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Michael Fitzgerald
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Monthly Archives: May 2009
Union rep: There’s much more fat out there
Bill Petrone, a union rep with SEIU Local 1021, writes:
Nice column on the excessive perks in hard times given to some.
…The middle managers, Executive Managers, and confidential employees in San Joaquin County, receive a benefit called the “Cafeteria Plan”. This is cash given to these employees to purchase medical benefits. However, if all employees who [...]
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Maxim’s makes a federal case of it
David LaBeouf, the attorney for Maxim’s, the Brookside bar/restaurant whose music permit was just yanked by the Council, leaves this message.
“I just wanted to let you know that we filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court challenging the constitutionality of their ordinance, saying that is a violation of our first amendment rights. We [...]
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A vestige of old Fat City
Spotted Thursday morning at Senior Awareness Day: long-retired boxer Frank Dobales, a throwback to Stockton’s Fat City days.
Dobales fought 50 fights as a bantamweight or featherweight in the late 1940s. He won 40.
Dobales’s t-shirt eads, “I’m bringing grumpy back.” When I asked him if he really was grumpy, he said “Yes.”
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An insight into gay marriage foes
The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait makes an impressive point about the opponents of gay marriage: their agument against gay marriage is that they’re against gay marriage.
In other words, ask them why the’re against gay marriage and they’ll reply they believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. But why? Read a great piece [...]
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Life at its hardest
We were proud to be of some help to Loretta and Matthew Ceaser, a struggling homeless couple from the tent city. For instance, today they may take delivery of a donated motor home.
So we are sad to learn that Loretta’s daugter and two grandchildren were killed in a Bay Area car crash over the holiday weekend.
“And my [...]
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‘Choking on karma?’
Next to Dale Fritchen, the poor chair of the Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, a man whose entire tenure is spent swirling deeper into Stockton’s budget maelstrom, the man I’d least like to be in Stockton is Stockton Unified Superintendent Anthony Amato. People don’t merely take exception to Amato’s policies. They get personal.
To me, that says more about his [...]
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But the change is gonna come
“Now, any minority can be targeted at the whim of a hostile majority. In November 2008, it was gay and lesbian couples. Who’s next?”–Lambda Legal on the state Supreme Courts discriminatory gay marriage ruling.
I tend to dismiss slippery slope arguments. But I have a deep distrust of majorities. So did the founding fathers, or what’s [...]
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Lodi vs. the dreadnought
Reader Nancy Ripken writes:
When I first came to the Lodi area in 1969 there was a green belt from Harney Lane to Eight Mile Rd. It existed, decisions were made on that premise, and it was non-negotiable. Property values reflected that restriction. When Lodi Unified proposed siting Tokay High School south of Harney Ln. the [...]
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When it comes to the Delta …
… if you’re not mad, you’re not paying attention.
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The race card doesn’t work for Rencher