A night of political fun — and fun in the Lower Haight

Yesterday Arianna Huffington was in town and I got to meet her and hear her speak. Her presence is incredible, she’s definitely got that quality where you’re sort of hanging on her next word. She was in town to deliver her platform statement. She also autographed a copy of her book How To Overthrow the Government for me.

Unlike other candidates who’s web presence is a total joke (Arnold shows us he can photoshop a pic of he and Maria, but offers no substance - a bit like his candidacy), Arianna is willing to take a stand on the issues and post them. She’s also daring to talk about changing prop 13 - this is very politically risky - but risks are something you gain when you work outside of the broken two-party system.

Ironically, Schwarzenegger’s advisor Warren Buffet has recommended Arnold address gaps in the property tax code - as Arianna plans to do if elected. Arnold seems to balk at the Sage of Omaha’s recommendation. What’s the point in buying the best advisors if you won’t listen? Why would you not take the advice of a guy who’s personal worth is in the range where he could close most state’s budgetary gaps with a single check? I don’t see Schwarzenegger coming out of this political hole unless he starts tackling the issues. If that happens and Arianna is there she’ll run circles around him.

(continue to read about SF Supervisor Matt Gonzalez and my night out)

Am I becoming a political Junkie? Has this screwed up world with Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter, and The Mullah of Austin pushed me to a new pursuit?

In the time of Arianna’s visit, it turned from a sunny day in the mid-70’s to about 60 degrees, overcast, and heavy fog. I had, foolishly, left without a top layer and bought a sweater at Old Navy on Market and Powell.

While there I ran into some Dutch people and we chatted a bit in het Nederlands, it’s nice to get a bit of exercise in that regard. They were off to Hawaii - jammer voor mij.

I hopped the MUNI and, thanks to a nice girl with fishnets and arm tatoos, I found fillmore and dropped down to Fillmore and Haight. I had a cup of cappucino at Cafe International and read the paper. I needed some cash and i walked into an Internet Cafe with a swipe ATM…which was also the headquarters of Supervisor Matt Gonzalez.

I was planning on voting for Matt anyway on principle. He’s the Green candidate and has been instrumental in helping keep a critical eye on the nefarious goings on in the Willie Brown regulated SF political scene. I didn’t have a chance to hang out, but Matt was hard at work and so was his staff. I didn’t know this but he’s from McAllen, Tejas.

After that I ad a drink at Molotov’s. Upon entry they were playing Joan Jett singing “Crimson and Clover.” If I’m not mistaken, Karen O puts the chord progression of this song into the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Our Time” off of their “Master” EP. The bartender there, Simone, was instrumental in cluing me in on that one. If you’re there take a look at her kid’s pic on the wall with punk rock on his knuckles. It’s a laugh.

I then grabbed some pizza at Mythic Pizza (needed the grease lining) and then met up with some peeps over at the Noc-Noc. One of the best things about the Noc-Noc is that they serve a ton of Belgian or Belgian-like beers. I had a Duvel (*w00t*) and a similar Quebequois beer called “La Fin du Monde”.

Politics