When Fox News aired a story last month highlighting Jason Greenslate, a San Diego surfer musician who bought lobster with his CalFresh support (aka food stamps, aka Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP), the response from the right was swift and vicious. Like the relentlessly demonized “welfare mothers” of the 1990s, he was the proof…
As the military services are moving each day in the direction of better supporting LGB dependents (spouses, children, etc.), there are Ts in the military family that the DoD is failing to adequately support. We don’t hear much about these Ts in the military family, but within the military family there is no question that…
Former Mayor Bob Filner and his former fiancée Bronwyn Ingram’s recent weekend rendezvous in San Francisco certainly got a lot of San Diegans talking … and yes, more confused about these two and their relationship. After all, Bronwyn’s breakup with Bob was very public and she missed no opportunity to bash him and kick him…
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been touring the country trying to get businesses to move to Texas. If he really wants to bring more money into his state, perhaps he should talk to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Rybak has been touring states without marriage equality, inviting same-sex couples to wed in Minneapolis. Minnesota is the…
Marriage equality is currently an issue for military couples with trans spouses, highlighting a Department of Defense (DoD) cultural competence issue. If a spouse changes his or her gender after being married and entered into the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) as a particular gender, then one is that gender until one goes through…
In about fourth grade, adolescent boys (at least I think it’s just the boys) start taunting each other with the game “Would you rather do ______ or kiss your mother on the lips?” For those who don’t remember this, or a similar game, the blank is an ever-worsening list of disgusting things for which the…
In a somewhat similar way to Pvt. Chelsea Manning’s choice to willfully violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for what she hoped would be for a greater good, I know what it’s like to willfully violate the UCMJ for what I hoped would be for a greater good. Our choices too were similar…
In more than 50 years of being involved with politics, I have never witnessed such a vicious and ugly smear campaign like the one recently launched against Carl DeMaio. About four years ago I got a call from someone who worked at City Hall who informed me that some City Council aides were having “fun”…
So now we know. Mayor Filner will be succeeded by the winner of a “normal” special election, not a post recall free for all. That means the winner will have to get more than 50 percent, if not in the first special election then in the subsequent run-off. That likely narrows the slate considerably by…
Even though I’m a kind and joy-filled person, I’m always prepared to deal with inappropriate comments or behavior from the government-employed health care services workers. I’m always ready to ask why a medical doctor, nurse or technician’s bigotry is getting in the way of treating a veteran with respect to their service. Yet, I’ve never…
