San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Desde la Logan: Día de los Muertos, We Commemorate Our Dead

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By Brent E. Beltrán

 Every year on November 1st and 2nd we remember our dead. Give them food and things they appreciated while they were alive. We build altars in our homes. We share stories. Remember loved ones, family and friends, heroes and historical figures. We go to gravesites and clean tombstones and markers. Leave cempasúchils (marigolds) and sugar skulls. Maybe a little tequila if they liked a drink in their day. For the children we leave toys and candy.

November 1 is Día de los Inocentes (Day of the Innocents) when deceased children are honored and November 2 is known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) where we pay tribute to adults who have passed away. These dates correspond with the Christian holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Soul’s Day. Though las días de los muertos were coopted by Christianity they are not Christian holidays or celebrations. Their history can be traced back thousands of years to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl.   [Read more…]

AZTLECA, PRESENTE! Spiritual Farewell or Welcome with El Día de Los Muertos Just Around the Corner?

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by Remigia (Remy) Bermúdez

A solemn, indigenous Toltec commemoration of life will be celebrated at 5am at Chicano Park on Saturday, October 27, 2012, for Léon Magallán, widely known as “AZTLECA.” Historic Chicano Park is located in the Barrio Logan community, south of downtown San Diego, under the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, honored with so many colorful murals and surrounded by spiritual light and enchantment. (http://chicano-park.com)

AZTLECA passed away on September 19, 2012. A man of humble means who no matter what was going on in his life or how hard a hand destiny handed him, he was an active staple honoring the Spring Equinox and El Día de Los Muertos at Chicano Park for over 40 years. . Tommie Camarillo of the Chicano Park Steering Committee shared that AZTLECA deserves credit and honor. “He was very humble and yet in all the years, he ceremoniously honored and celebrated the Spring Equinox and El Día de los Muertos at Chicano Park. I highly respect him for that!” stated Camarillo.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line— DeMaio Campaign Tactic Backfires, US Atty Under Investigation as Calls for Resignation Mount

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It all started with “a staff member” from Carl DeMaio’s mayoral campaign leaking an email from U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, who was unhappy with Congressman Bob Filner for lashing out in response to attacks by the City Councilman, who had just re-stated his oft disproved claims about Filner’s pension.

This ‘leak’ was to be yet another salvo in a last ditch campaign to portray Filner as too unreasonable and hostile to be Mayor of San Diego. Instead, it’s blown up in his face. Questions about whether Duffy was in violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts the activities of government employees in partisan political campaigns, are now at the forefront of the controversy.

Now this action by the DeMaio campaign has led to calls for the U.S. Attorney to resign and a review of her actions by Justice Department officials   [Read more…]

Elect Bob Filner Mayor of San Diego

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The 2012 San Diego mayoral race is quite possibly the most important in this city’s history. It is a choice between two very different candidates with two nearly completely divergent visions of what this city’s future looks like.

It is a choice between one candidate who believes government should function merely to facilitate business and corporate interests, and another who believes that government’s job is to represent the best interests of the people.   [Read more…]

Our Readers Write: Earthquakes, Faults, and Misguided Development in San Diego

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by Eleanora Robbins (La Mesa)

Italy isn’t the only place making dumb decisions over earthquake prediction. Here in San Diego, never-ending broken utility lines and stinky sewers are occurring because our local and state government officials have suspended their responsibility for oversight of development on known and suspected faults downtown.

Surprisingly, the City and Port of San Diego actually funded studies of downtown faults but refuse to release them. The reason? They probably don’t want to turn down potential development money and the resulting property taxes. Even non-geologists can see the cracks in the asphalt and cement adjacent to the Navy Broadway Complex and Tailgate Park. Geologists like myself see that the cracks have a distinctive pattern, thereby displaying the traces of some of these unmapped faults.
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Art Seen: Painter Ernest Silva Wants Your Attention

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By Karen Kenyon

The deer in the painting wants help — or is he saying, “are you there? Do you see me?” He’s deep in aqua water, his orange-red antlers like firelight, the house in the background seems no refuge, the slim trees are bare. He looks straight at the viewer.

I recently viewed this painting (Deer, Falls, House) and others by Ernest Silva at Double Break Gallery on 5th Avenue in San Diego. Owners Louis Schmidt and Matt Coors opened their gallery 1 1/2 years ago, and are thrilled to now feature Silva, an artist they have long admired, and who is also their former professor at UCSD (both were in the MFA program in Visual Arts at UCSD).   [Read more…]

Scott Peters for Congress

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On Nov. 6, San Diego voters will have the opportunity to choose between Republican incumbent Congressman Brian Bilbray, or his Democratic challenger, Port Commissioner and former City Council President Scott Peters. The differences between the candidates are stark, and their leadership will no doubt have a profound effect on San Diego’s future.

To us at the OB Rag and San Diego Free Press the choice is an obvious one: Scott Peters.   [Read more…]

Bilbray Skips Out on Scheduled Debate

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With his opponent Brian Bilbray a no show, Scott Peters makes his case to the Ocean Beach Town Council.

Congressional candidates Scott Peters and Brian Bilbray were scheduled to square off in front of the Ocean Beach Town Council last night as a part of the council’s Candidates Forum, but apparently someone forgot to inform Mr. Bilbray. Instead, Democrat Scott Peters held the floor to answer questions from the audience.

It was noted that the council had invited Mr. Bilbray, and that he and his campaign had confirmed that he would attend. No explanation was given for his absence.

“I want to cut costs to save the program,” Peters said when asked about the attack ads by his opponent regarding his stance on Medicare. “Mr. Bilbray has voted to cut benefits and end the program.” He said that savings in Medicare can be achieved by allowing the government to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs, which it currently by law cannot do; by reducing fraud and overbilling; electronic record keeping that will help increase efficiencies; and taking it from “a sick care system to a healthcare system that incentivizes prevention.”   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Balboa Park Trails – Beauty and Exercise in the Heart of San Diego

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Website: See here.
Neighborhood: Balboa Park
Best For: Runners, walkers, hikers, bicyclists, nature lovers
Hours: All day, every day, always free

In, through, and around Balboa Park are a multitude of trails and pathways for biking, running, and walking. The trails offer a wide range of sights and levels of difficulty and are a great way to feel out of the city without having to travel.

There are officially 65 miles of trails in the park, which are outlined in this detailed pdf map. If you haven’t been on the Balboa Park trails before I recommend taking a look at the map before you head out since some of the trails and turns are not clearly marked. You probably won’t get lost if you don’t have your entire route memorized but you may end up going further than you intended.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Voting Rights; Don’t Take Them for Granted

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In case you haven’t noticed, San Diego Free Press has a terrific story up here about local efforts at “Poll Watching” underway via the Election Integrity Project and True The Vote, organizations with connections to the Tea Party movement. Our citizen journalists have been ‘watching the watchers’ over the past few months.

It’s pretty obvious from reading their materials that the underlying idea behind these ‘watchers’ is voter intimidation of certain classes of people that they have deemed to be suspicious. In practice—despite claims to the contrary—this has generally meant people of color, students, and other groups whose voting history runs counter to the conservative cause.

Despite promises from True The Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht earlier this year to recruit and train a million volunteers to watch the polls, the group has fallen far short of that goal. For example, Election Integrity Maryland has only about 200 recruits. Nevada Clean Up the Vote has about 700. And our SDFP observers also report a sharp decline in volunteer participation in local efforts More Inside…

Also: LA Mass Transit Exploring San Diego Link, Encinitas’ Parents Still Threatening Legal Action Over Yoga Classes

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Pacific Beach or “Pee Beach”: Common Sense – You drink a lot, you pee a lot.

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By Sub-Committee

Thank God for the recent rains (and I mean that, God) because Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach after 6 rainless months smelled like a dirty toilet. After the heavenly cleaning, the sidewalks are much brighter and even the scraped off vomit stains are slightly improved, and most of all it cut down on the underlying stench. It is not God’s fault that all the filth washed right down the storm drains 5,4,3,2,1 blocks to dump right on the beautiful sandy beaches of Pacific Beach, it is our fault.

Y’all understand that you shouldn’t really go swimming in the ocean after a rain because of unsanitary microbes, right? I would go so far as to say, don’t be touching the sand in the drain pipe areas either if you know what’s good for you and your children.

Welcome to Pacific Beach, or Pee Beach as we have begun calling it around here.   [Read more…]

Sex In San Diego: 4 Right-Wing Sex Panics Debunked by Reality

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By Sarah Seltzer/Alternet

A new study shows that the HPV vaccine (which gives teenage girls immunization against the sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical and other cancers) does not increase the likelihood of sexual activity. If this seems like common sense, it is–to most people who are not conservatives ready to be whipped into a panicky frenzy about the kids and the sex and in particular, the “promiscuous girls.”   [Read more…]

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