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Monsanto Likely to Score Supreme Court Win with Far-Reaching Benefits for Corporate Farming

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Jill Richardson / Alternet

On Feb. 19, 2013, the Supreme Court heard yet another Monsanto case. (And yet again, Justice Clarence Thomas, former lawyer for Monsanto, did not recuse himself.) This time around, it was Monsanto vs. Vernon Hugh Bowman, an Indiana soybean and wheat farmer.

The issue in question is a familiar one for those who follow the issue of genetically engineered seeds. Each buyer of Monsanto’s patented seeds must sign a “Technology Agreement” and pay a technology fee. In the case of soybeans, soybeans themselves are seeds. A farmer who plants Monsanto’s patented soybean seeds will grow a crop of soybeans, which are themselves also seeds. The Technology Agreement prohibits the farmer from saving and replanting those seeds. It also forbids the buyer from doing research on Monsanto’s patented seeds.

In some cases, Monsanto licenses its genetically engineered seeds to other seed companies, like Pioneer (owned by DuPont). When a farmer buys Pioneer seeds with Monsanto patented genes in them, he pays one price for the seeds themselves – and that money goes to Pioneer – and a second fee, the Technology Fee, to Monsanto. The technology fee pays for Monsanto’s patented genes.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: “The Original Pancake House”

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The Original Pancake House
3906 Convoy St  San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 565-1740

I can’t believe that people do not know about the Original Pancake House. It has been here forever, but when I told several people that I went there for my birthday breakfast, I was asked where it was located and if it was any good.

YES! It is good. Very good.  Not to brag, but of course that won’t stop me, but I don’t know of anyone that makes pancakes better than me. My pancakes are like my jam – eclectic; different; and succulent. I NEVER order pancakes out because they do not compare to mine, but at this restaurant I make the exception.   [Read more…]

Ritual Dishonesty – How freakin’ formulaic our encounters have become…

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By Bob Dorn

The other day, while I was cruising the pants section of one of my off-fashionable thrift shops, something within me caused me to notice one of those inevitable and pointless engagements between two putative human beings.

“Hi, howsa goin’. ” The cashier was greeting a guy about her age, unsmilingly.

“Hi, howsit goin’, he said, riffing a bit on the theme, also without affect.

Neither one of them changed their expressions and nothing more was said. It was clear they were goin’ nowhere, at least not with each other.

Now, if he’d have said, “Good,” he might have opened up their meeting for her to take another step, like, say, “Sure is a nice day out there.” But I suspect he wasn’t going to go there; how it was goin’ for him was none of her business, really. Nor did he have any real interest in hearing how it was goin’ for her, even if he did re-launch that question, “Hi, howsit goin’.” Those were two calculated dead-ends. A simple nod might have been more friendly.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: The Gathering

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The Gathering
902 W Washington St  San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 260-0400

When my husband was alive, we had season tickets to most of the live drama venues in San Diego. Frequently we went on Wednesday evenings, because there was less of a crowd; sometimes the tickets were less expensive and it was more convenient for us. The problem was that we went right after work and by the time the play was over there was no place to go for a bite to eat except the fast food restaurants or places like “Denny’s.”  And then we discovered “The Gathering.”   [Read more…]

Gems on The Boulevard Series: Coffee and Tea Collective

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By Omar Passons / eat.drink.give.go

I’ve been frequenting places along El Cajon Boulevard for a few years now and been on my own personal crusade to help clean it up.  So I was thrilled a few months back when a new coffee spot opened up near 30th and ECB.  Let’s talk about the good folks at Coffee and Tea Collective.

So, the North Park Community Association–a group most known for organizing and raising money for the Bird Park Summer Concerts–has over the last several years made improving all of our community an important goal.  What I’ve found interesting and cool is that the most important improvements to the stretch of El Cajon Boulevard in North Park over the past five years have been the opening of honest, energetic small businesses.  One of the most recent additions is a group who take creating a great cup of coffee as seriously as, well, I dunno, serious other things.  Point is, it’s a cool spot.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – San Diego Schools’ CFO Takes a Long Walk on Voice of San Diego’s Short Pier

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Since the voters spoke back in November and handed the proponents of darkness and austerity a resounding defeat, the forces of reaction throughout the State of California have been seeking to throw a monkey wrench into the process.

At San Diego’s UT, this process is blatant, with factually challenged front page articles suggesting that businesses are fleeing California followed by editorials citing the suppositions minted earlier as gospel truth.

With San Diego’s ‘independent’ news source, aka The Voice of San Diego, the propagation of the reactionary agenda is accomplished via mindless contrarianism. The need to push controversy overwhelms any need for fact checking; it’s okay to let public officials yell ‘fire’ in the schoolhouses of our city.

So it was with this sense of ‘newsworthiness’ that the VOSD published an interview on Friday with Stan “Data” Dobbs, the newly hired Chief Financial Officer for the San Diego School Unified School District.

After telling interviewer Will Carless that “I get bored quickly if I don’t have enough problems to solve”, Dobbs proceeds to create a whole lot of problems for the School District and, most likely, his future employment prospects.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review – Himalayan Cuisine

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Approaching the doorway to the La Mesa restaurant, is a sandwich board listing the lunch specials of the day. Not surprisingly, they are the same as the Pt. Loma restaurant – Saag Aloo – a spinach and potato combination; Veggie coconut chicken; Chicken Curry; Chicken Vidaloo – chicken cooked in a gravy of tomato and onions with potatoes and vinegar; Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Chili. The diner selects two of the entrees, and it comes with a bowl of lentil soup, rice and naan bread. The cost is $7.95. (The same menu in Pt. Loma is $6.95.)

I was flabbergasted when I walked inside the restaurant. They had taken over the building next door and now, instead of an intimate restaurant with 12-15 tables there was a huge room with many, many tables in addition to the original restaurant. And it is needed, for the small dining room was filled to capacity during the time Jim and I were there.   [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: An Open Letter to Men Looking for Women in the Online World

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It happened again today. I “met” a man online that sounded like a nice person. He had many of the attributes I am looking for in a companion, or so he said, and I agreed to meet him for lunch in a well-known restaurant in North County. (He lives in San Marcos and it was a good halfway place for us to meet.) We were both early; another nice attribute. He obviously had been there before, not because the waitress recognized him, but because he knew his way around the restaurant and we sat at “his favorite table.”

We chit-chatted as we made our selection from the menu and then he asked me the question that I have been asked four times already in my online dating experience: “I said on my profile that I was 72; I am really 82. Do you think I could pass for 72?”

Well, guys, I am tired of being nice. So I told him the truth.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – San Diego: Have a (Great) Beer While You’re Waiting for the Marijuana Dispensary to Open

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Our fair city finally got national recognition for what it does well yesterday when a writer who actually drinks beer put San Diego at the top of a “Non Fiction” list of the best beer towns in America. And our new mayor got schooled yesterday in what it really takes to be a game changer when it comes to medical marijuana.

Columnist Steve Body, who pens The Pour Fool column for Seattlepi.com did a little research into the business of compiling best beer cities and was shocked to discover that even big time media outlets weren’t using any sources with backgrounds in the field.

In other news, Mayor Filner walked back an earlier promise to get the City of San Diego out of the business of prosecuting medical marijuana dispensary owners yesterday.

MORE Inside: Immigration Reform, ‘Yes We Cannibus’, DeVry University Sued…   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Bully’s Del Mar

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Bully’s
1404 Camino Del Mar 
Del Mar, CA 92014 
858-755-1660

Once again a date with a 72 year old man – that turned out to be 82 after we played “Truth or Consequences” – he wanted me to tell him the truth – did he really look 82 ? – took me to North County for breakfast.  I had been to Bully’s many times but not  to the one in Del Mar; La Jolla when there was one in La Jolla, and to the one in Mission Valley.  Bully’s is known for their Prime Rib, but I could not stomach the idea of Prime Rib for breakfast so ordered something else. More on that later.

The menu is extensive – Appetizers, Salads and Soups, Prime Rib, Steak and Ribs, a variety of “Surf and Turf” combinations;  Shellfish, Fish and Chicken, and for the lunch crowd Sandwiches, Eggs and Omelettes – their spelling , and Lunch Entrees.   There are also 4 items on their Dessert menu as well as a “Daily Selection”. (It is interesting to note that on their takeout menu and their menu on-line there are no prices listed.)   [Read more…]

Dark Horse Coffee Roasters – Now Open in Normal Heights

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A new entrant to the burgeoning coffee roasting scene in San Diego has opened as of Saturday, January 19th: Dark Horse Coffee Roasters in Normal Heights. Located at 3260 Adams Avenue, next to the Normal Heights Post Office, Dark Horse joins the ever-expanding array of businesses that have located on Adams Avenue in recent years. Soon to join Dark Horse will be the double-team of Polite Provisions and Soda & Swine just down the street at 30th Street and Adams Avenue.

Owned and operated by Daniel Charlson, Dark Horse features house-roasted coffee (no espresso) served in a variety of ways: french press, pour over, and cold brewed. The pour-over selections when I visited were Brazil, El Salvador, and Papua New Guinea. I opted for the Papua New Guinea pour over and purchased a mug since the shop is currently in ‘soft opening’ mode and hasn’t yet received their porcelain products for ‘to stay’ use. The coffee was good, on the dark side but not bitter.   [Read more…]

Shout-out at the PB Corral – Residents Fight for Conditional Booze Permits

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By sub-committee

The corral for easy police DUI checkpoints, and multi-other crime/infractions, from public urination and vandalism, to armed robberies and violence, (sponsored the city penal industry) due to the alcohol party ambiance that been the sustained reputation of Pacific Beach for the past 20+ years , has become the focus for a grassroots citizen protest in the form of, yes, a good old PUBLIC PETITION to request/demand the city and the state to establish local control of alcohol licensing, in the form of the “C.U.P.” (Conditional Use Permit).

“After years of protest to the officials in both state and local agencies, including our own judicial forum, and getting no responsible answers from them to a problem that was getting worse and worse, we have decided to organize THE PEOPLE,” said Scott Chipman, one of the chief organizers of this grassroots endeavor.   [Read more…]

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