Marin Maven » Twitter Operatives

Sea of Green Edition

marinmaven — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:29:46 +0000

rtleaton

From rtlbeaton via Twitpic

Thanks to rtlbeaton, for snapping a pic of a quintessential Marin county sign even though Marin County recently admitted that it violated its own rules in using pesticides in our parks — where our children play.

Marin Maven has joined the “Sea of Green” Twitter movement, turning the profile picture green and turning the Twitter time settings to Tehran time.

Next Monday, June 22nd, Marin Peace and Justice Coalition will be hosting a potluck and meeting, “Marin Clean Energy: Bringing Green Power to Our Towns.” The potluck dinner starts at 6:00pm at the First United Methodist Church (in the basement) on 9 Ross Valley Drive in San Rafael. The featured speaker is Tracy Shepard of the San Francisco Bay Sierra Club.

Marin Clean Energy is an innovative program that can provide Marin County with 50% clean, renewable power while meeting or beating current utility rates. Most cities and towns in Marin have voted to pursue MCE, but only tentatively. A great deal of public support and pressure will be required in the next few months to assure that the final contract is approved.
You will only have access to Marin Clean Energy if your city or town votes YES.
So come to connect with other activists and to hear Tracy explain the program
and the small but vital things you can do to help make it a reality!

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Twitter Operatives Weekend

marinmaven — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:40:30 +0000

Marin Maven is addicted to Twitter, the newfangled killer application that all the kids are using.

This 16 y.o. girl from Marin has been missing since 5/29. If you know anything that will help, please alert the authorities. As a mother, Maven can only imagine what having a missing child feels like.

Vote for @marinmommies Nick’s Parents’ Picks 2009. They are ahead at 64%, but less than 40 days to go we have plenty of time to make it even more lopsided. Wee! Speaking of Marinmimmies, they have feature information on the Memorial fund for Novato DUI victim Melody Osheroff’s family. Donate @ any Wells Fargo in Marin.

Shock! Marooned In Marin conservative blogger calls Obama, the “Fourth Dixie Chick” Maven predicted when listening to Obama’s speech in Egypt this week,that conservatives would react by saying, “Look, Obama is a muslin!” Why are conservatives so predictable? Why can’t they surprise us with a rare instance of fair-mindedness? Well, actually, there is one notable case, Ted Olson, who fought on the wrong side of Bush v. Gore is joining David Boies, who represented Gore are teaming up to challenge the ban on same sex marriage on the federal level.

“The constitution protects individuals’ basic rights that cannot be taken away by a vote. If the people of California had voted to ban interracial marriage, it would have been the responsibility of the courts to say that they cannot do that under the constitution. We believe that denying individuals in this category the right to lasting, loving relationships through marriage is a denial to them, on an impermissible basis, of the rights that the rest of us enjoy…I also personally believe that it is wrong for us to continue to deny rights to individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.” – Ted Olson

Despite how eloquently he speaks about gay rights, many groups are questioning his motives believing that it is far premature to bring gay marriage to the federal courts. The danger is that if you bring the issue to the Supreme court too early, you may lose and wipe out same sex marriage laws on the state level.

@marinij: Man sues over SMART tax, saying Marin didn’t provide two-thirds approval. The man is Dennis Fishwick, a former Novato councilman. While Sonoma approved of the Measure with 73.5, Marin voters only supported it at 62.5%. With both counties together the vote was tallied at 69.5%. Fishwick charges that SMART’s intent was to water down the Marin vote to push SMART through.

@MoreMarin wrote about ‘Water Report Claims Marin Does Not Need A Desal Plant’. Personally, Maven believes the money that would be spent to create a desalinization plant would be better spent encouraging both commercial and residential customers to convert lawns into water gardens and use rain barrels and gray water systems. Maven wrote about this here. The desalinization plant will also be in-taking water in an area of the bay that has had oil and waste spills, so I am not sure about the quality of water the plant would be starting with.

Needing a rooster like a fish needs a bicycle…@jessicapirie Except Tiburon, every city in Marin allows each home to raise up to 8 chickens, but no roosters are allowed. It would be cool to have backyard source of fresh eggs and chicken manure for the garden wouldn’t it?

@marinij_opin, or the MarinIJ Opinion page featured a letter by Adam Davis, “Why Marin Clean Energy is vital.” Now Maven has heard that the California legislature is threatening to undermine Community Choice power via SB695. Check out our post about Marin Clean Energy here.

@KevinGongHiking let us know about an updated SF/Marin hikes map with thumbnails, ratings, and summaries. Once you have burnt a lot of calories hiking, you can join @rusticbakery or Rustic Bakery who will be a part of new eco-cafe re-opening in Muir Woods next Tuesday, all local and organic foods will be sourced from Marin! @whywine suggests a great way to wash down those eco-goodies — a Marin County Pinot Noir Tasting on June 13th, in Larkspur.

Speaking of wine, Stubbs Winery in Petaluma, one of the first organic wineries will be hosting a benefit for educational development programs in Afghanistan on next Saturday, June 20th, 5:30 to 8:30 at Stubbs Vineyard – 1000 Marshall Petaluma Road, Petaluma, California 94952. The tickets are $60 each.

@Reelpolitik via @nprpolitics reminds some of us how old we are when on Thursday they marked Jerry Brown’s 35 year anniversary of his winning the California Democratic Gubnatorial Primary.

The Tiburon Film Society will present the Bolivian/Japanese film, Pachamama, at the Bay Model located at 2100 Bridgeway in Sausalito [Phone: (415) 332.3871] on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 @ 6 PM.

@LibLarge reports that Marin County rock history may get new chapter if legendary Sweetwater reopens as nonprofit nightclub. An old friend of Maven points out that Sweetwater has always been a non-profit.

Sign of the times from @Ash_Craigslist: Unemployed in Marin – A networking group is forming at Aromas in San Rafael on this Wednesday, June 10th at 4pm.

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Confessions of a Convention Virgin Edition

marinmaven — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:10:25 +0000

Your Maven will be waking in the early morning tomorrow to trek over to the Sacramento Convention Center to attend the California Democratic Convention 2009. I do all this for you, my gentle readers, so you do not have to. Plus, I got myself a press pass, so I just gotta go and break hard news stories.

Things got started today, but it since I haven’t arrived nothing of consequence will happen. @venice4change observes that next to Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown looks like John Mccain. Ouch!

Jerry Brown vs. Gavin Newsom

This race will be my lesser-Sophie’s Choice between my most favoritist California Governor evah and a very pretty young mayor who had the balls to throw down the gauntlet down to support gay and lesbian rights.

Oh why can’t they be co-Governors? Sigh.They would be just like Batman and Robin, don’t you think?

So I am going on a hunt for a Governor to endorse.

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Spring F@$*&#! Forward Edition

marinmaven — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:55:49 +0000

That’s Right, Spring F@$*&#! Forward

On 2 a.m. on March 8, 2009, we will be forced by the powers that be to turn our clocks an hour ahead and lose one hour of precious sleep. Maven does this under protest every year and it takes about 6 months to get used to it. Longer days are great if you are young and on Summer vacation. If you are a working adult, darkness is a great excuse to collapse in bed for much needed sleep. Spring Forward is also a precursor to Marin’s outrageously hot Summers.

Marinites Get A New Pimpin’ Ride

People are aflutter about a new luxury bus service from Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation of San Francisco. This service leaves twice in the morning from Larkspur Landing by the EO Trading Company Restaurant and on one of those trips makes a stop in Mill Valley at the Manzanita Park and Ride. They drop off commuters to the Ferry Building. The buses run on bio-diesel, features wifi and breakfast. Each seat has a table where you can either eat or work on your laptops with access to A/C plugs. A Marin Maven Twitter operative (Yes, Maven is on Twitter! Come by and follow me!) says this service which offers free rides till Friday, March 13th (egads two Friday, the 13ths in a row?) is still rough around the edges. The Wifi is good, but the seats were “meh” due to lack of leg room. According to the operative the ride is worth $4 bucks, not $8. Time to add massauses in the morning and alcoholic beverages in the evening.

A Sad Goodbye

Another Twitter operative reminds us that today is the last day of Noonan’s Brewery and Restaurant in Larkspur Landing. Try to make it over there and pay your respects.

The ‘Marin Assassin’ Emerges Victorious

When Maven was a little girl there are memories of watching boxing on the TeeVee when Howard Cosell used to do color on ABC Sports. Yet, boxing seems very much of the depression era ala Lewis vs. Schmeling (1938). It is only fitting that we have boxing at the Marin Civic Center with Marin’s own Paul Nave during what is turning out to be Depression Redux. Congrats to Paul Nave for beating a foe from SoCal. NorCal represent!

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