I'm back
After an epic five-week trip to Bolivia and Peru, I'm back manning the news desk here at the Guardian and trying to catch up on what's happening. And it seems the biggest things that have changed in my absence are my perspective and energy levels.
The Republicans in Sacramento and Mayor Gavin Newsom here in San Francisco are continuing to push draconian cuts to government services rather than having the courage to challenge the mindless "no new taxes" mantra and have the wealthy pay their fair share. And neither the Democrats in Sacramento or Washington D.C., nor the Board of Supervisors here, seem to be doing much to challenge this race to the bottom. It's not that they don't understand. In the last two days, we've had Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and Assembly member Loni Hancock in for endorsement interviews, and they powerfully sound the message that something needs to change and they're willing to work for it. But with the labor unions distracted by infighting, Democratic politicians battling one another (such as Carole Migden and Mark Leno, who we have the unfortunate task of deciding between for our endorsements that come out April 30), the mainstream media both smaller and more trivial, and many other factors stacked against our species finally getting wise to the problems we face, it looks like an uphill battle.
Does all this make me want to flee back to South America? No, it makes me want to renew the fight for truth and justice. How about you?
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Comments (6)
Welcome home, Steve. I made a run to save Buster's Place, the public health nurses, and mental health services but came up short...
Posted by Chris Daly | April 18, 2008 05:34 PM
Welcome back Steve. I'm down. Renewing the fight seems right to me. The timing couldn't be better.
Posted by Robert Haaland | April 18, 2008 05:36 PM
Welcome back, Steve. Your voice has been missed.
Posted by Luke Thomas | April 19, 2008 02:11 PM
You also came back to find Mark Leno with his head so far up Gavin's rear that he can't see all of us progressives looking for some leadership from Sacramento. He may be criticizing Migden for her driving, but at least her policies aren't driving us over a cliff. And why is his political consultant trying to stop the City's health care plan?
Posted by Dan Smith | April 20, 2008 06:21 AM
I'm not a major fan of your writing but I've always had a serious admiration for your torso and the way you work it. Framed against what I presume are the Andes, it's frigging spectacular. This is the photo-essay I want to see, not your thoughts about on-the-one-hand-this, on-the-other-hand-that local political nonsense.
By the way, Senator Carole Migden called me at home tonight to have a personal chat with a constituent. She's doing this exercise every two hours a night these days to somehow turn the tide, I guess. Anyway, she sounded either drunk or stoned (or maybe that's just the way she sounds sober) and at first I thought she was an alcoholic female friend in Palm Springs, but it really did turn out to be Carole Migden. And unbelievably, I actually felt sorry for her, but not enough to lie to her when she demanded, "I can count on your support, can't I?" before hanging up on her.
Posted by sfmike | April 22, 2008 10:45 PM
Steve has a very nice torso.
Posted by jim | April 26, 2008 04:09 PM