12 Step Programs Free Me From Addiction (tags)
My Name is Freedom
An Ex-Cop Talks About Police Shootings (tags)
Norm Stamper, a former police officer who served for 28 years with the San Diego police force and six years as the chief of police in Seattle, gave his thoughts on Twitter. He responded to the tweet by the journalist Shaun King who stated, “Sadly I’ve studied 100s of videos of American police executing non-violent, unarmed people. This is one of the worst I’ve ever witnessed.” Stamper wrote, “One of the worst I’ve seen, as well. Heart-stopping, stomach-turning. No room in policing for cops this scared and ill-prepared.”
Civil Rights Groups Sue Caltrans to Stop Illegal Raids Against California's Homeless (tags)
Civil Rights Groups Sue Caltrans to Stop Illegal Raids Against California's Homeless
Chris Hassett: Queer Activist, Teacher Tells Stories in Music (tags)
San Diego Queer folksinger Chris Hassett released his most recent CD, "This I Promise You," last May. It's a collection of 11 songs, mostly quiet and understated but with country, rock, pop and jazz influences reflecting Hassett's broad musical tastes. Zenger's Newsmagazine interviewed Hassett in late June and discussed the album, as well as gossiping about musicians ranging from Willard Robison to Lady Gaga.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Is Still Alive at MCRD (tags)
Anyone who thinks anti-Queer discrimination in the military is a thing of the past needs to read this article! Zenger's Newsmagazine associate editor Leo E. Laurence was fired from his stint as a volunteer at the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) for bringing his roommate to an on-base event.
Sean Wherley: Activist Comedian Laughs Out Proud (tags)
Veteran activist and political staffer Sean Wherley found another outlet a year ago when he took up stand-up comedy and started the Laugh Out Proud shows the second Thursday of every month at Martinis Above Fourth in Hillcrest, San Diego. His monthly shows present Queer and Queer-friendly comedians from San Diego and L.A. — and they're funny!
CHRIS TINA BRUCE: Transgender Bodybuilder Competes in San Diego Oct. 29 (tags)
Transgender bodybuilder Chris Tina Bruce is scheduled to compete in her first contest in 20 years — and her first as a woman — this Saturday, October 29 at the Scottish Rite Events Center in San Diego. In this interview for Zenger's Newsmagazine, Bruce discusses her history, how she came out as Transgender and how her professional worlds have accepted her — or not.
Dennis Wymbs: Retired Teacher Becomes Leather Artist (tags)
San Diego North County teacher turned leather artist Dennis Wymbs is showing his art through July 31 at Pleasures & Treasures, 2525 University Avenue in North Park. Wymbs creates stunning work in a wide variety of media, including leather sculptures, metal engraving, masks and painting. His work is sensual and reflects his background as a Gay man and a Leatherman, but without hurling his or its sexuality in our faces. The store where he's exhibiting can be reached at (619) 822-4280 or online at http://pleasuresandtreasures.biz
KURT WENDELBORG: Not Your Typical Mr. San Diego Leather (tags)
Kurt Wendelborg may look like a typical Leather community titleholder — he’s tall, thin, in excellent shape physically and commandingly butch in his overall appearance and demeanor — but he really isn’t. Most of the Mr. San Diego Leather winners have been people who’ve lived in San Diego and been involved in community activities for years; Kurt had lived in San Diego less than a year when he ran for the title and won. Most of the title winners have been “tops,” playing the dominant role in scenes; Kurt not only is a “bottom” but proudly boasted about it from the stage at Rich’s during the March 19 contest. Offstage, Kurt is personable and easygoing but also passionate and dedicated about serving his community and his fellow human beings. He eagerly agreed to a Zenger’s interview and talked about the role of the title contests in the Leather community, his ambitions as a community leader and how he hopes being Mr. San Diego Leather 2011 will help him grow both personally and as a member of the Leather community.
Curtis Dixon: The Art of the Leather Bootblack (tags)
The Leather community has a lot of folkways non-Leather people are often baffled by, and one of them is the importance of the bootblack. Curtis Dixon has been bootblacking for almost a quarter of a century and has won several major honors in the craft. In this interview, celebrating the upcoming San Diego Leather Pride events in March as well as the California Leather SIR/boy contest in San Diego in May, Curtis talks about what bootblacking means to the Leather community as a whole and its importance to him personally
Gioffre & Rader: Real-Life Gay Couple Do Video Together (tags)
Though the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008 put a damper on their original business plan to market themselves as specialist in wedding videos for Gay and Lesbian couples, videographers and real-life husband and husband Gary Rader and Anthony Gioffre are going ahead with their company, Golden Lodestar Productions, and even marketing themselves as specialists in commitment ceremonies. They also do other kinds of video production and are frequently seen with their gear at local pro-Queer demonstrations and other political events they’re documenting for historical purposes.
BP's Insidious Coverup and Propaganda Campaign: Out of Sight, Out of Mind (tags)
"Yesterday I spoke with Clint Guidry, a Louisiana fisherman who is on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Shrimp Association and the Shrimp Harvester Representative on the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force created by Executive Order of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. “Right now, there is more oil in Barataria Bay than there has been since this whole thing started on April 20,” Guidry told me." BP oil is now turning up under the shells of post-larval blue crabs all across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Nearly all the crab larvae collected to date by researchers, from Grand Isle, Louisiana all the way over to Pensacola, Florida, have oil under their shells. Further analysis is showing that the crabs likely also contain BP’s Corexit dispersant. On August 5th it was reported that a pair of fishermen in Mississippi “made an alarming discovery that has many wondering what’s happening below the surface” of the Gulf of Mexico. They found several full-sized crabs filled with oil." To para phrase Orwell: "If you're going to lie, lie big!"
If you will
Michelle Jackson: Sign-Language Interpreter, First Female San Diego Leatherboys President (tags)
Michelle Jackson knew she was going to be interested in languages from the age of five,when her father took her across the border from San Diego to Tijuana and she heard Spanish for the first time. In college she studied American Sign Language (ASL) and ultimately made her living as an interpreter for the deaf community. It was a job she took to interpret at a San Diego Leatherfest that led her to the Leather/kink/BDSM community — and she's become an energetic activist in it, serving as Ms. San Diego Leather 2005 and recently being elected the first female president of the San Diego Leatherboys.
The War Prayer & Grandma's Battlecry (tags)
As the latest Hitler in the White House goes before his gang of warlords at West Point instead of Congress as this country because increasingly fascist on December 2, 2009 to promote yet another blood for oil war, it is worth remembering Mark Twain's "War Prayer" and the peacenik response, "Grandma's Battlecry."
Steve Hadley: Council Candidate's Odyssey from Pulpit to Politics (tags)
San Diego City Council candidate Steve Hadley is considered an underdog because he doesn't have the party connections, name recognition or donor base of his opponents. But he's got a lot of assets; as the chief of staff for the Councilmember he's running to replace, Donna Frye, he's got her support and that of the community organizers and activists he's worked with as part of her office. He's also got a compelling personal story; he grew up in the Seventh Day Adventist church, pushed the church towards greater acceptance of equality for women and Queers, then left the ministry to study law and work in politics.
The five trillion that the "debt" has swallowed (tags)
Look, five trillion reais equals 35 times the total sales of Brazilian automobile industry in 2008, with exports, including to this also results for the agricultural machinery.
Behind the Scenes at San Diego’s Gay Fraternity (tags)
KEVIN KAO, EZRA EVANGELISTA and ARTHUR HUANG probably wouldn’t have joined any other fraternity, but Delta Lambda Phi was different. Not only was it founded 22 years ago specifically for Gay, Bisexual and “Progressive” (Queer-friendly) men, but its members get along and have fun with each other without drinking or hazing.
San Diego City Council Candidates Debate (tags)
San Diego City Council candidates Stephen Whitburn and Todd Gloria debated at the Hillcrest Town Council September 9. Both are openly Gay men and the debate was held in the center of San Diego's Queer community, but the candidates are otherwise quite different. Gloria emphasized his roots in San Diego and his extensive experience working as a staff member for elected officials, while Whitburn criticized Gloria's support from developers and said his own experience in journalism and the nonprofit sector would make him a better Councilmember.
Tony and Ashley Weeks: Transgender Couple Relate Their Experiences (tags)
Male-to-female Transgender person ASHLEY WEEKS and her female-to-male husband TONY talk about their struggles with gender identity and the love they’ve found in being themselves.
Those readers who follow the breaking stories in the Laguna Journal, the oldest online newspaper in the world, are well-informed readers indeed. The world gets the real news before any other news service even knows what’s happening.
The controversy surrounding Barack Obama and his long-time minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the speed with which New York governor Elliot Spitzer was forced out of office after he was revealed to be using prostitutes, just shows how screwed-up Americans are about race and sex. Even within the Queer community, bigotry exists, as shown when a board member of a San Diego nonprofit questioned whether her agency should accept donations from the Leather community and referred to Leatherpeople as "those people."
On A Roll To The Oval Office (tags)
"The presidential race isn’t just Republicans vs Democrats. lndependent candidate Frank Moore wants to become the first disabled president since Roosevelt." This is a re-post from the UK magazine, "Disability Now".
Daniel Watman: Activist Bridges Cultural, Sexual Borders (tags)
Bisexual activist DANIEL WATMAN doesn’t believe in walls — whether they’re the artificial “borders” between countries or the psychological borders between straight and Gay people. His involvements in the Border Meetup Group and the Bisexual Forum are bringing people together in new and unusual ways.
An Open Letter to Geoge Monbiot on his 9-11 Flip Flopping (tags)
George Monbiot has proven to be another 9-11 leftwing gatekeeper, and has published a series of vitriolic hitpieces disguised as articles attacking the 9-11 Truth Movement for its temerity in challenging the US government Official Conspiracy Theory (OCT). Ive written to Mr Monbiot, whose journalism ive usually admired for its intelligence, perception, wit etc, twice, and received no reply to my first, have written a second, based on new information. Here is that letter.
An Interview with a Homeless Environmentalist (tags)
“I’ve gotten to where picking up [litter] is just a never ending job.” -- Willow
Below you will see exactly what your tax dollars are doing in the Air Support Division of the LAPD. Not only are they perverts, they harbor child molestors like Rod Bernsen. (accused)...ha. What's the saying.....where there's smoke, there's fire?
After reporting this to Internal Affairs, it was kicked back to the Hooper Heliport for investigation. Given the fact that the Captain is one of the men involved, I hardly feel they can conduct an unbias investigation.
Frank Gehry and LA’s New Downtown (tags)
Photo by Frank Gehry Partners. The future of downtown Los Angeles? Billionaire real estate developers have unveiled a plan to "remake" downtown Los Angeles. Artist Mark Vallen gives us the details. Reprinted from Vallen's weblog: www.art-for-a-change.com/blog (Tuesday, April 25, 2006).
The sonic revolutionary onslaught returns to Los Angeles. And beyond.
New Radical Political Blog! (tags)
I’ve recently started a new blog dedicated to the description, explanation, and occasional mocking of radical politics in the United States.
This is forom a fire fighter who was at gound zero when it happened!!
Red Hunter Adapting to More Subtle American Censorship (tags)
Red Hunter: Changing the World of Independent Music from Austin, TX
Music and Vision: Red Hunter, Austin, TX (tags)
RED HUNTER: Changing the World of Independent Music from Austin, TX
Marc Debbaudt - Candidate for Superior Court Judge Office 95 (tags)
As a voter in Los Angeles County, I’ve seen little information on those running for the more local elective offices. No one to whom I’ve spoken has any idea who the candidates are for judge or what they stand for. Mr. Debbaudt is running in response to his belief that the incumbent, Judge Oki, failed in his duty to public safety.
Shane Borgess, a supermarket clerk, was a self-described conservative Republican until October 11. That's then he and 70,000 others went on strike. Now some regular shoppers are giving him the finger; "let’s just say I’ve gotten some insight into my own kind"
message to my american brother (tags)
an e-mailed message about the Dutch peace demonstration, send to an american friend
Hello, Here’s another letter from Peter Schnell. He’s supposed to be released to a half-way house this spring! Also, a friend of Peters is interested in Spanish language anarchist and other radical literature. See below:
10/27 at Pershing Square (tags)
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life!” exclaims one African-American man. “Never?” I ask. “No!” he says, “What’s it about?” “It’s against the war.” “Oh,” he nods. “That’s good. The war is bad.”