San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Tea Party Wet Dream Forces Shutdown of San Diego’s Miramar Air Show

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“The reign of morons began with the triumph of bullshit.”  Charles Pierce, Esquire Magazine

By Doug Porter

Over the last few days the conservative pundit class has been preaching the message that the government shutdown was much ado about nothing. A ‘slim down’ became the Fox news codeword meant to belittle the ever-growing cumulative effects of the Congressional Republican’s efforts to hold the country hostage.

Word came out this morning that this weekend’s Miramar Air Show, already truncated by sequester mandated cutbacks in military spending, would now be cancelled.  I have no doubt that the local Tea Party set will soon be announcing the closure was personally ordered by President Obama.

  [Read more…]

Outraged? Call Government Shutdown Supporters Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa of San Diego

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We’re in Day 3 of the Federal government shutdown. If you are outraged or upset, how about calling or contacting San Diego’s Congressional members who support the shutdown?

Call Congressmen Darrell Issa and Duncan Hunter, Jr. Both are Republicans and both have consistently voted to shutdown the federal government in efforts to defund the law called the Affordable Care Act.

San Diego’s Democratic Congressional members, Susan Davis, Juan Vargas, and Scott Peters – all have supported the Obama Administration’s efforts to keep the government open.

Here’s contact info on both Darrell Issa and Duncan Hunter.   [Read more…]

“Larry” the Puppy Taught Me How to Deal With Love Lost, and Letting Go

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By Karen Kenyon

A little dog taught me to move forward, and to learn to let go, if necessary, in a more conscious way than I’d experienced before. Since my Sheltie, Katie, died after 11 years, I’d wanted another puppy –the companionship, the walks, the way the little creature could blend with my life, my life style.

On one Saturday before yoga class I decided to visit a well-respected private shelter near where I live. Here dogs are available for adoption, dogs that have previously been abandoned. Here in this shelter they are not put to sleep. But they didn’t have a real home. That’s where I figured I came in.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Special Mayoral Election: Meet the Candidates – Part 1

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The five big name players, in alphabetical order

By Doug Porter

Following the resignation of Bob Filner it seemed for a while like everybody wanted to be Mayor of San Diego. Nearly forty people pulled the paperwork, hinted to the news media or issued press releases proclaiming their willingness to become the top political player in America’s eighth largest city. Now we are down to 11 men (there are no women candidates) who say they want the job.

Political pollsters will tell you that, after the President, most voters identify with the mayor of their city as being the personification of their government.  Loyalty to one’s country trumps civic pride, but not by much–which might explain the passion surrounding the rise and fall of Bob Filner.   [Read more…]

October 2, 1968: 45 Years Ago – the Mexico City Massacre During Olympic Games

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Memorial to those who fell October 2, 1968 in Tlatelolco, Mexico City.by Daniel Hernandez / Intersections

Editor: The following was originally written in 2008.

[Forty-five] years ago today the Mexican government opened fire indiscriminately on a crowd of peaceful protesters at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, killing still-unknown numbers of students, bystanders, and demonstrators. The operation was a brutal smashing of the grassroots movement for social reform that had swept across Mexico and the world in that turbulent year, 1968.

Troops opened fire on protesters in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas - APOctober 2 is a date that forever remains a dark mark on the Mexican calendar and the Mexican psyche. Its significance in the country’s history has been finally recognized with a permanent exhibit and UNAM cultural center at the former foreign relations ministry complex near the plaza. Today there are marches planned by the Comite 68, survivors who are still seeking justice, and by various student and youth groups from the Tlatelolco plaza, to the Zocalo.   [Read more…]

Fletcher, Faulconer, Peters and the Bi-Partisan Shuffle

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By Doug Porter

For better or (mostly) worse our country runs (or doesn’t) on a two party system.

Despite the “everybody knows” wisdom that says partisanship is becoming more extreme, some of San Diego’s politicos aren’t playing that game.

Of course “everybody knows” about Nathan Fletcher, who made the transition from Republican to Independent and then Democratic Mayoral candidate in less than 500 days.

Despite those die hard partisans in both camps who try to make the point that Fletcher’s migration was somehow aberrant, I actually believe him when he says his life experiences led him to make the switch(es).

I’ve personally seen plenty of life long Republicans ditching their party as it lurches towards irrelevancy. And the declining percentage of the electorate willing to associate themselves with the likes of Tony Kvarick (locally) and Michelle Bachman (Nationally) are proof of this trend.   [Read more…]

Travelers on the Street of Dreams

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“My challenge is to finish high school as a teenage Mom”

By Anna Daniels

Once a year Teresa Gunn, artistic director and founder of Street of Dreams, stands before a full house in the City College Saville Theatre and opens the student performance with these words:

We have the highest prison population that we have ever had in the history of the country. At Street of Dreams we are not willing to put another generation of people in prison because we lack the humanity to produce a creative solution. The solution is education and community collaboration. Street of Dreams is part of the solution.

Street of Dreams has been part of that solution since its founding in 1998, when Teresa Gunn recognized that the power of story telling and arts education could provide a path out of poverty and inter-generational incarceration and addiction for young mothers who had found themselves in the juvenile justice system.   [Read more…]

An Informal Economy with Entrepreneurs From Across the Globe Flourishes in City Heights

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By Jim Bliesner

The informal economy forms a major portion of the day to day economic life of most City Heights residents. It is very visible throughout the neighborhood. Frequent and constant “yard sales” appear daily but more often on weekends. Fruit vendors appear at random locations with everything from oranges, mangos, watermelons to fresh boxes of papaya. Soccer games are sites for icy cones, fruit, and in some cases hot food.

Food vendors circle the soccer field. When school lets out at the Adult Education Building the food is ready. Periodically tamale vendors wander down the street, followed by hand built furniture salesmen in big pickup trucks filled with tables and chairs. Rather than a food truck one may find a push cart parked outside the bars at midnight. Garages serve as sewing factories while kitchens cook tamales, various specialty dishes for local restaurants. There are two full blown Nicaraguan restaurants in someone’s living rooms and yard known only to the special invitees and guests.   [Read more…]

Community Meeting Highlights Need for Interpreters

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By Ashley Mates

As California prepares itself for the implementation of Affordable Care Act, millions of California citizens will be entering into the expanded Medi-Cal program. It is estimated that approximately one and five Californians speaks English “less than well”. About 3 million Medi-Cal patients will need language services over the next five years.

At an event held on Friday, September 27, Assemblymember Toni Atkins, who has been a champion for AB 1263, asked the Governor to sign the bill that would immediately accept all available funds to for more medical interpreters.  AB 1263, sponsored by Speaker John Perez, would draw down funds from the Affordable Care Act to create Communi-Cal, a state-wide interpreters program for Medi-Cal patients.   [Read more…]

America Gets What it Deserves

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American Government Hostage Crisis officially begins as Republicans shut down the U.S. government as promised.

By Andy Cohen

Congratulations America! Judging by the results of the 2010 and 2012 Congressional elections that put Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives, you got just exactly what you wanted……and what you deserve.

There really isn’t any other logical conclusion. The government shutdown of 2013, commenced at 9 pm Pacific time last night, was inevitable. It was no secret that a government shutdown was the goal all along since the day John Boehner took the gavel as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It’s not like we weren’t warned……repeatedly.

Congressional Republicans are celebrating today, for they’ve achieved at least half of what they’ve set out to do, and they are a mere two-and-a-half weeks away from achieving their ultimate goal: Completely sabotaging the American economy in its entirety by defaulting on the country’s debt. You see, America must fail for Republicans to succeed.

This is the mission of the “American Taliban:” To destroy our system of governance and institute a system whereby the ultimate power resides in private hands. ENRON FOR PRESIDENT!!!   [Read more…]

Despite Government Shutdown, ObamaCare Starts Today

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Survey says nearly three fourths of the population thinks the GOP’s tactic is a bad idea

By Doug Porter

The crapola has hit the fanola.  Eight hundred thousand Americans are officially furloughed. Another million or so are being asked to come to work without pay.

Why? Because Congress passed a health care law after debating it for 18 months. The President signed the law. The Supreme Court (mostly) upheld the Constitutionality of the law. And now a group of three dozen or so extremists in the House of Representatives say “no way”.   [Read more…]

Las Monthly Ondas October Edition: The Art and Heart of Lucha Libre

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Ruben Torres’ 2nd Annual HeART of LUCHA

By Brent E. Beltrán

Local music and video producer, curator, lucha libre lover and all around cool vato Ruben Torres is organizing his 2nd annual HeART of LUCHA event. It is being billed as the “largest lucha art and culture exhibition in the nation.”

Last year’s inaugural exhibition took place at The Spot Barrio Logan. For the second installment Ruben has taken over the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park where his other art series, HeART of Lotería, took place earlier this year. In addition to these two series he also organizes an annual winter toy and clothing drive for San Diego and Tijuana youth called Love Thy Neighbor (I wrote about it here).   [Read more…]

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