Politics

Dirty Tricks Fly in San Diego’s District 4 City Council Special Election

March 17, 2013 by Doug Porter

Part One of a three part series: Setting the Scene

There’s a special election coming up in San Diego on March 26th to pick a City Council person to represent the residents of District 4. Ho-Hum. Expect low voter turnout. Nobody cares, right?

Somebody cares. Somebody cares enough to send out smear mailers from a shadowy group trying to discredit progressive candidate Myrtle Cole. It’s getting nasty out there.
smear mailer

Voters in the 4th District are getting mail from a group called ‘San Diego County Voters for Progress and Reform’. Last they were heard of was last fall when they funneled $25,000 from California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee of Los Angeles in support of the failed city council candidacy of Republican Ray Ellis.

The mailers have the City of San Diego official seal at the top of the page and on the front of envelope. In bold type with a bright red background they say “Urgent City Message to Residents… Open Immediately”.

Read the full article → 0 comments

In America We Have the Power to Change (Thoughts of Freedom)

March 12, 2013 by Ernie McCray

Freedom. What a concept, huh? One of the sweetest words in the world’s vocabulary.

I learned a long time ago that the pursuit of freedom will make one do almost anything. Sometimes in the spur of a moment. I used to love to hear my maternal grandfather tell about how he woke up one day on a sharecropper’s plot of land in Hawkinsville, Georgia, thinking to himself, “God, I don’t know what all is out there in this world but I just know You created something better than this.”

At about the same time “big boss man” came riding up on his horse rallying what were supposed to be “free men” to the fields, “yelling and spitting tobacco every which-a-away” my grandfather would say and the next thing he knew he had snatched the man off his horse, gave him the ass-kicking of his life and then ran for that very life until he reached the Gulf of Mexico – to what, he didn’t know. He just knew he had to be free.

I thought of him a little while back at a forum at the Malcolm X Library that featured four of a group of people who stand tall in my mind and soul: The Freedom Riders. Yvette Porter, of the Walter J. Porter Educational & Community Foundation, brought them to town.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Obama’s End Game: Not With A Bang But a Neoliberal Whimper?

March 11, 2013 by Jim Miller
Thumbnail image for Obama’s End Game: Not With A Bang But a Neoliberal Whimper?

Well after all the bluster coming from the Democratic camp about President Obama’s “upper hand” leading into the sequester showdown, it turns out he had no game at all. The result: score another one for the Tea Party who got to take a hatchet to government spending and hold the line on taxes. As I wrote after the “Fiscal Cliff” showdown:

Grover Norquist is happy. After the fiscal cliff deal was passed in the House, he pointed out that Obama blinked on his $250,000 line in the sand on taxes and that, by locking in the Bush tax cuts for 98% of Americans, the Democrats’ ability to defend the legacy of the New Deal has been greatly diminished. He’s right.

And now Grover and company are even happier as the Republicans just said no to more taxes and let the ax fall indiscriminately on government spending. The “liberal media” may think badly of them and their national approval rating may be in the toilet but they simply don’t give a rat’s ass because they are winning nonetheless.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Fake Video About San Diego ACORN Yields $100,000 Settlement; Wingnuts Continue Their Defamation of Group

March 8, 2013 by Doug Porter

okeefeYou’d think the right wingers would give it a rest. But the myth of the evil-doers at ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) continues to live.

Four separate investigations by various state and city Attorneys General and the GAO released in 2009/2010 cleared ACORN of any illegal activities. Law enforcement officials found its employees had not engaged in criminal activities and that the organization had managed its federal funding appropriately. Videos purporting to show illegal activities were found to have been deceptively and selectively edited to present the workers in the worst possible light.

So it’s with some small satisfaction that former members of that group were in a celebratory mood yesterday after court documents were released revealing that James O’Keefe, the conservative activist whose hidden-camera stings were at the center of the controversy, agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former employee of ACORN.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Why Can’t Mayor Filner Just Be Nicer? Corporate News as Propaganda, San Diego Style

March 5, 2013 by Jim Miller

corporate mindAs the historic battle between Mayor Filner and San Diego’s big hoteliers over the tourism marketing deal unfolds, it’s clear where the lines are drawn.

On one side, you have a new strong mayor who is committed to ending business as usual in San Diego and on the other, you have folks like Terry Brown, chairman of the San Diego Tourism Marketing Association who, as Matt Potter at The San Diego Reader has pointed out, is a big time Republican funder as are the crew of business lobbyists, real estate developers, and San Diego Taxpayer Association types who have miraculously found they can love a tax after it has transubstantiated into a fee and serves as a giveaway to corporate interests.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Reflections from a Rally at the Hilton Mission Valley

March 4, 2013 by Ernie McCray
Thumbnail image for Reflections from a Rally at the Hilton Mission Valley

Much has been made of Bob Filner crashing the City Attorney’s news conference a little while ago but we shouldn’t forget that in that flurry of feistiness he pointed out that there are people among us, fellow citizens, family, friends, you name them, who are paid tacky wages. Like hotel workers.

He made it clear that the tourist industry isn’t going to ply their trade with $30 million dollars of the city’s money unless they pay hotel workers what they deserve.

How refreshing is that, a mayor for the people, a man standing up for the folks who make visitors to “America’s Finest City” comfortable and well fed, with nice pools for a swim on well manicured hotel grounds. These people get out and about town and spend money by the ton and the people who added so much to the fineness of their stay don’t get anywhere near their fair share of this bounty.

Read the full article → 0 comments

The Sequester and the Tea Party Plot

March 1, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for The Sequester and the Tea Party Plot

By Robert Reich /RobertReich.org

Imagine a plot to undermine the government of the United States, to destroy much of its capacity to do the public’s business, and to sow distrust among the population.

Imagine further that the plotters infiltrate Congress and state governments, reshape their districts to give them disproportionate influence in Washington, and use the media to spread big lies about the government.

Finally, imagine they not only paralyze the government but are on the verge of dismantling pieces of it.

Far-fetched?  Perhaps. But take a look at what’s been happening in Washington and many state capitals since Tea Party fanatics gained effective control of the Republican Party, and you’d be forgiven if you see parallels.

Read the full article → 3 comments

Sequestration will cut Meals on Wheels because old people don’t need to eat

February 27, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for Sequestration will cut Meals on Wheels because old people don’t need to eat

by Kaili Joy Gray/ Daily Kos

While House Republicans are busy focusing on super important things like the size of the Democrats’ email list, here’s another little program that’s about to be hit hard by the sequestration: Meals on Wheels, the program that delivers food to the homes of seniors in need.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Conservatives Drink Bud, Liberals Drink Heineken?

February 27, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for Conservatives Drink Bud, Liberals Drink Heineken?

The new science of ideology now extends to consumer choices, demonstrating how unconscious political viewpoints really are.

By Chris Mooney / AlterNet

It was probably inevitable, but it’s striking nonetheless. In a new study published in the journal Psychological Science, Vishal Singh of New York University’s Stern School of Business and his colleagues apply an ever-growing body of research on the psychological traits of liberals and conservatives to their consumer choices.

Read the full article → 2 comments

San Diego and the TMD

February 27, 2013 by Andy Cohen
Thumbnail image for San Diego and the TMD

from the San Diego Free Press

It’s time for the San Diego City Council to work within the law instead of desperately searching for ways around it.

Can’t we all just get along?—Rodney King

On Monday the San Diego City Council heard comments on the city’s Tourism and Marketing District. You might have heard about it in recent weeks, because it’s been the source of a lot of controversy down at City Hall.

The TMD became a major news item last week when Mayor Bob Filner crashed a news conference called by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. Let’s just say that the two men don’t agree on a whole lot, and the exchange was one of the more entertaining political back and forth’s in San Diego history.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Gormlie Gives Historical Society Presentation on History of OB Planning Board

February 25, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for Gormlie Gives Historical Society Presentation on History of OB Planning Board

By Brittany Bailey

Frank Gormlie, Editor of the OB Rag and one of the editors of the San Diego Free Press, gave a presentation at Thursday’s meeting – Feb 21 – of the Ocean Beach Historical Society. Gormlie, who was raised in Ocean Beach and has been a community activist for years, gave insight and firsthand knowledge about the history of the Ocean Beach Planning Board- the first democratically-elected planning board in the State.

The meeting was held at 7pm at the United Methodist on Sunset Cliffs Blvd. The house was packed with many standing at the back. There was a brief introduction by Pat James, the chair of the OB Historical Society, and then Gormlie took the stage with a skit – complete with props and funny voices–

Read the full article → 10 comments

A History of Community Planning in Ocean Beach

February 21, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for A History of Community Planning in Ocean Beach

Editor: Here is a series of articles about the history of community planning in Ocean Beach going back to the Sixties and Seventies. It is not a complete history, but does offer up an early history of the OB Planning Board, the Ocean Beach Precise Plan, the planning crisis that faced the community in the early 1970s, and OB’s response – which by the middle of that decade – made California history.

The Battle Over the Ocean Beach Precise Plan- how urban planning became a democratic process and how OB was saved (here)

  • an introduction to the story about OB’s historic battle over the Precise Plan and about the fight to make urban planning a democratic process – which in the end directly saved Ocean Beach from over-development, enabling it to be the quaint village it is today.
Read the full article → 2 comments

Papa Doug Manchester On Reports He Wants to Buy LA Times: ‘All a misunderstanding’

February 13, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Papa Doug Manchester On Reports He Wants to Buy LA Times: ‘All a misunderstanding’

There were all kinds of rumors and media reports swirling yesterday about Papa Doug Manchester – the owner of the U-T San Diego – wanting to buy the LA Times and its mother company, the Tribune Company.

Doug Porter – over at San Diego Free Press – was on top of the story yesterday, and today I asked him for an update, and here’s what he sent me via email:

I’m shocked to discover that Doug Manchester can’t afford a heading aid. His minions over at the UT are now saying that Papa Doug ‘misunderstood’ a question asked of him as he spoke to a room full of Republican ladies. So this deal isn’t gonna happen. Or,more likely,he got laughed out the room.

Read the full article → 0 comments

50 American Leaders Risk Arrest Today – Feb. 13th – in Front of White House to Protest Lack of Action Against Climate Change

February 13, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for 50 American Leaders Risk Arrest Today – Feb. 13th – in Front of White House to Protest Lack of Action Against Climate Change

Sierra Club – for first time – to participate in civil disobedience that includes RFK Jr

From EcoWatch / February 13, 2013

Fifty American leaders—including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Waterkeeper Alliance), Michael Brune (Sierra Club), Bill McKibben (350.org), Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. (Hip Hop Caucus), civil rights legend Julian Bond, actress Daryl Hannah, and others —will risk arrest today in front of the White House to demonstrate the depth of their support for decisive action against climate change. For the first time in its 120-year history, the Sierra Club will participate in this civil disobedience action to convey the severity and urgency of action on climate.

Read the full article → 0 comments

The Predictable Demise of the Plaza de Panama Plan

February 13, 2013 by Andy Cohen

Plaza de Panama Entry RenderingThe San Diego City Council arrogantly and knowingly ignored its own laws in supporting the planned Balboa Park renovation.

By Andy Cohen / San Diego Free Press

Last week Judge Timothy Taylor ruled that the proposed Balboa Park redevelopment plan put forward by the Irwin Jacobs sponsored Plaza de Panama Committee violated city law and could not move forward.

Read the full article → 2 comments

Protest the Keystone Pipeline at Mission Bay – Sunday, February 17th

February 11, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for Protest the Keystone Pipeline at Mission Bay – Sunday, February 17th

San Diego Joins National Protest Against Keystone XL

A number of prominent environmental organizations and groups have come together to organize a San Diego protest against the Keystone Pipeline and to fight against climate change – joining groups nation-wide for a day of action.

Groups such as SanDiego350.org, Citizens Climate Lobby, Sierra Club San Diego, Environmental Health Coalition, Women Occupy San Diego, and many other organizations are planning a rally on Sunday, Feb. 17th, at the Mission Bay Park Visitors’ Center, in east Mission Bay, near the I-5 freeway. Protesters are being asked to wear all-black.

Protests are also happening in Los Angeles , San Francisco and other cities across the country. The pipeline is designed to carry dirty tar sands oil from Canada to the U.S.
San Diego speakers include:

  • San Diego Mayor Bob Filner,
Read the full article → 6 comments

Noam Chomsky: The Paranoia of the Superrich and Superpowerful

February 5, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for Noam Chomsky: The Paranoia of the Superrich and Superpowerful

By Noam Chomsky, David Barsamian / RSN – TomDispatch / Feb 4, 2013

This piece is adapted from “Uprisings,” a chapter in Power Systems: Conversations on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to U.S. Empire, Noam Chomsky’s new interview book with David Barsamian (with thanks to the publisher, Metropolitan Books). T
________

Does the United States still have the same level of control over the energy resources of the Middle East as it once had?

The major energy-producing countries are still firmly under the control of the Western-backed dictatorships. So, actually, the progress made by the Arab Spring is limited, but it’s not insignificant. The Western-controlled dictatorial system is eroding. In fact, it’s been eroding for some time.

Read the full article → 0 comments

BREAKING NEWS: Court Rules Against City and Jacob’s Plan. Balboa Park Is Saved … at least for now

February 4, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for BREAKING NEWS: Court Rules Against City and Jacob’s Plan. Balboa Park Is Saved … at least for now

UPDATE: Councilman Kevin Faulconer Not Happy With Court Ruling (see inside)

By Save Our Heritage Organization

After a two-year battle, Save Our Heritage Organization is ecstatic about its major legal victory made final today when Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor ruled today that the City Council violated municipal law and used faulty logic last July in approving the Plaza de Panama Committee plan to build a massive bridge and freeway-style road off the iconic Laurel Street/Cabrillo Bridge, …

Read the full article → 0 comments

The Battle for the Soul of the Democratic Party Continues

January 28, 2013 by Jim Miller

faceoff

In the wake of President Obama’s electoral victory and inauguration much of the political analysis has been about the continued chaos inside the Republican Party. With some establishment conservative figures openly questioning whether it was good for the party to continue to be dominated by the hard right, some in progressive circles have been downright giddy, as they have watched the circular firing squad proceed. While this is surely entertaining sport, the more important battle may be happening inside the Democratic Party.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Entreaty to Politico Spouses

January 16, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for Entreaty to Politico Spouses

By Mic Porte

Please, please let your politico spouse
Do some decoration at the house!

Choose the new towels or buy kitchen tiles
Instead of re-development contractor files.

Pharaohs made mortgaged slaves build lasting pyramids, yes,
But destroyed their society and land in the process.

Like human locusts, they devoured the land;
All that’s left now is the pyramids and sand.

Read the full article → 0 comments

The Widder Curry at Mayor Bob Filner’s State of the City Address

January 16, 2013 by Judi Curry
Thumbnail image for The Widder Curry at Mayor Bob Filner’s State of the City Address

When I received my invitation to attend the “State of the City” address by our new mayor, I was really jazzed. I had attended a fund raiser for Bob Filner a few weeks before the election and enjoyed talking to him and having my picture taken with him. (I still think it is the best picture he has ever taken!) I met Bob Filner many years ago – many times – when I was a teacher, an administrator and an assistant professor. I was always impressed with him, even though at times I thought he was gruff.

When I arrived at the event, I saw other reporters from the San Diego Free Press, like Andy Cohen and Ernie McCray, so I decided that I could not approach my article as a “reporter’s report.”

Read the full article → 3 comments

Facing America’s Economic Inequality: What Would We Do Without Wishful Thinking?

January 15, 2013 by Jim Miller

class-warIn last week’s column I noted how the tax increases on the 1% included in the “fiscal cliff” deal amounted to little more than the political equivalent of a love tap for the rich because upper income tax rates remain much closer to their historic lows than to their mid-twentieth century highs.

This is disheartening because, as the political narrative shifts toward some form of austerity in the name of deficit reduction, our country’s historically high level of economic inequality remains deeply entrenched and there simply will not be enough revenue to engage in a robust progressive program centered around “nation building at home” as President Obama likes to say.

In sum, the unemployment crisis and other key social and economic needs will take a back seat to deficit reduction and the battles will not be about whether an austerity agenda is the right course for America but rather what form of austerity program we should pursue.

Read the full article → 0 comments

It Costs 1 Million Dollars to Shut Down a Legal Medical Marijuana Dispensary

January 14, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for It Costs 1 Million Dollars to Shut Down a Legal Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Matthew Davies is facing years in prison after the Justice Department shut his medical marijuana operation down, which was perfectly legal under California state law.

AlterNet / By Alex Kane

The case of a medical marijuana dispensary owner who is being hounded by the Justice Department is just the latest highlight in America’s absurd and destructive drug war. And as The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf points out, the combination of shutting down the business and prosecuting the owner of the company will cost upwards of a million dollars.

Read the full article → 4 comments

A Cultural Comparison Between Gun Violence in America and Europe – a Three Part Series

January 10, 2013 by Source
Thumbnail image for A Cultural Comparison Between Gun Violence in America and Europe – a Three Part Series

biblegunsEditor: John Lawrence, a regular writer for San Diego Free Press, has teamed up with Frank Thomas, a nationally-known progressive researcher, to lay out a Cultural Comparison between gun violence in America and Europe, in a three part series, all reposted below.

By John Lawrence and Frank Thomas

Introduction

While US gun crime and all crime levels are slowly but almost imperceptibly declining, they still remain relatively astronomically high compared with Europe. In this article, we compare US and European levels of gun violence and gun control to see if we can make any sense of the gun debate in the wake of the increasing frequency of mass murders as well as the almost mundane everyday killings in urban areas like Chicago and Detroit. Frank is an ex-pat who has lived in Europe for over 30 years. John has lived in San Diego for over 40 years.

Read the full article → 2 comments

Obama’s Fiscal Cliff “Victory”: Winning a Battle in the Midst of Losing the War?

January 7, 2013 by Jim Miller
Thumbnail image for Obama’s Fiscal Cliff “Victory”: Winning a Battle in the Midst of Losing the War?

Grover Norquist is happy. After the fiscal cliff deal was passed in the House, he pointed out that Obama blinked on his $250,000 line in the sand on taxes and that, by locking in the Bush tax cuts for 98% of Americans, the Democrats’ ability to defend the legacy of the New Deal has been greatly diminished. He’s right.

As David Horsey recently pointed out:

[T]he mandarin of the anti-tax movement, Grover Norquist, is coming out of this showdown with a big smile on his face, which should make Democrats wonder if their “victory” is a bit of an illusion. Norquist has kept Republicans in line for years by making them take his pledge to never, ever raise taxes.

Read the full article → 3 comments

Duke Cunningham released to halfway house in New Orleans

December 21, 2012 by Source

Former Congressman out of prison after 8 years

By Greg Moran / Enron by the Sea

Former Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who has been in federal prison since admitting to taking bribes, has been transferred to a halfway house in New Orleans for the final few months of his prison term.

Cunningham, 71, was transferred from the federal prison in Tucson, Ariz., on Dec. 5, according to Edmond Ross, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Read the full article → 1 comment

← Older Articles

Newer Articles →