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The Starting Line(ish): Filner Rips Congress … All of Them

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Mayor Bob Filner calls out dysfunctional Congress; Starbuck’s embarks on a “Come Together” campaign; Wingnuts decry Sandy Hook as a government conspiracy; Balboa Park Golf Course getting a makover

In an interview yesterday with KPCC, the Los Angeles area public radio station, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner pulled no punches in criticizing Congress and the Congressional leaders he left behind after 20 years to run for Mayor.

The bottom line, the reason he chose to run for mayor instead of returning to Congress for what would have been his 11th term, was the same thing Filner said to SDFP colleague Annie Lane and I when we sat down with the then mayoral candidate back in April for the OB Rag: Congress is a complete, dysfunctional mess.

The mantra of shrinking government down to a size “where you can drown it in a bathtub,” as Grover Norquist likes to say, became the overriding principle in the House in 1994 when Newt Gingrich first became Speaker. Since then—and especially since 2010—it’s only gotten worse.

“I couldn’t believe the kind of people who had come and taken power,” Filner said of the Tea Party wave that took control of the House. “Many of them had never had any government experience. They had no respect as it were for government per se. I mean, I don’t know why you run for government office with the intent to close up government.”   [Read more…]

The Starting Line(ish): A Gun In Every School

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NRA to push for guns in schools; Speaker Boehner puts one foot over the fiscal Cliff; Scott Peters to serve on Armed Services Committee

So this is what the NRA meant by “offering meaningful contributions to ensure this never happens again?” They probably should have stayed silent like they did for the first five days after the Newtown, CT, school shooting. After going completely radio silent, shutting down their Facebook page and Twitter account, earlier this week the National Rifle Association released a statement promising to be a constructive partner in the debate over what to do in the wake of the latest, and most horrifying mass murder at the hands of a deranged gunman.   [Read more…]

The Violence Behind the Violence

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America cannot truly address gun violence unless it is prepared to address the root causes of gun violence.

by Nadin Abbott

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut, we have had many discussions on the sources of gun violence in our country. We were all shocked. Many fingers are pointing at both Hollywood and the video game industry. If we are to believe them, all this would go away if we removed the glorification of violence from the media.

I will be the first to admit this: Call of Duty is violent. It simulates war. We would be surprised if it wasn’t. It is also rated M by the ESRB, that would be for seventeen year olds and older. It’s not meant for kids. Ratings work, only if we use them as a guide.

I will also admit that a James Bond movie is pure schlock with quite a bit of violence. There are many other titles out there that include explosions, gun play, and bloody gore. Need I mention the Die Hard series? Argue all you want about how video games and movies encourage violent acts. But that’s merely scratching the surface and doesn’t get to the root of the real problem.   [Read more…]

This Is Where Democracy Goes to Die

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Now that labor has been squashed, the right’s next moves in Michigan includes draconian anti-abortion laws and, sit down for this one, loosening the restriction on concealed weapons in places like churches and schools to please the gun lobby.

While liberals were busy gloating over their electoral victory and crowing about the demise of the right, Grover Norquist, the Koch Brothers, and company were busy going for blood—democracy be damned. Despite getting spanked at nearly every level, the plutocratic wrecking crew kept their eyes on the prize and jammed through a “right to work” law in Michigan, exacting sweet revenge on the Democrats and their labor allies.   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: Barrio Logan’s Northgate is a Deferred Dream Come True

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On December 11, 2012 the first major supermarket in San Diego’s Historic Barrio District (Barrio Logan, Logan Heights and Sherman Heights) in almost 40 years opened it’s doors to the public for the first time. For Barrio Logan residents the opening of Mercado Gonzalez Northgate is more than just the opening of a supermarket, it is a deferred dream come to true.

It took 21 years for the city and developers to build this market. Twenty one years of promises. Twenty one years to gain an amenity that most communities have.

Not since the closure in the early 1970’s of Safeway, on the corner of 25th and Imperial, has there been a major supermarket that services these predominantly Mexican-American communities. For over 30 years these communities demanded a supermarket. None of the major supermarkets like Vons, Albertson’s and Ralph’s heeded this demand. Fortunately, after all those years, a Mexican-American grocer family stepped up.   [Read more…]

Local and State Governments Giving Away Billions to Corporations and San Diego is No Exception

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States, counties and cities are in a race to the bottom because they are giving away taxpayer dollars to provide incentives for corporations to locate withing their boundaries. There’s a fierce competition going on and corporations are playing one region off against another. Whichever one comes up with the largest package of cash grants and loans, sales tax breaks, income tax credits and exemptions, free services, and property tax abatements wins.

Corporations hire people whose job it is to get them the best package. Mayors and Governors desperate for jobs for their citizens are giving away the store with the consequence that schools, parks and police and fire services are underfunded. City employees are forced to take pay and pension cuts in order that corporations can report to shareholders that they got the best possible deal.   [Read more…]

In the Wake of Another Mass Shooting, Let’s Talk About America’s Dangerously Gutted Mental Healthcare System

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By Lynn Stuart Parramore / Alternet

The scene has replayed itself over and over — in Tucson, at Virginia Tech, at Columbine. On Friday in Connecticut, another unstable man has taken innocent lives in a burst of terrifying violence.

Inadequate gun control is only one half of the story. The other is the shameful job America does of treating the mentally ill. Today, 45 million American adults suffer from mental illness. Eleven million of those cases are considered serious. Most of these people are not dangerous, but if they can’t get treatment, the odds of potential violence increase.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line— Exposing the Myth of Incentivized Economic Development; It’s Like Crack Cocaine for Politicians

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Today I’ll take a break from breathless headlines and poke my journalistic nose into the mythology bandied about by the Official Press in reference to boosting local economies. This is particularly relevant to San Diego, as we (hopefully) move away from a mode of development that sacrificed neighborhoods in favor of corporate edifices downtown. Of course, we still have stuff in the pipeline and the ‘must have’ stadium scheme being promoted in Lynchesterland…

Three articles on related topics have come to my attention this week that I’d like to share: two debunk the idea that “incentives” given by government to companies are beneficial to local economies; the other pulls back the curtain on the “sports welfare” system in this country.

Here’s the deal: your tax dollars are supporting a system of kickbacks and enticements for corporations and individuals based on empty promises of employment opportunities and economic growth. Thus the rich get richer while the rest us pay more taxes.   [Read more…]

Health Law Doesn’t Protect Californians from Rate Increases

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by Carmen Balber/California Progress Report

Reporters largely missed the point of a Commonwealth Fund study released last week, that looked at consumer savings under Obamacare’s 80-20 rule, the rule making insurance companies spend at least 80% of your premiums on health care, not overhead.

The authors started with a fact we already knew – that health insurance companies had to pay $1.1 billion in rebates for missing the MLR requirement in 2011 – and that big shiny number distracted the news media. But the authors zeroed in on a much more important fact. Insurance companies successfully reduced administrative costs by $1.184 billion in 2011, but they used those savings to increase profits instead of passing them on to consumers.

Clearly the 80-20 rule isn’t working to contain profits and hold down premiums, especially in states that don’t have tough regulation of insurance premiums.   [Read more…]

Local Labor Stands Up for the Safety Net, Keeps Pressure on ‘Friendly’ Congresspeople

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By Nadin Abbott

The Central Labor Council called for a candle light vigil in front of Senator Diane Feinstein’s (D) office at 750 B Street Monday evening.  This action was part of a national call to arms; there were about one hundred of them today nationwide called by the AFL-CIO.

Why is this labor action significant? With the attacks on labor across the nation, including the about to pass Right to Work (for less) legislation in Michigan, and the attacks by Governor Walker in Wisconsin last year, it seems labor is waking up. Labor is fighting back in a way like it has not done for two generations.   [Read more…]

ALEC – Centralized Conservative Legislative Clearinghouse

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Why hire individual lobbyists and send them out in search of Congressmen when you can set up a lobbying clearinghouse and have them come to you?

ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, does just that. Funded by the likes of the Koch brothers, Exxon Mobil and PhRMA, a trade association for the pharmaceutical industry, legislators are paid to come to ALEC meetings, where they are wined, dined, and handed “model” legislation to make into law in their state. Through ALEC, corporations vote on “model” legislation alongside politicians behind closed doors.

So instead of the lobbyists fanning out on Capitol Hill to meet with Congressmen individually, public officials are invited en masse to an ALEC meeting off Capitol Hill at a fancy resort, and they had better be there or be square if they want a campaign contribution or a great job when their “public service” career comes to an end.   [Read more…]

San Diego City Council Endorses Resolution to Reverse Citizens United – How a Grassroots Group Defeated the Odds

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By Money Out of Politics -San Diego – Special to the SDFP

On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution to reverse Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that in 2010 allowed unrestricted political spending by corporations and unions.

The resolution was supported 8-0, as San Diego joins 350 cities and 12 states that have endorsed resolutions. This victory comes as a result of the hard work of a multitude of people and organizations, at the local forefront of which was Money Out of Politics/San Diego (MOP).

MOP is a local activist group that was initially born a year ago this month out of a Women Occupy San Diego meeting. The brainchild of Dianne Lane, MOP was joined by Pam Page, who, alongside Lane, has dedicated countless hours to the cause.   [Read more…]

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