San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

California Nation

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The national government arguably no longer represents the best interests of California.

By Andy Cohen

With the government shutdown entering its third week and the country on the brink of defaulting on its financial obligations, the United States sits mired in a major political and economic crisis. It is a self inflicted crisis caused by a bunch of radical know-nothings who have deliberately set out to undermine our government and economy in a game of political brinksmanship. The entire nation is being held hostage so that 30 million Americans can be denied healthcare; because an ignorant and racist faction of the Republican Party has wrested control of the U.S. House of Representatives because they abhor the very idea of a black man occupying the White House.

I’m tired of it. We deserve better. And by “we” I mean Californians.

Consider: The United States Congress no longer represents who we are as a state, as an economy, and as a worldwide economic force. Our economic future is being manipulated by extreme ideologues in Texas, Iowa, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina……states who mostly have very little in common with California economically, politically, or ideologically; states that refuse to acknowledge modern demographic realities and yearn for the days of the Old South, many of whom desperately waiting for the South to “rise again.”   [Read more…]

Hold the Pickles, Hold the Lettuce; Add $7 Billion in Tax Dollars for Fast Food Workers’ Subsidies

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By Doug Porter

Lorena Gonzalez may have moved on to the State Assembly, but she’s still got time to bang the drum for low wage workers.  She’s headlining a press conference at the Mission Valley location of McDonalds corporate offices today to talk about a University of California Berkeley study detailing the cost to California taxpayers for fast food companies’ low wages and lack of benefits.

Fast food is a $200 billion a year industry, with many workers earning minimum wage or just above it forced to rely on public assistance programs to provide for their families and afford healthcare for their children. Nationally, the median wage for cooks, cashiers and crew at fast-food restaurants is just $8.94 an hour.

Contrary to the claims of companies like McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s, fast food jobs are not a stepping-stone to better opportunities or held mostly by young people.  The National Employment Law Project reports that managerial positions make up just 2.2% of fast food jobs. The median age in the industry is 28, according to the group, and more than a quarter of workers are raising at least one child.

INSIDE: Filner admits to guilt on 3 charges in plea bargain deal   [Read more…]

Marti Emerald on ‘The People’s District’ of City Heights

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By City Councilwoman Marti Emerald

I feel proud every time I attend a neighborhood meeting, a community coffee, or an event in City Heights. After all, it is the most vibrant, diverse, and innovative Council District in the city. My staff and I refer to District Nine as “the People’s District.”

Diversity isn’t a catchphrase in my district; it’s a way of life. Walk around City Heights for a day and you’re likely to see Cambodian immigrants eating at Ethiopian restaurants, African Americans buying the best Vietnamese Pho in town, or Latino, Rwandan, Burundi and Congolese kids playing baseball at a community park. More than 30 languages are spoken here, and dedicated organizations, such as the Great Lakes Union for Development, support the hundreds of refugee families that have settled in City Heights.

Diversity in City Heights goes beyond the residents. The community is made up of 16 separate neighborhoods – many with their own community groups – making each part of the community unique. Instead of one voice trying to speak for the diverse needs of the community, City Heights has numerous organizations constantly searching for creative ways to make the area the best it can be.
  [Read more…]

The Chinese in the Dunbar/Spring of My Times

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By Ernie McCray

My old stomping grounds,
the turf upon which I grew,
from 1938 to 1962
on the north side of Tucson,
is now a historic neighborhood.
Such a designation makes me feel good,
validated, appreciated
for just being.
The neighborhood is now called Dunbar/Spring
and I remember well
many of the things
that, over the years,
have given it its historical authenticity
as it was home
to so much black history.
My history.   [Read more…]

Point Loma Dems Meet and Greet David Alvarez

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By Judi Curry

A “meet and greet”  was held Sunday  in Pt. Loma to introduce Point Loma Democrats and friends to David Alvarez, a candidate running for the position of Mayor of San Diego.

It was the first time that many of the attendees had ever met Mr. Alvarez, and there was great interest from the over 50 people in attendance in what he had to say, how he said it, and what he sees for the future of San Diego. He gave willingly of his time, and spent almost three hours answering every question asked.  It is interesting to note that at no time did he evade the questions, and from this observation was honest and sincere in what he said.

He stated that his leadership goal as the mayor of San Diego is to continue the community action that is so badly needed in San Diego.  He said that he would put the “neighborhoods” first and work on infrastructure so badly needed in our city today.   [Read more…]

Multinational Corporations Seek to Rule Over San Diego’s Barrio Logan Community

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“We may be poor, brown folk but we have organized to take on the state, city and industry numerous times and have won. This may be our biggest battle yet, a battle for our very existence.”

By Doug Porter

For thirty years, San Diego’s Barrio Logan community existed without a community plan. There was no law, no order when it came to land use and zoning.  Having prospered in chaos for so many years, nearby maritime industries are threatening the region’s economy unless they get their way.

Historically speaking, in the minds of the downtown-centric elites any regulatory structure was simply not necessary in Barrio Logan. After all, the community was just chock full of “them”, as in people of color, mostly of Mexican heritage.  Children were exposed to toxic emissions, the nearby waters used to dump heavy metals and other pollutants, and the robber barons of the shipbuilding industry looked away.   [Read more…]

Is San Diego in a New York State of Mind? De Blasio and Alvarez Give Us Hope

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By Jim Miller

After my last column on the perils of Carl Luna’s characterization of progressives supporting David Alvarez as the “Tea Party of the Left” I got a response from Luna when the article was reposted at the OB Rag where he stood by his analogy “that those in the Democratic camp who hold that there are ‘true’ progressives (aka those they agree with) and DINOS are in danger of going down the Tea Party rabbit hole—like the Occupy Wall Street people run wild. (Except that Tea Party has 90 seats in Congress—OWS zero).”

This was prefaced by a reminder that, “the point of elections is to win.”

My response to this was to observe that, “The problem with the Tea Party argument is false equivalency. To equate the Tea Party (a movement based on factually challenged assumptions across the board combined with a good dose of racism funded by the Koch brothers) with progressives worried about the growing influence of the rich and corporations inside the Democratic Party is sloppy thinking at best. It implies a kind of moral equivalency, which is frankly offensive.   [Read more…]

Are Utility Companies Out to Destroy Solar’s ‘Rooftop Revolution’?

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In California, customers who install solar systems and battery arrays are finding themselves cut off from grid

By Jon Queally/Common Dreams

In the nation’s largest state, California, the major utility companies are trying to limit growth.

Of rooftop solar panels, that is.

According to reporting by Bloomberg, the state’s three largest utilities—Edison International, PG&E Corp. and Sempra Energy—are “putting up hurdles” to homeowners who have installed sun-powered energy systems, especially those with “battery backups wired to solar panels,” in order to slow the spread of what has become a threat to their dominant business model.   [Read more…]

Echoed Knock

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By Sunny Rey

I too still wonder
about the rooms of my soul
Where do the doors lead
and how about those deserted roads too?
What are my private intentions?
What is it that fills spaces between cells?   [Read more…]

6 Right-Wing Lies About Food Stamps

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The right-wing echo chamber has vilified food stamp users with a variety of absurd lies and myths. As a result, people will go hungry.

By Dave Johnson / Alternet

In the middle of the worst economy and job situation in decades Republicans in the House voted to cut $40 billion from food stamps. This will kick 3.8 million people out of the program by 2014, 3 million more each year after.

Republicans in Congress have blocked every effort to help the economy. They block bills to create jobs by fixing our crumbling infrastructure because it’s “government spending.” At the same time, right-wing outlets (accurately) complain that the economy is so weak that millions are hurting. And then the same Republicans who blocked efforts to help the economy cut assistance to the people who are hurting, claiming they don’t really need the help. No shame.   [Read more…]

Want to Try Herbal Remedies? 4 Ways to Make Sure You Don’t Get Ripped Off (Or Worse)

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Herbal products can work wonders, but sometimes the products on the shelf are overpriced, ineffective or even unsafe.

By Jill Richardson / AlterNet

You’re not feeling well, so you head to the grocery store for some herbal tea. Or perhaps you pass a booth at your farmers’ market, full of herbal concoctions to cure every ill. Thanks to a 1994 law known as DSHEA (the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act), herbal products cannot promise to actually cure you of anything. Rather, they offer to support or promote a specific body part or function.

To most of us, it’s all the same, whether a tea, tincture or capsule promises to help cure our cold or “support upper respiratory health and immune function.” You see the promise, you buy the product, but does it work? Did you get ripped off?   [Read more…]

Do These Chemicals Make Me Look Fat?

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By David Epstein / ProPublica

Everyone knows Americans are fat and getting fatter, and everyone thinks they know why: more eating and less moving.

But the “big two” factors may not be the whole story. Consider this: Animals have been getting fatter too. The National Pet Obesity Survey recently reported that more than 50 percent of cats and dogs — that’s more than 80 million pets — are overweight or obese. Pets have gotten so plump that there’s now a National Pet Obesity Awareness Day. (It was Wednesday.) Lap dogs and comatose cats aren’t alone in the fat animal kingdom. Animals in strictly controlled research laboratories that have enforced the same diet and lifestyle for decades are also ballooning.   [Read more…]

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