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Chicano Park Mural Recognizes the Father of the Immigration Movement: Bert Corona

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By David Avalos / La Prensa San Diego / April 19, 2013

This week the bipartisan group of Senators known as the “Gang of Eight” put their plan for “comprehensive immigration reform” before the USAmerican public, and once again served the Chicana/o community a Mexican Combo Platter steaming with piles of beefed-up border security smothered in drones, refried Bracero guest worker programs, and microwaved workplace enforcement.

Citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country without legally adjusted status, (“amnesty” to conservatives) went sour when gang member Marco Rubio told Fox News “it will be cheaper, faster and easier for people to go back home and wait 10 years than it will be to go through this process that I’ve outlined.”

Herman Baca of the Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR) feels the Chicana/o community has no voice in the debate because it has forgotten the lessons of Bert Corona who introduced the foundational ideas and approaches to establishing immigrant labor rights in this country.   [Read more…]

Federal Government Should Carefully Consider Whether Aid Warranted in West, Texas

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Texans want limited government, their wishes should be fulfilled in West.

The explosion in West was ultimately caused by a failure of oversight in deference to private industry. This was a private company acting irresponsibly, not a natural disaster. The explosion was caused by an excessive amount of ammonium nitrate on the site. Ammonium nitrate is a primary component of some large bombs used by terrorists, including the bomb used by Timothy McVeigh to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City.

The plant also reportedly had no automatic shutoff system, no firewall, and no sprinkler system. Safety for the workers and the surrounding community was obviously not any kind of priority.

It stands to reason, then, that the owners of the private West Fertilizer Company should be held responsible for the damage they caused, not the taxpayers. After all, that’s what the Conservatives in Texas want—for business to be able to do what business does best. That also means, however, being held entirely accountable when they screw up, which is not something Conservatives have been very good at. Apparently it’s not in the Republican lexicon.   [Read more…]

Banks Wrongfully Foreclose: Get a Slap on the Wrist

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Those illegally foreclosed on get a pittance in return.

By John Lawrence

Banks foreclosed on military service members, homeowners who had been approved for a loan modification and even homeowners who were current on their payments. At least 53 homeowners who weren’t behind on their payments were successfully foreclosed on and lost their homes for no reason.

There was widespread criminal behavior on the part of the banks, but in a recent settlement they got off relatively cheap.

A foreclosure settlement between the government and 13 banks on April 9 spread $3.6 billion in cash among millions of borrowers. The consultants who determined how much each homeowner would get happened to be bank employees and will get $2 billion for their efforts.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Coronado Oil Pipeline Conference Target of Protests

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By Doug Porter

Local environmental advocacy groups are bravely planning a public protest where protests rarely go: Coronado.

The American Petroleum Industry (API), the largest advocacy and lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, just happens to holding its 2013 Pipeline Conference at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort.  API is made up of nearly 400 members, including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical Company, Halliburton, and Shell Oil. These companies provide funding for API, which in turn champions the industry’s interests in the government and through public outreach

Led by SanDiego350.org, with the support of Women Occupy San Diego, Tar Sands Action – Southern California, and the Sierra Club San Diego, local activists are readying to denounce API for ‘being the climate misinformation machine of the carbon industry and for migrating the science of climate change into a divisive, political conflict.’
  [Read more…]

Seen Around Town: Horton Plaza Demolition and Yarn Bomb in South Park

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By A Guy with a Cell Phone

Horton Plaza is falling down! Actually, the old Robinson/Planet Hollywood section of Horton Plaza facing Broadway is being bulldozed to accommodate a new public park. According to Civic San Diego, “Westfield will demolish the former Robinson’s May building and convey the land at the proposed plaza valued at $25.8 million in exchange for being relieved of profit-sharing payments through 2035.” In case you haven’t noticed, there is no longer free three hour parking.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Death by Street Planning on El Cajon Boulevard

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By Doug Porter

It was late Wednesday night on the 2800 block of El Cajon Boulevard. A 53 year old man jaywalked as he walked out from a Wendy’s fast food restaurant and was struck by a white Nissan sedan. Despite attempts by EMTs called to the scene, the man died. Police say alcohol was not a factor in the accident and that charges are unlikely to be filed against the driver of the vehicle.

This might seem like a straightforward argument against jaywalking, but it is actually indicative of a much larger problem. El Cajon Boulevard is one of the most pedestrian-unfriendly streets in San Diego.

The place where the jaywalker died lacks pedestrian crossings at nearby intersections. It’s unsafe at any speed for pedestrians and, at 40 miles per hour (the speed most people, including me, drive on EC Blvd), a pedestrian has only a 15% chance of surviving an accident.

Inside: Cindy Marten’s Laptop Stolen, Burning Down Kansas, Gun Control and Hollyweirdness   [Read more…]

Pacific Beach Planning Group and Local Residents Fight Bar Expansions

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By Sub-committee

Wednesday, April 10, Bill Allen – owner of the Crystal Pier Motel – and other residents called a press conference at the pier to help expose a simmering problem in Pacific Beach to the larger community. Allen and many other concerned residents have over the last while voiced their complaints about Scott Slaga – owner of the 710 Club (ex-Blind Melons) near the Crystal Pier – in his efforts to obtain a sidewalk encroachment variance for his establishment.

Allen and the complaining residents have issues caused, they contend, by encroachments for bars, problems such as the high crime stats and high noise impact, to lowered property values to no room on the sidewalks for people to walk to the beach.

This is all in preparation for the city council vote today, April 11, on whether or not to allow Slaga to obtain his sidewalk encroachment variance.
  [Read more…]

West Coast Babies Suffer Thyroid Problems After Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown

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fukushima fallout mapChildren born in Pacific coastal states in 2011 may be at greatest risk.

By Anne Hurley / msn Healthy Living

It’s already well known how devastating the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown was for Japan — dramatic spikes in radiation-related illnesses, an increase in likely cancer deaths over the next several years, and pollution which may never truly be cleaned up.

A new study suggests what many worldwide have feared — that the devastation from the traveling radiation has in fact sickened infants in other countries, including babies born shortly after the incident in Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Unregulated, Unsafe, Unfair – the GOP Vision for California

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By Doug Porter

One of the favored propaganda ploys of conservative pundits over the past year or so has been the ‘everybody’s leaving California for Texas’ meme. This all started with an article in the ultra conserve National Review by former assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who left the Golden State for the Lone Star State after finishing third in the 2010 GOP primary race for US Senate.

“California may be dreaming, but Texas is working” said DeVore, who went on to tell a tale of woe including high taxes, burdensome regulations and a bloated bureaucracy that stood in sharp contrast to the lean, mean Texas machine.

And so it began. Thousands of businesses were fleeing “Taxifornia” for the freedom offered by Rick Perry’s Republican mecca, so we were told. By early in 2013, media accounts of a minor ad buy urging businesses to consider relocation to Texas painted a picture of a grand exodus underway.

Today’s report on National Public Radio by Wade Goodwin on the construction industry in Texas paints a sad portrait of the real costs of the GOP’s prosperity paradise.   [Read more…]

5 Things You Need to Know About the Immigration Agreement

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by Jackie Tortora, AFL-CIO/Originally published at Labor’s Edge

It was announced over the weekend the bipartisan Senate “Gang of Eight” came to an agreement in principle on a major aspect of creating a commonsense immigration process that benefits all workers.

This agreement includes a new kind of worker visa program called the W-Visa, which will work for everyone, not just employers.

Here are five things you need to know about this new employer-based visa:   [Read more…]

Chronicling My Daily Newspaper Withdrawal Symptoms

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By Judi Curry

In 2004 when I broke my back and my then HMO – Kaiser – was unable to find the break along with 5 broken ribs, doctor’s prescribed morphine for the pain to be taken at regularly scheduled intervals. And, within a few short days, I was addicted to morphine and went through horrific withdrawal symptoms while I was being weaned off the medicine.

Last month I received notification that my subscription to the San Diego Union was expiring, and I could renew my yearly subscription for $150.

When I called the office to ask about the possibility of obtaining a “senior citizen” rate, I was told that I could have the paper delivered for $126 a year. I said that was still more than this senior could afford  since I was on a fixed income. The person I spoke to informed me that the yearly rate for “non-seniors” is $401 a year and the $126 was really a bargain.

Even after I told her that I would not be renewing my subscription, she never suggested to me the other alternatives that are offered – Sunday only delivery and/or weekend delivery.  Either of which I might have entertained if they had been offered.   [Read more…]

Health Care Industry Charging an Arm and a Leg

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Now Doctors are Turning Away Cancer Patients

According to an article in the Washington Post on April 3, 2013, doctors are now turning away cancer patients who can’t pay out of pocket. We previously reported how MD Anderson, a leading cancer hospital in Houston, Texas demanded an upfront payment in cash from Sean Recchi before he would even be admitted to the hospital and about the mind boggling expense of prescription drugs. The patient by the way had health insurance. The admitting agent told him, “We don’t take that kind of discount insurance.” Fortunately, a family member was able to write the check for $83,900. that was demanded before treatment would begin.

Now doctors are doing the same thing – refusing to administer life saving drugs to Medicare cancer patients using the rationale that they they would be losing money because their payments from Medicare are reduced 2% by the sequester.   [Read more…]

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