San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Tío Emilio and the Secrets of the Ancestors: Chapter 18 — The Secret Life of Plants

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The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. John Muir

By Richard Juarez

I was so excited about this trip to the mountains that I arrived early, and waited for Tony and Don Emilio. When we were finally ready to go, I jumped into the back seat of Tata’s car. Tony sat up front. We took Interstate 8 out to Cuyamaca State Park. It was a nice drive, watching the scenery change from the dry, mostly golden colors of the lower elevation brush, to the greens and browns of oaks and pines, and reddish browns of manzanitas at the higher elevations.   [Read more…]

There’s Hope for You Yet

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By Sara Kent / Two Cathedrals

One of the reasons often cited by those leaving the Republican Party is its rigidity.

Some have discussed their frustrations with this inflexibility in addition to bullying, top-down mandates, and outdated values.

Republicans have won some elections by forcing members to join them in endorsements and policies, lock-step, but that restrictive model is failing. Silencing dissenting voices is not only un-American, its effectiveness is limited in the long term. Most people don’t like being told what to do, how to feel, and what to believe.   [Read more…]

Prison Shocker: U.S. Imprisons Three Times as Many Black People as South Africa During Apartheid

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Even Congressional Republicans were a bit disturbed by that stat

By Rod Bastanmehr / AlterNet

The United States imprisons almost three times as many Black people than were jailed in South Africa during Apartheid, Rep. Spencer Bachus said Thursday during a subcommittee oversight hearing on the Federal Bureau of Prisons. While games of comparison are rarely productive, the American prison industrial complex has seen cries of racism for years now. And for once, both Democrats and Republicans are up in arms over the shocking state of affairs and say they are in favor of overhauling a system that many say is broken and biased.

Bachus reported that the U.S. prison population hovered around 24,000 for most of the 1900s until suddenly, in the 1980s, the country saw a staggering rise in the inmate population to nearly a quarter million. The main causes? the War on Drugs that began in the 1980s under then-President Ronald Reagan, mandatory sentencing and three-strikes laws, all of which, most agree, disproportionately affect minorities.   [Read more…]

Stagnation in San Diego – CPI Asks “What Economic Recovery?”

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By Doug Porter

The Center for Policy Initiatives (CPI) released its annual number crunching report for San Diego yesterday based on 2012 Census data, and picture painted within isn’t pretty.

Despite media reports about how “things are getting better”, CPI’s data point to the reality that the economic recovery has passed by most households and employees in the San Diego region.

“People have less money to spend, even those working full-time,” said CPI Research Director Peter Brownell in a press release. “The wealthiest saw their incomes increase in 2012, but when we hear talk of economic recovery, it hasn’t reached most people in our region.”   [Read more…]

The Birds, the Bees and the Wolfpack, Part III

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He was pushed.  And yes, he jumped

 by Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Here’s a quick reminder about our former Mayor: there is no dispute that Bob Filner’s interpersonal habits, short fuse, and juvenile impulse control in the presence of women were blatant failings.  The problem is, these failings were embedded in a unique individual whose political agenda was like long-awaited manna to the voters who elected him.

Tension, arguments, and righteous proclamations have erupted during these past months among San Diegans (mostly Democrats) genuinely torn between condemning a “progressive” political leader for his personal defects and giving up their hopes for a new, more enlightened social and economic agenda for San Diego — a no-win dilemma.   [Read more…]

How Factory Farms May Be Killing Us

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A report from the CDC reveals the grave dangers of antibiotic resistance and says factory-farmed animals are a big contributor

By Tara Lohan / AlterNet 

What would our healthcare system look like if we couldn’t perform surgeries, administer chemotherapy, replace joints, treat diabetes? It would be the end of modern medicine as we know it. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control warns we could be headed toward that very future.

Antibiotics revolutionized medicine in the 1940s, saving millions of lives over the last 70 years. But during that time bacteria have evolved to become resistant to certain antibiotics. The more antibiotics we use, the quicker resistance builds up. This has deadly repercussions.   [Read more…]

Barrio Art Jam and Barrio Film Festival Set to Go Off this Weekend

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Barrio Logan at the Epicenter of Grassroots Arts & Culture Movement

By Brent E. Beltrán

Word is out that Barrio Logan is a thriving, happening community that treasures its art and culture. Not a week goes by without some type of artistic happening taking place within this predominantly Mexican neighborhood.

Places like Chicano Park, Voz Alta, The Roots Factory, Glashaus, Bread & Salt and even the placita at Mercado del Barrio feature a variety of arts and culture events that showcase the desire to create and present. This weekend is no different.

The first annual Barrio Art Jam and the second annual Barrio Film Fest are going down simultaneously. The neighborhood may be relatively small but there is plenty of artistic space for both of these grassroots ventures to thrive.   [Read more…]

Congressional Countdown for a Meltdown in Progress as Republicans Draw a Line in the Sand Over ObamaCare

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By Doug Porter

As part of their ongoing drive to drive their party’s plummeting polling numbers off a cliff, Congressional Republicans have declared that now is the time to engineer a shutdown of the Federal government.

Two separate showdowns are slated for the coming weeks, following a revolt by Tea Party Representatives last week which left the “reasonable” voices in the GOP on the side on the road.  Coming Friday will be a House vote for a continuing resolution for funding to allow government operations to proceed. Three weeks down the road a legislative showdown is expected over a bill allowing the debt ceiling to rise.

As things stand today both actions will likely result in GOP sponsored majority votes in the House, rejection by the Democratic-led Senate of odious portions of those legislative packages and a probable shutdown of the government.   [Read more…]

Fletcher vs Alvarez – One Consultant’s View

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By Larry Remer

This is an edited version of an email I wrote to a very close friend who is supporting Nathan Fletcher for Mayor explaining why I’ve chosen to support David Alvarez. I appreciate the opportunity to share my thinking with the broader Progressive community.

I like Nathan Fletcher. In fact, I like him a lot. He’s VERY SMART. (David Alvarez is also VERY SMART.) And he’s very dynamic.

I am also really glad that Nathan has become a Democrat. We should welcome him with open arms. As crazy as the Republican Party has become, it’s amazing that there aren’t more defections.   [Read more…]

Bossing the Poor Around

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How about a bill banning soda sales at the House of Representatives’ cafeterias?

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I spent a few months on food stamps this year. As a single woman in San Diego, I qualified for $70 a month — less than a dollar per meal. But I’m lucky and I’m unusual because many of my friends are farmers and gardeners and I know how to forage wild foods.

Determined to stretch my $70 a month budget to somehow cover a healthy diet, I harvested wild cactus pads and edible weeds from my neighbors’ yards. Friends gave me fruit from their trees. A farmer told me to take whatever I needed from his stand at the farmers’ market. Then I used the food stamps to acquire foods I couldn’t get for free: milk, oatmeal, beans, and so on. All organic.

It worked, thanks to great effort. I cooked my own meals, made my own bread, and even my own jam, yogurt, and sauerkraut. If I worked for a company or in an office, instead of working from home as my own boss, I doubt I would have had time to do this. And how many people, when they fall on hard times, already possess the knowledge and tools to grow, forage, and cook their own food like I did?   [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: Unveiling the ‘Madonna-Whore’ Complex

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How one of the most common, yet misunderstood, male sexual dysfunctions can rip relationships apart.

By Jody Gummow / Alternet

“Where such men love they have no desire, and where they desire they cannot love,” Sigmund Freud wrote back in 1925. The founding father of psychoanalysis coined the Madonna-whore complex – a condition whereby men view women as either saintly, virgin Madonnas or sexual “whores.”

In essence, the effect of Madonna-whore on a relationship is an inability of the man to maintain sexual arousal within a committed, loving partnership. In his psyche he categorizes women into two groups: women he can admire and women he finds sexually attractive; the former he loves, the latter he devalues.   [Read more…]

Governor Jerry Brown Surprises Us Again

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By Randy Shaw/Beyond Chron

Last week, California Governor Jerry Brown proudly announced his support for two critical pieces of legislation: a raise in the state minimum wage to $10 in 2016, and the issuance of drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants. This followed a legislative session in which Brown’s top priority was revising state education funding so as to redirect additional money to low-income schools.

Is this the same Jerry Brown who was supposed to “triangulate” between Democrats and Republicans and who liked the perception of him as the only adult in the room? While key bills still await his signature, Brown has already presided over one of the most progressive legislative sessions in state history. Brown retains his stubbornness on prison and state fiscal issues, but in his strong support for addressing income inequality he has surprised Californians again.

Jerry Brown has been defying expectations since he began his political career, so I suppose nothing should surprise us about his second tenure as Governor. But having come into office in January 2011 acting as if he were barely associated with the Democratic Party, few could foresee that Brown would help enact some of the Democrats’ most critical priorities.   [Read more…]

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