Author: Source

By Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Last New Year’s Eve, while most Americans were out celebrating, President Obama signed into law the most potentially oppressive national security legislation considered in our country since the onset of the war on terror more than 10 years ago. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) includes military detention provisions that, along with the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF), could enable any future president to suspend the right to trial and detain Americans indefinitely in military custody without trial.

If you thought the PATRIOT Act was bad, the NDAA is even worse. It could be used to criminalize any political party or ideology, round up ethnic minorities, enable recurring torture in military custody, or suspend the right to trial for people the government wants to detain (for whatever reason) without having to establish proof of any crime.

By Joe Flynn

Dear Grover Norquist:

Top Ten Reasons why most people would not want government reduced to the size they could drown in a bathtub, as you so smugly recommend.

10. A water main has broken in front of your house, and you don’t have enough water to flush your toilet, let alone, drown anything in the tub.

9. Neighborhood kids have piled rocks in a sewer manhole plugging the line and what appear to be date expired Baby Ruth’s are floating down the street.

8. Your residential neighbor is in the process of constructing a building in his front yard, which coincidentally, blocks your prized view of the ocean.

PENINSULA COMMUNITY PLANNING BOARD AGENDA

3701 Voltaire Street, Point Loma Library
May 17, 2012 – 6:30-9:30 PM

Parliamentary Items

6:30 to 7:00

1. Approval of Agenda – Items subject to change
2. Approval of Meeting Minutes – April 2012 Regular Board meeting
3. Secretary’s Report – Discussion of minutes, format, written sub committee notes, drafted resolutions, etc.
4. Treasurer’s Report – Confirmation of Nancy Graham
5. Chair Report – Appointment to fill John Gott’s vacancy. Website maintenance.

7:00 to 7:15

Non-Agenda Public Comment (3 minutes each speaker)

New/Old Business

Engineer warns that tube plugging and low power operation are risky “non-solutions”

By Friends of the Earth / May 15, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Southern California Edison avoided federal regulatory guidelines when replacing defective steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear power plant — a costly mistake that can’t be fixed by plugging the tubes that carry radioactive steam or by operating the plant at reduced power, according to a new report released today by Friends of the Earth.

The content of the report by nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen details the significant design changes that should have triggered a license review which would have uncovered problems that subsequently led to serious damage and the release of radiation from the defective equipment at San Onofre in January.

By John Lawrence / Will Blog for Food / May 12, 2012

In this article we explore how the price of gas at the pump is determined. This is an opaque subject which has been heaped in layers of obfuscation because the oil companies don’t want you to know what a huge scam they are perpetrating on the American public systematically ripping them off at the gas tank. They want you to think that gas prices are set by immutable, impersonal factors like the “world oil market” over which we have no control nor ever could we.

When the oil company executives went before a Congressional hearing in May 2011 as gas prices hit $4.00 a gallon, Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil, was asked “how are oil prices set?” He responded that they were based on the marginal cost of producing the next barrel of oil. Nothing could be further from the reality of the situation although it would be a worthy aspirational ideal, something to shoot for in a more perfect world.

By Nick R. Martin / TPM / May 10, 2012

At a big news conference in downtown Phoenix on Thursday, the Justice Department’s top civil rights lawyer described Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office as an agency out of control.

“At its core, this is an abuse of power case,” assistant attorney general Thomas Perez said while announcing a massive civil rights lawsuit against the Arizona lawman.

But despite the tough talk, the reality is that little in the sheriff’s office is likely to change anytime soon because, as Perez acknowledged, the lawsuit could take years to resolve.

Editor: This piece by Noam Chomsky demonstrates that he and the OB Rag are on the same page. Our blogger JEC was literally sailing by Cartagena during the summit, and was one of the first American bloggers to report what really happened.

“At the Cartagena summit, the drug war became a key issue at the initiative of newly-elected Guatemalan President Gen. Perez Molina, whom no one would mistake for a soft-hearted liberal.”

By Noam Chomsky / Nation of Change / May 8, 2012

Though sidelined by the Secret Service scandal, last month’s Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, was an event of considerable significance. There are three major reasons: Cuba, the drug war, and the isolation of the United States.

by Meteor Blades / Daily Kos / May 9, 2012

Billionaire money at work: Right-wingers are being urged to cooperate to trash President Obama’s clean energy plans. The approach specifies an attack on wind turbines and provides a list of suggested approaches. So says the Guardian after viewing a confidential memorandum edited by John Droz Jr., a senior fellow at the American Tradition Institute. Senior fellow and climate-change denier.

Droz is a long-time anti-wind activist who claims the technology is unsound and the benefits non-existent. This no doubt will come as a surprise to Iowans, whose state generated 19 percent of its electricity with wind turbines in 2011.

How the battle between the macrobrew behemoths and the craftbrew insurgents reflects a path for America’s troubled economy.

By David Sirota / Salon / May 9, 2012

The grand unifying theory of the American consumer has been that we are, first and foremost, low price fetishists. There’s ample evidence supporting this view: From Wal-Mart’s prominence to the fast food industry’s ongoing success, vast swaths of the economy are indeed built on the premise that buyers will prioritize discounts and quantity over premium prices and quality.

But ever so quietly, we are starting to see the rise and success of a competing vision, one that turns the old assumption on its head.

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / May 10, 2012

Suppose a pollster called you on the phone and asked your opinion about whether a “strong mayor” form of government is a better deal for San Diego than a “city manager” system? Would your answer be: uh…well…hmmm…??

Okay, let’s admit it — most of us don’t pay that much attention to City Hall. And for sure, most of us don’t have a clue about how the switch to a “strong mayor” government (which we voters agreed to seven years ago) has affected daily life in San Diego.

Given that our first strong mayor will soon be replaced by our city’s second strong mayor (Bob Filner? Bonnie Dumanis? Nathan Fletcher? Carl DeMaio?) a few clues about how city government has been faring these last few years might prove helpful when choosing our next mayor. A quick reminder of how we got

Poll shows overwhelming support for proposed ordinance

By Center on Policy Initiatives

San Diego voters – across the city and across the political spectrum – favor fining banks to cover cleanup costs for foreclosed properties that are not maintained.

In a poll conducted last month, 70% of voters who expect to vote in November said they support $1,000-a-day fines for banks that let foreclosed homes become rundown. The opinion research firm Grove Insight surveyed 600 voters in the city by telephone, and found only 14% opposed the idea.

by Lara McCaffrey / Empower San Diego / May 10, 2012

City Council will hold an evening hearing so working persons can attend to address the lack of public participation in San Diego budget making decisions

At the recommendation of a group of more than 40 community-based organizations, the Community Budget Alliance (CBA), the San Diego City Council has agreed to hold its final budget hearing on May 14th at 6PM to encourage people with day jobs to attend. CBA hopes this will encourage future efforts to offer more opportunities for people to get involved with the budget making process.

Increasing citizen participation in budget decisions is a focus of CBA because they feel San Diego’s process lacks constituent input. “If working people are going to go to a city council hearing, they’re not going to be able to go at 2 o’clock in the afternoon,” says Emily Serafy Cox of CBA member organization Empower San Diego. “Evening meetings are a standard procedure for government agencies to get public input–everyone knows that.”