San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Outgoing CEO Paul Jacobs to Shareholders: Tell Your Congressman to Give Qualcomm a Tax Break!

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By John Lawrence

In his final message after more than eight years as chief executive officer of Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), Paul Jacobs on March 4 gave shareholders what he called a “homework assignment.” “Send your Congress people your opinion that you’d like American companies to be able to bring offshore money back to the United States to either reinvest or return to shareholders”, said Jacobs, now executive chairman of the San Diego based chipmaker, which has $21.6 billion in overseas profits.

Paul could have said, “Go home and hug your wife and children” or “It’s been a pleasure being your CEO for 8 years and thank you for your work.” Or “tell your Congressman to raise the minimum wage” or “tell your Congressman to end homelessness now”, but, no, his solipsistic exhortation was all about making Qualcomm executives and shareholders (not employees mind you!) even richer than they already are.   [Read more…]

Bedtime with Moxie

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Moxie Theater
6663 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
www.moxietheatre.com
858-598-7620

By Judi Curry

When was the last time you were invited to wear your pajamas to a party?  When was the last time you were told to wear your pajamas out in public? When was the last time you were invited to a pillow fight – only if you were wearing your sleeping gear?

When was the last time you were told that “costumed guests will enjoy a Pillow Fight Photo Booth, Naughty Night Cap Beverages, Live Lullabies and Bedtime Stories performed by local celebrities?

And when were you told that one of those celebrities was none other than the Interim Mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria?   [Read more…]

Where to Go

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By Will Falk

the canyon where I wander
seems empty to me

I am
wondering where to go
wondering what the canyon
will do with me
wondering at the emptiness of it all

burnt orange reaches to blue
where the stones hold the sky
the stones’ strong hands
are the only hands sure enough
to carry the sky   [Read more…]

Across America, Attacks on Pregnant Women’s Rights On the Rise

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Marlise Muñoz was removed from life support, but a growing pattern of state intervention in pregnancies threatens women from Alabama to Wisconsin.

By Michele Bratcher Goodwin / Alternet

In Texas, hospital officials refused for over two months to remove 33-year-old Marlise Muñoz, who was declared brain dead, from life support because of her pregnancy. A court ruling on Friday ordered John Peter Smith Hospital to take Munoz off life support in accordance with the family’s wishes, and her body was disconnected from machines on Sunday, Jan. 26.

The tragedy of Muñoz’s case is that it fits a terrible pattern of state interventions in women’s pregnancies.   [Read more…]

Three Years, Three Million Dollars, Three Excuses and Now, Three More Months for Failed Balboa Park Centennial Group

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By Doug Porter

Board members with the failed Balboa Park Celebration, Inc.(BPCI) have taken their case to KPBS, blaming ex-mayor Bob Filner, the failure of Plaza de Panama parking plan and the competing agendas of park organizations for their group’s lack of accomplishments.

Details revealed in the first of a two part series, including comments from co-chair Nikki Clay, Stephen Russell and Patti Roscoe, by reporter Angela Carone paint a sad picture of the planning and preparations for a year long centennial celebration.

The release on Friday of a Transition Agreement empowering BPCI staffer Gerry Braun to handle shutdown of the organization (and collect another $39,000 while doing so) has just added to outrage felt by those in the community already upset with the group.   [Read more…]

Notes from the Class War: Killing “The Year of the Populist” in the Crib?

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By Jim Miller

Recently, in “Neoliberalism and Its Discontents: What’s Left Beyond More Impoverished Choices?”, I continued my analysis of the national debate that followed the publication of Adolph Reed’s sharp criticism of what qualifies as the “left” in the contemporary American political landscape.

After that column was posted, Reed wrote yet another piece in American Prospect, this time responding to Harold Meyerson’s dismissal of his call for a left less tethered to a Democratic Party increasingly colonized by Wall Street and other corporate interests.

In it Reed makes a key point about both the current political landscape and the recent history that has produced it   [Read more…]

What Will Happen to Pumbaa, the Shar Pei?

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By Judi Curry

Sometimes one hears a story that is so sad that you don’t even want to know the details because you know that you are helpless to do anything about it. Sometimes you hear a story that might have a happy ending if only the right set of circumstances happen in the right amount of time.  Such is the sad tale of Pumbaa.

Just a little background information:  I have a 13 year old Golden Retriever – 91 in adult years – older than me!  He has been having severe hip problems in the last year or so and he is having acupuncture once a week and swim therapy twice a week.

I wrote an earlier article about Trish Penick and her “Cutting Edge K-9 Rehab.”  Because I have a large pool that is now heated, Trish has been working with other dogs, along with Buddy, on a weekly basis.  Some of the dogs that come for therapy come often; some come once in a while.  “Pumbaa”  and his human mother Daisy started coming a few weeks ago.   [Read more…]

Poetry: Tanja and All that Jazz

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(Celebrating a Life that Lasted from January 18, 1927-February 9, 2014)

By Ernie McCray

Tanja Winter.
Talking about a woman who had pizzazz.
I wrote, for her 80th birthday,
how she came into the world
about the same time as

Bob Fosse
who gave us
some sexy razz ma tazz
in the name of
All that Jazz;

  [Read more…]

California Legalization is Coming, But What Path Will it Take?

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A breakdown of the initiatives in the state

By Chris Conrad / The Leaf Online

With four marijuana legalization initiatives vying for the California ballot, one thing is clear: All four sets of reforms are better than the state’s current prohibition. The initials and names are confusing, but the core question is, which one or ones will voters get to vote on?

The California Cannabis Hemp Initiative (CCHI) has been gathering signatures the longest. TheMarijuana Control, Legalization and Regulation (MCLR) is the longest and took in the greatest amount of direct input from the public. A third version was drafted by a group of long-time reform activists, including remnants of the unsuccessful 2010 Prop 19 campaign. None of these has visible financial backing to make the ballot.

The fourth and most likely candidate to emerge came out of left field with funding from the late philanthropist and cannabis reformer, Peter Lewis. As a farewell gift to California before he died last year, Lewis and the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) had an initiative drawn up that protects medical marijuana laws, puts the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) in charge of commercial licensing but not home grows, attempts to correct mistakes made in Washington State, addresses the recent federal policy outlined by the Obama administration and searches for middle ground between the reform community and the more mainstream voters who may not know much about cannabis but do hold the electoral balance in their hands. The Control, Regulate and Tax Marijuana Act (CRTM) was filed December 18, 2013.   [Read more…]

Chicano Park Documentary by Redbird Films

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Video by Redbird Films
Intro by Brent E. Beltrán

With the ballot battle looming over the future of Barrio Logan, due to Maritime Industry’s refusal to accept the Barrio Logan Community Plan update, I feel it is necessary to give voters of the city of San Diego a little history of Barrio Logan and highlight the issues residents face. In June, eligible San Diego voters will go to the polls to vote on wether to approve the community plan or reject it.

Over the next few weeks I will post a video on Sundays that highlights the community of Barrio Logan and the beauty within San Diego’s most historic barrio.

This week’s video is the classic Chicano Park documentary produced in 1989 by Redbird Films. The film, narrated by veteran actor Tony Plana, depicts the founding and history of this world famous historical site.   [Read more…]

Understanding Paul Ryan’s Racism in 3 Easy Steps

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The question is not ‘Is Ryan a racist?’ but ‘What type of racist is he?’

By Chauncey DeVega / Alternet

Paul Ryan has attempted to clarify his racist argument that “inner city” black people are lazy and do not want to work.

He issued a statement that:

After reading the transcript of yesterday morning’s interview, it is clear that I was inarticulate about the point I was trying to make. I was not implicating the culture of one community—but of society as a whole.

This is a false and disingenuous pseudo apology. Paul Ryan is the leader of a political party that is the country’s premier white identity organization. The Republican Party has also merged conservatism and racism in such a way that appeals to white racial resentment are its Lingua Franca and a taken for granted way of thinking about political and social reality.   [Read more…]

Special Report: Get Ready for the Anti-Minimum Wage Tsunami of Lies in San Diego

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By Doug Porter

Sometime over the next couple of months the San Diego City Council will consider a ballot measure for November raising the minimum wage. Although California has already enacted legislation boosting the minimum wage from $8 an hour to $9 next July and $10 by January 2016, research by the Center on Policy Initiatives indicates those raises fall way short of the $13 per hour wage necessary to live here without government assistance.

Raising the minimum wage polls well with the public. Just last week a limited advisory referendum urging the Chicago City council to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour (for corporations with over $50 million in annual sales) passed with an overwhelming 87% approval. Nationally a variety of surveys indicate two thirds of voters favor increasing the mandated minimums.

Today we’ll take a look at how business interests both nationally and locally are working to defeat increases in pay for low wage workers. Given that  a significant number of San Diegans were naive enough to believe that the US Navy was preparing to leave town (the Barrio Logan referendum), the downtown clowns who perpetrated that falsehood can be expected to roll out the mother of all shock and awe campaigns as fall approaches.   [Read more…]

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