By Tim Redmond

Three interesting items today that reflect on the state of the SFPD:

David Hill is convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of Officer Isaac Espinoza. That means he'll get life without parole -- but not the death penalty. From the start of this case, D.A. Kamala Harris refused to push for death, in part because she doesn't support the death penalty but also because she insisted that it was very unlikely a jury would return a verdict of first-degree murder here. The cops went batshit on her. Guess what? Read more »

By Tim Redmond

This one is really amazing, even by the standards of our current theocracy: The National Park Service is selling a book in the Grand Canyon bookstore that argues that the canyon was created by Noah's flood. And "The Grand Canyon Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush Administration appointees," the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says.

For starters, after my long years in Catholic school, I th Read more »

By Tim Redmond

The NY Times today has it about right on tax policy: The Democrats are ducking for cover while Bush continues to demand that his insane tax cuts be made permanent. Lyndon Johnson was forced to recognize in the 1960s that he couldn't have both a Great Society and the Vietnam War at the same time without figuring out how to pay for it all, but back then, it wasn't considered political suicide to raise taxes on the rich. Read more »

By Tim Redmond

Luke Thomas had the scoop first, and now SF Gate is reporting that indeed Annemarie Conroy has -- as the report puts it -- "resigned" from her $250,000 a year job in emergency services.

Of course, she really had no choice -- the supes had eliminated the position weeks ago.

By Tim Redmond

Cindy Sheehan is already upstaging the House Democrats and pushing the antiwar movement to play a greater role in the new Democratic Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is going to have to deal with this sooner or later.

For now, I can't even get Pelosi's office to tell me if she'll make a statement in support of Josh Wolf

By Tim Redmond

The Ex reports this morning that Mayor Newsom claims he's just "seconds away" from cutting a deal with Google and Earthlink to provide free WiFi in the city. Read more »

By Tim Redmond

If you haven't seen the truly grim footage of Saddam Hussein's hanging, you can view it here. Luke Thomas posted it on Fog City Journal, but I don't think any of the other local sites have links up.

I understand why people avoid this sort of thing: It's really nasty to look at. Read more »

By Tim Redmond

The bloggers are having a bit of fun with The Chronicle's front-page New Year's Eve assertion that San Francisco's Golden Age is here again. I have to agree with Beyond Chron -- the story was an embarassment that quoted only conservative, wealthy San Francisc Read more »