The Fur Ball raises funds
“Welcome Home” was theme for The Fur Ball 2012, Humane Society Silicon Valley’s (HSSV) annual black-tie fundraiser that raises critical funds for animals in Silicon Valley. Held on Saturday, April 28, HSSV's 9th annual event raised over $635,000 in life-saving funds for the 83-year old organization – an increase of 20 percent over 2011's results!
GETTING OUT: A lesson learned – again
Through the Livermore Valley and over Altamont Pass, Interstate Highway 580 is one of the main corridors out of the San Francisco Bay Area.
$16 billion state deficit, watcha gonna do voters?
Let’s start right off the bat: Gov. Jerry Brown and his Band of Little Renown can take his more taxes plan and stuff it. I’m sick of the state government trying to bleed us dry, stealing tax money from our city government, closing down RDA entities to feed their spending habits and threatening the purse strings of our schools. The farther away the money gets, the less control we the taxpayers have over it. Cut the state budget. Vote against every state incumbent, vote against every tax. Unfortunately, it’s at the point where I believe that’s what it’s going to take to shake the status quo up. California government is not serving us, the people who pay the taxes. California government, despite a $16 billion deficit, increases spending. Nobody in California has the guts to really wade in, apply common sense, accept the pain that goes with reality and change things. This quote, posted by OldMan64 on our website comment board, spoke volumes and, if the voters don’t do something drastic very soon, this state is going down the tubes. OldMan’s choice hammered it home: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” ~ Alexis de Tocqueville, ca. 1830. Vote them all out, vote against more taxes. Do it, and we might save our state and the American Republic.
Gesink wins Amgen Tour of California
LOS ANGELES – Robert Gesink, a Dutchman who rides for the Rabobank team, won the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday, confirming his place on the top that he had earned by climbing fast up Mount Baldy on Saturday.
Selling home on your own? Use these tips
Q: How difficult is it to sell my own house, without having to pay commissions?
Baha’is appreciate U.S. religious freedom
The American public mostly seems to take our freedom of religion for granted. Although this nation was founded by pilgrims from England seeking religious liberty, the colonial Puritans soon turned to persecuting other colonists who disagreed with their beliefs (going so far as to outlaw the celebration of Christmas). Over time, our government has usually attempted to remain neutral in religious affairs, though Muslims may say that increased scrutiny of their community since 9/11 has had a chilling effect on their ability to freely practice Islam.
Cooking the World’s Largest Cabbage
For the last year or so I have been opening my mind to new possibilities. Yes, I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), which has introduced me to many veggies I have never seen before, let alone cooked. That’s why my family now eats stuff like parsnips and fennel, two veggies we’d never heard of, let alone eaten. They are delicious, by the way. (Well the fennel I still have issues with; I mean it smells like licorice but isn’t candy. Isn’t that false advertising?)
Pax Americana built by U.S. Armed Forces
The historian Thomas F. Madden described the United States as “an empire of trust,” a phrase he fashioned to compare modern America with the golden era of the ancient Roman Republic. According to Madden, both the American and the Roman republics grew into sovereign powerhouses because external threats stimulated the drive to expand their boundaries of geopolitical influence by means of superior military might, used to transform enemies into allies.
WEAVER: A Twitter plug and CCS playoffs
I’m looking forward to the next week and a half. It isn’t because the 2011-12 prep sports year is coming to a close, either. Like former Saints and Colts head coach Jim Mora once questioned – playoffs? Yes, coach Mora, playoffs.
BASKETBALL: San Francisco makes new play for Warriors
San Francisco has stepped up its campaign to lure the Golden State Warriors, potentially complicating Oakland's effort to turn the Coliseum area into a sports and entertainment megaplex with new facilities for its three professional teams.