Sam Spade's San Francisco

The Waste Reduction Awards Program, WRAP, sponsored by the Integrated Waste Management Board of the State of California recognizes California businesses that have made outstanding efforts to reduce nonhazardous waste and send less garbage to our landfills.

"WRAP of the Year" recognizes five of the best examples of these efforts, which serve as waste management models to the rest of their industry. The 2005 WRAP winners have been announced and locally-based Safeway Stores is among them.

Last year, the Safeway diverted 210,926 tons from landfill disposal by composting and recycling. In addition, Safeway diverted other materials from landfills including corrugated cardboard, plastic, meat waste, metal, paper, and glass through recycling programs.

Safeway has been a WRAP honoree for each of the past seven years. Safeway is one of the largest retail grocery companies in North America. It operates 557 California storesand is headquartered here in the San Francisco Bay Area at Pleasanton.

San Francisco Bay is home to one of the busiest ports in North America, the Port of Oakland. A terrorist attack at the Port of Oakland could conceivably kill hundreds of thousands of people who live along the Bay. While the Port of Oakland is not on the auctioneer's block for sale to Dubai World Ports as are several important East Coast ports, it is still vitally important to us what happens elsewhere.

Voices from across America are telling President Bush not to turn over control of these port to an Arab corporation. Those voices simply are missing the important underlying point.

Dubai World Ports

First, Dubai World Ports is professional, reliable and completely safe. The executive Chairman of Dubai World Ports, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem (shown here in the photo), has been at the helm since 2001 when the company merged with Jebel Ali Free Zone and the Dubai Ports Authority to become the billion-dollar international port managing firm it is today.

The Sultan is also very active in the World Economic Forum. The WEF is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. As such Bin Sulayem has emerged as the WEF's "Global Leader for Tomorrow" and is at the forefront of international economic development.

Both Dubai World Ports and it's chairman, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, are responsible, reliable, objective and politically independent global leaders in port management and international commerce. Dubai World Ports offers the possibility of an important partnership that will benefit the long-term objectives of the American economy.

The real danger

We need to deal with basic security issues, not the ownership of the ports themselves. Security is the real problem and it is a problem we can easily do something about.

Who protects America's ports? It is not the U.S. Coast Guard. The USCG protect the bays and harbors, the approaches and traffic going in and out of America's harbors and bays. The actual port operations are protected by private security firms who provide uniformed security personnel under contract to the port owners and managers.

Private security guards are not sworn law enforcement officers. They do not receive the same extensive and professional training the USCG or local police receive. They are private citizens who once applied for a job as a security guard and now find themselves protecting the underbelly of the American economy. They are ill-trained and under-qualified.

The biggest threat to America's ports is not Dubai World Ports. The real danger lies in the absence of legislation, protocols, rules and regulations to govern and supervise the security at our ports. We need better trained guards at the ports and we need a nationwide uniform training program for port authority guards. We need Department of Homeland Security personnel supervising their work on a continuous basis.

We also need millions of 40-foot container boxes checked and screened. When the Department of Homeland Security tells us they screen 100% of incoming containers, they mean to say that they check the manifests carefully. Less than 1% of the container boxes entering the United States are ever actually opened and inspected.

Consider this scenario: In a friendly country, perhaps a European nation, terrorists approach the driver of a big rig. He is hauling a 40-foot container box destined to be loaded aboard a ship and taken to an American port. The terrorists offer the truck driver $10,000 to take a long break and leave his truck and cargo in the hands of the terrorists for an hour or so.

In that time the terrorists open the container, plant a biological weapons device, re-seal the container and return the truck to the driver. The container makes its way to New York, for example, where it is detonated by radio signal.

The manifest for that container box would offer no clue to Homeland Security paper-pushers who review it. The disaster could only have been prevented by looking inside the container box and through better, tighter security. It would make no difference who owned and managed the port through which the bomb entered our country.

It's fine to be up in arms about America's port security, but let's focus on the real problem and not be caught up in blind racist fear.

Every so often someone comes along who wants publicity but has never done anything outstanding enough to earn it. People like that resort to stunts and tricks and substitutes for their lack of talent or skills. Some of these tricksters reinvent themselves as "artists."

These self-styled "artists" seldom have professional training or backgrounds. They are hucksters who want their faces and names plastered on the pages of newspapers. It's pure ego.

Take Joe Canada, for example. He has been going around giving out $5 and $10 bills to people. He thinks that is art, but when he promises hungry and homeless San Franciscans that he is going to give each one a $10 bill and then plays them all for suckers and gives them nothing ... that is definitely not art. It is cruel, self-centered mean behavior.

This morning's Chronicle carried a story about Joe Canada coming to San Francisco's Civic Center to distribute ten-spots to the City's homeless. He paraded himself around, smiled at the applause he was getting, and delivered a number a mini-speeches to the homeless crowd, telling them what he thinks of San Francisco's elected officials, what he thinks about politics in general, and he even preached his thoughts on religion. It was the same kind of crap the Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission do. They make hungry homeless people listen to a sermon before they can eat.

But Joe Canada was a liar. After his speeches and when it had become obvious that he was delaying his grand moment, he was surrounded by his volunteers and rushed off to his truck, where he quickly drove away ... leaving the 500 or so homeless people who had been giving him the adoration he wanted ... with nothing but the realization that they have just been made fools of by Joe Canada.

The homeless people who had gathered around in hopes of money for a hot meal saw their hopes dashed. It was all a scam. Canada's supporters said he got scared and was intimidated by the size of the homeless people before him. It was a failed "fishes and loaves" story, except unlike the Jesus story, this guy let everyone down and ran away like a coward.

People need their dignity. Even if the people in question are homeless and dirty and unshaven and prone to crack cocaine use, they are entitled to respect and to their dignity. Joe Canada came to San Francisco and took that away.

Stay out of San Francisco, Joe Canada! You are unwelcome. Take your ego and go to Texas where you will be in like company.

The City had to spend money for police protection for Joe Canada and his team of misguided volunteers. Canada not only failed to give anybody anything, he cost the City money. I want Joe Canada to reimburse the City and County of San Francisco for our losses.

San Francisco has a serious homeless problem and people like Mayor Gavin Newsom, the Board of Supervisors and people like Cecil Williams and Louie Vitale have been working tirelessly for decades to give help and sustenance and hope to the people living on our streets. The Community Housing Partnership recently was awarded $16-million to build 167 residential units for homeless San Franciscans. These are our real heroes and our true stars, not creeps like Joe Canada.

Joe Canada said he was once homeless. Being homeless gives most people a sense of compassion. It left Joe Canada with nothing but contempt.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Westfield Group and Forest City Enterprises will take over the Metreon from Sony Corporation.

Thank God!

Sony Corporation all but ruined the 300,000-square-foot building and ran-off most of the businesses in it. They turned it into a city-center monster every bit as ugly as Toho Film's Godzilla.

As John King pointed out in a 2002 Chronicle article, "Sony ignored its surroundings. It took a prime spot next to downtown's most vibrant park and pretended that the outside world didn't exist."

As King noted, the Metreon treats Fourth Street like a back alley even though it is the home of the Moscone West Convention Center.

"Any normal entrepreneur would have restaurants and pubs spilling out everywhere, or rows of bazaar-type vendors. Not Sony. The $66 billion corporation and its cadre of consultants decided to leave the terraces empty."

"Sony claimed that the Metreon was unique, but the goal was to create a new breed of 'entertainment retail' that could then be cloned in cities like Chicago and New York and Berlin. (So much for that plan.)"

Sony blew it.

Sony did not understand American culture and failed miserably to consider the adjacent beauty of San Francisco. They wanted to create a self-enclosed entertainment kingdom that would provide visitors with an escape from the outside world. Well, maybe that works in Tokyo which is polluted, congested, crowded and littered with obnoxious neon signs everywhere ... but their strategy fails in a City as beautiful and inviting as San Francisco.

Here are some of John King's suggestions taken from his 2002 article. I hope the Westfield Group and Forest City Enterprises are listening!

-- Enlarge the "front door" at Fourth and Mission. Here's a pedestrian realm so busy that the city is widening the sidewalks, and the view inside the Metreon is blocked by movie posters. There's a gorgeous park at the other end but you'd never know it -- even if you can see past the coming attractions, a Starbucks kiosk blocks the view. Carve as big a hole as the structure will allow, or at least clear out the clutter.

-- Connect to the sidewalk. (The Discovery Store, mentioned by King, has since closed down and left. They did not make enough money) Here's one guess why: The chain turns its back on Mission Street. The entrance is off the main approach to the ticket counter, a corridor dominated by cineasts rushing so as not to miss a frame of (the current movie offerings)

-- Open the windows. The tall neon "Metreon" at Fourth and Mission is a knockout -- once. Then it's color on a bleak wall. But if windows were uncovered so that people could glimpse action on the upper floors, they'd pause to check things out every time they walked by.

-- Milk the terraces for all they're worth. Brewpubs, book stalls, cafes, carnivals -- the outdoor areas should pulse with life, instead of fade into the background as is now the case.

-- Keep the food court. Better yet, let it expand on the top floor. Add local restaurants, not "tourist-popular" chain operations.

Westfield is the operator of the San Francisco Shopping Center at Fifth and Market. They have done an admirable job with that property and hopefully they will be able to bring some good design to the Metreon and replace the insane thinking and design concepts of Sony's Tokyo bosses.

San Francisco operates a network of 27 cameras positioned at busy intersections. The cameras snap pictures of lead-footed drivers who barrel through red lights. The City plans to install another 10 cameras in coming months.

How have the cameras done? Well, last year the cameras snapped photos of more than 11,000 motorists running red lights. Each motorist received a $370 citation in the mail. That's a total of more than $4 million coming into the City.

The majority of the cited motorists live in the East Bay. Every weekday afternoon there is a parade of anxious, impatient, itchy workers who dash out of Financial District office buildings and push and shove their way to their cars. Then they use their vehicles as weapons to cut-off some, swerve in front of others and liberally honk their horns at anyone daring enough to get in their way. They have a sense of entitlement. They seem to think they collectively own the streets and intersections of San Francisco.

Quite the opposite is true. Most of those cited drivers live in another community and in another county. They pay taxes someplace else. Yet, they clog our streets, endanger our pedestrians, fill our City with smog and smudge, and make it just about impossible for San Franciscans to get around our own City.

Finally, because of the intersection cameras, we are able to nail some of these impatient East Bay commuters and exact some money from them to pay for the mess they create every work day.

But ... enterprising lawyers hungry for fees have convinced thousands of those commuters to sue the City and County of San Francisco to stop the cameras. It seems those commuters are not only rude and impatient; they are greedy as well.

Yesterday, however, lawyers representing their class-action clients withdrew the lawsuit because San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera made it clear that if the plaintiffs lost (which it seemed likely they would) the City would sue every one of the plaintiffs to recover the City's legal costs. The lawyers for the commuters decided to drop the case. It was a victory for San Francisco and another job well done by Herrera and his staff.

Now, if we could manage to come up with a way to keep those East Bay commuters from being so rude and obnoxious when they fill the BART stations at Embarcadero and Montgomery every weekday afternoon, we will be batting a thousand! Typically, the workers in the high-rise buildings flee like rats running from a burning building. They crowd, shove, push and elbow their way to the BART escalators, rush down the moving escalators bumping more centered and relaxed people, and then cue-up for the East Bay - bound BART trains completely blocking the aisle for everyone else.

It gives me great pleasure to know that we make more than $4 million a year from those East Bay commuters and the additional ten cameras the City plans to install will probably increase our take to something in the neighborhood of $6 million a year.

But ... what about those damn BART commuters? What can be done to slow them down from being in such a hurry to get back over to their East Bay homes at the end of the day?

It's a job for the Bay Bombers! Remember the roller derby champs, the Bay Bombers? They wore padded-everything and skated around oval tracks slamming, shoving, crashing and tripping their opponents into oblivion. Maybe we can bring back the Bay Bombers to roll through the BART stations knocking all the cued-up East Bayers flat on their bottoms.

Hmmmm. Great idea.

This is in memory of California Highway Patrol Officer Earl Scott who was gunned down on State Route 99 near this morning a little before 5 AM. Below is a part of the oath and Code of Honor sworn to by Scott and all his fellow CHP officers:

"I, a member of the California Highway Patrol, subscribe in word and deed to the following ... Assist those in peril or distress, and, if necessary, lay down my life rather than swerve from the path of duty"

Officer Earl Scott, age 36, gave absolutely everything he had to the people of the State of California.

Thank you, Officer Scott.

The California Highway Patrol is the international symbol of law enforcement excellence not because they chose to be, but because of the quality of service given by their members to the people of the State of California.

I respect the San Francisco Police Department. My family first came to San Francisco in 1849 during the Gold Rush. Since that time some of my relatives have been police officers and a number of officers were close personal friends of my family.

That was back in the days when police officers lived in San Francisco and had roots in the City. Today many of our police officers live outside San Francisco and do not have any real connection with San Francisco other than employment. They are commuters who come here to work and call someplace else their home community. Many of these commuter police officers are unfriendly, very poor at dealing with tourists, seldom smile, and whenever they walk in public in uniform, they tend to strut themselves like constipated roosters.

There are a few officers who are still gentlemen and are still friendly and are still very San Franciscan, but they are a diminishing minority. As they retire they are often replaced by young men who come here from other cities and states. These transplant officers bring with them the small-minded, closed, distant and sometimes arrogant behavior that was commonplace in the places from which they came.

Mayor Newsom wants to end the growing "secret community" that exists in today's SFPD and the mayor wants to un-pin badges from the angry violence-prone officers we unfortunately hear so much about ... the renegades.

Today the Chronicle covered a very disturbing story. It was also covered in the San Jose Mercury News and all the way down in San Diego through their Union-Tribune newspaper. There is little doubt that it will shortly appear in dozens of newspapers across the country, on television news and on a great many blogs.

SFPD Sergeant John Bragagnolo and Officer Scott Biggs wanted to search the home of a parolee. Parolees typically have search and seizure clauses written into their parole agreements. This enables police to search their person or home at any time without the need of establishing just cause. In this instance, however, the parolee lived in a single room in a home owned by a citizen who is not on parole and who has all his civil rights intact.

The homeowner refused to permit Bragagnolo and Biggs to search any of the other rooms in his house. Bragagnolo and Biggs ignored the homeowner and searched the homeowner's daughter's room and other rooms as well. As they conducted their illegal search, the homeowner repeatedly told them to stop and told the officers they did not have his permission to search. Bragagnoloa and Biggs ignored the homeowner and searched anyway.

Later, at the station, they forged a consent form and told superiors it was signed by the homeowner. They told the Office of Citizen Complaints that they both witnessed the homeowner sign the release form.

After SFPD forensic experts determined that the signature on the consent form was not only forged, but the homeowner's name was even mis-spelled. As a result of this evidence, both Bragagnolo and Biggs have been charged.

These two police officers are renegades. They are lawless criminals. The only uniform they should be wearing is an orange jail jumpsuit. John Braganolo and Scott Biggs are the kind of scumbags that give an honorable and excellent police department a very bad name. They have violated their oath. They have trampled on Constitutionally guaranteed civil rights. They have tarnished their badges and they have disgraced their uniforms.

The San Francisco Police Commission is now on the hot seat. What are they going to do with these two felons in uniforms? Will they fire them as they should and refer the case to the District Attorney for prosecution, or will they passively look the other way?

What action, short of termination, could possibly be just for two men who lied to the police department brass, lied to the Office of Citizen Complaints, committed forgery, conducted an illegal search, violated a citizen's civil rights and humiliated the City and County of San Francisco? Terminating their employment seems too light for those thugs-in-uniform.

They need to be fired and tried in court.

San Francisco Police Officers do a job nobody else would want to do. On a daily basis they deal with anti-social career criminals and, on balance, they do an outstanding job of protecting us all. The command structure of the SFPD is capable and qualified. The Chief, Heather Fong, is working to restore the SFPD to what it once was ... a respected, local, friendly, capable, talented, honest, responsible and effective law enforcement agency with broad public support. The people of San Francisco deserve and demand absolutely nothing less.

John Bragagnolo and Scott Biggs just don't measure up to our standards. We need them off the City payroll ... NOW!

Time will tell.

The City Council of Highland, California unanimously passed a resolution which states, in part, "the City of Highland will not spend public money going to the City of San Francisco. We will not spend one dime of public money."

Highland is a town of about 50,000 in San Bernardino County, which is on the other side of and well beyond Los Angeles.

How much money could we possibly lose by this Southern California desert town boycotting us? The real losers will be Highland's municipal department heads who will be unable to attend any of the many seminars and workshops for local government officials that are hosted in San Francisco. If they want to attend, they will have to pay for it themselves. It seems to me that the Highland City Council is slicing off their noses to spite their faces.

Highland City Council member Larry McCallon said, ""We realize that in the rest of the country, California is known as the land of kooks and nuts because of what happens in San Francisco. We wanted to let the rest of the country know that California, and specifically Highland, supports our military, that San Francisco does not speak for California."

My gut-level reaction is one of sympathy for the poor people of Highland. For some reason of local intrigue, the people of Highland have been duped into electing some of the local loud-mouth buffoons onto their city council.

Larry McCallon is a member of Immanuel Baptist Church, retired owner of "McCleaners" and is past president of the local chamber of commerce. I imagine that McCallon is also an experienced hunter, just like Vice President Cheney. Cheney shot his lawyer and the Highland City Council are shooting their department heads.

The poor people of Highland. Look at what kind of city council they have.

I think of our own Board of Supervisors in comparison and I am very impressed with the intelligence and dedication of our Board members. I think of our mayor, Gavin Newsom, who is a fourth-generation San Franciscan and one of the most remarkable and impressive public figures in America. San Francisco is lucky to have Gavin as a native son.

I think of the amazing city staff we have ... Dennis Herrera, our City Attorney, who stood up and continues to stand solidly behind the marriage equality movement and our civil rights. I think of Heather Fong and Joanne Hayes-White, two remarkable women who head the San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco Fire Department.

In my mind's eye I see Mark Leno, a former member of our Board of Supervisors who is now one of our State Assembly members and is the champion and hero of the marriage equality and queer civil rights movement in California. I also think of Dr. Leland Yee, also a former San Francisco Board of Supervisors member, who is now Speaker Pro Tempore of the California State Assembly.

My mind takes me back on a journey and I remember Harvey Milk very distinctly. I remember that is was San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Diane Feinstein who discovered the bodies of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, a man who was a future-thinking and deeply compassionate man.

Then I think again about the people of Highland. They sure got the short end of the stick.

I believe the City of San Francisco should invite the principal department heads of the City of Highland to come to San Francisco and spend a few days meeting our department heads. Imagine how it might benefit their city attorney to spend some time with Dennis Herrera, or their police chief riding along with Chief Heather Fong, and their fire chief to learn from the remarkable San Francisco Fire Department and Chief Joanne Hayes-White.

San Francisco has always been a welcome haven for people of every and any description who need a place to be free. If we can impart our fierce love of freedom to Highland's department heads, maybe they can take that precious lesson back with them and work toward getting a better and more qualified city council in office.

Mayor Newsom offered this comment: "I always distinguish the leadership from the people. I imagine the people of Highland are good people, even though they have some errant leaders right now on this issue."

I could have guessed that Gavin Newsom would have reacted that way. There is something instinctive and very deep in the hearts of true San Franciscans that causes us not only to love this magnificent City with a full heart, but which also causes us to welcome everybody with open arms. In San Francisco we accept everyone and we reject nobody.

In the eyes of the oppressors we are "kooks and nuts", but in the eyes of love, we are the stuff of which home is made. Perhaps this is the finest example of just how far ahead San Francisco is from the rest of the world.

No city on earth has ever come closer to being a real Shangri-La than the City and County of San Francisco!

Happy Valentines Day to my City! I love you!

Stewart Gaffney and John Lewis are shown in the photo standing in San Francisco City Hall after they were issued marriage licenses and were married by San Francisco officials in City Hall!

The Rutland Herald, published in Rutland, Vermont printed an interestinmg story in this morning's paper. It is comforting for me to note that marriage equality, which is the developing great civil rights movement of the first half of the twenty-first century, is growing in strength in just about every community in the nation.

Freedom to Marry Day, Feb. 12, is a day to share personal stories, and ask others to push past discomfort and embrace fairness and marriage equality. Freedom to Marry Week, which stretches from February 12-18, helps even more Americans get to know the real faces behind this civil rights movement.

Two years ago, on Feb. 12, 2004, the nation watched as hundreds of couples lined up in San Francisco to legally wed in California for the first time thanks to the courage and conviction of Mayor Gavin Newsom.

This year, in hundreds of American cities, citizens will be hosting statehouse rallies, wedding ceremonies, book parties, family picnics and discussion groups to learn and inform about the freedom to marry.

Ministers and rabbis from Texas to Vermont and from Washington state to the Sunshine State have given sermons in support of equal marriage rights, helping their congregations to understand the scriptural underpinnings of embracing their neighbors with love and compassion as well as the importance of equal civil marriage rights for all families.

This is a week to engage the people around us in this conversation about fairness. Those of us who are queer and our straight friends, families and allies — cannot assume that just because a person loves us and is generally a good person that they understand how the denial of marriage harms us. We have to challenge each other and ourselves to make a more substantive, moral case for what we stand for.

It is not enough for gay people and our allies to say we are for marriage equality, and then wait for the courts or legislators to do the heavy lifting. Rather, it is our job to take every opportunity to address people's concerns and discomfort, answer questions, and give them the time and information they need.

When non-gay people talk about marriage, they mean love, clarity, security, respect, family, intimacy dedication, self-sacrifice and equality ‚— qualities that describe the relationships and lives of gay and lesbian couples just as well.

Trying to avoid supporting marriage equality by suggesting other, lesser solutions such as civil unions only complicates the issue by inviting questions about how such arrangements would be defined, what form they would take, how they would differ from marriage and what role states or the federal government would have.

Why do we need unequal protections for some couples and kids? With marriage, on the other hand, rights and obligations are already clearly established in all 50 states as well as with the federal government. Marriage is the system we have.

All families should share equally in the rights, protections and responsibilities currently afforded only to some. Gay families also deserve health care, retirement protections, the ability to use scarcely needed funds to afford education or a home and the ability to give kids the security to openly and proudly describe their families. This would make our nation stronger.

When our friends and families are given the truth about the injustice and unfairness of marriage discrimination, they are able to see past the false distractions and put a human face to the issue.

With justice and equality within reach, Freedom to Marry Week is an opportunity to engage our neighbors and fellow citizens in the personal and informational conversations they deserve ‚— and trust that from this commitment to engagement will come understanding about why marriage matters to our families.

President Abraham Lincoln stood up for freedom, equality and fairness for all, even when it was at its most unpopular. Freedom to Marry Week also offers a unique opportunity to stand up for freedom, equality and fairness. Perhaps it has never been more appropriate that outside San Francisco City Hall is a bronze statute of Abraham Lincoln.

To learn more about the marriage equality movement in San Francisco and how you can get involved - and YES ... it is your responsibility to get involved as a volunteer and as a donor - contact Equality California San Francisco chapter leaders Stewart Gafney and John Lewis by sending an email to: or call or send a fax to . You can also send mail to or drop in at 2370 Market Street

The San Francisco chapter of Equality California is not only one of the largest in the nation, but the people who make up the chapter membership are clearly the most fascinating and fun group of people imaginable. The chapter has continuous events and opportunities available. You can read about what's coming up in the next few days and weeks here.

Have you read this short article in this morning's Mercury News? San Francisco police are investigating a carjacking in which a driver was shot in the hand early this morning. Police said the driver was stopped in traffic at Gough and Turk streets around 1 a.m. when the suspects got out of the car in front of him. They approached the car and as they stole it, shot the driver in the hand. The driver's condition was not immediately known. SFPD has not released a description of the stolen car or of the suspects.

Let'’s face it, in our highly mobile lifestyle, emergency and crisis situations do happen while we are driving, and unfortunately many of us just do not have the essential training to make the correct split-second decisions that can make the difference between life and death for ourselves and our family. You may never be the victim of a criminal carjacking, or someone trying to run you off of the road. You may never be the target of a staged roadblock, with subsequent ambush, or become sandwiched from the front and rear by terrorist aggressors with deadly intent.

It is certain that you will have to deal with unexpected emergencies requiring highly precise maneuvering of your vehicle. Such as swerving to avoid obstacles, children or pets; emergency braking; avoiding stray oncoming cars; and dealing with road hazards that arise from poor visibility. The truth is, most Americans are just not equipped fully enough to deal with the crisis situations that eventually happen to each and every one of us on the road.

Front Sight may be your answer. Front Sight is based in Aptos and offers professional-level courses in Defensive Driving as well as family security, firearms training, professional executive protection and even rescue rope, rappel and climbing instructionn. The company also trains body guards and security for celebrities. Front Sight's web site offers this description of their professionall defensive driving course:

No matter what your interest, or skill level, Front Sight Resort has defensive driving courses that are just right for you, allowing you to progress at your own pace to higher levels of precision driving. You will learn to deal with any vehicle-handling obstacle or challenge encountered, in a learning environment that's fun and fast paced. Our courses will teach you how to handle emergency braking, avoiding obstacles while braking, and skids without spins or losing control of your vehicle. You will learn steering techniques to compensate for over- and under-steering when cornering at high speeds or swerving to avoid obstacles. You will learn accident avoidance maneuvers, and how to competently drive in low-visibility environments, such as night driving.

You will learn evasive maneuvers and counter-measures for carjacking, vehicle pursuits, ramming, roadblocks and ambushes, including both forward and reverse 180-degree turns. You will learn when, and how, to initiate aggressive and pro-active offensive driving techniques, that effectively remove you from the danger of a pursuing aggressor, or safely remove the threatening aggressor. Correct risk analysis, and the forward-thinking avoidance of potential deadly threats is a fundamental part of our training activities.

The company operates an "instructional resort" in Las Vegas where they conduct the training. In this age of terrorism, increased violent crime and carjackings on busy San Francisco streets, it may not be such a bad idea to blend an important learning experience with a short vacation in Las Vegas. For more information call Front Sight at .

San Francisco Chief of Police Heather Fong and her command staff set the Board of Supervisors straight on some urgent issues.

A special investigative committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors listened to San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) station commanders (who all have the rank of captain) tell them that in order to create the kind of community-policing policy the Supes want, it will require a significant increase in the SFPD budget. Many more officers would need to be hired to provide the walking beat-patrol the Supes want.

The primary crime "hot spots" in San Francisco are The Bayview - Hunters Point and the Western Addition. The Mission is third in line. Nobody seems to want to speak the politically-incorrect unspeakable truth that the population of both the Bayview - Hunters Point and the Western Addition are primarily black.

The most dangerous and crime-ridden neighborhoods of San Francisco are primarily black neighborhoods. We seem to skate around this fact in fear of being branded politically incorrect or worse, as a racist.

Black San Franciscans are not the primary offenders because of the fact they are black.

There are many too many young blacks who have chosen to join street gangs and sell crack cocaine and methamphetamine, and engage in thefts and robbery and, yes, murder too. It is no coincidence that murders committed by blacks against blacks are the City's most common type of homicide.

We need to ask ourselves this question: Why are so many young black males becoming lawless and morally-deficient career criminals? What happens to them between the time they are cute little children and the time they become the dangerous felons we read about in crime statistics?

Many Bayview - Hunters Point and Western Addition children sense they are disliked by many San Franciscans. Often they are disliked by San Franciscans because of where they live and sometimes because of the way their parents behave. Sometimes they are disliked simply because they are black.

Racism exists in San Francisco and it always has. To deny this fact is to defend racism. This is the initial injustice that starts the process of criminality in motion. In order to solve this growing civic emergency we need to be absolutely certain that we provide black San Franciscan children with the same margin of respect and concern and opportunities we provide children who live in other less-dangerous and more affluent neighborhoods of the City.

We need to provide black children with the same educational benefits and recreational opportunities the children of Pacific Heights enjoy. If we show all the children of our City that we love them, are interested in them, and are willing to provide cutting-edge opportunities for them, we will begin to see a gradual and steady decline of young adult criminal activity.

For the immediate future we need dramatically increased police power in those neighborhoods. We need walking patrols, we need more driving patrols, and we need more SFPD outreach programs ... and all that means the SFPD needs a much larger budget. The Board of Supervisors should not demand more of the SFPD without paying for the tools they need to get the job done.

The SFPD does a phenomenal job with the limited assets they have at their command. The SFPD is not to blame for the crime in the Western Addition or the Bayview - Hunters Point. The blame can be found in the decisions made by the Board of Supervisors, the School Board and also the City's philanthropists who seem to direct money into other not-so-black neighborhoods and programs.

And don't forget ... The entire command structure of the SFPD is located at the Thomas Cahill Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant Street. The building is not structurally sound in the event of a major earthquake. It is sub-standard. What would happen to our city if an earthquake leveled that building and killed the majority of the SFPD command staff? What would we do then? Would we face a repeat of the lawlessness and police defections that New Orleans experienced?

It is easy to blame the police for everything criminal that occurs in the City. The real blame needs to be placed directly into the laps of those members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who refuse to give the SFPD the money they need to do the job they are asked to do. San Francisco had 96 murders in 2005. Most of those murders were committed by blacks and largely in either the Bayview - Hunters Point or the Western Addition. Few of those murders have been solved. The murderers freely live among us.

The difficulty in solving these crimes is the powerful "code of silence" in the black community. People in black communities face extraordinary peer pressure "not to squeel". People are frankly afraid to tell what they know. They live in fear. Providing the SFPD with the money they need to increase walking and driving patrols is only half of the solution.

The other half is weighing down on the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor and the School Board. We need to provide alternatives to young people. We need to make living and life more attractive to them than the suicidal course of joining a street gang and selling narcotics.

The SFPD is trying very hard to reach out to the Bayview - Hunters Point community and the Western addition community. There are also significant outreach efforts going on in the Mission through the work of SFPD Mission Station. These efforts also need money - lots of money.

Right now San Francisco's legislators are continuing to make a mess and continuing to expect the SFPD to clean up their mess without the funds, tools, programs or staff they require. Unless it becomes our highest civic priority to fund these programs and generously fund the SFPD, San Francisco will continue to decline into the kind of lawless community in which Oakland and Richmond citizens now find themselves.

If that day comes, don't blame the SFPD. Blame the Board of Supervisors who refused to put money into the black neighborhoods and who refused to adequately fund and support the SFPD.

Global warming is no longer a probability. It is a fact. Climate change is a fact. What is beginning to astonish observers is not the fact of global warming, but the rapid rate at which it is occurring.

The climate is changing. For some Californians climate change will be a disaster of the greatest magnitude. For others it will present unprecedented challenges and opportunities. For all of us the California landscape will take a dramatic change in direction.

The State of California has recognized the inevitable fact of global warming and has created an entire web portal dedicated to climate change. The site is very well designed and offers direct links to a number of other recently-created programs and agencies intended to deal with California's developing climate change. For those of us wondering what impact climate change will have on San Francisco Bay, this web site is a very good place to start.

Anyone may post a comment to this blog. Comments may be of any length and it is perfectly fine to disagree with me. Many people disagree with many things I say. It is a hazard of being outspoken.

The Falun Gong is reading my blog and they are very upset. They left a comment in this blog and asked me some questions. You can read their statement in its entirety by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of my article Falun Gong and the 12 Galaxies, which you will find by scrolling down the page.

As might be expected, the Falun Gong disagree with me fiercely and they want me to learn their version of the truth. So, with the Falun Gong reading my blog, I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to them. Everybody else can read along as well, but this is really intended for San Francisco's Falun Gong:

Here is the first question I was asked by the anonymous writer:

"What is your definition of political? Do you mean if a group like the Jews in the mid-1930's was to call for an end to the persecution from the Nazi's and stage demonstrations here in the U.S., it would be labeled as political and be considered against the German government? If they were to participate in a festive parade, and some of their group members decided to hand out some leaflets to spectators to try to raise awareness about the situation in Germany, would you say this is a terrible thing?"

That was actually three questions and I'll answer them one at a time.

1) As it pertains to San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade entries, my definition of what a political entry might be is this: Any entry that has a clearly stated political objective or agenda to pursue which, by so doing, would diminish the universal and diverse celebratory nature of the parade.

2) To compare the Falun Gong in San Francisco to the persecuted Jews who lived through the Nazi period in Germany is an absurd, ridiculous and baseless comparison. There are so many elements of logic and reasoning missing in the statement that I simply cannot devote enough time and space in this blog to address the plethora of logical fallacies that abound in this one question.

The Falun Gong complain that they have been rejected for Chinese New Year Parade participation because of the intense influence the Consulate of the People's Republic of China exercises within the San Francisco city government and within the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. The accusation is absurd. Therefore any analogy to try and explain and justify their position will also necessarily need to be absurd. I don't intend to wade into absurdity. Sorry.

3) Is this your third question? Are you asking me what my response would be if members of the San Francisco Jewish community were to march in the Chinese New Year Parade and hand out leaflets that proclaim that Palestine, for example, is secretly controlling the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the mayor as well as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce? Is that your question?

Well, I know a lot of people in the San Francisco Jewish community, but I have to yet to meet anybody quite that insane.

Perhaps I can reduce this whole issue to the most simple and basic level. For the rest of you, I apologize in advance for the all-caps blunt in-your-face statement that follows. For those of you who are Falun Gong, please carefully read this statement. Read it several times.

SAN FRANCISCO IS NOT UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. WE DO NOT NEED YOU TO SAVE US FROM THE CHINESE CONSULATE. WE ARE JUST FINE, BUT THANK YOU FOR ASKING.

WE DON'T WANT YOU IN THE PARADE BECAUSE YOU INSIST ON PASSING-OUT LEAFLETS TO PROMOTE YOUR CONCEPTS, ONE OF WHICH IS THAT BEIJING IS CONTROLLING OUR MAYOR AND BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND THE CHINESE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. THAT IS UNTRUE. YOU HAVE BEEN MISLEAD.

PLEASE DO YOUR LEAFLET DISTRIBUTION AND EVANGELIZING SOMEPLACE ELSE.

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE IS A LUNAR CELEBRATION ... NOT A POLITICAL MARCH.

TRY U.C. BERKELEY. THEY LIKE THAT KIND OF STUFF.