Category: California

SD Community College District Canceled Most Of Summer Session Due To Cuts

A recent statewide poll, commissioned by the California Federation of Teachers, finds a solid majority of likely voters in California have a favorable opinion of public employees and support their right to engage in collective bargaining.

From the CFT’s press release:

In the aftermath of major demonstrations by labor unions on Monday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death and to bring attention to working families, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) today released new polling results showing that 56% of California voters have a favorable view of public employees and 61% support their right to bargain together.

by Jim Miller

These are grim times. The worst are full of passionate intensity and the best lack all conviction. The Democrats at the state and national levels seem ready to embrace economic scarcity and budget cutting as the “new normal” while the right smells blood in the water and is going in for the kill on collective bargaining rights, women’s rights, environmental regulations, funding for education, and long untouchable social programs. While the Democrats play prevent defense, the corporate-funded right is going for it all, working to change the rules of the game permanently, short-term costs be damned.

Sometimes you’ve just gotta, gotta, gotta to get away…

We’d been meaning to get to the desert to see the flowers and both our schedules and the weather cooperated nicely today. After a light breakfast and our morning work on the Rag, we piled our provisions in the car and headed east. We took I-8 through the mountains and into the desert and under a sky peppered with high clouds we headed north on S-2.

Potential effects of shutdown

National Parks —- Likely to be closed.
Social Security —- Checks will be mailed out, although new claims may not be processed.
Border Patrol —- Deemed an essential service and will continue.
Air travel —- Air traffic control is essential; flights should not be affected.
IRS —- This agency will shut down in the middle of tax season. Tax refund checks won’t be issued.
Military —- Thousands of military members based in San Diego could go without pay temporarily federal officials said Wednesday.

By Tony Barboza / Los Angeles Times

The waves off San Onofre have for generations beckoned surfers and sport fishermen to a wild stretch of coastline in the shadow of domed nuclear reactors.

Now, an Orange County entrepreneur wants to tap the power of that legendary surf in a novel but highly controversial plan to build one of the nation’s first hydrokinetic wave farms.

Two weeks into Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant crisis, the situation continues to worsen.

Among the headlines in today’s paper is “Breach feared at reactor—radiation high.” The Associated Press reported “Plant operators don’t know the source of radioactive water discovered in at Units 1 and 3.” The utility, Tokyo Electric Power Co., suspected that water found in Units 2 and 4 was similarly contaminated.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State lawmakers called on California utilities Monday to delay efforts to relicense nuclear power plants until the companies complete detailed seismic maps to get a true picture of the risks posed by earthquakes and tsunamis.

State senators raised sharp questions about whether California’s nuclear plants can withstand a major natural disaster such as the one on March 11 that has left Japan scrambling to control radiation coming from some of its reactors.

Editor: We wanted to repost this article as our new governor also wants to close certain parks. This was originally published on June 8, 2009.

by Frank Gormlie

Here’s what got me laughing. I read in the Union-Tribune just the other day about how the Governor wants to close a number of parks, beaches and deserts for budgetary reasons, including Anza-Borrego.

Well, Primary 2010 is finally over, and as usual, it had mixed results for progressives. Extremely low turn-out for out San Diego County – 25% Geez!

Here are some victories: * The biggest news is that Prop 16 – bankrolled by PG&E – LOST! …

For the first time in years – or at least in any of our memories – there’s controversy surrounding the election of Superior Court judges in tomorrow’s primary. Normally, the usual (yawn) campaign of judges takes on the quiet excitement associated with lawn bowling. But not this year, this year of the rise of the tea party.

This year there is a tea party-like group called “Better Courts Now” that is upsetting the apple cart by pushing their own slate of holier-than-thou conservative candidates. As if judges weren’t conservative enough! Most judges were former prosecutors – an already conservative role within the court system – and so by time most don their black robes and step up to the seats – there’s definitely a conservative bias that dominates the courtroom.

Editor: The following Ten Myths was prepared this month by the California Budget Project. Go here to see their nifty graphs and pie charts.

Myth #1 : The Largest Share of the State Budget Goes To Prisons

The Facts:

* The State spends more than four times as much on K-12 education as it does on corrections and one and one-quarter times as much on higher education as it does on corrections.