San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Hanging On……and Letting Go

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By Norma Damashek

I took a mindful walk through downtown La Jolla this morning. It was my version of a meditative exercise that’s supposed to smooth your soul and clear your mind. Here’s how it’s done: you put one foot in front of the other in the usual way of walking while you notice what’s around you. First you notice. And then you let it go.

Notice…and let it go.

There are a few things I noticed on my mindful walk……I also noticed that the noticing part of a mindful walk is easy. The letting go part is another story. And I’ve noticed that it’s not just me who has trouble letting go.   [Read more…]

Beats in Peru: A Daily Travelogue Part VIII

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By Mikey Beats

Sunday 6/9/13 Day 8

I awoke and rolled over to find Jenny not there and I about fell in between the two beds we had pushed together. She heard the racket and called up to me to get me up for breakfast and I obliged.

We had our usual continental breakfast of yogurt, granola, quinoa and fresh fruit with a couple cups of Peruvian coffee. We decided that we wanted to go explore more of Cuzco, so shortly after our breakfast we were off.

Our first stop was the Museo de Arte Precolombino which was a history lesson of Peru before the Inca. There were the Nasca, Mochica, Huari and the Chimú, all running the land of Peru before the Inca showed up and built their vast empire.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Museum of Man Tackles the Role of Torture in Post 9/11 America

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The Balboa Park museum presents “Taking a Stand Against Torture,” a discussion of America’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques deployed in the aftermath of 9/11.

By Andy Cohen

Torture has been a part of human behavior since the beginning of time. It is a tool to exert control, dominance over another human being. In the modern era its primary use has been as an interrogation technique—extracting information from enemies.

It is almost universally recognized that torture is a savage practice, the results of which are questionable at best. Psychological experts have determined that there comes a point in a person’s suffering that they will say anything; admit to anything to make the infliction of pain stop. Information extracted under these circumstances, therefore, becomes useless. But that hasn’t stopped the practice.

  [Read more…]

Beats in Peru: A Daily Travelogue Part VII

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By Mikey Beats

San Diego DJ Mikey Beats, and his nurse wife Jenny, decided to take a vacation to Machu Picchu, Peru. For the next few days San Diego Free Press will publish their daily adventures. Read parts I & II, part III, parts IV & IV.5, part V and part VI.

Saturday 6/8/13 Day 7

My alarm went off at 4:30am. We had to pack our bags before we left while getting ready for a monstrous day of hiking. We planned on hiking to The Sun Gate, which was on the far northeastern side of Mach Picchu, and then trek across the whole city to Huayna Pichu.

We got to the restaurant at 5:35am for breakfast and right at 5:40am, the first of many busses started to drop people off. We jumped in line at 5:50am and were off to the races again by 6:00am. We immediately ditched the rest of the pack as we took a left, opposite the ruins and began our ascent to The Sun Gate.   [Read more…]

Grassroots Organizing Succeeds, City Attorney Fails As Filner Budget Approved

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Bus Passes, Library Funding and Arts Programs All Get Funded

By Doug Porter

It’s a new day in San Diego as the priorities of the Filner administration are becoming reality with the passage of the City budget for 2013-2014.

Yesterday the San Diego City Council approved a $2.75 billion budget including a $1.2 billion general fund, which pays for basic services like public safety and recreation centers. Virtually all of Mayor Filner’s proposals were endorsed.

The vote on the overall budget was 7-2, with Councilmen Kevin Faulconer and Scott Sherman opposing.  Faulconer complained about a ‘missed opportunity’ with the budget, objecting to an overall increase of $30 million with no cuts in ‘waste’.  Sherman’s negative vote was prompted, according to news accounts, by his objections to ‘expansion of government’.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: Guilty Until Proven Innocent With DNA Swab

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Editor:  This “Readers Write” opinion by reader Tom Hunter was submitted as a response to the recent US Supreme Court ruling allowing police to collect DNA evidence from people arrested – but not convicted – of serious crimes.

By Tom Hunter

The latest decision from the Supreme Court has opened an old wound that I suffered at the hands of the San Diego Police Department and the George Bailey Detention Center. And the question that I never seem to hear asked is: why is it that you are fingerprinted, photographed and (now) DNA swabbed upon being arrested and not upon being convicted?   [Read more…]

“If They Didn’t Have Bad Luck They’d Have No Luck At All”

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By Judi Curry

Have you ever wondered why some people have “good luck” while others continually have “bad luck”? Have you ever wondered what can be done to change the bad luck to good luck? Four leaf clovers? Horseshoes? Crossed Fingers? Prayers? Good Thoughts?

Let me tell you about a young couple – V. & D. – and their two children – L. and K., that I have been mentoring since they were students at Job Corps in 2003-4. They came to us as individuals; she had had some emotional trauma in her life, he was a former druggie.  (Not uncommon for Job Corps students, because almost all of them are “at risk” students – ages 16-24 – that are unprepared for the future.)

  [Read more…]

Filner vs. Goldsmith – City Hall Feud Escalates in San Diego

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City Attorney’s Stance Threatens Street Repairs, Library Construction, Fire Station

By Doug Porter

Credit goes to UT-San Diego for breaking this morning’s top local story, yet another chapter in the ongoing saga of the feud between Mayor Bob Filner and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. Taking a page from Filner’s standoff with the Tourism Marketing District, the City Attorney is refusing to endorse documentation attesting to the legality of a $35 million bond issue.

…….. INSIDE: Issa’s Bluff Gets Called, Glen Beck and Michael Moore Agree on Something…   [Read more…]

Why the San Diego Free Press Matters

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By Jim Miller

When Doug Porter asked the writers at the San Diego Free Press to share their thoughts about our project during the first anniversary of this site, I remembered the column I wrote upon returning from a trip up to Northern California where I had learned of the death of Alexander Cockburn.

My reflections on his life’s work made me think about what the Free Press should be, and what I believe it has been at its best…   [Read more…]

Beats in Peru: A Daily Travelogue – Part VI

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By Mikey Beats

Friday 6/7/13 Day 6

We awoke to my alarm at 5:00am and I felt much better. After a whole day of feeling sorry for myself, and Jenny nursing me back to life, I was ready. We dressed and went down to the restaurant where they had an excellent spread of breakfast foods.   [Read more…]

Standing Up for Freedom on the Streets of Istanbul, Turkey

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By Burcu Gur

On May 28 2013, a few hundred people gathered at Istanbul’s Gezi Park. They were there to protest the demolition of Taksim’s last remaining public park. The people gathered in the park were mostly environmental activists, leftists, and a few outspoken public figures; artists, musicians, actors-actresses.

They had only one aim: to protect the trees in the park from being cut down …   [Read more…]

Extreme Weather Watch: Two Rare EF5 Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma in May

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By John Lawrence

Two EF5 tornadoes hit the Oklahoma City area in May. The first tornado hit Moore, OK and had winds estimated at over 200 mph reaching a maximum damage width of 1.3 miles. State officials confirmed 24 fatalities due to the twister. The storm injured over 300 others with preliminary damage estimates totaling over $2 billion along its 17 mile, 40 minute path. The twister destroyed two Moore elementary schools, killing seven schoolchildren at Plaza Towers elementary and injuring many others. Moore was hit in 1999 by another EF5, which had the strongest winds ever measured on earth: 302 mph.

  [Read more…]

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