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San Diego’s chronic structural budget deficit affliction
The public is damned, until the public decides otherwise. Gambling and drug prohibition repeals, as well as tossing out the archaic trash ordinance, are welcome proposals. Vladimir Kogan, as always, has cogent ideas based on solid research rather than special interests. I like his way of thinking. I hope he runs for office soon so I can vote for him. As the crisis continues (and the commercial real estate and credit card bubbles are yet to burst, not to mention potential defaults of sovereign debt) and unemployment lingers, our city and nation are at deep risk not only of continued economic pain, but of dangerous social unrest. And that's disregarding any "Black Swans" that may surprise us all in very nasty ways. Yet, we can retain some optimism. Setbacks bring self-examination. Let's be grateful to Don Bauder, and those interviewed for this article, for putting out proposals that ought to be seriously considered.— April 14, 2010 1:32 p.m.
Stoners Now Rockin'
I wonder what would happen if instead of providing inmates exercise equipment, they were given musical instruments instead... Just a thought...— April 14, 2010 12:07 p.m.
Taxpayers Absorb Cost of Highly Paid Players
correction: that's polls, not poles. my regrets— April 14, 2010 12:01 p.m.
Taxpayers Absorb Cost of Highly Paid Players
I'm glad the WSJ has written on the subject. I wouldn't blame the players, however, when the billionaire/politician nexus is more than clear. Someone has to pay for those political campaigns, but it seems no one ever has to pay for horrible decisions, even when they're made in utter contempt for the public good. The Spanos Family, for example, is a very generous donor to politicians, recently reaching out to Democrats as well as their longtime Republican puppets. The billionaire expects something back for his investment. The WSJ op ed misleads in fingering the player earning his short-lived salary, though we all gasp at how outrageous it is for game players to be so overpaid compared to their contribution to society. The team owners get their profits year after year. We pay for most of that, fans paying more because they buy tickets and jerseys. But everyone else pays too, whether we like the game or not. Don and others have been writing about this for more than a decade. Now that even the WSJ has caught on, maybe we're coming to an end of an era. I hope the Chargers won't succeed in fleecing the City of San Diego again, and it will be a national trend. Reasonable people have woken up, and they're saying, "We cannot spend so much on sports when we've got REAL needs." Yet none of the politicians who foisted these idiotic schemes on us has suffered at the poles. Jack McGrory and Susan Golding certainly have no regret for their actions regarding the stadium and ballpark, and the financial mess we are in today as a direct and foreseeable consequence of the book-fiddling they undertook to get the billionaires their subsidies before paying into the retirement funds. So while I'm heartened that others have woken up to the scam that is professional sports stadiums, it's sad to see that there is no accountability in American public life, not on Wall Street nor Main Street, nor San Diego's C Street.— April 14, 2010 11:59 a.m.
Pre-gaming
SD, you wrote: Making fun of white trash functions as a curious outlet, a strange "safe zone" of cultural degradation by society as a whole. My reply: That was the short restatement of my own comment. Thank you for responding at such very great length, but you didn't have any answer beyond touting "cultural studies", with which I'm already familiar. Just 'cause I'm from the trailer park don't mean I'm all like ignorant 'n stuff.— March 11, 2010 1:21 a.m.
Pre-gaming
Jay Allen DOES get it. He is a writer, a communicator, with years of experience. He did the right thing. He followed the story, and he shared it with us. Sanctimonious condemnation is no fit reward for such willingness to tell us all what's happening. The mother superiors ought to get out of their habits. Prancing off with parting insults,as if leaving a comment thread unfilled by their pearls of wisdom is a devastating loss to the world, is childish. Jay, ignore the magpies. They're just squawking for attention.— March 11, 2010 12:52 a.m.
Pre-gaming
Back to the topic: This party crasher attended the "poor white trash" version of UCSD's infamous "Compton Cookout". Makes me wonder...if the target of derision is poor blacks, it's clearly a racist assault worthy of international headlines. But if the target for derision is poor whites...*yawn. Seems to me that the only "fair game" for everyone's insults today are the trailer park trash, rednecks, unwashed and uneducated no good lazy beer drinking slobs with two rusted out cars up on blocks next to the double-wide. You can degrade them as much as you like and no one bats an eye. Do the same thing with any other group, and you're in trouble. Imagine, if instead of mocking white trash with crooked teeth and beer bellies, the party crasher wrote about attending a party where everyone dressed up in fake gold chains, called each other "niggaz and hos", and ate watermelon. I understand the historical reasons for this imbalance, and certainly am NOT advocating for mocking any group...I'm just pointing out the double standard. You can make fun of poor whites all you like, but try the same with poor blacks, poor latinos, poor asians... And in the end, wasn't it Josh's insult about Aaryn's adopted black kid (in a private email, not posted online) that really did him in? Just asking...— March 10, 2010 12:09 a.m.
San Diego 9th Most Popular Retirement Location
Back to the topic: Notice there's no mention of either the Chargers or the Padres in the reasons why folks choose to retire in San Diego. Yet the idiots downtown, when they're not sticking their forked tongues into some developer's large intestine, claim that we MUST give away hundreds of millions of dollars to sports billionaires or the city will fall into the sea. Even a squirrel has more sense!— March 3, 2010 10:15 p.m.
Sell It to the Jury
Fear not, Momfer. Internet access is not the same thing as network access. Hooking up to a wi-fi connection at the court house is the same as hooking up to a wi-fi connection at the coffee house. On the other hand, one does wonder if the network itself is secure, if attorneys are required to use strong passwords (and change them regularly), and if the network administrators are able/willing to monitor their system for infiltration. But that is completely different from the standard internet access point the court seems to be providing.— February 3, 2010 7:40 p.m.
NFL lies about Super Bowl benefits
Freddie Maaaaaas, Chairman of the Board of the Centre City Development Corporation, (CCDC) announced today that a Los Angeles consultant has determined that the City of San Diego's contribution to the proposed Spectacular Dan's Stripper Stadium (SDSS) is estimated to be 80% of the total construction costs. Flanked by Dirty Dan spokesperson, Fab Fanny, Maaaaaas told the assembled reporters that this kind of financial arrangement is typical for the construction of such valuable civic assets. "It's time to move forward and make San Diego a world class city," Maaaaaas said. "By investing in this popular and lucrative industry, San Diego can finally compete with Las Vegas for the tourist dollars we need to finance other projects, like the new monument to Susan Golding we've long planned for downtown." Los Angelese entertainment consultant, Hugh G. Rection, of the law firm Bicker Back and Forth, said that in cities like San Diego, political leaders typically bend over backward to do whatever they must to keep the strippers in town. Fab Fanny, who has long advocated for increased city investment in a downtown stadium, explained that this is a win-win situation. "Oh, you can't imagine how happy this makes me," she giggled as Maas slipped a hundred dollar bill into her silver panties. Some naysayers, such as Barnacle Porter, economist at the Florida-based University of South Tampa, claim that the city could invest this money in infrastructure, including long neglected roads and sewers. But the consortium of Fans, Stippers, and Politicians for a New Stadium, disagree. Dan Shucks, owner of the Chuckwagon Bar and Grill, a downtown favorite of strippers and the Mayor, explained that without the world's larges strip pole, San Diego just can't compete with other cities. "Ya know, when I see my girls up their swinging around with their legs spread wide, it makes me proud to be a father, and proud to be a San Diegan." The Mayor, a long time friend of Dirty Dan, has indicated he'll ask the Centre City Development Corporation to fund at least $500 million of the costs of construction, largely in twenties. "This is my vision for the city of the future," he said.— January 28, 2010 11:17 p.m.