I was reading Open Salon today, when a member I admire addressed another member I admire by saying, "With all due respect," and I found myself holding my breath, waiting for the slam. Which, actually, didn't come -- it really was just another respectful opinion about that writer's opinion,… Read full post »

I'm heading out today to spend a long 4th of July weekend in Milwaukee, with my sister and our kids and our high school friends. We'll see Lucinda Williams at Summerfest tomorrow night and toast George Carlin, 26 years after I saw him arrested there, with my parents (we'll… Read full post »

I was sorry to see the Obama campaign "reject"  Gen. Wesley Clark's remarks about John McCain on Face the Nation yesterday. I think the context of Clark's remarks mattered (although that's gotten lost in the right wing blogosphere's attacks on Clark). Host Bob Schieffer noted that Obama had ne… Read full post »

I promise not to do this a lot but I still can't get over Fox News calling Michelle Obama Barack Obama's "Baby Mama." I found myself making excuses for them, like: They must have no idea what it means! Right?

I've been in New York for a week and I find it hard to maintain one blog on the road, let alone two. I feel like the point of being there is to spend time with our fantastic New York staff and writing is less important. I did happen… Read full post »

Since we're in beta, we're learning a lot, and one thing I'm learning is that if I'm gonna be everyone's friend, and my last blog post is going to show up on your home page, I really can't leave the same post sitting there for a week or more.… Read full post »

On Wednesday I had a sad moment: It was Nora's last official day of school, and I realized I would never drive her to school again. And I hadn't driven her on Wednesday, either; she had our car, as usual lately, and she just dumped me unceremoniously at the… Read full post »

Oh Thomas, why did you ask this question? I was going to blog about my daughter's last day of  school, and make everybody cry. But now I'm going to scare the bejeezus out of you all instead.

 It was June, summer thunderstorm season, coming back from New York on… Read full post »

I'm not a Peter Magowan fan, though I am grateful he kept the Giants in San Francisco, signed Barry Bonds and built the amazing ballpark at Willie Mays Plaza (I forget what we're supposed to call it now.) Still, I was shocked that the San Francisco Chronicle story… Read full post »

Some of you are veterans/survivors of gnarly Salon letters threads. You all know I've been lamenting the tone there, especially in the Obama-Clinton threads. It's late Friday night, and I've had a breakthrough: In a thread about whether Hillary Clinton should continue her candidacy, I asked whether… Read full post »

I was sad to read this obituary in the New York Times on Tuesday, about the death of Mildred Loving on May 2. Loving, an African American, and her white husband sued to overturn Virginia's ban on interracial marriage, after sheriffs' deputies busted down their door, found them sleeping/… Read full post »

Today we're having champagne in Salon's San Francisco office to toast Ruth Henrich, our associate managing editor, who's been working here for 10 years. That may be a Salon record: While other people may have worked here longer -- founders Gary Kamiya and Laura Miller are still with us/… Read full post »

Sometimes the New York Times has great little local stories that are more illuminating than the entire San Francisco Chronicle, and sometimes the local "color" discovered by the Times turns out to be misleading. I don't know what I will ultimately think of Thursday's story on a rice shortage… Read full post »

It might be OK.

So I went to my first post-Barry Giants game Friday night . I don't count Opening Day, which had bunting and a reunion of the 1958 Giants -- it's 50 years in SF, baby! --  and which they lost.  It was a little depressing at… Read full post »

Both on MSNBC: Rachel Maddow playing off the Philly/Rocky theme, suggesting that Obama wants to be Rocky, but Clinton wants to be Adrian (the girlfriend, remember?) -- chosen by Rocky in the end.  She meant as Obama's running mate, but geesh --  if it had been Chris Matthews, he'd… Read full post »

I'm excited to welcome our private beta testers to Open Salon. Our staff has enjoyed kicking the tires, friending one another and posting fantastic pet photos. We've discovered a lot of talent outside the editorial department. I can't wait to see how more new users will use it.

But I'm like/… Read full post »

I like the way the site has cleaned up, and I can't wait to get more feedback from staff in our private alpha, before opening the doors next week. Please, everybody, tell us what you think!

David Simon is smarter than I am, so I have no real confidence I can predict the wrap. But I do find others' arguments intriguing: it's possible that Carcetti, Rawls and Daniels find some way to cover up what McNulty's done while making McNulty pay -- or maybe he makes… Read full post »

My favorite part of the Oscars was reading Cintra on Salon this morning. I also liked Tilda Swinton, even though I didn't think she should have won. Her Hefty Garbage Bag smock was delightful, and I liked her flirty comments about George Clooney (as well as Oscar's buttocks.). What can I… Read full post »

Would it be OK if I spent Presidents' Day weekend NOT thinking about the presidential race?

Probably not.

This video I did for Current about the Latino vote in California may still be relevant when the campaign gets to Texas!

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Obama was very strong on the war, and I liked their last go-round about the vice presidential nomination. I felt very reassured to see them smile and clutch one another's arms (in a friendly way, not in a clinch) afterwards. Candy Crowley is trying to call it a hug, but even…

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