The San Francisco Citizen

Guess what. Smokey the Bear is back, baby. And he’s all bear. Smokey recently came to San Francisco’s City Hall to show off his new look.

Kind of a gender bending ad campaign, you might think. Check the video if you want. CGI S.B. is now voiced by Sam Elliot, sort of.

What would you make of this scene?

Feel free to check things out. The Bear is Back, after all.

The problem with this new Poochie-esque makeover of shirtless Smokey is that, at least in San Francisco, this is a bear:

via markjhandel’s flickrstream

But if the new half Fonzerelli/half Smoking Joe Camel Smokey doesn’t do it for you, there’s always the national Real Time Wildfire Map to look at. It’s kind of cool.

And your kids might like this. Stay safe this summer!

Here’s the deal, all those same sex marriages at San Francisco’s City Hall are scheduled to get started on a Monday evening ten days from now - June 16th. Normally, the largest old-school dome in the Western Hemisphere wouldn’t be open that late, but these are extraordinary times.

So, opposite sex couples have only a limited window of opportunity to get a license and get married at City Hall before June 16. Before, couples were avoiding ceremonies on June 13th (as it’s on a Friday), but no longer. Everybody will be accomodated eventually, of course, but you need to plan ahead for best results. Things will get a little hectic starting June 16, 2008.

First, go here to get a reservation to get a wedding license. Then go here to check out what times for ceremonies they have for you. Keep checking as cancellations come up. Things are in flux, so stay informed.

When things get back to normal after the big summer rush, you’ll be offered a space for your ceremony in the small chapel downstairs or up here, at the top of the steps under the rotunda. But expect to see ceremonies all over the building very soon.

Congratulations! 

Cindy Sheehan and one of her intrepid supporters at the main entrance of City Hall during today’s primary election:  

(She had at least two other boosters in the area talking with potential voters at this very moment.)

Cindy has been running against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the past eleven months, to the consternation of some. Back in the day, one wag called pushing for impeachment of George W. Bush the “Dumbest Move the Dems Could Make.” Shirley Golub and Cindy Sheehan obviously disagree with that.

But Nancy seems to be weathering this storm well:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her 10th term, easily beat back local Democratic activist Shirley Golub in San Francisco’s 8th Congressional District. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Pelosi had 89 percent of the vote and Golub had 11 percent. Peace activist Cindy Sheehan is making plans to challenge Pelosi as an independent in November but was not on Tuesday’s primary ballot.  

The Senior Action Network reminds us:

According to the City Traffic Code Article 5, Sec. 96, it shall be unlawful to ride a bicycle upon any sidewalk area, except juveniles under the age of 13 and not in front of schools, stores, or buildings used for business purposes.

To get the word out, they’re back with their sidewalk stencils. Take the bike survey, if you dare.

McAllister and Van Ness, San Francisco

Our benevolent style leader requests your attendance at Saturday’s Black and White Ball.

Of course it’s $250 a ticket for seats that “may not have ideal audio quality” and may have “impaired sightlines.”

But that’s a small price to pay for Seal.  

Let’s not disappoint him. Seal has a posse, after all.

By now, you’ve seen headlines: Marriage Ruling a Victory for Newsom. Which is fair enough.

But you might have missed this recent piece about City Attorney Dennis Herrera in glossy, fluffy San Francisco Magazine:

The mayor may get all the credit, or blame, for pushing the marriage-equality issue before the Supreme Court, but the person who deserves it—San Francisco’s real Marrying Man—is Herrera.

Well, O.K. then.

The author of the article, freelance legal affairs journalist Susan Kostal then went on to consult her crystal ball and opine:

My own bet was a 4–3 vote in favor of marriage equality

Bingo. She got it right. Three cheers for writer Susan Kostal as well as up-and-coming Dennis Herrera.  

Sometimes you need to let your rooster roam free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.

Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he aint gonna die
No, no, no ya know he aint gonna die

San Francisco had a large rally yesterday on the steps of City Hall, sponsored by Play Not Spray. Kids and their parents aren’t satisfied with Governor Arnold Schwazenegger’s delay of Light Brown Apple Moth spraying in the Bay Area - they want the whole shebang cancelled.

It seems the majority of people in San Francisco would prefer to deal with the LBAM itself rather than with the effects of eradication. Many feel the cure is worse than the disease.

(Another benefit of cancelling eradication is that indescribable videos like this will stop getting made.)

To Be Continued…

You don’t need to Say Anything to get your point across about LBAM spraying:

Yesterday’s Day of Action was well-attended.

Paul Chambers from KTVU, Channel 2 strikes a pose and gets down in order to warm up the kids before his live stand up. They were fired up 

The people at MilkMarch.com issued the call and many responded. Were you gay for a day as they were at Dreamlogic.net?

Milk should be coming soon enough to a theatre near you.