San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Sex In San Diego: Why Fewer Teens Getting to Third Base is Big News in Election 2012

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By Camira PowellPolicymic

If you believe comprehensive sex education can actually make a difference in how kids think about sex, the CDC has the numbers to back you up. A recent study conducted by the organization reveals that the percentage of teens engaging in oral sex has decreased between 2002 and 2010. This trend is accompanied by a decrease in vaginal intercourse among teens, and the lowest teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. in 40 years.

As much as these numbers are cause for celebration, the fight for adequate sex education in schools in lieu of abstinence-only education has not been given any thought this election season. When first elected to office, the Obama administration provided more funds to programs that took an evidence-based approach to teaching sex and health education. Evidence-based programs give students the facts about things like sexual intercourse, STIs and pregnancy prevention using contraception. However, with the passing of his Affordable Care Act, Obama is now backing conservative abstinence-only programs in public secondary schools. Romney, on the other hand, has remained mum on the issue in recent months, though he has publicly supported abstinence-only sex education in the past.   [Read more…]

San Diego for Free: Museum of Photographic Arts

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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.

Balboa Park is known as the crown jewel of San Diego.  Continuing this analogy, the many museums located in the park would have to be the rubies, sapphires, and emeralds that make the crown shine in splendor.  Most of these museums are free to visit for San Diego County residents each Tuesday, on a rotating basis.  The full schedule for the Resdents Free Tuesdays program can be found at http

The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is free on the second Tuesday of each month.  My first visit to MOPA was for a mayoral debate about environmental issues that was held on Earth Day (April 22) earlier this year.  The auditorium in the building was lovely, but I had been looking forward to a return visit to view the exhibits.
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The Starting Line — Occupy goes after Monsanto, GMOs; San Diego demonstration slated for Monday

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Yesterday a dozen activists calling themselves the Genetic Crimes Unit (GCU) shut down shipping and receiving access points at Monsanto’s Oxnard, California seed distribution center. Although nine members of the group were arrested in the non-violent protest, the protesters effectively shut down the distribution of genetically engineered (GMO) seeds for a day.

The group blocked all three shipping and receiving entrances to the Monsanto facility, using flashy theatrics including a car with a giant “fish-corn” on top of it and a 6-foot high jail cell holding an individual dressed as Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant.

Monsanto is the largest producer of GMO seeds and is being called out for their genetic crimes by a network called Occupy Monsanto. Wednesday’s protest, according to a statement released by the group, is the beginning of a series of over 65 different autonomous actions that officially start on September 17, commemorating the anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Supporters of Proposition 37, led by Women of Occupy San Diego, have announced a rally and demonstration in support of the initiative, which would require that labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). The group will meet up at the offices of Canvass for a Cause, located at 3705 10th Avenue, at 4 pm on Monday, September 17th   [Read more…]

The Back Story about the ‘Innocence of Muslims’, the death of four Americans and shameless candidate Mitt Romney

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Let’s start at the beginning of this one, shall we? The U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three others died yesterday over what amounts to a home video made by a bigoted California real-estate developer. An angry mob attacked the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Before all the particulars were in (and breaking a self imposed embargo on political attacks on September 11th) the Republican nominee issued a factually incorrect statement denouncing the Obama administration.

So let’s start with the video/film. It’s an amateurish production called “Innocence of Muslims”, produced by a self-described Israeli Jew and California developer named Sam Bacile. Until recently, the video seemed destined to languish in the dust bins of right-wing theocratic books stores; it had been screened exactly once, to a mostly empty theater in Los Angeles. (Eds Note: Turns out that the full length feature that the trailer promoted never existed)

“Innocence” depicts the Islamic religion as a “cancer”, Muslims in general as immoral and gratuitously violent, and the prophet Mohammed variously sleeping with women, talking about killing children and referring to a donkey as “the first Muslim animal.” It also strongly suggests that the founder of that religion was a pedophile.

There are breaking developments on this story, come on inside to catch up…   [Read more…]

The Starting Line — It’s taps for the ‘Losers’ at North County Times after UT-SD’s Manchester takes over paper

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The Big Story on the local news scene was The Local News Scene yesterday as word oozed out during the morning that UT-San Diego publisher Doug Manchester had purchased the North County Times newspaper. Rumors about the sale reached a crescendo on Monday, as the San Diego Business Journal ran with an article about the sale and stood behind their story, even as UT-SD CEO John Lynch issued a statement saying that no deal had been reached.

The purchase price for the NCTimes was reported to be just short of $12 million. That outlay bought print-media dominance for UT-San Diego in the northern tier of San Diego County, much of which is made of up of affluent sub-divisions with desirable demographics for advertisers. Employees at the paper were invited to re-apply for their jobs starting Monday, even though actual transfer of ownership will not occur until October 1st.

The “Dougchester” assured everybody at a company gathering yesterday afternoon that the new ownership would be keeping the “winners”, even as he bragged about Mission Valley’s newest foray into video, waving a smart-phone showing UT-TV around in front of 150 grim faced employees. Actual operation details coming out of the merger have yet to be decided including whether or not the newspaper will continue to be published as a separate entity.

One thing that the UT-SD publisher was unequivocal about was that the editorial polices of the NCTimes would be reflecting his philosophy, which of late has consisted of increasingly desperate attacks on anything not Republican.
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Romney: “I pay all the taxes that are legally required, not a dollar more.”

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What Mitt fails to say is that most of the money he makes is funneled through offshore shell corporations in no tax jurisdictions so that no taxes are legally required at all. We have written before about how easy it is to set up an offshore shell corporaration linked to a bank account in the Cayman Islands, the Seychelles, Bermuda or a whole slew of other no tax jurisdictions. When money is made by a shell corporation in these places no taxes are legally required.

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The Wreckage that Mayor Jerry Sanders Leaves Behind

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“Sanders said another savings in the works will come from using managed competition to lower the cost of city employees performing jobs that private companies can do for less. One such job is residential trash services. San Diego city employees are paid to collect trash. Most other California cities contract with a private company and residents pay for their own trash services.

“We don’t have to have government employees mow the laws in our parks. We don’t have to have government employees pick up trash,” Sanders said. Mayor Jerry Sanders reviews his legacy at La Jolla luncheon La Jolla Light 9/11/12   [Read more…]

The Myth of the Filibuster-Proof Democratic Senate

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Republicans have magically, mystically turned 72 days into two full years.

We’ve heard it over and over and over again. Mitch McConnell has gleefully used it as a cudgel. Congressional Republicans typically can’t wait to get their mugs on camera to tell America just how inept Congressional Democrats are in order to aid their case that they should be put back in power. After all, Democrats couldn’t get anything done even with a 60 vote, filibuster-proof majority in the United States Senate during the first two years of the Obama administration.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – NY Times 9/11 Revelation: Bush had even more warnings about Al Qaeda

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According to a report published in New York Times today, President George W, Bush received numerous intelligence reports well in advance of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, but failed to react to them based on advice from neo-conservative Pentagon advisers.

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Proposition 33: A Corporation’s Abuse of the Citizen’s Initiative System

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If you ever needed a case study in how one rich individual can buy a law that favors his auto insurance business while screwing consumers, Proposition 33 would fit the bill perfectly. It’s such a bad apple that other insurance companies, not exactly known for their pro-consumer attitudes when it comes to making money, won’t even support this law. Not that they wouldn’t benefit, but they’re embarrassed by its audacity.

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Romney-Ryan asks: Are you better off?

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By Kit-Bacon Gressitt

I’m sitting in a kayak, staring at a beautiful seascape along the Downeast coast of Maine, wondering if the fabulous seaweed-adorned rock before me might metamorphous into something equally fabulous and more inclined toward sharing sea stories.

That would be cool. But the rock doesn’t sprout even one magical toe. I contemplate the inanimate thing, still hopeful, and lo and behold the Romney-Ryan campaign visage comes to mind!

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The Starting Line – Desperate Days at the UT-San Diego: Will the Tag ‘Mayberry by the Sea’ Stick?

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The malaise of the local media scene took a turn for the worse over the weekend as Publisher “Papa Doug” Manchester and his sidekick John Lynch took a hard right hand turn and drove the local daily newspaper off the cliff of delusional insanity. Today we’ll bring you up to date with the latest developments in what is quickly becoming a national embarrassment for San Diego, share some local reactions to his latest jaw-dropping moves and contemplate the underlying causes of the Mission Valley media mogul’s machinations.

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