San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

In Praise of the American Worker

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by Lorena Gonzalez (This Labor Day message originally appeared U-T San Diego on August 30, 2012)

As a single mom, on my busiest mornings I struggle to ensure that everyone’s teeth are brushed, breakfast is eaten, lunches are made, the kids get to school on time and I get into work. On those mornings, it’s the barista at the local coffee shop who quickly passes me a hot cup of coffee with plenty of room for milk that makes things a little more bearable. She is my daily reminder that no matter what we do, work connects us all; we depend on one another’s work.

On this Labor Day, let’s recognize the women and men who do the work that keeps America strong.

That’s pretty much all of us. Our work makes the work of others possible. We rely on the teacher to inspire our children. The teacher depends on the bus driver to get the students to class on time, in one piece. The bus driver counts on the mechanic to keep the buses running and safe. The mechanic relies on the mail carrier to deliver the parts at the bus yard. And so on it goes.   [Read more…]

How About Some Soul Power?

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I don’t know why, considering that the party always makes me feel like an extreme outsider, but I thought I’d look in on the Republican Convention. I tuned in just as Clint Eastwood was doing what seemed like a Comedy Club routine, acting like he was listening to an imaginary Barack Obama who was badmouthing Mitt Romney. We were to guess what the Prez said via Clint responding: “He can’t do that to himself. You’re absolutely crazy!” Well, you saw it.

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RNC Convention Ka-Ray-Zee: Where the Insanity meets the Inanity

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You’ll have to click the link and come inside. The politically correct police won’t let this stuff on the front page. So do come in if your feeling a little incorrect today…heh. heh….   [Read more…]

Going Undercover at the GOP’s Voter Vigilante Project to Disrupt the Nov. Election

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The Republican True the Vote project is a well-funded scheme with training sessions for activists across the country. Will it work?

By Steven Rosenfeld / AlterNet

I was nervous getting onto the flight to Denver. Since 2004, I have been a national radio producer, investigative reporter, author and consultant—writing about how elections are won, lost, bungled and improved, with a big focus on voter registration. But I had never snuck into a meeting of right-wing voting vigilantes who are the frontline of a national voter suppression strategy, and where the main speaker was a man whose new book I’d aggressively debunked days before, in an AlterNet article lauded by a leading election law blog and Washington Post.

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Ann Romney Says “We Love Women” while the Republican War against Women Continues

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The Romney campaign is clearly counting on Ann Romney– warm, authentic female person ™ to convince women voters that they should discount their real life experiences and perceptions that conservatives are waging a war on women. It has been a bad week to make that argument. Not only did the Republican National Committee (RNC) express their party platform on abortion–no exceptions, and personhood–beginning at the moment that a sperm fertilizes an egg, but a number of congressional men folk hauled themselves out of the stinking swamp of the conservative id to tell us what they really think about women.   [Read more…]

Generating Photovoltaic Solar Power Close to the End Consumer

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By Frank Thomas

This article is a continuation of the series on PV power generation. Previous articles were Learning from the Cascading Power Failures that Brought Down the Power Grid in India by Deb Severson and Power to the People or Power to the Corporations by John Lawrence.

The evidence is substantial that distributed local PV power plants have the lowest transmission loss and cost as well CO2 pollution footprint of all available energy sources. In Germany, more than 98% of all PV power plants are decentralized.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Technology breakthrough at UT-San Diego allows website to post news before it happens

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Local Public Radio reporter Katie Orr was the first to spot the new technology in use yesterday, but failed to grasp its significance when she tweeted at 2:50 pm about the story up at the UT-San Diego’s website: “Is it me, or is this story confusing? It makes it sound like Romney’s already given his speech, which happens at 7 PST”.  Others, including local scribe Seth Hall, noticed another story posted Thursday morning featuring a photograph and video of lightning in the East County with a headline and lede indicating that the images were captured on Thursday evening.

Of course, what really happened in the first instance was that editors in Mission Valley had jumped the gun, running an Associated Press story written by reporters with access to an advance copy of Romney’s speech.   [Read more…]

Whatever Happened to Downtown Artists? The Experiences of Three Creative Souls Who Survived

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By Jim Bliesner

It is a familiar story to hear about how artists settle in unwanted areas of major cities, occupy unused space, and begin to create excitement and a sense of uniqueness and a creative spirit. Eventually developers arrive to capitalize on the aura. What happens to the artists who were the urban pioneers? I interviewed three artists who are downtown or were there in the past. Their experiences cover a period of twenty or thirty years and provide lessons for artists today.   [Read more…]

BOOK REVIEW: Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey

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By Kit-Bacon Gressitt

Sandman Slim, otherwise known as James Stark, thinks of himself as a monster. But for fans of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim supernatural revenge series, Stark is a beloved monster — half angel, half human, and avenger through and through. And fans will be thrilled with the release this week of the fourth novel in the series, “Devil Said Bang.”
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Theater Review: An Iliad – Surely this was, is happening now

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By Karen Kenyon

As we begin to leave the theatre space after seeing “An Iliad,” we leave in silence — after a standing ovation.

After all, it is finished — Hector is dead, Achilles has lost his rage, and the Poet has left the stage with his suitcase of war.
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On a mostly bare set (with a sink, cleaning tools, and other backstage clutter toward the back) one chair, and a table, the “poet,” performed by Henry Woronicz, tells us the story of The Trojan War, focusing on the conflict between the half-god warrior, Achilles of Achaea (Greece), and Hector, Prince of Troy and Commander of the Trojans.   [Read more…]

Field of View: Museum Roadshow at Cuyamaca College

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Each year, the Heritage of the Americas Museum holds a “Museum Roadshow” on the Cuyamaca College campus. Craig Helm, a certified appraiser who has worked in the field for more than 50 years, specializes in Native American, pre-Columbian and Asian artifacts, as well as western memorabilia and antique pictures.

There was a $5 charge to have each multiple of three items appraised–the money was donated to children’s programs hosted by the nonprofit museum.

This museum is really worth a visit. The staff is not only extremely knowledgeable, but they are there because they want to be and that shows. If you go, don’t forget to ask to see Brutus, the very-docile female Chilean Rose-haired tarantula.

All photo by Annie Lane.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line — The GOP Jobs Program: More Fact Checkers

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Day 2.5 of the Republican National Convention brought out more big guns for the TV cameras and the party faithful. There were the usual failed attempts at partisan humor (a bipartisan affliction) including rim shots at the President’s golf game, which seemed a bit odd in a hall dominated by the country club set. Oh wait! Maybe the jokes were there because he was the black guy on the golf course…. nah, the Republicans wouldn’t do that, would they?

 The crescendo of the convo’s evening was the speech by Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.  This is the guy on the ticket who is supposed to be everything that Mitt Romney is not. A decisive leader with unquestionable credentials that appeal to the core conservatives and the tea party activists that makes up the bulk of the GOP’s committed voting block. His “white bread” quotient makes him a good bet with uncommitted voters; he’s no grizzly mamma, having crafted a persona going back to Jack Kemp that gives the perception of just enough wonkiness wrapped around a mid-western sensibility to make him a safe choice. And his willingness to play fast and loose with facts and history make him an ideal pairing with the GOP’s Main Man of the moment.

The “liberal” media of the East Coast was all over Congressman Ryan’s lack of command of the facts in his speech. What they didn’t get, apparently, is that facts don’t matter here. Having spent four years buying into the alternative reality crafted for them by their party’s leadership, the party faithful in Tampa and the vast majority of those watching Ryan’s speech on television were certainly not going to be troubled by mere facts. Sally Kohn at Fox News said it, but nobody was listening. The roar of crowd, the sense that, finally, “we” can “take America back” was all that mattered…   [Read more…]

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