San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for 2013

Archives for 2013

Monsanto’s Earnings Nearly Double as They Create a Farming Monopoly

by

By Charlotte Silver / Al Jazeera / Alternet

Last week Monsanto  announced staggering profits from 2012 to celebratory shareholders while American farmers filed into Washington, DC to challenge the Biotech giant’s right to sue farmers whose fields have become contaminated with Monsanto’s seeds. On January 10 oral arguments began before the U.S. Court of Appeals to decide whether to reverse the cases’ dismissal last February.

Monsanto’s earnings nearly doubled analysts’ projections and its total revenue reached $2.94bn at the end of 2012. The increased price of Roundup herbicide, continued market domination in the United States and, perhaps most significant, expanded markets in Latin America are all contributing factors to Monsanto’s booming business.   [Read more…]

Filner Throws Cold Water Over San Diego Budget Surplus Expectations

by

Mayor Sanders’ $12 million budget surplus projection did not account for looming realities.

Last year Jerry Sanders stood in front of the cameras and gave us a bit of great news: After years of crippling budget deficits, the City of San Diego would be running a $12 million budget surplus in 2014. Our problems are solved! All Hail Jerry Sanders, the savior of San Diego!

Filner, on Tuesday night, took the wind right out of those sails. He said those projected budget surpluses could actually be as much as a $40 million budget deficit, despite all of the austerity measures enacted during the Sanders administration.

Yeah, sure, we’ve heard all this before from Filner. But this was different. This was no longer a campaign talking point or rhetoric. He’s now the mayor, and this was the State of the City Address. This was for real.

Although he never mentioned Sanders by name, he accused his predecessor of some shady accounting tricks in order to protect his mayoral legacy; of fudging the numbers so that he could say he left behind the first budget surplus in recent memory. Filner accused Sanders of deliberately misleading San Diego taxpayers.   [Read more…]

Taking On the Government Tyranny Gun Control Prophecy

by

By Doug Porter It’s about time somebody took on the tinfoil set and their arguments about tyranny coming soon to the US of A.  John Stewart did so last night. My favorite part was where Stewart said conservatives appeared to be “confusing tyranny with the unpleasant burning sensation of losing democratic elections.” Watch. The Daily Show with […]

Can National Grassroots Push Depose the ‘Billion Dollar Democracy’?

by

Elections are now awash in unregulated money and ruled by the nation’s wealthiest, but can a grassroots effort stem the assault on democracy?

By Jon Queally, Common Dreams

A new report released Thursday puts an exclamation point on the outlandish and outweighed influence that wealthy individuals and corporations have in a post-Citizens United world by showing that a mere 32 wealthy donors—with an average gift of almost $10 million each—gave as much money to largely unregulated Super PACs in 2012 than all the country’s individual small donors gave to the Obama and Romney campaigns combined.

And though the 2012 election is behind us, many activists—now equipped with the experience of what a modern democracy controlled by millionaires and billionaires looks like—are hoping that fundamental changes can be made to correct the corrosive impact of shadow money and undue influence.

As the new report by U.S. PIRG and Demos, “Billion-Dollar Democracy,” shows, those 32 multi-million dollar gifts, in essence, outweighed the collective voice of 3.7 million individuals who gave individual and transparent campaign contributions to the candidate of their choice. Moreover, most did so under a veil of secrecy using shadow non-profit groups and shell corporations created specifically to launder political giving by masking the identities of financial sources.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Shooting Down False Arguments About Gun Control, Starting With the UT-San Diego Editorial Board

by

Clearly these guys at UT-San Diego can’t read. The local daily runs an editorial on gun laws and can’t even get their facts straight. Why? Because they obviously can’t comprehend a simple press release.

Here’s what the UT-San Diego said, trying to shore up their gun control arguments with numbers:

While a new Gallup poll shows support for tougher gun laws has increased to 38 percent, the same poll shows 48 percent of Americans like laws as they are or want them loosened.

Except that’s NOT what the Gallup poll said.   [Read more…]

SD For Free: Brunch with Mayor Bob

by

A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free!  We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

  1. Location: City Hall Lobby – 202 C Street, San Diego, CA  92101 (Downtown)
  2. Free Hours: 1st Saturday of each month from 9:30 AM to Noon, starting February 2nd
  3. Best For: Pardon requests, autograph seekers, the politically active, pothole complaints
  4. Website: http://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/

In addition to many other items in his first State of the City address on January 15th, newly elected mayor of San Diego Bob Filner announced  that he will hold ‘open hours’ on the first Saturday of each month to be available to the public.  These open hours will take place in the lobby of San Diego City Hall and run from 9:30 AM to Noon.  Residents don’t need an appointment and are welcome to come and share whatever is on their mind.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – 24 Things San Diegans Can Do to Honor the Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

by

“The time is always right to do what’s right.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

It has been twenty seven years since the first federal holiday marking the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King was observed. Like all good things, establishment of this commemorative day didn’t come without a serious effort. It wasn’t officially observed in all 50 states until 2000.

The movement for a holiday honoring Dr. King began as a union demand in contract negotiations. Congressman John Conyers introduced a bill four days after the assassination in 1968 to make the slain leader’s birthday a national holiday.

The bill would likely have died in committee, and stayed buried, had it not been for thousands of working-class Americans–most of them black, but also white, Asian and Latino–who risked their jobs over the next fifteen years to demand the right to honor a man they viewed as a working-class hero.

For those of us lucky enough to be able to celebrate holidays, this coming weekend is (or should be) different. I’ve combed through local listings in an attempt to create a comprehensive and easy to use guide for people who wish to honor the memory of Dr. King through community service and celebrations. There are activities listed here for people spanning all levels of physical ability, age and political persuasion. You can sign up for many of them with a mere click of the mouse.   [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: 10 Key Court Decisions That Protect Our Sexual Freedom

by

By Alex Henderson / Alternet

If the Christian Right had its way, the United States would be a fundamentalist theocracy in which contraception, homosexuality, abortion, sexually explicit hip-hop lyrics and all adult pornography were illegal. But making the U.S. that much of a theocracy would mean overturning a lot of major Supreme Court decisions. Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has had many rulings that helped to advance sexual freedom in the United States   [Read more…]

Free Miracles at the Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla

by

By Mic Porte

Thursday, January 17, 2013 is the last “free evening”, (free third Thursdays evening 5-7pm) of the current art exposition, Behold, America!,  at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, and the place to get yourself a miracle.

Artist Paul Kos , in 1989, created a multi-media, inter-active installation artwork to surprise and delight folks of all ages.   Called “Guadalupe Bell,” his intention is to create that “aha!” moment, “witnessing the miracle” of the appearance of St. Guadalupe to the native Mexican people in 1573, to assuage the pain of the Spanish invasion.   It is always a joyful miracle when you laugh in delight, as I did, visiting the expo recently with my two nieces.  Under the watchful eye of the museum “angels”, some of the nicest museum guards you will ever meet, go ahead and ring that bell, and get your miracle moment.   [Read more…]

Dear Mayor Filner: Can We Talk about Gun Violence and City Heights?

by

Dear Mayor Filner: The Sandy Hook school massacre last month has opened a national conversation about gun violence in this country, and well it should. The lives of twenty-six human beings, the majority of whom still had their baby teeth, were snuffed out in the amount of time it took to discharge a high capacity magazine from a gun that was developed for the military’s conduct of war.

It didn’t take much time and the devastation was total, consistent with the military’s expectations in the conduct of war, and so not consistent with our assumptions of what it means to send our children in safety to elementary school.   [Read more…]

A Different View of San Diego’s State of the City Event

by

When I received my invitation to attend the “State of the City” address I was really jazzed. I had attended a fund raiser for Filner a few weeks before the election and enjoyed talking to him and having my picture taken with him. (I still think it is the best picture he has ever taken!) I met Bob Filner many years ago – many times – when I was a teacher, an administrator and an assistant professor. I was always impressed with him, even though at times I thought he was gruff.

When I called my publisher today and asked if any other reporters were covering the ceremony, I was told that Andy Cohen would be there. So I decided that since Andy was such a great reporter I would have to go about my article differently than planned. Imagine my surprise when I saw Ernie McCray in the audience and found that Andy had driven with Brittany, another reporter. That really meant that I could not approach my article as a “reporters report.”   [Read more…]

San Diego All-Stars Defeat LA City All-Stars 24-17 in Westlake Village

by

Some of the best senior football players from around San Diego County traveled up to Northern Los Angeles, arrive back home the victors.

It was a rocky start for the team from San Diego. Los Angeles took control of the game in their opening offensive series, covering the final 38 yards on a halfback pass that was nearly intercepted by Point Loma safety Zach Eischen, but instead fell right into the hands of LA’s Bijon Parker (Fairfax High) who darted the final 20 yards to the end zone. 7-0 Los Angeles.

The San Diegans looked to answer right back when St. Augustine’s Dominic Morgan took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to the LA three yard line. But the San Diego offense was unable to capitalize, and was forced to settle for a 27 yard field goal by Madison’s Anthony Herrera. 7-3 Los Angeles.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry