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San Diego County Supervisors: ‘We don’t need no stinkin’ community planning or sponsor groups!’

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Local planning group members and residents voice concerns over stifling of powers for communities and heavy influence of developers

By Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine / December 12, 2012

By a 5-0 vote, San Diego’s Board of Supervisors this week unanimously voted to place limits on the powers and influence of community planning group and sponsor group members.

The action follows recommendations made by a developer-stacked Red Tape Reduction Task Force, which had sought to eliminate planning and sponsor groups completely. Supervisors previously voted to retain the groups, but make some changes. But changes approved this week are sparking concern and outrage among many local planning and sponsor group members, as well as the public that they serve.   [Read more…]

Health Law Doesn’t Protect Californians from Rate Increases

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by Carmen Balber/California Progress Report

Reporters largely missed the point of a Commonwealth Fund study released last week, that looked at consumer savings under Obamacare’s 80-20 rule, the rule making insurance companies spend at least 80% of your premiums on health care, not overhead.

The authors started with a fact we already knew – that health insurance companies had to pay $1.1 billion in rebates for missing the MLR requirement in 2011 – and that big shiny number distracted the news media. But the authors zeroed in on a much more important fact. Insurance companies successfully reduced administrative costs by $1.184 billion in 2011, but they used those savings to increase profits instead of passing them on to consumers.

Clearly the 80-20 rule isn’t working to contain profits and hold down premiums, especially in states that don’t have tough regulation of insurance premiums.   [Read more…]

Closing Time at Fresh & Easy

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by Daniel Paredes/Frying Pan News

After spending more than $1.6 billion, Tesco, the world’s third- largest food retailer, has finally thrown in the towel and announced the closure of its Fresh & Easy stores. This move brings closure to the British company’s effort to establish a foothold in California’s highly competitive grocery industry. Many analysts believe this decision has been a long time coming, with Fresh & Easy stores never seeing the kind of market penetration that the U.K.-based giant expected from the chain. Investors cheered the December 5 announcement, but U.S. workers have reason to celebrate too — this marks the end of a five-year struggle with Tesco.

Like most new entrants into the grocery market field, Tesco planned to operate non-union. Indeed, a Tesco employee-relations director described the primary responsibilities of that job in an advertisement as “maintaining non-union status” and “union avoidance activities.” The United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) sought to organize the company, called a boycott and Tesco resisted.   [Read more…]

Local Labor Stands Up for the Safety Net, Keeps Pressure on ‘Friendly’ Congresspeople

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By Nadin Abbott

The Central Labor Council called for a candle light vigil in front of Senator Diane Feinstein’s (D) office at 750 B Street Monday evening.  This action was part of a national call to arms; there were about one hundred of them today nationwide called by the AFL-CIO.

Why is this labor action significant? With the attacks on labor across the nation, including the about to pass Right to Work (for less) legislation in Michigan, and the attacks by Governor Walker in Wisconsin last year, it seems labor is waking up. Labor is fighting back in a way like it has not done for two generations.   [Read more…]

Be of good cheer — are you nuts?

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By Kit-Bacon Gressitt

For some years, I’ve collected quips from folks who spurn “the holidays.” Their reasons vary. For some it’s an idiopathic condition, a chronic case of hostility or melancholy. For others, it’s situational, a recent loss, a yucky family member foisting him- or herself into the otherwise peaceful nativity scene, or the like. These quotable Grinches produced, among many others, the following tidbits of holiday cheer — but first, a note: Read no further if foul language gives you the vapors.   [Read more…]

Right-Wingers Whine About Oscar Omission for ‘2016: Obama’s America’ — Here’s Four Simple Reasons Why It Got Snubbed

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By Laura Gottesdiener / AlterNet / Dec. 5, 2012

The directors of the anti-Obama film hilariously claim the film faces discrimination.

Gerald Molan, the director of the extremely anti-Obama movie, 2016: Obama’s America , is mad that his and Dinesh D’Souza’s film wasn’t on the shortlist of documentaries nominated for an Academy Award.

“The action confirms my opinion that the bias against anything from a conservative point of view is dead on arrival in Hollywood circles,” he complained  to the Hollywood Reporter.   [Read more…]

Legal Marijuana Is Good for Children and Other Living Things

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By Amanda Reiman / Alternet / Dec. 4, 2012

When Michael Saffioti’s mother suggested that he turn himself in to the Lynnwood Police Department for missing a court date related to a minor marijuana violation, surely she thought the 22-year-old would get a slap on the wrist. She could not have imagined that her son would not return from the police station. Saffioti struggled with a potentially fatal dairy allergy, experiencing great anxiety associated with the constant threat of a reaction. To calm his anxieties, he was using medical marijuana. Although he lived in Washington, which allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Saffioti did not have a recommendation from his doctor. After a few brushes with the law over his marijuana use, Saffioti missed a court date, and went to the police station with his mother, medical records in hand to resolve the issue. But, after one night at Snohomish County Jail, Saffioti died after being served a lethal meal of oatmeal containing dairy. Even more disturbing, Saffioti had told the guards he was having a reaction and they did not believe him, leaving him to die a slow death in his cell.   [Read more…]

In 1993, Republicans Said Clinton Tax Increase on Rich Would Lead to a Recession – The Economy Boomed Instead

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Republicans are doing everything they can to protect the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. They claim that they are doing this because ending these tax cuts would harm the economy.

But this claim isn’t new. In fact, it’s exactly what they said in the 1990′s, when Bill Clinton first increased taxes on the wealthy. Here’s some of the fear-mongering they engaged in then:   [Read more…]

Boat Parades Light-Up San Diego’s Bays for the Holiday Season

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By: Taylor Hill and Eston Ellis / The Log / December 6, 2012

Holiday boat parades are a treasured tradition in Southern California — and some boaters spend all year getting ready for them. Bringing together the right holiday decorations, lights and onboard spirit to “wow” the crowds of fellow boaters on the water and spectators on shore takes planning, cleverness and a lot of creativity.

But even if you haven’t been obsessing over your decorating scheme since July, there’s still time to join in the fun of this month’s annual holiday boat parades. String some lights, bring along some friends and family, and make your plan now to take part in one of the season’s top boating activities.

Whether this is your first year heading out to join in the festivities on the water or it’s an annual outing, you’re sure to find something new and exciting to see and do. From participating in a decorated boat parade to checking out all the waterfront homes decked out for the holidays on a moonlight cruise, boaters have many opportunities to make the season bright.

Bring a thermos full of hot spiced cider, a plate of fresh-baked cookies — and friends. You and your family will enjoy a fun-filled evening on the water, and warm holiday memories to treasure forever.

Here’s where to find this year’s holiday fun in San Diego County:

San Diego Bay Parade of Lights

When: Dec. 9 and 16, 5:30-9:30 p.m.
  [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: Middleclass Uptightness Over Drugs, Sex and Money

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Drugs, Sex and Money

By Howard

As a middle-aged professional man in San Diego, I began dating a few months after my divorce. And over the next few years, I dated dozens of women from the area – and a few from out of the area.

What I found during those years of dating was that something I call “middle-class sensitivities” got in the way of my efforts to develop genuine relationships with women. Even though I’m definitely from the middle-class, my life experience over the years before I became a professional took me on the road that many working class people travel – lowly-paid alienating jobs, worrying about having to pay bills, going from one paycheck to another, borrowing to pay the rent, etc.

So, I came to appreciate the outlook of working class people, people not accustomed to the vulgarities of middle class life, to its sensitivities, and people who look to the basics in life for their rewards and understandings of their society around them. Now, I am not – or at least try not to be — a male chauvinist pig; I picture myself a modern, urban and even urbane male, attuned to the centuries of second-class citizenship that women have suffered.   [Read more…]

San Diego City Council Endorses Resolution to Reverse Citizens United – How a Grassroots Group Defeated the Odds

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By Money Out of Politics -San Diego – Special to the SDFP

On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution to reverse Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that in 2010 allowed unrestricted political spending by corporations and unions.

The resolution was supported 8-0, as San Diego joins 350 cities and 12 states that have endorsed resolutions. This victory comes as a result of the hard work of a multitude of people and organizations, at the local forefront of which was Money Out of Politics/San Diego (MOP).

MOP is a local activist group that was initially born a year ago this month out of a Women Occupy San Diego meeting. The brainchild of Dianne Lane, MOP was joined by Pam Page, who, alongside Lane, has dedicated countless hours to the cause.   [Read more…]

Cliff Notes on the Three Real Perils Ahead

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by Robert Reich

The “fiscal cliff” is a a metaphor for a government that no longer responds to the biggest challenges we face because it’s paralyzed by intransigent Republicans, obsessed by the federal budget deficit, and overwhelmed by big money from corporations, Wall Street, and billionaires.

If we had a functional government America would address three “cliffs” posing far larger dangers to us than the fiscal one:

The child poverty cliff.

Between 2007 and 2011, the percentage of American school-age children living in poor households grew from 17 to 21%. Last year, according to the Agriculture Department, nearly 1 in 4 young children lived in a family that had difficulty affording sufficient food at some point in the year.

Yet federal programs to help children and lower-income families – food stamps, aid for poor school districts, Pell grants, child health care, child nutrition, pre- and post-natal care, and Medicaid – are being targeted by the Republican right. Over 60 percent of the cuts in the GOP’s most recent budget came out of these programs.

Even if these programs are preserved, they don’t go nearly far enough. But the Obama Administration doesn’t talk about reducing poverty in America. It talks only about preserving the middle class.   [Read more…]

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