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The Chicago Teachers Union Versus the New Democrats, the Same Old Republicans, and the Corporate Media

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 After nearly twenty years of ‘reform’, the schools of Chicago remain among the lowest performing in the nation.

A funny thing happened on the way to labor’s extinction: the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) staged one of the most daring and important strikes in recent memory. As Chris Hedges put it during his Democracy Now interview last week  “the teachers’ strike in Chicago is arguably one of the most important labor actions in probably decades.”  And in the midst of this struggle, most of the corporate media around the country have decried the horrible greedy teachers from their editorial pages and assured readers that they were on the side of the children rather than the teachers.

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Is a College Diploma Worth It?

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Getting a college degree has become part of the mythology of the American Dream. But when you consider the load of student loan debt that most students have to take on today, instead of blindly following the dictates of the American Dream, it is prudent to stop and ask ourselves if we really will be better off when that diploma comes laden with a ton of debt. In this article I’ll do a cost benefit analysis of the worth of a college degree.

I challenege the conventional wisdom that with a college degree you will be better off in the long run. For one thing that debt can never be discharged in bankruptcy. It will follow you the rest of your life. Even social security checks can be garnished to pay it. Student loan debt has more than quintupled since 1999. Earlier this year American collective student loan debt passed the one trillion dollar mark, more than the nation’s collective credit card debt.

More than half of all recent graduates are either unemployed or working in jobs that don’t require a college diploma. There is a surfeit of college degrees to the extent that they are being required for the most casual jobs just because employers can afford to be choosy, not that the job has anything remotely to do with the training received in college.   [Read more…]

San Diego for Free: Museum of Photographic Arts

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free!  We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Balboa Park is known as the crown jewel of San Diego.  Continuing this analogy, the many museums located in the park would have to be the rubies, sapphires, and emeralds that make the crown shine in splendor.  Most of these museums are free to visit for San Diego County residents each Tuesday, on a rotating basis.  The full schedule for the Resdents Free Tuesdays program can be found at http

The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is free on the second Tuesday of each month.  My first visit to MOPA was for a mayoral debate about environmental issues that was held on Earth Day (April 22) earlier this year.  The auditorium in the building was lovely, but I had been looking forward to a return visit to view the exhibits.
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Proposition 38 and the Undeclared War of 2012

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By Kimberley Beatty / Special to San Diego Free Press

There is an openly secret war between Prop 38 and Prop 30 and it’s important to understand how this unnecessary conflict happened.  Both propositions increase taxes and that’s where the problem begins.  Any revenue increase requires a 2/3 vote of both the state senate and assembly.  All but two Republican legislators have signed the Grover Norquist Anti-Tax Pledge, vowing to never, under any circumstances raise taxes or even allow the citizens to be able to vote on the issue.

The only possible exception would be a revenue neutral bill, where a tax increase here would be used for a tax cut there.  With rare exception, all Republicans fall in line or suffer the retribution response of a vengeful party, including lost leadership positions on committees and recalls.

Given this undemocratic system, it was predictable that in the Spring of 2011 Governor Brown would fail to get enough votes in the state legislature to qualify an initiative to allow citizens to decide whether to extend his temporary taxes on vehicles, sales and income.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Publisher Manchester disables left turn signals on all UT-San Diego vehicles

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Okay, I made that up. But it is true that our Daily Fishwrap is rolling out bold new features designed to make sure that readers better understand their vision for a brand new yesterday. “New online:”, says the color type at the top of today’s front page, “Seeing Red: A Conservative View of Politics”. And sure enough, if you go there, you’ll find an even more conservative amalgamation of “news” and opinion drawn from the right side of the political equation.

Wow, it sure is “high tech” looking. Unlike Fox news, which claims its punditry is separate from its “news”, UT-San Diego makes no bones about it, this latest feature IS part of the news department. It says so right in URL they use. If you want to have some fun, send a ‘friendly’ tweet with the hashtag #utseeingred and they’ll run it on a little scrolling feature at the bottom of the page.

But wait! There’s more! “Coming Sunday:…Bolder Opinion pages…”. And you can get a preview on today’s editorial page. Just in case you didn’t comprehend their arguments for the alternative universe espoused by Manchester’s Mission Valley minions THEY’VE MADE THE TYPE BIGGER. DON”T YOU PEOPLE GET IT YET?   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Technology breakthrough at UT-San Diego allows website to post news before it happens

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Local Public Radio reporter Katie Orr was the first to spot the new technology in use yesterday, but failed to grasp its significance when she tweeted at 2:50 pm about the story up at the UT-San Diego’s website: “Is it me, or is this story confusing? It makes it sound like Romney’s already given his speech, which happens at 7 PST”.  Others, including local scribe Seth Hall, noticed another story posted Thursday morning featuring a photograph and video of lightning in the East County with a headline and lede indicating that the images were captured on Thursday evening.

Of course, what really happened in the first instance was that editors in Mission Valley had jumped the gun, running an Associated Press story written by reporters with access to an advance copy of Romney’s speech.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line — Reporter Assaulted by Goons at Mission Valley Hilton Press Conference Exposing Mistreatment of Employees

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Mission Valley mayhem… A press conference being held yesterday by the Employee Rights Center to air charges that the hotel’s operator, Connecticut-based HEI Hospitality, had been named in a complaint alleging wage theft totaling approximately $250,000, was disrupted by loud music apparently at the direction of hotel management.

Reporter Dave Rice, whose account of the incident is online at the SDReader, found the source of the noise behind a hedge over a hundred feet from the presser. Photographs published with the story clearly demonstrate the Hotel’s involvement:

When I walked around the corner to ascertain the source of the music, I found two men next to a limousine with large speakers aimed at the crowd and a power cord leading back toward the hotel….   [Read more…]

Still Loving San Diego and Its Children After 50 years

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Looking at a picture of me on stage at the Lyceum Theatre, honoring a couple of girls who had written a remarkable play, I couldn’t help but reflect on my fifty year love affair with San Diego and its children – going back regarding the city to when I first laid eyes on the place, after flying here with my University of Arizona Wildcat basketball team back in the 50’s. The raw beauty I observed on the ride from the Grant Hotel through Balboa Park on what was then 395 (now 163) absolutely mesmerized me. So it was easy for me, after earning a couple of degrees, to leave the burning deserts of the Old Pueblo and head to a town where there existed cool ocean breezes.

I arrived in a rusty 49 ford with my mother at my side because she was afraid I would fall asleep on the drive. My wife and kids had preceded us by a couple of days.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Mission Valley Hotel Workers Allege Unlawful Treatment; Father of Prop 8 DUI Busted (Updated)

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Hotel employees blow the whistle… Employees at the Hilton Mission Valley will speak at a press conference today, detailing claims that they have filed against HEI Hospitality, owner of the property, for nearly a quarter million dollars in lost wages with the State Labor Commissioner. The event, scheduled for noon in front of the Hilton, will be hosted by Alor Calderon of the Employee Rights Center and Rabbi Laurie Coskey, Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.

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The Future Versus the Austerity Crowd: Why We Must Support Proposition 30

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Near the end of August, I helped organize the Governor’s visit to City College and stood with him, despite the many fierce disagreements that I have had with Jerry Brown’s policy positions and political judgment. I did so because it’s not an overstatement to say that the future of our children is on the line this coming November. While much of the attention will be on the Presidential race at the national level, here inCaliforniathe destiny of our children and the education system is up for grabs. Specifically, Proposition 30 represents a chance to put a halt to years of cuts to education and vital public services. If it fails, we will be throwing our kids under the bus. It’s that simple.

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Cesar Chavez’s Thoughts a While Back on What our Schools Are Facing Today

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 As we consider Proposition 30, we might want to reflect what Cesar Chavez had to say in Sacramento on April 3, 1991.  (A transcript of this speech is in the United Farm Workers Papers at Wayne State University.) A friend, David Valladolid, who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of PIQE (Parent Institute for Quality Education), emailed this vital piece of history to me.

This statement was made to Cesar:

“People may ask, ‘Why should the farm workers be concerned about the condition of public schools in California?’”

Cesar replied:

“Who do you think are in the public schools today in California?   Public schools serve more farm workers than any other publicly financed social institution in society. Public schools provide the greatest opportunity for upward mobility to Hispanics and to all ethnic minorities in this state.   [Read more…]

Pondering the Definition of a Green Leaf

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 (Thoughts About Jerry Brown and Proposition 30)

I treasure such images as the one I saw earlier on this hot San Diego Monday morning: the vision of a nice number of San Diego City College students walking down hill in front of the B Building on their campus, heading for some trees for shade to listen to their governor, Jerry Brown, speak at a Press Conference regarding Propositon 30 – an initiative designed to raise as much money as possible to arrest the slow death of our schools. Their schools.
Nothing inspires more hope in me regarding the future of our species than seeing young people rising to remodel their world for the better. I hope that’s their intent, getting out there and talking to as many friends and family and others in their community as they can about how Proposition 30 is one of the most important proposals of our time, about how the learning needs of our children and young people or any active learner, for that matter, should be among our highest priorities as a state.   [Read more…]

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