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The Starting Line(ish): New Year’s Eve Fiscal Cliff Edition

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Fiscal cliff talks go to the brink, as lawmakers are optimistic for a deal; yet Republicans lack any incentive to deal; Huntsman: “GOP devoid of a soul.”; Hillary Clinton hospitalized; Turner, Smith, dismissed from Chargers

Congress remained in session over the weekend as Republican and Democratic leaders met throughout in an effort to stave off the looming slip over the edge of the fiscal cliff (or curb or slope). If a deal is not struck by midnight tonight (New Year’s Eve), all of the Bush tax cuts will expire—not just for the top 2% of earners—and hundreds of billions in draconian budget cuts will be automatically enacted.

The current fiscal cliff deal is the result of negotiations a year ago between the White House and the Gang of 12 SuperCongress, a group made of six legislators from each party, and from both chambers of Congress. The sequestration deal (or fiscal cliff/curb/slope) was put into place as a sort of poison pill; an incentive for the SuperCongress to actually come to a deal.

It didn’t work. Republicans never had any intention of negotiating in good faith, and here we are today.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Victory Pharmaceuticals Implicated in Fraudulent Kickback Scheme

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The Washington Post reported on Dec. 27, 2012, that Victory Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in San Diego, was forced to pay $11.4 million to resolve Federal, civil and criminal liabilities related to kickbacks to doctors in return for prescribing their drugs. Victory is a privately held company, founded in 2003, and is focused on acquiring, developing and marketing products to treat pain and related conditions. As it turns out, part of the marketing strategy was to offer kickbacks to doctors in return for prescribing its products.

The kickbacks included tickets to professional and collegiate sporting events, tickets to concerts and plays, spa outings, golf and ski outings, dinners at expensive restaurants, giving a doctor money to help make a house payment, paying for a doctor’s staff’s outing to a strip club, including “lap dances” for the female staff and offering a doctor and his staff an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas. A former sales representative for Victory, Chad Miller, blew the whistle on them and received $1.7 million for his efforts.   [Read more…]

The Euclid Tower and the Ghost of Christmas Past

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I’m sure that there are a number of us who can still remember the Euclid Tower before it was re-imagined with bright paint and a dazzling design. In 1988, when My Beloved and I moved into our little house on 45th street, the Euclid Tower jutted above the streetscape like a grey missile poised for launch. Its graceful art deco architecture and lovely leaded glass lotus windows couldn’t redeem it from a peeling cold war paint job.

I can also remember not only the grey paint job, but the smiling face of Old Saint Nick providing some inscrutable message of good cheer for a number of years over the neon signage of the Tower Bar. There was nothing quite like the 4th of July and looking up at the peeling Tower with Saint Nick beaming down upon us. This was how I knew I was home in my thoroughly mixed up community of City Heights. And stone cold sober.   [Read more…]

Upon Reflection: What I Believe

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by John Lawrence

Well the New Year is upon us, and it’s time to take stock and see if I can make any sense out of the goings on of the last year and the interaction of reality with my own mind. This is my crack at it.

1. I believe that gun ownership should be a privilege and not a right. The 2nd Amendment was constucted to be similar to the Swiss model in which citizens formed a militia for national defense. There was no standing army. That was the original intent of the framers of the Constitution for exactly the same reason: there was no standing army. Today that rationale is not relevant. Even Switzerland has moved the guns from homes to depots to prevent what little gun violence takes place there.   [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: The Psychology of Pick-Up Lines

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By Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D. / Alternet

Every relationship begins with that first step. Some people never get past that first step. First impressions matter, and our opening few lines can either energize the interaction or cause the other person to look around for the nearest exit. Gratefully, psychologists have spent years of celibacy trying to understand the psychology behind pick-up lines for your own benefit.

In the ’80s Chris Kleinke and colleagues analyzed the effectiveness of 100 pick-up lines across a number of different settings, including bars, supermarkets, restaurants, laundromats, and beaches. They found three main categories of openers:   [Read more…]

The Holidays are the Hardest

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Being a widow is difficult if the relationship between the two spouses was a good one. There are times that being a widow is harder than other times. Like now. The Holidays. Being a widow and having 12 grandchildren becomes quite expensive and for the first time in many years I am unable to gift my children as well as their children. Fortunately they understand that I can no longer give boxes of band aids with funny pictures on them to my youngest grandchildren. I don’t know when it happened but they have outgrown the “bandage years.” Now they want more expensive items – they won’t be getting those either – but it doesn’t stop the “wanting.” So not being able to give what I would like to give is a downer but livable.
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Typhoons, Cyclones, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Flooding Increase in 2012

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In 2011 more than 80% of all the deaths around the world caused by natural disasters occurred in Asia. The Phillipines were the epicenter with 33 natural disasters, more than any country in the world. Typhoon Washi claimed more than 1200 lives in late 2011. Super Typhoon Bopha which struck December 2012 took 900 lives.

Super Typhoon Bopha packed winds of up to 100 miles per hour bringing torrential rains that destroyed villages and left 320,000 homeless. A total of 184 had perished in Compostela Valley, including 78 villagers and soldiers who died in a flash flood that swamped two emergency shelters and a military camp. Most of the typhoon’s victims appeared to have drowned or been hit by falling trees or flying debris, officials said.   [Read more…]

North Park Beer Scene Is Blowing Up

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North Park is an urban neighborhood located on the northeast side of Balboa Park. The neighborhood boundaries are roughly Mission Valley to the north, Interstate 805 to the east, Switzer Canyon to the south, and Florida Canyon to the west. In the past year North Park has received some national attention including being named the 13th best hipster neighborhood by Forbes. This ranking was based on the following criteria:

San Diego For Free: Hike on Cowles Mountain for the Winter Solstice – December 21st

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San Diego for Free is 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.

Location: San Carlos, hike starts at the trailhead near the intersection of Golfcrest Drive and Navajo Road

Best For: Restless spirits, insomniacs, hikers, walkers, strollers

Date & Time: Friday, December 21, 6 – 7:30 AM

Website : Here.

This Friday, December 21st is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year and a date held sacred and marked on calendars (both paper and stone) since time immemorial.

To celebrate the date the Canyoneers volunteer hiking group is leading a trek up Cowles Mountain in the pre-dawn stillness to view sunrise from a Kumeyaay solstice observatory about halfway up the mountain.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Source: NRA Comeback on Gun Control Will Be Assault on First Amendment

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Five days after the shooting deaths in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, the National Rifle Association public relations machine emerged from its bunker, promising a press conference on Friday “to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.”

Despite public defections by usually supportive legislators over the past week, it seems unlikely to me that NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre will offer up any proposals weakening that groups’ rigid stance that virtually all legislative efforts to regulate firearms are attacks on American Freedom.

It’s more likely the NRA will fight back against calls for legislation banning assault type rifles and large ammo clips, using the “best defense is a strong offense”

More on this story inside…

(Psst- The Starting Line will be taking a break for the holidays. See you next year.)   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Mayor Calls San Diego Summit in Response to Sandy Hook Shooting

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Mayor Bob Filner, along with representatives from the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Unified, hosted a sit-down yesterday to talk about local responses and precautions in the wake of Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Mayor cited his own struggle over talking with his two grandchildren about the Sandy Hook tragedy as being a motivation for calling the meeting. Police Chief William Landsdowne mentioned his opposition to legal assault weapons as the video tape from NBCNews7 rolled, quickly qualifying his statement as being a political matter not necessarily germane to the matters at hand.

A video monitoring system installed throughout San Diego schools over the past couple of years will now be interfaced with laptops in police cars, giving them the ability to see situations in real time as they respond to a situation. One thousand cameras are in place, covering hallways, lunchrooms, offices and building exteriors, according to SDUSD police Lieutenant Joe Florentino.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – We Can Do Better Than Singing Kumbaya and Waiting for America to ‘Come Together’

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Enough of all this talk. We live in the ‘World’s Greatest Country’ and ‘America’s Finest City’ and the best we as citizens can do is, according to our local daily newspaper’s editorial board:

 ** …resist the temptation to see what took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., as an indictment of America.

**perhaps we need to have a debate about identifying and helping the mentally ill, or about making schools safer, or about reassuring worried schoolchildren that they are safe.

** This is not the time to take advantage of tragedy. This is not the time for shouting. This is the time for this nation to come together. We have done it many times before in the wake of horrible news. What we need to do is to cherish our children and our families, to reach out to our loved ones, our neighbors and our community. This is the time for the goodness of the American spirit to shine through, to get us all through these sorrowful days and to a brighter tomorrow.

I say horseshit. I’m mad as hell and I’M GONNA SHOUT ABOUT IT. You should, too.
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