Readers Write: A Halloween Horror Story

Readers Write: A Halloween Horror Story

Posted: 30 Oct 2015 08:35 AM PDT

By Matt Valenti 

I trust, Dear Reader, that you will forgive me if the tale I am about to repeat frightens you more than it ought, but this is a tale that insists upon being told. Though I had good reason to doubt the veracity of the story when first I heard it, nevertheless, it has left me with a sensation of nagging anxiety that, like a perverted old roommate from college who has overstayed his welcome on your sofa bed, simply won’t go away. Therefore, I beg of you, by all means keep this story well hidden away from the eyes and ears of the more impressionable and naïve among us in this fair city of San Diego—including small children, foreign tourists, and members of the city council.   [Read more...]

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San Diego Free Press Is Moving … To a New Server Posted: 30 Oct 2015 08:56 AM PDT The server hosting company we've been using for the past three years has become less and less functional in recent months, with crashes, lost images, lost articles, and the like. Despite the pay raise we gave ourselves last month, this all-volunteer crew has reached it limit with the extra workload. We're only human after copious amounts of coffee all. Therefore, the San Diego Free Press will be moving to a new host over the weekend. You won't see much activity on our site on Saturday and Sunday. We'll be back in full force on Monday, November 2. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause when trying to post comments or read an article. We've done a lot of research, and believe this move will help make the San Diego Free Press more reliable and efficient for everyone. We will be posting updates and any news items that can't wait on our Facebook page, so feel free to head over there this weekend. Come inside for stuff to do...   [Read more...]

Excerpt From Sunshine/Noir II: The Rock – Resistance Barrio Logan Style Posted: 30 Oct 2015 08:37 AM PDT By Brent E. Beltran Juanito held the rock firmly in his hand—almost too firmly, as his knuckles turned white from the pressure. He stood there shaking, and tears slowly fell from his reddened eyes. A wheezy cough escaped his tight lungs as the eleven-year-old stood on Harbor Drive facing the towering cranes that loomed over this toxic barrio. Every breath he took was a challenge. The setting sun cast a powerful glow of purples and oranges across the radiant, polluted sky. He had grown up on these neglected streets, a Barrio Logan native in more ways than one. He stood there with rock in hand as semi trucks rumbled past, hauling bananas picked by people that looked just like him. The vehicles added more pollutants into the atmosphere as they traveled to various points north and east. That rock, smooth from centuries of ocean water beatdowns, weighed heavy in his trembling hand.   [Read more...]

Readers Write: A Halloween Horror Story Posted: 30 Oct 2015 08:35 AM PDT By Matt Valenti I trust, Dear Reader, that you will forgive me if the tale I am about to repeat frightens you more than it ought, but this is a tale that insists upon being told. Though I had good reason to doubt the veracity of the story when first I heard it, nevertheless, it has left me with a sensation of nagging anxiety that, like a perverted old roommate from college who has overstayed his welcome on your sofa bed, simply won’t go away. Therefore, I beg of you, by all means keep this story well hidden away from the eyes and ears of the more impressionable and naïve among us in this fair city of San Diego—including small children, foreign tourists, and members of the city council.   [Read more...]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: My Family Thinks I’m a Pot Farmer Posted: 30 Oct 2015 08:33 AM PDT Got to wonder if my family has a contact high when they call out of purple haze to ask if I'm a marijuana farmer Hydroponically speaking I don't have a pot to piss in not that I'm opposed to organic chemotherapy or the buzz of tax revenues instead of drug wars   [Read more...]

North Of The Fence: Tree City Wants A University and Olympians, But Who Will Pay? Posted: 30 Oct 2015 08:31 AM PDT By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass The community group Crossroads II reported that the City of Chula Vista received a letter from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) that said they would like to turn the Olympic Training Center (OTC) over to Chula Vista. It has been costing the USOC $8 million a year to operate the OTC. Crossroads II weighed in: “The City and the USOC drew up a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about what the basic agreement would be. To make a long story short, the MOU makes it clear that the OTC must remain a training site for for the Olympics. The USOC will continue to control certain of the facilities, including the gift shop, but most importantly, the City will not be able to make any significant changes without the approval of the USOC. However — while the USOC will contribute $3 million, the City is responsible for all the rest of the financing and management of the rest of the OTC site — BUT, it must be maintained as a training site for elite athletes.   [Read more...]

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Not-So-Presidential Politics and Football Fantasies Ruled the Night

Not-So-Presidential Politics and Football Fantasies Ruled the Night Posted: 29 Oct 2015 10:16 AM PDT By Doug Porter  What a night. Presidential candidate Ted Cruz was busy calling out Democrats as Bolsheviks and Mensheviksduring the Republican debate, which was about as out of control as any debate, ever. Chargers fans called out NFL executives on a listening tour of cities threatened with franchise relocation. Attorney Mark Fabiani, representing the team’s owners was roundly booed, hissed and even warned about walking around unaccompanied. It was a two-fer evening of bullshit, featuring occasional factual-sounding words laced with hyperbole and ignorance. Metaphors counted. Reality didn’t. Let’s wander together through today’s punditry for selected insights on what transpired…   [Read more...]

shared from San Diego Free Press Chicago Police Disappeared Thousands Posted: 29 Oct 2015 07:10 AM PDT

It Was in the Back of my Mind … Posted: 29 Oct 2015 07:01 AM PDT By Jeeni Criscenzo It was in the back of my mind in line with everything I've meant to do, to visit you and get a personal tour of your gardens. But days flew by and well, you know how it goes, though our paths crossed occasionally elsewhere, I never got there.   [Read more...]

L.A. Developer Awakens North County’s Sleeping Village by the Sea Posted: 29 Oct 2015 06:46 AM PDT Lessons Learned by Rick Caruso, Elected Officials and Carlsbad Voters By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World Signatures have been validated on a referendum overturning Carlsbad's city council approval of a shopping center on the shore of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. It's time to reflect on lessons learned from the developer's failed attempt to bypass city voters, the normal review and approval process, and the California Environmental Quality Act. When L.A. developer Rick Caruso approached city officials three years ago, they urged him to build community support for his plan. They must have assured him 48 acres of land adjacent to the pristine lagoon would be the perfect place for a shopping center.   [Read more...]

The Story of BikeSD : A Labor of Love Posted: 29 Oct 2015 06:38 AM PDT By Sam Ollinger / BikeSD In early 2009, three strangers met on a bicycle ride and began talking about the lack of a cohesive gathering space to talk about bicycling issues. These strangers (Will Karstens, Thom Bahde and me, Samantha Ollinger) went on to found BikeSD.org – a blog that would serve as a single source of news about bicycling in San Diego. Little did I know that BikeSD the blog would eventually turn into one of San Diego’s largest independent member based advocacy organizations.  [Read more...]

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Marijuana, Tax Measures Vying for California 2016 Ballot

Marijuana, Tax Measures Vying for California 2016 Ballot Posted: 28 Oct 2015 10:53 AM PDT By Doug Porter  As we come down the stretch into the final year before the 2016 general election, there are competing interests backing ballot measures seeking to legalize recreational marijuana use and increase taxes on upper-income earners in California. The downside in this situation is the possibility of enough confused voters rejecting the choices on the ballot on both issues. And you can bank on opponents of legalization and tax increases will do their best to sow doubt and confusion. Divisions in the pro-pot camp led to the defeat of Proposition 19 in 2010, despite not having a competing measure on the ballot and polling showing voters favoring legalized marijuana.  Advocates for tax increases in 2012 were divided between competing propositions, but a unified effort on the part of organized labor gave Proposition 30 the votes needed to win.   [Read more...] shared from San Diego Free Press

Recreational Improvements to Chicano Park Completed Posted: 28 Oct 2015 08:11 AM PDT Ribbon cutting ceremony to be held November 5 By Brent E. Beltrán It took almost three years to complete but Chicano Park finally received the recreational improvements that I wrote were coming back in January of 2014. New improvements to this local treasure and nationally registered historic site include a skate lane, exercise stations, an added handball court, new children’s playgrounds, a drought friendly water fountain, and other editions. On Thursday, November 5 at 3pm there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring local dignitaries such as Councilman David Alvarez, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, Urban Corps of San Diego CEO Robert Chavez, Tommie Camarillo from the Chicano Park Steering Committee as well as many others who were instrumental in making Chicano Park what it is and the improvements possible.   [Read more...]

Reflections on Palestine: Symbols of Homeland Posted: 28 Oct 2015 08:07 AM PDT By Pedro Rios As I traveled throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, it was evident to me that life under Israeli occupation means that Palestinians must live under a constant stage of siege.  Israeli military and police forces use violence to enforce apartheid-style policies to control every aspect of Palestinian life. I heard many stories about how the Israeli government flagrantly violates international human rights conventions and agreements, and witnessed examples of how Palestinians live with unreasonable restrictions that are meant to humiliate and demean an entire people. In spite of this, there were natural resources that have become symbols in Palestinian life that call for a dignified homeland. These symbols - water, olive trees, and cactus plants – all are palpable objects that transcend the callousness of occupation because they represent long-lasting survival, in spite of what appears to be a permanent occupation. Below, I offer my brief reflections on each.  I believe they each merit a more just and thorough contemplation for what they’ve come to mean to Palestinians.   [Read more...]

Day of the Dead: When Indigenous Practices Meet Spiritual Traditions Posted: 28 Oct 2015 08:06 AM PDT By Antonieta Mercado The Day of the Dead celebration is a syncretic mix of Latin American indigenous practices and Catholic spiritual tradition. Families in many Latin American countries and U.S. communities honor the spirit of the dead as the ancestors did by creating altars or ofrendas (offerings), placing favorite foods, photos, special bread (“pan de muerto”) and other items associated with the ones who are gone.   The traditional cempazúchitl or zempoalxóchitl flower (marigold) that is used in altars symbolizes the color of death (yellow) for many indigenous groups, such as the Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Nahua. It is believed that the yellow color of the flower can be seen by the dead, so its petals are placed forming a road directing the souls to the altar. Abundant marigolds are placed in different forms, either as an arch, or in flower vases around the altar.European colonization also brought religious syncretism to this custom, and placed the current celebration on November 1st, to honor the souls of dead children, and on November 2nd to honor the adults who had passed. November 2nd is also All Saints Day in the Catholic Tradition. Pre-Colonial festivities honoring the dead used to last from one to three months, depending on the particular group or region. For example, the Nahua, Totonaca, and Maya, believed that the dead would go to the underworld or Mictlán region to meet Mictlantehcutli, the dual male/female deity of death.   [Read more...]

Hurricane Patricia Gave an Early Halloween Scare Posted: 28 Oct 2015 08:05 AM PDT

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Many Faces of Modern Day Racism in the USA

Many Faces of Modern Day Racism in the USA Posted: 27 Oct 2015 10:49 AM PDT By Doug Porter  For too long, too many white Americans have viewed racism through the lens of the South. Once again, current events are proving once again this particular brand of fear and hatred runs much deeper in the national psyche than Jim Crow laws. Two recent media reports about immigration--always a lightning rod for fear of the ‘other’-- illustrate the point here. Then there’s the festering sore of state-sanctioned violence directed at people of color and now the push-back about how somehow making videos of people being brutalized is causing crime. Congressman Paul Ryan is about to take over as Speaker of the House of Representatives. There’s been deal making galore going on as Rep. John Boehner heads out the door. A long-term budget agreement has emerged, something inconceivable just a few weeks ago. Suddenly, a large number of deficit hawks are willing to vote for a  $120+ increase in federal spending. But there was one particular promise the incoming speaker made to the Republican rebels of the right. It involved a promise to not even consider immigration reform...as long as that Black Guy is in the White House.   [Read more...] shared from San Diego Free Press

Tom Hom, a “Rabbit on a Bumpy Road” Posted: 27 Oct 2015 05:27 AM PDT By Ernie McCray I just put down a nice read, "Rabbit on a Bumpy Road," by Tom Hom, a man who was the first person of color to be elected to the San Diego City Council. That took place back in 1963, a year after I had moved to the city. So I was greatly interested in the book for the history, a history in which, as a citizen, I'm a player. I was a 24-year-old back then, still getting my feet wet and my mind wrapped around what was going on in my world socially, politically, and otherwise.   [Read more...]

Telling It Like It Is: The Conservative Assault on Women Posted: 27 Oct 2015 05:25 AM PDT By Valerie Tarico / AlterNet The so-called 'war on women' is not a war; it’s a one-sided assault. It is conservative men, drunk on power, calling women sluts and then rolling up their sleeves and knocking us back into place. It is conservative men letting us know that they own our bodies and reproductive capacity, which according to the Bible have been theirs since the Iron Age. It is conservative men making damned sure women get punished for failing to keep our legs together, for daring to pursue intimacy and sexual pleasure on our own terms and without their permission. It is conservative men ignoring our pleas that we don’t want to be pregnant and denying us the ability to resist impregnation as deliberately and aggressively as if they had our arms pinned. If that’s not an assault, I don’t know what is.   [Read more...]

Jazz at the Handlery Posted: 27 Oct 2015 05:20 AM PDT By John Lawrence There is a nice little jazz series running in San Diego at the Handlery Hotel's 950 lounge at 950 Hotel Circle North. This has been put together by Holly Hofmann who has been presenting concerts in San Diego for 30 years or more. In addition she plays a helluva flute. Recently I saw Stef Johnson with Rob Thorsen and the week before Gilbert Castellanos and Bobby Cressey. The place has a nice happy hour menu and reasonably priced libations. There is no admission or cover charge. Parking is free with validation. Jazz does not have that many dedicated venues in San Diego so the jazz loving public has to rely mainly on the musicians themselves to create their own gigs. There are no institutional venues such as classical music has. No Symphony Halls. No billionaire sponsors. For that you have to go to New York City, the epicenter of jazz. We do have a dedicated jazz radio station - KSDS-FM - 88.3. Now we just need a billionaire to step up and underwrite the equivalent of New York's Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center. Holly would make a wonderful impresario for such a venue because her connections in the jazz world are endless and her dedication, nonpareil.   [Read more...]

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Stuff You May Not Have Known About Halloween

Stuff You May Not Have Known About Halloween

Posted: 26 Oct 2015 05:10 AM PDT

By Susan Grigsby  / Daily Kos 

Of the differing schools of thought on the origins of Halloween, I prefer the one that roots it in ancient Celtic tradition. And since no one seems to know for sure, why not? According to the American Folklife Center, Halloween originated with the ancient pre-Christian Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The festival observed at this time was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween). It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread.

As the Catholic Church moved into the British Isles, the Celtic New Year holiday was pre-empted to honor All Saints and Martyrs (the Hallowed), especially those who did not have a specific date set aside for them. Since the Celtic festival continued unabated, the Church then introduced All Souls day wherein prayers for the dead were said on the following day, November 2.  [Read more...]

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Gretchen Newsom is Running for Mayor. It Ain’t Gonna Be Easy. Posted: 26 Oct 2015 11:07 AM PDT By Doug Porter Gretchen Newsom announced her intention to run for Mayor of San Diego during the Sixth Biennial County Democratic Convention on Saturday, October 24th. She’s got a tough road in front of her. Incumbent Kevin Faulconer is a public relations machine. He gets out of bed in the morning, and a press release crediting him with saving the world overnight (hey, the sun rose!) gets emailed. He’s got no major scandals swirling around him, is considered to be a rising star in the GOP, and has a proven ability to sidestep controversy. Challenger Gretchen Newsom is not well known outside activist circles. She was among those considered as the interim replacement for Faulconer’s city council seat, is President of the Ocean Beach town Council, and works for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.  Today I’ll take a look at what else there is to know about the candidate, her values and the implications of her candidacy.   [Read more...]

Inequality for All in America’s Higher Education System Posted: 26 Oct 2015 05:11 AM PDT By Jim Miller with Ian Duckles  Last week I had the pleasure of seeing Thomas Piketty speak on economic inequality at UCSD. In his talk, Piketty hit on the central themes of his seminal work, Capital in the Twenty-First Century: how our current level of economic inequality is now back to where it was before the “great compression” of the mid-twentieth century when union density, progressive taxation, and educational policies helped produce the high point of the American middle class. He underlined how there is no economic benefit to our current level of excessive inequality and that it is the product not of any “natural” function of the free market economy, but rather several decades of wrong-headed ideology, destructive politics, and bad policy. During the question and answer session following his presentation, a well-heeled older gentleman prefaced his question about why the “lower 50 percent” don’t just vote out the bad policies with, “this audience, we’re all the top 10%,” which drew a few laughs from people, many of whom were likely debt-ridden students, teaching assistants, campus workers, and lecturers whose income doesn’t come close to landing them in that realm. That there may have been a ragtag group of professors and students from lowly City College in attendance was not even in the speaker’s imagination. I couldn’t help but think how UCSD is a perfect microcosm of the macroeconomic inequality that Piketty was talking about and that the class-blind commenter was a perfect manifestation of the very elite ideology that serves to enforce our deep level of inequality. But of course, it’s not just at UCSD where this is an issue but across the entire landscape of American higher education, where what used to be one of the most solid middle-class professions in the country is in the process of being hollowed out, bit by bit.  [Read more...]

What Clinton Gets Wrong About Snowden Posted: 26 Oct 2015 05:11 AM PDT By John Kiriakou / OtherWords Hillary Clinton is wrong about Edward Snowden. Again. The presidential candidate and former secretary of state insisted during the recent Democratic debate that Snowden should have remained in the United Statesto voice his concerns about government spying on U.S. citizens. Instead, she claimed, he “endangered U.S. secrets by fleeing to Russia.” After accusing Snowden of stealing “very important information that has fallen into the wrong hands,” she added: “He should not be brought home without facing the music.”   [Read more...]

Stuff You May Not Have Known About Halloween Posted: 26 Oct 2015 05:10 AM PDT By Susan Grigsby  / Daily Kos Of the differing schools of thought on the origins of Halloween, I prefer the one that roots it in ancient Celtic tradition. And since no one seems to know for sure, why not? According to the American Folklife Center, Halloween originated with the ancient pre-Christian Celtic celebration of Samhain. The festival observed at this time was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween). It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread. As the Catholic Church moved into the British Isles, the Celtic New Year holiday was pre-empted to honor All Saints and Martyrs (the Hallowed), especially those who did not have a specific date set aside for them. Since the Celtic festival continued unabated, the Church then introduced All Souls day wherein prayers for the dead were said on the following day, November 2.  [Read more...]

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

‘Pay Their Own Way’ Initiative Exposes Downtown Rifts

‘Pay Their Own Way’ Initiative Exposes Downtown Rifts Posted: 23 Oct 2015 12:06 PM PDT By Doug Porter  You don’t have to know anything about Attorney Cory Briggs’ “Pay Their Own Way” proposal allowing voters a say in tourism taxes to understand how it much it upsets the established order downtown. Simply put, it exposes the ugly reality underlying San Diego politics by going after both the money and political mechanisms used by the tourism industry and its affiliated real estate interests to direct government institutions to do their bidding. The ultimate reaction came from San Diego Charger’s counsel Mark Fabiani, who is still reviewing the 28 page initiative: “As a general matter, anything that reduces the iron grip of the hotel lobby on our Mayor and some of our City Council is good for San Diego’s future, and Mr. Briggs’ initiative would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.” Bingo.   [Read more...] shared from San Diego Free Press

The Tijuana River Valley: An Interview with SD County Supervisor Greg Cox Posted: 23 Oct 2015 08:58 AM PDT By Barbara Zaragoza / Part four of four Visit the Tijuana River Valley and the area feels serene. Perhaps it's even forgotten, with a total population of 42. But attend a community meeting with groups such as the Tijuana River Valley Equestrian Association or WildCoast and you'll experience the passionate pleas of equestrians, hikers, mountain bikers and conservationists who have a vision for this area. Then take a look at a map of the Tijuana River Valley and you'll notice a head-spinning checkerboard of government agencies that own this land alongside a few private ranchers. The County of San Diego since the 1990s has become a primary land owner.   [Read more...]

Stay the Course, Republicans! Billionaires Blowing Thru Cash is Very Entertaining Posted: 23 Oct 2015 08:58 AM PDT By Bob Dorn The Republicans may be catching a bad case of Campaign Contribution Fatigue.  It can lead to money failure. JEB! has found out that fundraising $13.4 million and enjoying his last name and the family bank account aren't enough to purchase the lead in the Republican race for the nomination to the presidency.   He's behind Trump, Carson, Rubio and Fiorina, and tied with Ted (Vampiro) Cruz at fifth place among the 15 nuts and fruits still running.   Gov. Chris Christie is near busted, with only $1.4M on hand in his account, which used to be enough to buy a New Jersey Congressional seat, and at any rate is not enough to shut the mouths of 67% of the state who say he should go AWOL from the platoon of declared candidates of his party.   [Read more...]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Visiting the Hala Sultan Tekke (The Mosque of Umm Haram) Posted: 23 Oct 2015 08:57 AM PDT We take off our shoes before entering the mosque Bare feet hovering over red and gold carpet We pause inside a prayer niche carved with familiar stars   [Read more...]

North of the Fence: Sex Parties and Lawsuits Posted: 23 Oct 2015 08:56 AM PDT By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass Last week I focused on the U.S.-Mexico border after former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, visited. I thought that would be the end of it–time to turn our focus on Chula Vista’s lawsuits. But nope. The border continues to be in the news this week, this time with the Union-Tribune reporting that employees, including a supervisor, in the San Diego sector of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allegedly used government time to recruit workers for swinger parties. (What in the world?) The headlines about alleged sex parties overshadowed an interesting KPBS report that migration from Mexico to the U.S. slowed to 164,621, down more than 41% from the previous year. Their source is the highly regarded organization El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF).   [Read more...]

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Protests Planned as Police Explain Gaslamp Death

Protests Planned as Police Explain Gaslamp Death Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:37 AM PDT By Doug Porter  As of this morning, police in the United States have killed 927 people this year. Number 925 on the Guardian’s list was Lamontez Jones, age 39, who died at Sixth and F Streets in San Diego’s Gaslamp District. He was, according to activists with United Against Police Terror (UAPTSD), the ninth person killed by law enforcement in San Diego this year. Media reports say Jones was shot by two motorcycle officers when he pulled a gun replica on them as they chased him through downtown San Diego Tuesday afternoon. The body cams worn by the policemen were not activated before or during the encounter. Department procedure is to turn them on prior to arriving on the scene. Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman defended the officers failure to activate the cameras at a press conference, saying officer- and public- safety concerns are more important than use of the devices.   [Read more...]

shared from San Diego Free Press Poor Mayor Faulconer Posted: 22 Oct 2015 07:16 AM PDT By Norma Damashek It's enough to make you cringe, the way they toy with our mayor – those brawny Chargers/ Rams/ Raiders sports team owners, our insatiable hotel magnates, those downtown real estate purveyors, our Chamber of Commerce henchmen.  So many entitled guys diddling with our small-time politicians just for the fun of it, passing the time until they clinch their publicly-subsidized, taxpayer-financed killer deals. But our mayor is a goodnatured sport.  He wears his what-me-worry grin even when he's left flapping in the breeze, flailing like wet underwear strung up on the clothesline to dry.  One minute limp and aimless.  The next minute puffed up and billowing like a hot-air facsimile of a political contender hoping to score in big-boy Republican Party politics. If presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is right about our country’s soul being captured by  mega-rich plutocrats bent on controlling the nation's politics and economy, these megalomaniacs must have done their internships in San Diego.   [Read more...]

Wonder Where San Diego’s Redevelopment Money Went? Posted: 22 Oct 2015 07:04 AM PDT ...Not to address homelessness By Jeeni Criscenzo/ Part one of a series Since the statewide dissolution of redevelopment agencies in 2011 Katheryn Rhodes, a local advocate for homeless people, has been speaking up at City Council meetings about the millions of dollars that could be used to address homelessness that the City is letting slip away. You’d think that someone suggesting that there is money available for a problem that is starved for adequate funding, would get an eager audience. Problem is, no one seemed to understand the reams of spreadsheets and data the soft-spoken Rhodes provided to support her claims. At a recent event, I told City Councilmember Gloria that I believe Rhodes claims have merit, but I’m at a loss how to explain it. He sighed, admitting no one seems to be able to figure it out. That’s actually progress because for the past five years eye-rolling has been the usual response to Rhodes’ requests to consider her findings. Reasonably smart people, myself included, assumed that since theycouldn’t make sense of the myriad of acronyms, encumbrances and legal requirements Rhodes offered to support her claims, that she is either a financial savant or a flake. No one likes to admit that something is too complex for them to comprehend.  [Read more...]

South Bay’s Future Greenbelt: An Interview with San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox Posted: 22 Oct 2015 06:45 AM PDT By Barbara Zaragoza / Part Three of Four The big new items that Supervisor Cox shared with me during his interview were three visions for the South Bay's future: A "barrio to barrio" bike path, which will link the Virginia Avenue Pedestrian entrance at the border (due to open in 2016) to the Bayshore Bikeway; The Bayshore Bikeway completion within the next 5 years. This will become the major artery through the South Bay, linking North and South, East and West, to the Pacific Ocean to Otay Ranch. It will also link into the California Coastal Trail that spans up to the Oregon border; The Sweetwater Reservoir will eventually have a completed loop for hikers, bikers and, most importantly, equestrians.   [Read more...]

Geothermal: The Other California Renewable Posted: 22 Oct 2015 06:40 AM PDT By Peg Mitchell / SanDiego350 Burning less coal, oil and gas is not only something we must do, but something we can do. Nature gives us a variety of renewable energy sources, and the technology to tap into them is getting better all the time. Climate change makes the news often for a variety of reasons, from the multiple impacts we have been witnessing locally -- drought, record-breaking temperatures, mudslides, fires -- to the President’s issuance of the “Clean Power Plan” to the Pope’s encyclical. But ultimately climate change discussions must focus on economically viable solutions. We are fortunate to live in a state that has ample natural non-fossil-fuel resources to provide electricity for our citizens. Not only do we have an abundance of sun to power solar generation, but we have a reliable steady-state resource right in our backyard: the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area in the Imperial Valley. The geothermal fields near the Salton Sea are the hottest, most prolific resource in the U.S.   [Read more...]

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Social Security Stuck with the Bills as Companies Subvert Workman’s Comp

Social Security Stuck with the Bills as Companies Subvert Workman’s Comp Posted: 21 Oct 2015 10:26 AM PDT By Doug Porter  A study released today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) makes the case that so-called reforms to workman’s compensation programs at the state level are tied to a rise of the number of workers receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (DI). Over the past quarter century, the number of beneficiaries in this program has gone from 25 per thousand to 59 per thousand, bringing the DI trust fund close to depletion in 2015. Republicans are claiming the rise in claimants for disability benefits is being fueled by lower-wage workers seeking an easy way out of the labor force. It’s just the latest wrinkle in the old “poor are shiftless and lazy meme” at the heart of so-called reform schemes.   [Read more...] shared from San Diego Free Press

San Diego Celebrates the Dead: Días de los Muertos 2015 Posted: 21 Oct 2015 07:22 AM PDT By Brent E. Beltrán Candles. Photos. Marigolds and other flowers. Some favorite foods. Maybe a beer or shot of tequila. We all remember differently our loved ones who have passed. Some remember with regret, others with joy, sadness, longing. But we remember. Death is but a natural part of life. We carry our dead with us in our hearts and some are hoisted upon the bony blades of their forbearers. But we remember.   [Read more...]

Reflections on Palestine: The Madness of Occupation in Hebron Posted: 21 Oct 2015 07:21 AM PDT In September 2015, Pedro Rios joined colleagues from around the country on a delegation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to meet with farmers, business people, politicians, and activists, in order to learn about how Israeli occupation impacts daily life for Palestinians living in the occupied territories. The delegation visited the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem. This is one in a series of articles on his reflections of his visit to Palestine. By Pedro Rios A Palestinian child, no more than 10 years old, stood in the middle of the street near the checkpoint leading to the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. In his hands he held a flute similar to those Palestinian merchants sell to the few tourists that make their way into the deserted streets of Ghost Town. The boy blew into it until he was almost out of breath, standing his ground, and blowing a second time with as much fervor.   [Read more...]

Otay Ranch: An Interview with San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox Posted: 21 Oct 2015 07:21 AM PDT By Barbara Zaragoza / Part Two of Four The largest reserve for open space in the South Bay will certainly become a vast area located in Otay Ranch. In Part 2 of my interview with San Diego County Board Supervisor, Greg Cox, he explains that the County hopes over 9,000 acres will be dedicated to open spaces in Chula Vista. In particular, the Otay Valley Regional Park will eventually connect to the Otay Lakes County Park, which is located right next to the Olympic Training Center. That means residents and visitors will be able to hike or ride from the Bayshore Bikeway all the way to the Otay reservoir and dam. A vast stretch of open space for outdoor activities, this is particularly important to residents who are experiencing unprecedented residential expansion. Supervisor Cox explains, "It's one of the largest planned communities in California, if not the country."  [Read more...]

RIP José Guerrero: Maestro, Artista, and Historian of the Pilsen Murals Posted: 21 Oct 2015 07:18 AM PDT

The TRUTH will set you FREE.