The San Francisco Citizen

Check the sked - can you see Sean Penn’s face filling up the entire calendar? It’s ALL MILK, ALL THE TIME starting this very moment at the Castro Theatre. Harvey Milk’s story is the talk of the nation today.

The film is highly thought of, with a very high 92% positive score on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatomater.

If you go, you can see all your friends as extras. And the theater itself was practically a co-star:

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So get your Milk on as soon as you can. Obtain your tickets online, why don’t you?

Showtimes Nov 26-Dec 9
(10am), 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm

via mrido’s Photostream

See you there!

Well, it’s finally official. With 158,272 votes, Tom Ammiano has won the right to represent the 13th District at the State Assembly in Sacramento. Do you live in it? Probably, check the map.  

This is how he started his campaign on Market Street and this is how he ended, at a thank you party with more than 100 supporters:

See how it went down here, via a report from able Joe Eskenazi. (Has Mr. Ammiano been on the scene for just “eight years,” really?) 

Read a quick look back and a quick look forward right here.

Congratulations, Tom!

Would Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. be an appropriate choice for heading up the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration? Some think not. Why’s that?

Well, for starters, he’s the most famous Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) representative on the planet. We can’t have a wind farm close to the Kennedy Compound? Apparently. What’s so wrong with the idea of windmills at Yosemite or Cape Cod?

What’s the deal with turbines? Why does he hate them so? This issue would be an albatross around his neck from the get go.

Artists conception of the NIMBY Quimby as head of the EPA:

The other big deal is the whole thimersol /mercury / vaccine thing. Like maybe we should have a scientist instead of a lawyer at the top of EPA?

via Erik R Bishoff’s photostream

Science damn you, RFK, Jr.!

But hey, if Hillary Clinton vacates her Senate seat to work for Obama, then RFKJ would have a shot at a job where he could do less damage to the cause of Science.

There we go.

Things were a little hateful around the area of 606 Sanchez Street in San Francisco a few days back when people could see a large, fuchsia “F*CK MORMONS” banner from all around. While some caution against starting a holy war, others aren’t as circumspect.

The whole affair is still the talk of the town.

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via Daniel R (MisterDarcy)’s photostream

But lo, the offending message got taken down lickedy-split post-haste, even on a quasi holiday. Here’s the same scene from this afternoon: 

See? The houseboat house is now message-free. Credit for getting the sign down might go to Michael Thomas, a blogfather who seems to have a lot of pull in the area.

[UPDATE: Joe Vazquez burns the shoe leather and basically confirms the above here, but he also garners a flurry of quotes from the engineer in question.]

On to new bidness, the next big rally. They’re calling it the Million Gay March, or something. It should be under sunny skies, regardless.

No on Prop 8 Rally
When: November 15, 2008 - Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
Where: City Hall, San Francisco
What: Protest against Prop 8

This march looked like it was going to be huge before it even began at 5:30 PM tonight, what with eight choppers above the staging area.

As was seen with the recent candlelight vigil, there’s a lot of energy left in San Francisco to fight 2008’s Proposition 8.

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Local pols Bevan Dufty, Jose Cisneros and Carole Migden were last seen heading towards the march. This one had the look of having tens of thousands of participants, when all is said and done.

To be continued…

UPDATE: CHeck out the Comments section for the test of some of the signs, courtesy of petshop grrl:

“- IT’S ABOUT C-I-V-I-L MARRIAGE, STUPID
- WANT ACCESS TO 100% MARRIAGE NOT 90% CIVIL UNION
- STOP READING THE BIBLE W-R-O-N-G
(STOP READING THE BIBLE G-N-O-R-W)
- THE COURTS ARE THERE TO PROTECT MINORITIES
- EVERYONE STRUGGLES FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
- SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
- WE ARE NOT GOING AWAY, CALIFORNIA
- RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY HAS NO PLACE IN CIVIL LAW
- MY MOMMY IS “CIVIL-UNIONED”… GREAAAT
- “I’M MARRIED” “I’M CIVIL-UNIONED”:
IT SURE FEEELS DIFFERENT, DOESN’T IT?
- MARRIAGE ALWAYS WAS A CIVIL CONTRACT — NOT RELIGIOUS
- STILL WANT MY TAX-EXEMPT STATUS, PLEASE
- STILL WANT MY “WEDDING” PRESENTS — NOT CIVIL UNION PURCHASES
- SEPARATE CAN NEVER BE EQUAL
- SECOND-CLASS CIVIL UNIONS — NOT!
- I CAN’T TALK ABOUT MY TWO MOMMYS IN KINDERGARTEN CLASS
- SHARE, SHARE MARRIAGE
- 48 TO 52%
A BEAR MAJORITY IS BALANCE?”

This was the scene yesterday on Grove Street as early voters made their way to City Hall.

The woman on the right turned away from the discussion as if it were a driving rain. The woman on the left remained adamant about supporting Prop K.  

But leave it to ABC “News” to bring it all home for us:

“Prop. K Could Thrust Prostitutes Into Pop Culture. TV, Film’s Affair With Prostitutes Could Intensify if San Francisco Bill Passes. Pretty soon, a “pretty woman” may be able to work the streets of San Francisco legally.”

O.K. then.

UPDATE: Per commenter Palmer: “The woman on the left is Mary Ellen “Maxine” Doogan.  She wrote Prop K.  She was convicted of running an escort agency in Seattle.  She now runs something called the Erotic Service Provider’s Union which doesn’t seem to actually do anything.  She writes on a Blog called “Bound Not Gagged” and makes the argument there that pimps should be considered “sex workers” because they are really just “support staff.”  She had a restraining order put on her in Berkeley after harrassing ex prostitutes who were putting on a play in the one of the theatres.  She is beyond adamant.”

District 11 Supervisorial candidate John Avalos has an army of enthusiastic supporters that, literally, money can’t buy.

Of course you can pay people to help you out, but pound for pound, the best assistance you can get comes from committed volunteers.

A scene from Mission Street: 

John preparing for another ride in D11 with supporters.   

In these days of Instant Runoff Voting, it can be hard to hazard a guess as to who might win this election tomorrow but, after travelling up and down a short stretch of Mission in the Excelsior District, it’s apparent that Avalos is handily winning the battle of the campaigns.

This was the scene at 939 Market the other day when well-wishers sent so many celebratory balloons to Obama Biden HQ that there was trouble getting them all inside.

Such are the troubles of a front runner.  

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Will you take today or tomorrow off from work to volunteer, as Barack asked you to?

Obama ‘08 Headquarters at 939 Market Street near Fifth receives yet another delivery of oversized balloons from well-wishers.

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They barely fit through the front door

Finally made it down to David Campos for District 9 Supervisor Headquarters at 24th and Mission. It’s an impressive campaign for more than a few reasons. 

He’s been performing well at debates and, consequently, he has a slew of varied endorsements, including the San Francisco Democratic Party, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the district’s popular supervisor, Tom Ammiano. The crime issue seems to be more of an issue in the Mission recently (to say the least), so voters might particularly value having someone with police commission experience. And also, he’s getting out there and spending lots of time meeting residents in the Mission, Bernal Heights and Portola.

What more can you ask for?

A somber evening at the well-attended anti-violence march on 24th Street last month:

A daunting list of supporters:

And David himself, in the background, on the phone talking to voters to the approval of Spider, the Campos for Supervisor Wonder Dog:

If you add in the fact that he’s raised the most money and he has a lot left to spend, you might conclude he has an impressive campaign.

Just saying.