Thumbnail image for Restaurant Review: Saigon

Restaurant Review: Saigon

by Judi Curry 05.21.2013 Culture

Saigon
4455 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
619-284-4215

By Judi Curry

How does one review a restaurant when the menu runs 19 pages?  How does one review a restaurant when there are 8 people eating at the same table and each one orders something else?  This is going to be a challenge.  A lot will be done by pictures.

Five of us arrived at the restaurant early – 7:00 – and decided to order appetizers while waiting for the others to join us.  Our hosts, Anna and Rich, selected an order of Vietnamese egg rolls, (Cha Gio) that were made with tofu, lettuce, and served with a nice fish sauce. The cost for 6 rolls was $4.95. In addition, an order of pork rolls ($3.25) and an order of Shrimp and Pork rolls ($3.25) was ordered.

By the time all of the guests arrived, so had the appetizers and we all delighted in trying everything that was put on the lazy susan in front of us.

Read the full article → 9 comments
Thumbnail image for Desde la Logan: They Served and Are Now Finally Recognized for Their Sacrifices

Desde la Logan: They Served and Are Now Finally Recognized for Their Sacrifices

by Brent E. Beltrán 05.21.2013 Columns

Chicano Park Memorial Honors Logan Heights Veterans 

By Brent E. Beltrán

On Saturday, May 18 military veterans from the community of Logan Heights were finally recognized for the sacrifices they have made throughout the years. Located in Chicano Park, a large stone memorial and flagpole—which initially broke ground on November 11, 2008—was dedicated to the many veterans from the Logan Heights area who have served and died in this country’s armed forces.

Around 300 people were on hand to watch the dedication ceremony near the pedestrian bridge that crosses over the I-5 freeway. Many were veterans, family members, friends and community members. Including almost a dozen veterans from World War II as well as many from the wars in Korea, Viet Nam and more recent ones like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The dedication ceremony, emceed by Logan Heights Veterans Memorial Committee member John Crespin, included a presentation of the flag—which will fly on the Fourth of July, Veterans and Memorial Day— by veterans Adam Gastelum, Tony Milan and Ruben Rivera; a singing of the National Anthem by Julia Price; and a twenty one gun salute and the playing of Taps by the Airborne Honor Guard–National City.

Read the full article → 0 comments
Thumbnail image for Time Works Wonders: Oak Tree Academy Preschool Owners Transform El Cajon Property

Time Works Wonders: Oak Tree Academy Preschool Owners Transform El Cajon Property

by Annie Lane 05.21.2013 Business

By Annie Lane

When owner Conni Huntley reflects on Oak Tree Academy’s move from La Mesa to their new location in El Cajon, the preschool administrator admits it was she who dragged her feet.

“I’m afraid of the heat,” the Ocean Beach resident confided. “I’m a beach brat.”

Roseann Rinear, Huntley’s business partner and a longtime Jamul resident, didn’t share her concerns in that regard. The dilapidated state of the property, however, had them both a little nervous.

“It wasn’t until we drove around back and saw those Chinese Elms that we knew what the property could become,” Huntley said of the three full grown trees lining the expansive yard.

Read the full article → 0 comments
Thumbnail image for Spanking in the Name of the Lord

Spanking in the Name of the Lord

by Source 05.20.2013 Books & Poetry

When Children are Maltreated by Religious Groups

By Dave Rice

Child sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church have repeatedly rocked the nation for more than a decade now, and in 2010 spread locally to reach the San Diego Diocese. The so-called “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and early ‘90s brought the prospect of harm to children through mysterious and violent rituals to the forefront of the nation’s attention (though such focus turned out to be largely overblown), while periodically stories reach the news involving the tragic death of a child raised by a family of religious separatists. Incidents such as the aforementioned remind us that institutions of faith are capable of inspiring misplaced trust that can bring harm to the most vulnerable amongst us: our children.

These stories, however, just scratch the surface of a more widespread problem concerning the mistreatment of children in the name of religion, says Janet Heimlich, author of Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment.

Read the full article → 1 comment
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.

Read the full article → 3 comments
Thumbnail image for The “Self Appointed Mayor of Golden Hill” Holds Court in the Big Kitchen

The “Self Appointed Mayor of Golden Hill” Holds Court in the Big Kitchen

by Jim Miller 05.20.2013 Activism

By Jim Miller and Kelly Mayhew

Judy Forman is a Golden Hill institution. Her restaurant, the Big Kitchen Café, has served as a center of community life and activism for many years. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine the neighborhood without her or her place. I first went to the Big Kitchen myself in the eighties when I met with folks involved in the protest movement against Reagan Administration policies in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

More recently, Judy helped Kelly and me out by playing the role of Emma Goldman in the 100-year Anniversary of the San Diego Free Speech Fight when local labor and Occupy folks took over the intersection of 5th and E downtown. Over the years Forman has been active in LGBT politics, helped out with fundraisers for the Center on Policy Initiative’s Students for Economic Justice Internship program, started the New Play Café (a company devoted to helping playwrights develop their work), and offered up her “kitchen,” as she likes to say, to far too many people to name here.

Thus, to make a long story short, Forman has had her hand in much local activism over the past thirty some odd years and the Big Kitchen has always been one of the progressive hubs of San Diego and the heart of the neighborhood. It was our pleasure to interview her for this Golden Hill series.

Read the full article → 7 comments
Thumbnail image for Big Food, Big Heart: The Big Kitchen

Big Food, Big Heart: The Big Kitchen

by Source 05.20.2013 Culture

The Big Kitchen Café
3003 Grape St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 234-5789
Web: http://bigkitchencafe.com/

Review by Emma Goldman

“Kindness Matters.” The sign tacked above the doorframe leading into the kitchen caught my eye as my 9 year-old and I took a seat at the horseshoe shaped counter that hunkers down in the center of the main dining room of the Big Kitchen Café, a Greater Golden Hill/South Park institution.

As we waited for one of the bevy of young servers to come get our order, we couldn’t keep from scanning the heavily festooned walls—customers’ family photos, progressive bumper stickers, band flyers, necklaces, cartoons, feathers, pastel teapots, mandalas, salt and pepper shakers in funny shapes, kids’ art, magazine covers touting the restaurant, plaques of appreciation, etc.

There is no other place in San Diego like the Big Kitchen, a community center and diner that has anchored Greater Golden Hill since the early-‘70s. And at its helm, of course, is its warm and irrepressible owner, Judy “the Beauty on Duty” Forman, who is the very soul of kindness.

Read the full article → 0 comments
Thumbnail image for Readers Write: We Need Your Support! No-cost Bus Passes Are An Investment in the Future

Readers Write: We Need Your Support! No-cost Bus Passes Are An Investment in the Future

by Source 05.20.2013 Readers Write

By Angeli Hernandez

I decided to embark on this campaign because as a young woman, I have seen first-hand the dangers that shadow City Heights residents.

My name is Angeli Hernandez, and I live in City Heights. The Youth Opportunity Pass is a no-cost bus pass for young people. Just as the name says, this pass is a tool that opens up opportunities for youth. Many young people, including myself, have to go to their jobs or internships and school.

The lack of money in our families leaves us with no other alternative other than walking or biking, instead of taking public transportation. In an ideal world, walking and biking to work and school wouldn’t be an issue, but dangers lurk on those paths and roads.

Read the full article → 3 comments
Thumbnail image for Restaurant Review: Giorgino’s

Restaurant Review: Giorgino’s

by Judi Curry 05.19.2013 Food & Drink

By Judi Curry

Giorgino’s
1237 28th Street
San Diego, CA 92102
619-234-9141

Giorgino’s is run by three brothers – Mario – who has owned the restaurant for 6 years; Giovanni and Gabriel. In addition, friends and other relatives work there at various times during the week, and it is a truly family run business. Unfortunately, Mario was not there this evening.

The menu is very extensive. They boast of the “Best Cheesesteaks in Town” and they feature Amoroso Rolls – so soft an succulent they melt in your mouth; Dietz and Watson Meats and Cheeses, along with John Taylor’s Pork Roll and Wise Chips and Tastybakes. They also have beer on tap. Because there are so many items on the menu, I would like to mention only a few besides those listed above, there are hot sandwiches, pork rolls, cold sandwiches, wings, tenders, burgers and dogs with salads, antipasto, pasta dishes, and desserts. They also do catering.

Read the full article → 1 comment
Thumbnail image for Those Uninvited Guests at Your Barbecue

Those Uninvited Guests at Your Barbecue

by Source 05.18.2013 Environment

With most samples of several common store-bought meats testing positive for antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” factory farming practices must change.

By  / OtherWords

Planning a Memorial Day barbecue? When you buy meat for that festive meal, watch out for some uninvited guests. An alarming amount of American meat harbors not just pathogens, but “superbugs” — antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

For now, you’d better cook your meat well enough to kill the germs (165F is the magic temperature), but there might be hope for safer alternatives in the future. Consumer advocates and lawmakers are trying to push changes that make these superbugs a thing of the past. That’s never been so important because industrialized agriculture delivers efficiency, productivity, and profit at the expense of food safety.

Read the full article → 1 comment
Thumbnail image for Heroes and Villains: Does US Foreign Policy Understand the Difference?

Heroes and Villains: Does US Foreign Policy Understand the Difference?

by Source 05.18.2013 Activism

By Joseph Howard Crews

For 60 years the most celebrated and revered African in history was listed as a terrorist threat to the people of the United States. Who decided this? Why did Americans allow this, and what does it say about what we are?

In 2008, former South African President Nelson Mandela was finally removed from the U.S. terrorism watch list. Mandela and other members of the African National Congress had been placed on the list because of their fight against South Africa’s apartheid regime — a system of legalized racial segregation enforced by the country’s National Party between 1948 and 1994.

Yet it was just days ago that former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt — a man once lauded by President Ronald Reagan — was convicted of genocide after a Guatemalan court found him guilty for his role in the slaughter of 1,771 Mayan Ixils in the 1980s. In fact, a total of 200,000 Guatemalans were killed or “disappeared” during the conflict, making it one of Latin America’s most violent wars in modern history.

Read the full article → 15 comments
Thumbnail image for The IRS War on Medical Marijuana Providers

The IRS War on Medical Marijuana Providers

by Source 05.18.2013 Business

By Clarence Walker / StoptheDrugWar.org

Dispensaries providing marijuana to doctor-approved patients operate in a number of states, but they are under assault by the federal government. SWAT-style raids by the DEA and finger-wagging press conferences by grim-faced federal prosecutors may garner greater attention, but the assault on medical marijuana providers extends to other branches of the government as well, and moves by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to eliminate dispensaries’ ability to take standard business deduction are another very painful arrow in the federal quiver.

The IRS employs Section 280E, a 1982 addition to the tax code that was a response to a drug dealer’s successful effort to claim his yacht, weapons purchases, and even illicit bribes as business expenses. Under 280E, individuals involved in the illicit sale of controlled substances — including marijuana, even medical marijuana in states where it is legal — cannot claim standard business expenses on their federal taxes.

Read the full article → 3 comments
Thumbnail image for 4 Inhumane Realities about the Guantanamo Hunger Strike

4 Inhumane Realities about the Guantanamo Hunger Strike

by Source 05.18.2013 Government

By Steven Hsieh / Alternet

Friday [marked] 100 days since the beginning of the hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay that has recaptured international attention on the offshore prison President Obama promised to close when seeking office five years ago.

As of Thursday, military officials say that 102 out of 166 detainees are participating in the strike. Lawyers say that number is closer to 130.

Since the hunger strike began 100 days ago, international groups including the European Parliament, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and several nations with detainees at GITMO have stepped up pressure on the Obama administration to release detainees or close the prison altogether.

As the strike continues past its 100th day, here are four of the most disturbing facts about the situation at Guantanamo.

Read the full article → 2 comments
Thumbnail image for Bicycle Weekend – A Summary of Great Cycling Activities for this weekend

Bicycle Weekend – A Summary of Great Cycling Activities for this weekend

by John P. Anderson 05.17.2013 Activism

By John P. Anderson

Today, Friday May 17, is Bike to Work Day and there are pit stops all over the county for cyclists to stop, enjoy a bite to eat, meet some fellow riders, and generally start the day on a good foot.  I enjoyed the morning at the 30th Street & Upas Street corner with fresh coffee and pastries and some conversation with neighbors.

If you weren’t able to join the festivities today (or did but want to keep the party going) there are a number of great cycling activities going on this weekend.

Sunday, May 19

Bike Local Sundays - South Park – All Day

The second edition of this program from the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition rolls into action on Sunday in South Park.  The Bike Local Sundays program is held in a different neighborhood every third Sunday of the month and South Park follows the Hillcrest debut in April.  Per the SDCBC:

“Bike Local Sundays started with a goal to get more people riding bikes to support business in San Diego. Trends show that more people riding bikes versus driving improves community health, air quality and traffic congestion, as well as boosts business by relieving residents of the costs of owning and operating a vehicle, transferring those savings to the local economy.”

Read the full article → 0 comments
Thumbnail image for Desde la Logan: The Ice Cream Man Cometh to Barrio Logan

Desde la Logan: The Ice Cream Man Cometh to Barrio Logan

by Brent E. Beltrán 05.17.2013 Columns

Family Owned Tocumbo Ice Cream Opens at Mercado del Barrio

By Brent E. Beltrán

Monday, May 13 was a beautiful, hot day in San Diego. Temperatures broke records throughout the county. But in my community of Barrio Logan things were a lot nicer because Tocumbo Ice Cream opened shop. And neighborhood residents flocked to get their cool ice cream fix.

On May 4, as I was walking to a few community events here in Barrio Logan, I was handed a flyer announcing the opening on May 13. Not only did the flyer announce their opening it also offered a free scoop! Happy happy! Joy joy! The opening was around the corner and I was gonna get a free scoop too!

Tocumbo Ice Cream was founded in 2004 by the Ramirez family which includes patriarch Gerardo Ramirez — who works between 80-100 hours a week doing what he loves, his wife Martha and children Omar, Kelly and Crystal. Grandson Junior also helps out as well as do other family members.

Read the full article → 4 comments
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.

Read the full article → 7 comments
Thumbnail image for Should the Big Wall Street Banks Have Been Allowed to Fail? – Part 4

Should the Big Wall Street Banks Have Been Allowed to Fail? – Part 4

by John Lawrence 05.17.2013 Business

by Frank Thomas and John Lawrence

Frank has eloquently argued “Yes” here in Part 2 and continued here in Part 3 of our examination of the financial crisis of 2008. Part 1 dealt with Republican economic philosophy over the last 30 years which had produced disastrous results for the economy leading up to the crisis.

This week John argues that AIG should have been allowed to fail and that this would not have affected Main Street banks or the banking activities of average Americans. But the real question is ‘If American taxpayers and the Fed had not given billions of dollars to AIG and the other large banking institutions, would they have indeed failed or would they, on the other hand, have survived quite nicely even without the bailouts?’

What’s clear in the financial crisis of 2008 is that Washington rescued Wall Street while abandoning Main Street.

Read the full article → 3 comments
Thumbnail image for Restaurant Review: Gloria’s Taco Shop

Restaurant Review: Gloria’s Taco Shop

by Judi Curry 05.17.2013 Culture

Gloria’s Taco Shop
1233  28th St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 239-8093

By Judi Curry

For many months after I joined online dating services, Joe and I went out to try new restaurants in a variety of areas. Although Joe and I have remained good friends, he has another lady friend and I asked the two of them to join me in reviewing  Gloria’s Taco Shop.  

This restaurant is part of the “Golden Hill” area that the San Diego Free Press is highlighting this month.  If you have been reading SDFP this week, you may have noticed that Emma Goldman has also reviewed several restaurants in the area, bordering the same streets as Gloria’s.

Read the full article → 10 comments
Thumbnail image for It’s a Sad Day in America When the Navy Launches a San Diego-Built Drone off a Carrier

It’s a Sad Day in America When the Navy Launches a San Diego-Built Drone off a Carrier

by Frank Gormlie 05.16.2013 Culture

It’s a sad day in America. The US Navy launched the first carrier-based drone off its deck the other day, off the coast of Virginia. It’s an even sadder day for us in San Diego, as the drone was manufactured – in part, at least – by plants and engineers right here in our own city.

The launching of the drone off that deck demonstrates clearly that as drones become more and more integrated into becoming the armament of the nation’s military, they are becoming more and more accepted – here domestically, back in the good ol’ US of A.

And as drones become more and more prevalently utilized, not just by our armed forces overseas, but by law enforcement, border patrol, and local police departments here within our very own borders, American citizens are more and more subjected to a high-tech surveillance that is quite unlike anything we’ve known in the past – a surveillance that is becoming so pervasive, that it challenges our basic civil rights, freedoms and privacies.

Read the full article → 5 comments
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.

Read the full article → 2 comments

← Older Articles

Newer Articles →