By Tracy Emblem

March 29, 2010 (San Diego) -- For far too long our government has allowed our manufacturing jobs to be outsourced to foreign countries. Recently the Blue-Green Alliance, a partnership between labor and environmental groups, called for a comprehensive industrial policy and commitment to rebuild America with green technology and products.

The public should ask both government and corporate America this question: Should corporate America focus only on making profit any possible way using the cheapest possible avenues to produce products and services they sell in America or should corporate America ask itself how do we create good paying jobs for Americans?

ECM URGES FEINSTEIN:  COME TO A PUBLIC MEETING IN EAST COUNTY ON POWERLINK

By Miriam Raftery, Editor

March 26, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has pressured the head of the U.S. Forest Service in an appropriations hearing last week to fast-track approval of SDG&E’s request to run Sunrise Powerlink through the Cleveland National Forest, the Union-Tribune reports today. Claiming to be unaware of major opposition, she later said she may reconsider her support if she hears of major concerns from the community.

By Pamela Hoye

March 17, 2010 (San Diego) -- I was relieved to read in East County Magazine that the federal Department of Justice has come forward to support court challenges that would block Governor Schwarzenegger’s funding cuts to the State’s In-Home Supportive Services Program (IHSS). But there other ways to kill a program, and do so quietly, besides funding cuts. Those of us currently receiving services are facing a vastly altered and far less caring program that threatens to force many of us into nursing homes.

Although disabled by cerebral palsy since birth and unable to keep a pace required by regular employment, I have been a productive member of society. I have worked as a freelance writer, editor, and desktop publisher, in addition to serving on citizen advisory committees and being active in political action groups.

By Kathy Rallings
Chair, Health Care for All-San Diego Chapter

By Emma Turner
 

February 17, 2010 (La Mesa)-- My name is Emma Turner and I am a Republican candidate for the office of the 78th State Assembly.
 

I am a retired Naval Officer, and am currently serving children in my community as the board President for the La Mesa Spring Valley School District. I have been elected twice as a School Board trustee and twice as a member of the Board of Directors for the California School Board Association, where I often advocate for improving student performance.

"The year in which we were supposed to send U.S. and Russian astronauts to Jupiter began with two death blows to the biodiesel industry."--Tyson Gustus, broken-hearted Jezebel admirer/owner

By Tyson Gustus

I love my car. I even named her. Jezebel. Jezebel and I go back a long time. (In today's disposable society, seven years is a long time.) The story of Jezebel is a simple one. Back in late 2002, I decided to trade in my Jeep Wrangler for something more fuel-efficient, comfortable, and overall better-to-commute in. I was also in a long distance relationship at the time, so that only amplified all of the above needs.

By Tracy Emblem

February 11, 2010 (San Diego) -- Government is and should be in the business of stimulating the economy to help its citizens achieve national goals like putting people back to work. When Ike Eisenhower returned from Germany after World War II, he said we need an interstate highway system to move our people and goods coast to coast like Germany’s rail system. The same could be said today about rebuilding our country’s crumbling infrastructures.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor

January 18, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) – San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection Board wants to charge drivers who cause accidents for costs of emergency services—fees estimated at up to $2,100. Director Karrie Johnston says she wants to hold “irresponsible” people responsible for costs of public safety services.

What’s next? If you’re “irresponsible” and ignore doctor’s orders to lose weight, shall ambulance companies charge you for paramedic services if you have a heart attack or stroke? How about people with old wiring in their homes, or those are “irresponsible” by causing a cooking fire? Shall we force them to pay for firefighters to save their home?

By Bonnie Burns Price, PhD

January 16, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--California will soon have another opportunity to elect a governor. Because of the epic challenges facing the state, all citizens need to consider the candidates carefully. As one who has given California’s challenges a great deal of thought, I am convinced that Jerry Brown, California’s current attorney general, past mayor of Oakland, and past governor, is the most able candidate to deal with them.

What are these epic challenges?

Here are just a few:

By Tracy Emblem

December 23, 2009 (Escondido) -- The Afghanistan "war" began on October 7, 2001, when our military launched "Operation Enduring Freedom." We were told the military operation was necessary to "neutralize" and "destroy" Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. We have since acknowledged that the terrorism organization is constantly on the move connected by an intricate international web and cell phone links that do not reside permanently in any one country.

Is PowerLink the "missing link" tying Anderson donations from Hamann & SDG&E?
 

By Laura Cyphert, Co-founder

East County Community Action Coalition

By Tracy Emblem

San Diego State University's budget has caused student enrollment to be reduced by 4,618 by Fall 2010. Recently, the university announced that it had to change its “service area” enrollment policy to accommodate its budget cuts. San Diego State should delay its new policy for a year to allow local high school students who were working for admission in Fall 2010 and under the old guidelines to be admitted.

by Francine Busby

November 9, 2009 (San Diego) --Mr. Bilbray and his Republican colleagues in Congress just don’t get it. They need a shot of reality before they render themselves completely obsolete. It's way past time to stop the empty excuses, tired remedies and baseless accusations in regards to Healthcare reform. It's time to work together for the health and well-being of our families, our economy and our national security.

This is a very personal issue. In San Diego County, over 600,000, or 20.2% of people are uninsured and tens of thousands more are under-insured. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in Bilbray's own Congressional district, 15.8%, or over 103,000 people are currently without health insurance.

By Tracy Emblem

November 7, 2009 (San Diego)-- Congressman Brian Bilbray says the health bill in Congress is expensive, bloated and wasteful and publicly asks us: "How will America pay for the Affordable Health Care for Americans Act?" Yet, he does not acknowledge some causes for our escalating health care costs or offer any leadership solutions on how to solve the problem.

SDSU’s own internal documents reveal that the true purpose of many of the strategies we have seen over the past decade—from dual admission in 2002 to the current requirement that students apply to a major or pre-major—is “so we can ‘deny’ more locals access….”

By Pat Washington, PhD

October 31, 2009 (San Diego)--Approximately two weeks before the application period for San Diego State University (SDSU) began, President Stephen Weber announced that, among other things, the budget crisis forced the university to eliminate the local student guaranteed admissions policy. The policy guaranteed admissions priority to CSU-eligible students in the SDSU service area. However, SDSU’s claims that changes to its admissions policy are driven by the state budget crisis don’t hold up under scrutiny.