Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Compared with Orange and L.A., San Diego Underspends on Firefighting
Bankruptcy is the only solution I can see that will begin to solve our City's financial problems and every day that our Leaders continue to waffle, they become a larger part of the problem. ========= San Diego, and many other cities, are essentially bankrupt right now. The cannot maintain core services on current income. They have been hoping and praying for the economy to turn, but it hasn't, and even if it did the pension expenses are growing exponentially and will far outpace even a strong recovery-and we will have at best a slow recovery-at worst a double dip recession. KFC Sanders has turned out to be a big fat bag of hot air- and I think, or at least hope, everyone with half a brain now realizes this fact. Sanders ran on NOT raising taxes and getting spending under control-he has now flip flopped on both issues and is in fact trying to do exactly what he promised he would not do-raise taxes. Tax increases in the middle of a depression, on people who are losing everything they own, taxes that will NOT lead to better gov or gov services, but will go right into the pockets and pensions of city employees who are 100 tiems better off than the private sector paying their expenses. If the pension tax passes you will not see or hear from SurfPuppy ever again-I will be moving to Yuma. Sanders needs to go-yesterday!— September 4, 2010 8:33 p.m.
How do you personally benefit through taxes?
I have been asked many times - both leaving Mexico and entering it - by Homeland Security ================ Question-is this when you enter Mexico by CAR??? I never drive in, when I used to go I would always park and walk in, and there was never anyone at the entrance turnstyles 90% of the time, every now and then there would be a couple of SDPD cops, but they never asked me any questions.— September 4, 2010 5:17 p.m.
How do you personally benefit through taxes?
But if I understand you correctly, you're sort of comparing it to getting around the bank transaction laws designed to curb money laundering. To my knowledge, there is nothing preventing anyone from legally bringing over $9,999.99 as often as they wish. ============== Yes, it is true of banking transactions, but I thought it was also true of border crossings, but was not positive.— September 4, 2010 4:12 p.m.
Compared with Orange and L.A., San Diego Underspends on Firefighting
"Oh man oh man, why do YOU LIE SO MUCH?????" Look who's talking. Perhaps you remember this: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs...> =========================== Actually I was right about everything I wrote in that thread-at least as far as I read-at 250 posts I didn't read all of it....but these so called civil service are hired from 4 basic areas, and every major PD/FD in this state has been sued at some point within the last 40 years over nepotism hiring practices.......— September 4, 2010 3:58 p.m.
Compared with Orange and L.A., San Diego Underspends on Firefighting
SP, you are contradicting your own statement. You say that unions are 100% to blame, partly because they bribed the pols. Then the pols are also to blame, because they were influenced by those bribes. ==================== I think public unions should be busted up using the Sherman Antitrust Act, just like Standard Oil was in 1906. Public unions have no competition and are therefore a monopoly under the Sherman Act, and could be busted apart. Just as Standard Oil was ripping off oil consumers due to their 90% market share/monopoly, so are public employees by way of their monopolies and lack of competition in a free and open market. I just thought of this recently-I have never seen anyone take this sort of antitrust approach to public employment before-so I think I am on the cutting edge in suggesting it...........— September 4, 2010 12:38 p.m.
Compared with Orange and L.A., San Diego Underspends on Firefighting
most cities have community members participate in the interview process of entery level police and ff's =============== Oh man oh man, why do YOU LIE SO MUCH????? Please, "community members" do NOT, in any way shape or manner "participate in the interview process of entery level police and ff's". They never have and they never will. No gov employment allows "community members" to do INTERVIEWING, in fact it may even be illegal. Police and Fire positions, as many gov jobs, are interviewed in panels, usually of 3, and the panel members are ALL gov employees-usually 2 or all 3 from the hiring agency (PD, FD, whatever) , maybe 1 person from human resources. The interviews are ALL SUBJECTIVE, not objective, so they can bring in whomever they want. This is how they hire on their family and friends, and also comply with consent decrees from being sued for past nepotism hiring. If gov employment were based on OBJECTIVE civil service exams like they were in the past (50 years ago) the entire make up of gov employement would be 180 degrees different from what it currently is. The last cop who was hired or promoted in this state on an objective CIVIL SERVICE exam based 100% on MERIT was LAPD Chief Darryl Gates, and that was over 3 decades ago. Gov jobs no longer are given out based on objective civil service testing. Keep posting those whoppers and I will keep knocking htem down. Even our resident gov scammer JustClueless will admit this fact.— September 4, 2010 12:32 p.m.
Compared with Orange and L.A., San Diego Underspends on Firefighting
Can someone design a cape with the letters "SP" emblazoned on the front ======================== Good idea-but it has already been done; http://www.insidesocal.com/prepsports/underdog.jpg BTW, why are you not apologizing for these GED employees like you usually do?— September 4, 2010 12:20 p.m.
Compared with Orange and L.A., San Diego Underspends on Firefighting
entry level requirements are posted for minimum requirements, you would be hard pressed to find a ff or pd with ged or hs diploma. ====================== LOL....and the hits just keep on coming. The required educational requriement for cop and ff is a GED or HS diploma, nothing more. That is all you need now, and all you have needed for decades. Same with promoting. 80% of all cops hired in metro PD's have only a GED or HS diploma. They are all promoted without regard to formal education. The Orange County Sheriff, the TOP LE position in the county, was a 9th grade HS drop out with just a GED- her name is Joanne Galinsky, Google her. So the notion, or should I say wild unsuppoted and bogus claim, that the cops and FF's are hired/promoted with more education than a GED or HS doploma is flat out false. Once again, these are semi skilled manual labor jobs, not professions. . . as far as benefit package...generally speaking benefits as rountinely 1/2 the pay comp package give or take a little ============= LOL...look, your baloney claims may work at a SEIU or cop/ff beach party or BBQ, but not here. We are far more informed than the average voter. FF's and cops ROUTINELY try to justify their massive amounts of highly paid OT with the claim that it is CHEAPER to pay OT than hire on a new employee because new employee benefits are more than the OT costs. The fact is benefits are far more than OT, and that is accordng to the ff and cop unions themselves, so the BS claim that benefits only account for 50% of the salary is a joke. Multi million dollar pensions at age 50 that last 30-40 years cost millions to fund, far more than 30 or 40% of salary. . . . i can not attempt to solve the budget crissiis, this was caused by groups much larger than police , fire, teachers etc, so please quit blaming the ones that are charged with protecting and educating your communities ====== Actually it was 100% caused by the public employees, they are the ones who designed, requested, paid bribes to politicians for and implemented these scams. What, do you think the taxpayers came up with this ponzi scheme that is one of the biggest rip offs in this countries history-please! If you want me to smack down anymore of your whoppers just say so-I am here to help !!!— September 4, 2010 10:17 a.m.
Prop 8
Nan, in 2-3 years NO ONE is going to think twice about this issue-it will blow over so fast we will look back in 5-10-20 years and not think or worry twice about it-I am confident of that.— September 3, 2010 11:01 p.m.
Compared with Orange and L.A., San Diego Underspends on Firefighting
Education and Experience Guidelines - Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be: Education/Training: Equivalent to completion of the twelfth grade. ================= LOL...... your very OWN POST shows the eduation requries-12th grade.....oh my- that is going to eliminate what- 1% of the applicants!!!!! Do you see anything that REQUIRES ANY college-NO! Once again, we get the basic firewhiner twisting the facts, and trying to justify their "entitlement" mentality, which cannot be justified. These are semi skilled, manual labor jobs, nothing more-you need to deal with that!— September 3, 2010 10:57 p.m.