San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / 2012 / Archives for July 2012

Archives for July 2012

Polls Show Local Races up for Grabs; National Parties Ante Up

by

DCCC reserves $1.65 million from national funds, NRCC pledges $1.6 million to Bilbray–Updated

It’s the end of July, and some important political races in San Diego are beginning to heat up. Two polls released yesterday started to bring both the San Diego mayoral race and the 52nd District Congressional race into focus for the general election campaign.

According to a report by Roll Call, a Washington, DC based publication, the race between Democratic Challenger Scott Peters and Republican incumbent Brian Bilbray is a dead heat with each candidate receiving 40% of the projected vote. The poll showed a significant 19% of those questioned as undecided.   [Read more…]

Phoney Emails Catch LA Times and San Diego Reader in Hoax About San Diego US Attorney Targeting Pharmacies

by

A hoax has caught both the LA Times and the San Diego Reader in a bind. Both newspapers carried stories today – July 31st – that US Attorney General Laura Duffy was now targeting pharmacies in San Diego for illegal drug sales.

But it was all a hoax perpetrated via two phoney emails sent out to media outlets under Duffy’s name, title and office.

The false email opened with this:

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy today announced enforcement actions against local pharmacies for distribution of drugs for illegal purposes. Immediate enforcement will target pharmacies in the Coastal areas of La Jolla, Carmel Valley, and Pacific Beach; chosen for both the high rates of pharmaceutical drug abuse and high property values of targeted pharmacies. Affected pharmacies will have 45 days to shutdown in order to avoid harsher penalties.

The LA Times ran this headline: 20 San Diego pharmacies targeted by feds in drug sales crackdown. The San Diego Reader also ran an article about it.
  [Read more…]

In Wake of Prop B, Filner Sidelines Pension Refinance Plan

by

Candidate accepts the will of the voters; critics accuse him of abandoning his principles

Mayoral candidate Bob Filner is taking heat again this week for saying that he would go along with the law. Last week he was challenged for saying that as mayor he would enforce Prop B—the so called pension reform initiative that he so vehemently opposed during the primary—and essentially flip-flopping and supporting the controversial plan. This time he’s being accused of abandoning his own principles.

During the primary Filner touted a plan to refinance the pension debt, issuing 30 year bonds to do so. It was a plan he claimed would save the city $500,000 over the next 10 years, citing all-time low interest rates and comparing it to a homeowner who refinances his or her mortgage and in the process cuts the interest rate they pay nearly in half. That’s a lot of money the homeowner gets to keep.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – ‘Let’s Not Be the Last Generation to Retire’; Seniors Push Back Against GOP Plans to Slash Medicare and Social Security

by

As the LA Times fronts today with an article detailing GOP lawmakers’ plans for dismantling Medicare, a senior citizens group supported by organized labor has began a national campaign to educate seniors on Medicare and Social Security issues. The Times article details how conservative critics of Medicare are readying a new push to dramatically scale it back should the GOP win control of the White House and Congress in November. GOP governors are leading the fight by blocking expansion of Medicaid to meet the goals of the Affordable Care Act.

Yesterday senior citizens groups around the country participated in events marking the 47th anniversary of the Medicare act. Billed as the ‘Let’s Not Be the Last Generation to Retire’ Campaign, the DC-based Alliance for Retired Americans will be sponsoring additional educational events at senior centers in coming months and organizing protests outside offices of lawmakers who have voted against the needs of local retirees.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – The San Diego Mayoral Contest Heats Up; Poll Shows Filner with 8 Point Lead

by

The 2012 mayoral contest here in San Diego is front and center in the news today. Polling results released yesterday show Rep. Bob Filner with an 8 point lead over City Councilman Carl DeMaio. According to San Diego Politico, the race currently stands at 40% – Filner, 32% – DeMaio and 29% – Undecided. These polling results (which are likely drawn from internal Democratic surveys) closely mirror party registration in San Diego. Other polls reportedly show Filner in the high 30s and DeMaio peaking in the low 30s.

Voice of San Diego has an article up this morning that leads by quoting former Filner opponent and modern day China-phobic economist Peter Navaro calling the Congressman “the Grand Canyon of assholes.” The VOSD piece focuses on the narrative that candidate Filner’s abrasive personality is a political liability; it does explore the roots of his willingness to be combative–his roots in the civil rights movement–but the overall thrust is not particularly complimentary.   [Read more…]

How Mitt Romney Drove Companies Bankrupt, Raided Pension Funds and Paid Himself Handsomely

by

Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital was very good at making money for Mitt Romney. At the same time it loaded companies Bain bought with debt, borrowed even more money to pay dividends to Mitt Romney and destroyed or outsourced lots of jobs. It even raided pension funds. Then Romney turns around and holds himself up as a “successful businessman.” Sure he was successful in terms of making money for himself. But this was at the expense of those workers at previously successful companies who lost their jobs when those companies went bankrupt thanks to the debt loaded on them due to money borrowed from banks that went directly into Romney’s pocket.

Here’s how a private equity fund such as Bain Capital works. It picks a successful company and then takes it over with a leveraged buyout (LBO). The money borrowed from a bank to pay off the owner or stockholders does not become the debt of Bain Capital. It becomes the debt of the company that was taken over. You might ask, “Why would a bank even loan money to place a company in debt for the purposes of being taken over by Bain Capital which does not even assume the debt?” Well, it’s for the same reason that so many subprime loans were available. The bank does not continue to hold the debt. It offloads it to investors such as pension funds so the bank doesn’t really care. They have no skin in the game. Why not loan Mitt Romney money to take over companies? There’s good money in those commissions.   [Read more…]

Conservatives Undermining Our Economic Recovery

by

by Adam Hersh / Center for American Progress

Today’s weak economic growth numbers were as predictable as they are disheartening, and the blame lies squarely with those who opposed the president’s American Jobs Act nearly a year ago—and have in fact opposed an array of sensible economic policies to expand public investments that create jobs and economic growth ever since President Barack Obama took office.

But first the “news.” The $15.6 trillion U.S. economy slowed in the three months through June 2012. U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP—the sum total of all goods and services produced by workers and equipment in the United States—grew at 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2012. We are growing, but slowing. And this must renew policymakers’ urgency for action to prevent our economy from dipping further.   [Read more…]

Poor Blundering Mitt: The Pirates of Bainzance Redux

by

by revbludge / Daily Kos

(To the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Oh, is there not one maiden breast?” from The Pirates of Penzance)

Mitt Romney:
Oh, is there not one British breast,
That does not sense my superiority,
And show uncommon interest
In treating me like visiting royalty?

What Briton on this islet small would not grant my vocation
To shine upon this dinky stage as a world-class elder statesman?
Yes, an elder statesman!

Oh is there not one Briton, please
In this whole “Anglo-Saxon land,”
Who’ll not regard my expertise
Olympic-wise, as something grand?

As unprepared as you must be
To run the Games without disaster
I’ll tutor M-I-Six for free;
They’ll quickly learn from ME, the master,
Learn from Mitt the master!
more inside…   [Read more…]

“Tobacco Can Cure Smoking” And Other Highlights Of ALEC’s Annual Meeting in Salt Lake

by

by Brendan Fischer and Mary Bottari / PR Watch

“Can Tobacco Cure Smoking?” is the title of a workshop this morning led by the tobacco industry-backed Dr. Brad Rodu, who is trained as a dentist but has the title “Chair of Tobacco Harm Reduction Research” at the University of Louisville, a program primarily funded by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., an ALEC member and manufacturer of smokeless tobacco brands like Copenhagen and Skoal. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Heartland Institute, the Illinois-based think tank thatattracted attention earlier this year for making billboards that likened those who believe in man-made climate change to mass murderers and terrorists.

Rodu’s research supports the idea that smokers should replace cigarettes with smokeless chewing tobacco or “snus” moist tobacco packets — a “free market” solution to reducing smoking that would allow tobacco companies to continue profiting off of addiction.
  [Read more…]

In a Morro Bay State of Mind

by

Home from a roadtrip. One which was just that, a journey, a moving on, to another phase in my life.

We got going at a nice pace as I’m not fascinated with speed. It got a little slow through L.A. but, indeed, it wasn’t too bad. I approached it with a “low rider” attitude, set my own mood. Hey, my novia’s at my side so I couldn’t help but low ride as she rubbed her sexy little hands on my knee. Made me go “Good googily wooglily” like back in my teens wearing white t-shirts and levi blue jeans.

Next think I know we’re in Carpinteria and when I looked around I couldn’t help but swoon and sway as I stood there in view of an almost criminally beautiful day. It was like the sun was showing off.   [Read more…]

Dark Money Political Groups Target Voters Based on Their Internet Habits

by

by Lois Beckett / ProPublica

Lauren Berns was browsing Talking Points Memo when he saw an ad with President Obama’s face. “Stop the Reckless Spending,” the ad read, and in smaller print, Paid for by Crossroads GPS.    Berns was surprised. Why was Crossroads GPS, a group that powerful Republican strategist Karl Rove helped found,advertising on a liberal-leaning political website? Looking closely at the ad, Berns saw a small blue triangle in the upper-left hand corner. He knew what that meant: this ad wasn’t being shown to every person who read that page. It was being targeted to him in particular. Tax-exempt groups like Crossroads GPS have become among the biggest players in this year’s election.  They’re often called “dark money” groups, because they can raise accept unlimited amounts of money and never have to disclose their donors.

These groups are spending massively on television spots attacking different candidates. These ads are often highly publicized and get plenty of media attention.

But these same dark money groups are also quietly expanding their online advertising efforts, using sophisticated targeting tactics to send their ads to specific kinds of people.

Who they’re targeting, and what data they’re using, is secret.   [Read more…]

Homelessness Myth#24: They All Frequent Bars

by

We’re all aware that the United States economy is going through some hard times. A number of businesses are experiencing financial down turns. Some housed people believe that all homeless people spend a great deal of time hanging out in bars and, by their very presence in those bars, negatively impact those businesses.

But do all homeless people really hang out in bars? To answer this question, I asked a number of people who have experienced homelessness whether they frequent bars and, if so, what have their experiences have been.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry