First Cuppa Coffee – April 18, 2012: There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute Edition

Tony Young’s WalMart folly…Last year WalMart came to town and threw a bunch of money around to undermine a proposed local regulation requiring impact reports prior to the construction of Superstores. WalMart promised all kinds of things, like a dozen new stores in the region and job, jobs, jobs. Their “go to” guy on the City Council was Tony Young, who told anybody that would listen about how WalMart was going to bring jobs and prosperity to the neighborhoods he represents.  Last week we told you that the jobs promised in the construction of the sole WalMart (for San Diego) on the site of the old Sherman Heights farmers market actually were all imported from Orange County.

The community, betrayed… Yesterday, residents of the area were shocked to discover construction crews were bulldozing the historic building on the WalMart site. People interviewed by KPBS this morning said that they felt betrayed; at community meetings prior to the start of construction, WalMart never mentioned destroying the existing structure. Responding to calls from concerned residents, a City inspector showed up at the site late yesterday and discovered that required permits for the project had not been posted.

Human chain preventing demolition crew from going into site of demolition, Wed, April 18, 2012. Photo by Lorena Gonzalez.

The community fights back… Locals organized a demonstration for 6 am this morning hoping to halt construction.  The City inspector promised he’d return this morning to make sure that needed permits were posted.  There was no word on whether Councilman Young would show up to make more promises on WalMart’s behalf.

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White supremacists don green robes for Earth Day… A reasonable looking twenty-something white guy appeared on my TV screen during NBC San Diego’s 6pm news; it  certainly seemed like an ad for some environmental group.  After all, Earth Day is this weekend. Then ‘the pitch’ oozed out of the screen, talking about how immigrants have an environmental impact five times greater than native born (white) Americans… Even my 15 year old daughter looked up from Tumblr long enough to say, “What’s he talking about?”

Welcome, San Diego, to the world of CAPSWEB.org., a well funded breeding ground for xenophobic environmentalism, based just up the coast in Santa Barbara.  These folks are the suit and tie (or loafer and jeans) 21^st century version of what White Power has come to look like.  They’ve got studies. They’ve got lawyers. They’ve got money. And they’ve made a major media buy in San Diego and other cities to persuade you that they are ‘reasonable people, with science on their side’.

I’m not gonna waste bandwidth debating about the issue of immigration or the credibility of CAPSWEB here. Do what I did. Google them. Use their TV ads as a teachable moment. See what CityBeat had to say about them the last time they polluted our airwaves. Learn about how right wing hate groups are posing as environmentalists to fan fears of immigrants overrunning the United States.  See the connections between all these reasonably named peddlers of hate around the country.

Let’em know that it’s wrong, period… As Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young once sang, “Teach your children well”. Take a few minutes to express yourself on NBC San Diego’s Facebook page. (Use the message button) I’m sure they’ll have some weak sauced explanation about their complicity with hate; they’ll reference the First Amendment, and talk about the marketplace of ideas. Fact is nobody from the government’s telling you not to run the ads. This is about doing the right thing, and when you mix this kind of advertising with your news, you’re sending a message that infers credibility. It ain’t right and you ought to know better.

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NRA convention craziness… Rocker Ted Nugent has earned himself the scrutiny of the Secret Service, and it doesn’t have anything to do with prostitutes in Columbia.  Speaking with the press at the National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis last week, he told reporters that he would be “dead or in jail by this time next year” if President Barack Obama is re-elected.  At other points in the interview, he compared Obama and his administration to “coyotes” that needed to be shot and encouraging voters to “chop [Democrats’] heads off in November.” One thing for sure, regardless of his status next year, Nugent will continue to be remembered as a dumb ass.

Speaking of dumb asses… Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council — a hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center — has gone public in connecting the Secret Service prostitution scandal to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Huh?