By Rebecca Bowe

Have you ever noticed that when routines are interrupted, people are more likely to strike up conversations with strangers? My morning took an unexpected turn yesterday when I arrived at the Macarthur BART station to find a news van and television crew out front, filming the hordes of commuters who were in line to purchase train tickets. Everyone seemed stressed out. Newspaper headlines everywhere screamed of the Bay Bridge closure.

I had my bike, and it was aSource: SFBG Politics RSS Feed

Ken Ward, Jr., the best journalist in West Virginia, has been following the landmark Senate climate and clean energy hearings at his blog, “Coal Tattoo:  Mining’s Mark on our World.”  I’m excerpting his latest piece.

But then there was Preston Chiaro, (above) chief executive for energy and minerals at Rio Tinto, a huge worldwide coal company and the second largest coal producer in the United States, who told lawmakers:

Unmanaged climate change is a threat to ourSource: Climate Progress RSS Feed

In their 1975 album, “Wish You Were Here,” Pink Floyd sang of an all-knowing machine:

“Welcome my son, welcome to the machine. Where have you been? It’s alright we know where you’ve been. You’ve been in the pipeline, filling in time…”

More recently, the band Velvet Revolver (featuring Slash of Guns n Roses fame on guitar) paid homage to the big machine:

“It’s a big machine, it’s a big machine. We’re all slaves to a big machine. It’s a big machine, it’s aSource: GraniteGrok RSS Feed

From ABC News, a more honest veto message than we get in these parts, anyway!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is raising eyebrows in California for issuing a veto message that spells out “f*** you” in the left-hand margin of the page.

The former action star’s f*** you message came when he rejected Assembly Bill 1176, legislation which would have expanded the financing powers of the Port of San Francisco.

The bill was unobjectionable to legislators of both parties: itSource: ColoradoPols.com – Front Page RSS Feed

More Vandal-isms.

As reported inthe Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

University of Idaho wide receiver Landon Weaver was arrested Thursday, his 21st birthday, on suspicion of assault in the fourth degree at 1:09 a.m. in Stubblefields. Pullman police allege Weaver was told to leave Stubblefields by the staff, but he refused and allegedly fought with bouncers. Police reported to the scene and deployed a Taser device in an attempt to control Weaver.

“I could not be moreSource: Right Mind RSS Feed

Our Constitution is on Life Support

by Mark Alexander

“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” –Benjamin Franklin

That wise old sage, Ben Franklin, was prescient back in 1748, when he issued his simple Rx for success. Unfortunately, the wealth and wisdom of generations of Americans have been progressively supplanted by our central government’s exercise of unconstitutional authority.

In regard toSource: Theodore’s World RSS Feed

This is what the gop is good for. Two Republican county officials in South Carolina make outrageous racists statements, then tuck tail and apologize. From the AP:
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two Republican county officials in South Carolina have apologized after they disparaged Jews in a newspaper op-ed in support of a fiscally conservative U.S. senator.Come to think of it, this is what they do every time they screw something up, except when they screw up the country, crater the economy, invade Source: Bay Area Houston RSS Feed

Powerful House members are proposing sweeping reforms to U.S. surveillance law that puts them on a collision course with legislation in the Senate that favors domestic spying.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, proposes limiting government’s Patriot Act spy powers.

The proposals (.pdf) come as key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire at year’s end. The act, hastily adopted six weeks after the 2001 terror attacks, greatlySource: Threat Level RSS Feed

As of this writing there are 652 signers to the petition to FIREMONSERRATE. You can see for yourself the names of the signers. The outpouring of anger with Sen Monserrate and the New York State Senate is not surprising. But the eloquence and of the comments is remarkable and must be shared.

Some comments about domestic violence:

If we do not remove Montserrate, we are sending a TERRIBLE message to all the girls and women trying to strategize about their options or escape abuseSource: The Albany Project RSS Feed

Wow — no matter where one stands on medical marijuana and drug decriminalization — today is one for the history books. The Obama Administration via AG Eric Holder has just announced that it will not pursue prosecution of medical marijuana users, growers or dispensaries, as long as they are operating within state law. Seeing that 13 states already have laws allowing for some form of medical marijuana, and several others have been debating proposed legislation allowing for such access, thisSource: The American Conservative RSS Feed