"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins" -Oliver Wendell Holmes

Articles

Articles

Cartoons of the Week
06/02/2013

Let's all move to Bangla-Texas

Prerequisite for election of GOP to Congress

Dr. Strangelove takes a dangerous ride

Nixon's ghost haunts the White House again

Quarry Creek Project Draws Legal Challenges
05/31/2013
Preserve Calavera's first legal challenge to building 656 units at Quarry Creek was submitted the first week in May, with more to come. Unfortunately money drove the decision to approve this project, and more money will be needed to challenge that decision and achieve a compromise that works. Your tax deductible donations will keep the fight going, for as long as it takes! To donate online: http://preservecalavera.org -by Diane Nygaard

Insider blows lid off San Onofre plant
05/28/2013
A Valley Center wife of a San Onofre Nuclear plant operator exposes the shocking truth of the plant's history of highly dangerous and irresponsible operation over the last decades. She wrote directly to Gov. Brown in blowing the lid off this scandal.

'Wet areas will get wetter, dry areas get drier'
05/27/2013
Climate change may bring drought to temperate areas, study says -- 'Wet areas will get wetter and dry areas will get drier,' says a scientist, describing the findings of a NASA-led study on rainfall trends. Drought-prone places include the Southwestern United States. Climatologist: "These results in many ways are the worst of all possible worlds."

Patriotic hero, Bradley Manning finally gets trial
05/26/2013
After more than three years of imprisonment, including nine months of torture, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bradley Manning’s trial is finally scheduled to begin June 3, 2013, at Fort Meade, Maryland. The outcome of this trial will determine whether a conscience-driven 25-year-old WikiLeaks whistle-blower spends the rest of his life in prison. Bradley believed that the American people have a right to know the truth about what our government does around the world in our name. We the People must send a message to the military prosecuting authority, and President Obama, that Bradley Manning is a patriot and heroic truth-teller.

SAN ONOFRE RESTART ODDS DIM
05/24/2013
SD Union Tribune - A federal panel on nuclear safety has called for a full public hearing on a proposal to restart a damaged reactor at the San Onofre nuclear plant, siding in large part with the environmental group Friends of the Earth in an order published Monday. -- "I won't say this is a death blow to Unit 2, but it does make restart less likely. If approved, the additional downtime makes the Unit 2 restart more complex and costly due to corrosion issues from sitting." (Former systems engineer at San Onofre for 20 years)

Agency: Full public hearing required for SONGS
05/24/2013

FLASH -GOOD NEWS

- An independent nuclear regulatory panel on Monday called for a full public hearing on the proposed restart of one of the two damaged San Onofre nuclear reactors, a move that could delay Southern California Edison's effort to operate the plant this summer.

Heat-Trapping Gas Hits Milestone, Raising Fears
05/24/2013
The amount of the gas in the air has not been this high for at least three million years, and scientists believe the rise portends large changes in the climate and sea level. -- For the entire period of human civilization, roughly 8,000 years, the carbon dioxide level was relatively stable near that upper bound. But the burning of fossil fuels has caused a 41 percent increase in the heat-trapping gas since the Industrial Revolution, a mere geological instant, and scientists say the climate is beginning to react, though they expect far larger changes in the future.

Quarry Creek Project Draws Legal Challenges
05/24/2013
Preserve Calavera's first legal challenge to building 656 units at Quarry Creek was submitted the first week in May, with more to come. Unfortunately money drove the decision to approve this project, and more money will be needed to challenge that decision and achieve a compromise that works. Your tax deductible donations will keep the fight going, for as long as it takes! To donate online: http://preservecalavera.org -by Diane Nygaard

We have already passed critical thresholds
05/24/2013
The rapidly acidifying Arctic Ocean caused by absorbing the world's CO2 emissions have pushed us beyond "critical thresholds," with widespread impacts to be felt for "tens of thousands of years" even if we stopped emissions, say scientists. The three-year assessment from a team of international scientists is being released at the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme's (AMAP) International Conference on Arctic Ocean Acidification.

CPUC Restricts Public Access at SONGS Hearing
05/24/2013
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will conduct formal evidentiary hearings next week (May 13-17, 2013) in the investigation into the events surrounding the January 31, 2012 emergency shutdown, subsequent outage, and possible permanent decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. -- The law judge has excluded open media coverage of these hearings, contrary to customary procedure. "One can only imagine how threatening a camera can be if you are used to working behind closed doors and in smoke filled rooms."

Obama has gone Nixon on us - BIGGER time!
05/24/2013
Philadelphia Enquirer - "Since the day he took office, the Obama administration has undertaken an assault on government whistleblowers -- people informing citizens of what their government doesn't want them to know -- that surpasses anything that Nixon or any other president has done. ...Nixon had Daniel Ellsberg, and Obama has Bradley Manning of Wikileaks. OK, so they didn't break into the office of Manning's psychiatrist, but they have detained Manning in a solitary confinement that a UN torture expert called "cruel, inhuman and degrading." Do you feel better about that? ... and now this investigation of journalists are all hallmarks of a White House that promised transparency but has been one of the most secretive -- all to the detriment of the public's right to know."

Pentagon says it has power to declare war
05/21/2013
Defense official says U.S. has authority to target terrorists anywhere. A flabbergasted new senator, Angus King (I-Maine) demands of the officials ""This is the most astounding and the most astoundingly disturbing hearing that I've been to since I've been here," said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats. "You guys have essentially rewritten the Constitution here today."

Last chance to speak up: Shut SONGS FOR GOOD
05/14/2013
This is the last chance for you to speak out to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to convey to them the absolute URGENCY that they shut down San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) totally, once and for all time. If the NRC approves the reduced safety standards, it will potentially lead to an early restart of the defective San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear reactor. We must tell the NRC to reject Edison’s experimental restart plans and demand a public hearing before any decisions. Link here for sending you message:

Tell Congress: Repeal the Sequester
05/14/2013
Congress recently eliminated a part of the sequester that would affect people who fly frequently. All it took was a few words from wealthy business travelers who donate to their campaigns. It took only four days for the supposedly gridlocked Congress to 'fix' this part of sequester--just in time for Congress themselves to fly home for recess. Sign this PETITION to your congressperson to hear the voice of the people who are hurting now.

SF Dem Club supports Manning for Grand Marshal
05/12/2013
Harvey Milk Democratic Club Board's Official Statement on SF Pride Parade Grand Marshal Un-Naming. "We call on SF Pride to reinstate Manning as the Grand Marshal duly elected by the former Grand Marshals. We also call on SF Pride to distance itself from the corporate entities currently harming the LGBT community by undermining our privacy rights, foreclosing on our homes, lobbying against our rights, and amplifying hate voices against us." -- Read the full statement [Click on Title above]

Is Rush Limbaugh about to be fired?
05/12/2013
<"Rush Limbaugh may yank his radio show off of the Cumulus network in response to the CEO's repeated criticisms of his Sandra Fluke comments, the New York Daily News reported Sunday night. -- Lew Dickey, who runs the network of about 40 stations, memorably said in 2012 that the Fluke firestorm cost his company "millions" in lost ad sales. He repeated the charge in late March. The Daily News reported that Dickey blamed Limbaugh for nearly a third of Cumulus's lost revenue." [From HUFFINGTON POST]

Ever Tried to Force-Feed a Captured Human?
05/12/2013
U.S. Naval medics are forcing tubes down the noses of detainees at Guantánamo Bay in order to feed them against their will. The U.N. has said this violates international law. When does "suicide prevention" become torture? -- This article in The ATLANTIC includes in depth discussion, plus graphic photos and illustrations.

Hypocrisy: Vietnam vs. Boston Bombs
05/12/2013
"Boston Bombs Were Loaded to Maim" is the way The New York Times defined the hideousness of the weapons used, and President Obama made clear that "bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror. Then why does the US refuse to sign the treaty banning cluster bombs? And why are Vietnamese children still being maimed and killed by U.S. bombs40 years later? Do you smell hypocrisy?

Rhode Is. & Maryland legalizes gay marriage
05/11/2013
Rhode Island has joining nine other states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. -- Gov. Lincoln Chafee (CHAY'-fee) signed gay marriage legislation into law Thursday (May 02) following a final procedural vote in the state's General Assembly.

Announcements:

Silent Auction to Finance Quarry Creek Challenges
05/20/2013
Silent Auction Fundraiser for Quarry Creek legal challenges! Prize to highest bidder(s): Two (2) Orchestra Tickets to: The Tenors, on Friday May 31, 7:30 PM at Balboa Theater, valued at $49.50 each! There are a total of 4 tickets available. Silent auction closes at midnight on Monday, May 20. Preserve Calavera's legal challenges over the Quarry Creek project have been initiated. First is a charge the city violated the Brown Act (open meetings law) by holding a closed session meeting and discussing Quarry Creek without the legally required public noticing and reporting. The Mayor claims we "misconstrued" his comments-made at the March 26th meeting and on tape. We think he "misconstrued" that the Carlsbad City Council is not above the law.

Pentagon says it has power to declare war
Announcement:
Defense official says U.S. has authority to target terrorists anywhere. A flabbergasted new senator, Angus King (I-Maine) demands of the officials ""This is the most astounding and the most astoundingly disturbing hearing that I've been to since I've been here," said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats. "You guys have essentially rewritten the Constitution here today."

Student loan interest to double this summer
05/24/2013
Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants student loans to get Fed discount rate -- Students taking out government loans to help pay for college should pay the same rock-bottom interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges big banks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposed Wednesday. -- With the interest rate on federal student loans set to double to 6.8% this summer, Warren said it's unfair that big banks can borrow money at 0.75% from the central bank's discount window.Los Angeles Times

CPUC Restricts Public Access at SONGS Hearing
Announcement:
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will conduct formal evidentiary hearings next week (May 13-17, 2013) in the investigation into the events surrounding the January 31, 2012 emergency shutdown, subsequent outage, and possible permanent decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. -- The law judge has excluded open media coverage of these hearings, contrary to customary procedure. "One can only imagine how threatening a camera can be if you are used to working behind closed doors and in smoke filled rooms."

We have already passed critical thresholds
Announcement:
The rapidly acidifying Arctic Ocean caused by absorbing the world's CO2 emissions have pushed us beyond "critical thresholds," with widespread impacts to be felt for "tens of thousands of years" even if we stopped emissions, say scientists. The three-year assessment from a team of international scientists is being released at the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme's (AMAP) International Conference on Arctic Ocean Acidification.

Protest against Ag monster Monsanto Corp
05/25/2013
Activists Around the World to Protest Monsanto May 25th. All over the world, people who want changes to the way genetically modified foods are grown and used will rally and march to protect our food supply. A full afternoon of activity in Balboa Park beings with meetup at 11:00 AM at the fountain by the Ruben H. Fleet Museum.

Memorial Day: Remember who and why we killed
05/27/2013
On Memorial Day we do well to remember American troops killed in battle, but also those we killed, who they were, and why we killed them. A profound message from Lea Bolger, leader in Veterans for Peace.

'Wet areas will get wetter, dry areas get drier'
Announcement:
Climate change may bring drought to temperate areas, study says -- 'Wet areas will get wetter and dry areas will get drier,' says a scientist, describing the findings of a NASA-led study on rainfall trends. Drought-prone places include the Southwestern United States. Climatologist: "These results in many ways are the worst of all possible worlds."

Quarry Creek Project Draws Legal Challenges
Announcement:
Preserve Calavera's first legal challenge to building 656 units at Quarry Creek was submitted the first week in May, with more to come. Unfortunately money drove the decision to approve this project, and more money will be needed to challenge that decision and achieve a compromise that works. Your tax deductible donations will keep the fight going, for as long as it takes! To donate online: http://preservecalavera.org -by Diane Nygaard

Cartoons of the Week
Announcement:

Issa's Benghazi Bunny Band

Benghazi WhistleBlowers

Birth control made easy

Let's all move to Bangla-Texas

Prerequisite for election of GOP to Congress

Issa's Benghazi coverup

Dr. Strangelove takes a dangerous ride

Government profiling

Nixon's ghost haunts the White House again

Why do you hate us?

Latinos' love for Arizona!

Obama, the negotiator

24-hour Cable News

Unions & the Middle Class

Obama plays poker with GOP

NCFC Screens: The Sessions
06/02/2013
The North County Film Club Screens: The Sessions, on Sunday, June 2, beginning at 3 pm. A man who uses an iron lung hires a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) to help him lose his virginity. He confesses the sordid details to his priest, who lives vicariously through the confessions.

Military hero, Bradley Manning finally gets trial
06/03/2013
After more than three years of imprisonment, including nine months of torture, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bradley Manning’s trial is finally scheduled to begin June 3, 2013, at Fort Meade, Maryland. The outcome of this trial will determine whether a conscience-driven 25-year-old WikiLeaks whistle-blower spends the rest of his life in prison. Bradley believed that the American people have a right to know the truth about what our government does around the world in our name. We the People must send a message to the military prosecuting authority, and President Obama, that Bradley Manning is a patriot and heroic truth-teller.