I'd wager that most of the people attending the Tea Parties aren't plants. Sure, some probably are, but there are enough people who sincerely hold Tea Party beliefs to make up a fair-sized crowd without any kind of dishonesty in that respect. I agree with the basic idea of the Tea Party rallies, fiscal responsibility and that, but frankly some of the rhetoric displayed there is a little off-putting and scary. It seems like a lot of the people holding signs about socialism, communism, and fascism don't quite know the definitions of each. For example, I saw one sign which said 'It's worse than socialism, it's Marxism.' I'm not quite sure what message that one is supposed to be getting across. If you were to ask a real, doctrinaire communist, they would probably disagree almost as vehemently with Obama's policies as any attendee of the Tea Party rallies. For different reasons, but the point is still worth making. And while anger at political leaders is perfectly normal and probably deserved, the level of what I have to call hatred and vitriol at these events has been scary. On several occasions while I was in the crowd I heard people talking loudly about killing democratic politicians and other 'communists.' No one even batted an eyelash, and I doubt they were speaking ironically or making jokes. So I guess what I'm saying is that the basic idea of the Tea Parties is a good one, but there does seem to be a lot of unpleasantness collecting around them. PS: I've just been talking to an acquaintance who used to work on a farm, and he is of the opinion that the whole water problem could have been solved by the farms in the valley adopting more efficient irrigation methods ten or fifteen years ago. Hindsight is 20/20, but perhaps some similar changes should be made now? I don't claim to know much about agriculture, though.

Yeah, I talked to the public info officer for the CHP. He gave me that number around 1:30 in the afternoon. I can contact the tech guy for the sacpress and see if he'll change it to a different figure. It does seem like 1500 wasn't accurate, based on all the other reports I've been seeing.

The 1500 number came from Police estimates. This protest did seem smaller than the first, but it's always possible mistakes were made.

I go to Starbucks all the time, but the idea of a city government going out of its way to beg the company not to close a location seems bizarre to me. Isn't there another Starbucks just a few blocks down the street anyway?

It was actually Jon Mendick who took the pictures. He did a good job.

Personally, I found that there were both sorts of people at the event, and at different times one person could be both. I was harassed and accused of being a traitor and a disgrace to the US by one guy (this was without having spoken to him at all, he just kept accusing journalists in general) and then I turned around and talked to a woman who owned a business in Lodi, and she was quite polite. But I tend to be suspicious of any crowd that chants nationalistic slogans, just on general principals. Also, there were caricatures, yes, but none of them were offensive, that I saw. Some were pretty harsh, others were cartoonish, and some were just poorly drawn, but there was nothing like the "Barack the magic negro" things that were publicized during the election.

I sense sarcasm...

Says Linda Tucker, Media and Commnications Specialist for the City, responded to my inquiries by saying "Truxel, Arena, and Calvine have never been overlaid, and Florin Rd. received a slurry seal in 2001 which is a minor preventative pavement maintenance treatment." She said that once a street was overlayed, the street would be good for "another 10 to 15 years."

Well, partially, yeah. I was actually going to make a beard joke/reference in the article, but I thought it might have been impolitic. But it's not just hipsters (aghhhh, that word!) who ride them. Lately, I've been seeing a lot of professional-looking business types riding fixed.

Well, it wouldn't. Except, I suppose, for eliminating the remote possibility that someone might recognize the voice of someone who used the telephone to make their tip. The point of the program isn't that it's somehow more anonymous, it's that it adds another avenue for people who want to report crimes. Especially young people who are constantly texting anyway.

If anyone is unfamiliar with exactly what a fixed gear bike is, they might refer to previous entries in this storyline. I don't ride one myself, but I do find them kind of interesting.

I notice that the first picture you used seems to be in England. I also notice that there's about 9000 pairs of shoes on the wire. They just don't quite get it, poor guys.

Personally, I've never had a problem with people picking through my trash and recycling. It's always old Chinese ladies in colorful sweaters who smile and wave nervously when they notice that I can see them. And while I do see the problems that can and do arise from scavenging, it really doesn't seem like a new law is necessary - all the crimes committed in the act would seem to be covered by current laws. Also, I think the 'scavenging robs the city of a potential source of income' line is a spurious argument. Yes, if someone removes the recycling from a bin, the city doesn't get that money. But every time someone parks properly without the risk of ticketing, that's also potential money the city will never see. What right does the city have to my recyclables that it can claim them as its own before they're even on the trucks?

Yeah, they have a ton of dresses, skirts, and other stuff. Plus they are seriously well-stocked when it comes to leathuh jackets. I found a great one today.

now that sounds like a good idea

Doubtless you would have been far too 'real' for the Hilton.

This will make my daily commute a lot simpler. I can go up 10th street in the morning, and then in the evening I can go back down it.

This is making me shake with rage. I would gladly go and shout myself hoarse at the capitol if I thought it would change anything.

I've always wanted to go to one of these. Is it anything like 'Rollerball'?

I would like to point out that print media is not any more trustworthy than electronic media, but slightly harder to alter after the fact. There are many examples of news articles going up on the CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, and others, and then being removed without comment several hours later. And I think my point about electronic media depending on the whim of electric and telecommunications companies is still valid.