OH BOY

I was on my way out the door yesterday when Harry McColgan walked into City looking very dapper in his top coat and fedora hat. He was fresh off the plane from Florida so I turned around and we had a good little catch up on the doings in sunny Fort Lauderdale. I'm looking forward to the rest of the team arriving as Christmas week unfolds in lovely downtown Noho.

Today at 4:00 pm, with no fanfare, City Cafe changed hands. Tim Driscoll handed over the keys to John Riley and Tully McColgan. When I stopped by tonight, John Riley himself was unexpectedly behind the bar. I know Tully of course, but I've never spoken to John before despite his long tenure at Fitzwillys. He's a nice guy with a good barside manner and he clearly knows his business.

The bar was quiet because the regulars all had Christmas parties but Tim was still there and it was nice to see Martin Carrera of la VeraCruzana who dropped by to wish them well. The vibe was totally positive and I left feeling okay about the changeover.

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Since I'm on the subject of men, I want to send a belated welcome back to Pete Guithier at DrugWarRant who leapt off his sick bed and jumped back into the drug war news while I'm been off on my tangents.

I've never met Pete but I've come to care about him like a friend I know well and I'm glad to see he's feeling better. He's been one of my biggest supporters and often speaks my thoughts more eloquently than I can myself. Not to mention that we both endorsed Kunich practically simultaneously.

He pretty much speaks for me on the important news of last week. Check out his take on John Walters dangerous lies to well heeled neo-con contributors and his commentary on the landmark 9th Circuit decision on medical marijuana.

My favorite development however, was the Jesse Ventura interview on his show called America. The transcript is great reading and Pot TV now has the video archived on their site.

If you have 24 minutes, the video is great. I've never seen Jesse live before, but he's got quite a personality and a very reasonable stance on the war against cannabis consumers.