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Election of Birther to the Bench Proves Voters Unworthy of the Responsibility of Selecting Jurists

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Asking voters who know nothing about judicial candidates, and usually fail to do any research of their own is a recipe for disaster.

Well, looks like we’ve done it, San Diego. The electorate has spoken, and the electorate has chosen a completely unqualified individual to serve as a Superior Court judge in San Diego County.

Gary Kreep is a lawyer who decided he wanted to be a judge. Relatively harmless in and of itself, until you find out a little more about him. First, he is the founder of the United States Justice Foundation, an innocuous sounding name (aren’t they always?) for an organization that is dedicated to TEA Party causes and the advancement of right wing religious causes. They are anti-abortion, anti-gay, all conspiracy theory all the time whack jobs.   [Read more…]

Making a Case for Public Space in San Diego, Tuesday June 19

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When we talk about public spaces, parks and beaches are probably the first things that come to mind for many of us. It is easy to overlook our streets, alleys and sidewalks, which are in reality the most ubiquitous examples of public spaces. Because they are not destinations they become invisible to us. Are there other public spaces that we are equally oblivious to, and are they worth a second look? Can those existing spaces be made more inviting, more functional and safer?

The San Diego Architectural Foundation is hosting a Pecha Kucha which will examine those questions. Nine different presenters will show twenty slides each, but can only talk about them for twenty seconds. This is a fast tempo way to encourage a lively public discourse about serious quality of life issues.   [Read more…]

Et Tu, Democrats: Pondering a Post-Labor Party

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Last week I commented on the larger economic significance of the Wisconsin recall for the average American, but it is also worth noting what it may very well mean for American politics and the soul of the Democratic Party. One thing is quite clear: Obama threw labor under the bus in Wisconsin. As a candidate in 2007, the President famously said, “If American workers are being denied their right to organize, I’ll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I’ll walk that picket line with you as President of the United States.”

But when the rubber hit the road in Wisconsin, he sent a twitter message, had Bill Clinton sub for him, and walked the other way. Indeed, back at the height of the drama in the Badger state, all the President could muster was a feeble statement about how union workers were “friends and neighbors.”   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – SDG&E’s Trojan Horse; Koch Bros Confab Set for San Diego

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June 18,2012—SDG&E’s trojan horse…Michael Hiltzer in the LA Times reported Sunday on a scheme proposed by SDG&E that would give its 1.2 million customers the option of prepaying their electric bills. While the plan may sound appealing to those mostly working class consumers who favor prepaid cell phones and the like, there are significant disadvantages for consumers built into the proposal. Sign up for the prepaid program and you’re signing away virtually all the consumer protections governing disconnections. Run out of money on the prepaid deal and your power will be cut off, no notice required. Regular customers get a two week notice prior to disconnection and the option of extending any back bills over a three month period when they run into financial difficulty.   [Read more…]

An Open Letter to My Daughter, Carrie

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Four years ago, “my daughter Carrie,” was arrested for being in this country illegally. Along with her older brother and younger sister, Carrie had been brought here as a young child by her biological parents who entered the United States legally. The family had fled Guatemala because of civil unrest in their native land and her father with his family had been welcomed in the United States for that reason.

Over the years, the family grew by two additional children who, born in the United States, were automatically citizens.

Carrie’s mother tried repeatedly to get her three oldest children their own paperwork showing that they were legally independent of their parents. Her last effort included paying $1,500 to an immigration attorney to help her children get their documentation. Unfortunately, her attorney died before informing her of his progress or sharing his files with anyone else. Repeated attempts to find out what he accomplished, if anything, were unsuccessful.   [Read more…]

The Truth About Religion in America: The Founders Loathed Superstition and We Were Never a Christian Nation

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By Kerry Walters /Alternet

Once they begin to circulate, falsehoods—like counterfeit currency—are surprisingly tenacious. It doesn’t matter that there’s no backing for them. The only thing that counts is that people believe they have backing. Then, like bad coins, they turn up again and again.

One counterfeit idea that circulates with frustrating stubbornness is the claim that America was founded as a Christian nation. It’s one of the Christian Right’s mantras and a favorite talking point for televangelists, religious bloggers, born-again authors and lobbyists, and pulpit preachers. Take, for example, the Reverend Peter Marshall. Before his death in 2010, he strove mightily (and loudly) to “restore America to its traditional moral and spiritual foundations,” as his still-active website says, by telling the truth about “America’s Christian heritage.” Or consider Wall Builders, a “national pro-family organization” founded by David Barton, whose mission is “educating the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country.” Called “America’s historian” by his admirers, Barton is a prolific writer of popular books that spin his Christian version of American history. And then there’s Cynthia Dunbar, an attorney and one-time professor at Liberty University School of Law. She’s another big pusher of the Christian America currency. Her 2008 polemic One Nation Under God proclaims that the Christian “foundational truths” on which the nation rests are being “eroded” by a “socialistic, secularistic, humanistic mindset” from which Christians need to take back the country.   [Read more…]

Trans-Pacific Partnership – Leaked Trade Document Reveals Corporations Favored Over Public Interest

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A leak today of one of the most controversial chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) reveals that extreme provisions have been agreed to by U.S. officials, providing a stark warning about the dangers of “trade” negotiations occurring under conditions of extreme secrecy without press, public or policymaker oversight, Public Citizen said.

“The outrageous stuff in this leaked text may well be why U.S. trade officials have been so extremely secretive about these past two years of TPP negotiations,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “Via closed-door negotiations, U.S. officials are rewriting swaths of U.S. law that have nothing to do with trade and in a move that will infuriate left and right alike have agreed to submit the U.S. government to the jurisdiction of foreign tribunals that can order unlimited payments of our tax dollars to foreign corporations that don’t want to comply with the same laws our domestic firms do.”   [Read more…]

Try to smell the flowers before the Filner vs DeMaio battle begins

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Take a break, friends and fellow voters. We could all use a brief respite from campaign-season frenzy. Soon enough San Diego’s two heavyweight contenders for mayor will be climbing back into the ring for what’s guaranteed to be a nationally publicized, brutal battle for the heart and destiny the 8th largest city in the USA. Our town.

So sniff the flowers while you can and begin preparing yourself for the Filner-DeMaio race for mayor. It’s no ordinary contest. The stakes are at an all-time high, not just for San Diego but for cities across the nation. If this sounds dramatic, you can bet it is.

That’s why we ought to use this short time-out to reflect on how our city got to this political point. To provide some context and fill in some of the blanks about San Diego’s quixotic and freighted mayorship history, here’s a quick and painless civics lesson.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line — It’s Off to the Races; Fall Campaigns Gear Up

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November political campaigns shifted into a higher gear yesterday in the local and national arenas. Here in San Diego, the first debate of the fall mayoral contest between Congressman Bob Filner and City Councilman Carl DeMaio took place yesterday before the San Diego Rotary Club. DeMaio promised the crowd that he would act quickly as Mayor, citing his comprehensive plans to repair roads, make the city more business-friendly and fix city finances. Filner opted to describe the differences between himself and his contender, characterizing the City Councilman’s plans as a ‘spreadsheet’ and his own proposals as a ‘vision’ for San Diego.

Meanwhile in Ohio, President Barack Obama and GOP contender Mitt Romney gave dueling economic policy speeches in different corners of the state. In Cincinnati Romney called out the President for being “long on words and short on action” when it comes to fixing the economy. In Cleveland, the President told his audience that he and Republican Mitt Romney offer “two fundamentally different views” about the economy, saying “If you want to give the policies of the last decade another try, then you should vote for Mr. Romney”. The Romney campaign sent their tour bus to where the President was scheduled to speak; emblazoned with the Romney campaign logo in giant letters, it honked at Obama supporters as it continually circled the area.   [Read more…]

Mitt Romney Cheers as Public Sector Job Losses Hinder Growth

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President Obama’s “gaffe” about the private sector doing just fine has whipped Republicans up into a lather.

Last week while addressing the media in the White House briefing room, President Obama made a “gaffe,” saying that the “private sector in this country was doing fine.” Ever since, that “gaffe” has been the favorite punchline of every Republican talking head to appear on cable TV to deliver their official Fox News approved talking points.   [Read more…]

Darrel Issa’s Fixation on Attorney General Eric Holder

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Five Things To Know About The Republican Witchhunt Against Attorney General Holder

By Ian Millhiser / Think Progress /Jun 13, 2012

In 2006, during the presidency of George W. Bush, the Justice Department launched the first of a series of misguided “gunrunning” schemes that eventually led to the death of federal Agent Brian Terry. Rather than look to ways to prevent such a tragedy from happening again, however, House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) spent his tenure as a committee chair trying unsuccessfully to embarrass Attorney General Eric Holder.

This week, Issa escalated this witchhunt by holding an committee vote on a resolution to hold the Attorney General in contempt of Congress. Here’s what you need to know about this vote:

1. Issa Has No Case: Issa’s uncovered no evidence showing Holder bears any blame for the botched operations begun under George W. Bush, even though the Justice Department turned over thousands of pages of documents concerning the operations.   [Read more…]

Arizona Latinos Prepare for Civil Disobedience as Supreme Court Reviews Immigration Law

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In Arizona, Latino communities are preparing for acts of mass protest and civil disobedience ahead of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling on the controversial immigration law SB1070. Should the law go unchallenged, police will be allowed the power to investigate the immigration status of any person they may have “reasonable suspicion” of being undocumented.
“No one, from the governor down, has provided any guidance on what constitutes ‘reasonable suspicion’,” said Allesandra Soler Meetze, ACLU’s director in Arizona. In the absence of proper training, she added, “police officers will rely on their own prejudices and go by how people look and speak. That will push law enforcement into racial profiling.”   [Read more…]

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