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Doonesbury In the News – Day #2

 Source  March 13, 2012  5 Comments on Doonesbury In the News – Day #2

Since the right-wing and their attendant press refuse to run Doonesbury all week because Gary Trudeau is focusing the strip on women’s reproductive rights, we have decided to run them – all week. Here is Day No. 2.

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San Diego Voices from the Rally for Women’s Rights on International Women’s Day

 Source  March 8, 2012  5 Comments on San Diego Voices from the Rally for Women’s Rights on International Women’s Day

Editor: Our good friend Eugene talked to some of the women who took part in a rally downtown today, in front of the San Diego Federal Courthouse, about issues that are affecting women right now.

All videos by Eugene Davidovich

Come inside for Eugene’s Video interviews…

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House Lawmakers Offer Bill to Repeal NDAA’s Indefinite Detention of Americans

 Source  March 8, 2012  0 Comments on House Lawmakers Offer Bill to Repeal NDAA’s Indefinite Detention of Americans

By Michael McAuliff / Huggington Post / March 8, 2012

WASHINGTON — A pair of lawmakers on Thursday offered a bill that would repeal laws that allow the indefinite detention of Americans and others by the military without trial.

The power of military authorities to arrest and jail people …

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Why Can’t You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs

 Source  March 8, 2012  14 Comments on Why Can’t You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs

By Lee Fang / AlterNet / March 7, 2012

Why we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses.

John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.

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Controversy Around Fish and Game Commissioner for Shooting Mountain Lion Exposes Cultural Shift in California

 Source  March 8, 2012  3 Comments on Controversy Around Fish and Game Commissioner for Shooting Mountain Lion Exposes Cultural Shift in California

By Paul Rogers / MercuryNews.com / March 3, 2012

Hunters and environmentalists don’t often agree.

But there’s no dispute between them on one thing: This week’s sizzling controversy over whether a top California wildlife official should be removed from his post for shooting a mountain lion in Idaho is about much more than mountain lions.

It’s the latest example of a cultural shift afoot in America’s most populous state — a profound change involving urban and rural, old and young, red and blue — in which the traditional political power of hunters and fishermen is in steady decline while environmentalists and animal rights groups have grown in influence.

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UC Davis Pepper-Spraying Report Delayed

 Source  March 7, 2012  2 Comments on UC Davis Pepper-Spraying Report Delayed

By Larry Gordon / Los Angeles Times / March 7, 2012

An Alameda County Superior Court judge Tuesday temporarily blocked the release of a University of California investigative report about the controversial pepper-spraying of UC Davis student protesters by campus police in November.

Judge Evelio Grillo’s ruling in an Oakland courtroom came at the request of the UC police union. The Federated University Police Officers Assn. contends that state law forbids public disclosure of such information as the names of UC Davis campus police officers involved in the spraying incident and personnel information garnered from interviews with them. The matter is scheduled to return to court on March 16 for a hearing on whether the temporary restraining order should be dropped or a permanent injunction granted.

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OB Woman Re-United With Her Son After Going Through Government Wringer

 Source  March 7, 2012  39 Comments on OB Woman Re-United With Her Son After Going Through Government Wringer

Editor: Here is an update on Larissa Danielli by OB blogger Gail Powell. Larissa, you may recall, was arrested November 3, 2011, in Ocean Beach when she returned to her Cape May apartment to find an adjacent apartment had caught on fire and firefighters had entered her unit. Medical marijuana was found and her troubles exploded. For three months, her young son was taken from her. Larissa has given her side of the story before, yet her travails just stagger the mind.

By Gail Powell

Last year, when a fire consumed the Ocean Beach apartment building where Larissa Danielli and her son, Silas resided, another fire of injustice and persecution started up that very day.

There were terrible consequences suffered by single mom Larissa and her sweet little boy who were doubly victimized by the tragedy that ensued.

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Employers, Government Agencies, and Colleges Are Demanding Applicants’ Facebook Passwords

 Source  March 6, 2012  5 Comments on Employers, Government Agencies, and Colleges Are Demanding Applicants’ Facebook Passwords

By Bob Sullivan / msnbc / March 6, 2012

If you think privacy settings on your Facebook and Twitter accounts guarantee future employers or schools can’t see your private posts, guess again.

Employers and colleges find the treasure-trove of personal information hiding behind password-protected accounts and privacy walls just too tempting, and some are demanding full access from job applicants and student athletes.

In Maryland, job seekers applying to the state’s Department of Corrections have been asked during interviews to log into their accounts and let an interviewer watch while the potential employee clicks through wall posts, friends, photos and anything else that might be found behind the privacy wall.

Previously, applicants were asked to surrender their user name and password, but a complaint from the ACLU stopped that practice last year. While submitting to a Facebook review is voluntary, virtually all applicants agree to it out of a desire to score well in the interview, according Maryland ACLU legislative director Melissa Coretz Goemann.

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San Diego Women to Rally Against Attacks on International Women’s Day – March 8th

 Source  March 6, 2012  11 Comments on San Diego Women to Rally Against Attacks on International Women’s Day – March 8th

Women from all over San Diego County will rally in front of the US Federal Courthouse in San Diego on Thursday, March 8th, to support women’s rights to contraception on International Women’s Day. The rally will be held from noon to 1pm, and the Courthouse is located at 940 Front Street, in downtown San Diego.

The rally will address a number of recent attacks on a woman’s right to contraception and family planning:

  • US Rep. Darrell Issa convenes a hearing about contraception with 5 men on the panel, and no women.
  • Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum touts the “dangers” of contraceptives and that sex is “only for purposes of procreation.”
  • Foster Friess, main donor to a super PAC for Rick Santorum, suggests women use aspirin as a contraception method.
  • Rush Limbaugh, on a national radio show, calls a young woman a slut and prostitute because she speaks out in favor of birth control.
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US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear 2007 Ocean Beach Pier Case of the Hidden Lobster

 Source  March 6, 2012  5 Comments on US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear 2007 Ocean Beach Pier Case of the Hidden Lobster

U.S. Supreme Court move backs game warden power over OB Pier fisherman

By Denny Walsh / Sacramento Bee / March 6, 2012

The claim of an unconstitutional search by a San Diego fisherman who got caught with an out-of-season lobster was rebuffed Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In denying review, the high court let stand a California Supreme Court opinion in June that people who hunt and fish have fewer of the privacy rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.

The state high court granted game wardens the authority to stop, question and search citizens without a warrant or even without probable cause to believe a law has been broken.

All the warden needs, the California court ruled, is knowledge that a person is or has been fishing or hunting.

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Late Monday: CHP Arrests 68 Students for Occupying Capitol Rotunda

 Source  March 5, 2012  4 Comments on Late Monday: CHP Arrests 68 Students for Occupying Capitol Rotunda

Arrests Cap Day-Long Demonstration By California Students Against Cuts to Higher Education

Calif. troopers arrest dozens in state Capitol

By Hannah Drier / Huffington Post / March 5, 2012 08:19 PM PST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Highway Patrol officers arrested dozens of protesters who refused to leave the state Capitol Monday night after repeated warnings, capping off a day of protests over cuts to higher education that saw thousands descend upon Sacramento.

CHP Capt. Andy Manard said police expected the number of people arrested to be 68. They would be charged with trespassing, he said.

Police started pulling out protesters who remained in the Capitol rotunda around 7:30 p.m., more than an hour after they began warning them with a bullhorn to leave. Protesters chanted “We’re doing this for your kids,” as they were lifted up by the arms one-by-one, handcuffed with plastic ties and led them away.

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Thousands of College Students Converge on California Capitol – Hundreds Occupy Inside

 Source  March 5, 2012  6 Comments on Thousands of College Students Converge on California Capitol – Hundreds Occupy Inside

The LA Times is reporting:

Thousands of students and activists marched through Sacramento’s streets and rallied outside the state Capitol on Monday to protest cuts to California’s colleges and universities. …

The plaza on the west side of the Capitol was teeming with protesters during the rally, which was billed as a chance to “occupy the Capitol.” Outside the building, student leaders and top Democrats who voted to slash higher education budgets last year addressed the crowd.

“We’ve cut billions of dollars and I’ve hated every minute of it,” said Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

Sacramento CBS is reporting that about 300 students have moved inside and are now occupying the rotunda. CBS:

Some of the thousands of students protesting at the State Capitol have moved inside and are now occupying the rotunda. About 300 people are inside the rotunda, some sitting on the floor.

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