There are Reasons for Grampy’s Smiley Face
By Ernie McCray
I just discovered that National Grandparents Day came and went. I don’t know what that’s all about but it’s gotten me thinking about grandparenting.
I’ve been doing a lot of it lately, hanging out with a little two-year old who calls me Grampy and his little sister.
And my mind goes back in time, to August of ’76 when I became a Grampy for the first time. The journey puts a smile on my face. But I was, in no way, grinning when I got the news that I had a grandchild on the way. I mean, I was 38 and my daughter was 19. Chip off the old block it seemed. But, hey, whatcha gonna do? [Read more…]
The Pope Isn’t Coming to San Diego – Don’t Let That Be Your Excuse for Doing Nothing
By Doug Porter
Pope Francis is coming to the United States next week, and will bump the Trump off the top off the news pile. His message will be somewhat different than what Americans are used to hearing from the Catholic Church. Already Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has written a letter saying he’ll be boycotting the Pope’s address to Congress because of “socialist talking points…presented to guilt people into leftist policies.”
While I’ve got plenty of issues with Catholic Church* doctrine and policies, this is one of those times when perfection can be the enemy of progress. Let’s seize the moment and use the occasion to take action towards making the world a better place…
Or you can sit and stew. Your choice. [Read more…]
North Of The Fence: South Bay Events & Politics
By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass
Because there’s so much to do North of the fence…. but not much North of the I-54.
This week, many activities feature awareness of our environment, including at Olivewood Gardens, Wild Willow Farm, Suzie’s Farm and the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Chula Vista has been in the news lately, with reporters taking a closer look at the massive development going on. Sometimes believed to be divided between the poor West and the rich East, the city council is trying to attract developers to the West. They’re also trying to create a “smart” Bayfront full of never-before-seen technology. [Read more…]
Monument Valley: The King Memorial
By Nat Krieger
An archeologist honing her professional chops in 4015 could be forgiven for concluding that the marble and granite ruins in Washington D.C.’s Monument Valley were temples, each devoted to a deified human, or perhaps a god who took human form. If only it were so simple.
Those of us living in the third century of the republic know these were mortals. For one thing they’re all dead. Among the sons of the South for example, Thomas Jefferson has remained dead for 189 years, Martin Luther King for 48. The sanctity of their memorials’ dutifully hushed spaces is fortified and mocked by the swinging elbows of ideas, dreams, hypocrisies, even dodgy ruminations on the roles of the architect and the visitors–all stuff we can’t declare dead, or even quantify. [Read more…]
Geo-Poetic Spaces: Syrian Dust Storm
A cloud
is suffocating
the splintered island
Groves of umbrellas
folded into deserted beachfronts
smothered
by ashes of Armenian children
burned alive by the same state of repudiation
stabbing
unhealed wounds [Read more…]
Ceremony Marks ‘A National Treasure in the Barrio’ Standing Tall at City Hall
Photos and Story by Miguel Cid
On September 16th, City Hall’s Administration Building lobby doors opened and Barrio Logan’s 45 year old Chicano Park pillars, murals and all, stood tall on display— well, four foot tall replicas did, that is.
The pillars and artwork by members of the Barrio Logan community (names of artists and contributors below), part of “A National Treasure in the Barrio” art show, curated by Chicano Park muralist Victor Ochoa and co-curator Claudia Portillo, will be on display at City Hall until September 19th.
The replicas of the muralists’ work may be small in comparison to the pillars located in historic Chicano Park, but the artwork on display still holds the weight of the resistance to forces of the 60’s, 70’s, and prior to present—the fight and struggle to create a park—and the beauty of people coming together and forming a community with a new identity of the times—a Chicano identity. [Read more…]
How Our Stadium Saved Hilton’s Ego & Other Chuckles To Cry Over
As published by the original San Diego Free Press (circa 1968), we reprint the rundown on the Stadium in Mission Valley. Outside of the names and a few little details, you’ll be surprised how little has changed. Part Two & Three of Two…
Transcribed by John Lawrence / Original byline “Jim Knastick”
Hi sports fans. Big Jim, again.
Well, fans, last issue – – when we looked into that great muskmelon in Mission Valley – – we found a bill for $52 million addressed for the little taxpayer in San Diego and nothing but profits for local sports czars (your druggist knows them as merchants, financiers and industrialists).
Current vignette, fans: Taking Care of Barron.
[Read more…]
Jade Helm 15 Ends and #IStandWithAhmed Begins, Deep in the Heart of Texas
By Doug Porter
Today, two examples from the Lone Star State strike me as indicative of a sort of mass paranoia that has become all too commonplace. I’m mindful of these stories in thinking about the CNN Republican Presidential debate, with unhinged ideas likely to be touted as reality.
Example #1 is a revisiting of an older baloney sandwich. The Jade Helm 15 training exercise, alleged to be cover for a military takeover has ended. This delusion was used for political gain by three of the Republican candidates for president and a plethora of right-wing acolytes. Nothing happened.
Example #2 is a heartbreaking story about a 14 year kid in Irving, Texas who wanted to show off his science skills. He ended up being arrested, fingerprinted, and held incommunicado after he brought a home made clock to school. Oh, and he has brown skin. And his name is Ahmed Mohamed. [Read more…]
Qualcomm Stadium: a Boondoggle from the Get-Go?
As published by the original San Diego Free Press (circa 1968), we reprint the rundown on the Stadium in Mission Valley. Outside of the names and a few little details, you’ll be surprised how little has changed. Part One of Two…
Transcribed by John Lawrence / Original byline “Jim Knastic”
Hi, sports fans. Big Jim here.
Well, fans, there is a big spat brewing in major league San Diego and from this experienced observer’s view the losers in this main event are going to be the city’s middle- and lower-income taxpayers.
This whole new controversy is revolving around that great concrete muskmelon in Mission Valley, the San Diego Stadium.
As the Free Press goes to the printers, the news is out that the City of San Diego is suing the San Diego Chargers for one year’s back rent (more than $200,000). The Chargers apparently have decided that they don’t want to pay rent, at least not for the next seven years.
But that is just one of a long series of rubs – one of the first rubs in how that stadium got there in the first place. [Read more…]
Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie!
The Fight Against GMOs and Toxic Food
While Other Countries Ban GMOs, US Congress Endorses Them
By John Lawrence
Scotland has banned genetically modified organisms (GMOs) within its country. “Scotland is known around the world for our beautiful natural environment—and banning growing genetically modified crops will protect and further enhance our clean, green status,” said rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead. Here in the US the fight is just for the right to know that a food product should be labeled as GMO, and that’s not going so well.
Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015. This is BS, of course, since the bill’s real purpose is to preempt the rights of state and local governments to pass laws requiring the mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), to overturn GMO labeling laws already in place in several states, and to prevent the passage of any federal mandatory GMO labeling law in the future. So there is no free speech insofar as knowing what’s in something we are eating is concerned. The law’s attempt is to suppress truth in labeling.
GMOs were developed primarily to be resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup so that Roundup could be sprayed directly on crops and only the weeds would die. So whether or not GMO corn and soybeans are good or bad for you, the presence of poison sprayed on them can’t be too good for human consumers when they eat such crops. Especially crops such as grapes and apples which have very thin skins and are vulnerable to soaking up the herbicides and pesticides sprayed on them. [Read more…]
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