I was glad to see Rick Baum’s Open Forum article, “City College is failing students by not offering enough classes,” on the back page of today’s San Francisco Chronicle. As I showed in an earlier post, Leslie Smith has championed the cause of saving City College--enabling CCSF to carry out its mission--as has Rick, and they have shared their information in meetings she's arranged (and I've attended) with Supervisor Dorsey's legislative aide and Supervisor Melgar's chief of staff. I took the second picture at City Hall on August 17th, so you can see both Leslie and Rick with Supervisor Dorsey's aide Muhanaz Ebadi.

I was particularly impressed by Rick’s use of numbers and comparisons. He points out, for example, that CCSF is offering 1,815 credit classes this fall, while the San Mateo Community College District, with only about 7% more credit students, is offering 2,422—33% more classes. Even more telling are the hundreds of students on waitlists for classes in subjects such as biology, chemistry, and English.

I know that City College has faced very real financial constraints, and there's been disagreement about which ones, if any, have been necessary. This should get attention from the public, city leaders, and the administration. I'll be interested in seeing how they respond.

Rick makes a compelling case for the danger of a downward spiral: when we cut classes, students who can’t get the classes they need go elsewhere; enrollment falls; and falling enrollment then becomes a reason for further cuts.

San Francisco needs a strong, accessible City College. I hope Rick’s article helps bring more attention—and more support—to making that possible.

 

 

Isn't it nice to know that there is quite a large selection of candy that doesn't cause as much harm to animals and the environment as that with milk and eggs?

 

I was so startled to see this sentence in a letter to the editor in the SF Chronicle Friday, August 7, 2026, in response to the  extensive "'Death row' for dogs" reportage:  "The majority of the population does seem to be concerned for animal welfare, as we have strict laws regulating how farm animals are raised." 

 "We have strict laws regulating how farm animals are raised"?   Imagine speaking of "farm animals" rather than "factory farm animals."  Imagine thinking that allowing our factory farm animals enough space to turn around and flap their wings is an example of "strict laws."  And those very weak California animal confinement laws--specifically Prop 2 and 12, which mandate that breeding pigs, veal calves, and egg-laying hens have enough to room to turn around, are being challenged in federal court by the meat industry and through federal legislative maneuvers in Congress! 

Peter Sherman of San Francisco also has a letter on the same day, which is titled "Selective hypocrisy."  

If you’re angry about those dogs being killed at that shelter — and if the Chronicle is going to splash it across its front page — then you’d better be a vegetarian.

Otherwise, the Chronicle and its readers are wallowing in a profound cognitive dissonance. We whip ourselves into a public frenzy over more than 100 dogs whose remains have been recovered — with hundreds of additional transferred animals still unaccounted for — yet blithely turn a blind eye to the millions of equally intelligent, feeling animals slaughtered every single day for our dinner tables. We harm our own hearts and psyches by accepting this mass suffering as totally fine — just so long as we get to pay $5 or $7 a pound. Running headline stories to feed our outrage over a rescue shelter while blithely promoting the daily consumption of farm animals isn’t journalism or morality; it’s selective hypocrisy. 

If you actually care about animal suffering, look at the Chronicle’s story and look at your plate. If you won’t, spare us the moralizing.

Peter Sherman, San Francisco

Of course, there's cognitive dissonance.  Does anyone doubt?

 

Plant Based Chocolates at Target!

 

The Transbay Coalition provided food for us hungry people rallying and seeing legislators in Sacramento yesterday.  What looks like some kind of meat on the little tacos is jackfruit!  I wish I had correctly identified what looked like green beans before I piled them on my plate.  They were jalapeño peppers!  But I am grateful that something plant-based was provided.   

 

𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐓: 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚'𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝟏𝟐

Crammed into tiny, filthy cages. Chained up to tiny stalls. Never seeing sunlight before they’re mercilessly slaughtered. This is the reality that many pigs are facing on factory farms.

Pigs, and other farm animals, are often being forced into these HORRIFYING living conditions because Big Meat and Dairy corporations only see them as a means for profit. With California’s commonsense farm animal protection law under attack, we could see even more cruelty on factory farms.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞 𝟏 𝐨𝐟 𝟏𝟗𝟐 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬?

Vegan and not vegan

At an otherwise wonderful event, you see a table with sandwiches filled mostly with ham and a small sampling of sandwiches filled with egg salad plus a really delicious pasta and veggie salad.  You don't see the ice cream--from cows separated from their calves after giving birth.    Once again a "progressive" organization has failed the animal-welfare-environmental awareness test, and it's ironic that Jodi, the one being honored, is a vegetarian (for health reasons). I'm sure she didn't give it a thought, but of course, I did! I'd met for the first time and really liked a concerned environmentalist who talked a lot on our trip to Sacramento about what we need to do for the environment. When I mentioned diet, I could tell that wasn't on her list. She had a ham sandwich. I had the delicious salad. But one thing I noticed:  There were many more sandwiches with ham than with egg salad leftover at the end of the evening.  Was that because they provided so many more or because a lot of people really do prefer not to eat dead animals whose natural instincts had been suppressed during their lifetime?