Author: briggs

  • Her Body Her Self?

    I find the current congressional furor over a certain woman’s body (pretty much just body since her mind is gone)quite hysterical and tragic. The story is about everything but the woman herself. “A woman who at the age of 26 was apparently in the process of starving herself – that’s what an ‘eating disorder’ is,…

  • you are what you et

    I had to wonder, hearing that George W. was going to dine with the president of France on his European “friendship tour,” whether he managed to spit his escargot into his napkin like a good patriot. This was because I had just read Deanna Swift’s Feb. 7 report on the recent departure of Walter Scheib…

  • private? personal? it’s all partisan

    Since the Shrub administration is parsing terms these days, I’d like to suggest some additional euphemisms… Private parts shall now be personal parts. There is no more privation–it’s providence. Privileged? No. Preselected. Will the SSS become the Social Securities System? The Republicons who gave us the Death Tax are primed to pitch young against old…

  • St. Francis of the slots

    Our bay of St. Francis is primed to become the Monte Carlo of the West by the looks of all the recent casino proposals, a result of both intentional and unintended actions of legislators, disenfranchised tribes, and savvy money men who could smell the profits from three time zones away. In effect, the Bureau of…

  • casino california

    I blame Arnold. Well, why not. There really is nobody to blame but ourselves for the mess we’re in here. The casinos are coming to town whether we want them or not. Even online, casinos are everywhere. A few people are going to make millions, perhaps half of them people of the First Nations, and…

  • the fish must pay

    And so far, the fish owe the farmers of California $26 million for depriving them of their water rights during the drought years of 1992 to 1994, according to federal claims court judge, John Paul Wiese . Since fish don’t have bank accounts it’s the federal government that will have to pay. For depriving farmers…

  • gambling on your life

    Now that the referendum on war and family values is behind us I think it’s time we turned our attention to the center ring in this American circus and take a look at how the Republicans are planning to dismantle our social safety net. I read a little article in the San Francisco Chronicle last…

  • Blue Heartland

    “We officially no longer give a shit when family farms fail. Fewer family farms equal fewer rural voters.” (The Urban Archipelago, It’s the Cities, Stupid., by The Editors of The Stranger (11/11/04)) Whoa Nellie! The heartland isn’t as red as it might appear. Take Fresno. Please. The former Raisin Capital of the World is now…

  • half tank full

    ok. I confess that since 10 pm pst 11-02-04 I have been under the covers since I began to realize with a giant stomach aching nausea that exit polls ain’t what they’re cracked up to be and I was living in a dream world. Albeit the dream world of what used to be known as…

  • “Wheelchair accessible hot tub”

    I’m about ready to take up fingernail biting to alleviate the anxiety of the next 24 hours but meanwhile decided to check out the election eve activities around my neighborhood conveniently provided in an e-mail from MoveON. There were over 40 phone parties listed within ten miles of my house and in the brief invitation…

  • Fear of Elections

    It’s that rotgut, queasy stomach, sweat it out, expect the worst time again … a liberal waiting for November 2 to be over. I’ve been through this eight times already and mostly it’s been a bummer. But none quite so bad as this year. And that’s from somebody who had to live through Reagan as…

  • Rocket Man Edwards

    It’s the little things that get your attention sometimes. Like John Edwards saying “Yes Maam” to moderator Gwen Ifill in the Veep debate last night. That’s a southern boy speaking. Contrast that with Dick Cheney constantly saying “Gwen” and “Gwen” having to respond each time with “Mr. Vice President.” But for me the defining moment…

  • Patient Earth & Dr. California

    Out here on the Left Coast things are looking curiouser and curioser. Detroit is threatening to sue us for requiring cars in California to pollute less. Do they really care that much? Yes, because four other states peg their auto emission standards to California’s, and three more intend to follow suit. And why does California…

  • Media Monkeys & Red Star Republicans

    ….as in See No Evil, etc. Has anybody noticed that the Bush campaign stops all seem to take place in the same room? And that the media show only the podium-shots of Kerry and Bush as if they were both addressing actual crowds of people? Have you also noticed that the Bush “campaign speeches” include…

  • Of Thee I Sing

    We have just come back from the grand Grand Lake Theater after seeing Farenheit 911, the Michael Moore paen to America. Yes, it is. And perhaps also to mothers who weep when their children die in wars that are unnecessary. The people are flocking to see this movie because everyone is talking about it, not…

  • a modest proposal

    “Recalling Anguish in 2000, Kerry Is Mum on His No. 2” reads the NYTimes piece (Sat. June 19) by David M. Halbfinger. “I don’t think John went through life fantasizing about being on the ticket as vice president,” an associate comments. Why not? Because being vice president, according to one former incumbent of the job,…

  • American Emperor

    Some call it the Left Coast and others dismiss it as a fantastical realm of gurus and gayness but today I want you to think of it as the birthplace of the Republican Emperor on this the officially declared day of mourning for Ronald Reagan, late president of the Empire and former governor of the…

  • Toad Pride

    This just in from San Diego (North Baja or South California, depending): A federal appeals court has rejected a developer’s plans to build a large housing development in inland North County because it would likely jeopardize a small, endangered toad. Well, kinda. More like there is already a “housing development” there but nobody sees it…

  • The veil of invisibility

    So we’re walking back to the car parked along the frontage road when a coworker says, “there’s an Amber alert on the freeway” and I look up to read the lit up message on the huge billboard “….brown Datsun 200sx…” and the license plate number that harbors a fugitive kidnapper and abducted girl (probably). And…