Mission Bay

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 Best Bicycle Ride Around Mission Bay

The Best Bicycle Ride Around Mission Bay

by Frank Gormlie 04.25.2013 Culture

A Tour of the Best Bicycle Route Around San Diego’s Aquatic Playland

By Frank Gormlie

This started out as a chronicle – complete with a photo journal – of the best bicycle ride around Mission Bay. I had planned to post nearly one hundred photos with complete descriptions and commentary – but due to a glitch in our programs, I was having too many problems to present all the pics. So, I temporarily shelved that idea and gravitated to a briefer version, this one. (As you peruse the photos, be sure to click on them for larger versions to view.)

The tour I now present around Mission Bay is a great one and it is a ride that has been honed by me and a few riding friends over the last three decades – since the early Eighties.

It is a ride along a route that has a minimum of traffic and street exposure, and it is a route that is practically 13 miles round trip from the Ocean Beach Skateboard Park in Robb Field.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Congressman Peters Trumpets Vote for Flawed Cybersecurity Bill; President Threatens Veto

The Starting Line – Congressman Peters Trumpets Vote for Flawed Cybersecurity Bill; President Threatens Veto

by Doug Porter 04.19.2013 Columns

By Doug Porter

The press release was a master stroke of Orwellian NewSpeak.  Representative Scott “Better Than Bilbray” Peters was touting passage of H.R. 624, ‘The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA),’ “which passed the House of Representatives with 288 votes in favor and 127 against on a bipartisan basis.”

Finally, we are led to believe, Congress has taken action to protect the nation against “cyber attacks that could cripple our infrastructure and our national security, and cost our country untold amounts of money and jobs.”

Oh, and all those concerns people might have about privacy and oversight were taken care of via amendments, or so we’re told.

The only problem with all this congratulatory rhetoric is that it’s not true.

INSIDE: Big Pharma Fights Back, Local Actions in Support of Boston Marathon Runners & Gun Safety, Anti-Union Group Cries Wolf

BREAKING: We will have coverage of events in Boston later on. Unlike the New York Post & CNN we aren’t in any big hurry to misinform you.

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Thumbnail image for The State of District 2

The State of District 2

by Source 04.12.2013 Government

Councilman Faulconer says things are looking good here in San Diego

By Mic Porte

Wednesday April 10, 2013, Paradise Point Resort - Sounds like the name of the sequel of a sci-fi film, but it was actually a fantasy island dream moment with our San Diego district 2 elected official, Councilmember Kevin Faulconer, and his team, at beautiful Paradise Point Resort in the middle of beautiful Mission Bay in beautiful San Diego, on a beautiful evening and with all the beautiful people around, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

And according to Councilmember Faulconer, things are looking pretty beautiful around here, and with a little more bi-partisan effort on the part of the city council and everybody else in San Diego and the great state of California, and regional funding, we might even be able to finally get the crumbling oldest part of the seawall in front of Belmont Park repaired in time for the rising ocean levels, and balance the city budget too, and get back to pursuing happiness, something we do great here in San Diego.

Boys and girls, are we lucky? Yes, thank you.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Republicans at War: “Grab the popcorn, pop a beer, sit back and enjoy this goat rodeo”

The Starting Line – Republicans at War: “Grab the popcorn, pop a beer, sit back and enjoy this goat rodeo”

by Doug Porter 02.07.2013 Activism

Long simmering tensions between Republican Party stalwarts and their Tea Party allies have emerged from the backrooms of politics over the last few days. The announcement that Karl Rove’s new group, the Conservative Victory Project, aims to weed out ‘unelectable’ candidates has the Tea Party set in a frenzy.

Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for the Victory Project, claims that the new group won’t pick its opponents according to ideology — rather, electability. The Tea Party types aren’t buying it, and a coalition of conservative leaders is demanding the new organization fire Collegio, for calling Brent Bozell, a pundit who runs the conservative Media Research Center, a “hater” in a recent radio interview.

The coalition includes Phyllis Schlafly, Tony Perkins, Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, Manuel Miranda and Richard Viguerie — all big names in the conservative ‘grassroots’ world. A letter attacking Rove/Collegio, signed by the aforementioned names and a score of other big names, brought the dispute out in the open, saying, “You obviously mean to have a war with conservatives and the Tea Party. Let it start here.”

INSIDE: TEXAS STUPIDITY, ISSA FOR THE GIPPER, FILNER FOR THE TREE HUGGERS, ROSE CREEK FEST & more…

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Thumbnail image for Boat Parades Light-Up San Diego’s Bays for the Holiday Season

Boat Parades Light-Up San Diego’s Bays for the Holiday Season

by Source 12.06.2012 Culture

By: Taylor Hill and Eston Ellis / The Log / December 6, 2012

Holiday boat parades are a treasured tradition in Southern California — and some boaters spend all year getting ready for them. Bringing together the right holiday decorations, lights and onboard spirit to “wow” the crowds of fellow boaters on the water and spectators on shore takes planning, cleverness and a lot of creativity.

But even if you haven’t been obsessing over your decorating scheme since July, there’s still time to join in the fun of this month’s annual holiday boat parades. String some lights, bring along some friends and family, and make your plan now to take part in one of the season’s top boating activities.

Whether this is your first year heading out to join in the festivities on the water or it’s an annual outing, you’re sure to find something new and exciting to see and do. From participating in a decorated boat parade to checking out all the waterfront homes decked out for the holidays on a moonlight cruise, boaters have many opportunities to make the season bright.

Bring a thermos full of hot spiced cider, a plate of fresh-baked cookies — and friends. You and your family will enjoy a fun-filled evening on the water, and warm holiday memories to treasure forever.

Here’s where to find this year’s holiday fun in San Diego County:

San Diego Bay Parade of Lights

When: Dec. 9 and 16, 5:30-9:30 p.m.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Zombie Attack in San Diego Underway

The Starting Line – Zombie Attack in San Diego Underway

by Doug Porter 10.31.2012 Columns

Halloween is more than a trick or treating event for hundreds of Marines, Navy special ops types, soldiers, police and firefighters in San Diego today as they confront a nightmarish invasion of the living dead.

The 44 acre Paradise Point Resort on Mission Bay will be the site of a Hollywood-style production of a zombie attack as part of an emergency response training program. It’s just one part of five-day counterterrorism summit run by the Halo Corporation as an approved training event by the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Areas Security Initiative. Participants (or in most cases, government agencies) are coughing up a $1,000 registration fee. The session runs through Friday.

In keeping with the holiday aura surrounding this program, the keynote speaker at the conference is a retired top spook — former CIA Director Michael Hayden.

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Thumbnail image for The Starting Line – Want to Make San Diego More Bike Friendly? Lose the Helmets!

The Starting Line – Want to Make San Diego More Bike Friendly? Lose the Helmets!

by Doug Porter 10.02.2012 Activism

There’s been a lot of discussion in San Diego lately about making the city more bike friendly.  Mayor Sanders held a media event not long ago touting a public “bike sharing’ program, a low cost rental system that could encompass downtown, the beach areas and midtown by next spring.  Three bike ‘corrals” that allow riders to safely park their bicycle in crowded urban neighborhoods have been opened recently. And it would appear that the people in charge of the area’s roads are starting to take a more serious look at making the streets more user friendly to riders.

From the venerable New York Times Sunday Review comes an article suggesting that, if we truly want to succeed in making the San Diego area more bike-centric, we should look at what many will consider a heretical idea: lose the helmets.

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Thumbnail image for Field of View: Saturday at Mariner’s Point

Field of View: Saturday at Mariner’s Point

by Annie Lane 08.03.2012 Columns

Mariner’s Point is a fun place to spend a Saturday, whether you want to picnic on the grass or venture out on the bay.

You’ll share the expansive spot with other families, and even the occasional event–like a recent USA Free Style Martial Arts performance that took place. Some of those kids scared me with their fierce looks and startling kiai. But after an intense demonstration, they cooled down with a squirt gun fight fitting of summer.

All photos by Annie Lane.

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