San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

A Two-Dem Runoff for San Diego Mayor?

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By Gordon Clanton / Del Mar Times

Politics, like rust, never sleeps.  Politics is a year-around affair, especially in San Diego.  Because of the resignation of Mayor Bob Filner, city voters will go to the polls in a special election November 19.  Mail ballots will go out this week  – and perhaps two-thirds of the voting will be by mail.

Based on recent polling, most observers expect a runoff between newly Democratic former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (32 percent) and Republican Councilman Kevin Faulconer (28 percent).  Although the Democratic Party endorsed Councilman David Alvarez (20 percent), many influential Dems are assuming that Fletcher will be their candidate in the runoff and some are openly supporting Fletcher in the first round.   [Read more…]

Just Say No to Shills Telling Tall Tales to Sell the Phony Maritime “Jobs” Initiative

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By Doug Porter

San Diego shopping centers and grocery stores were blanketed this weekend with contract employees reportedly retained by Southwest Strategies.  They were being paid $1.75 for each signature gathered on a petition that aims to challenge the Barrio Logan community plan.

People signed the petitions in droves. Why wouldn’t anybody? After all these shills were peddling anything but the truth.  And the implications of this initiative effort for other neighborhoods in San Diego are huge.

Want a change in your neighborhood plan for something big and ugly favored by special interests?  If you’ve signed one of those petitions, that’s what you’re opening the door for.   [Read more…]

Project Censored 2012-13: The Human Costs of Corporate Propaganda

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By Jim Miller

Projected Censored recently released their list of the “Top 25 Most Censored Stories of 2012-13.” As I noted in a column about last year’s list, Project Censored’s definition of censorship is a nuanced one:

We define Modern Censorship as the subtle yet constant and sophisticated manipulation of reality in our mass media outlets. On a daily basis, censorship refers to the intentional non-inclusion of a news story – or piece of a news story – based on anything other than a desire to tell the truth. Such manipulation can take the form of political pressure (from government officials and powerful individuals), economic pressure (from advertisers and funders), and legal pressure (the threat of lawsuits from deep-pocket individuals, corporations, and institutions).

In sum, the folks at Project Censored argue, along with Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, that all the information we consume in our market-driven system has to go through a series of “filters” before a story makes it (or doesn’t make it) to our eyes and ears.  This is not a definition that implies a conspiracy; it is a structural analysis of how our media system works in the real world with all the economic, political, and legal pressures that shape the process of delivering the infotainment we call news.   [Read more…]

A Tale of Two Alternative Media Conferences

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A look at the Alternative Media Conferences in 1970 and 2013 — and how drastically media has changed.

By Paul Krassner / AlterNet

In June 1970, a charter flight was on its way from San Francisco to the Alternative Media Conference at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. The passengers consisted entirely of attendees. Larry Bensky, then KPFA news anchor, recalls, “It was one of the craziest trips ever taken by anyone, anywhere, I’m sure. Many on the plane were tripping on acid.

Photographer Robert Altman was sitting next to an old friend, Dr. Gene Schoenfeld, also known as Dr. Hip for his weekly countercultural advice column, syndicated to underground papers around the country. He shared a joint with Altman, who said, “It stimulated the good doctor with enough brashness and playfulness that he took over the plane’s entire audio system. As he sent raucous rock’n’roll from his portable player through the plane’s microphone, we were dancing, and the crew loved it.”   [Read more…]

My Life with a Pink Water Bottle

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By David Harris-Gershon / Tikkun Daily

I used to wake up early on Sunday mornings to play pickup bastketball with a group of 30-something men in Pittsburgh. This ‘over-thirty’ game comprised a collection of largely successful men still young enough to move without creaking, but old enough to show up to a gym knowing teenage phenoms and college-age athletes were not welcome.

For months, as a 39-year-old, short Jewish guy, nothing about me really stood out. That is, until I brought my wife’s pink water bottle after misplacing my own. Suddenly, I was noticed.   [Read more…]

Protests Sweep Canada Following Paramilitary Assault on Indigenous Fracking Blockade

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‘Indigenous communities like the Elsipogtog First Nation are on the frontlines of defending water and the land for everyone.’

By Sarah Lazare / Common Dreams

Protests are sweeping Canada following Thursday’s assault by paramilitary-style police on members of indigenous Elsipogtog Mi’kmaq First Nation and local residents as they blockaded a New Brunswick fracking exploration site.

The group had barricaded a road near the town of Rexton in rural New Brunswick since September 30 to block shale gas exploration by SWN Resources Canada, a subsidiary of the Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co, that is moving forward without the community’s consent or consultation.   [Read more…]

Sen. Sanders: ‘Global Warming Is a Far More Serious Problem Than Al Qaeda’

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In new interview with Playboy, the Vermont senator laments the collapsed middle class, corporate power.

By Andrea Germanos / Common Dreams

In a newly published interview, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasts the “unfettered capitalism” that has collapsed the middle class, and the corporate power fueling climate change, which poses a “far more serious problem than Al Qaeda.”

Sanders speaking about the government shutdown’s impacts. (Photo: AFGE/cc/flickr) Speaking with economics writer Jonathan Tasini for the interview with Playboy, the 72-year-old Independent senator said that “one of the untold stories of our time is the collapse of the American middle class.” It’s due, in part, to “the decline of trade unions,” which means that workers “have less power to negotiate contracts and less political clout.”

It’s a system that has brought immense inequality, he   [Read more…]

Tío Emilio and the Secrets of the Ancestors: Chapter 22 — Creating Consciously

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“By using the techniques you have been practicing, you have the power for more than just seeing into a tree or flying with eagles. Through your conscious connection with the Force and All-That-Is, you have the power to attract to yourself whatever you want in life.” Don Emilio
By Richard Juarez

The holidays came and went, and I was back to focusing on the creating exercise, plus as many of the old energy practices as I could. Near the end of the six-week break I felt like I was finally getting the feel for the whole package, except I had some major issues with the creating exercise. I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to put in the thought bubble. I wasn’t so sure it would work for what I really wanted. But I remember Don Emilio said something like don’t try to do the greatest thing ever, just do a simple object. So I was glad to finally get to the second weekend in January for a chance to sit down with him again.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: ‘BO-beau’ in Ocean Beach

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BO-beau Kitchen + Bar
4996 W. Point Loma Ave.
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619-224-2884

By Judi Curry

When I do a restaurant review, I try to stay within a certain price range , primarily because I live on a limited income. I had heard that the food at “BO-Beau” was very good, but was also told it was quite pricey. I am happy to say that the food WAS very good, and although more than I usually spend on a meal, was not that pricey compared to other restaurants of its quality.   [Read more…]

It’s Never Too Early to Teach Kids to Hate Learning

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By Mike the Mad Biologist

New York’s high-stakes testing regime has now metastasized to kindergarten. Really(boldface mine):

Because of a tough new curriculum and teacher evaluations, 4- and 5-year-olds are learning how to fill in bubbles on standardized math tests to show how much they know about numbers, shapes and order.

Teachers said kindergartners are bewildered. “Sharing is not caring anymore; developmentally, it’s not the right thing to do,” said one Queens teacher, whose pupils kept trying to help one another on the math test she gave for the first time this fall.

“They’re scared. They just don’t understand you’re supposed to bubble in next to the answer.”

  [Read more…]

10 Reasons Why the Tea Party is So Unpopular

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Only one-quarter of Republicans think like them, Pew finds.
By Steven Rosenfeld / Alternet

Now that the federal government has reopened and its debt limit raised, the Tea Party is more unpopular with Americans than ever—including among moderate Republicans—polls are finding, with analysts asking if the Tea Party is part of the GOP at all.

“The Tea Party is less popular than ever, with even many Republicans now viewing the movement negatively. Overall, nearly half of the public (49 percent) has an unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party, while 30 percent have a favorable opinion,” the Pew Research Center For People And The Press said in its latest poll and report.   [Read more…]

Barrio Logan Split Really About Business as Usual (Or Not)

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By Doug Porter

If you want to see a critical difference between Democrats Nathan Fletcher and David Alvarez, look beyond the article posted in today’s Voice of San Diego.

Reporter Liam Dillon does a good job of exploring the opposition to Alavrez’s mayoral ambitions from within his Barrio Logan, starting with Rachael Ortiz’s long standing opposition to the District 8 Councilman.

Her current issue with Alvarez is the contention that he sold out Barrio Logan’s interests by proposing a compromise solution with the maritime industry regarding the Community Plan approved by the City Council.

The headline on the VOSD article suggests this deal could come back to haunt him.   [Read more…]

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