Clarence Thomas's Taxes 

June 7, 2011 Just about everybody cheats slightly  on their taxes.  Whether it is failing to report income, fudging on the value of donations to charity, or forgetting to report outside gifts or gratuities, most people lie a bit and get away with it.  But Congressmen and Federal Employees should be held to higher levels of honesty. Does that mean a Federal Judge can conveniently forget hundreds of thousands of bucks in income?

Apparently, if you a Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the answer is "Yes!".  Justice Thomas's wife took over six hundred thousand  bucks from a Conservative "Foundation" and neglected to report it as income.  That is not exactly a "rounding off" error.  This man sits on the US Supreme Court! And he did this for five consecutive years! 

By Brian Lafferty

June 10, 2011 (San Diego) – The Tree of Life isn’t merely a movie. To call it an experience would be putting it mildly. It’s films like this that make me say, “This is why I go to the movies.” Only one other movie elicited such a response from me since I’ve been a film critic and it happened to be the best film of 2010: Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void.

By Brian Lafferty

June 5, 2011 (San Diego) – Most comic book movies that are the first in a franchise feel like a feature-length first act. I had this feeling with X-Men and Spider-Man. They’re good movies but they functioned more like set-ups for X2 and Spider-Man 2, which also delivered the goods better.

By Brian Lafferty

June 3, 2011 (San Diego) – Ever since my mother died there have been times when I've imagined my mother’s spirit being around me. I fantasize being able to speak to her, telling her how I feel, asking her what it’s like on the other side.

Have more fun this summer…and spend less money!

By Nancy Clement

June 3, 2011 (La Mesa) - Sally Gary is the author of the new $Best Freebies, Bargains, Deals & Steals in San Diego book, 9th Edition. This is a MUST Have book for your home library! Her ideas will enable you to have more fun and to save more money this summer. She generously shared her list of favorite FREE things to do in San Diego. Now you will never be at a loss for what to when out of town company comes to visit you, just open the book and you will find countless, terrific ideas. Enjoy!

Sport gives new meaning to term "Surf Dogs" -- and gives  local dogs and their owners a cool way to beat the heat

June 1, 2011 (San Diego) --Whoever said you can only have fun with your dog on land has never tried surfing with their dog. Some dogs don't want any part of it and others LOVE IT!

By Brian Lafferty

June 1, 2011, (San Diego) – For over a year and a half I’ve been reviewing theatrical releases. Last month I introduced the Netflix Streaming Pick of the Week, a column that spotlights worthy cinema available on Netflix Watch Instantly.

By Brian Lafferty

May 31, 2011 (San Diego) – I have a fear. This fear trumps snakes, spiders, heights, even death. It occurs at parties, especially of the birthday variety. It makes its presence known at the grocery store’s floral department. Despite their light and rubbery nature, they instill trepidation greater than public speaking. I’m talking about globophobia.

By Miriam Raftery (guest columnist)
Terra Bistro

7091 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, CA 92115
www.terrasd.com

May 24, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – When Chef Jeff Rossman invited media members to a tasting at his new Terra American Bistro, I relished the opportunity. Author of the cookbook From Terra’s Table: New American Food, Fresh From Southern California’s Organic Farms, Rossman’s specialty is farm-fresh organic cuisine. He previously ran Terra Restaurant, a popular eatery in Hillcrest, before moving east just one block from La Mesa to have a larger kitchen for his catering service and be closer to local growers.

The dinner lived up to expectations, providing a flavorful dining experience that reflects the freshness of the ingredients as well as the chef's creative flair.

By Brian Lafferty

May 23, 2011 (San Diego) – Today’s Netflix Streaming Pick of the Week is inspired by this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped up yesterday. The film world has been abuzz with Cannes fever including, but not limited to, Lars Von Trier’s controversial Hitler remarks and the Palme d’Or going to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.

By Brian Lafferty

May 20, 2011 (San Diego) – There are terrible bad movies and there are good bad movies. The worst bad movies are devoid of any ambition. Those tend to be the most offensive. With good bad movies, I at least get the sense that the filmmakers tried to make a good movie, even if they didn’t succeed.

By Brian Lafferty

May 21, 2011 (San Diego) – Rubber is a portmanteau of the films of Luis Buñuel, David Cronenberg’s Scanners, and the road movie. It requires not only the largest suspension of disbelief but it necessitates putting any attempt at logic back into the furthest reaches of your mind. It is an utterly ridiculous movie but I enjoyed it for exactly that reason.

By Brian Lafferty

May 17, 2011 (San Diego) – A couple of months ago someone e-mailed me an article. A team of scientists used gene mutation to create Autism in mice. The study, which was published in the science journal, Nature, could potentially lead to a cure for Autism or reverse it. But you know what?

Nothing but the Truth!

By Will Power

May 16, 2011 (San Diego) -- Citing budget concerns , the State of California (and the U.S. federal government) are studying plans to turn over California's most precious beaches, lakes, and forests to private entrepreneurs who will rent California's own land back to its citizens for a profit.

Seventy Califiornia state parks are slated for permanent closure, including Palomar Mountain State Park and San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park in San Diego County. Once the title to these pristine and irreplaceable lands is clouded by contract law, do not expect the public to ever see them again for free.

By Brian Lafferty

May 9, 2011 (San Diego) – In my review of Thor, I wrote that X-Men (2000) established the Marvel comic book movie formula commonplace in the last decade. It couldn’t have done it without this week’s Netflix Streaming Pick of the Week. That movie is Superman (1978), the prototype for the modern superhero movie.

By Brian Lafferty

May 6, 2011 (San Diego) – The good news: Thor delivers the goods you’d expect from a Marvel comic book movie. The not-really-bad-but-could-be-better news: Thor delivers the goods you’d expect from a Marvel comic book movie.

By Walter Davis

May 8, 2011 (San Diego)--The rise in nationalism surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden is curious to me. It demonstrates just how easy it is to put out a story and have Americans believe it. In all of the discussions showing the history of September 11, none of the news casters have said anything about Tower Seven falling without being hit. They point to bin Laden and people accept that as truth. They accept his death as truth even with no body and a story that changes moment by moment.

By Brian Lafferty

May 6, 2011 (San Diego) – The Princess of Montpensier is a movie that demands your utmost attention. I barely wrote down any notes out of fear I’d miss something important. The entire film hinges on every line of dialogue and every character’s actions. This likely explains why the two hour and nineteen minute running time flies by rapidly.

By Brian Lafferty

May 6, 2011 (San Diego) – Looking at it one way, Meek’s Cutoff is an absorbing and spellbinding film. Looking another way, it can be aggressively boring. I viewed it from the former angle. Meek’s Cutoff presents one of the year’s biggest challenges so far to people’s attention spans. My severe ADHD, however, was no match for it.

By Brian Lafferty

May 3, 2011 (San Diego) – Today marks the debut of East County Magazine’s newest column. In addition to writing film criticism, I will pen a biweekly column about another subject I’m equally passionate about: Autism. I am qualified to talk about the subject for a good reason: I am Autistic myself.

By Brian Lafferty

April 29, 2011 (San Diego) – The great sportswriter Grantland Rice said, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Queen to Play purports to be a film about a housewife in a mid-life crisis and stale marriage who finds happiness through chess. It then ends in a Big Game. The movie fails on both counts.

By Brian Lafferty

April 28, 2011 (San Diego) – For a movie nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2011 Oscars, Incendies is artistically and technically incompetent. Rarely have I sat through a movie feeling so bewildered and frustrated. The story is needlessly complicated but that’s not the real problem. It’s the ineptness of the screenwriter, casting director, and the cinematographer in telling this story.

Nothing but the Truth!
 

Action Violates Seventh Amendment to US Bill of Rights

By Will Power

April 28, 2011 (San Diego)--In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise examined by any Court of the United States, than according to the common law.

The US Supreme Court ruled this week (on a straight party-line 5-Republicans and Four Democrats) that corporations can avoid class-action suits by demanding consumers waive their constitutional rights and use Arbitration procedures instead. In what clearly is unconstitutional, the Bill of Rights is superseded by the Contract Law, America's Sacred Cow. What were the Justices thinking?

By Doug Deane
Education Committee Chair, San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce

April 28, 2011 – Latest local and national education news headlines include:

• Worst-case budget could shorten school year
• Community colleges prepare for bigger hit
• Four school districts warn of financial distress
• GUHSD Superintendent Swenson’s newsletter
• Curriculum must assess student tech skills
• Music really does boost your IQ!
• Save great teachers
• School could lose majority of teachers
• Hard cap on charter schools isn’t ‘reform’
• Our vision of schools must change
• More pupils are learning online, fueling debate on quality
• STEM to STREAM: Why the arts and writing should be added to science education
• Obama official cites poor quality of education, effect on military
• Community service touted at Clinton event
• Library addition at Cuyamaca College marks end of Proposition R
• Mark Miguel students shine at competition—congratulations Jeff Wood!
• Spring Valley 4th graders dance their way to fitness
• Bloggers challenge President on standardized testing
• Risks: focus on heart deaths in student athletes
• For some, getting into college is the challenge

By Brian Lafferty

April 25, 2011 (San Diego) – Growing up I have witnessed firsthand a revolution in movie watching. My family went from having a VCR to a DVD player to a Blu-Ray Disc player in a span of twenty-five years. We went from renting movies from Blockbuster and Hollywood Video to Netflix.

By Nancy Clement

April 27, 2011 (La Mesa) - Summertime is almost here and for many people, that means it is time to move. June, July and August are the most popular times of year for moving. Moving is the third most stressful life event, according to psychologists; only death of a spouse or divorce is more angst producing.

Since many people dread the thought of moving, the Dollar-Wise Diva decided to consult an expert, Elaine Worman, to get ideas on how you can make an easier, less traumatic move.

a column written for the East County Magazine

“Your guide to financial planning & socially responsible investing”

By Judith L. Seid, CFP ®, President, Blue Summit Wealth Management

April 24, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) -- Friends, we need to view current gas prices as the “new normal” and not assume that this is a temporary condition. Most people were shocked at the gas prices when they rose in 2008, but this time they are not nearly as shocked and upset, even though prices are surpassing 2008 levels.

Nothing but the Truth!

By Will Power

April 21, 2011 (San Diego)--The Republican House majority, which has been spending trillions on worthless wars, has suddenly decided that the government is spending too much. But instead of declaring victory and bring the U.S. Army home to watch the Mexican border, the Republicans have decided to cut Medicare and Social Security.

Planners seek ouster of wind farm's project manager 

A column written for East County Magazine

By Billie Jo Jannen

April 16, 2011 (Boulevard)--The manager of Enel Green Power Jewel Valley made the claim that the Boulevard Planning Group scares her--and that she’s not going back without law enforcement protection.

a column written for the East County Magazine

“Your guide to financial planning & socially responsible investing”

By Judith L. Seid, CFP ®
President, Blue Summit Wealth Management

April 16, 2011 (San Diego’s East County)--The market has not reacted much to the budget agreement that finally came late Friday night. This void of impact is due largely to the fact that the “budget fight is not over” but also because several other factors threaten to have an even greater impact on the overall market. We’ll brief you on them in chronological order…