First Cuppa Coffee – March 9, 2012 : Nathan Fletcher Learns The Truth Edition

Internet + Social Justice = ????…  The front page of the SDUT runs with a headline about the local connections for Invisible Children; NPR talks about the 44 million viewers that the video “Kony 2012” has racked up in a matter of days; and the story line in play seems to be about just how wonderful it is when the power of the Internet joins forces with a Righteous cause… Only it isn’t quite that simple.

While there seems to be little question that Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army is a bad guy, just about everything after that assumption is being called into question.  While this story is way too complex to adequately cover in a daily column of this sort, The Daily Beast’s Andrew Sullivan has done an impressive job of raising doubts (and giving rebuttal time for supporters) about just what the hell is going on here. It’s not a simple good guys vs. bad guys story; there are nuances and too many unanswered questions…

And then there’s Rush Limbaugh’s defense of the Lord’s Resistance Army—aired last fall after the President ordered military advisers to East Africa to help root them out….  But wait! There’s more! Here’s a video link to Jason Russell, speaking at Liberty University last fall that suggests “Invisible Children” is more about evangelizing than it is about justice…

About that no tax pledge… The Kansas Legislature celebrated International Women’s Day by postponing until Monday hearings on a bill designed to make sure that any women who happen to get abortions are charged that state’s 6.3% sales tax.  Among other provisions in the proposed legislation are measures allowing doctors to withhold from patients medical information that might encourage them to seek an abortion and prohibiting malpractice suits if the woman or the child suffers a health complication as a result of information being withheld.

There’s an amazing photoblog up over at Reuters…. By Erin Seigal, entitled “Los Galgos Guapos” (The Handsome Hounds).  It’s all about life after racing for the American Greyhounds that frequent Tijuana’s Caliente Racetrack. The kennels there hold more than 700 Greyhounds; they race daily. Most are imported from Abilene, Kansas, home of the National Greyhound Association. Caliente is what’s known as a “last stop” track: the place where slow, aging, or otherwise unwanted dogs are brought for their final runs. The amazing photos at this blog are accompanied by an equally amazing story about what happens when they reach the end their runs…. Do read it!

Electric vehicles succeed in San Diego… Over six thousand members have logged 25,000 trips in the three hundred electric rental vehicles now available in the San Diego market since the program was introduced just over three months ago.  No doubt you’ve seen the itty-bitty “car2go” blue & white cars parked around town. Similar programs are already underway in Austin, Texas and Vancouver, B.C.; Portland, Oregon and Washington D.C. are joining the system in the next few weeks.

Truthiness was never Carl’s strong suit… GOP Mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher is learning the hard way that concepts like “truth” and “honesty” have never stood in the way of City Councilman Carl DeMaio’s campaigns. In a posting at conserv blog SDRostra, Fletcher denounced an “anonymous” mailing that targeted his Mayoral bid, saying, “…we all know who was responsible for this—Carl DeMaio.”

He went on to say;

It is fine to call into question someone’s record – I fought in a war, I can defend my record and look forward to a spirited campaign about our city’s future. But, let’s not play adolescent games and be cowardly about it. Let’s be honest.  Let’s be truthful.  And let’s be direct. DeMaio is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.