Author: Patty Jones

This 60 Minutes video from CBSnews.com was sent to us by a reader.

Stand Down 2010

In the middle of July this last summer, 947 homeless vets walked in to a three day event sponsored by Veterans Village of San Diego.

A safe place, for three days…. 879 of them walked back out and 68, picked by lottery, won a bed in the Veterans Village Treatment Center. It’s wonderful, and sad.

MANY SAN DIEGO EVENTS – LISTED INSIDE

From the 350.org website:
Dear World,

It’s been a tough year: in North America, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; in Asia some of the highest temperatures ever recorded; in the Arctic, the fastest melting of sea ice ever seen; in Latin America, record rainfalls washing away whole mountainsides.

So we’re having a party.

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That’s the date.

D.C. Douglas, a veteran character actor and voice over artist, has produced another in a series of comedic political videos. “Sarah Palin’s Top 10 Tea Party Mamma Grizzlies” is a 4 minute voter’s guide to Sarah Palin’s mid-term Tea Party congress candidate picks.

“I find it best to put all your crazy tea bags into one pot so you can get a real taste of Sarah Palin’s political acumen,” says Mr. Douglas.

Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming – A book review

Having escaped high school by my junior year, passing the California High School Equivalency exam, continuing on to the community college system and gaining enough technical education to get a decent job, I never got much of an education in history or government.

I worked for a company that was owned by a fairly progressive thinking family, manufacturing goods used mainly by environmental agencies and educational institutions. It was gratifying work and allowed me to care for my family in a simple fashion, we didn’t want for much, but we didn’t want much either. I went about my daily life pretty isolated from the issues that affect so many, I had a job, we had health insurance and until that company closed I didn’t really understand how good we had it.

A new sticker that we can relate to.

Tell us what you think about the new sticker put together by the folks at the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, who will be present at the community forum on Tuesday night.

(MORE DETAILS AND ALL LINKS INSIDE)

We had a wonderful turnout – 75 people signed in and signed the civility pledge! It was wonderful to see the packed house, it was standing room only.

Lots of people stood and attested to why they had come, many saying they were frustrated the way the media was portraying the average citizen and that they felt we needed a voice, a sane and civil voice, to be heard on the issues that matter to us all.

We just watched a 10News broadcast that showed the results of poll they did regarding the “Compton Cookout” and whether folks thought the people throwing this party were exercising their right to free speech. I was pretty astounded to see the 53% agreed. My first thought was that anyone who said yes didn’t actually read the invitation, didn’t hear the actual words used to describe this event.

The following was supposedly posted as a Facebook event invitation, read it and tell us whether you think it’s an expression of free speech, or not.
—————–
February marks a very important month in American society. No, i’m not referring to Valentines day or Presidents day. I’m talking about Black History month. As a time to celebrate and in hopes of showing respect, the Regents community cordially invites you to its very first Compton Cookout.

We must be crazy…. but we’re going to give this a shot!

We’re not looking to be another Craig’s List so we’re going to start small with just a few categories:

* Jobs – Help Wanted and Jobs Wanted
* Housing – For Rent and Roommates
* Services – legit services offered by individuals
* Stuff – for sale, for trade, for free!

It’s very simple to post a listing, just post a comment under the section where you want to place an ad. As always, type your name & email address in the appropriate boxes, then type your listing in the comment box. Make sure you include some kind of contact information in the big comment box, the email address you put in the small box IS NOT VISIBLE to the public.

Sometimes some of the scariest news I read is in the business section. This morning, for example, “Johnson & Johnson accused of paying kickbacks, Federal case involves drugs in nursing homes.”

I am getting more and more anti-drug. Or maybe I should say anti-pharma. When I watch television I have to hit the mute button during all the pharmaceutical ads just to drown out the “fine speak,” the hurried, monotone spiel informing consumers of all the possible side effects of the wonder drugs they are trying to promote. What really torques me is that a lot of the time they don’t even say what the drug is supposed to do for you, but inform you to “ask your doctor if it might be right for you.” How many people ask doctors about drugs to treat conditions they don’t even have? Probably more than I would be willing to admit, and those people trust their doctors, don’t they. And they trust their pharmacists to give them the straight dope, right?

Today a good friend sent us a tidbit that he found tucked away in his morgue file, and that got me sidetracked in a real fun way….

Frank has written a lot of historical pieces on Ocean Beach (click on HISTORY up there in the navigation bar, you won’t be sorry) and in my opinion this article needs to be part of the story of the Collier Park Riot. Originally published in the door (another San Diego underground paper) in May of 1972, it tells a bit of the story of our very own EditorDude on that infamous day in March 1971.

It’s the time of year when I really start to dread opening the gas and electric bill. It got cold yesterday, didn’t it? Sometimes, no matter how many layers you wear, you just gotta turn on some heat.

I’ve been reading (with interest) about SDG&E’s intent to change electric rates so people that use less electricity will pay a little more and people that use more will pay a little less. I know this has a lot of people up in arms because they think that those of us that conserve will be hit with rate hikes while the energy hogs will get a break, and to some extent it’s true, but they’re talking about 4-5%, and that’s not going make much difference to most folks. But there are other sides to this issue…

It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for others when called upon to help and today was no exception. This morning I got to meet Jim Dent, the Point Loma electrician who was compelled to help an elderly gentleman who had called him needing some electrical work done. Jim discovered that was just the tip of the iceberg… A call for help went out and the community answered. There is much more work to do and I have no doubt that call will be answered too, but I have to tell you about what happened today.

The group of people that came together this morning was as diverse as it was courageous. Jim had warned everyone in his emails and comments leading up to today’s cleanup that the conditions were bad and he was well prepared, providing everyone with respirator masks and sturdy gloves. As folks showed up he asked that everyone sign in so we could keep track of who had volunteered (we’ll do a more complete report later) and we passed out supplies. Shovels, mops, brooms, trash bags…