Author: Source

By Jason Everitt / Two Cathedrals / July 28, 2011

On Thursday, July 21st, the San Diego Citizen’s Redistricting Commission finalized its preliminary draft of the new council districts. We can now say a few things with confidence.

Todd Gloria will be moving. Gloria was drawn out of the old District 3. …

By Miriam Rafferty / East County Magazine / July 28, 2011

Hundreds of local residents spoke out at a hearing held by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Monday evening at the Al Bahr Shriners auditorium in San Diego.

The majority voiced support for a proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile. Supporters said the merger could create a more reliable network for cell phone service and create good-paying union jobs; many also praised AT&T’s record of community service. Opponents, by contrast, voiced concerns over creating a monopoly and feared the merger would lead to higher rates, decreased incentive for innovation, and job lay-offs.

By Tom Lemmon / SignOnSanDiego / July 28, 2011

When I was a kid growing up in the South Bay, I remember bringing my progress reports home to share with my parents. Just like many teachers before them and since, my teachers would set goals for me and assess my performance, and my parents would push me to do better. They would identify ways I could work harder to improve my performance, with hopes that my final report card would bring better grades.

U.S. Capitol Police arrested 11 Christian and Jewish faith leaders Thursday after they staged a Capitol sit-in against budget cuts. The group called on the Obama administration and Congress not to “balance the budget on the backs of the poor,” according to the release sent out after the incident.

The religious leaders, members of an interfaith coalition to protect the poor, have been charged with demonstrating within a U.S. Capitol building, according to a Capitol Police spokeswoman. All have been taken to Capitol Police headquarters for processing.

As Tim DeChristopher Is Sentenced to Prison for Making Bids on Oil and Natural Gas Lands, He Tells the Court, “This Is What Hope Looks Like”

“In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like.”

Editor: On Tuesday, July 25th, Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison and was handed a $10,000 fine for bidding on oil and gas drilling leases in an attempt to protect public lands. Here is our original article from January 2009 by Lane Tobias on DeChristopher’s “crime” of civil disobedience to thwart Big Oil of buying up the Utah wilderness. Here are his words in court.

The father of a child who was shot by an off-duty San Diego policeman during a 2008 road rage confrontation with the child’s mother in Oceanside has settled his son’s federal civil rights lawsuit with the city of San Diego for $500,000.

By Paul Krugman / New York Times / July 26, 2011

Watching our system deal with the debt ceiling crisis — a wholly self-inflicted crisis, which may nonetheless have disastrous consequences — it’s increasingly obvious that what we’re looking at is the destructive influence of a cult that has really poisoned our political system.

And no, I don’t mean the fanaticism of the right.

By R. Erickson / Special to the OB Rag / July 27, 2011

PARIS, FRANCE: Americans who manage to avoid «American Idol» and see some films from France, see some photos or commercials of Paris, or even travel there, might have the image of women in flowing spring skirts or dresses, or in professional skirt suits.

By Van Jones / Reader Supported News / July 25, 2011

Last month, I joined with MoveOn.org and launched the Rebuild the Dream campaign to help give a voice to the millions of Americans who aren’t being heard in Washington. This past weekend, we organized nearly 1,600 house meetings across the country – nearly double the number of protests the Tea Party held when they launched in April of 2009. The American Dream Meetings gave more than 27,000 people, from all across the country, an opportunity to come together and discuss what the American Dream means to them and their families. They talked about how the jobless crisis and foreclosure mess is impacting their communities. They put forth creative ideas for the Contract for the American Dream – a bold progressive vision to help fix the broken economy and rebuild our communities. The Contract has already received nearly 26,000 ideas submitted online alone and over 6 million ratings.

By Mike Davis / TomDispatch.com / July 26, 2011

When my old gang and I were 14 or 15 years old, many centuries ago, we yearned for immortality in the fiery wreck of a bitchin’ ’40 Ford or ’57 Chevy. Our J.K. Rowling was Henry Felsen, the ex-Marine who wrote the bestselling masterpieces Hot Rod (1950), Street Rod (1953), and Crash Club (1958).

Officially, his books — highly praised by the National Safety Council — were deterrents, meant to scare my generation straight with huge dollops of teenage gore. In fact, he was our asphalt Homer, exalting doomed teenage heroes and inviting us to emulate their legend. One of his books ends with an apocalyptic collision at a crossroads that more or less wipes out the entire graduating class of a small Iowa town. We loved this passage so much that we used to read it aloud to each other.

It’s hard not to think of the great Felsen, who died in 1995, while browsing the business pages these days.

Source: Patient Care Association of California (PCA)

Citizens for Patient Rights and The Patient Care Association of California (PCA) have successfully halted the ban on medical cannabis collectives in the City of San Diego. Faced with the prospect up to one million dollars in ballot expenses, San Diego City Council voted 6-2 with council members Marti Emerald and Tony Young opposed today to repeal the suspended ordinance banning collectives rather than fund the placement on the ballot in June 2012. The PCA thanks the people of San Diego for their support. In addition, we believe the council members acted in the best interests of the city by not wasting taxpayer dollars in this time of fiscal crisis.

by Keegan Kyle / Voice of San Diego

Before San Diego banned alcohol from its beaches, Police Chief Bill Lansdowne expressed his opposition to the proposal and issued a warning. The heavy drinkers who amass during summer holidays won’t go away, he said. They’ll move inland, away from beefed up beach patrols, and make it harder for police to monitor crime