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Archives for December 2012

Fun and Gloating at Bob Filner’s Inauguration

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When we awoke this morning – for the first time in history – Bob Filner is the mayor of San Diego, the eighth largest city in America. Yesterday, Monday, December 3rd, was his official inauguration. (Please see Annie Lane’s wonderful photo spread of the event.)

Representing progressive media in town, I accompanied my good friend Doug Porter to the Balboa Club in Balboa Park to be witnesses to this historic event. Filner is only the second Democratic mayor in the last forty years in this town – and decidedly it’s most liberal. And Filner wasn’t the only politician being inaugurated, as there was an entire shelf of them waiting around when we arrived at the Balboa Club – all those veterans who had been elected, selected and rejected by the voters were going to be there.

  [Read more…]

The Starting Line – This is What Winning Looks Like

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Yesterday was the day that the seeds planted by a majority of voters just a month ago began to show signs of bearing fruit.  Here in San Diego we saw a changing of the guard at City Hall. In Washington DC, although newly elected representatives have yet to be sworn in, there were significant moves in terms of influential committee assignments that could well portend a less fractious 114th Congress.

Speaking at yesterday’s inauguration, incoming Mayor Bob Filner gave the overflow crowd at the Balboa Club a couple of clear signals that perhaps things will be different in City Hall.

“The day of vilification of city workers is over.”

“Neighborhoods are the heart and soul of the city,” he said. “They define its character.”

Much more inside!   [Read more…]

Obama and Romney do lunch!

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By Kit-Bacon Gressitt

Recently re-elected President Barack Obama and failed GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney had lunch last Thursday, and what fun it is to imagine their conversation. Perhaps it went something like this. …

President Obama entered the dining room and assessed the image of the conquered man. Gov. Romney’s discomfort was painfully obvious in his rapid blinking and the puckered face he gets whenever he has to admit to a screw-up. With a surge of sympathy, Obama glided across a carpet of triumphant confidence to warmly greet the poor guy with a firm hand and a manly half-hug.

“Hey, Governor, welcome to the White House.”   [Read more…]

SuperStorm Sandy Aftermath: Power Companies Unnecessarily Immiserated Millions

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Weeks after Hurricane Sandy struck, millions of people were still without electricity. At its peak Sandy left 8.5 million without power. A lot of people were angry. Why did it take so long to get the power back on even with crews coming from as far away as San Diego? One power company in New Jersey came in for a lot of criticism – Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L)- owned by First Energy based in Ohio.
Although we San Diegans have blessedly been spared from the ravages of hurricanes, tornadoes and other weather disasters, we are still at the mercies of aging utilities much in need of repair and upgrading. In particular, our local power and light company, San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) has been neglecting maintenance and upgrading similar to what JCP&L did prior to the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.   [Read more…]

Field of View: Bob Filner’s Mayoral Inauguration at Balboa Park

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There was standing room only at the Balboa Park Club as Bob Filner was sworn in as San Diego’s 38th mayor on Monday, Dec. 3.

Mayor Filner thanked City Council members and outgoing Mayor Jerry Sanders for “reforming city finances and for getting us on the track to financial stability” before reaffirming his campaign promise to focus on San Diego neighborhoods, eliminate homelessness, protect our beaches and expand maritime operations.

“For the first time in a decade, we can see the possibility of restoring city services, of rebuilding our neighborhoods and of planning for our future,” Filner said. “Because the real heart and soul of our city are its neighborhoods. They define our city’s character and our residents’ quality of life.”   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – A Day to Celebrate: Filner in as Mayor, Xolos in as Champs

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It’s a day for underdogs to celebrate. After three decades of Republican rule, Bob Filner’s ascension into San Diego’s top spot marks the start of a new era in San Diego politics. At long last our city’s neighborhoods, long considered a red headed step-child in terms of urban planning and economic development will be given the opportunity to have their needs and desires given a fair shake. We hope, anyway.

Meanwhile, in the “missing half” of our metropolis, more than 100,000 residents of Tijuana took to the streets in neighborhoods throughout that city to celebrate victory for Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente as that team emerged as champions in Mexico’s highest level of soccer.

The nay-sayers are already jumping on both these stories.   [Read more…]

Beyond the “Conservative Entertainment Complex”

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In the weeks following the election, David Frum made waves by explaining the shock in conservative circles over Romney’s loss with a bit of interesting media criticism: “Republicans have been fleeced and exploited and lied to by a conservative entertainment complex.”

Of course, those of us with a historical memory longer than five minutes found it amusing to hear this from Frum, the author of George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech. Indeed, Frum was one of the central ideologues promulgating lies aboutIraqand demonizing dissent as unpatriotic. I guess it takes one to know one.

Still, despite the bitter irony of Frum playing the role of truth-teller, he is on to something.   [Read more…]

Shame on US – Palestine’s First Step to Statehood and Liberation (but where were we?)

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Watching the television last week, I came close to tears several times. Seeing the victims of Israel’s indiscriminate bombing in Gaza was almost too much to watch. But watch I did. Not as some ghoulish entertainment. No, I watched as a witness. I watched just as my parents before me watched the horrific images of the death camps, evidence of the Nazi genocide of Jews, the disabled, gypsies and homosexuals some 67 years ago. And just as my parents will never deny the atrocities of Nazi Germany, I will never deny the same by the Israeli government.

I do not pretend to completely understand the 5000 year history of Mideast. To characterize it as complex is such a vast understatement, it is disingenuous. I do know from world history classes, biblical study (both Jewish and Christian), wading into the Holy Qur’an and just reading a newspaper over the past fifty some odd years, it is a region which has been locked in constant turmoil.   [Read more…]

Field of View: Old Town San Diego

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Old Town happens to be my very first home in San Diego. As a baby, I lived on Conde Street in a house that has since been torn down. In fact, a lot has changed in the (muffled)-something years since then. Much of the surrounding area has become a tourist hot spot that is faithfully avoided by the locals, but Old Town proper still remains a charming a step into the past for me literally and emotionally.   [Read more…]

Celebrate the Inauguration of San Diego’s New Mayor, Bob Filner

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It’s been a full generation since San Diego’s working families had a friend in the mayor’s office, but now there’s reason to hope for something better. Please join us Monday, December 3rd, to celebrate the inauguration and election victory of our new Mayor!

Bob Filner will be celebrating with communities all across San Diego to thank everyone who helped support the campaign. Take a look at the day’s many events to find the one nearest you!

Come inside for the details…   [Read more…]

Marijuana Decriminalization Drops Youth Crime Rates by Stunning 20% in One Year

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The Center for Public Integrity / By Susan Ferriss

Arresting and putting low-level juvenile offenders into the criminal-justice system pulls many kids deeper into trouble rather than turning them around.

 

Marijuana — it’s one of the primary reasons why California experienced a stunning 20 percent drop in juvenile arrests in just one year, between 2010 and 2011, according to provocative new research.

The San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice (CJCJ) recently released a policy briefing with an analysis of arrest data collected by the California Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center. The briefing, “California Youth Crime Plunges to All-Time Low,” identifies a new state marijuana decriminalization law that applies to juveniles, not just adults, as the driving force behind the  plummeting arrest totals.

After the new pot law went into effect in January 2011, simple marijuana possession arrests of California juveniles fell from 14,991 in 2010 to 5,831 in 2011, a 61 percent difference, the report by CJCJ senior research fellow Mike Males found.   [Read more…]

Macy’s CEO to American People: Drop Dead

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By Lynn Stuart Parramore / AlterNet / Nov. 21, 2012

Macy’s is a powerful symbol of Thanksgiving, with its festive parade and freakishly large floats. But Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren is part of a group of greedy, unpatriotic CEOs who would like to seize this moment of American hardship and tear the rug out from under hard-working families. Moms, dads, grandparents, kids—he’d like to take a little something from each of you. Especially if you’re poor: he’d really like to get into your purses.   [Read more…]

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