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Time to Give Voice Through a Choice- AKA Get Out the Vote

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By Ernie McCray

With the mayoral election coming up on Tuesday, November 19th, it’s time for one of those “Get Out the Vote” kinds of appeals and I’m up for the deal because voting is what being an American means to me.

But there are folks who don’t vote which I see as an insult against the very notion of a democracy. They cry “What’s the use?” claiming that special interests rule the day and our representatives don’t care about us. Well, there sure is a lot of truth in that but I can’t think of any better reason to vote than to take on such abuses of power.

Voting is at the core of our nation’s soul. The big cats know that well. That’s why they buy folks who’ll heed their will.   [Read more…]

Carl DeMaio Launches “Free to Be” (Poor) College Tour

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By Doug Porter

Failed mayoral candidate and wannabe Congressman Carl DeMaio is taking his message of “opportunity” to college students in the San Diego area this week, hoping that a smiling face and a pocketful of libertarian promises will woo the youth vote into the Republican fold.

Like the witch in Hansel and Gretel he’s hoping to lure young votes with the lure of sweet success: he’s the “new” Republican. Students are supposed to forget about all those nasty old white men waving their transvaginal wands to ward off people of color and other likely Democrats from voting booths around the country.

“I’m taking on the Republican Party and trying to get them off those divisive social issues — let individuals decide these kinds of issues for themselves,” the 39-year-old DeMaio told UT-San Diego. “The whole tone and tenor and culture has to change.”   [Read more…]

Old Halloween Ain’t What She Used to Be

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By Judi Curry

The Halloween for 2013 has sure changed.  In the olden days – 2012 and before – hundreds of young costumed children would knock on my door in their cute Halloween costumes, yelling “trick or treat.”  Sometimes only one child would be at the door when answered; sometimes several.

Later in the evening, some of the “older” children would knock on the door with the same message, and they always received the same treat as the younger ones.

When my children were younger, we usually met the parents with a flask of Brandy Alexanders  – to ward off the chill of the evening, of course.   [Read more…]

Child Labor Shouldn’t Haunt Halloween

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Even if the kids in my neighborhood think my fair trade chocolate is a bit weird, at least I’m not handing out dental floss.

By  / OtherWords.org

I can’t bring myself to be the Grinch who stole Halloween. I just can’t, even though I write about healthy food. I even eat (mostly) healthy food.

Friends and colleagues expect me to have something to say about Halloween. But how can anyone condemn an innocent day of costumes and candy that brings joy to so many children?

As a kid, I was no health nut. I’ve always had a sweet tooth. My first word was “cookie.” But my parents did their best to restrict the sweets in our house. Halloween represented the one glorious day a year of unfettered access to gobs of candy.   [Read more…]

A Brief History of “Livable Neighborhoods” in San Diego

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By Jay Powell

Livable Neighborhoods was a program piloted in City Heights in the early 90′s by then City Manager Jack McGrory. It was in response to a community improvement partnership of community members and the City to bring City staff out of City Hall and into the communities. It was complemented with Neighborhood Policing that had assigned teams cruising patrol cars and bikes and meeting in storefronts to proactively address issues block by block and neighborhood by neighborhood.   [Read more…]

Right Wing Continues to Block Immigration Reform

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By Doug Porter

The body of law and administrative policy defining reality for the nation’s 12 million immigrants has once again risen to the top of our national “do-list”. The Republicans in Congress see it as yet another opportunity to thwart the administration, saying the latest push for action is simply an attempt to draw attention away from more “pressing issues” like Benghazi and Healthcare.gov.

Last week President Obama urged House Republicans to act on immigration, saying: “Democratic leaders have introduced a bill in the House that is similar to the bipartisan Senate bill. So now it’s up to Republicans in the House to decide whether reform becomes a reality or not.”   [Read more…]

America’s Wealthy Are Even Wealthier And Have A New Name: Point-Seveners

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America has 45,000 citizens worth more than $50 million.

By Steven Rosenfeld/ Alternet

The old cliché is true. The rich are getting richer. And there’s a new name for the upward transfer of wealth and richest people in America and worldwide—now called the “point-seven percent”—according to The Wall Street Journal,which, in its typical cheerleading way, boasts that Americans rule the top of the wealth pyramid.

“Forget the 1 percent—the statistic that 1 percent of people in the U.S. hold 40 percent of the wealth” brags Jason Bellini on a WSJ video report. “It became a rallying cry during the Occupy Wall Street movement. Now there’s a new number to consider: 0.7 percent. Globally, 0.7 percent of the people control 41 percent of the world’s wealth. Who are the 0.7 percent?”   [Read more…]

Wordplay – Shardly Worthwhile

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By Bob Dorn

Every few months I stumble onto files tucked away in odd places recording wordplay I’ve recorded in the last few years. I started doing it when a name, or coined word or phrase seemed to define events well but wouldn’t work in the piece at hand, either because it didn’t quite fit the passage (and would have looked shoehorned in later), or because it was too light or mean and petty for the context, or because it was simply distracting.

Yeah, distracting. I don’t know who said this; it was a writer for sure: the first thing to cut from a piece is the best thing in it. Of course, that’s so that the rest doesn’t suffer the contrast. But can you afford to forget the debris?   [Read more…]

Commemorate Día de los Muertos throughout San Diego – Long Live the Dead!

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Día de los Muertos Commemorated for Thousands of Years in the Americas

By Brent E. Beltrán

Los días de los muertos have been commemorated for thousands of years in the Americas. It started in what is now México and has spread throughout the United States and the world. Today these days are celebrated by people of many different colors and cultures.

November 1 is Día de los Inocentes (Day of the Innocents) when deceased children are honored and November 2 is known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) where we pay tribute to adults who have passed away. These dates correspond with the Christian holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Soul’s Day.   [Read more…]

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

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By Ernie McCray

I’m not, necessarily, one for seeing movies or plays or other things that are staged more than once unless there’s something really special about it. That being said I can’t wait to take in my friend Calvin Manson’s wonderfully soulful musical “Don’t Let me Be Misunderstood” again.

I highly recommend this beautifully crafted piece of theater because it’s so personal to me. It features the songs of one of my show-people-heroes, Nina Simone. This inimitable singer and pianist not only dazzled the world with her sultry sincere soulful voice but she also, at the same time, actively pursued dreams of that world being one where all people live in freedom. With dignity. Like Robeson and Belafonte. That kind of service to humanity resonates deeply within me.   [Read more…]

Urban Design for Climate Change- The Third Way

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Ideas for linking urban design and healthy communities

By Jim Bliesner

Local Woodbury Architecture School students in the graduate Landscape Urbanism program under Professor Rene Peralta have undertaken to develop designs for the “Greater Logan Heights” area to link urban design and healthy communities. The question raised by the student’s designs is whether community level efforts can qualify as strategies for reducing CO2 levels.

The idea is that reducing carbon emissions does not just need to be about electric cars, modified freeways and bullet trains but can in fact be the impetus for making our communities more livable. Sound ecological urban design can both achieve carbon reductions and make our communities more walkable and healthy according to the students.   [Read more…]

Projected Low Turnout in Mayoral Special Election Favors Faulconer

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By Doug Porter

Two studies released this week appear to validate the decision made by big money Republican donors to boost the candidacy of City Councilman Kevin Faulconer.

A poll by Republican leaning Competitive Edge Research & Communication of 504 likely voters (Sept. 26-29) shows Faulconer running essentially even with Nathan Fletcher (26-27%, with a plus or minus margin of error of 4.4 percent).  Candidate David Alvarez was favored by 13%, Mike Aguirre got 7%, 20% of those polled said they were undecided and while 8% backed one of the seven other candidates in the race.

Following “push” polling questions, wherein surveyors read politically leading statements to respondents, support for Faulconer jumped to 34%, with Alvarez moving into second place with 22% and Fletcher support dropping to 20%.

Probable voter turnout in the Competitive Edge survey was pegged at somewhere between 35 and 40%.   [Read more…]

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