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Archives for 2013

I’m Supposed to Feel Sorry for Phil Mickelson?

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I think I must have arrived in “pity poor me” land without the benefit of a ticket. In channel surfing a few moments ago, I was appalled at all the people interviewed that are feeling sorry for Mr. Mickelson, a multi-millionaire that may have to leave California because he feels “targeted” by higher taxes being foisted on the 2% of Americans and he may have to change his life-style. Excuse me while I go puke. Is he saying that if he makes an endorsement for a product and is paid ten million dollars that he will only be able to keep $3.7 million? (I suspect that figure is incorrect but even so….how many people earn that amount of money in their life-time?)

According to Forbes, he is the 7th highest paid athlete in the world, with a salary topping $4.8 million dollars and winnings and endorsements totaling over $43 million.

What an obscene statement to make that he will have to change his life style. What? Will he have to start riding the bus?   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Looking Back on When San Diego Said ‘No’ to Honoring Martin Luther King

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The year was 1986, and San Diego, like much of the nation, was swept up in a national discussion about a new holiday commemorating MLK’s contribution to US history. Legislation (signed three years earlier) making Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday was going into effect, and many cities around the country were honoring the slain civil rights leader by naming streets and buildings after him.

It seemed like a no-brainer for the San Diego City Council, then led by Mayor Maureen O’Connor. After some deliberation they announced that Market Street would be renamed Martin Luther King Way.

The reaction of merchants along Market Street, spurred on by developers eyeing redevelopment possibilities, was strongly negative. Claiming that they’d been excluded from the decision making process, they organized the Keep Market Street Initiative Committee and delivered nearly eighty thousand signatures to the city clerk, a move that put the question, eventually known as Proposition F, on the November ballot.

Black community leaders felt that the impetus behind the campaign was racism, pure and simple.
  [Read more…]

Congressional Hypocrites Add $77 Billion of Pork to Deficit Reduction Bill

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The most important thing to Republicans is deficit reduction. It’s the chief thing they talk about. It’s their main concern, it’s their singular issue. Right?

Right…. Then why did they vote to add $77 billion in pork to the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ bill? But don’t get me wrong – Democrats not only voted for it but were instrumental in adding it to the bill as well. But why were the American people kept in the dark and not told that this bill like a lot of others was all about the pork?

It’s not that this bill was not discussed at great length by the punditry. Bloviators were bloviating non-stop for months. Pontificators were pontificating full time. Purveyors of bovine excrement were shoveling constantly. But no one saw it coming. Not David Gregory of Meet the Press, not Bob Schieffer of Face the Nation, not Ed Schultz or Rachel Maddow of msnbc. It’s not like pork is a recent phenomena. But it takes sheer gall to add $77 billion in tax break loopholes for the rich to a deficit reduction bill!   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: What does Martin Luther King mean to you?

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On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day [in 2013] I attended the All People Celebration that took place at the San Diego Public Market here in Barrio Logan. With the event taking place in my neighborhood I wanted to put together a column that somehow related to MLK. Since every news media outlet in San Diego was covering the event I knew I had to think up a different approach than the rest of them. So, as I walked the two blocks from my apartment to the location of the celebration I decided that I would ask as many people as I could recognize a single question: What does Martin Luther King represent to you? These are their thoughtful responses.

“Non violent change. We gotta be a better society.”
– Bob Filner, Mayor of San Diego

“To me it’s about service to others. How are you doing something to make the world better? How are you part of making the world better. You do that by being in service. In my case, as a public servant, days like this make you feel good. It’s what you work for. It’s what you strive for.”
David Alvarez, San Diego City Councilman District 8 

And more than a dozen other San Diegans chime in….come on inside!   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Obama’s Second Term: Will Reactionaries Turn the Dream into a Nightmare?

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It was a busy weekend, chock full of news. President Obama took the oath of office Sunday, as required (today’s festivities are merely a show), hundreds of thousands of American participated in Days of Service, tens of thousands of guns rights-types rallied for Guns Across America/Gun Appreciation Day, five people were killed in New Mexico by a teenager wielding a semi-automatic rifle and five gun enthusiasts were wounded by accidental discharges of firearms at guns shows around the country.   [Read more…]

Remembering the Real Martin Luther King Jr. Without Apologies

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As we celebrate the rich legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I am drawn back to my favorite speech of his, “Where Do We Go From Here?”. This was Dr. King’s last address as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, given toward to end of his life in 1967. It outlines two core principles of King’s unfulfilled legacy that united the questions of racial injustice with those of economic inequality and rampant militarism. It was a deep, radical interrogation of the underpinnings of American society and it still resonates today.

When dealing with the issue of poverty, King notes that, “We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” For Dr. King, this meant looking at the entire society and asking questions about “the economic system [and] the broader distribution of wealth.” It meant thinking about “the restructuring of the whole of American society.”   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: Loyola University Students Experience the Community that is Chicano Park

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On a cold, blustery day in Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park my toddler son Dino and I had the opportunity to connect with some college students from Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland who were in San Diego for their annual Project Mexico trip. Project Mexico is a program of the university’s Center for Community Service and Justice.

The Center’s website states that Project Mexico provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to immerse themselves in a 10-day intense service and educational exchange with the peoples and communities of Mexicali and San Diego. During their stay in Mexico students participate in community directed projects and engage in cultural and social activities and education programs that address topics such as immigration, the environment, human rights and political and economic issues.   [Read more…]

Clybourne Park at the San Diego Repertory Theatre – A Review of the Friday Night Performance

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By Jim Bliesner

The first act of Clybourn Park, now at the San Diego Repertory Theatre is about “white flight” or “block busting” set in 1959. The second act is about “gentrification” and “new urbanism” set in 2009. In the first act a black family is buying a home in a traditionally Caucasian neighborhood. In the second act, the same house is being sold by a black couple to a young Caucasian couple moving back into the city wanting to remodel and add onto the old house. If this was San Diego the play would be called Sherman Heights or Golden Hill and cover the same period. The play is about a real phenomenon across the American urban landscape and alive today.   [Read more…]

How a Plan Comes Together Part II: Dino-Soar Float Takes Flight

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Arlene Buchmann and the La Cañada-Flintridge volunteers put the finishing touches on their entry in the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. This is part 2 of Arlene’s photo diary.   [Read more…]

How a Plan Comes Together: The Construction of a Rose Parade Float

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Ever wonder how those incredible Rose Parade floats are made? Arlene Buchmann, a graduate of Mission Bay High School, volunteers every year to help plan and construct the La Cañada/Flintridge float entry for the annual Rose Parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena. This year she was kind enough to share some photos and commentary about how it all comes together. Enjoy!   [Read more…]

The Dove and the Cockerel: Chapter 19

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As Joe walked down the hall he thought to himself how police work never ceased to amaze him. Part luck, part skill. He pushed the down button of the elevator and the door opened. He began his descent to the garage.

A little over twelve hours ago they had almost nothing. If it had not been for that kid freaking out in the courtroom they might still be stymied. But they were able to put a little piece here and a little piece there and the picture was starting to come together. They had a way to go before it was wrapped up and that could be any minute now.

He reached the garage and walked to edge of the overhang. He lit up a Camel and took a long drag, holding the smoke until he got the head rush from the oxygen deprivation. The rain had let up somewhat and was now no more than a heavy drizzle. The heavy clouds created a false night. The amber light of street lamps sparkled, reflecting off the wet pavement. Maybe it was the cigarette, but Joe felt relaxed. He was admittedly tired from the long night and day, but he felt relaxed from the satisfaction that they were about to put another deserving soul or two in jail.   [Read more…]

Obama Calls for Assault Weapons Ban; Chastises Congress for Serving Gun Lobby

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By Adele M. Stan / Alternet

President Barack Obama [on Wednesday] took to the White House podium to deliver a strongly worded statement calling on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, to limit sales of magazines to those that contain no more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and to close a loophole in the law governing gun sales that allows purchasers of weapons at gun shows to skip the background check required for gun purchases in retail establishments.

Then he walked over to a small desk and signed executive orders that he said would provide greater resources for school safety, educate mental health workers on their options in reporting threats, and one that directed the Centers for Disease Control to conduct research into the causes of gun violence. All told, Obama’s plan includes 23 executive actions.   [Read more…]

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