San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Pharmacist Kickbacks Put California Patient Health at Risk

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By Hollaine Hopkins/California Progress Report

Health care cost containment is a critical issue facing every participant in the health care system. Efforts to contain costs, however, appear to have given rise to dangerous financial arrangements between health insurers and pharmacists that may be jeopardizing the health of California patients.

A loophole in California law allows your health insurer to give a financial kickback to your pharmacist every time the pharmacist switches your medication to older, cheaper, non-chemically equivalent drugs from those originally prescribed by your doctor, even without your knowledge.

Switching patients to non-chemically equivalent drugs is a potentially dangerous practice known as “therapeutic substitution.” Unlike switching patients to identical generic drugs – which simply function as a cheaper alternative – pharmacists who make therapeutic substitutions are subjecting patients to drugs with different ingredients and dosages, different release mechanisms, and different side effects and complications.   [Read more…]

Red Scare: The GOP and the Politics of Fear

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From prison realignment to Benghazi, fringe conspiracy theories and fearmongering remain the tools of choice in California Republicans’ quest to regain power.

By Andy Cohen

“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them,” said the fictional President Shepherd of his would be Republican opponent Bob Rumson. “And whatever your particular problem is I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: Making you afraid of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it.”

It was true back then in 1995 when Aaron Sorkin brought “The American President” to the screen, and God bless them, the GOP is still playing to type today. And we’re not just talking about national Republicans like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and the NRA who are petrified that at any moment Nancy Pelosi is going to come charging through their doors and confiscate their Buck knives.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – UT-San Diego Publisher ‘Papa’ Doug Manchester’s Overly Generous Campaign Contributions

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By Doug Porter

Some people are more equal than others. And when it comes to fat cats like developer and newspaper publisher Doug Manchester, that ‘more equal’ status would seem to mean above the law.

Today’s revelation about Manchester’s misdeeds comes from the Sunlight Foundation, which has scoured campaign finance records nationwide and identified hard money donors who have donated to federal candidates, political parties and political committees in the last election cycle,

“Papa” Doug Manchester made the list of hard money donors of those who appear to have exceeded the legal limit of $70,800 to parties and committees in the 2012 cycle. His donations of $83,426 to committees and $10,000 to candidates all went to Republicans, of course.

I doubt he’s lost any sleep over breaking this ‘little people’s’ law. That’s why he’s got lawyers.   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: All They Will Call You Will Be Deportees…No Longer

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An Interview with Author Tim Z. Hernandez

By Brent E. Beltrán

On occasion I feel the need to write about issues outside of the comfy confines of Barrio Logan and San Diego. This is one of those times.

Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,

Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;

You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane,

All they will call you will be “deportees”

     – Woody Guthrie, Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

 The first time I heard those lines was in 1998. It was in Spanish on the CD Siempre He Estado Aquí by Teatro Campesino co-founder and Fresno residents Agustín Lira and his partner of many years Patricia Wells Solórzano. At the time I didn’t know that it was originally written by famed folk singer/activist Woody Guthrie. Later on that year I heard it in English by the Latin super group Los Super 7.

Since then I’ve heard Woody sing it and fellow folk traveller and activist icon Pete Seeger as well as other performers such as Bruce Springsteen, Concrete Blonde and recent Grammy award winners Quetzal. Many more have recorded and performed this classic piece of American music.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Rama Thai

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Rama Thai
327 Fourth Avenue
San Diego, CA. 92101  (Between J & K St.) 
Phone: (619) 501-THAI (8424)

By Judi Curry

What a week this has been.  Out of town guests have prompted me to go out to eat at places I have wanted to try for a long time.  Then comes along a new date – yeah! From an online site, no less, and Mike suggested that we go to one of his favorite Thai restaurants downtown.

So rather than have to fight to find a parking place, he picked me up at my home in OB, drove to his condo near the Santa Fe train station, and then we WALKED the mile or so to the RAMA THAI. (And yes, we walked back, too!)
  [Read more…]

What Kind of Person Steals a Kid’s Bike Trailer?

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Help appreciated locating our reporter John P Anderson’s stolen family bicycles!

Stolen morning of 5/13/2013 in North Park.

Editor’s Note: John P Anderson writes the SD for Free column for SDFP, reports on biking news and covers community events for the San Diego Free Press. He’s been taking a break from writing for the past couple of weeks, since he and his wife just had a new baby.

This morning two bicycles and a children’s bicycle trailer were stolen from my house in North Park (near 30th Street & University Avenue).  The items were stolen between 9:30 AM and 11:15 AM on Monday, March 13, 2013.

Inside are detailed descriptions of the bicycles and trailer – if you could share this story via social media and keep an eye out for these item it would be greatly appreciated.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – The Meanies at the IRS and Other Republicanesque Themes du Jour

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By Doug Porter 

It’s the new Benghazi.

It’s ‘Plan B’, in case Congressman Darrell Issa’s crew can’t make the case for impeachment. They’re even willing to tie Presidents Obama and Nixon together.

I’m talking about the emerging ‘scandal’ that the Internal Revenue Service made life difficult for Tea Party type groups seeking to obtain tax exempt status. The story gets top billing in today’s UT-San Diego, slightly overshadowing coverage of Senator John McCain’s call for a special panel to investigate last year’s attack on the US diplomatic compound/CIA station in Libya.

Documents obtained by various media outlets over the past few days, including the Washington Post, the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal, tell a story about the behind the scene processes at the IRS in how it defined “social welfare groups” following the US Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizen’s United ruling.   [Read more…]

The Golden Hill Vibe: Over Forty Years of Grit, Grace, and Gentrification

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By Jim Miller

This week I move from interviewing a recent arrival to Golden Hill to a longtime resident.

Peter Zschiesche and his wife Pam Clark have lived in the Greater Golden Hill community since 1971 and have seen the neighborhood change quite a bit over the years. Peter was involved in anti-war movement politics in the early seventies and later became a leader in the Machinists Union and played a key part in the strikes at NASSCO in the 1980s. He is the Founding Director of the Employee Rights Center, which began in 1999, and he currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Trustees for the San Diego Community College District. Thus most of Peter’s adult life has been spent fighting for social justice in the service of workers, students, immigrants, and others in Golden Hill and San Diego at large.   [Read more…]

Eating 25th Street in Golden Hill

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Part I: Breakfast

By Emma Goldman

“MOM! I’m hungryyyyy!”

It was 9:00 AM on a Sunday morning. I was still in my Wonder Woman jammies finishing my coffee.

I looked at my nine year-old who was lounging on our couch watching cartoons, clutching his belly, and said: “Golden Hill Café or Los Reyes?

Eggs, bacon, and hash browns? Or a breakfast burrito? Or donuts and pastries at Panchitas? A Wonchi with bacon at Krakatoa? Or we could wait for lunch and get a slice of pizza at Luigi’s or a falafel wrap at the Kabob House….”

You see, we are surrounded by food places where we live in Golden Hill. And more places have been opening up to keep things interesting. Later on, as my son was devouring his massive egg, bacon, potato, and cheese burrito from one of our taco stands, I decided to do a three part series on eating in Golden Hill with a special focus on 25th Street, as that has the greatest concentration of places to go in this historic neighborhood.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Peohe’s (On Mothers Day)

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Peohe’s
1201  First Street
Coronado, CA 92118
619-437-4474

By Judi Curry

Who goes out to eat on Mother’s Day?  And at a restaurant that crowded regardless if it is a holiday or not?

Two of my daughters wanted to take me out for a Mother’s Day brunch.  (My middle daughter had to work today.) Stephanie really enjoys Eggs Benedict and had never been to Peohe’s, so she and Michele decided that would be a good place to go.

The view is fantastic; the surroundings beautiful, and every time Michele has had a meal there it was delightful.    [Read more…]

Should We Have Saved AIG and Other Wall Street Banks? (Con’t)

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Frank Thomas: The Rescue of AIG in 2008 was the Right Decision, Con’t.

Part 3 of a multipart series,  John will give his “NO” answer in Part 4. Part 2 can be found here 

by Frank Thomas and John Lawrence

Was The Bailout A Success?

Up to the financial crisis in 2008, AIG’s very poor risk management and operational complexity overwhelmed prudent and strictly enforced risk controls. By year-end 2008, AIG had at least a $1.8 trillion exposure in derivative liabilities from 35,000 to 45,000 separate contracts.

As an insurer for 100,000 entities from retirement plans to major firms, AIG was drowning in mortgage-linked derivatives and gambling the entire house on a single pile of hedge fund-like casino debt. AIG was in effect insuring the banks against the default of their borrowers.

Thus, it was in essence using CDS derivatives to speculate on the value and credit risk of the underlying mortgaged assets.   [Read more…]

Field of View: Golden Hill

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By Annie Lane

Among other amenities, the historic Golden Hill neighborhood boasts a community garden on Russ Boulevard, which was started in 2004 and now has 26 plots tended to by individual gardeners. There’s also the 25th Street Musical Bridge, a piece of public art hidden in plain sight that can be found where 25th Street crosses over the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway, or SR-94.

Designed by artist Roman de Salvo and funded by a $39,000 grant from the City of San Diego Arts and Culture program, the Musical Bridge is a series of chromatic bells that plays Crab Carillon when struck with a pipe or stick while walking the length of the bridge.

But various works of art can be found in nearly every direction of Golden Hill, from the brightly painted flower shops to the rich and extravagant architecture — much of which predates the 1900s. Even with its steep inclines, wandering around Golden Hill is worth every minute.   [Read more…]

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