Author: Source

Editor: When the La Mesa Spring Valley School Board voted to ban President Obama’s speech to school kids, two board members opposed the motion. One of them was Bill Baber, who as a Republican, voted his conscience. This helps demonstrate that extremist views are not held by all or even most Republicans.
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by Bill Baber / September 16, 2009
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As a La Mesa Spring Valley School Board Member, I voted to show the President’s live address Tuesday. I believe the Office of the President of the United States deserves respect, regardless of the person or party occupying that office. If the President’s speech inspired one student to greatness it was worth all this angst.

by Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine
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San Diego) – “Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs] for crowd control can be extremely dangerous. These are used in Iraq to control insurgents. They can cause serious and lasting harm to humans…We want to know WHY our Sheriff Dept has this weapon,” Sal Magallanez of San Diego-based Liberty One Radio said in an e-mail sent to East County Magazine, prompting a joint investigation.

by anonymous surfer dude

Believe it or not- Surfrider – that world wide surfer organization- actually canceled Sunday’s Clean Water Paddle because they said the waves were too big! Unbelievable!

The police raids on numerous San Diego County medical marijuana dispensaries that took place throughout the afternoon are the culmination of a five-month investigation, CityBeat has learned. A law enforcement source close to the operation and familiar with the details told CityBeat the investigation revealed that many of the marijuana collectives and co-ops were functioning as for-profit businesses, and thus lost the protection granted to them by voters under Proposition 215 in 1996.

by President Barack Obama – to be delivered Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous…..

by Peace Rocker
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I was discouraged almost two years ago when the Peace Sign was stolen in the middle of the night. Perhaps, I thought, the thief chose (wrongly!) to see the sign as a political statement, rather than as a simple and eternal prayer for “peace on earth, good will towards all.”

Labor Day, to most people, is little more than the end of summer. Labor Day commemorates the labor union movement, the demand for an eight hour work day, better working conditions, fair wages and an end to child labor.

SAN DIEGO – A San Diego County Superior Court today denied medical marijuana patient Donna Lambert’s request for dismissal. Ms. Lambert’s supporters urged District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis not to pursue the case, to uphold the state’s medical marijuana laws and to turn law enforcement’s attention to matters of public safety not politics.

“I’m disappointed at today’s ruling, but I am resolved to fight this egregious case against me,” said Ms. Lambert, who faces seven felony counts for providing medical marijuana to another qualified patient.

by Anthony Gentile / Peninsula Beacon

The nagging issue of traffic calming on Sunset Cliffs, spearheaded by the Slow Down Sunset Cliffs effort started a year ago, became a key topic of the Aug. 26 meeting of the Ocean Beach Town Council (OBTC).

A representative from the city’s Traffic Engineering Division was on hand …

Editor: OB’s former City Councilmember Michael Zucchet just had his acquittal on corruption charges upheld. Zucchet, now executive director of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association, had to resign from the Council in 2005 due to the charges against him. A jury convicted him originally in 2005, but the convictions were thrown out.

The original corruption charges against Zucchet – and the three other Council members – were the result of a decision to prosecute by then-US Attorney Carol Lam (herself later fired by Karl Rove from the White House), …

A breakfast forum last Thursday on the subject of homelessness included Rob Hutsel, executive director of the San Diego River Park Foundation.

Hutsel, who’s headed the nonprofit for eight years, has become an unlikely expert on the people who call the river banks home: The organization’s twice-monthly trash pick-ups and bi-annual “river blitz” clean-ups have somewhat become field studies of the living conditions of river-bank dwellers.

By E.J. Dionne Jr. / The Washington Post / September 3, 2009

Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change.

But what if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong?