Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Johnny, I'll do my best to 'edit' my comments "down to a level you can manage". But writing to a level where first grade contributors, like you, can manage is difficult, if not completely impossible. By JustWondering =============================== Hey, that is an insult! I was promoted to second grade.— February 5, 2009 1:50 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Response to post #665: Fred, if you joined the PD, would you be concerned about getting shot in the back? Best, Don Bauder ================================ Fred is only concerned about getting shot in the back by "friendly fire"......... Remember the qualifications- GED, clean record and no drug use. Nothing in there about common sense (I hope Fumbler is not a SDPD cop!)!— February 5, 2009 1:14 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
"Johnny(I only post some of the facts that support my positions)Vegas" and you comment about on your frustration on salary compensation for public safety employees. ========================================= LOL....stop it JW, you're killing me! BTW, can you "edit" some of your comments down to a level I can manage on a 5 minute break....instead of posting a novel. No, wait-you posted not one, but TWO novels today!— February 5, 2009 1:10 p.m.
Guess Who's San Diego's Newest Author: Michael Ellis of Metabolife, Writing from Prison
try this one: By jimmysjohnson ========================= Yeah, and if you took the time to actually read and analyze the study you linked you would see it is jusy one study, not fully published on the website- only the abstract which prevents fully analyzing the study, and it is not cited in any other studies. Now take a look at the NEJM study, including the entire study whihc is on the website and then look at the number of times it has been referenced (hundreds). Now which one carries more weight??? No comparison.— February 4, 2009 7:19 p.m.
Guess Who's San Diego's Newest Author: Michael Ellis of Metabolife, Writing from Prison
With regard to the death claims. There is a new study that was released last summer that clearly states that there is no connection between an ephedrine/caffeine product and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. In other words Metabolife was not responsible for these deaths any more than the adverse affect I get from reading your blog. By beaudoggy22 ================================================ beaudoggy22 = Ellis! Ephedrine has been linked to scores of deaths and that is a proven fact. There is NO legitimate study that states otherwise. Here you go Ellis, a legitimate study from a legitimate peer review journal- The New England Journal of Medicine; Adverse Cardiovascular and Central Nervous System Events Associated with Dietary Supplements Containing Ephedra Alkaloids Christine A. Haller, M.D., and Neal L. Benowitz, M.D. Results Thirty-one percent of cases were considered to be definitely or probably related to the use of supplements containing ephedra alkaloids, and 31 percent were deemed to be possibly related. Among the adverse events that were deemed definitely, probably, or possibly related to the use of supplements containing ephedra alkaloids, 47 percent involved cardiovascular symptoms and 18 percent involved the central nervous system. Hypertension was the single most frequent adverse effect (17 reports), followed by palpitations, tachycardia, or both (13); stroke (10); and seizures (7). >>>>Ten events resulted in death, and 13 events produced permanent disability, representing 26 percent of the definite, probable, and possible cases. <<<< http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/343/… Man, why do all the scam artists you write about and expose come on here under an alias and still try to perpetuate their scams which have been thoroughly discredited by the free world?????— February 4, 2009 6:08 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
If nothing else, you've proved over and over you have incredible expertise in the area of troll posting. By JustWondering =============================== Why thank you JW. The honor is extra special coming from you!— February 4, 2009 1:39 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
JF, looks like those gold-plated salaries you deny exist are an established fact in San Diego. By Fred_Williams ==================== JF ran for the hills. But here, let me give you JF's response (after years of hearing his basic "we're underpaid and deserve more" lines); JF: " $100K is underpaid compared to other FD's. In Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside (insert higher paid agency here) the starting pay is (insert % higher here) more than San Diego, therefore we are underpaid and deserve more, because San Diego needs "competitve" salaries and benefits to get the "best" applicants and to keep current employees from going to other "higher paying" agencies." Did I leave anything out??????? Isn't this JF and JW's basic argument???????— February 4, 2009 12:25 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
The bottom line is this - SDPD and the SDFD are the lowest staffed (per capita) major city police and fire departments in the United States. Just because they don’t have the people, doesn’t mean the job isn’t there to be done. So you have two choices: either hire more people or pay overtime. ======================================= How about we cut pay and pensions 80%, to market rate for a GED, and hire 80% more cops and FF's?— February 4, 2009 12:13 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Now I will sit back to be called a liar by the likes of “Johnny Vegas”. While this is a common occurance, it is equally common that they fail to post alternative facts and sources that prove what I say is false. Visit SDCERS and grab a city budget. Read it for yourself. By JustWondering ================================== "JustWondering" (let me repay your quotation marks), this if for you buddy; The Intergenerational Transfer of Public Pension Promises Robert Novy-Marx University of Chicago - Booth School of Business Joshua D. Rauh University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) September 2, 2008 Abstract: "The value of pension promises already made by US state governments will grow to approximately $7.9 trillion in 15 years. We study investment strategies of state pension plans and estimate the distribution of future funding outcomes. We conservatively predict a 50% chance of aggregate underfunding greater than $750 billion and a 25% chance of at least $1.75 trillion (in 2005 dollars). Adjusting for risk, the true intergenerational transfer is substantially larger. Insuring both taxpayers against funding deficits and plan participants against benefit reductions would cost almost $2 trillion today, >>>>>even though governments portray state pensions as almost fully funded."<<<<< http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_i…— February 4, 2009 12:11 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Hey, since we are talking "real" numbers (not JF numbers), let me throw this one in (those poor underpaid FF's and cops!....I say we give them a 25% raise today to help them make ends meet); "Of the 1,255 city employees who earned $100,000 or more last year, fully 78 percent were in the Police or Fire department. In fact, the second-highest-paid person on San Diego's payroll was a fire battalion chief who pulled down $221,625, including a staggering $84,191 in overtime. Only Jay Goldstone, the city's chief operating officer, with responsibility over the entire municipal bureaucracy, earned more than the fire battalion chief. Goldstone was paid $250,000, with no overtime allowance. " http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/0…— February 4, 2009 10:07 a.m.