tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59629422012-01-07T19:10:47.835-08:00With The Lid OffLucasnoreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-32007987591425256552007-04-16T10:31:00.000-07:002007-04-16T10:34:19.599-07:00

I couldn't do it better:The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're out students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels. But every time we think we've measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-62394497409362631552007-04-04T10:03:00.000-07:002007-04-04T10:06:07.041-07:00

Political Wire is reporting today that Marty Meehan will officially submit his letter of resignation on May 9, and that the special election to fill the seat will most likely be held sometime in the first half of October of this year. This is a safe Democratic seat, which means the primary IS the race for all intents and purposes, so it's important that the netroots be involved in the

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-29762351875048691452007-03-22T12:52:00.000-07:002007-03-22T12:56:16.109-07:00

Syndicated columnist and member of the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board Ruben Navarrette Jr. has been fluffing up Alberto Gonzales a lot recently (March 7, March 21), so it should come as no suprise that he's continuing to shovel muck today in a special CNN commentary. What's shocking is the entirely new level to which he takes the insanity.To be up front, there's a halfway legitimate

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-41474554404154973422007-03-21T10:36:00.000-07:002007-03-21T10:38:00.188-07:00

As reported in the Union Tribune today and explained in an emailed press release from Mayor Jerry Sanders' office a few minutes ago, the San Diego City Charter is under review.  A Charter Committee has been established by the Mayor, headed by John Davies and Judge James Milliken, to review what Sanders calls "a half-finished job" of switching to a strong mayor form of city government as Sanders

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-20567792406903279932007-03-20T10:16:00.000-07:002007-03-20T10:17:18.968-07:00

Last November, Bill McDannell was living in Lakeside, California. Today, he's walking somewhere near Dallas. In between, he's walked 1,000 miles, largely unnoticed and unappreciated, in opposition to the actions of this government. Four years after the invasion of Iraq, Bill McDannell is Walking to End the Wars.At some spots along the way, the local media interview him, but he has yet to get

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-27521897729724429512007-03-19T20:38:00.000-07:002007-03-19T20:46:47.833-07:00

Cross-posted from CaliticsLike thousands of others across California and the United States tonight, I took part in a vigil protesting the continuation of the Iraq War. I was fortunate to have a protest just a bit down the road from me, with folks from Normal Heights, Kensington, and the surrounding area setting up shop on the Adams Ave/I-15 Bridge to catch rush hour traffic on the way home. I

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-67850889779426031902007-03-13T14:35:00.000-07:002007-03-13T14:37:16.158-07:00

Political Wire is relaying a report from CQ Politics that has Rep. Marty Meehan retiring from the House to become the president of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The special election which would follow is not one of particular concern, it's a solidly Dem district. However, as of the last federal report, Martin Meehan has $5,119,677 Cash on Hand. Where's it gonna go?You may remember

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-21721208906450196182007-03-12T08:12:00.000-07:002007-03-12T08:24:45.041-07:00

So last week, Chris Reed responded to my earlier piece in reaction to his complaints about the supposedly dishonest exaggeration of the health-care crisis in this country.  Atdleft has already made his voice heard on this, but I think there are a few other points that need to be made.After his lead in about his high-minded tenacity in seeking out lies in any dark corner, he dives into the crux of

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-43118982993616955362007-03-07T11:37:00.000-08:002007-03-07T11:40:03.982-08:00

In a shining example of the heights to which fair and balanced journalism aspires, Chris Reed yesterday reacted to the Libby Verdict by reminding us Libby may be a convicted felon, but that doesn't make Joe Wilson a hero.  He does at least have the decency not to "blame administration critics for crowing over Libby's trial at all."  He just feels as though lost in the midst of lying to federal

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-40554449425771102732007-03-05T10:02:00.000-08:002007-03-05T10:04:10.477-08:00

Faculty for Cal State schools throughout California will begin voting today to determine whether to walk off the job over grievances regarding pay, class size, and health care.  If approved by a simple majority, faculty would begin a series of rolling two-day walkouts statewide.  The voting process will last into next week with the results announced soon afterwards.The California Faculty

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-38565655396307359422007-03-02T13:33:00.000-08:002007-03-02T13:35:15.243-08:00

Is...Duncan Hunter?! Finlay Lewis suggests he's trying to cut such a path for himself. Hunter has been tearing up the campaign trail with anti-China rhetoric, warning of the threat faced by the United States if China is allowed to continue its arms buildup unchecked. I'll resist the urge to dive deeply into the idea that Hunter is yelling "the Reds are coming," but I do wonder if Hunter will

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-9023803669025357862007-03-02T11:41:00.000-08:002007-03-02T11:44:40.385-08:00

Fabian Nunez yesterday took Governor Schwarzenegger to task for his behavior during the Governator's recent swing through DC.  "I certainly wouldn't come to Washington to tell people here how to do their job," Nunez said, on the heels of Schwarzenegger lauding the virtues of "post-partisan" politics."What he's talking about sounds good theoretically. I think in practical terms the way I read it

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-9563687193200306222007-03-01T22:49:00.000-08:002007-03-01T22:51:12.720-08:00

It started five months ago when Mayor Jerry Sanders attempted to eliminate a youth swimming program and slash funding for the homeless.  Today apparently, a deal was brokered between Sanders and the two ranking members of the San Diego City Council to, effectively, give Sanders everything he could possibly want.Council President Scott Peters and Council President Pro Tem Tony Young hammered out

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-12763597068326750472007-03-01T15:22:00.000-08:002007-03-01T15:24:32.277-08:00

Chris Reed has a post up this afternoon on his UT blog discussing the continuing "media error-a-thon" in regards to classifying those without health care in the United States.  His complaint is that there are not 47 million Americans without health insurance.  Rather, there are 47 million people in America without health insurance.  His gripe so much as I understand it is that immigrants, legal

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-70698662599354366192007-03-01T06:56:00.000-08:002007-03-01T06:58:25.716-08:00

On March 5, The UFCW Grocery Workers' contract expires, and there isn't much sign that the UFCW and the store owners are nearing an agreement.  In 2003/04, grocery workers went on strike for four and a half months in response to contract negotiations reaching an impasse, a strike that had major repercussions for the market share of supermarket chains and cost an estimated $2 billion.  Ownership

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-8693213507882733142007-03-01T06:54:00.000-08:002007-03-01T06:56:31.086-08:00

Ben Franklin stuck that in Poor Richard's Almanac 250 years ago.  These days, with both the literal water well and metaphorical financial well drying up in San Diego, Mayor Jerry Sanders is letting us know the worth of water.  And guess what? It's apparently worth much more in your house than it is at your office.The Center on Policy Initiatives has released a (pdf) study analyzing the mayor's

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-27107678922483187922007-02-20T09:38:00.000-08:002007-02-20T09:39:35.045-08:00

Guest-blogging at the Cafe San Diego blog today is Murtaza Baxamusa, senior planner, Center on Policy Initiatives. It's a relatively brief, bullet-point rundown of ways in which San Diego has been fiscally irresponsible with its development deals over the past 10 years or so. It's by no means an exhaustive list and it by no means covers everything that's wrong with the given examples (Qualcomm

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-78061775840286927542007-02-14T12:52:00.000-08:002007-02-14T12:55:15.838-08:00

Answering charges of conspiracy, money laundering, defrauding the public of the honest services of a public official, and in Wilkes' case, bribing a public official, both Brent Wilkes and Kyle "Dusty" Foggo entered pleas of not guilty today.Both men were free on bond ($2 million for Wilkes, $200,000 for Foggo), and Wilkes' attorney saidthat after 18 months of an "unrelenting campaign of leaks,"

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-73506231695710866272007-02-12T09:06:00.000-08:002007-02-12T09:05:56.410-08:00

The Save Our Heritage Organization on Friday filed suit in U.S. District Court "challenging the constitutionality of a federal waiver that cleared the way to build a controversial 3.5-mile border fence between San Diego and Tijuana."  While the fence has been challenged on environmental grounds in the past, now it's being challenged to protect the "natural, cultural, and historic resources" of

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-64996269153747639262007-02-12T09:02:00.000-08:002007-02-02T07:30:42.580-08:00

On Monday, the San Diego City Council voted 5-3 to require the mayor (at the moment, the increasingly autocratic Jerry Sanders) to get City Council approval before making cuts to the budget which would affect the level of service provided to residents.Councilwoman (and two-time almost mayor) Donna Frye laid into Mayor Sanders, reminding people "'It wasn't because there was too much public process

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-53020791951959242532007-02-02T07:28:00.000-08:002007-02-02T07:30:42.662-08:00

A new proposal from Assembyman Joe Coto (D-San Jose) would require high school students to register to vote in order to receive their diplomas. The Secretary of State says that roughly 30% of elgible voters in California aren't registered, and the article relates speculation (without numbers, natch) that this gap is larger among younger voters.Republicans, in their kneejerk, disenfranchising way

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-41648403837716745162007-01-31T09:48:00.000-08:002007-01-31T09:52:46.706-08:00

Assemblyman Jim Beall is trying to get pre-paid tuition rolling in California, joining nearly 20 other states who have some sort of program to lock in tuition costs years before a child actually attends college.Beall has packaged this as tuition relief, and with costs increasing nearly 400% in 20 years, it's a pretty good way to package it. It also is nicely timed with Governor Schwarzenegger

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-1166809757756823832006-12-22T09:47:00.000-08:002006-12-22T09:49:18.023-08:00

On Sunday, The Union-Tribune reported on the simmering issue in San Diego of sex offenders concentrating in the downtown area. Now that Jessica's Law (Proposition 83) has been overwhelmingly approved by Californians, local officials have been given the greenlight to run sex offenders out of downtown. But has anyone given any thought to where they're supposed to go?To recap, Proposition 83

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-1166717274832804402006-12-21T08:03:00.000-08:002006-12-21T08:07:55.640-08:00

Identifying existing bases of support and changing their minds.  That's how any campaign manages to defeat an incumbent.  In a Democratic Primary, perhaps it's a bit more difficult, or perhaps it's just that the tactics have to be reinvented.  Many institutional groups (NARAL, Sierra Club, etc.) are just blindly endorsing Democratic incumbents whenever and wherever they can.  It requires changing

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-1166638090491769952006-12-20T10:06:00.000-08:002006-12-20T10:08:10.690-08:00

The AP reported Monday that 2006 turnout in California was the second lowest in state history, just falling short of the record low of 2002.  This is especially distressing since it comes in a year that saw some states match or exceed presidential-year turnout and since 2006 should have been a year which provided California Democrats a great reason to show up- knocking off Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-1166635464107465872006-12-20T09:24:00.000-08:002006-12-20T09:29:12.090-08:00

There are tons of things in this world that I'll never understand without studying, researching, and thinking hard about, like discrete mathematics and chemistry. There are tons more that I'll never understand period, like computer animation and astrophysics, because while I think of myself as pretty smart, there are plenty of people who are smarter. Then there are things that I just don't care

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-1166548590356400212006-12-19T09:15:00.000-08:002006-12-19T09:25:05.036-08:00

On November 28th, the San Diego City Council voted in favor of banning Wal-Mart Superstores (spotted by Todd Beeton at Calitics as well) citing low-wage jobs, traffic congestion and the demise of mom-and-pop stores as reason to keep the biggest of the Big Boxes outside of San Diego. This was, perhaps sadly, one of the bigger political stories of my several years in San Diego, with friends and

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962942.post-1166461131549048102006-12-18T08:55:00.000-08:002006-12-18T08:58:52.120-08:00

After an election cycle in which the netroots loudly proved its mettle as a mjor influence in national politics, our field is expanding and the demand for innovation and diversification has never been greater. We saw the first steps towards a thriving netroots/grassroots alliance in many places around the country, in Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, etc. Between now and the

Lucasnoreply@blogger.com0