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Reactions to Supreme Court Hobby Lobby Decision Range From Real Disappointment to Really Dumb

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By Doug Porter

The Supreme Court saved its most controversial decisions for last for this session, announcing twin 5-4 votes yesterday in cases limiting public sector unions and extending the concept of corporations as persons to include the right to opt out of contraceptive coverage based on the religious beliefs of the owners.

While the rulings were narrower than they could have been, they triggered reactions filled with hyperbole and misinformation. For purposes of today’s column, we’ll take a look at responses to Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the ruling holding closely held corporations (90% of all companies) are “persons” as defined by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

Make no mistake about it, the creeping person-hood of corporations combined with a ruling favorable to the theocracy set is serious business. But the headlines at places like the Huffington Post were beyond the pale.   [Read more…]

Score One for the GOP- Immigration Reform is Dead

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By Doug Porter

Yesterday Illinois Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez rose on the floor of the House waving a red card (ala futbol) to pronounce the end of immigration reform.

As Lawrence Downes, writing in the New York Times put it, “In sports terms, Mr. Gutierrez’s speech was simply marking the moment when a losing team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.”

The US Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill one year ago this week. Republicans in the House rejected that approach, preferring to introduce piecemeal legislation which even they wouldn’t and/or couldn’t pass.

It’s been a year of excuses from the GOP bench and, to carry the sports analogy further, excuses are for losers.
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When Will It Be Okay to Call These Right Wing Nutjobs Terrorists?

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By Doug Porter

I don’t get it. If people wearing keffiyeh scarves had assassinated police officers eating lunch in a Las Vegas pizza joint the media would be chock full of themselves over “Muslim terrorists.”

If an environmental activist took it upon himself to seize a courthouse and have a shoot out with police we’d be hearing Fox news calling for throwing him and others in the Guantanamo prison camp.

If a group of Black Panthers walked around openly carrying shotguns and rifles, the National Rifle Association would support anti-open carry legislation.   (Actually, they did)

All of these things have happened over the past few weeks, only the perpetrators were right-wing extremists. And the silence of the sheep-media (™)  is deafening.   [Read more…]

How Many Votes Will Two Million Dollars Buy in California? GOP Gubernatorial Candidates to Find Out Tuesday

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By Doug Porter

Republican Neel Kashari is about to find out whether or not two million dollars of his personal fortune is enough to win a spot in the November 2014 California gubernatorial contest.

The latest set of polls, via Stanford University’s Hoover Institute and San Francisco’s Public Policy Institute, point to a June 3rd victory by Tea Party favorite Tim Donnelly. Despite endorsements from GOP luminaries like Condoleezza Rice, Mitt Romney and ex-Gov. Pete Wilson, TV ads and huge financial advantage, Kashkari’s only hope at this point seems to lie in winning over undecided voters in the primary.

Donnelly is counting on grass roots support, saying the election is about a “divide between the common man and political elite.”  His campaign claims the unanimous endorsement of California GOP county parties and points to their 4,100 donations compared Kashkari’s slightly more than two hundred donations as proof of this point.   [Read more…]

Border Patrol Violence Report at Issue in ACLU Suit

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By Doug Porter

The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties filed a complaint in federal court yesterday against Customs and Border Protection claiming the agency has failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking the release of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) report analyzing the agency’s use-of-force policies and practices.

 The ACLU filed the FOIA on February 21, 2014, but says it has received no response—not even an acknowledgement of receipt of the FOIA.

“Custom and Border Protection’s failure to even respond to our FOIA request exemplifies the agency’s resistance to transparency and accountability,” said Mitra Ebadolahi, staff attorney for the San Diego ACLU’s Border Litigation Project. “The PERF report is an important document, one that details CBP’s problematic and potentially unlawful use-of-force policies and practices. The report should be made public in its entirety, immediately.”

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Dumanis, Schall and Dronenburg: Three Bad Apples Needing to Be Voted Out of Office

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The Fifth and Final Installment of  A Progressive Procrastinators 2014 Primary Guide  

By Doug Porter

In a perfect world we’d all be voting FOR candidates in elections. Instead, we voters are all-too-often mesmerized by the aura of incumbency. A figurative wink and a familiar smile replace judicious judgement. Sometimes it becomes necessary to take a stand, using the power of the ballot box to say ‘enough!’ This is one of those times.

In the upcoming June 3rd primary there are three incumbents who I believe ought to be voted out of office: District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, County Assessor/Clerk/Recorder Ernest J. Dronenburg, Jr. and Superior Court Judge Lisa Schall.

The particulars on each these bad apples differ, but the thing they all have in common is that they’ve misused the powers vested in them by the voters. Today, in the fifth and final installment in this series I’ll examine their records and offer up some better choices.   [Read more…]

Clear Channel Responds to Political Pressure, Quashes Billboard Ads for Judicial Candidate

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This story has been updated to include a response from Clear Channel.

By Doug Porter

Four Billboards paid for by former prosecutor Carla Keehn in support of her candidacy for San Diego County Superior Court Seat 20 were summarily removed on Friday by the Clear Channel Outdoor corporation just two days after being erected.

The candidate says the company  “received pressure to take the billboards down and they would not tell me from whom the pressure came.” This action is consistent with earlier assertions made by Keehn about surreptitious efforts by incumbent Judge Lisa Schall and/or her supporters to deny or withdraw endorsements for the challenger.  

The outdoor advertising panels were reserved five months ago by Keehn’s campaign. Payment was made and artwork for the billboards was delivered in April.  The billboards went up at four locations on Wednesday, May 7th. They were removed Friday, May 9th.   [Read more…]

DA Bonnie Dumanis – Keeper of the Flame for San Diego’s Power Elite

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By Doug Porter

The race for District Attorney in San Diego has heated up in recent days, with incumbent Bonnie Dumanis actually showing up for a debate in Del Cerro after skipping events in Oceanside and La Jolla earlier this month. She also appeared at a Ramona Tea Party multi-candidate forum on Saturday, reportedly wearing a straw cowboy hat.

UT-San Diego gave Dumanis their editorial blessing this weekend, saying “She deserves re-election to a fourth term,” before acknowledging that she might have picked up some “baggage” over her 12 years in office. While that “baggage,” which includes a campaign finance scandal and an over-zealous (and failing) campaign against medical marijuana is of interest, it’s the broader accusations that Dumanis has politicized the District Attorney’s office that merit your attention.   [Read more…]

Convention Center Expansion Facing Ballot Box Challenge as Costs Rise

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By Doug Porter

When it was decided that San Diego needed more convention space, local politicians and hoteliers came up with a creative funding plan bypassing the need for public electoral input. Now changes in the economy and delays in the construction are forcing consideration of “certain adjustments” that could end up increasing costs beyond what funds are expected to be available via that scheme.

Attorney Cory Briggs, along with good-government advocates Diane Coombs and Pedro Quiroz, Jr., have filed paperwork needed to launch an initiative to hold San Diego’s mayor and city council fully accountable for the cost overruns on the proposed Convention Center expansion.

NBC7 News reports city financial experts are deeply concerned over rising costs as construction is held up by legal challenges to the financing scheme make their way through the appellate courts. Those concerns were expressed to the City Council via a little noticed March 25 memo from CFO Mary Lewis and Tony Heinrichs Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Public Works/Ulilities.   [Read more…]

Supreme Court to Consider Lies in Political Ads

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By Doug Porter

Not even George Orwell could have predicted this; an anti-abortion group is challenging Ohio’s law making it a crime to knowingly publish false statements about political candidates.

According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, the case involves billboard ads funded by the Susan B. Anthony List accusing an Ohio congressman of voting for taxpayer-funded abortions based on his support of the Affordable Care Act. The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976, prohibits using federal funds to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.

Concerns about any Supreme Court ruling in this case stem from a ruling (made on the same day the court upheld most sections of Obamacare) overturning the conviction of Xavier Alvarez for violating the 2006 Stolen Valor Act making it a crime for a person to falsely claim, orally or in writing, “to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States.” The 6-3 decision asserted  the act was an unconstitutional infringement on free speech.   [Read more…]

Sex Crimes Cover Up Alleged: Unbelievably Gross Acts On Mentally Ill Woman Photographed by SDPD Officer

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By Doug Porter

Higher ups in the San Diego Police Department may have been more concerned about negative publicity than getting at the facts about accusations alleging sexual misconduct as far back as 1997 by former police officer Anthony Arevalos from according to federal court transcripts obtained by 10News.

A confidential meeting between former chief William Lansdowne and Executive Chief David Ramirez, according to attorney Joe Dicks in publicly released transcripts of oral arguments that reference still-sealed depositions, was held “to try and figure out not if it really happened, not if there are any witnesses left, only to take documentation that is going to come around and bite them in the bottom.”

I looked around the local media this morning. Aside from a mention the VOSD Morning Report, the local media seems to treating this as a non-story.   [Read more…]

McCutcheon, the Majority, and the Challenge of Our Time

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The McCutcheon ruling points us to the defining struggle of today’s generation.

Richard Eskow / AlterNet

The Supreme Court’s McCutcheon ruling will be remembered as a decisive battle in a determined and wealthy minority’s war against the popular will. It is not the first such battle, nor will it be the last. And the people will continue to lose — unless and until the rules of engagement are changed.

One compelling way to look at this ruling is by contrasting its immediate and long-term effects with the American people’s aspirations for their government. They are at cross purposes. Even before this ruling, 64 percent of those polled believed that our country’s economic rules unfairly favor the rich. This ruling will rig the game even further.   [Read more…]

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