Mission Mission

Do you have complaints about the housing crisis and public transit in San Francisco? (Let’s face it, we all do.) If so, join the SF Bay Guardian and SF Transit Riders Union tomorrow for a joint community forum on funding for transit and housing affordability.

Here’s what SFBG and SFTRU have to say about this event:

San Francisco needs more affordable housing, a robust public transit system, and fully funded social services if it is to remain an efficient, diverse, compassionate city. Unfortunately, some political leaders have pitted transportation and housing activists against one another in recent years, particularly so in the upcoming election on Propositions A, B, G, K, and L.

We’ll provide some background for you on how public transportation service and facilities are paid for, and then we’ll examine how the conflict happened, the political tactics that are being employed, and what can be done to bridge the gap along with a panel of activists and experts.

Bridging the Gaps in Transit and Housing Funding
A joint Bay Guardian and SF Transit Riders community forum
Thursday, October 9th, 6-8PM
LGBT Center, Rainbow Room
1800 Market St, SF

Moderators:
Steve Jones and Rebecca Bowe, San Francisco Bay Guardian

Speakers:
Thea Selby, San Francisco Transit Riders Union
Jonathan Rewers, SFMTA
Supervisor Scott Wiener, San Francisco District 8
Chema Hernandez Gil, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Amandeep Jawa, San Francisco League of Conservation Voters
Peter Cohen and Fernando Marti, SF Council of Community Housing Organizations

RSVP on Facebook or non-Facebook and invite your friends and other concerned citizens!

[Thanks, Ilyse!]

Between visits to Twitter, Facebook, Google and Trick Dog, Hillary Clinton cruised along high above York Street, veering west at its intersection with 24th, high above Pop’s and St. Francis Fountain.

(Additional reporting by Jess Kelso.)

This picture has been whizzing around the internet all week, gaining all sorts of predictable (and merited) criticism, including the great honor of a stream-of-consciousness smackdown on Gawker. Although Gawker assumed the prickish missive must have originated in L.A., Inside Scoop reports that it came from a $37 check at a restaurant in the S.F. Westfield Center called “Cupola.”

Although the Bay Area might be a tough place to pull this kind of bullshit, I think the stingy little fucker is missing an opportunity to ride this viral news story to fame of Joe the Plumber proportions. I would gladly tune in to see this guy flesh out his political and economic theories on Fox & Friends. So how about it, buddy? Time to take the plunge and stand up for what’s right? I can’t imagine an anonymous note to an unsuspecting server in the mall is the extent of your thirst for social justice.

It’s election season, and even though we take it for granted around here that California is gonna vote Obama, it’s not necessarily that simple in other states around the country.  In some places (ahem, Florida), new voter restriction measures have even made it more likely that many citizens (a high proportion of which are minorities) may not be able to get their votes counted.

The only way to move towards preventing these kind of shenanigans is to educate ourselves, and the best way to get started on that is to come out to Artists Television Access on Valencia this Friday to watch Struggle, a film by Roger Hill about what happens in U.S. elections when the forces of racism, corruption, technological manipulation and old fashioned ballot-box stuffing coalesce to deny Americans their right to vote and steal elections.

RSVP and invite your friends here, and check out all the details including the trailer below:

Struggle is a case study of the 2004 Presidential Election in Ohio, the deciding swing state which delivered the presidency once again to George W. Bush.  Diligently researched by the key contributors to the film, Struggle is a bold film that challenges the legitimacy of that Presidential Election and brings the entire U.S. electoral process into question.

(more…)

Normally we don’t get all that political here on MM, but with the election coming up soon and amidst all the misinformation floating around, we wanted to point out some of our pals who are trying to shake things up a bit:

Want elections, not auctions? Today, Stick it to Super PACs and reject the auction of political speech to corporate interests and the 1%. Join others around the country who are taking a stand to protect democracy. This post explains why the $433 million Super PACs have raised to influence this election is dangerous for democracy. This website will help you become a proverbial wrench in the gears of Super PACs via email, phone or social media. Take Action!

Fuck Yeah!

We generally don’t delve into politics much (except for sometimes, and other times), but Rachel from 500 Club just got in touch:

The 500 Club will be showing all the debates again this year. We have better tv’s with better sound – three in the front of the bar and one rather large one in the back room. We also have delicious foods from Clare’s Deli next door..altho delivery might be a little tricky if we get a full house again.

We also talked to Paul at Shotwell’s and he mentioned they’ll be screening the events as well. Anywhere else?

[Screenshot by hardtwerk]

[graphic via The Cornicopia Institute]

We don’t do that much politicking here (there’s plenty of that on the internet already), but it is a big election year, so expect some issues to pop up as we find them relevant or particularly pressing.

Local grocery cooperative, Rainbow Grocery Cooperative, is officially endorsing California’s Proposition 37, the Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food Initiative. This endorsement is not shocking, since 2000 Rainbow has officially opposed the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs):

“We will ban these foods from any private label product we carry, and support efforts to label and/or ban such foods until a time when they can be proved safe for consumption and the environment.”

Christa Irwin, of Rainbow’s Ecology Committee says of Prop. 37:

“People want to know what they’re eating. Just because a product says ‘natural’ does not mean that it hasn’t come from a GMO crop or possibly processed with or contaminated by one. This fight is imperative and hopefully will change labeling on a national level.”

You have to wonder why the food companies would pay so much money to stop us from knowing how they’re making our food and what they put into it. Since the above graphic was made the numbers on the red side have continued to go up. Fog City Journal has an informative write up on the matter. I just don’t trust companies like Monsanto and Phillip Morris, excuse me, Altria, to hold our health as their top priority. Anyone remember StarLink? If it costs less to do recalls or payout lawsuits…

I think the consumers have a right to know. If the companies believe that GMOs are safe then don’t hide them, convince us. It’s a bummer though, I like a lot of the products in the left column. I think Prop 37 is just the first step in getting to a better place with the development and use of GMOs. Much more testing should to be done, especially focusing on long term effects. Unfortunately there seems to be very little push back on the chemical/food companies making them, and much of the changes they are making are likely irreversible. If Prop. 37 passes consumers will be able to weigh in on the matter with their wallets, which is what the Big Ag companies are afraid of.

About half a day after Weston Wear was cited for being helplessly vandalized by the Monday night rioters (and later tagged), Weston Wear happily reports:

City has removed our citation. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease!

— Weston Wear Store (@WestonWearStore) May 3, 2012

I guess all your nasty comments hurt their feelings! Way to go, readers! Keep ‘em coming.

“What thing?”, you ask. Well, isn’t it obvious?

You may have noticed that many of your favorite websites are blacked out today in protest of SOPA, the epicly-clueless internet regulatory legislation currently making the rounds in Congress.  If this insanity somehow ends up passing, then any site that has comments, a forum, video streaming, or user content in any form could be blocked in the US, removed from search engines, and thus effectively destroyed on the basis of a single errant comment left by a reader.

That means that any one of you comment trolls (you know who you are) could inadvertently get Mission Mission shut down for one of your typically vile statements!  Lucky for us, MM reader Joey concocted this handy dandy flow chart to help explain all you need to know and what you can do about this business.

Check it out here.