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June Notes from the Garden

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Gardening is the new front porch in urban America- share yours!

By Susan Taylor

Here’s good news for everyone. Ninety-five percent of all the insects you find in your garden are beneficial! Before you use or purchase any chemical (read toxic) solutions, you can first check online at the UCDavis Integrated Pest Management (IPM) site. Take a photo of your suspicious little bug and check it at the IPM website to be sure what your insect is and what, if anything, to do about it. Often times you can put some water and a drop or two of dish soap into a plastic spray bottle and that will do the trick (aphids come to mind). Remember to spray UNDER the leaves as well as the tops. I find this website very reassuring because I can’t remember everything, but I can remember where to look for information.

It is early June here in San Diego and you can still plant all your summer vegetables. …   [Read more…]

Continuity of Care in Danger for Seniors and People with Disabilities

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Don’t Let California’s Diversity Slip Through the In-Home Supportive Service Safety Net

By Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez

When it comes to delivering care to the aging population of a diverse state like California, a one-size fits all approach isn’t the best for our seniors or the most cost-effective for state taxpayers.

California’s successful In-Home Supportive Services program meets the needs of fragile seniors and people with disabilities throughout our state – particularly areas of great linguistic and ethnic diversity like the Mid-City South Bay communities found in the 80th Assembly District that I represent – by delivering client-driven care that respects each person’s language and cultural needs.

But if two proposals contained in the May Revision of the state budget are enacted, the IHSS program will be eroded and health of seniors like 86-year old Nam Nguyen of City Heights will be compromised.   [Read more…]

Big Tobacco Planned on Big Pot Sales in the 70s—They Were Just Waiting for Legalization

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Documents reveal they’ve viewed marijuana as both a rival and potential product.

By Stanton Glantz / Alternet

It turns out that the history of Big Tobacco companies and marijuana is more intertwined than was previously known, according to a new study in The Milbank Quarterly. Based on previously secret tobacco industry documents, the study reveals that, since at least the 1970s, tobacco companies have been interested in marijuana as both a rival and potential product. As a result of litigation against the tobacco industry, more than 80 million pages of internal company documents became available at the University of California San Francisco’s Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. This study, led by Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, is the first to systematically review these documents specifically about marijuana.

The authors write that “despite fervent denials, three multinational tobacco companies”—Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, and RJ Reynolds—have all “considered manufacturing cigarettes containing cannabis. “People have suspected for a long time that Big Tobacco was interested in marijuana,” says Glantz. “The documents we review show that they have been considering legalized marijuana as both a competitor and an opportunity.”

One of the goals of the study, say the authors, is to make policymakers and public health advocates aware that tobacco companies are prepared to enter the marijuana market with the intention of increasing its widespread use. As states like Colorado and Washington legalize the recreational use of marijuana (and many others are considering it), the authors make a compelling case for policymakers to adopt regulatory frameworks similar to existing tobacco laws in order to prevent youth initiation and tame market domination by companies seeking to maximize profits with the sales of another addictive substance.   [Read more…]

Woman Who Filmed Her Own Abortion: ‘We Need to Talk, Not Apologize’

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Emily Letts discusses her abortion experience and why empathy is the key to the future of reproductive rights.

By Jaclyn Munson / AlterNet

[Earlier this month], Emily Letts changed the conversation about breaking the stigma associated with abortion and reproductive rights when she became the first person known to film her own surgical abortion. The YouTube video she made has since gone viral, and become the source of backlash. Letts spoke with AlterNet about her abortion experience and why empathy is the key to the future of reproductive rights.

When Emily Letts filmed her abortion, she did it at the Cherry Hill Women’s Center in New Jersey, where she works as an abortion counselor. The center is located less than a quarter mile away from Options Pregnancy Care Center, a crisis pregnancy center listed as a resource on the New Jersey Right to Life website. Chapel Avenue separates the short walk between the centers but despite their proximity, what happens in these buildings and what they stand for are light years apart.   [Read more…]

Republican States Could Cut Uninsured Rate by 60 Percent With Medicaid Expansion

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By Joan McCarter / Daily Kos

Over half—56 percent—of previously uninsured people got assistance to get coverage under Obamacare through expanded Medicaid, CHIP, or subsidized private coverage, and if the states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would reverse course, they could provide coverage to 59 percent of their currently uninsured populations. That’s one of the findings from a new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on coverage after Obamacare’s implementation.   [Read more…]

Inside the U.S. House’s Historic Vote on Medical Marijuana

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An amendment that would prohibit the Fed from interfering in state medical pot laws is still up in the air.

By April M. Short / AlterNet

The GOP-controlled House surprised just about everyone when it voted 218 to 189 for a pro-medical marijuana amendment on Friday. The amendment, tacked onto the much larger criminal justice funding bill (H.R. 4660), would prohibit the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using federal taxpayer funds to interfere with medical marijuana laws in 22 states that have passed them.

The House vote was historic. It was the first time since the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 that the majority of a chamber of Congress voted in favor of something that would alter national marijuana policy.   [Read more…]

CA Fracking Moratorium Bill Defeated by Oil Industry Lobby

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By Dan Bacher / Indybay.org

The California State Senate failed to pass SB 1132, legislation authored by Senators Holly Mitchell and Mark Leno that would have stopped hydraulic fracturing and other dangerous well stimulation methods while the state studied their risks.

The defeat of the legislation was undoubtedly due to the huge amounts of money dumped into lobbying the Legislature by the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento, and oil companies.
  [Read more…]

“Yes” on B & C is the Way to Support the Barrio Logan Community

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By Ernie McCray

Here we go. Same old same old politics in San Diego. The “Big Boys” have to get their way. They want us to vote “No” in opposition to a plan that was created to make a community healthy and safe. And mayor, Kevin Faulconer, who has billed himself as an “independent” leader, has, as such, been going around talking about how when Propositions B & C are voted down, “it will be our opportunity to pass a plan that works to protect our families, to protect our economy.”

Hey, dude, we already have a plan to keep toxics, pollutants, carcinogens and flammable chemicals, a safe distance away from Barrio Logan schools, playgrounds, and homes. So what does your plan look like? Oh, you don’t have one? And a new plan can’t happen for at least a year?

The Barrio Logan community worked diligently for years to bring about reasonable land use and zoning changes and it happened. It’s on the books right now. There’s a five-block buffer zone that bans new residential and industrial suppliers, while allowing such existing uses to remain in place and expand by no more than 20 percent.   [Read more…]

Straight from the Pit of Hell: Do You Have the Right to Know How Many American Children Die from Gun Violence?

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The SDFP Science Corner because science is now a liberal conspiracy

By Anna Daniels

“As harsh as this sounds – your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.” Samuel Wurzelbacher (aka Joe the Plumber)

Let’s get right down to it. How many dead kids are we talking about? Doesn’t the public have the right to know how many dead kids are watering the tree of liberty with their blood?

The short answer is that we don’t know and if Congress continues to have its way, we will never know. ProPublica reports that “Since 1996, when a small CDC-funded study [Center for Disease Control] on the risks of owning a firearm ignited opposition from Republicans, the CDC’s budget for research on firearms injuries has shrunk to zero.”

Gun violence data, firearm safety and gun violence prevention are removed from the realm of public health discussions and research because Congress is cowed by the NRA leadership, gun manufacturers and the lobbyists they employ.   [Read more…]

Man Can’t Live on Cabbage Alone

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Americans need credible nutrition advice they can trust, not a choice between quacks and “experts” sold out to junk food companies.

By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

I ran into an acquaintance recently and he told me he’d started seeing a new nutrition expert. “You know what?” he said, “It turns out I’m gluten intolerant.”

OK. Him and everyone else. I told him I was glad he found an expert who could help him.

A week later I saw him again. “I went back to the nutritionist,” he said. “I can’t have nightshades either.” That means no more potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, or eggplant.
  [Read more…]

Mayor Faulconer Called to Move on Climate Action Plan

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Mayor urged to endorse plan to address climate change and commit funds in City’s budget

By Environmental Health Coalition

On Tuesday, a coalition of 19 community, environmental, business, social justice, labor and sustainability organizations called on Mayor Kevin Faulconer to take strong and immediate leadership to advance the City of San Diego’s draft Climate Action Plan and incorporate funding for the plan into the revised city budget announced today.

The 19 organizations collectively represent more than 42,000 people in the region and recognize the high priority for the coastal metropolitan city to reduce air pollution that causes climate change. The organizations also want City leadership to prepare for the pending impacts of climate change, including sea-level rise and wildfires.

“I believe San Diego can and must be a leader when it comes to addressing global climate change, and I believe the plan that was drafted will have tremendous positive benefit for our region and for the lasting sustainability of our environment,” said Council President Todd Gloria. “Its successful implementation requires an investment by the City, which I hope our mayor includes in his revised budget proposal.”   [Read more…]

Who Knew? Organic Foods Contain a Dose of GMOs

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By John Lawrence

To be labeled as “USDA organic,” 95% of the ingredients must be organically grown and the remaining 5% may be non-organic agricultural ingredients or synthetic substances that have been approved for use in organics by the USDA.

The 5% of non-organic products are usually derived from GMO corn which is highly sprayed with Monsanto’s Roundup.   [Read more…]

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