San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Darrell Issa’s Witch Hunt

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Darrell Issa has brought more national political shame to San Diego than even “Enron by the Sea.”

By Andy Cohen

San Diego’s had a pretty rough couple of weeks. But really, the region’s politically related misery extends well beyond the recent mayoral morass. If we’re being honest with ourselves, our troubles began well before Bob Filner took the oath of office at City Hall.

For the last three-plus years Darrell Issa has brought continuous ill repute to the entire San Diego region. His crusade to bring down the Obama White House with unfounded charges of corruption would make Joe McCarthy and his disciples Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, Steve King and Rand Paul proud. Except that Ted Cruz is actually thrilled with the Joe McCarthy comparisons. These are the kinds of sick people that pass for Republican “leaders” these days.

Issa is the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a position of great power that comes with investigative and subpoena authority. It is an authority that is supposed to be used to improve government and to investigate corruption and potentially dangerous policies. There is a legitimate and important role for this committee to play in our national governance.   [Read more…]

Maria on the Wings of Time

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By Ernie McCray

Prologue:  I’ve had so many of what one might call moments in my life. Come from behind victories on playing courts and fields. Ovations on stage. Rich surprises. This list goes on and on. And now I find myself in a wonderful moment in time, enjoying a relationship with an incredible woman when, at one time, such a reality seemed unlikely for me. This is a poem I wrote for her 70th birthday party. Hey, I have a 70 year old foxy squeeze! How cool is that?

Feeling my way around
in a new place in life.
Had been to some dark places
had lost a wife,
my soul-mate, my queen,
in a haze, wondering and wandering,
how to move on to other things.
Looking at the world with tears in my eyes.
Breathing out.
Breathing in…   [Read more…]

Faulconer and Gloria Demand Mayor’s Resignation, Reassure City Business Will Continue as Usual

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Civic leaders insist city cannot function with Filner as mayor, call for investigation into Balboa Park traffic mitigation.

In a hastily arranged press conference, City Council President Todd Gloria and Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer reiterated their demands that Mayor Bob Filner resign “for the good of the city.”

“While a shroud of shame hangs over the mayor’s office, the city council and our city employees are here working for you,” said Gloria in his opening remarks.

“A bipartisan supermajority of the city council, including Council President Gloria and myself, has called on Mayor Filner to resign so the cloud of uncertainty he has created can be lifted from San Diego. But unfortunately the mayor has decided that his own ego is more important than the reputation of our city, leaving San Diegans to wonder if anything can be accomplished at City Hall under his leadership,” said Faulconer.   [Read more…]

Blackfish: The Documentary Asking Questions SeaWorld Doesn’t Want You to Think About

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By Doug Porter

By the time the documentary film Blackfish opens on Friday (Hillcrest/ Landmark Theatres) the SeaWorld public relations campaign should be reaching a crescendo. The way I look at it, any film that provokes this kind of backlash prior to its release is worth checking out.

The questions raised in the movie, which builds a narrative about the captivity of orcas (also known as killer whales) around the death in 2010 of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, cut deeply into the wholesome public image that the mega chain of water /oceanariums /marine mammal parks seeks to promote.

While spokespeople with SeaWorld refused to cooperate in any way with Gabriela Cowperthwaite during filming, the resulting film is, by all accounts (including SeaWorld’s) a disturbing look at the living conditions of the nearly half of the world’s orcas in captivity owned by the company.   [Read more…]

Message from the San Diego Free Press

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At the San Diego Free Press we believe in a specific code of ethics and honesty and know that you, our readers, expect nothing less. We failed to provide that with the publication of the article Dissin’ Hizzoner – Are We in for a Decade of Republicanism Delivered by Democrats in Name Only? The article, published […]

The Widening Gyre: The Filner Follies and the Ugly Real Politik

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The “political circus” is in town for a long engagement and it is already clear that we have plenty of clowns lining up to perform in it.

By Jim Miller

Last week, in the wake of the first round of accusations of sexual harassment and Filner’s apology for “not fully respecting” and “intimidating” women I noted that: “Thus, the real winners here are the same old downtown insiders who are busy popping champagne corks and laughing at Filner’s implosion and cheering the welcome help they are getting from unlikely sources.”

Nothing has happened to change this assessment.

Some Filner supporters I have spoken to and who commented on my piece chastised me for being too pessimistic but, sadly, I don’t think I am.   [Read more…]

Adventures in Comic-Conlandia: A Nerds-eye View Day Three

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By Brent E. Beltrán

The third full day of San Diego Comic-Con International started off the same as the first three, with me walking from my neighborhood of Barrio Logan. It’s only 1.2 miles from my apartment to the Convention Center but after trekking all over Comic-Con for a few days it can feel light years away.

I’m not really one to map out my day at Comic-Con. Usually when I do something comes up (usually long lines) and I stray from the plan. On Saturday, I had three plans: get an autograph of former UFC lightweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, take tons of photos of cosplayers all dressed up showing off their costumes and walk a bit on 5th Ave. to check out what’s going on outside the Convention Center.

For some strange reason I ended up doing all of that. And I got to hang out a bit with my buddy Tri Huynh, his girlfriend Kelly Smith and her son Ty. Perhaps it was the Universes smiling on me.   [Read more…]

Diversionary Theatre’s Freedom of Speech: One Woman’s Cross Country Journey to Find Out What’s Going On

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By Alejandra Enciso Guzmán

An artist in the complete sense, Eliza Jane Schneider can do practically anything on stage-from singing, to playing an instrument, to doing a 180 from one character to the next. Showcasing her many talents, Schneider opened Freedom of Speech on July 11th at the Diversionary Theatre. It is a Moxie Theatre presentation, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.

This one woman show is based on a true story. Eliza Jane decided to take a road trip across the United States…in a used ambulance. The goal? Talk to different people and hear their story in order to get information for her UCLA thesis project. “Everything in this play is actually something somebody said…it started in college…I thought it would take me about a month…I am still on the road” explained the actress during a UT-TV interview. What started in school escalated to a 34 character show that has received multiple awards. It has played all over the country, including Broadway.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: Who Put the Police Department in Charge of the Press?

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By Tom Hunter

Son of a bitch.

The reporters in this town owe their credentials to the San Diego Police Department.  That’s right.  A friend with 30 years of credentials with the SDPD got the comment last time he renewed his Press Pass – “I haven’t heard one complaint about you”.

This is the kind of reporters we allow in San Diego?  The ones who haven’t ruffled a feather in 30 years?  Specifically a political feather or a law enforcement feather.  Who put the police department over the press?   [Read more…]

What Do Buddy and I Have in Common?

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By Judi Curry

Buddy is my 12 year old Golden Retriever. Twelve years old – in doggie years – makes him older than me! Hooray! And, Buddy was born on my birthday. We have “celebrated” our birthdays together for years now – he get’s people food, and I get to watch him eat it.

At my age – younger than Buddy – I have many aches and pains. The broken shoulder and trigger fingers don’t help. Buddy also has many aches and pains, particularly in the hip area of his large body. He weighs in at about 115 pounds; and is large for a dog regardless of his weight.

I go to physical therapy twice a week and I have a reflexology massage – see my previous article on Mary’s Therapies – every two weeks. So what, you say?. Buddy now also has physical therapy at least once a week — and this week, he had it twice.

Come on – physical therapy for an animal! Let me introduce you to the best person Buddy has met in many years.   [Read more…]

Tired of Hate: A Commentary on the Treatment of Homeless in Ocean Beach

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By Jack Hamlin

It is happening again. Three years ago we were able to come together as a community to try and begin to resolve the issues surrounding homelessness and the poor in Ocean Beach. I am not so naïve as to look back on that time as “Halcyon Days of Kumbaya,” in O.B. Rather it was a time during which we began to look for solutions, instead of blame and division. But we all have become complacent and are returning to the awful time of “Please Don’t Feed Our Bums.”

It was a subtle trip and that is probably why we have been caught unaware. But the haters just wait for the right opportunity to bring their vitriol back to the surface and make us a divided community once again. Much of it, however, lays firmly at the feet of the San Diego Police Department and its treatment of the homeless and poor.   [Read more…]

Tío Emilio and the Secrets of the Ancestors: Chapter 9 — Family Talk

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“They’re talking about Tío Emilio. I think they want him to come and cure me of my evil ways.” Vincent

By Richard Juarez

“Too bad he couldn’t stay longer,” mused Tío Pancho. “I thought I was going to be able to spend a little time with him today.”

I stood on the porch next to Tío Pancho as we watched my father drive off in Tata’s car with Tata and Tío Emilio. They were taking him to the bus station, so he could get back to L.A.

“That was a long way to go to turn around and go right back,” Tía Paula said as she walked up the porch steps and stood beside us. She lived only a few blocks away, so she had made it over here this morning in time to have breakfast with Nana, Tata, and Tío Emilio. My mother insisted on us doing most of the usual Saturday morning household chores before we came over, so we didn’t get there until about eleven o’clock, right when they were getting ready to leave. Tío Pancho arrived just after we did.   [Read more…]

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