The city of Mountain View gets to vote next week on whether to permit a Home Depot superstore at the old Emporium site on El Camino at Highway 85. The people who live behind this building are up in arms, but get over it. There is no better place for a Home Depot than this anywhere in the area. Heck you could build a freeway offramp for this one store to manage the traffic. And let them close down the small and aging Sunnyvale store; which I'm sure is in Home Depot's master plan. I'll give another reason for all my Mountain View friends to consider. When there's an HD nearby, home values tend to go up because doh, people like to improve their homes. Even though I would probably be one of their better customers I can't vote on it because this is only for Mountain View residents. And just like the BART fiasco this is a regional issue, not one that only affects one city. One can always hope they'll get it right but the arguments against it are emotional so they probably won't. That's OK. I'm still close enough to get to the Santa Clara store if I need to. In Mtn. View, you're closest to East Palo Alto. Honey, where's the flak jacket? I've got to buy a light fixture. Need any crack while I'm out?

In all fairness that image of East PA is several years old and everything has changed. Just like Alviso, there can be no islands of isolated communities living in poverty while Silicon Valley tries to exploit every last acre of space. They've both practically been assimiliated in the last couple of years. Network row along 237 is awesome considering it wasn't there 5 years ago. East PA is a shopping mecca. Who woulda' thunk?

Let's kill two birds with one stone. Our detainees in Cuba are rebelling because we're not sensitive enough to their religious needs. Get off it. We're gonna' rip your friggin' fingernails out of the sockets. You think this is a vacation in the tropics? Well OK. Maybe so. But if it's any solace, we've got a bunch of horny priests to keep you company...