But he hasn’t even been nominated yet… Former backers of GOP candidate Rick Santorum have released a memo sent to delegates bound for the GOP convention later this month that calls for RNC delegates not to vote vote for Mitt Romney, even if they are bound to him. Calling themselves “Jews and Christians Together,” the group briefly gained notoriety back in March for their connection with robocalls in Ohio that accused Romney of supporting “open homosexuality in the military, the appointment of homosexual judges, and the ENDA law, making it illegal to fire a man who wears a dress and high heels to work, even if he’s your kid’s teacher.” Website Buzzfeed.com reports that “Jews and Christians Together” is the brainchild of Steve Baldwin, former head of the Council for National Policy, a low-profile, well-connected conservative group. The memo was reportedly sent out to 20,000 people in politics and the media, as well as RNC delegates. [Read more…]
Archives for August 2012
Field of View: Sweet Home Chicago
Tell anyone you’re headed to Chicago and you’ll get a list of must-sees and -dos. I couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface during my short stay, but here’s what I learned:
- They don’t call it the Windy City for nothing. A more appropriate name might be The Wrath of God.
- As soon as you feel one raindrop, no matter how small, run for f$%*ing cover. Whatever you do, don’t listen to the locals when they, “Should be nothing―just some scattered showers later.”
- People don’t honk a quick f$%* you in Chicago; they scream full-on sentences with their horn that’ll make you blush.
- The views are breathtaking, especially from the John Hancock Observatory and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower).
- If you can, load The Blues Brothers soundtrack onto whatever device you have. You’re going to want to listen to it.
- The buildings go all the way up, and the architecture is remarkable.
- Visit Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria. I preferred the “Lou,” which had the freshest tomatoes that I have ever tasted. But if you’re a meat lover, the “Malnati Chicago Classic” is for you. Just beware that beneath the cheese is a layer of thinly-sliced sausage covering the entire pie.
- Oh, while visiting Lou Malnati’s you might see Trueblood actor Joe Manganiello and squeal like a little girl before calling your husband to get credit for not chasing the hottest werewolf on TV down the street. I’m just saying that might happen.
All photos by Annie Lane, except where noted. [Read more…]
The Starting Line — A Much Grander Vision for San Diego; Public Market Project Underway
At no cost to taxpayers!… Unlike other visions for San Diego (a football stadium and Convention Center expansion come to mind), Dale Steele and Catt White are making their plans for a City Public Market along the lines of Seattle’s Pike’s Place, San Francisco’s Ferry Building and Barcelona’s La Boqueria into a reality via crowd source funding on the internet’s KickStarter. As of July 2012, KickStarter has 4,048 projects funded and has raised a total of $241 million in start-up capital.
Both Steele and White are long time players on the San Diego market scene; White currently manages neighborhood farmers’ markets in Little Italy, North Park and Pacific Beach. They have already leased a 92,000 square foot property near Petco Park and are renovating more than two acres of warehouse space. Plans for the market include two days a week with farmers’ stalls, booths with local crafters and artists, music festivals, movie nights and quinceañeras, chef’s tasting events and art exhibits, along with the occasional Chaldean Festival, Chinese New Year’s parade, Filipino fiesta or charity fundraiser. [Read more…]
Pussy Riot Band Members Push the Limit of Russian Dissent
St. Maria, Virgin, Drive away Putin
Drive away! Drive away Putin! Pussy Riot
Three members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot have been in custody since February and face a possible prison sentence of up to seven years. They are charged with “hooliganism on the grounds of religious hatred” for singing their punk prayer “Mother of God- Drive Away Putin” in Moscow’s main Orthodox church.
Sex in San Diego: Applying to Become a Sex Talk Operator
by A feleségül
Last week, I applied for a job that might be the solution to my dilemma. I applied to be a Sex Talk Operator. You know – where guys – girls, too, I guess, call the sex line and become titillated by the female on the other end of the phone. I could do that, I think.
If I were a different kind of person I could enjoy turning men on, and then hanging up on them. But the Human Relations expert (?) I talked to warned me that I could not hang up on the caller – the cost is excessive – and billed to their credit card by the minute! I would be paid a small stipend, and the longer I talked to the caller the more commission I would make. (I guess I don’t want a “wham, bam, thank you ma’am situation.”) [Read more…]
Wynola Wine and Restaurant Romp
By Morloc
With Ramona wineries shuttered except for weekends, our day for a wine and food romp last Thursday was a washout for any place new. The regulars, Pamo Valley tasting room and Southern California Wine Co., were both too near in the calendar’s rearview mirror. So, it was a reprise in Wynola, just around the corner down SR-78 from Julian, for a wine and restaurant romp, friends Owl and Buzzard in tow.
First stop, since it was nearly closing time, was the sly and winsome doña of Country Cellars (4456 Highway 78-just steps away from the Wynola Farms Marketplace) for a take home of a Shadow Mountain “100% estate” 2009 Carignane (sic) at a quite reasonable retail price. Always like to see SoCal locals daring to bottle single varietal from the thunderously leaden pole of the grape spectrum. [Read more…]
The Starting Line — Trash from Foreclosed House Deposited at Bank of America Branch in San Diego
Residents from southeast San Diego’s Mountain View neighborhood took matters into their own hands yesterday; cleaning up garbage accumulating at a foreclosed property owned the Bank of America, and “depositing” it outside a nearby branch office of that financial institution. The doors were locked at B of A’s 36th and National location as reporters and TV camera crews watched community members, led by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, unload furniture, appliances and litter gathered from the shuttered, but uncared for, property currently owned by the bank.
The dramatic protest was staged to call attention to the proposed Property Value Protection Ordinance, under consideration by the San Diego City Council. The law would require banks to register homes in the city upon the filing of a notice of default, with a $100-a-day fee for failure to obey the act. If lenders register a distressed home but fail to properly maintain the property (leading to blight), the bank would be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 a day. This, proponents say, would help the city cover the true cost of neglected properties. [Read more…]
What Congress Doesn’t Know About The City Heights Post Office
It was stinking hot walking from the 40th Street transit stop on University Avenue to the City Heights Post Office four blocks away. Cumulus clouds, a sure sign of summer rain everywhere else I have ever lived, were piled up in the sky directly above me. They deflated before my eyes, as if whatever rain they held had been sucked right out of them in one thirsty gulp. There would be no sudden refreshing rain shower.
A rain shower would not have been well received by the fifty or so adults sitting on the low wall outside of the Church of the Nazarene, or standing on the sidewalk and leaning against the wall of the building in the adjacent alley. It wasn’t 2:30 yet and the church would not begin its weekly food distribution for another half hour. Most of the people were elderly. A long line of their collapsible walkers with a seat and basket awaited the box of food that would be forthcoming. [Read more…]
Why We Need More Poetry in Our Lives
By Karen Kenyon
“We are hungry for the secret news about life,” said former poet laureate, the late Stanley Kunitz. He was speaking of the news that poetry delivers.
Most Americans just don’t get this deep soulful daily news.
We don’t know the names of our great poets.
We don’t pay our great poets much (the majority of poetry anthologies pay in copies — most very accomplished poets teach at universities or other schools, in order to survive). Poets’ paychecks are either nil or less than even an outfielder in a minor minor league. Even our Poet Laureates are only given a stipend of $35,000. They are not household names.
Thousands don’t fill a stadium to hear a poet here in America — unless that poet is also a musician — say, Dylan or John Lennon. It’s a different story in many other countries.
The poets often speak, or spoke, for the people. [Read more…]
The Starting Line – It’s a Bad Day for San Diego’s Little People
San Diego Schools Busing Program Gets Ugly…Yesterday’s snail mail brought myself and the parents of 22,000 other school aged children in San Diego a letter from the SDUSD Transportation Services Department demanding payment for the coming year’s busing within the next couple of weeks—or else. Dated July 31st (Yesterday was Aug 6th) and signed by Gene Robinson, “Director of Transportation and Distribution Services”, the letter also incidentally mentions that transportation fees for a single student will rise from last year’s rate ($420) to $500. A family’s second child gets the discounted rate of $250; additional children are not charged. The “or else” part of the letter is that, if you don’t happen to have that much cash laying around, your child will not be riding the bus this year. Programs allowing for monthly payments or by the semester have have been eliminated, so it’s all or nothing.
“Payment in full for each student must be received by the Transportation Department no later than August 24, 2012.”
Parents of students who are exempt from transportation fees, like those who are in certain classes of Special Education programs and Free or Reduced Lunch categories, still have to obtain certification and submit it to the Transportation Department by the August 24th deadline. I wish all those parents good luck in getting SDISD to process their paperwork prior to the deadline. Apparently different divisions within San Diego Unified are incapable of talking with each other.
[Read more…]
Mr. President : Legalize Marijuana and You’ll Get the Youth Vote and Win the Election.
A Majority of Americans Support Legalization of Marijuana Now for the First Time
This is an Open Letter to President Barack Obama Calling on him to legalize marijuana.
If you legalize marijuana, Mr. President, you’ll get the youth vote and win the 2012 Presidential election. It’s as simple as that. However you do it, Mr. President, if you legalize cannabis, you’ll then do for the young of this country what you did for the Mexican-American and Latino populations, and then what you did for the gay and lesbian communities earlier this year.
How is this so?
It just so happens, that here in the midst of campaign 2012, the issue of marijuana legalization and the status of medical cannabis have perhaps paradoxically both become highly charged topics. Legalization initiatives are on three state ballots, there’s a whole array of other reform measures up for vote, and there’s polls that show a majority of Americans support straight-out legalization of pot – all that makes this year 2012 an historic year for marijuana reform.
[Read more…]
ACLU Sends Warning to US Attorney Duffy: “Stop the Threats” of Del Mar City Workers
By Marcus Boyd/ Americans for Safe Access / August 6, 2012
San Diego, CA – In an ever increasing waste of federal funds to circumvent state medical marijuana laws, last month US Attorney Laura Duffy fired off this threatening letter to City of Del Mar employees. In response late last week the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLU) posted an article on their blog titled; “U.S. Attorney Shouldn’t Be Threatening to Prosecute City Employees” and fired fired this letter back to the US Attorney.
On their blog, the ACLU writes:
“The San Diego U.S. Attorney is treading dangerous legal ground with a legal opinion that seems to be threatening Del Mar city employees with prosecution if they comply with an ordinance on medical marijuana up for a vote in November.”
Duffy’s intensified war against the civil liberties of sick and dying patients caught the attention of ACLU Legal Director, David Loy, after the director received an email blast and supporting materials from San Diego ASA detailing Duffy’s attempts to threaten lawmakers with federal prosecution for adopting ordinances that regulate dispensaries. [Read more…]
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