Category: Politics

Overturning Citizens United: Money Out of Politics

From PL Democratic Club

Join the Point Loma Democratic Club on Sunday, March 24, when the Wonder Women from WOSD Money Out of Politics, Point Loma’s own Pam Page and Dianne Lane, return to and describe how they convinced the San Diego City Council to pass – with an unanimous vote – the resolution to reverse ‘Citizens United’ and Amend the Constitution.

Mayor Filner Proposed 2% tax, $5000 annual licensing fee, and collectives / cooperatives in limited commercial and industrial zones; Full Council Votes March 25th

From Americans for Safe Access / March 15, 2013

Over the years, medical marijuana patients in San Diego have endured a lack of representation in local governments, raids, lawsuits, eradication efforts, federal interference, and outright misinformation about the issue. Fortunately, now we have a new Mayor who sides with compassion instead of ignorance and is willing to move forward with regulations.

After attending the January San Diego Americans for Safe Access Meeting, where he promised to move forward with regulations, Mayor Bob Filner began working on a proposal to bring to council.

Friday, the Mayor’s office announced his proposal is finished and the issue tentatively scheduled for the March 25th City Council meeting.

Freedom. What a concept, huh? One of the sweetest words in the world’s vocabulary.

I learned a long time ago that the pursuit of freedom will make one do almost anything. Sometimes in the spur of a moment. I used to love to hear my maternal grandfather tell about how he woke up one day on a sharecropper’s plot of land in Hawkinsville, Georgia, thinking to himself, “God, I don’t know what all is out there in this world but I just know You created something better than this.”

At about the same time “big boss man” came riding up on his horse rallying what were supposed to be “free men” to the fields, “yelling and spitting tobacco every which-a-away” my grandfather would say and the next thing he knew he had snatched the man off his horse, gave him the ass-kicking of his life and then ran for that very life until he reached the Gulf of Mexico – to what, he didn’t know. He just knew he had to be free.

I thought of him a little while back at a forum at the Malcolm X Library that featured four of a group of people who stand tall in my mind and soul: The Freedom Riders. Yvette Porter, of the Walter J. Porter Educational & Community Foundation, brought them to town.

Well after all the bluster coming from the Democratic camp about President Obama’s “upper hand” leading into the sequester showdown, it turns out he had no game at all. The result: score another one for the Tea Party who got to take a hatchet to government spending and hold the line on taxes. As I wrote after the “Fiscal Cliff” showdown:

Grover Norquist is happy. After the fiscal cliff deal was passed in the House, he pointed out that Obama blinked on his $250,000 line in the sand on taxes and that, by locking in the Bush tax cuts for 98% of Americans, the Democrats’ ability to defend the legacy of the New Deal has been greatly diminished. He’s right.

And now Grover and company are even happier as the Republicans just said no to more taxes and let the ax fall indiscriminately on government spending. The “liberal media” may think badly of them and their national approval rating may be in the toilet but they simply don’t give a rat’s ass because they are winning nonetheless.

As the historic battle between Mayor Filner and San Diego’s big hoteliers over the tourism marketing deal unfolds, it’s clear where the lines are drawn.

On one side, you have a new strong mayor who is committed to ending business as usual in San Diego and on the other, you have folks like Terry Brown, chairman of the San Diego Tourism Marketing Association who, as Matt Potter at The San Diego Reader has pointed out, is a big time Republican funder as are the crew of business lobbyists, real estate developers, and San Diego Taxpayer Association types who have miraculously found they can love a tax after it has transubstantiated into a fee and serves as a giveaway to corporate interests.

Much has been made of Bob Filner crashing the City Attorney’s news conference a little while ago but we shouldn’t forget that in that flurry of feistiness he pointed out that there are people among us, fellow citizens, family, friends, you name them, who are paid tacky wages. Like hotel workers.

He made it clear that the tourist industry isn’t going to ply their trade with $30 million dollars of the city’s money unless they pay hotel workers what they deserve.

How refreshing is that, a mayor for the people, a man standing up for the folks who make visitors to “America’s Finest City” comfortable and well fed, with nice pools for a swim on well manicured hotel grounds. These people get out and about town and spend money by the ton and the people who added so much to the fineness of their stay don’t get anywhere near their fair share of this bounty.

By Robert Reich /RobertReich.org

Imagine a plot to undermine the government of the United States, to destroy much of its capacity to do the public’s business, and to sow distrust among the population.

Imagine further that the plotters infiltrate Congress and state governments, reshape their districts to give them disproportionate influence in Washington, and use the media to spread big lies about the government.

Finally, imagine they not only paralyze the government but are on the verge of dismantling pieces of it.

Far-fetched?  Perhaps. But take a look at what’s been happening in Washington and many state capitals since Tea Party fanatics gained effective control of the Republican Party, and you’d be forgiven if you see parallels.

by Kaili Joy Gray/ Daily Kos

While House Republicans are busy focusing on super important things like the size of the Democrats’ email list, here’s another little program that’s about to be hit hard by the sequestration: Meals on Wheels, the program that delivers food to the homes of seniors in need.

The new science of ideology now extends to consumer choices, demonstrating how unconscious political viewpoints really are.

By Chris Mooney / AlterNet

It was probably inevitable, but it’s striking nonetheless. In a new study published in the journal Psychological Science, Vishal Singh of New York University’s Stern School of Business and his colleagues apply an ever-growing body of research on the psychological traits of liberals and conservatives to their consumer choices.

There were all kinds of rumors and media reports swirling yesterday about Papa Doug Manchester – the owner of the U-T San Diego – wanting to buy the LA Times and its mother company, the Tribune Company.

Doug Porter – over at San Diego Free Press – was on top of the story yesterday, and today I asked him for an update, and here’s what he sent me via email:

I’m shocked to discover that Doug Manchester can’t afford a heading aid. His minions over at the UT are now saying that Papa Doug ‘misunderstood’ a question asked of him as he spoke to a room full of Republican ladies. So this deal isn’t gonna happen. Or,more likely,he got laughed out the room.

Sierra Club – for first time – to participate in civil disobedience that includes RFK Jr

From EcoWatch / February 13, 2013

Fifty American leaders—including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Waterkeeper Alliance), Michael Brune (Sierra Club), Bill McKibben (350.org), Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. (Hip Hop Caucus), civil rights legend Julian Bond, actress Daryl Hannah, and others —will risk arrest today in front of the White House to demonstrate the depth of their support for decisive action against climate change. For the first time in its 120-year history, the Sierra Club will participate in this civil disobedience action to convey the severity and urgency of action on climate.

San Diego Joins National Protest Against Keystone XL

A number of prominent environmental organizations and groups have come together to organize a San Diego protest against the Keystone Pipeline and to fight against climate change – joining groups nation-wide for a day of action.

Groups such as SanDiego350.org, Citizens Climate Lobby, Sierra Club San Diego, Environmental Health Coalition, Women Occupy San Diego, and many other organizations are planning a rally on Sunday, Feb. 17th, at the Mission Bay Park Visitors’ Center, in east Mission Bay, near the I-5 freeway. Protesters are being asked to wear all-black.

Protests are also happening in Los Angeles , San Francisco and other cities across the country. The pipeline is designed to carry dirty tar sands oil from Canada to the U.S.
San Diego speakers include:

• San Diego Mayor Bob Filner,