Category: San Diego

By Aaron Linsdau / San Diego.com

Remember the song “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls?” In San Diego County, don’t necessarily follow that advice. Countless weekends can be enjoyed by searching out local falls. Some are found right in the middle of the city and are easily accessible. Others require more driving and serious hiking. All are best enjoyed after heavy rains.

It’s that time, boys and girls, to unroll the rants about our favorite federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA):

Rant #1 – “Nanny State” vs. Police State

Rant #2 : A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Work (or How Much I Love TSA)

The TSA is opening an investigation targeting John Tyner, the man who earned himself an aggressive “pat down” at the airport when he refused to go through the TSA’s new AIT “porno scanners.”

But it’s the TSA that should be investigated, not Tyner.

Tyner was now allowed board his flight after he refused to allow himself to be groped, …

San Diego officials said Monday [Nov.15th] that the city has hit a new high-water mark for recycling — 66 percent of the waste stream in 2009. That’s up 14 percentage points from 2005 and is likely enough to keep San Diego among California’s leaders in big-city recycling.

On Monday, San Diego waste officials also announced an expansion of the city’s curbside recycling program to include most plastic containers.

Editor: This two-year old post by Rocky Neptun is a constant favorite or our readers. We thought we’d just bring it out for some more sun – but please realize dear reader, that it was written in November of 2010.

By Rocky Neptun

Under the shadow of a venomous San Diego District Attorney and a cliff-hanger Attorney General election between a fanatical D.A. from Los Angeles and a sympathetic D.A. from the Bay Area, medical marijuana patients, providers and activists met near Mission Bay under the banner of “putting patients first.”

The November 14th, all-day gathering, at the Marina Village Conference Center reflected both the radiance of altruism in the medical marijuana movement, its ancient heritage, and the potential to humanize the medical-care-giving industry, as well as the dangers members and patients face from reactionary forces still fighting the obsolete cultural wars of the 1960’s.

    Editor: Local Oceanside resident John Tyner refused an airport full body scan and refused a groin pat-down by…

Thanks to the paper-version of the San Diego U-T this morning, we have the grateful news that in the vote…

by Karla Peterson / SignOnSanDiego / November 13, 2010

When he talks about San Diego as the perfect scene for his TV crimes, actor Donal Logue likes to toss out a W. Somerset Maugham quote about the French Riviera. The geography is off, but the sentiment is a straight shot to the dark heart of our golden city.

State law requires public review of potential impacts before proceeding

The Sierra Club San Diego Chapter on Thursday, Nov. 9th, asked the City of San Diego to comply with state law requiring public review of likely environmental consequences before taking the dramatic step of privatizing the city’s only public landfill. Turning over the Miramar landfill to a private operator, as the City proposed in a request for bids issued in July, could cause significant environmental damage and expense.

I hate the idea of getting old. I hate “remembering” the way things “used to be” and comparing them with the way things are now.

For example: I remember when education used to be free. The public schools provided books, pencils, papers, crayons, glue, scissors, etc. so that we could learn without the stress of the teacher saying “we can do this if you bring in some paper and pens.”

I remember when school used to be safe for the students, the staff and anyone entering the premises.

Kirk Leopard is the director out at the Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery. I had called him to see what was happening to the trees out there, as we had heard that some people were upset with what they were seeing – or not seeing – amongst the rows of white gravestones. There were complaints of trees gone, cut down, badly mangled, etc.

But Kirk is very much into talking about what they’ve done and what has occurred under his jurisdiction. He assured me that the only trees being cut or trimmed were diseased or damaged. Earlier this year in January and February, two big storms produced 80 a mile winds and they lost 67 trees to … nature.

Many years ago – twenty-two to be exact – my husband Bob wanted to climb Mt. Whitney for his 60th birthday. At first I was not going to go with him, but as he became more excited about reaching his goal, I decided to train with him.

One of his favorite areas to walk was along Ft. Rosecrans cemetery. The view was spectacular from both sides of the road; it was quiet, and on warm days nothing was as soothing as sitting down under the beautiful trees to cool off, relax, and enjoy the multitude of birds flying overhead. In fact, it was during one of these “training days” that he said that when he died he would like to be buried in this beautiful spot.

Now, 22 years after we climbed Mt. Whitney, he is at Ft. Rosecrans, but it is no longer the beautiful spot it was back then. Sure, things change, people change, but cemeteries usually remain pretty much the same.