Formerly the Naval Training Center, Liberty Station in Point Loma continues to exude an undeniably heavy military presence, from the USS Recruit — a landlocked dummy of the famous naval training vessel — to the large caliber training guns lining parts of the road.
The Liberty Station Esplanade is a windy path found along the canal that is shared by bikers, joggers, dogs and their owners. [Read more…]
On New Year’s Eve
as I sat quietly
in my easy chair,
out of thin air
from a place called nowhere,
Maxi, my cat,
skittered across me
in the middle of my ease,
creating a little breeze,
landing on the mantle over the fireplace
with a couple of tip taps of her feet
and I picked up the beat
and patted rhythms on my thighs
and on my knees
and my bongos
and the next thing I know…. [Read more…]
By Larry Remer
I first met Murray in 1976 when I wrote a story for San Diego Magazine about San Diego’s “connection” to newly elected Vice President Walter Mondale. Murray and Elaine were relatively fresh from Minnesota and I was instantly charmed by Murray’s grace, wit and generousity of spirit — not to mention his strong Democratic commitment.
We became warm friends and allies in the cause of changing San Digeo.
San Diego was a “Very Red” town in those days and Murray managed to navigate the intricacies of local politics. I teased him relentlessly about his appointment by Pete Wilson to the Police Practices Commssion. He was, after all, a federal prosecutor. But, he played a very progressive role in helping to prod what had been a Redneck police force into a modern, community sensitive outfit. [Read more…]
“Really? What have you got?” asked Colin, pulling his rapidly filling tablet open to the next empty page as he prepared to write.
“John Doe’s name is Alfred Schmidt,” began Morgan. “He was looking at doing some time in the joint for dope convictions. That was about six or seven months ago. He did a deal and was released after his ninety day evaluation at Chino. He was on parole, sort off. He was assigned a parole officer, Madeline Conklin, but only as a formality. He was under loan to the Feds as a C.I. From what Madeline tells me, it sounds like he was turning some pretty good stuff and getting paid too. Get this — he has been paid $74,000 in the past six months.”
“Jeez, we’re in the wrong line of work, pal,” interjected Colin.
“Judging from Mr. Schmidt’s current condition, you can have it. The down side to his line of work is a little too drastic for me,” said Morgan. [Read more…]
By Laura Gottesdiener / Alternet
There have been more than 400 guns deaths since the Newtown massacre on December 14, according to a new interactive project between Slate.com and the anonymous twitter user @gundeaths.
The two launched the project because, as Slate writes, there are few real-time chronicles of daily gun deaths in the United States, despite the daily mention of firearms and gun politics in the media since the shooting. In fact, the onslaught of reporting on guns has been so intense, The Huffington Post published an article [Thursday] with the headline “So You’re Bored of the Newtown Massacre?” [Read more…]
By Joshua Holland / Alternet
It’s bizarre how people distinguish between serious and unserious proposals.
With another debt-ceiling show-down looming, talk of the ‘platinum coin option’ – declared deeply unserious in 2011 – is once again gaining some traction. Here’s Josh Barro over at Bloomberg:
I’m glad to see Representative Jerrold Nadler lending his support to the idea that President Barack Obama should avert a debt-limit crisis by issuing large-denomination platinum coins, as permitted by 31 USC § 5112. [Read more…]
If you’re coming down with a cold this winter and you stop by the local pharmacy to pick up some pseudoephedrine (commonly sold as Sudafed), you will get carded, but it has nothing to do with age. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in methamphetamine. And since 2006, pharmacies have been carding cold sufferers to track their purchases and ensure they do not buy more pseudoephedrine than is legally allowed (3.6 grams per day or 9 grams per month).
The law, however, has done more to inconvenience chronic cold sufferers than curb methamphetamine abuse. [Read more…]
This was a wonderful year for Christmas lights in my City Heights neighborhood. They cheerfully, often exuberantly, illuminated the night from the day after Thanksgiving until the day after New Year’s. It is sad to see them extinguished, put away, for yet another year, although ours stay up in the house year round. You can never have enough illumination in the darkness…
But that is not to say the seasonal celebrations are over- far from it. Sunday January 6th is the Three Kings Day celebration in Mexico and other Spanish speaking cultures; it is also Orthodox Christmas Eve for those religious traditions based upon the Julian calendar, as opposed to our Gregorian calendar. What that boils down to is that I have to order my rosca de reyes so that I can take it to our Orthodox Christmas Eve dinner. [Read more…]
Approximately 10,000 individuals, families, and unaccompanied children experience homelessness annually in San Diego County. Here’s one way that YOU can help.
In the early morning hours of January 25, 2013, roughly 700 volunteers will participate in WeAllCount locally. This event, led by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, enables local agencies to better understand the scope, impact and potential solutions to homelessness; allowing communities to qualify for funding that is critical to addressing and alleviating homelessness in San Diego County. Communities across the country will be conducting similar events during the last ten days of January. [Read more…]
Graphic of the Day
The UT-SD reports today (on its front page, even!) about a lawsuit naming Qualcomm filed in New York state seeking to force more corporate disclosure about spending on political activities.
While the 2010 ‘Citizens United’ case ruling by Supreme Court said that the First Amendment prohibited the government from limiting political spending by corporations, this lawsuit take a distinctly different approach to corporate political activity. It seeks disclosure on the basis of shareholder’s need to know about management activities in publicly held companies…
Al Jazeera’s acquisition of Current TV is potentially good news for American news consumers. I am an absolute advocate of including the foreign press in my mix of daily news, and find it refreshing that not everybody feels the need to hew to the ‘meme du jour’ touted by the largely conservative domestic press…
The WorldNetDaily has long served as an editorial refuge for Teahadists, Birthers and others of the wingnut persuasion. A measure of their desperation following Democratic victories in the fall elections comes from regular contributor Craige McMillan, who’s published an ‘open letter’ calling on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to refuse to administer the oath of office to President Obama later this month…
All this & more in our extra meaty Friday edition of The Starting Line….
Restaurant Review:
Ponce’s Mexican Restaurant
4050 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
619-282-4413
Joe, a friend that I have reviewed restaurants with before, called me and asked if I was interested in having lunch at Ponce’s Restaurant in Kensington. Mexican food is one of my favorites, so I agreed to meet him at the restaurant. It is very easy to get to – right off Highway 15 at Adams. We met at 11:45am. The timing was good, because even though we had a 10 minute wait for a booth, by noon people were in line waiting for a table.
There is a very extensive menu – beginning with appetizers ranging from $4.95-$7.95; soups and salads from $5 to $8.75; combinations where you can choose 2 items, plus beans and rice, start at $9.95 and for 3 items it is $11.95. [Read more…]
