At last night's Sonoma City Council meeting my appeal of the Planning Commission's approval for a use permit allowing Williams-Sonoma to hold 15 events with as many as 80 guests in the garden at their retail location was upheld. This decision has an effect on Williams-Sonoma,... Continue
Columnist
The recent GOP debate made me want to vomit. That the state of American politics has fallen so deeply into a trench of ignorance is appalling, and leaves me feeling embarrassed and ashamed. Outright lies, intentional deception, bloated arrogance, false piety; all these and more... Continue
Last week, hundreds of grassroots meet-ups for Bernie Sanders for President were held from coast to coast, with nearly 100,000 participants registered to confer on how to get Senator Bernie Sanders to be the Democratic Party nominee for the presidency. These live-stream meet-ups are sponsored... Continue
“It's almost impossible for people to change alone. We need to join with others who will push us in our thinking and challenge us to do things we didn't believe ourselves capable of.” Frances Moore Lappe, American author and social change activist, “Diet for a... Continue
Impact investing is "a pretty radical departure from how we've funded nonprofit organizations in the past," said Ian Galloway, Senior Research Associate with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. During Galloway's recent presentation to the Association of Fundraising Professionals Wine Country Chapter, he explained... Continue
Airbnb has ignited a firestorm of opinion pro-and-con regarding its facilitation of rentals of residential property for commercial purposes, even when that property is zoned for residential use only. The overnight or short-term rental of virtually anything is a commercial activity; money changes hands and... Continue
If the news of the American who killed, decapitated and skinned Cecil the lion turned your stomach, you know it’s time to ban hunting. Sadly, in his desire to reduce gun violence after each massacre du jour, our President occasionally considers it necessary to say... Continue
"Climate's capacity to inflict misery rises steeply when imperial arrogance and ideology hinder a society's adjustments to extreme weather." Eugene Linden - The Winds of Change Four years into persistent drought, California is now being told an El Niño is forming in the Pacific, and... Continue
As a public service, let’s examine popular fantasies about the utility of guns for self-defense, in case you’ve had just about all the common sense you can stand for one day. Fact: Every martial artist learns that the ultimate weapon is Surprise, with which the... Continue
It seems as if human beings are on the brink of knowing everything. Ours is the history of accumulated knowledge, beginning with fire and now extending to exoplanets circling suns many thousands of light-years distant. We've jumped from one understanding to the next, each built... Continue