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Despite Alleged Conflicts, Bersin Gets Border Post on Interim Basis
Bersin = well-connected U-T sacred cow? Maybe this was the recess appointment that kept the Senate "focused" on health care until it passed like gas after breaded jumbo shrimp and hot mustard...— April 11, 2010 9:29 p.m.
San Diegans Dominate Delinquent Tax List
Thunderbird Gaming (International Thunderbird Gaming Corporation) appears to have or was seeking casino operations in Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Venezuela... at least that is what the firm was reporting in 2003 (http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-man…). Since 2003, it seems to have moved from Canadian Trading & Quotation, Inc. to NYSE Euronext (symbol TBIRD). I dunno... seems kind of bizarre that a multi-national gambling "empire" is based in Poway of all places, especially when it has outstanding warrants in the hands of a "third-party lender" for shares at only ten cents each... Questions: Any connections to "sovereign" gaming outfits here in San Diego County? If so, any involvement with tribal campaign contributions during this period where Governator and tribes squared off in Court over slot machine quotas? Too bad about that current tax liability. http://www.thunderbirdresorts.com/— April 11, 2010 9:19 p.m.
Broke cities (including San Diego)
RE #8: Interesting options. The notion that the Courts will eventually force a change is something I don't expect to see in my lifetime, nor should I expect my nephews and nieces to live that long either. As it is, the Courts move in mysterious ways, depending on which arcane argument happens to win the day. There's nothing in that process that is dependable enough for the people to rely on for any speedy relief. The same could be said about the California legislature and gridlock... especially when the primary contributors of campaign funds have been and will be corporations, thanks to the Courts as mentioned above. This pretty much leaves public opinion, where there has been this saying around for a long time that "All politics is local." The question arises: What power do we citizens of San Diego have at the ballot box? I'm not talking about electing so-and-so for city council or mayor because waiting for major change from that is like watching glaciers race for the coast. I'm talking about mobilizing 10,000 volunteers to gather 100,000+ signatures to bypass the city council and get things put directly on the ballot. There is this assumption that petition-writing and signature-gathering take a ton of money, and if you're PG&E trying to gain perpetual profitability through a state-wide constitutional amendment initiative, $25 million is not the most expensive way to go. No, what I am referring to is bypassing the not-so-strong-and-rather-corrupt relationship between developers and local politicians in favor of reaching out to the general public in the City of San Diego and the surrounding County, where people hopefully got some benefit from their public education. Of course, this means that we or somebodies like us come up with some initiatives that make sense for (1) keeping necessary and desirable services available to the public and (2) doing that in a way that does not increase pension liabilities. My preferred method is to take advantage of the FEMA NIMS/ICS framework to manage by objectives, with a reliance on training and managing volunteers among the people to whom those services matter most: ourselves. I've labeled this as All-hazard Local Emergency Response Theory or ALERT, where a lot of the hazards we face stem from the inattentive mismanagement done by politicians and bureaucrats at the state and federal levels. I'll be sharing my thoughts on some of those issues on open forum. Just for the heck of it, I'll be doing this free ICS training thang at City College during the summer for the in-coming student government officers, with hopes of expanding the NIMS/ICS training & integration program across the student bodies of the San Diego Community College District. The last time I attempted something like this, then-City College President Jeanne Atherton gave me a tuition-free ride to dorms of USD just to keep me away from the City College campus. Sometimes it pays to be the student-activist squeaky wheel.— April 11, 2010 12:43 p.m.
Judge Dumps Criminal Pension Charges
RE #34: At last! We have the Convention Center replacements for Comic-Con! Now if we can only get the Star of India under escort of HMS Surprise to go fetch us some tea from the Orient...— April 10, 2010 4:49 p.m.
San Diego goes to smart-energy meters
RE #6: I'm only a recent subscriber at http://subscribecpuc.cpuc.ca.gov/ but I'll be looking for any application for a new tiered rate system from SDG&E. Most recently, SDG&E March 15 application (pursuant to the new state law requiring solar-panel customers to be paid for their excess electricity pumped back into the grid) does mention the benefits of smart meters as to keeping those Net Energy Metering customers aware of hoe much electricity they've been credited with in the last 12 months. The big problem I foresee in this is that those customers also have to be FERC Qualifying Facilities before SDG&E will even think about actually paying... see the required FERC form at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/forms/form-556/fo… I guess that since I've mentioned SDG&E's A.10-03-XXX here, I might as well blog it up. NB: If anyone is interested in intervening in the CPUC decision on how much those solar-panel NEM customers of SDG&E get paid, then search the California Public Utilities Code on how to get paid doing it (sections 1801-1812), and then search the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) website for SDG&E application A.10-03-XXX or "Application of San Diego Gas & Electric Company (U 902 E) Proposing a Net Surplus Compensation Rate Pursuant to Assembly Bill 920" It's also a good idea to look up the CPUC Rules for starting a practice before the CPUC.— April 10, 2010 4:39 p.m.
Copley Library Goes for Steep Discount
There was no mention of a superior collection of rare beer cans with any regard to the Jersey Boys material. As for the real estate transaction, it seems like a good one considering DJIA at just under 11,000 on such light volume... frothy froth...— April 10, 2010 8:38 a.m.
Star Search
As a child born under the rising sign of Sputnik, I declare that the pic of Barbarella in a space suit is hot. I now expect my girlfriend on ever finding this comment to hit me about the head and shoulders with an iron skillet. Apparently, there are no accredited schools of rocket surgery in the state of California. http://www.google.com/search?q=california+accredi…— April 9, 2010 11:57 a.m.
Road to the poorhouse
One wonders if South Bay Expressway creditors have attorneys sufficiently wise regarding bankruptcy petitioner's transfers of assets within a given period of years prior to filing. I'm not bothering to wonder about the ethics of politicians and lobbying firms that will no doubt fight any attempt to have them disgorge anything preferentially or otherwise improperly transferred to them, in anticipation by South Bay Expressway of its recent bankruptcy filing.— April 9, 2010 11:39 a.m.
San Diego goes to smart-energy meters
RE #4: The only thing I can reasonably see myself doing to put at least a little distance between me and the grid is to keep adding a few solar panels at a time to an off-grid setup... "On Keeping 3+ CFL Bulbs Burning Free For Life" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/encanto-gas…— April 8, 2010 7:39 p.m.
Life as Workweek
For giving Sharp Chula Vista five stars during my unplanned vacation stay last year, cardiologists there gave me two years before my uninsured aneurysm and associated multiple blockages decide to re-enact the Cuban Missile Crisis or worse, the Gunfight at the OK Coral. Hmmm. Counting today, Mr. Blair may have more time left in his mortal coil than I. May AG outlive Methuselah. Having a nice day!— April 8, 2010 11:06 a.m.