Where the heck is McGonigle Canyon?… Not many in SD had heard of this spot a couple of weeks ago, until reports that hundreds of illegals had turned it into a shanty-town, complete with no running 
water, basic toilet facilities (read: the ground), and even visiting prostitutes. Apparently, local officials have been ignoring it for some time, and the owners of the property have been turning a blind eye as well. A local official was even heard to say, "It’s private property, there’s nothing we can do about it."
Excuse me? Local government can’t do anything about health and safety violations, probable vermin, illegal encampments, sub-standard "housing," prostitution…need I say more? Since when did local bureaucrats become Libertarians?
Apparently, in a politically correct world, anything goes.
Well, there are a number of folks who understand it’s also politically correct to stand against that which is illegal and to protest the government and apologizers that so easily ignore the law. With threats of a huge protest rally led by the Minutemen, the illegal encampments swiftly disappeared. The rally still followed, resulting in much coverage last night and this morning:
NCTimes: Protest over illegal McGonigle Canyon dwellings draws hundreds
SignOnSanDiego: Protesters gather on city-owned land, not in canyon
SDUT: Group protests presence of immigrants in canyon
VoiceofSanDiego.org: Money can’t buy you love… The day after last Sunday’s post in which I mentioned the whopping amount of money shelled out by Kourosh Hangafarin in a losing effort, Scott Lewis also addresses it in Voice of San Diego. It’s worth the read, as he draws some parallels to other San Diegans that have tried to gain office on the backs of their wallets. Among those, Peter Q. Davis, Phil Thalheimer, and Steve Francis. A nice sum-up from Scott:
So what’s the lesson? Money is important. It’s imperative to have financial support — whether it’s your own or donated — to win local races. But it’s not everything.
You have to build a movement. It has to seem natural that the populace is turning to you to represent them in office. It can’t seem forced.
Read the entire piece here.
The Registrar of Voters vs. Diebold… Matt Potter in The Reader last week suggests that a few election reports about problems with Diebold electronic voting machines and the training required to oversee the electronic polls (see my Nov. 7 post from Dade County, CA) don’t reflect even the tip of the ballot-berg. Read these excerpts:
Based on recent e-mails obtained from the County under the California Public Records Act, (ROV Mikel) Haas’s lieutenants were at loggerheads with Diebold staffers over such issues as lack of poll worker training, which critics say is at the core of many of the Registrar’s problems. On September 11, for example, Registrar of Voters chief deputy Len Schultz e-mailed Diebold’s Michael Rockenstein to complain that John Decker, another Diebold employee, would not be in San Diego at the time promised.
"John is a key member of the team that will be significantly re-scripting our training," Schultz continued. "All of our planning has been based on having him available. His absence would have a significant impact. Please make sure that John and his manager are all on board with him being here next week."
But that wasn’t the first time Registrar staffers expressed concern that election workers might not be up to the job. In an e-mail dated July 21, Jean Olsson, in charge of training "troubleshooters" — workers who are supposed to track down and resolve problems at the polls before they interfere with voting — voiced a series of worries to Schultz. "For the troubleshooter training facility," Olsson wrote, "my main concern is that 50 to a classroom is not a feasible plan with regard to troubleshooters receiving the quality training they need to do their job. We found that for the June election that as the class size hit 20-22, having one instructor demonstrating and 2 helping begins to break down."
Here’s the Potter piece in it’s entirety.
The North County Times also weighs in this morning with a piece, Ballot shortages concern officials, which includes the following:
…dozens of the machines ran out of the paper required for printing a record of each voter’s choices, sending the machines out of service for up to an hour at a time. In several cases, all five or 10 machines in a precinct went down…In several precincts, a small but potentially significant number of the voters left as the lines backed up; many planned to run errands until the line began moving again, but it isn’t clear how many came back.
I wrote it before, but I’ll write it again…Somewhere, someplace, someone might call this disenfranchisement.
We’re no longer using paper ballots because? Let me ask that again. Would someone please tell me why we are aren’t using paper ballots anymore?
Have a nice week.