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Highland, San Bernardino County -- The faded sign outside Kay's Cafe in the city of Highland sports a cartoon caricature of a grinning chef holding a frying pan. City officials, who use the drab yellow diner as a kind of impromptu town center, are looking a lot like the diminutive chef on the sign these days as they hold San Francisco's feet to the fire. The prod that woke this bedroom community at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains, whose 2005 population city officials estimate at 50,860, was a decision by San Francisco voters to pass an advisory measure...

from "Hannity & Colmes," ... SEAN HANNITY...from San Francisco tonight, the board of supervisors here overwhelmingly voted to reject a plan last year that would bring the historic World War II Iowa battleship right here to San Francisco harbor, as a museum and tourist center. We're now joined by one of the supervisors that voted against that plan, Gerardo Sandoval is with us. You don't want a symbol of war in the harbor. Is what you said to me. GERARDO SANDOVAL: That's right... it's a warship and it's got guns on it. It fires things. You know, you can't deny...

Into elective office, is talk radio really an effective stepping stone? With a number of others diving head-first into Congressional campaigns this year, probable 2008 Minnesota US Senate candidate Al Franken apparently isn't the only one with ties to the medium. In addition, several have at least indirect connections with liberal radio network Air America. And at the center of their fledgling 2006 candidacies, some are fighting off talk radio-related controversies. While relatively little attention has so far been paid to these hopefuls, that should change as political silly season shortly kicks off. A scorecard: ........................snip................

Even with its parapets and stained glass, the Golden Gate Lutheran Church on the corner of 19th Street and Dolores in the Mission isn't the prettiest building around. Truth be told, the red-brick edifice built in 1912 has a bit of the humble workhorse about it. Nor does it attract the most worshippers. According to Pastor Ed Miller, the congregation of active members amounts to only about 35 or 40 people. But like so many inner-city churches, it made itself relevant -- and for some people indispensable -- by filling gaps in our yawning social safety net. Until recently, it...

It was time for the annual Valentine's Day sex tour at the San Francisco Zoo, but none of the permanent residents got the memo. As human voyeurs learned about the torrid world of amorous beasts, most of the animals barely glanced at each other. "The wind seems to unnerve them," said Jane Tollini, inventor of the tour that has been copied by zoos throughout North America. "And they had a busy weekend." They did indeed. Tollini, former penguin keeper at the zoo, led excursions Saturday and Sunday and will do the same this weekend. She came up with the idea...

Whatever you do, watch the rerun of Hannity & Colmes tonight. They are discussing the City of San Fransciscos declining to accept the U.S.S. Iowa as a memorial.Democrats on parade! The person interviewed (a democRAT) claimed the United States should have NO MILITARY!Even Allen disagreed with this person.

SAN FRANCISCO, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Questions have swirled about Pope Benedict XVI's appointment of former Utah Bishop George Niederauer to be Archbishop of San Francisco, a post Archbishop Niederauer took up this week.  With its reputation for being a hotbed of the "gay subculture" many were looking at how the new archbishop would address the matter.From recent indications, some Catholics are now especially concerned about the archbishop.The San Francisco Chronicle has posted an interview with the incoming archbishop, conducted by the paper's 'gay and lesbian issues' newsman Wyatt Buchanan.  During the interview, Archbishop Niederauer makes a disturbing...

The San Francisco Chronicle offers a podcast interview of the city's Archbishop-elect George Niederauer. The questions are asked by "Wyatt Buchanan, who covers gay and lesbian news for The Chronicle." Right there is your first clue. The paper's natural choice to interview the incoming leader of the Catholic Church is the journalist who covers gay and lesbian affairs. If you're expecting a confrontation, don't hold your breath. Among other things, the archbishop-elect sings the familiar refrain that we must not blame the sex-abuse scandal on homosexuality, "because when we're talking about pedophilia, we're talking about a sickness, an illness, an...

Just this week, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer paid a visit to his high school alma mater, Lowell High School in San Francisco. He took a tour of the school’s campus, which moved in 1962 from downtown San Francisco to its present Sunset District location, and then spent an hour taking questions from the school’s junior and senior classes. According to AP, Justice Breyer (Class of 1955) was treated like a “rock star” during his visit to the highly-selective school’s campus. Besides the change in location, Lowell High School has in recent years undergone an immense transformation of its student...

  THE (oops!) INADVERTENT ADMISSIONS OF BILL + HILLARY CLINTON part one FROM WHENCE COMES THEIR REPUTATION FOR BRILLIANCE, ANYWAY? AND WAS THEIR FAILURE TO TAKE OUT BIN LADEN WILLFUL?   by Mia T, 02.08.06 "You know... the job which we should have done 1... which should have been our primary focus, to find [you know] bin Laden and eliminate al Qaeda." hillary clintonSaturday, Jan. 28, 2006 Chitchat with Jane Pauley San Francisco, CA "Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in '91 and he went to the Sudan. We'd been hearing...

Demonstrators gathered in San Francisco at Union Square on Tuesday to rally noisily against President Bush and his State of the Union address. Organizers estimated the crowd at about 4,000 people, many of whom beat makeshift drums, clanged pots and pans, blew whistles or just screamed as Bush's speech was broadcast live -- without sound -- on a giant video screen. The World Can't Wait, a national protest group calling for Bush to step down, organized the demonstration to urge the protesters to march in an anti-Bush rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. "Through this political action and this mobilization...

Jan. 29 - KGO - One of the most influential Democrats in Washington was in the Bay Area Saturday night. Senator Hillary Clinton arrived for an evening talk with Jane Pauley, and discussed the buzz about her possible run for the presidency. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York brought no notes, and no speech to the San Francisco Masonic Auditorium - just herself for an intimate, sit-down interview with Jane Pauley. The former network news anchor wasted no time bringing up Clinton's frontrunner status for president. Jane Pauley: "President Bush in an interview said, 'Hillary Clinton would make a formidable...

The $16.5 million mansion -- which sits at the foot of Vallejo Street, between the Presidio and some of the city's most hoity-toity addresses -- offers a sweeping view of the bay.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her mega-millionaire husband, Richard Blum, are pulling up stakes on their quiet Presidio Terrace home and moving uptown to a Pacific Heights mansion -- with views to die for. The $16.5 million mansion -- which sits at the foot of Vallejo Street, between the Presidio and some of the city's most hoity-toity addresses -- offers a sweeping view of the bay. It's right off what Herb Caen christened the "Gold Rush" -- the final two blocks of upper, upper Broadway, where the residents include Ann and Gordon Getty, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Mimi Haas...

Despite assurances from government officials that the border with Mexico is secure, a Department of Homeland Security document obtained by the Daily Bulletin reveals that law enforcement officials are seeking five Mexican nationals suspected of bringing explosives into the United States.The internal "Intelligence Alert" from the Office of Border Patrol -- issued to law enforcement officials Jan. 12 -- stated that the Mexican nationals were heading to San Francisco to sell the explosives.

Two days after San Leandro High School teachers were ordered to hang posters in their rooms promoting tolerance toward gay students, many faculty and students said the move was long overdue. "It shouldn't even be a debate. Kids need to feel comfortable in class, and the adults need to make sure that happens," said senior Je'Nea Woods. "The school environment's supposed to be about students. Everyone should feel safe whether they're homosexual or not." The school board-mandated posters sparked a controversy Monday when a handful of the school's 120 teachers said the posters -- which feature pink triangles, a rainbow...

Last year, I was privileged to work with Brian Maloney of The Radio Equalizer on an ongoing blog investigative series about beleaguered Air America radio's finances. Brian has continued to dig and dig deep on the story. He has a new report here and will discuss it tonight on The O'Reilly Factor. Brian asks: "Did Al Franken's outrageous salary demands hamper Air America's ability to repay the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in 2005?" Excerpt: During the same mid-to-late 2004 period when Air America parent Piquant LLC was quietly considering how to resolve the still-undisclosed scandal, Franken was demanding...

Union says proposed pay pact not on par with other orchestrasThe San Francisco Symphony's musicians are about to hit a very sour note, threatening to call off their first performance in China next month unless they score a better-sounding contract. In a confidential memo sent out to the symphony's 103 musicians over the weekend and obtained by The Chronicle, the union's negotiating committee said management's proposed pay and benefits package was inferior to those of other leading U.S. orchestras. Not that the musicians are laboring for starvation wages. They earn an average of $112,320 a year, and under management's proposal...

SAN FRANCISCO has too many schools. It needs to bring operations, staff and budgets in line with reality. Yet it won't. As an indecisive school board demonstrated, the reasons are plain and unpleasant. Facing hundreds of angry parents and children waving homemade signs, school leaders took the easy -- but wrong -- route. The panel closed or merged more than a dozen schools on a staff-suggested list of 26. It was a half-step that means a rerun next year. For years, the schools have shed students as families have left the city. In 1998, there were 62,115 pupils; now it's...

From the Billings Outpost, here's an Al Franken quote to quite possibly top them all: Quote of the week “Right now, money is being stolen, and that is killing our soldiers. That makes me furious. I’m very sad about where my country is going, and I love my country.” - Author/comedian Al Franken, talking about the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority in a live Air America radio program broadcast last Friday in Missoula. Quote of the week? How about year, at least? ..............................snip...................