By Michael Benoit, Libertarian candidate for Congress, 50th District

May 25, 2012 (San Diego's East County)--Most Americans know we have to cut government spending, but how to do that is a difficult question. Some say we can’t cut any military spending, but is that true? Most ex-service men and women I know say there is more than ten percent waste in that budget.

Let’s start with the fundamentals. We must keep our citizens safe from external attacks. And we must have a military that fits the purpose of the USA.

How did the number of homes powered by the Ocotillo wind project get reduced to just one-fifth of what Pattern has been promising?

By Jim Pelley

May 12, 2012 (Ocotillo)--Pattern Energy does a very good job deceiving the people. For example, all throughout the Ocotillo Wind Energy Project process Pattern Energy has been making statements deceiving the press, public and officials about the number of homes this facility will produce power for. Pattern’s website states: “The project will produce enough clean and renewable wind energy to serve more than 130,000 households a year. http://www.patternenergy.com/media/news/announcements/ocotillo_011312

By David Secor, candidate, 50^th Congressional District

By Mary Moran

April 25, 2012 (Spring Valley)—Tonight at 6 p.m. the Board of Directors of the San Miguel Consolidated Fire District will vote on a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Cal-Fire to operate the fire district, which includes the communities of Rancho San Diego, Spring Valley, Jamul, Crest and parts of unincorporated La Mesa and El Cajon. 

Fired-up San Miguel Fire District residents are urging the fire district to remain independent. Cal Fire is operated by the State of California. Residents have expressed deep concern over the nearly bankrupt State of California operating its fire district with its purported poor quality and lack of modern technology.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor, East County Magazine

April 23, 2012 (Ocotillo) – In San Diego earlier this month, the county's planning commission heeded concerns of residents, environmentalists, tribes and health experts who voiced alarm over harmful impacts of industrial wind turbines. Planners voted to postpone enacting a wind ordinance and more fully study the issues. Their remarks made clear that most planners had serious reservations about potential impacts on human health, wildlife, cultural resources, environment, character of rural communities and public lands. http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/9354

This was not the case with planners in Imperial County, who ignored a mountain of evidence as well as legitimate community concerns. Their zeal to rubberstamp a project that promises tax revenues and temporary jobs, along with renewable power, clearly came at the expense of public health and safety, protection of resources on public lands, and the long-held rights of Native Americans. http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/9173

Imperial Valley Supervisors should reverse their planning commission’s decision and reject Pattern Energy’s proposed Ocotillo Express wind project.  Here are compelling reasons why.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor

April 5, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)--When ENRON schemed to manipulate markets and defraud ratepayers, its executives went to jail. BP faces billions of dolalrs in fines for causing the Gulf Oil spill.  When automobile manufacturers sold cars with dangerous defects that killed people, it was their shareholders who paid the price. A lost hunter convicted of accidentally starting the Cedar Fire with a flare gun also spent time in jail. 

Why, then, should SDG&E and its publicly traded parent company, Sempra Energy, expect local ratepayers to pay for its uninsured liability costs for the wildfires that it caused, while its executives get off scott free?

 March 28, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) -- In the first part of this wind industry cover-up story, it was pointed out how California Condors were trapped from the wild in the mid 1980s as an emergency response to save the quickly disappearing population from thousands of turbines that had been placed in the Tehachapi Pass region. 

What is not known is that during this same period of time in the 1980s, tens of thousands of other birds also perished at California wind farms. If one chooses not to believe any of this, then knowing how the industry responded in 1989 should convince anybody about the ongoing 28 year mortality cover-up by the wind industry.

“The next time you decide to write a story like this one, I have a suggestion. Go bite a dog." -- Bill Horn staffer Anita Lightfoot, in an e-mail to Valley Roadrunner editor David Ross

By Miriam Raftery

March 24, 2012 (San Diego) – On Wednesday, March 28 at 9 a.m., Supervisors will vote on whether to abolish community planning groups or radically reduce their powers. Proposals made by developers on a "Red Tape Reduction Task Force: include making planning groups pay for appealing County decision, taking away liability insurance for volunteer community planners, and more.

Editor's note: Assemblyman Brian Jones has issued the following response to Ms. Disenhouse's editorial:  “To give a small group of people a monopoly over deciding what is true or false does a great disservice to public debate in this country. Those who believe Lord Monckton has his facts wrong are welcome to continue in that belief, but he is still entitled to participate in this critical debate. As someone who does not blindly accept conclusions arrived at without conclusive evidence, I am more than happy to accommodate Mr. Monckton sharing his point of view.”

 By Masada Disenhouse

March 23, 2012 (San Diego)--It is ironic that freshman Assemblyman Brian Jones has chosen this Saturday, March 24 to emcee one of the world’s most egregious actors on the climate denial stage – after a winter of broken heat records. Regardless of your opinions on climate change, sponsoring an inflammatory charlatan such as self-titled Lord Christopher Monckton is offensive to many in San Diego County.

By Susan Brinchman