I am so excited because California is putting this measure before California voters this fall and I want to vote for it. I can't imagine being in Los Angeles within two-and-half hours by train.

I don't know all the details but I am sure the devil is in them. I do know that San Francisco's skyline is about to change as they build a new skyscraper to house the new Transbay terminal.

On this (past) 4th of July,  I listened intently to the reading of the <i>Voices of The People's History of the United States." It was great program because there were actors on stage reading specific passages from Howard Zinn's "The People History of the United States." It is full of stories one might not know or hear in the "official" history the United States.

"Voices" was held and 92nd Street Y in New York City.  It was wonderful to see the words in this book come out of several actors mouths and to life. I like this book because I remember something Howard Zinn wrote about that  has more meaning to me as I learn about my family's history in the United States. Specifically, Mr. Zinn recalls an incident involving U.S. Colored Troops in Zanesville, Ohio. He recounts how, even though they were fighting for the Union,  poorly the colored troops were treated by the citizens of Zanesville.  Mr. Zinn writes that this incident appeared in one of local newspapers of that era.

I never forgot that story because of the members of my family who fought in the War between the States. I will never forget it  because I believe the War forced my great great grandparents to leave Ohio with their daughter, her husband, their children and my great great great grandparent's two youngest sons for the relative safety of Michigan. After the civil unrest, they moved back to Ohio where they went to be with the family as they reached latter stages of life. The daughter her husband, their chidren and one the youngest sons stayed in Michigan.  The second of the two youngest sons moved to Pennsylvania and finally back to Ohio.

It's summer in Baghad by the bay. The fog is fickle and the heat is sometimes hot. You never know what to wear. The Sun usually comes out about noon and only stays for a few hours; and then the fog comes in, heavy like blanket to cover the hills. Given the right conditions, the fog floats just above the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 It's like having air conditioning without paying for it; it's natural and free. A few days during the summer--a San Francisco summer-- the "air conditioning" breaks down and the city by the bay seems like desert. Whew! I can't stand it when it gets too hot; when high pressure sits and spins just off the coast. It like the devil is blowing its' hot breath on San Francisco. The fog becomes a stranger. The sewers start to smell. The air is stagnant and refuses to remove the pollutants and foul smell that whiffs up from the openings on most street corners.

I can't wait 'til the fog comes back. I love San Francisco summers!