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Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (A Filner Supporter)?

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By Doug Porter

There were developments aplenty yesterday in the San Diego’s Kabuki dance theater, also known as the Mayor Bob Filner scandal.

Attorney Harvey Berger filed a motion to move the legal venue for Irene McCormack’s lawsuit due to the media frenzy surrounding the case.  The motion will be heard in San Diego County Superior Court on Sept. 16

Today the UT-San Diego announced an on-line user-friendly format to keep score of who’s been naughty or nice in the Filner case, with naughty being that you haven’t sufficiently denounced the Mayor.

Politicos and union leaders from around the region were inundated with emails yesterday from the newspaper’s reporters yesterday demanding to know, as one union leader put it, “are you now or have you ever been a Filner supporter. And have you called for his resignation yet?”

The influential local American Federation of Teachers (Guild 1931) sent a letter to its 5000+ local members yesterday strongly condemning the Mayor’s actions while at the same time refusing to join in calls for Filner’s resignation.   [Read more…]

Newspaper Acquisitions, San Diego Conspiracies and Cell Phone Paranoia

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By Doug Porter

The sale of the Washington Post this week to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has the chattering class in a tizzy, with pundits of every persuasion throwing figurative tarot cards on the table hoping to gain some insight to share with the public about this billionaire’s motivations.

I’ve read that Bezos is part of the anti-public education cabal seeking to impose the libertarian (lol) version of Sharia law on states resistant to charter schools.  Others are wondering why he “would buy a stodgy, moribund unionized organization like WaPo”, the implication being that technology based improvements would be impossible and therefore doom Bezos to failure.

Then there’s the debate over whether his purchase of the Post was motivated by philanthropic concerns or a desire to expand his political influence.

Yada, yada, yada.  I agree with Forbes’ Jonathan Salem Baskin.  Bezos bought the newspaper because he wanted to.   [Read more…]

San Diego Zoo Targeted by NRA Activists

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By Doug Porter

The National Rifle Association is continually expanding its activities on many different fronts, and the newest of these campaigns, HuntForTruth.Org, has listed the San Diego Zoo as one of the non-governmental organizations it plans to “expose.”

Joining the Zoo as targets of this group are the Peregrine Fund, the Ventana Wildlife Society, the California Condor Recovery Team, the Raptor Education Group, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.  All have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to ban hunters from using lead ammunition because of its effects on eagles, condors, swans and other birds.   [Read more…]

How to Get Mayor Bob Filner Out of Office and Why It Won’t Happen

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By Doug Porter

The City Council is on August recess. The Mayor is getting his head examined—one hopes from within, at least. And the campaign to get rid of Bob Filner continues, having failed to do much more than foster a gaggle of press conferences, one civil lawsuit, a nascent recall movement and whole lot of nastiness.

There is, of course, The Shame.  Let’s face it; the Mayor is a masher. As Daily Show substitute teacher John Oliver put it, there’s a lot of “ewww” there.  Admitting that there is a problem and doing something about it, however, are two vastly different things.

While the rollout, timing and (probable) coaching of the assorted witnesses against Bob Filner may not be a coincidence, denying that the Mayor has a problem doesn’t solve anything. I suspect he’s done enough denying in his lifetime to cover any quota imaginable.

Questioning the veracity of those women in comments around town won’t do squat either, except making the writer of the comments look bad and the Mayor look worse.

At this point the only arbiter of truth that counts is a judge or jury. And despite what some people would like us to believe, Trial by Twitter has not yet taken the place of our judicial system.   [Read more…]

Real Journalists vs Real Journalism And Why it’s Important in San Diego

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By Doug Porter

The Senate Judiciary Committee agreed yesterday to consider legislation sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. offering some protections to journalists from government demands for identification of sources used in news accounts.

What the committee could not agree on was what exactly defines a journalist.  Schumer’s proposal has a definition spanning four pages and defining reporters as persons “with the primary intent to investigate events and procure material in order to disseminate to the public news or information concerning local, national or international events or other matters of public interest,” collecting information by conducting interviews and directly observing events, and having the intent of gathering news.

As we’ve seen time and time again -from the New York Times’ complicity in the propaganda campaign in the run up to the invasion of Iraq to the campaign to recall the current Mayor of San Diego- the symbiotic relationships between ‘professional’ news organizations and the institutions they report on can and does cause a lot of ‘not really reporting’ to go on.

It’s all about “everybody knows”.   [Read more…]

Awash in a Sea of Reagan – Issa Wants Coastal Waters Named After Former President

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By Doug Porter

The House Natural Resources Committee approved legislation Wednesday naming 3.4 million square nautical miles of ocean and thousands of miles of coastline after the late President Ronald Reagan.  Introduced by San Diego’s own Rep. Darrell Issa, HR 553 would rename the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) after the GOP icon.

Most people haven’t heard of the EEZ, which became codified via a United Nations convention granting countries special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind in its coastal waters up to 200 miles offshore.

Nations began the ratification process of the international convention generating EEZs during the Reagan administration (1982) and the rules went into force in 1994 following approval by a 60th nation. Although the agreement has been ratified by 162 nations, the United States is notamong the signatories.   [Read more…]

The Due Process of Getting Back to Business as Usual in San Diego

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By Doug Porter

 Now that proving Mayor Bob Filner’s is guilty as charged as a masher is just about finished in the San Diego media, the real business at hand is getting underway. I’m talking about a frenzied effort to roll back, eliminate or air brush out any vestiges of the Mayor’s actions in the first seven month of his administration.

Yesterday the case against Filner was bolstered with yet another victim’s testimonial about unwanted advances via KBPS (Ever wonder how they’re always first with all these revelations?) and a story in the Los Angeles Times revealing the woes of Voice of San Diego reporter Liam Dillon, who apparently decided that now was a good time to reveal his own Filner Horror Story.

The UT-San Diego went for a trifecta, leading with the City Attorney’s latest publicity stunt, a lawsuit seeking repayment of any costs incurred in defending the City against lawsuits, along with reporter Trent Siebert’s continuing efforts to hype up any possible charge against Filner. So many words, so little substance, so much innuendo.   [Read more…]

ObamaCare May Cure One of the Nation’s Greatest Ills: Congress

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How can they possibly ‘govern’ without staffing?

 

By Doug Porter

As the clock counts down towards full implementation of the Affordable Care Act Republicans and their allies are mounting a full court press designed to disable, deceive and defund the law.

Marching to the tune of “Backward Christian Soldiers:, the House of Representatives voted for the 40th time yesterday to in some manner or fashion to repeal the President’s health care law. (h/t Jules Witcover)

Republicans Mike Lee (Senate-Utah) and Mark Meadows (House-North Carolina) are leading an effort to shut down the federal government this fall rather than let the law take effect.   [Read more…]

The Endgame Nobody Talks About: What Happens If Filner Stays in Office?

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By Doug Porter

As newspaper executive John Lynch told a civic group not long ago, the Mayor Filner story is the gift that keeps giving. And over at the UT-San Diego they’re taking that message seriously. It’s Filner Everywhere. Even in the sports section.

A search yesterday on the UT website turned up over a dozen stories with Sunday publication dates. There were side by side stories on the front page questioning who his remaining supporters might be. A newish poll was referenced three times in the printed edition. There’s even an editorial calling for an expedited process for getting rid of Mayors We Don’t Like.

And, if you follow any media, be it national, local, traditional or social, ‘everybody knows’ that the only possible outcome will involve Mayor Bob Filner leaving office, either by resignation or recall.

Today I want to question what ‘everybody knows’.   [Read more…]

Filner: “Words Alone Are Not Enough” – Entering Behavioral Clinic, Not Quitting

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“Behavior I have engaged in for many years is wrong .. inexcusable”

By Doug Porter

San Diego’s Mayor Bob Filner announced today that he’s entering a clinic starting August 5th for two weeks for therapy. (See analysis by Andy Cohen here.)

This move comes after steadily mounting pressure throughout the week as new accusations of sexual harassment have surfaced, local and national elements of the Democratic party have called for him to step down and members of his administration have resigned rather than work with him.   [Read more…]

I Smell a Rat! Congressman Darrell Issa’s Birthday Present for the US Postal Service

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By Doug Porter

It’s probably not on your personal calendar, but tomorrow, July 26th, will mark the 238th anniversary of the Post Office in the United States.  And San Diego’s Darrell Issa has cooked up a very special birthday celebration: he wants to end home mail delivery.

The Community and Postal Workers United group is seeking to raise public awareness of the Congressman’s scheme, and they’ve scheduled their own birthday party at Rep. Darrell Issa’s office  (1800 Thibodo Rd., Suite 310, Vista CA 92081) starting at noon on Friday.

Featured will be piñatas that resemble the Congressman and a giant inflatable rat. There’ll be barbeque and cake afterwards at the union’s Anahiem offices.

What this is all about is yesterday’s (July 24th), House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform approval of Issa’s “reform measure”(HR 2748) by a vote of 22 to 17. The vote was along party lines, with all Republicans voting in favor of the measure and all Democrats voting against it. All amendments submitted by Democrats were defeated by the same margin.   [Read more…]

Same Sex Marriage Opponents Lose Again in California

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By Doug Porter

The California Supreme Court quashed yet another attempt to halt same sex marriages yesterday, rejecting a petition filed by San Diego County Clerk Ernest Dronenburg, Jr. asking for a temporary ban keeping clerks statewide from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

The late afternoon ruling capped a dramatic day that started with a morning press conference called by LGBT and faith leaders, condemning Dronenberg for using his public office to promote his religious agenda and personal beliefs.

The County Clerk apparently felt the need to crash that gathering, appearing before the cameras as things were winding down to claim that his efforts were pro-bono and merely undertaken as a preventative measure to clarify issues and protect gay and lesbian couples.  He did not address the tax dollars that State Attorney General Kamala Harris is spending to defend the state’s position—that marriages should proceed—in that case.   [Read more…]

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