Local activist Barry Hermanson has been working on placing an initiative on the ballot next year to raise the minimum wage in California. You may remember him from the successful effort to raise the minimum wage in San Francisco.

Those that care about economic justice issues owe a great deal to Barry. If not for him, we would not have the living wage ordinance in SF or the minimum wage ordinance.

This leftinsfer hopes you have a great time tonight whatever you are doing. Be safe and keep dry.

A few of My New Year’s Resolutions:

1) State legislation on the trans panic theory. Currently, anyone can try and reduce their culpability for murder by arguing that they “panicked” when they found out their sexual partner was trans. Allowing this to continue is like putting a huge target on the backs of transgender women. For some reason, men are more likely to kill their sexual partner than women when they “find” out their sexual partner is transgender, or at least I haven’t heard of any women ever killing their partner. They may freak out maybe, but no murders that I have heard about…
2) Take out Schwarzenegger. Since I spent most of last year trying to make this happen, this is an on-going resolution. Last year went well and I have high hopes.

Apparently Gavin agrees with Kim, since it seems he takes credit for test score improvements in an interview in next month’s San Francisco Magazine (or not–the article in question is not on line yet).

What I found a little disturbing about the article was a tidbit about Arlene Ackerman:

Carl Barnes, president of the city’s Parent Teacher Association, said he’s more concerned about finding a permanent replacement for Ackerman, who will officially become “superintendent emeritus” Feb. 1, handing over the reins to her deputy, Gwen Chan. (Ackerman will continue to draw her $250,000 annual salary until June 30, and will receive a controversial $375,000 severance package by July 10.) (my emphasis)

So not only does she get her famous $375,000 severance, but she also gets 5 months of “emeritus” status with full pay? That’s over $100,000. Now I know what they’re talking about when they talk about a dream job!

Many activists are involved in the issues in front of the Board of Supervisors. And I applaud them for their work.

But recently, I’ve talked to many progressives who don’t understand the complexities of issues surrounding education. They are not aware that the Board of Education frequently meets from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. They are not aware that the Board of Education will have two to three meetings a week. They are not aware that the Commissioners only receive $500 per month and do not have any staff.

This just in from Medea Benjamin:

As we close this year, a year in which we were pummeled by the Iraq war, attacks on our civil rights and Mother Nature’s fury of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, there is no shortage of reasons to feel bruised and beaten. But to start the new year with a healthy determination to keep on fighting, we need to reflect on the good things that happened. And there are plenty.

One continent alone - South America - could provide more than ten examples of wonderful progressive victories, but I’ll just list some of the highlights.

Rove– the Man Behind Bush. What is he doing back there?

Remember to celebrate our victories, strengths and our imperfections and have a great year.

Love, Robert

Unsung Heroes
A partial and imperfect list of organizations and people that did great stuff this year and are some of my unsung heroes…

Over and over again, people in San Francisco step up to the plate and do great things. And as most know, since no good deed goes unpunished, they usually don’t get much in return…There are so many people and so many organizations that did great things over the last year that to highlight some does an injustice to the work done by others, but I still want to give a shout out to some amazing folks.

Like many San Franciscans, I’ve learned that there are people who are turned on by all sorts of stuff, and that just because I find it unappealing, or even repulsive, doesn’t make it any less legitimate as a source of pleasure. And I expect the same respect from other people.

I have to say I’ve hit my limit. There are some things that are just too disgusting to even contemplate.

I was at a meeting with a community leader who was arguing that none of the schools in his neighborhood should be closed. His argument was that school closures would impact his neighborhood more than other neighborhoods.

He did not give me the chance to say this: School closures impact every neighborhood-no matter which one they occur in.

Not only do parents need to figure out where they have to schlep their children-but school closures impact parents’ plans for after-school care, possibly before-school care, the length of time that a child can get after-school help from his/her teacher, relationship of the parent to the school (critical to the success of the school and the child) and how fast can the parent get to the child due to an illness or an accident at the school.

Published on Monday, December 26, 2005 by the Miami Herald
Fear Destroys What bin Laden Could Not
by Robert Steinback

One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn’t win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help.

If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden’s attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution — and then expect the American people to congratulate him for it — I would have presumed the girders of our very Republic had crumbled.