San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

“We’re Winning”: The Ryan Pick, Obama, and the Future of American Democracy

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Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his VP makes clear what vision he has for the American future: One Market Under God

Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his VP makes clear what vision he has for the American future: One Market Under God. This grand dream is put in stark contrast to the Republicans’ absurd fantasy of Obama’s big government tyranny.  If only we could return the country to the days of unfettered markets and bigger tax cuts for the affluent, all will be well.  As absurd as their economic delusions are, it’s worth reminding ourselves where the last several decades of moving precisely in this direction have landed us.

In The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz outlines what by now is a sadly familiar story about the American economy: it’s a rigged game.  Specifically Stiglitz thoroughly documents how recent income growth has occurred almost entirely in the top 1 percent.  He notes how this has led to growing inequality and how those at the bottom and middle are worse off today than middle class and working class folks were at the beginning of the century.

To make things worse, Stiglitz illustrates how the inequalities in wealth are even greater than those of income.  These inequalities show up not just in people’s pocket books but also in their general standard of living and health. During the last few years, those at the bottom have been most hurt by the recession but the middle class has been hollowed out too.
  [Read more…]

Man, Oh Man! A Review of ‘Man of La Mancha’

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MAN OF LA MANCHA”
Cygnet Theater Review
Old Town, San Diego
619-337-1525

Dear Reader,

I am so sorry that I did not see this play earlier than today. It was absolutely wonderful. The acting was superb, the singing extraordinary, the adaptation to a small theater was marvelous.

The audience was on their feet before the final strains of the last song.   [Read more…]

Power to the People or Power to the Corporations?

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In the quest for renewable sources of energy a battle is looming that most people are not even aware of. We need to replace electric power generated by coal and gas fired plants with power generated by solar and wind to be sure, but who owns the means of such production is a vital and crucial issue. Let’s take solar, for instance. There are two models basically to choose from. The first is the large solar installation in the desert owned and operated by the large power generating corporations like SEMPRA Energy.

That’s logical, you might say. There are acres and acres, square miles and square miles of desert real estate that is not much good for anything else. Why not build solar arrays there and truck the electrons so created via transmission lines to the urban areas where electricity is needed? The problem with this model is that transmission lines are inherently wasteful. Energy is lost for each mile the electricity has to flow to its destination just as water whose source is far away is evaporated and hence lost by canals as it traverses the route from source to destination.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – The San Diego Public Market is on Its Way; Overwhelming Public Support Makes It Happen

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San Diego Public Market is on its way to becoming a reality, having surpassed its kickstarter.com crowd-sourced goal of raising $92,000 in half the time (seven days) allotted. As of this morning 1130 backers had pledged $116, 643 towards rehab costs for the two acre plus space, located in Barrio Logan, not far from Petco Park. The additional funds over the original target will be used towards the launch of the Food Hall and the Market Kitchen at the market.

Plans for the market include two days a week with farmers’ stalls, booths with local crafters and artists, music festivals, movie nights and quinceañeras, chef’s tasting events and art exhibits, along with the occasional Chaldean Festival, Chinese New Year’s parade, Filipino fiesta or charity fundraiser. The weekly farmers markets in the space will begin within a few weeks. The idea is to create a City Public Market along the lines of Seattle’s Pike’s Place, San Francisco’s Ferry Building or  Barcelona’s La Boqueria.   [Read more…]

Why Statewide Regulations Are Needed for the Ban on Plastic Bags

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*Editor’s note: While written from the point of view of the city of Santa Cruz, this article presents a good argument for a ban on plastic bags at a state level — something we are moving closer toward with AB 298.

Originally appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on July 12, 2012

OK — banning plastic bags has reached the “copy me, copy you” stage.

It probably just seems that everywhere a shopper turns these days, it’s “Do you have your own bag?” — or “that will be a dime for a paper bag.”

The city of Santa Cruz, usually at the forefront of environmental causes, became the latest, but probably not the last, local government to ban single-use plastic bags, with the 6-0 vote by the City Council Tuesday night. The ban will take effect in nine months.   [Read more…]

Democrats Fight Back; Republicans and Their Media Friends Get the Vapors

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by kos / Daily Kos

Dana Milbank:

Forgive me, but I’m not prepared to join this walk down Great Umbrage Street just yet. Yes, it’s ugly out there. But is this worse than four years ago, when Obama was accused by the GOP vice presidential nominee of “palling around with terrorists”? Or eight years ago, when Democratic nominee John Kerry was accused of falsifying his Vietnam War record?What’s different this time is that the Democrats are employing the same harsh tactics that have been used against them for so long, with so much success. They have ceased their traditional response of assuming the fetal position when attacked, and Obama’s campaign is giving as good as it gets — and then some.

Bullies don’t like it when their targets punch back, which is why the GOP is apoplectic right now. I mean, their reaction to Biden’s “chains” thing is comically hysterical. And Mitt Romney is genuinely unhinged.

I’m not sure why Republicans think that crying and whining about the big bad meanie Democrats is such a political winner. It never worked when Democrats tried it (just ask John Kerry).   [Read more…]

Putting the Sex Back in Birth Control: Why the Dominant Narrative on Contraception Undermines Young People

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by Andrew Jenkins, Choice USA

While I applaud Elizabeth Banks for her new ad supporting Planned Parenthood, birth control, and President Barack Obama–and wholeheartedly empathize with her personal story–I’m reminded of a sobering fact: the progressive community is deathly afraid of talking about sex and young people.

That’s right. I said it.

Between Banks new web promo aimed at female voters, Sandra Fluke’s testimony before Congress last February, and the reactive messaging around Rush Limbaugh’s vile comments, one thing has remained clear: our movement is far more comfortable elevating stories about birth control when they don’t involve sex. Pure unadulterated sex. Sex without the fear of an unintended pregnancy. You know… the primary reason young Americans use birth control.

And for arguments sake, maybe there’s a good reason for this. Maybe–just maaaayyyybe–we’re trying to appeal to conservatives. Perhaps we’re making our funders happy. Or maybe we’re just trying to sell a message that is palatable; easy to consume.

Nope. Bullshit. Not buying it.   [Read more…]

Community/Labor forum blasts Prop 32

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by Dave Rice / San Diego Reader

A Better San Diego, a non-profit consisting of community, faith, and labor-backed groups hosted its monthly breakfast forum yesterday, this time using the meeting to host a panel of speakers opposing passage of Proposition 32 on the November ballot.

Prop 32 is marketed as a proposal to ban contributions from labor unions and corporate entities to political candidates and candidate-controlled committees. One specific point of the measure bans voluntary payroll deductions from workers that are directed toward political action committees (PACs).

But opponents argue that while the measure is effective in blocking political contributions from typically liberal-leaning union members, the door is left wide open for more conservative business interests to continue buying influence.

For the full article, click here.   [Read more…]

Sweetwater Authority’s $49,083,000 Water Rate Increase! (The Impact on the Poor)

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By Herman Baca / President, Committee on Chicano Rights

There are many things that individuals in the community can do without; water is not one of them. Poor people, especially in National City (NC), the poorest in SD County, median income of $39,000, and others on fixed income in the South Bay could find themselves if the increase is approved choosing to pay their water bill, over lives’ other necessities…food, rent, clothing, etc..

The Sweetwater Authority serves 187,000 customers in Bonita, parts of Chula Vista and NC. A public hearing to “consider adopting increases to its water service fees” will be held on August 27, 2012. In the last seven years the Sweetwater Authority has approved rate increases 6 times, but failed to raise rates in 2011, because of outraged Bonita residents. The CCR has gone on record in opposing the proposed water rate increase.

Most San Diego County residents, voters and water customers have little, if any idea that 16 water agencies even exist, what they do, or that they have become private fiefdoms, private ATMs and cash cows for self-serving individuals and politicians.   [Read more…]

Duffy Hoax Revealed – Medical Marijuana Advocates Tell All

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By Eugene Davidovitch / Americans for Safe Access

BACKGROUND: On October 7, 2011, at a press conference in Sacramento, US Attorney Laura Duffy, along with several other US Attorneys, announced a statewide crackdown on medical cannabis cooperatives, collectives, gardens, and others.

Without citing any specific violations in state law, Duffy’s office claimed all were out of compliance and would be targeted for eradication including those fully licensed and regulated by local government and law enforcement.

Since this proclamation of war on California’s medical marijuana program, Duffy’s office sent hundreds of letters to landlords threatening asset forfeiture if they did not immediately evict their dispensary tenants. As a result of these backhanded tactics, many landlords were forced to comply. Within six months, Duffy closed over 200 dispensaries in San Diego alone.

These closures forced thousands of employees into unemployment, left hundreds of properties vacant and most importantly, left the 70,000 plus medical marijuana patients in San Diego county wondering where to get their medicine.   [Read more…]

Papa Doug Manchester Plans 22-Story Skyscraper that Will “Transform” Mission Valley

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Originally Posted at OB Rag

The owner of the U-T San Diego, Papa Doug Manchester, unveiled his plans to “transform” Mission Valley recently, and at the top of his list of development for the San Diego River area is a 22-story containing 200 residences.   [Read more…]

How Mitt Romney Set Up Offshore Shell Corporations & Bank Accounts and Paid No Taxes

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Setting up an offshore corporation is not difficult, nor is it expensive.

For $650. you can set up an offshore corporation in Belize or the Seychelles Islands or the Cayman Islands, among many other places. And, for a slight additional charge, it can be linked to a bank account in a jurisdiction which is absolutely tax free and completely confidential — in other words, a tax haven. Furthermore, the shell company can be in one offshore jurisdiction and the bank account in another making any transactions even more difficult to track. These corporations and bank accounts are guaranteed absolute confidentiality. No one can obtain any information about them including the US government. It’s even against the law to inquire about these shell corporations in the Cayman Islands. You could get jail time!

For this reason, offshore companies and bank accounts are proliferating. As is well known, Mitt Romney and Bain Capital have partaken of these completely legal schemes to hide money and have it grow tax free. They’ve set up hundreds of these corporations and bank accounts. At $650. a pop, they are ridiculously cheap for the average multimillionaire. All you have to do is google “offshore company registration” and you will come up with thousands of companies who can assist you in this process. Setting up the offshore corporation can be done in 24 hours, and the only documentation required is a scanned notarized passport and a utility bill — all sent by email.   [Read more…]

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