Dear Senator Kerry, I apologize for my snarky comments about your ability to spark a crowd. I will happily eat them. Yum! You hit the tone and hit the words this morning at the Obama rally. Thank you! (It's not my fault. He was wooden on TV during the 2004 campaign. It wasn't my imagination, was it??!) The auditorium was packed and they gave a great send off to the precinct walking volunteers. Fun, even for interlopers like redozdachs who took the picture above. A few more pictures.

Tomorrow (Saturday, February 2) Obama supporters are meeting at Everett Middle School, 450 Church Street @ 16th at 9:30 a.m.  We'll be whipped into a frenzy by speakers Sen. John Kerry and Supervisor Bevan Dufty. (Okay, I cannot make this up.  Sen. Kerry will speak, and the Obama person I spoke with in the office yesterday was saying how lucky we were to have such a fantastic speaker for our rally.  Maybe Kerry has been taking public speaking lessons since 2004?) After getting pumped up, we'll walk a precinct... Anyone want to join me in Noe Valley precinct 3845, about [...]

The new car is comfortable in the garage, but it's a bit jealous of our old love.  It's insisting that we sell soon, or it will doubt the sincerity of our relationship. Anyone have experience with selling a vehicle on Craigslist, cars.com, or Kelly Book Book.com?  Kelly Blue Book online says its private party sale value is $2,820.  So does that mean we ask for $3,000? 92 Honda Accord Details

In my opinion, there are several good Democratic candidates running for President.  I am happy to choose among well qualified people who have reasonable views on most issues.  I will support any of the major Democratic contenders in the Fall election. Nevertheless, I have a strong preference for Senator Barack Obama. The greatest Obama advantage is the way he articulates and illustrates the American Story. It’s generationally, racially, experientially different — and more hopeful than — the dismal narrative we’ve been living through under President Bush.  In many ways it’s also superior to what any President has offered in generations. Perhaps, as one story I [...]

I dislike people who wrap themselves up in the flag to advance their personal agendas.  It's unseemly.  It cheapens the symbolic power of the flag. I consider self-serving calls to rally around the flag contemptible.  I don't vote for politicians whose major ability seems their skill in draping themselves in red, white, and blue. I don't respect anyone who stands behind a symbol to get their own way. This week's Bay Area Reporter shills for man whose dressing up his own self interest in the colors of the rainbow.  The article hypes "Neighbors oppose home addition near revered stairwell".  (Quick... without [...]

Forwarded email from a Mira Loma Park friend: Peets Coffee in West Portal is sponsoring a Peets for PAWS Day on Monday, December 24.  In addition to giving out free house drip coffee (can't beat that!) on Monday from 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM, they will be asking customer to make donations to support Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS) and will match up to the first $1,000 raised.   For those of you that are not aware, PAWS provides a whole variety of services to people with HIV/AIDS to enable them to have pets -- those loving dogs and cats [...]

Email from our friend Kim who is an ex-pat living in southeast Thailand: You might have read, Thailand has an election coming up this month, first one since the coup in September 2006. There are two large parties, and a dozen more little ones. As usual, there have been a ton of reports in the Bangkok Post regarding vote buying.   But there was a new story last Friday: one of the smaller parties was caught offering to supply Viagra to older voters (evidently both men and women) in NE Thailand. On Saturday, playing golf, I asked a friend if [...]

Before I moved to San Francisco my friends and relatives were concerned that I was relocating to a land of drugged-out crazies.  Even my dope-smoking college friends weren’t completely sure that San Franciscans were to be trusted. There was some cause for their wariness. Something must be in the water to cause the cluster of craziness. In a relatively short period, a relative lot of off-beat violence happened either here in the city or in a city colony:Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered… in City Hall… by another supervisor.President Ford was shot at on a city street.  The would-be [...]

I am fairly sure I don’t want Vladimir Putin as my journal censor, but I know I don’t want him to have access to any thoughts or writings of mine that are not already absolutely public. What ‘sup? LiveJournal announced Sunday that it is being acquired by SUP, SUP is an international online media company with established partnerships with businesses across the globe. It was founded in the summer of 2006 by an international management team with Russian seed capital.SUP is owned by a Russian investor, and has had a license to run the Russian-language section of LJ since October, [...]