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Día de los Muertos Is a Reunion of our Past, Present, and Future Relations

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This is a Response to Brent E. Beltrán’s article, “Desde la Logan: Día de los Muertos, We Commemorate Our Dead”

By Remigia Bermúdez

With El Día de los Muertos just around the corner from the celebration of life for Aztleca, one can could surmise that indeed it was a well-deserved farewell as much as it was a “thank you to” and a “welcome for” Aztleca. Diligently, he danzó over 40 years every Día de los Muertos at Chicano Park, honoring those who passed on. And on October 27 of this year, it was others who dansarón (danced) for him for the first time since the 1970’s when the first Toltecas en Aztlán started las danzas indígenas de nuestros antepasados precolombinos (the indigenous dances of our pre-colombian forefathers).   [Read more…]

Debunked: 6 Lies That Biotech and Big Food Are Telling Voters About Prop 37

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By Katherine Paul, Ronnie Cummins / AlterNet

Since Oct. 1, Monsanto and the rest of the Biotech and Big Food gang have been pounding the California airwaves with nearly $36 million worth of boldface lies and twisted truths.

Their goal? Misinform and confuse California voters into believing they’d be better off not knowing what pesticide-makers are hiding in their foods, than they would be if food manufacturers had to label genetically modified foods.

The ads are having an impact. After enjoying a 26-point lead for the past six months, the YES on 37 campaign has dropped 19 points in the polls.

But the YES team is fighting back, calling out the lies. And the liars.   [Read more…]

Pacific Beach or “Pee Beach”: Common Sense – You drink a lot, you pee a lot.

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By Sub-Committee

Thank God for the recent rains (and I mean that, God) because Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach after 6 rainless months smelled like a dirty toilet. After the heavenly cleaning, the sidewalks are much brighter and even the scraped off vomit stains are slightly improved, and most of all it cut down on the underlying stench. It is not God’s fault that all the filth washed right down the storm drains 5,4,3,2,1 blocks to dump right on the beautiful sandy beaches of Pacific Beach, it is our fault.

Y’all understand that you shouldn’t really go swimming in the ocean after a rain because of unsanitary microbes, right? I would go so far as to say, don’t be touching the sand in the drain pipe areas either if you know what’s good for you and your children.

Welcome to Pacific Beach, or Pee Beach as we have begun calling it around here.   [Read more…]

An Old Time Favorite: “Studio Diner”

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Almost a year ago I purchased a special coupon for the STUDIO DINER and, since it was one of my favorite restaurants, decided to ask one of my favorite people – Joe – to go with me and use it before it expired. And we had a grand time, because we had to spend $35 to benefit by the $25 discount.

I am surprised at how many people do not know about the Studio Diner. To quote their own page, “Wrapped in chrome, the diner is a welcome roadside stop. And, fittingly, it’s set on the lot of a working movie and TV studio, Stu Segall Productions. (Remember “Silk Stalkings” and “Renegade”? Currently filming “Terriers”.)

Decorated with “behind-the-scenes” movie-making equipment and serving comfort food with an upscale vibe, Studio Diner is fun for the senses.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line—‘Someone Could Go to Jail for This’; Newspaper CEO Denies Threatening Email to San Diego Port Commissioner

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The scandal surrounding heavy handed tactics by San Diego businessmen backing a football stadium proposal continued to spread yesterday as Port Commissioner Scott Peters released what appears to be a threatening email from UT-San Diego CEO John Lynch.

The August 9th email from Lynch, asks Peters about his stance on a proposed long term lease at the 10Th Avenue Marine Terminal, and warns of a campaign led by San Diego’s daily newspaper to disband the Port Authority should backers of the proposed stadium not approve of his vote. The UT-San Diego, owned by downtown developer Doug Manchester and operated by John Lynch, has made construction of a football stadium at the port site one of its top editorial priorities.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – The Moral Bankruptcy of Bridgepoint Education/Ashford University

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One of San Diego larger private employers, Ashford University/Bridgepoint Education, announced layoffs for 450 employees yesterday, a move that’s bound to send ripples throughout the region. Employees were told to come in early, shown a video and offered a two-week severance package. Then it was out the door.

The aftermath of past corporate disintegrations brought on by unsustainable business models (or a legal/quasi-legal ponzi scheme, as I like to call it) has been a sort of local amnesia in the news media, followed by admonitions from the UT’s editorial page that “too much regulation” is bad for business. At the bottom of this well of malevolent corporate behavior is the ultimate reality that we citizens will get stuck with the bill for damages while most of its perpetrators will walk away unscathed.   [Read more…]

Prop 37: Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods. Will We Be Better Off If We Don’t Eat Them?

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Proposition 37 requires labeling foods you buy in the supermarket as GMO foods if they contain genetically modified ingredients. It also prevents labeling GMO foods as “natural.” Some foods can be exempted from the GMO label such as otherwise organic foods that have been unintentionally cross-pollinated from GMO crops. And Prop 37 does not require labeling at restaurants and in particular fast food restaurants – just the places that you can probably expect to be served GMO foods.

  [Read more…]

The CalFresh Challenge: Could you live on $34.31 per week?

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By Lorena Gonzalez / Center for Policy Initiatives  Blog

From September 9th – 15th, CPI board member Lorena Gonzalez, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, participated in the CalFresh Challenge. “The goal is to raise awareness and understanding around the challenges faced by millions of Americans receiving CalFresh/SNAP benefits. The average benefit in California is about $4.90 per person per day, or about $34.31 per week.” This blog post compiles how Lorena Gonzalez ate for one week living on that amount.

When I agreed to attempt to live on a food stamp budget for a week, I knew it would be tough. But, I didn’t realize that one of the toughest challenges would be time. In order to maximize my $34.31 budget for the week, I had grand ideas of going to a farmers market and two or three different stores to capitalize on weekly specials. In my first lesson of the working poor, I was reminded that the Saturday Farmers Market would be impossible to get to if I was scheduled to work, which I was. So, I woke up this morning on a budget with no food.   [Read more…]

Companies You Need to Avoid That are Giving Money to Stop Proposition 37 (GMO Labeling)

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The next time you take a swig of Odwalla’s Organic Carrot Juice, or munch on a bowl of Orville Redenbacher’s Organic popcorn, take note: A lot of popular organic and all-natural brands are made by companies that are spending thousands of dollars to defeat Proposition 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act.

Donations are pouring into the campaign to defeat Prop 37. Among the big donors are companies like J.M. Smucker, Hormel Foods, Kellogg Co., Coca-Cola North America and PepsiCo. – companies that make a fortune marketing ‘natural’ and organic brands with slogans like “We’re good to the earth.”

All of these companies are members of the powerful Washington, DC-based Grocery Manufacturer’s Association (GMA), a multi-billion-dollar trade association which represents America’s $1.2 trillion “Big Food” industry. The GMA itself has already pitched in $375,000 to the anti-labeling campaign. And it’s still early in the game.
  [Read more…]

Are You Eating Genetically Modified Foods Laced with Pesticides?

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In a quest to eat a healthier diet, I made smoothies containing a couple scoops of a soy protein product I bought at Trader Joe’s. I also started eating a lot of berries, high in anti-oxidants, which are supposed to be good for you. Then one day I woke up and realized that the soy I had be eating was actually genetically modified (GMO) soy created by the Monsanto Corporation for the sole purpose of being resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup, a powerful herbicide which will kill every plant in a soybean field except genetically modified soy plants. So the soy I had been eating was not only GMO soy containing herbicide within its seeds, but it had been drenched in a powerful herbicide prior to having been harvested and brought to market.

  [Read more…]

Cafe Coyote Disappoints

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Four of us from my support group had tickets to see “Man of La Mancha” Sunday, August 19, 2012 at the Cygnet Theatre. (Thanks to Ro who ushers at the theater and is paid in “vouchers” for performances.) We decided to go early to find a parking place and then have lunch before the play. We arrived at 12:30pm and had no trouble parking in the little lot attached to the Cygnet. Everyday in Old Town is a parking/eating nightmare, but Sunday has to be the worst.   [Read more…]

Field of View: OB Farmers Market

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I arrived at the Farmers Market in Ocean Beach a little late, but there was still plenty to see and taste. The sinking sun set Newport Avenue aglow, and there was quite the bustling of activity even as vendors slowly began to close up shop.

The Farmers Market runs from 4 to 8 p.m. during the summer and 4 to 7 p.m. during the winter every Wednesday. It takes place on Newport Avenue between Cable and Bacon streets.

All photos by Annie Lane.   [Read more…]

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