The proliferation of medical marijuana clubs in San Francisco has come with a price, particularly in neighborhoods such as the Lower Haight and the North Mission, which are glutted with them. The Board of Supervisors has done its best to ignore the problems — essentially telling law-enforcement agencies not to mess with cannabis dispensaries. Recent events, however, underscore why The City needs to reconsider its “no look, no hands” policy. Read More

Going after Sarah Palin, who had favored the so-called “bridge to nowhere” before she turned against it, Barack Obama said you just can’t stand for things contrary to positions you once took, forgetting, I guess, that such is the heart of his campaign. Read More

It took nearly two years for authorities in Berkeley to extricate its fragrant tree-huggers from their lofty heights on the UC campus, pretty much cementing the city’s place as the wackiest in the West. But wait — don’t count San Francisco out — it’s about to give Berkeley another run for its (streetwalking) money. Read More

When my father died three years ago, I tried to explain to those assembled at his funeral how it was that a man so physically strong for more than 85 years could wither away so rapidly. The car industry — in which my father worked for more than 40 years selling Oldsmobiles — provided the answer. General Motors had recently announced that they would no longer manufacture that car division. Read More