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A Mindful Walk Through the Mayor’s Office

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By Norma Damashek

Turns out that mindful walks aren’t guaranteed to be soul-soothing.  But one thing’s for sure — they’re invariably eye-opening.  Once you start noticing, you’ll find plenty of things you never noticed before.

You’ll remember that last week I walked the walk in La Jolla.  A few days ago it was Mission Valley.  Yesterday it was downtown.  But I’m putting aside downtown and Mission Valley for the time being and inviting you to keep me company on today’s mindful walk… through the mayor’s office… figuratively speaking, that is.

Picture us on the 11th floor of City Hall.  Take a seat alongside me in the outer vestibule of the mayor’s suite.  Notice the elevators and toilets to our left.  Notice the worn carpeting and sullen lighting.  Now follow me into the inner sanctum.

Be mindful how you walk.   [Read more…]

Hanging On……and Letting Go

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By Norma Damashek

I took a mindful walk through downtown La Jolla this morning. It was my version of a meditative exercise that’s supposed to smooth your soul and clear your mind. Here’s how it’s done: you put one foot in front of the other in the usual way of walking while you notice what’s around you. First you notice. And then you let it go.

Notice…and let it go.

There are a few things I noticed on my mindful walk……I also noticed that the noticing part of a mindful walk is easy. The letting go part is another story. And I’ve noticed that it’s not just me who has trouble letting go.   [Read more…]

Belly-whopping Off the Deep End

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By Norma Damashek

I know, I know, we’re only human.  We all make mistakes.  Everyone’s been known to lie or cheat or steal (only for a good reason, of course).  At times we’re devious or lazy.  Sometimes greedy.  Vindictive, too. 

Given our shortcomings, I ask  you this: is it fair to demand higher standards from our elected officials than we might impose on regular folk like you and me?  Here’s my answer: it’s more than fair; it’s self-evident common sense to hold out for brain-power and high ethical standards from politically-inspired individuals who climb into the public arena and vie for the prize of holding the public welfare in the palm of their hands.  

You look for professional standards and expertise from a dentist, don’t you? from your trainer at the gym? the butcher at Vons?  Does it make sense to accept anything less from your elected politicians who have the power to shape, improve, or make a mess of your daily lives and surroundings?   [Read more…]

Keys to the Kingdom: Using San Diego’s Open Government Web Site

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By Norma Damashek

For the first time ever, the San Diego public has been awarded the Keys to the Kingdom.

The grantor of this unique gift to the people of San Diego is former councilmember Donna Frye and her Open Government project, developed during her three-month stint in the office of Mayor Bob Filner.

Finally, regular citizens and ordinary folk (you and I) have ready access to just about everything we wish to know about the ins-and-outs of City Hall. Come on inside to see how it works.   [Read more…]

Spare Us from Our Good Boys

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By Norma Damashek

You’ve already read my take on bad boys.  Now it’s time to flip the coin and ponder San Diego’s good boys. 

Lately, good boys have been coming out of the woodwork.  You can spot them a mile away by their gee-whiz grins and GQ grooming.  Their toothy, soulful smiles can break your heart.  Of course they’re super-civil and never raise their voices in public.  You wouldn’t hesitate to bring these dewy-eyed boys home to meet your momma. 

Don’t do it!  What you see is NOT what you get from these two-dimensional paper dolls… Stepford wives in drag.  Who are these people, you ask?     [Read more…]

Mayor Filner: Is it heartburn or the stirrings of true love?

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What you always wanted to know…

By Norma Damashek

One time or another we’ve all experienced that unsettled, mid-gut sensation.  Strangely, it always feels the same — whether the cause is dread, pleasurable anticipation, or a pesky upset stomach.

Yes, Bob Filner is giving a lot of San Diego greybeards a bad case of heartburn. How? by prying open the locked jaws of powerful land developers, tourism profiteers, and respected enablers (bankers, law firms, judges, consultants, radio/TV/news purveyors) whose business has traditionally been to keep the reigning power structure intact and thriving. He’s forced them to swallow a new style of home-town brew and it’s not to their liking.   [Read more…]

Already Plotting to Unseat Mayor Filner

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

I suppose there are women who would do battle to become queen bee but they’re the exception, not the rule. On the other hand, the lineup of San Diego males practicing their back-stabbing techniques to become emperor… potentate… sultan… ruler of the roost… snakes the length of I-805 and back again.

Our local warriors come in different shapes and modes — from the programmed-android Carl DeMaio… to the sybarite Doug Manchester… to the changeling-striver Nathan Fletcher… to the overweening Jan Goldsmith…to the Brutus-clone Todd Gloria (why he’d identify with James Mason instead of Marlon Brando is beyond me).  They’re panting hard at the prospect of unseating the trenchant and obstinate Bob Filner on whose head the crown currently rests.

It’s not even springtime after the 2012 November election but the word is trickling out that 2014 (just around the corner) is the year of choice for a pitched battle to recall Mayor Filner and replace him with one of the above-named self-styled gladiators.   [Read more…]

Getting away with murder (part two)

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Some of my friends think I pick on San Diego unfairly.  They ask me, Don’t all cities have a similar quotient of greed, corruption, mediocrity, deceit, and political blowhards as we have in San Diego?
I won’t equivocate.  The answer is… yes.

So why single out our city? Because San Diego is unique in one peculiar respect: we practice an overweening reverence for gentility.  We lionize propriety.  We relish an identity as America’s finest, nicest city.  Some guys might even stretch the description and say we’re pussy-whipped.  But the more orthodox label for our singular compliance is civility.
  [Read more…]

Getting away with murder

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New Series: What you always wanted to know…

Dear NumbersRunnner,

This question has been on my mind for a long time but it’s one I’ve been afraid to ask: How come so many San Diegans get away with murder?

Yours truly,

Timid Questioner

Dear TQ,

Murder is a serious allegation.  If you’ll settle for the lesser charge of white-collar crime (the FBI says it means “lying, cheating, and stealing…the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals…”), you need only take a look at some of Don Bauder’s investigative stories about our hometown white-collar crooks.

But yes, when it comes to San Diego miscreants of a political persuasion these guys really DO get away with murder – both the metaphorical and bloody types.

Consider the case histories of two recently-departed politicians — ex-mayor Jerry Sanders and ex-councilmember Tony Young.    [Read more…]

Devouring Bob Filner

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by Norma Damashek/NumbersRunner

Predictions of doomsday have officially fizzled. This past November voters elected the liberal Democrat Bob Filner as mayor of the city of San Diego and — happy to report — the world (as we know it) remains intact.

 On the other hand…if you pay close attention you might catch a glimpse of the prescient ghost of that other Bob. It looks like, even here in San Diego, the times they are a-changin’…

In fact, our city seems pretty much the same as ever.   [Read more…]

Nancy Reagan, where art thou?

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by Norma Damashek/NumbersRunner

Picture a totem pole. Now visualize our regional law enforcers — the city attorney, police chief, sheriff, and district attorney — stacked head-to-foot up the length of the pole. Atop them all you’ll find the U.S. Attorney.  

The name of San Diego’s U.S. Attorney is Laura Duffy. Laura who?

As the U.S. Attorney for the San Diego region, Laura Duffy has the job of investigating and prosecuting violations of federal criminal law, such as political corruption, tax evasion, drug trafficking, human trafficking, organized crime, and so on.

U.S. Attorneys are instructed to steer clear of partisan politics — local, state, or national. It’s the law.

But last week, San Diego’s U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy engaged in a series of activities that directly affected and advanced the political aspirations of mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio.   [Read more…]

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Lies

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by Norma Damashek/NumbersRunner

A) Some liars lie for self-protection.  Consider political cover-ups.

B)  Some liars lie to whitewash things they say (or write) whenever they get loaded.  Consider the congenital lushes you’ve known.

C) Some liars lie because of a pathological affliction that compels them to create false/ fabricated/ fallacious responses to just about everything.  Consider the manchurian (I have a friend who calls him manchesturian) candidate Carl DeMaio.

Let’s explore this more closely.   [Read more…]

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