The Starting Line

A week-day SDFP column by Doug Porter

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I read the Daily Fishwrap(s) so you don’t have to… Catch “the Starting Line” Monday thru Friday right here at San Diego Free Press (dot) org. Send your hate mail and ideas to DougPorter@SanDiegoFreePress.Org

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Thumbnail image for 2013: Year of the Protest?

2013: Year of the Protest?

by Doug Porter 06.18.2013 Columns

“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” ― Historian Howard Zinn

By Doug Porter

It’s hard to keep all the players straight at this point.

Last month protesters rallied in 52 countries and 436 cities world-wide as part of ongoing global protests against seed giant Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces.

This month there are massive protests in Turkey. Nationwide demonstrations in Brazil. A huge construction workers strike in Quebec, with 175,000 strikers angry about being asked to work 14 hours a day, six days a week with no overtime pay.

And there are lots of smaller, less likely to be covered by the mass media, protests slated for San Diego, including an unusual coalition planning a July 4th rally protest prompted by the recent disclosures regarding government surveillance.

Today we’ll take a look around at what’s happening in this year of protest.

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Thumbnail image for Lawsuit Seeks to Shut Down Over The Line’s Boozin Beach Tournament; Preferential Treatment Claimed

Lawsuit Seeks to Shut Down Over The Line’s Boozin Beach Tournament; Preferential Treatment Claimed

by Doug Porter 06.17.2013 Business

By Doug Porter

A non-profit group has filed suit against the City of San Diego, seeking to block approval of a special-event permit for the 60th Annual World Championship Over-The-Line Tournament (OTL), scheduled for two weekends in July.

FreePB.org, a group that in the past opposed the city’s alcohol ban on beaches, is saying that the permit approval process was illegal and therefore null and void until an environmental review is conducted.

Their opposition to the OTL tournament permit was triggered by the city’s rejection of a permit for a beach event called the Leisure Olympics. FreePB asked for many of the same concessions granted to OTL, including exemptions from San Diego’s beach booze ban that would allow for individuals to bring their own alcohol and purchase alcohol from vendors. They also vowed to impose exactly the same “safeguards” promised by OTL

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Thumbnail image for The Private Side of the Intelligence Equation – Corporations Exploit Their Access

The Private Side of the Intelligence Equation – Corporations Exploit Their Access

by Doug Porter 06.14.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

Much of the mainstream media has decided that trivializing whistleblower Edward Snowden is a safer course that actually exploring the implications of his disclosures.

John Oliver didn’t have to ponder more than a few seconds on the Daily Show before concluding the media had gone “Us Weekly on the messenger”, citing supposed news stories about Edward Snowden’s middle school experiences and his girlfriend’s pole dancing videos.

Fortunately, a few observers have maintained their dignity amid the rush to sensationalize trivia and trumpet the bloviating of ignorant blowhards seeking political advantage.

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Thumbnail image for Odd Man Out? Newly Minted Congressional Candidate DeMaio Left Off San Diego GOP Endorsement List

Odd Man Out? Newly Minted Congressional Candidate DeMaio Left Off San Diego GOP Endorsement List

by Doug Porter 06.13.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

After getting trounced in the 2012 elections, San Diego Republicans, led by Tony Krvaric, vowed to get into the next election cycle early and often with support and endorsements.

Just this week they’ve announced a list of official party candidate endorsements for the 2014 elections.  The roll call for the already blessed includes mostly incumbent Congressional, State Senate and Assembly members, County and Local officials, along with contenders for ‘key seats’. Chris Cate, candidate for the open seat in San Diego’s officially non-partisan City Council District 6 race is among those receiving the party’s backing.

Noticeably absent from that list is Carl DeMaio, who’s bounced back from his fall defeat in the Mayoral contest with an aggressive campaign aimed at unseating Congressman Scott Peters in the 52nd District.

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Thumbnail image for Congressman Issa Weasels on IRS Transcripts After His Case Falls Apart

Congressman Issa Weasels on IRS Transcripts After His Case Falls Apart

by Doug Porter 06.12.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

Facing an increasingly skeptical press after being called out for using selectively edited interview transcripts to make his case against the IRS, Congressman Darrell Issa has decided to double down.

Issa, the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee now says releasing the full transcripts would be “reckless” and “irresponsible.”

Two weekends ago the North County Congressman provided CNN with excerpts of interviews with IRS agents, assuring reporter Candy Crowley that “the whole transcript will be put out.” Issa’s excerpts supposedly had an IRS official conceding that “directions” for to treat Tea Party groups “emanated from Washington.”

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Thumbnail image for Grassroots Organizing Succeeds, City Attorney Fails As Filner Budget Approved

Grassroots Organizing Succeeds, City Attorney Fails As Filner Budget Approved

by Doug Porter 06.11.2013 Columns

Bus Passes, Library Funding and Arts Programs All Get Funded

By Doug Porter

It’s a new day in San Diego as the priorities of the Filner administration are becoming reality with the passage of the City budget for 2013-2014.

Yesterday the San Diego City Council approved a $2.75 billion budget including a $1.2 billion general fund, which pays for basic services like public safety and recreation centers. Virtually all of Mayor Filner’s proposals were endorsed.

The vote on the overall budget was 7-2, with Councilmen Kevin Faulconer and Scott Sherman opposing.  Faulconer complained about a ‘missed opportunity’ with the budget, objecting to an overall increase of $30 million with no cuts in ‘waste’.  Sherman’s negative vote was prompted, according to news accounts, by his objections to ‘expansion of government’.

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Thumbnail image for Filner vs. Goldsmith – City Hall Feud Escalates in San Diego

Filner vs. Goldsmith – City Hall Feud Escalates in San Diego

by Doug Porter 06.10.2013 Columns

City Attorney’s Stance Threatens Street Repairs, Library Construction, Fire Station

By Doug Porter

Credit goes to UT-San Diego for breaking this morning’s top local story, yet another chapter in the ongoing saga of the feud between Mayor Bob Filner and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. Taking a page from Filner’s standoff with the Tourism Marketing District, the City Attorney is refusing to endorse documentation attesting to the legality of a $35 million bond issue.

…….. INSIDE: Issa’s Bluff Gets Called, Glen Beck and Michael Moore Agree on Something…

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Thumbnail image for SoCal Edison Pulls the Plug on San Onofre Nuke Plant

SoCal Edison Pulls the Plug on San Onofre Nuke Plant

by Doug Porter 06.07.2013 Activism

By Doug Porter

Today’s news round up starts with the announcement from Southern California Edison saying that the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is finished. Kaput. Shutdown. Over.

Citing “continuing uncertainty about when or if it might return to service”, the company concluded that questions over when or if the plant might return to service was not good for customers or investors. Concerns about the environment or planet earth were not mentioned.

Since the shutdown of the nuclear power generating station in January of 2012, there has been an epic struggle over whether the plant could safely be returned to operating status.  A small radioactive leak in faulty steam tubes prompted the closure and subsequent questions over the plant’s processes and procedures have lead to protests, innumerable hearings and calls by California Senator Barbara Boxer for the Justice Department to investigate Southern California Edison and its statements to federal regulators about swapping out generators.

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Thumbnail image for NSA Phone Tap ‘Scandal’: Can We Finally Talk About What the Government is Doing to ‘Keep Us Safe’?

NSA Phone Tap ‘Scandal’: Can We Finally Talk About What the Government is Doing to ‘Keep Us Safe’?

by Doug Porter 06.06.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

It’s a one topic day for this news roundup.

The Guardian newspaper has a major scoop on its hands. Reporter Glen Greenwald yesterday published a leaked copy of a Patriot Act Section 215 order. The order itself is the scoop, since Section 215 orders are secretly authorized by a secret court to tell individuals to take actions in secret.

Revealing the existence of one of these secret orders is against the law. So we can expect a Federal investigation with its own set of secret court orders into who leaked this document.

And, sorry conservatives, this isn’t anything unique to the Obama administration. Members of both parties have been playing this hush-hush sport for way too long. Before 9/11 even.

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Thumbnail image for Tony Baloney Says Meatless Mondays in San Diego Schools are Government Coercion

Tony Baloney Says Meatless Mondays in San Diego Schools are Government Coercion

by Doug Porter 06.05.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

Today’s round up of the news starts with public education. And one of the ways the English language gets mauled by those who have an aversion to the ‘public’ part of it.

The San Diego Unified School District Board of Trustees approved a proposal yesterday to incorporate meatless Mondays into its cafeteria menus for elementary and K-8 schools for the coming school year.

This isn’t some radical notion. The concept started a decade ago, as an initiative backed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  A report by the American Meat Institute in February 2011 found that 18% of American households now participate in Meatless Mondays. Oprah’s endorsed it. School districts in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Oakland and Arlington, Virginia all participate.

Note that the SDUSD policy doesn’t prohibit bringing a baloney and ketchup sandwich (a high school favorite of mine) from home, so if a student wants animal protein they can have it.

INSIDE: Peters to Come Out Swinging for Obamacare, VOSD Jumps the Shark, GOP Defunds (Non-existant) Acorn (Again)

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Thumbnail image for Musings on The First Birthday of the San Diego Free Press

Musings on The First Birthday of the San Diego Free Press

by Doug Porter 06.04.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

Well, we made it to the one year mark.   So today we’ll skip the news round up and take a look at what’s been going on around here. On this date (June 4th) last year the San Diego Free Press went ‘live’.

Here’s how Patty Jones describes the process:

When Frank and I started the OB Rag it was sort of on a lark. We jumped in and before too much time had past, we had a collective of wonderful people around us. We felt like these people deserved a place where they could write about their own neighborhoods and the things near and dear to them. We had resurrected the OB Rag, why not the San Diego Free Press? We gathered these people together and we talked about it. We saw a light in their eyes…

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Thumbnail image for Darrell Issa’s Conspiracy Claims Debunked on National TV

Darrell Issa’s Conspiracy Claims Debunked on National TV

by Doug Porter 06.03.2013 Columns

 ”It’s why five people in this town take Darrell Issa seriously”

By Doug Porter

San Diego’s own Congressman Darrell Issa is making headlines nationally this morning, but not in the way that the local daily paper would like you to believe.

Today’s UT-San Diego has a Page Two story up featuring a picture featuring Issa holding up a piece of paper, with a caption that says “interviews with employees at the Cincinnati IRS office indicate they were directed by Washington to target conservative groups.”

The north county’s answer to Joe McCarthy went on CNN Sunday morning to tout his latest ‘evidence’, which turned out to be highly edited selections from staff interviews with IRS agents. Politically correspondent Cindy Crowley called Issa’s bluff, actually reading the documents and pointing out that they proved nothing.

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Thumbnail image for Downtown Doublecross Foiled– Mayor Filner Calls Out Hoteliers Attempt to Sabotage Tourism Deal -UPDATED

Downtown Doublecross Foiled– Mayor Filner Calls Out Hoteliers Attempt to Sabotage Tourism Deal -UPDATED

by Doug Porter 05.31.2013 Business

‘The City of San Diego will not be held hostage”

By Doug Porter

Once again we’re seeing headlines proclaiming Mayor Filner to be responsible for causing the San Diego Tourism Authority to close down. 

We’re hearing about how people’s jobs will be affected by a “squabble”.

We’re being told via the Daily Fishwrap editorial about a “crippling blow to a major pillar of the San Diego economy.”

Hogwash.

Mayor Filner has demanded that the tourism agency live up to its end of a bargain struck back in April that, among other things, directed 5 percent of Tourism Marketing District (TMD) revenue to the upcoming celebration of Balboa Park’s centennial. That deal came after several months of very public and ugly struggle.

UPDATE: TMD agreed to fund Balboa Park celebration; Mayor agreed to release funds. I’m not sure whether Balboa Park got the funding they expected. TMD officials claimed revenue shortfall. (I predict a One Exclamation Point! press release from Filner shortly)

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Thumbnail image for Enterprise Zone Reform, Ban on Plastic Bags Getting a Chance in Sacramento

Enterprise Zone Reform, Ban on Plastic Bags Getting a Chance in Sacramento

by Doug Porter 05.30.2013 Business

By Doug Porter

The political will to reform California’s state enterprise zone (EZ) program has finally reached critical mass in the wake of the disclosures via a Public Records Act request documenting tens of thousands of dollars in tax credits going to Sacramento-area strip club owners.

A televised report by KCRA news, complete with footage shot inside an area strip club, has provided reform supporters with a boost. The State of California is losing out on $750 million in revenues annually due to EZ program….

Get ready for another PR assault on sanity, brought to Californians by a group calling itself the American Progressive Bag Alliance (APBA).

It seems as though the APBA and their allies haven’t been able to spread enough money around Sacramento to stop a Senate vote this week on Senate Bill 405, which would phase out plastic shopping bags. Two other bills with much the same purpose died in committee.

INSIDE: The Race to Replace Everybody’s Favorite Congressional Wacko

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Thumbnail image for Peace Breaks Out at City Hall as Filner, Employees Announce Contract Proposal

Peace Breaks Out at City Hall as Filner, Employees Announce Contract Proposal

by Doug Porter 05.29.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

More than a decade of demonizing public employees in San Diego appeared to be coming to close yesterday, with the announcement of a tentative deal between the City and six labor unions.

Previous administrations have exploited concerns over pension indebtedness and budgetary shortfalls caused by the great recession, using city employees as a public whipping boy for political gain.

One need look no further that former Mayor Jerry Sanders’ refusal to negotiate with the Police Officer’s Association during the Proposition B campaign to understand just how egregious these political games have been for everybody except a small group of politicians.

The proposed labor pacts will save taxpayers $60 million in pension plan payments in the first three years, according to Mayor Filner. You know it was a big deal because the press release coming from the Mayor’s office had three, count ‘em, three, exclamation points in the headline.

INSIDE: UT-San Diego Circles the Drain, WalMart’s Up to the Usual Crap

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Thumbnail image for The Six Month Mark: Three Ways Mayor Filner is Making a Difference in San Diego

The Six Month Mark: Three Ways Mayor Filner is Making a Difference in San Diego

by Doug Porter 05.28.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

Three stories about San Diego Mayor Bob Filner lead off this morning’s review of the news. I’m not surprised that the first six months of Bob Filner’s tenure as the top elected official in America’s Finest City have been tumultuous.

After all, San Diegans elected a progressive Democrat after years of rule by mostly moderate Republicans. The local GOP leadership opted to back a more radical flavor of conservative in Carl DeMaio and, as a result, lost.

That’s been a bitter pill for them to swallow, and you could hardly characterize them as gracious losers. And, in a way, you can hardly blame them. Losing the election has cost their supporters the kind of insider access needed to assure that their financial interests take priority over public concerns.

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Thumbnail image for The First Step Toward a Balanced Budget is Getting Republicans Out of Office

The First Step Toward a Balanced Budget is Getting Republicans Out of Office

by Doug Porter 05.27.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

Welcome to the Memorial Day Edition of the Starting Line.  Our lead story in today’s review of the news comes from Sunday’s New York Times, focusing on California’s budget problems.

Over the past decade or so this kind of reporting would have focused on state budget deficits and spending cuts and the internecine warfare going on in our State, which would inevitably include forecasts of bankruptcy, economic chaos and predictions that these problems were destined to spread to other states.

This time the story was different. 

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Driven to Despair: Are San Diego’s Taxis Like a Bangladesh Clothing Factory on Wheels?

The Starting Line – Driven to Despair: Are San Diego’s Taxis Like a Bangladesh Clothing Factory on Wheels?

by Doug Porter 05.24.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

A survey released yesterday leaves little room for doubt that conditions in the local taxi industry pose a very real threat to the safety of passengers, drivers and the general public in San Diego.

Conducted over a two month period by San Diego State University and the Center for Policy Initiatives (CPI), the study interviewed 331 local cab drivers, asking about earnings, expenses, hours, health care, vehicle safety and industry practices.

What emerges from the data is a picture of nearly serf-like conditions, where workers are obliged to perform in unsafe vehicles for long stretches of time with low pay under an ever-present threat of being blackballed should they dare to complain about conditions.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Community Activists Take Aim at San Diego’s Budget Priorities

The Starting Line – Community Activists Take Aim at San Diego’s Budget Priorities

by Doug Porter 05.23.2013 Activism

As Citizens Clamor for a Better Life, Downtown Types Scheme to Take it Away

 By Doug Porter

After years of suffering through cutbacks and slights of hand, residents from some of San Diego’s poorest neighborhoods packed a City Council public budget hearing last night. An event that in the past might have been focused on saving city services from further budget cuts was instead about creating positive visions and improving people’s lives.

More than 300 hundred people submitted requests to speak to Council members on topics relevant to the needs of their communities in Mayor Bob Filner’s proposed budget for FY 2014.  Speakers addressed the hearing in four languages, advocating for free bus passes for needy students, a better bike infrastructure, more library hours and improvements in the way city’s taxicabs are regulated.

Although only 100 of those who signed up actually got to speak for their allotted minute, the size and determination of the groups in attendance made a clear impression on the Council.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – It’s a Bright Blue Day for San Diego; Labor Wins Big in Special Elections

The Starting Line – It’s a Bright Blue Day for San Diego; Labor Wins Big in Special Elections

by Doug Porter 05.22.2013 Activism

School Board Member Richard Barrera to Head Labor Council

By Doug Porter

The results are in for the last of a series of elections triggered by Bob Filner’s decision to run for Mayor of San Diego. Labor leader Lorena Gonzalez displayed her mastery of the political process, pulling together a massive canvassing campaign that gave her an overwhelming 72% of the vote and a seat in the State Assembly.

For those of you keeping track, Filner moved from the US House of Representatives to Mayor of San Diego, Juan Vargas moved from State Senate to fill Filner’s seat, Ben Hueso moved from State Assembly to State Senate.

In the slime-filled race for San Diego’s 4th District City Council seat, Myrtle Cole triumphed over Dwayne Crenshaw with 53% of the vote. Although both Cole & Crenshaw were both Democrats and similar in outlook, the contest turned into a shadow boxing match, with the organized labor and downtown business interests funding increasingly nasty direct mail campaigns.

The really big news coming out of last night’s contests was the disclosure that San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Richard Barrera will be taking over the helm at the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The Labor Council is a coalition of 135 local unions representing more than 200,000 working families in the area that has played an ever increasing role in local politics.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – University of California Hospital Strike Looks Like a Reality

The Starting Line – University of California Hospital Strike Looks Like a Reality

by Doug Porter 05.20.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

More than 2,000 hospital workers at UC San Diego are planning on staying home from work for a couple of days (May 21 & 22) this week. Vocational nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians, bus drivers and custodians will go on strike Tuesday following nearly a year of failed negotiations. Their last contract expired in September.

Depending on who’s talking, the 30,000 workers at five University of California health centers are about to walk off the job (or honor the picket lines of those who do strike) are motivated by demands that the UC Medical System stop prioritizing profit over quality patient care OR a refusal by the union to agree to UC’s pension reforms.

The pending strike is NOT just about higher pay, as is being reported in the mass media. Demands by management that workers increase their contribution to pensions funds have been countered by the union’s complaints about soaring executive compensation in the UC system.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Republicans Ask: Can We Find Obama Guilty First and Have the Trial Later?

The Starting Line – Republicans Ask: Can We Find Obama Guilty First and Have the Trial Later?

by Doug Porter 05.17.2013 Columns

The Scandal Trifecta That Isn’t 

By Doug Porter

After five years of waiting and hoping, Republicans of the Tea Party persuasion have finally reached a hysterical critical mass. Here, they’re saying, is the proof of what we’ve been trying to tell the public all along—that the President of the United States is unfit for office.

Yesterday, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann hijacked a press conference with Senator Mitch McConnell that was supposed to be a pity party for some tea partiers who were allegedly targeted by the IRS, by announcing that her constituents were demanding impeachment.

As Brian Beutler at TPM noted, “You could hear the crunch of McConnell’s intestines turning to ice from across the capital.”

The mother of all these ‘scandals’, Benghazi ran into trouble yesterday as Republicans were fingered in the national news media for mischaracterizing leaking two isolated tidbits from classified emails.  The unnamed ‘Congressional GOP sources’ belief they could get away with such a deception was undone by the Obama administration’s decision to release more than 100 pages of previous classified emails.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Grand Jury Report Casts a Light on the Sorry State of San Diego’s Bikeways

The Starting Line – Grand Jury Report Casts a Light on the Sorry State of San Diego’s Bikeways

by Doug Porter 05.16.2013 Activism

Be Safe on Bike to Work Day, Friday, May 17th

By Doug Porter

The San Diego County Grand Jury report on the state of our city’s bikeways does its best to be positive.  After all, decades of car-centric public planning and policies are slowly giving way to an increasing awareness of the benefits and possibilities of traveling on two wheels in a city with near-perfect weather conditions.

‘Everybody’ agrees, or at least pays lips service to, the need for safe and increased access for bicyclists on the roads around San Diego. The Grand Jury even called its report: San Diego – A Bicycle Friendly City.

The reality of riding isn’t so nice for today’s bicyclists, however. Years of deferred maintenance of roadways in San Diego have made many of the gestures towards riders empty ones. Despite the prevailing narrative that this infrastructural neglect is somehow due to incompetent or inefficient government burdened with an overpaid class of civil servants, the truth of matter is that public attitudes towards government in general are at the heart of the matter.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – A Real Scandal! Activists Around the World to Protest Monsanto May 25th

The Starting Line – A Real Scandal! Activists Around the World to Protest Monsanto May 25th

by Doug Porter 05.15.2013 Activism

Balboa Park March & Rally, Mission Bay Overpass Light Brigade Events Expected to Draw Thousands

By Doug Porter 

While the oldstream media is obsessing on the current crop of Washington’s politi-dramas, an international protest movement is gathering steam. Activists in on six continents, in 36 countries, and in 47 U.S. states — totaling events in over 250 cities — are coordinating demonstrations to occur simultaneously at 11am Pacific time on Saturday May 25th under the general theme “March Against Monsanto”.

The St Louis-based biotech behemoth Monsanto has come under increasing attack from environmentalists, agriculturalists and average consumers in response to the company’s conduct in the realm of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically-engineered foods.

Efforts aimed at forcing the company to engage in transparent business practices, like providing consumer information about products incorporating GMOs, have exposed a corporate culture willing to use raw power and virtually unlimited amounts of cash to protect their interests.

San Diego protest info here and here.  More details later on in story

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – UT-San Diego Publisher ‘Papa’ Doug Manchester’s Overly Generous Campaign Contributions

The Starting Line – UT-San Diego Publisher ‘Papa’ Doug Manchester’s Overly Generous Campaign Contributions

by Doug Porter 05.14.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

Some people are more equal than others. And when it comes to fat cats like developer and newspaper publisher Doug Manchester, that ‘more equal’ status would seem to mean above the law.

Today’s revelation about Manchester’s misdeeds comes from the Sunlight Foundation, which has scoured campaign finance records nationwide and identified hard money donors who have donated to federal candidates, political parties and political committees in the last election cycle,

“Papa” Doug Manchester made the list of hard money donors of those who appear to have exceeded the legal limit of $70,800 to parties and committees in the 2012 cycle. His donations of $83,426 to committees and $10,000 to candidates all went to Republicans, of course.

I doubt he’s lost any sleep over breaking this ‘little people’s’ law. That’s why he’s got lawyers.

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