San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Darrell Issa’s Conspiracy Claims Debunked on National TV

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 “It’s why five people in this town take Darrell Issa seriously”

By Doug Porter

San Diego’s own Congressman Darrell Issa is making headlines nationally this morning, but not in the way that the local daily paper would like you to believe.

Today’s UT-San Diego has a Page Two story up featuring a picture featuring Issa holding up a piece of paper, with a caption that says “interviews with employees at the Cincinnati IRS office indicate they were directed by Washington to target conservative groups.”

The north county’s answer to Joe McCarthy went on CNN Sunday morning to tout his latest ‘evidence’, which turned out to be highly edited selections from staff interviews with IRS agents. Politically correspondent Cindy Crowley called Issa’s bluff, actually reading the documents and pointing out that they proved nothing.   [Read more…]

No, NBC News, We Don’t Know That Bradley Manning “Stole” Diplomatic Cables & Military Documents

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By  / Firedoglake / The Dissenter

As the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning is about to begin at Fort Meade, Maryland some US media outlets are rediscovering his case and posting “rundowns” so Americans can understand what will be happening at the trial.

NBC News’ “rundown” stated:

This much is undisputed: Manning, while serving in Iraq, stole U.S. diplomatic cables and other military documents. While on leave in Maryland in 2010, he began sending them to WikiLeaks.

That it is “undisputed” that he “stole” cables or military documents could not be more false. He has not pled guilty to any of the five specifications or counts he faces, which allege that he stole, purloined or knowingly converted the information.   [Read more…]

Ending Bikelash: Bicycling Surges Nationwide As Urbanites Support Bike Lanes and Bike-Sharing Programs

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Studies show that bike lanes make streets safer for everyone and are better for business.

By Jay Walljasper / AlterNet 

Former New York mayor Ed Koch envisioned bicycles as vehicles for the future. In 1980, he created experimental bike lanes on 6th and 7th avenues in Manhattan where riders were protected from speeding traffic by asphalt barriers. It was unlike anything most Americans had ever seen, and some people roared their disapproval. Within weeks, the bike lanes were gone.

Twenty-seven years later, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and his transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan saw the growing ranks of bicyclists on the streets as a key component of 21st-century transportation, and began building protected bike lanes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. They had studied the success of similar projects in Copenhagen and the Netherlands, noting how to make projects more efficient and aesthetically pleasing.

These “green lanes” and pedestrian plazas were an immediate hit, but they ignited a noisy reaction from a small group of well-connected people unhappy about projects in their neighborhoods, including Bloomberg’s former transportation commissioner Iris Weinshall (who happens to be married to Senator Chuck Schumer). Lawsuits were filed while New York Post and Daily News columnists thundered about the inconvenience to motorists and supposed dangers to pedestrians. New York magazine declared the situation a “Bikelash” on its cover.   [Read more…]

Excavating Golden Hill: The Golden Hill Fountain Grotto

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By Jim Miller

For my last Golden Hill piece, I turned to the wisdom of my 9 year-old son Walter, who, in answer to my query about what he liked best about his neighborhood said, “It’s old and grungy, not fake like the suburbs.”  And of all his favorite places in the neighborhood, he chose the Golden Hill Fountain Grotto because, “It’s a ruin.  You can tell it used to be all fancy and now it’s falling apart with graffiti and stuff.  It’s like something they’d find if we became an extinct species.”

Walt also likes the surrounding Golden Hill Gateway Park because, “it’s where the wilderness meets the city.  There are animals that live there and secret paths and canyons that make you forget where you are.”  So off we went to investigate.   [Read more…]

Family of Un-armed Marine Killed by Orange County Sheriff Settles for $4.4 Million

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Do you recall the case of the unarmed Marine killed by an Orange County sheriff right in front of his two daughters? We do as we ran articles on the incident.

Marine Sgt Manuel Loggins Jr was shot to death as he sat in his SUV along with his daughters by Deputy Darren Sandberg back on February 7, 2012.

His family just settled a federal lawsuit against Orange County for $4.4 million. Loggins had been stationed at Camp Pendleton.
  [Read more…]

Politics Trumped History on Memorial Day in San Diego

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Press covers ceremony honoring death of paid mercenaries, traditional military sacrifice honors ignored

By Fran Zimmerman

Now that Memorial Day 2013  is over, let’s record how the red/blue politics of the day trumped history and tradition and every lemming newspaper in this Navy town went along.

Apparently the Los Angeles Times, U-T San Diego, San Diego Reader and La Jolla Light forgot that San Diego is home to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, final resting place for more than 115,000 servicemembers and their families from all branches of the armed forces and site of the largest Memorial Day commemoration in the city.

Each of those newspapers carried stories with photographs, some prominent on Page One, of ceremonies in La Jolla at the “Mt. Soledad Veterans’ Memorial” underneath the controversial hilltop Christian cross. Not one journal mentioned that the Supreme Court has upheld the U.S. 9th District Court finding that this towering cross represents an illegal and unconstitutional expression of religion in a public place.

And not one mentioned that there is no consecrated ground there.
  [Read more…]

Tío Emilio and the Secrets of the Ancestors: Chapter 2 — A Warning

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“Your parents tried to create a protective shield around you to keep you isolated from the trouble going on around you in this neighborhood.”  Tío Marcos

 

By Richard Juarez

Bam!

The door slammed behind me. She almost hit me with it, but I didn’t care. She wanted me out of the house, and I was glad to get out of there. She had been crying all day, just like yesterday and the day before, crying and yelling. It seemed like it went on and on nonstop since two cops and the Coke delivery guy showed up. The three of them gave me a long lecture in front of my parents. The Coke guy said he would not press charges, but the cops said it would be on my record anyway, in case I ever did anything like that again.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Pho Convoy

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Pho Convoy
4648 Convoy St., #101-B
San Diego, CA 92111
858-277-0133

By Judi Curry

When I reviewed “Saigon” a few weeks ago, I likened that restaurant to one that my husband and I liked many years ago. That restaurant was “Pho Convoy”.  The “gang of five” that were part of the “Saigon” group suggested that we try Pho Convoy and make a comparison of the two.

Last night we set out to do just that.  Three of us are journalists for the San Diego Free Press – Anna, Rich, and myself, along with George and Mary who were visiting from D.C.   [Read more…]

Bye Bye Bachmann: Reliving 10 of the Tea Party Darling’s Craziest Gaffes

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By Janet Allon / Alternet

Minnesota far-right Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann has declared she will not run for a fifth term in 2014, and is making the dubious claim that her decision has nothing to do with that ongoing ethics probe into her campaign fund-raising in the 2012 race, or her falling poll numbers. No, she is a newfound convert to term limits.

Right.

This is about as believable as some of the gaffes, misstatements, anti-science positions, conspiracy theories, not to mention wobbly grasp of both American history and world geography, she displayed on her ill-fated quest for the 2012 Republican nomination. She even managed to make Texas Governor Rick Perry look both sane and slightly enlightened.

Let’s relive some of the self-proclaimed Tea Party leaders more colorful, unforgettable gaffes, the first of which may be her assertion that she never made any gaffes.   [Read more…]

Downtown Doublecross Foiled– Mayor Filner Calls Out Hoteliers Attempt to Sabotage Tourism Deal -UPDATED

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‘The City of San Diego will not be held hostage”

By Doug Porter

Once again we’re seeing headlines proclaiming Mayor Filner to be responsible for causing the San Diego Tourism Authority to close down. 

We’re hearing about how people’s jobs will be affected by a “squabble”.

We’re being told via the Daily Fishwrap editorial about a “crippling blow to a major pillar of the San Diego economy.”

Hogwash.

Mayor Filner has demanded that the tourism agency live up to its end of a bargain struck back in April that, among other things, directed 5 percent of Tourism Marketing District (TMD) revenue to the upcoming celebration of Balboa Park’s centennial. That deal came after several months of very public and ugly struggle.

UPDATE: TMD agreed to fund Balboa Park celebration; Mayor agreed to release funds. I’m not sure whether Balboa Park got the funding they expected. TMD officials claimed revenue shortfall. (I predict a One Exclamation Point! press release from Filner shortly)   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: Artist Mario Acevedo Reflects on Golden Hill

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By Brent E. Beltrán

Mario “Torero” Acevedo is one of those crazy cats that you look at and instantly think this guy is an artist. He rocks the cool shades with a stylin’ hat, neatly trimmed white beard and occasional outlandish, paint splattered threads.

But he’s more than just a crazy artist. He’s San Diego history. He is Chicano history even though he’s from Peru. And since he came to San Diego in 1960 he’s been an integral part of Golden Hill’s history.

Torero has a long history of being an artivist in San Diego. From the founding of Chicano Park and the Centro Cultural de la Raza to the Community Arts Center and Sol Arts Gallery to Reincarnation, the Art Station and more. He was instrumental in leading the effort to change the name of Crosby St. in Logan to Cesar Chavez Parkway. His artwork can be seen all over San Diego.   [Read more…]

Eating 25th Street in Golden Hill – Part III: Dinner

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By Emma Goldman

My eyes adjusted to the darkness of the dimly lit bar from the bright early evening sunshine outside as my husband and I crossed the foyer of the Turf Supper Club. Immediately, my stomach started growling as the aroma of charring steak wafted out from the inner room that holds a large grill table capped by a giant copper hood.

We shinnied up to the bar that dominates the right side of the front room and each ordered a Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, contemplating our dining options along with the eclectic displays of horse racing pictures, Dia de los Muertos skeletons, Christmas lights, and gleaming, jewel-like bottles of liquor.

A longtime denizen of Golden Hill’s 25th Street corridor, the Turf Club (as we’ve always called it) skirts the line between dive and trendy.   [Read more…]

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