Author: Source

By Ed Bruske aka The Slow Cook / La Vida Locavore / Originally published Nov. 17, 2011

First it was potatoes. Now it’s pizza. The processed food industry is reaching out to its friends in Congress to scuttle new USDA guidelines that were supposed to make school meals healthier.

House and Senate negotiators have approved agriculture appropriations language that would allow the tomato paste on pizza to be counted as a vegetable serving under the USDA’s new school meal guidelines. Count this as the result of lobbying efforts by processed food giants ConAgra and Schwan Food.

by Adrian Florido / Voice of San Diego / November 21, 2011

As the weak economy battered families across California, food stamp use nearly doubled since 2006. But in San Diego County, the spike has been even more dramatic. Food stamp use has nearly tripled here.

Despite that jump, recent statistics show that San Diego may still only be getting food stamps to about one-third of the people who qualify for them, offering a glimpse of just how many San Diegans may be struggling to put food on the table.

Late last month, a national backlash forced Bank of America to abandon its plan to charge customers $5 a month to use their debit cards. But Huffington Post reports that the corporation has quietly been mining other sources of fees, preying on its most vulnerable customers to rake in millions in revenue:

By E.J. Dionne /Washington Post — Nation of Change / Originally published Nov. 18, 2011

Here is a surefire way to cut $7.1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. Do nothing.

That’s right. If Congress simply fails to act between now and Jan. 1, 2013, the tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush expire, $1.2 trillion in additional budget cuts go through under the terms of last summer’s debt-ceiling deal, and a variety of other tax cuts also go away.

By Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine / November 20, 2011

Media reform and citizens’ groups have voiced concern over purchase of the San Diego Union-Tribune, a self-proclaimed “watchdog”, by a team led by real estate developer and political activist Doug Manchester. His major pending development projects are the very sorts of deals an independent media outlet would ordinarily report on and investigate.

The acquisition has drawn pointed criticism from both conservative taxpayer advocates and representatives of liberal interest groups.

By Dean Calbreath / SignOnSanDiego / November 21, 2011

A dead 50-foot fin whale could remain beached in a Point Loma cove for the next couple of days, as a removal team waits for favorable tides to help in an effort to transport it to a landfill.

The whale, which was discovered about 2 p.m. Saturday by workers at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, will probably be removed Tuesday or Wednesday, said San Diego Lifeguard Lt. Greg Buchanan. The lifeguard service is coordinating the removal with local and federal agencies.

Editor: We are not content to only read what the San Diego U-T says about its pending sale to Doug Manchester, local conservative activist and developer (known affectionately as “Papa Doug”), so here we have three other takes on the sale, the first from the LA Times – always competitive towards San Diego’s daily, the second from Voice of San Diego – and the other is a summary of the San Diego Daily Transcript.

By Dave Lindorff / Nation of Change / November 17, 2011

The ugly hand of the federal government is becoming increasingly suspected behind what appears to be a nationwide attempt to repress and evict the Occupation Movement. Across the country in recent days, ultimatums have been issues to groups occupying Portland, OR, Chicago, IL, San Francisco, Dallas, TX, Atlanta, GA, [editor: don’t forget San Diego] and most recently New York, NY, where the Occupation Movement began on September 17.

Editor: This article from the NY Times is a fairly even-handed account of November 17th actions around the country. Despite any mention of Occupy San Diego activities (see other posts on our website for those), it does cover the other major “Day of Action” events.

Hundreds Arrested in Actions Targeting Wall Street, Banks and Bridges

By Katharine Q. Seelye/ New York Times / November 18, 2011

Protesters across the country demonstrated en masse Thursday, snarling rush-hour traffic in several major cities and taking aim at banks as part of a national “day of action” to mark the two-month milestone of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Immigrants and other supporters say, “Hardworking immigrant families didn’t wreck our economy, the banks did.” San Diego, CA — Led…

By Elizabeth Aguilera / SignOnSanDiego / November 17, 2011 The owner of The San Diego Union-Tribune announced Thursday it has…