compared to what he is capable of making in private practice. He has credibility with me!
>
> Next up - "administrators, cops and firemen"! We ALL need to live within our means and time is running out. Personally I think it's already too late because living within our means is generally considered contrary to the "American dream."
>
> Sincerely and with all due respect Jake!!!
Jim LeCuyer - re: 14. Insects could be the key to meeting food needs of growing population
> Ooahhhgh! Insects for breakfast. I remember a great old film, Nanook of the North, in which a family of happy Eskimos stood facing the camera and smiling more and more as they pulled hands full of squirming maggots from a fifty gallon drum and ate them. Jim LeCuyer
And to think--it's all in the mind.
***********************
17. San Francisco Film Society announces the screening of Rivers of a Lost Coast, as part of this year’s Cinema by the Bay festival. Cinema by the Bay celebrates the passion, innovation and diversity of Bay Area filmmaking, featuring new works produced in or about the SF Bay Area, November 5-8 at the Roxie Theater, the Lab and Southern Exposure.
Rivers of a Lost Coast reveals a mythical, largely forgotten time when California’s northern coast was the epicenter of fly fishing for West Coast salmon and steelhead. This once-thriving community was centered along the Russian, Eel and Smith rivers and was led by two rival anglers, Bill Schaadt and Ted Lindner. Narrated by Tom Skerritt and featuring stunning photography, rare archival stills, film excerpts and interviews, Justin Coupe and Palmer Taylor’s elegiac documentary reveals a wild California that has since been lost to the rising tides of urbanization.
Rivers of a Lost Coast will be shown Sunday, November 7, at 2:00 pm at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.
We have discounted group tickets available through our marketing assistant Rebecca Sweeney, who may be reached at rsweeney@sffs.org for full details. I have also included a link where regularly-priced tickets may be purchased online:
http://www.sffs.org/Screenings-and-Events/Fall-Season/Cinema-by-the-Bay>
*********************
18. Angry America
This week we look ahead to America's mid-term elections. We examine the country's electoral geography, the changing attitudes of various groups of voters-and how it is that a president who rode to power on a wave of popularity two years ago could have fallen so far in the esteem of so many of his countrymen. The reasons lie partly with him, but also with his circumstances. We think Barack Obama: both he and his country are doing a little better than Americans think
**********************************
19. Tom Torlakson for Supt of Public Instruction
I don't endorse candidates. The Supt of Public Instruction this year is a no-brainer, however, as his opponent, Larry Aceves, is a career administrator who says keeping classes smaller doesn't help students (!!), and he supports the take-over of schools by for-profit private companies.
Against that we have Tom Torlakson, who was well-known to many of us as a former biology teacher who became instrumental in saving the Antioch Dunes for two now federally-listed endangered species, the Antioch Dunes evening primrose, and a butterfly whose name escapes me at the moment. (Perhaps Lange's metalmark? I'll hear from Liam O'Brien on this one. Dr Jerry Powell was, I believe, its discoverer.)
Anyway, Bob Case and I were just coming out of the Pyramid Brewery in Sacto after a hard day of lobbying the Legislature for weed money. A guy overheard part of our conversation and recognized a familiar subject, so he introduced himself: Tom Torlakson and his wife. We had a warm conversation, and he still gets juiced up about butterflies, plants, and saving species. Now doesn't this sound like someone we want for Supt of Public Instruction?
|