Sam Spade's San Francisco

You absolutely must take 40-seconds from your life and watch this fascinating video. You will see an entire year fly by in 40-seconds. Eirick Solheim created this video and you can see how he did it on his website, eirikso.com

This video is presented in wide-screen format so you can enjoy the fullness of this production. As result it may encroach on the right-side column of this blog.

Almost seven thousand of San Francisco's poorest families will be getting free broadband and wireless Internet. An initiative between the city's Department of Technology and the San Francisco Housing Authority will provide access for low-income families, seniors and the disabled living public housing.

According to their website, the HOPE SF initiative seeks to transform eight of San Francisco’s most distressed public housing sites into vibrant, thriving communities. That's a very big task, but HOPE SF says it will accomplish this by following a principled approach to development.


HOPE SF "hopes" to accomplish these stated objectives:

• Transform 2,500 severely deteriorated public housing sites into sustainable, mixed-income communities with neighborhood retail, community centers, parks, and playgrounds.
• Replace every public housing unit and add new homes to the eight project sites. The final mix of housing will include public housing, market-rate, and affordable rental and ownership housing.
• Respect the existing community. Rebuilding each site will occur in phases to minimize disruption to existing residents. Where possible, the project will accommodate on-site relocation.
• Plan collaboratively with residents and neighbors. An inclusive, community-led process will ensure that new sites meet the needs of current residents. Four sites are currently in planning stages.
• Catalyze neighborhood improvements so residents at all income levels can take advantage of new economic opportunities, improved schools, and community amenities.
• Provide Service Connectors to focus on the needs of individual households, linking them with appropriate services and tracking their progress.
• Reintroduce each site into the existing neighborhood fabric, ending decades of isolation from the surrounding community.
• Build green and ensure that every new unit has a superior urban design.
• Create a new financial model for public housing revitalization. Market-rate home sales will help subsidize the cost of public housing reconstruction.
• Implement best practices and avoid past mistakes by consulting continuously with nationwide experts and residents.
• Learn and improve implementation by engaging in rigorous self-evaluation during the process to achieve success.


The eight HOPE SF Sites. The (first five sites are HOPE SF target sites):
Hunters View
Potrero Terrace and Potrero Annex
Sunnydale
Westside Courts
Alice Griffith
Hunters Point
Westbrook/Hunters Point East

Good luck to HOPE SF. They have a massive task ahead. They are going to need all the luck and hope available to them in addition to lots and lots of money. More information is available from the

From the White House blog:
posted by Jesse Lee

At the signing of the bill to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell" last week, the sense of history and enthusiasm was palpable throughout the audience.  While we were there we had a chance to talk to Captain Jonathan Hopkins, who was discharged under the policy, as well as Rep. Patrick Murphy who led the charge in the House of Representatives, and Melody Barnes who played an integral role here at the White House.  The video gives a glimpse of what it was like to be there.

This video is presented in wide-screen format so you can enjoy the fullness of this production. As result it may encroach on the right-side column of this blog.

 The Navy just announced who will build America's 21st Century fleet. The Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. and Austal USA each a fixed-price incentive contract for the design and construction of a 10 ship block-buy, for a total of 20 littoral combat ships from fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2015.

December 29, 1890 : U.S. Army massacres Indians at Wounded Knee 

On this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America's long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. 

Throughout 1890, the U.S. government worried about the increasing influence at Pine Ridge of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. Many Sioux believed that if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians. On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, who they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer, and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge. 

On December 29, the U.S. Army's 7th cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under the Sioux Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired, although it's unclear from which side. A brutal massacre followed, in which it's estimated almost 150 Indians were killed (some historians put this number at twice as high), nearly half of them women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men. 

The conflict at Wounded Knee was originally referred to as a battle, but in reality it was a tragic and avoidable massacre. Surrounded by heavily armed troops, it's unlikely that Big Foot's band would have intentionally started a fight. Some historians speculate that the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were deliberately taking revenge for the regiment's defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876. Whatever the motives, the massacre ended the Ghost Dance movement and was the last major confrontation in America's deadly war against the Plains Indians. 

Conflict came to Wounded Knee again in February 1973 when it was the site of a 71-day occupation by the activist group AIM (American Indian Movement) and its supporters, who were protesting the U.S. government's mistreatment of Native Americans. During the standoff, two Indians were killed, one federal marshal was seriously wounded and numerous people were arrested. 

Also read about the American Indian occupation (repatriation) of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. You may also be interested in the PBS special, Alcatraz is Not an Island.

Historical material provided by This Day in History, a service of History.com

Every year around the holidays, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts selects and celebrates individuals who have, through their lifetime achievement in the arts, contributed to enriching and enhancing culture in America.   On December 5th, 2010, the Kennedy Center Honors 33rd Annual National Celebration of the Arts was held and videotaped for a recent television broadcast. Before the gala event at the Kennedy Center, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a reception for this year's recipients in the East Room of the White House.

Watch this video which features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the honorees at the White House - Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Merle Haggard, Bill T. Jones, and Jerry Herman.

Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer David Slobojan was recognized as the Coast Guard’s 29th Master Cutterman aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Kukui Dec. 3, 2010.

About the photo: Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer David Slobojan, left, displays his citation with Lt. Cmdr. Bob Little, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Kukui, as the Coast Guard’s 29th Master Cutterman.
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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, along with daughters Sasha and Malia, sing during services at St. Michael's Chapel at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii, Dec. 26, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet service men and women, along with their families, during Christmas dinner in the mess at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii, Dec. 25, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

E-waste is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their "useful life." Computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are common electronic products. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled. Unfortunately, electronic discards is one of the fastest growing segments of our nation's waste stream.

Consumers of electronic products have a responsibility to buy smart, use right, and manage well. Computer monitors, televisions and other electronic equipment should NOT be disposed of with regular garbage. Working TVs, monitors, computers and other consumer electronics can be sold or donated thereby prolonging their useful life. Nonfunctioning TVs, computer monitors and other obsolete electronic products should be repaired or recycled by an organization equipped to handle them. 

Find an ERecycle Center near you with this Recycler Finder

Also see sfenvironment.org (SF Dept of Environment) for much more information.

More statewide recycling information is available from CalRecycle

 Here is the Christmas tree pickup schedule for San Francisco:

I was reading an article on the Economic Times website. Economic Times is an Indian publication with a global reputation and standing. 

That's when I spotted it.

The headline was: Indian-American Kamala Harris "female Obama" in making

The Article quickly went on to compare Kamala Harris to President Obama and offered quotes from both Politico.com and Chris Lehane that were both well made points.

This is the first time I've seen Kamala compared to the President and it is the first time a world-respected publication has seen Kamala as being on a track to the White House.

I so very much hope they are right.

President Barack Obama shares a toast in the Oval Office with the members of his National Security Staff who worked on the New START nuclear arms control agreement, Dec. 22, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)