San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Tío Emilio and the Secrets of the Ancestors: Chapter 19 — Calling Eagles

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“I have this friend, a Native American, and he showed me a place up here once, quite a few years back, where eagles nest. Although it has been a while, I think I should still be able to find it. It’s hard to lose a mountain.” Liz

By Richard Juarez

We drove north from Paso Picacho past the turnoff for Stonewall Mine, and past the Boy Scout summer camp. I had gone to that summer camp a few years back. I really liked walking around there under the pine trees and out in the meadow where we played games, and hiking up Stonewall Peak and Cuyamaca Peak. We continued driving, past Cuyamaca Lake and then into the little town of Julian. Although mining was the major reason for the town’s early existence, it had become mostly a tourist attraction, a mountain get-away with little shops selling antiques, gemstones, arts and crafts, and its well-known apple pies and apple cider. While on our camping trips, my parents liked to take us into Julian to walk around the town, and sometimes get an apple pie and some cider to take back to camp or to take home.   [Read more…]

Passionate Debate Ends with Alvarez Getting the Backing of SD Democrats for Equality

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Story and Photos by Eva Posner

The San Diego Democrats for Equality endorsed City Councilmember David Alvarez last night, furthering his momentum toward an improbable-but-not-impossible victory against Nathan Fletcher and Kevin Faulconer in the November 19 special election to replace Bob Filner as mayor of San Diego.

The result is interesting, given the amount of infighting that has taken place among local Democrats since Alvarez entered the race– placing himself opposite former Republican Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher for the title of Democratic front-runner.   [Read more…]

PRIVACY? What Privacy?

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By Judi Curry

Do you really think that you have privacy in your everyday doings? Do you really believe that no one knows when you are doing something you shouldn’t be doing? Do you really think that the good deeds you are doing are not noticed by someone?  Do you have any awareness of just how “unprivate” your life is?  Not only is “big brother” watching you, but so are his sisters and brothers, and it is a little unnerving.

A few examples:  Those of you that have read my articles in the past know that I have been experimenting with “on-line” dating for the past year.  I can’t say that all of the experiences that I have had have been bad, but a goodly number gave me fodder for the articles I have written for the SDFP and OBRag.  I have been very careful not to meet men at my home; and have met men at places where I am known by the workers in case I run into any problems. (I haven’t.)   [Read more…]

The War on Pensions: Workers Lose, Wall Street Wins

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By Doug Porter

Three recent news stories and one older account tell the tale of what’s really going on behind the current public sector pension “crisis” in the United States.

To make a long story short: there are good pension systems and bad pension systems.  Some are broke and need to be fixed. Some aren’t. But all public sector pension plans are under attack as part of the conservative goal of reducing government and the greed of Wall Street hedge fund managers seeking to get their hands on a huge pot of money.

Frying Pan News published an account this week about a group of pension policy advocates here in California working on a until now secret ballot initiative that would cut State and local government employees off at the knees, retirement wise.

At Salon.com we learn about the for Enron executive whose been working hard to craft the argument that defined pension benefit programs need to be scrapped no matter what shape they’re in.

At Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi takes a sharp tongued look at the profits being made by corporate ‘management’ of pension plans.

Inside: Pigs Fly Over Ocean Beach

  [Read more…]

Holding America’s Economy Hostage

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Our Road to Elysium

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Robert Reich’s new film Inequality for All exposes America’s growing wealth disparities.

By  / OtherWords.org

The Hollywood blockbuster film, Elysium, depicts a polarized Los Angeles in the year 2154. The vast majority of inhabitants live in overpopulated and polluted slums, toiling in grinding poverty.

Meanwhile, a wealthy elite live on Elysium, a space station modeled after a luxurious neighborhood in Malibu, California. Life expectancy on Elysium is three times longer than on the sweltering toxic earth, thanks to advanced medical technologies and a pristine environment.

Matt Damon stars as the character Max DeCosta, who is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation at his factory job. With five days to live, he must get to Elysium and climb into a “med bay,” a scanner that cures cancers and other life-threatening ailments.

Elysium is a cautionary tale, a dystopian vision of the kinds of extremes that might result if America’s growing economic inequality were to continue unabated.   [Read more…]

Sweet Tweets, Cold Cash and Barrio Logan on San Diego’s Mayoral Campaign Trail

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By Doug Porter

 Tuesday night’s vote by the San Diego Democratic Central Committee was a clear victory for backers of Councilman David Alvarez’s mayoral aspirations.  If for no other reason, the endorsement was important in raising the councilman’s name recognition, both for the headlines it produced and the cash that will now flow from Democratic Party coffers boosting his candidacy.

Others with skin in this game reacted in differing ways.

A much heralded spat between United Food and Commercial Workers President Mickey Kasparian (who supports Alvarez) and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (Nathan Fletcher’s booster), appears to have passed.  After all, the vote is over, and the party did vote to support whichever of those candidates wins the November 19th primary.   [Read more…]

Gentle Fathers in the Wild

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By Ernie McCray

I hadn’t camped since Nancy died in ’09. But there I was, this past weekend, laying my sleeping bag down on the ground, to spend some time in the wilderness, near Julian, for two days and two nights with some of the most delightful people one could ever meet in life. It would be an understatement to define those moments as nice.

I mean we were living good, just kicking back, underneath a sky that was black as it could be considering that there was a full moon at play, eating meals off the grill, over burning logs we needed to feel cozy in the evening chill.

It had been a while but nothing had changed since the days when Nancy and I and our offspring would get out into the woods. Like back then, no sooner than I stepped out of my car my spiritual nature rose to the fore. At first it was a reaction to the sheer majesty of it all: the emerging colors of autumn all around me in the oak and cedar and pine trees, the knowing that I was surrounded by mule deer and wild turkeys with bobcats and mountain lions watching the whole scene, the fresh air. How could my soul not feel moved when I was, by the very environment I found myself in, feeling such a connection to nature’s wonders?   [Read more…]

How America’s 401(k) Revolution Rewarded the Rich and Turned the Rest of Us Into Big Losers

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A failed public policy experiment is tearing the country apart

By Lynn Stuart Parramore / AlterNet

It was a bad idea from the get-go, but new research shows that America’s 401(k) revolution has left us even worse off than we thought. Here’s a look at how we got into this mess, and where it will take us if we don’t wise up.

The Dumbest Retirement Policy in the World

Thirty years ago, as laissez-faire fanaticism took hold of America, misguided policy-makers decided that do-it-yourself retirement plans, otherwise known as 401(k)s, would magically secure our financial future in the face of gyrating markets, economic crises, unpredictable life events, stagnant wages and rampant job insecurity. It was an extraordinary shift in thinking about public policy: Instead of having predictable streams of income from traditional pensions, ordinary people with little financial expertise would suddenly transform themselves into financial gurus, putting money aside and managing complicated investments in tax-deferred accounts.   [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: Asexuality 101 — The invisible orientation

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By ApostleOfCarlin / Daily Kos

I’ll come out of my closet and state up front that this is a topic close to my heart, because I am asexual. No, I don’t reproduce through mitosis. I simply don’t experience sexual attraction to the same sex or to the opposite sex.

I have not spotted much in the way of discussion … on asexuality, though I’m glad to see there’s a lot of support here for the LGBT* community in general. I thought I’d be helpful and post a little introduction to asexuality, also known as the Fourth Orientation.
  [Read more…]

Alvarez Gets The Nod from Democratic Party as Mayoral Election Takes Shape

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By Doug Porter

San Diego’s Democratic Central Committee met last night to consider the question of endorsing a candidate in the upcoming special mayoral contest.

Former City Attorney Mike Aguirre, civic activist Bruce Coons, former assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and City Councilman David Alvarez all pled their case behind closed doors in Kearny Mesa.

The Dems could have voted not to endorse at this point in the process. Or they could have endorsed more than one candidate. But either move would have effectively left the party’s ability to raise unlimited funds at the sidelines for the Nov 19th primary.

So in the end City Councilman David Alvarez won the endorsement with a 63-40 40-24 vote over Nathan Fletcher. In the event of a runoff after the special election, the committee agreed to back whichever Democrat advances, whether or not it’s Alvarez.   [Read more…]

Lobbyists Keep Nursing Homes Healthy, Disabled Patients Not So Much

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By Raul Carranza

At first blush, campaign finance reform and the rights of the disabled appear to be two unrelated issues. However, a deeper look reveals why money in politics affects our most vulnerable citizens.

In 1999, the United States Supreme Court handed down a historic decision in the form of Olmstead v. L.C.. The case involved two women, known as L.C and E.W., who were diagnosed with mental illness and retardation. They had been living in a Georgia state psychiatric facility until their doctors deemed them fit to be integrated back into the community.

However, the state of Georgia already had a long waiting list and very few community placement opportunities. As a result, L.C and E.W. were forced to stay institutionalized for years, despite being having received clearance from their doctors to leave the institutional setting.   [Read more…]

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