San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Is College Really Worth It?

by

Many PhDs Can’t Find Jobs

By John Lawrence

Former Secretary of Education, William Bennett, has written a book, Is College Worth It?  Evidently even education experts are starting to question the value of obtaining a college education especially if it means taking on a mountain of debt, and there is no guarantee that once graduated there will even be a job there waiting so that payments on that debt can even begin.

If not, the college graduate faces delinquency, default and penalties that can add greatly to the original debt making it all but insurmountable and one that will follow the individual for the rest of his or her life.

There seems to be a myth that a college education is part of the American dream and that not having acquired one makes one a loser. However, consider this. Some of the greatest contributors to society and some of the richest people never graduated from college.   [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: Pentagon Study Finds 26,000 Military Sexual Assaults Last Year, Over 70 Sex Crimes Per Day

by

Editor: The following is a transcript of Amy Goodman’s program on Democracy Now from yesterday, May 8, that aired highlights from Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on military sexual assaults . We also include the video – see below.

Democracy Now!

Anu Bhagwati, executive director and co-founder of Service Women’s Action Network, says this about the Pentagon report:

“The numbers are outrageous, and I think we’ve reached a tipping point. The American public is furious.”

NERMEEN SHAIKH: A shocking new report by the Pentagon has found that 70 sexual assaults may be taking place within the U.S. military every day. The report estimated there were 26,000 sex crimes committed in 2012, a jump of 37 percent since 2010. Most of the incidents were never reported.

The Pentagon study was published just two days after the head of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office was arrested for sexual assault for allegedly groping a woman in a Virginia parking lot on Sunday. The Air Force has removed Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski from his post.

At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York questioned Air Force Secretary Michael Donley about sexual assault in the military.   [Read more…]

Rep. Peters ‘Sequesters’ His Own Pay; Donates it to Feed Seniors In Need

by

“The rules Congress imposes on others should apply to us too”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today (Tuesday) Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) applied the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration to his own paycheck, stating that “any rules Congress imposes on federal employees and all Americans ought to apply to us, too.” He will take eight percent of his monthly salary, which equates to about $1,300 per month, and donate it to the Senior Community Center of San Diego to supplement meals for at-risk seniors. The Senior Community Centers has had to cut services to seniors, many of whom are veterans, due to funding losses from the sequester.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – The President is Doomed: Darrell Issa’s Benghazasm

by

By Doug Porter

Well here it is folks. This is the day we’ve all been waiting for. Congressman Darrell Issa’s going to blow the lid off the foreign policy scandal that’s been festering for over six months now.

Representative Steve King of Iowa, perhaps best known for his comparison of immigrants and dogs, says:

“I believe that it’s a lot bigger than Watergate, and if you link Watergate and Iran-Contra together and multiply it times maybe 10 or so, you’re going to get in the zone where Benghazi is,”   [Read more…]

Joint-use Fields and the Sidewalks Where Sexy Streets End

by

By Beryl Forman

Where there is a lack of public park space in a neighborhood, as is the case in San Diego, often a solution is to convert a school field into a joint-use field. This allows a park to remain open to the public after school hours. In the City of San Diego, the our Park & Recreation Department and the San Diego Unified School District have created legal agreements to establish joint-use fields.

Unfortunately, that is only half the solution. What is lacking from many of these joint-use parks is the ability to function as a public park. Take for example Wilson Middle School in City Heights. The entrance to the school is in on Orange Ave, at the corner of 38th Street. It once faced El Cajon Boulevard, but the structure was reversed during a period of re-developing buildings to become earthquake proof. This left El Cajon Boulevard with an expansive fence line and no available access (because the door remains locked) to the school and the park. In fact, there is only one entrance on Orange Ave, which is difficult to find and limits access to residents living north of El Cajon Boulevard.   [Read more…]

There Are Some Things Too Difficult to Believe

by

By Judi Curry

I am absolutely amazed at two stories that hit the news within the past 24 hours.  I don’t even know which one to start with first.  Maybe the ludicrous should go first:

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals has decided that men may begin to purchase VIAGRA – don’t you think the word “VIAGRA” should be in erect letters? – directly from them, with a prescription, of course, because – are you ready for this? – men are embarrassed to take their prescription to a pharmacist.  After all, the pharmacist knows what the prescription is for, and to save the man from the embarrassment he can now buy it without anyone knowing he has that little blue pill in his pocket.

Before commenting further on this travesty, let’s skip to the next horrifying news to hit today.

Amazon.com is selling a shooting target mannequin named “The Ex”, a large-breasted woman who bleeds when shot. It is manufactured by Zombie Industries, a company that was featured at the NRA convention last weekend.   [Read more…]

The Obama Approach to the Presidency

by

Liberal fantasies about Obama’s power to bend intransigent Republicans in Congress to his will are not helping.

by Andy Cohen

President Obama has come under fire recently.  Which is not surprising given the blatant partisanship of Republicans in Congress.  It’s a matter of course that the Fox News’, Red States and World Net Dailies of the world would be quick to pile on Obama as a “failure.”  But what is surprising is that this time the fire is of the “friendly” variety, coming from more liberal bloggers and opinion writers.  The Senate’s failure to pass the Manchin-Toomey gun background checks bill, the uproar of criticism toward Obama headed toward a fever pitch.

The cavalcade began with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and her piercing commentary about how it’s Obama’s job “to get them (Congress) to behave.”  The liberal doubters—nay, Progressive doubters—took that as the green light to pile on, and the avalanche had begun.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Dougie Manchester’s Minions Twerking the Night Away

by

By Doug Porter

‘What the hell?’ you’re probably thinking, how did he come up with that headline?

 I was just reading the UT-San Diego’s editorial page today, something not recommended for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

Leading the inane parade of profoundly partisan digestational by-products today is another in this week’s ObamaScare is coming missives.  We’re being schooled this week on “the broken promises that President Barack Obama used to sell the Affordable Care Act”.

Did you know that the President and his liberal/socialist cabal are going to take away your health insurance right after they grab your guns? It must be true; look what happened in Massachusetts when essentially the same plan was enacted…   [Read more…]

The New Arms Race? 3-D Printed Guns and the Power of the NRA

by

Will the Dawn of the WikiWeapon Threaten the NRA’s Sugar Daddy, Gun Manufacturers?

By Anna Daniels

The gun debate is about to going to get even more interesting. A video was just released of a 3-D printed gun, the Liberator, successfully firing a .380 caliber bullet. The gun, almost completely constructed of plastic, exploded into pieces however when a higher charge rifle cartridge was used.

The Liberator isn’t quite ready yet for prime time–staving off tyranny here at home, standing ground against kids with Skittles and bringing more blood and mayhem to our streets and homes. It’s efficacy is as yet unclear for suicidal purposes.

But the Liberator is big. This video captures the Liberator’s promise of something so big that it deserves a big heroic musical score, images of bombers in flight and a tumescent sun rise. “Fucking-A!”   [Read more…]

Readers Write: My Take on the Gun Debate

by

Eds Note: This was sent to us as a comment on John Lawrence’s piece Two Year Old Girl Shot and Killed by Five Year Old Brother Wielding ‘My First Gun’.  It was on the long side for a comment, so, with the author’s permission, we are publishing it here.

By Paul Broadway

I know that a young child was killed. I hold the parents accountable, that being said, I know the gun control issue is a divisive and polarizing issue in America. I believe that this divisiveness and polarity is due to the fact that our country has a “Gun Culture” that is based in our laws and traditions. I also believe that the gun violence in America is directly associated with our business, media, and political system and not the product of the actual guns that are available to the American people.

The reason that I believe this?

Let’s take a look at the National Rifle Association. The NRA was once an honorable organization that trained youth organizations and police departments in firearm safety, marksmanship, and responsible gun use.

Today, the NRA is a political shill for any private interest that contributes to their organization. I go to the San Diego Police Range on a regular basis to practice my pistol and revolver skills. I don’t see much good the NRA is doing for the citizens of San Diego at the San Diego Police Range.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Fletcher Switches Sides, Gloria Doesn’t. And the Party of NO Keeps on Keeping On

by

By Doug Porter 

It’s getting harder to tell the players without a scorecard in San Diego politics these days. Take a couple of days off from the news babble and the whole landscape might be changed.

Friday night six hundred local Republicans gathered round at the safely white Rancho-Bernardo Inn for their Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. Congressman Darrell Issa regaled them with stories of Benghazi while Rueben Barrales and Puerto Rico’s recently defeated Gov. Luis Fortuno pitched the crowd on the ‘natural tendencies’ of the Latino population.

The whomp whomp of Issa’s figurative Molotov cocktails aimed at the Obama administration (and Hillary’s potential candidacy in 2016) faded into the background quickly on Saturday as Nathan Fletcher, the formerly ‘reasonable’ Republican-turned-independent announced his switch to the Democratic Party.   [Read more…]

The Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation: Striving to Emphasize Community over Corporation

by

By Jim Miller

When we at the San Diego Free Press decided to turn our focus to the community of Golden Hill, one of the first people I thought it would be good to talk to was my friend, neighbor, union brother, and colleague Judd Curran.  Judd and his wife Victoria both teach at Grossmont College, live in Golden Hill, and sit on the board of the Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation Board  and are quite active in the community.  I know Judd and his wife as smart, progressive, compassionate people who want the best for their community.  Thus Judd is uniquely suited to speak to the issues of community identity, gentrification, and the past, present, and future of Golden Hill.    [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry