San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / 2012 / Archives for December 2012

Archives for December 2012

Sex In San Diego: When Religious Rules Trump Science

by

By Sarah Seltzer / Alternet

Savita Halappanavar, who died in Ireland after being denied a pregnancy termination, was a young wife eager to have more children when she learned that her pregnancy went wrong.

A Hindu, she organized celebrations for her expat community in Galway, one of Catholic Ireland’s more liberal cities.

Even as she begged the hospital to abort her doomed pregnancy, suffering and in horrible pain, they refused to do so until the fetal “heartbeat” faded away, telling her, “this is a Catholic country.”   [Read more…]

The Violence Behind the Violence

by

America cannot truly address gun violence unless it is prepared to address the root causes of gun violence.

by Nadin Abbott

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut, we have had many discussions on the sources of gun violence in our country. We were all shocked. Many fingers are pointing at both Hollywood and the video game industry. If we are to believe them, all this would go away if we removed the glorification of violence from the media.

I will be the first to admit this: Call of Duty is violent. It simulates war. We would be surprised if it wasn’t. It is also rated M by the ESRB, that would be for seventeen year olds and older. It’s not meant for kids. Ratings work, only if we use them as a guide.

I will also admit that a James Bond movie is pure schlock with quite a bit of violence. There are many other titles out there that include explosions, gun play, and bloody gore. Need I mention the Die Hard series? Argue all you want about how video games and movies encourage violent acts. But that’s merely scratching the surface and doesn’t get to the root of the real problem.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Source: NRA Comeback on Gun Control Will Be Assault on First Amendment

by

Five days after the shooting deaths in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, the National Rifle Association public relations machine emerged from its bunker, promising a press conference on Friday “to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.”

Despite public defections by usually supportive legislators over the past week, it seems unlikely to me that NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre will offer up any proposals weakening that groups’ rigid stance that virtually all legislative efforts to regulate firearms are attacks on American Freedom.

It’s more likely the NRA will fight back against calls for legislation banning assault type rifles and large ammo clips, using the “best defense is a strong offense”

More on this story inside…

(Psst- The Starting Line will be taking a break for the holidays. See you next year.)   [Read more…]

Searching for City Heights: The 47th Street “Olivia” Canyon, IRC Aqua Farm and El Rey Tattoo Parlor and Barbershop

by

It is not unheard of for someone to tell you that he intends to move to San Diego from some other state. It is frankly rare however, for someone to say that she is planning to move to San Diego and wants to live in the community of City Heights. Out of all the other communities in San Diego, she wants to live in City Heights?

Back in June of this year when my first City Heights Up Close & Personal column was published, I received an intriguing comment from Mary Best that she wanted to move to City Heights within the year. We exchanged emails and spent a long afternoon together a few weeks later when Mary came to town.   [Read more…]

“Covered California” Health Benefit Exchange Wraps Up Productive Year

by

by Linda Leu/California Progress Report

The Board of Directors of Covered California, the state’s new Health Benefit Exchange, met yesterday in Sacramento to continue its work implementing a reformed healthcare market in compliance with the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010. The 15th and final Board meeting of 2012 wrapped up a productive year with little sign of slowing down as we race toward the January 1, 2014 mandate.

In his Executive Director’s Report, Peter Lee reported that Covered California has had positive conversations with the federal government related to the state’s Exchange Establishment grant request submitted last month. Covered California staff also reported on the progress of the development of the IT system, the California Healthcare Eligibility, Enrollment and Retention System (CalHEERS), and the Service Center. Regarding the establishment of Stakeholder Advisory Groups, Lee announced that the list of those chosen to serve on these groups will be announced on Friday.   [Read more…]

Elections Have Consequences

by

Michigan voters are stuck with the electoral choices they’ve made, whether they like it or not.

Last week the Michigan Legislature slammed through a Right-to-Work bill, becoming the 24th state to have such a law on the books. The lame duck legislators passed it with no debate, no discussion. It was a cookie cutter law that almost word-for-word matched a template provided by the extreme right wing group ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council). The very next day, Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed the bill into law.

What Right-to-Work laws are purported to do is give workers the “freedom” to not join a union if they choose not to. Conservatives claim that if a workforce is primarily unionized, but if individual workers decide that they don’t want to pay dues or participate in union activities, they shouldn’t have to. If a union is making contributions to a campaign or a particular political cause, the worker shouldn’t be forced (indirectly) to contribute to those causes via his or her union dues. It’s all about choice, they say. It’s about freedom.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Mayor Calls San Diego Summit in Response to Sandy Hook Shooting

by

Mayor Bob Filner, along with representatives from the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Unified, hosted a sit-down yesterday to talk about local responses and precautions in the wake of Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Mayor cited his own struggle over talking with his two grandchildren about the Sandy Hook tragedy as being a motivation for calling the meeting. Police Chief William Landsdowne mentioned his opposition to legal assault weapons as the video tape from NBCNews7 rolled, quickly qualifying his statement as being a political matter not necessarily germane to the matters at hand.

A video monitoring system installed throughout San Diego schools over the past couple of years will now be interfaced with laptops in police cars, giving them the ability to see situations in real time as they respond to a situation. One thousand cameras are in place, covering hallways, lunchrooms, offices and building exteriors, according to SDUSD police Lieutenant Joe Florentino.   [Read more…]

12 Cool Holiday Traditions That Aren’t About God or Shopping

by

Finding it a little tough to feel warm and chirpy about the birth of the baby Jesus?

By Valerie Tarico / AlterNet 

After an autumn of Bible-based gay bashing, and Religious Right candidates with “rape Tourette’s,” and End Times aficionados gunning for Armageddon rather than peace in the Middle East, some nontheists may be finding it a little tough to feel warm and chirpy about the birth of the baby Jesus. Fortunately the need to celebrate life and light at the darkest time of the year is something that long predates Christianity, and many of the yummy and playful customs of the season are rooted in cultures that have merged and morphed and been shared freely for millenna. Here are twelve traditions with ancient roots.
  [Read more…]

The Starting Line – We Can Do Better Than Singing Kumbaya and Waiting for America to ‘Come Together’

by

Enough of all this talk. We live in the ‘World’s Greatest Country’ and ‘America’s Finest City’ and the best we as citizens can do is, according to our local daily newspaper’s editorial board:

 ** …resist the temptation to see what took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., as an indictment of America.

**perhaps we need to have a debate about identifying and helping the mentally ill, or about making schools safer, or about reassuring worried schoolchildren that they are safe.

** This is not the time to take advantage of tragedy. This is not the time for shouting. This is the time for this nation to come together. We have done it many times before in the wake of horrible news. What we need to do is to cherish our children and our families, to reach out to our loved ones, our neighbors and our community. This is the time for the goodness of the American spirit to shine through, to get us all through these sorrowful days and to a brighter tomorrow.

I say horseshit. I’m mad as hell and I’M GONNA SHOUT ABOUT IT. You should, too.
  [Read more…]

This Is Where Democracy Goes to Die

by

Now that labor has been squashed, the right’s next moves in Michigan includes draconian anti-abortion laws and, sit down for this one, loosening the restriction on concealed weapons in places like churches and schools to please the gun lobby.

While liberals were busy gloating over their electoral victory and crowing about the demise of the right, Grover Norquist, the Koch Brothers, and company were busy going for blood—democracy be damned. Despite getting spanked at nearly every level, the plutocratic wrecking crew kept their eyes on the prize and jammed through a “right to work” law in Michigan, exacting sweet revenge on the Democrats and their labor allies.   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: Barrio Logan’s Northgate is a Deferred Dream Come True

by

On December 11, 2012 the first major supermarket in San Diego’s Historic Barrio District (Barrio Logan, Logan Heights and Sherman Heights) in almost 40 years opened it’s doors to the public for the first time. For Barrio Logan residents the opening of Mercado Gonzalez Northgate is more than just the opening of a supermarket, it is a deferred dream come to true.

It took 21 years for the city and developers to build this market. Twenty one years of promises. Twenty one years to gain an amenity that most communities have.

Not since the closure in the early 1970’s of Safeway, on the corner of 25th and Imperial, has there been a major supermarket that services these predominantly Mexican-American communities. For over 30 years these communities demanded a supermarket. None of the major supermarkets like Vons, Albertson’s and Ralph’s heeded this demand. Fortunately, after all those years, a Mexican-American grocer family stepped up.   [Read more…]

Thinking the Unthinkable: ‘I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother’

by

By Liza Long
Three days before 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.

“I can wear these pants,” he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.

“They are navy blue,” I told him. “Your school’s dress code says black or khaki pants only.”

“They told me I could wear these,” he insisted. “You’re a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!”

“You can’t wear whatever pants you want to,” I said, my tone affable, reasonable. “And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You’re grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school.”

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry