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Time Works Wonders: Oak Tree Academy Preschool Owners Transform El Cajon Property

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By Annie Lane

When owner Conni Huntley reflects on Oak Tree Academy’s move from La Mesa to their new location in El Cajon, the preschool administrator admits it was she who dragged her feet.

“I’m afraid of the heat,” the Ocean Beach resident confided. “I’m a beach brat.”

Roseann Rinear, Huntley’s business partner and a longtime Jamul resident, didn’t share her concerns in that regard. The dilapidated state of the property, however, had them both a little nervous.

“It wasn’t until we drove around back and saw those Chinese Elms that we knew what the property could become,” Huntley said of the three full grown trees lining the expansive yard.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – University of California Hospital Strike Looks Like a Reality

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By Doug Porter

More than 2,000 hospital workers at UC San Diego are planning on staying home from work for a couple of days (May 21 & 22) this week. Vocational nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians, bus drivers and custodians will go on strike Tuesday following nearly a year of failed negotiations. Their last contract expired in September.

Depending on who’s talking, the 30,000 workers at five University of California health centers are about to walk off the job (or honor the picket lines of those who do strike) are motivated by demands that the UC Medical System stop prioritizing profit over quality patient care OR a refusal by the union to agree to UC’s pension reforms.

The pending strike is NOT just about higher pay, as is being reported in the mass media. Demands by management that workers increase their contribution to pensions funds have been countered by the union’s complaints about soaring executive compensation in the UC system.   [Read more…]

The IRS War on Medical Marijuana Providers

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By Clarence Walker / StoptheDrugWar.org

Dispensaries providing marijuana to doctor-approved patients operate in a number of states, but they are under assault by the federal government. SWAT-style raids by the DEA and finger-wagging press conferences by grim-faced federal prosecutors may garner greater attention, but the assault on medical marijuana providers extends to other branches of the government as well, and moves by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to eliminate dispensaries’ ability to take standard business deduction are another very painful arrow in the federal quiver.

The IRS employs Section 280E, a 1982 addition to the tax code that was a response to a drug dealer’s successful effort to claim his yacht, weapons purchases, and even illicit bribes as business expenses. Under 280E, individuals involved in the illicit sale of controlled substances — including marijuana, even medical marijuana in states where it is legal — cannot claim standard business expenses on their federal taxes.   [Read more…]

Should the Big Wall Street Banks Have Been Allowed to Fail? – Part 4

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by Frank Thomas and John Lawrence

Frank has eloquently argued “Yes” here in Part 2 and continued here in Part 3 of our examination of the financial crisis of 2008. Part 1 dealt with Republican economic philosophy over the last 30 years which had produced disastrous results for the economy leading up to the crisis.

This week John argues that AIG should have been allowed to fail and that this would not have affected Main Street banks or the banking activities of average Americans. But the real question is ‘If American taxpayers and the Fed had not given billions of dollars to AIG and the other large banking institutions, would they have indeed failed or would they, on the other hand, have survived quite nicely even without the bailouts?’

What’s clear in the financial crisis of 2008 is that Washington rescued Wall Street while abandoning Main Street.   [Read more…]

School Board Okays Controversial Sale of Prime Mission Beach School Property – Despite Mayor Filner’s Plea

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By Frank Gormlie/ OB Rag

On Tuesday, May 14th, the San Diego Unified School District board authorized the sale of the former Mission Beach Elementary School property to private developers – despite objections by Mayor Filner, residents and community activists.

The 4 to 1 vote by the Board was the culmination of the process to cement the controversial sale of 2.23 acres of prime public school land, a half block from the Pacific Ocean and mere yards from Mission Bay. Mayor Filner, community planners and civic activists, as well as residents pleaded with the Board to keep the land in the public arena, and work with either the City or developers on alternatives.

The site was sold for $18.5 million to a duo of developers, doing business as McKellar-Ashbrook LLC, registered in La Jolla.   [Read more…]

Desperate “Times” at Anti-Koch Brothers Rally

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By Danny Feingold/Frying Pan News

The L.A. Times has not exactly been falling all over itself lately to curry favor with the city’s labor movement, with a seemingly endless stream of news stories, columns and editorials portraying unions in a less than sympathetic light. So the last thing one might have expected to see was a rally of workers and labor leaders coming to the defense of L.A.’s paper of record.

But desperate times call for desperate measures – and with the Koch brothers potentially poised to take over Spring Street, the present moment certainly meets the test.

In case you have tuned out the Times and every other source of local news, Charles and David Koch – patron saints of the Tea Party, best friends to climate change deniers and bankrollers of an endless parade of far-right causes – have set their sights on the Tribune Company’s empire. After emerging from a bankruptcy brought on by the rapacious practices of former owner Sam Zell, Tribune’s far-flung newspaper interests are up for grabs. And while Rupert Murdoch and a local consortium headed by Eli Broad are also in the running, public attention has focused on the Kochs.   [Read more…]

Should We Have Saved AIG and Other Wall Street Banks? (Con’t)

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Frank Thomas: The Rescue of AIG in 2008 was the Right Decision, Con’t.

Part 3 of a multipart series,  John will give his “NO” answer in Part 4. Part 2 can be found here 

by Frank Thomas and John Lawrence

Was The Bailout A Success?

Up to the financial crisis in 2008, AIG’s very poor risk management and operational complexity overwhelmed prudent and strictly enforced risk controls. By year-end 2008, AIG had at least a $1.8 trillion exposure in derivative liabilities from 35,000 to 45,000 separate contracts.

As an insurer for 100,000 entities from retirement plans to major firms, AIG was drowning in mortgage-linked derivatives and gambling the entire house on a single pile of hedge fund-like casino debt. AIG was in effect insuring the banks against the default of their borrowers.

Thus, it was in essence using CDS derivatives to speculate on the value and credit risk of the underlying mortgaged assets.   [Read more…]

Community and Customers Rally for Ian Rey, Disabled Former Employee of Sprouts Point Loma

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By Annie Lane

Dozens protested Friday evening to show continued support for Ian Rey, a longtime Sprouts Farmers Market employee who said he was fired after 14 years for mistakenly taking a coworker’s jacket.

Rey was terminated from Sprouts on Monday, and has experienced an outpouring of support from the community and customers alike – many of whom say they won’t shop at the local grocery store anymore.

For some, Rey was simply a friendly face they’d come to expect to see over the years. For others, he was someone they would stand in a longer line just to say high to while he bagged their items.

“I’ve never met Ian on a bad day … I’ve never seen him not happy,” said Crystal Trignano, a special education teacher at Dewey Elementary who organized the evening rally. “It was always ‘What can I help you find?’ or ‘Is there anything you need today?’ It’s just not normal for people to care that much.”   [Read more…]

Should We Have Saved AIG and Other Wall Street Banks?

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Frank Thomas: The Rescue of AIG in 2008 was the Right Decision

Part 2 of a multipart series, Frank will continue his “Yes” answer in Part 3, John will give his “No” answer in Part 4. Part 1 can be found here

by Frank Thomas and John Lawrence

In his book, The Great Deformation, David Stockman presents a broad “no prisoners taken” indictment of our systemic social-financial-political maladies or ‘deformations.’ I share his view we have descended to a gamed, distorted system where almost “nothing is working”coherently that can save it from the next Boom-Bubble-Bust implosion unless there is fundamental change.   [Read more…]

There Are Some Things Too Difficult to Believe

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By Judi Curry

I am absolutely amazed at two stories that hit the news within the past 24 hours.  I don’t even know which one to start with first.  Maybe the ludicrous should go first:

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals has decided that men may begin to purchase VIAGRA – don’t you think the word “VIAGRA” should be in erect letters? – directly from them, with a prescription, of course, because – are you ready for this? – men are embarrassed to take their prescription to a pharmacist.  After all, the pharmacist knows what the prescription is for, and to save the man from the embarrassment he can now buy it without anyone knowing he has that little blue pill in his pocket.

Before commenting further on this travesty, let’s skip to the next horrifying news to hit today.

Amazon.com is selling a shooting target mannequin named “The Ex”, a large-breasted woman who bleeds when shot. It is manufactured by Zombie Industries, a company that was featured at the NRA convention last weekend.   [Read more…]

Two Year Old Girl Shot and Killed by Five Year Old Brother Wielding ‘My First Gun’

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Guns Marketed Directly to Kids!

by John Lawrence

Caroline Sparks, age 2, was fatally shot in the chest by her brother Kristian who had been given “My First Rifle” by his parents. The mother had stepped outside for a minute when the gun went off.

Officials identified the single-shot rifle as a Crickett, which is produced by  Keystone Sporting Arms in Pennsylvania. This is a gun designed specifically for children four to ten years old and comes in hot pink for girls and a variety of other colors including a red, white and blue swirl. These guns are directly marketed to kids just like Happy Meals or Barbie dolls.

The website www.cricket.com has been taken down and they’re not answering their phones.   [Read more…]

Stop AB 1309: Professional Athletes Deserve Workers Comp Too

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By Rachel Hooper

There is no question that the game of football is dangerous. NFL players get injured on the job – so many that an “injury report” section is ubiquitous in our sports page. In fact, a study run by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that the risk of death associated with neurodegenerative disorders is about three times higher among NFL players than the rest of the population.

NFL athletes are not merely players, they are also employees.

Their employers are now trying to take away their collectively bargained right to Workers Compensation Benefits in California. It is not right, and it sets a dangerous precedent.   [Read more…]

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