Wishin’ for Wi-Fi in San Diego… The prospects for SD going the wireless way of some other big U.S. cities have been seemingly slim, yet Matt Potter provides some hope in the Reader this past week.  "It turns out," Potter writes, "that the City has been quietly negotiating for at least six months with EarthLink Municipal Networks, the Atlanta-based firm that is building systems in Philadelphia and San Francisco, among other cities."

Potter also indicates that the Earthlink system in Philly is "a lot cheaper than the rates offered by San Diego cable providers Cox Communications and Time Warner, who are said to be gearing up to fight any kind of similar arrangement that might emerge here. Verizon Wireless and other mobile carriers who offer data services equivalent to Wi-Fi can also be expected to lobby against free or low-priced service plans."

Unlike the Wal-Mart debate, where the SD City Council majority can’t see the point of providing lower prices to their constituents, this fight won’t be influenced by labor as much as it will be by long-time area powerhouses like Cox and Time Warner.

Read the entire Potter story in the Reader here.

The Investment Wizards at the Union-Tribune… On Friday, the day prior to yesterday’s SDUT editorial slamming Joel Anderson’s Iran divestment legislation (AB 221) as "a hollow gesture" and "absurd," the AP ran the following:

U.S. freezes assets of 4 Iranian companies

The Bush administration moved Friday to financially clamp down on four Iranian companies suspected of connections to Tehran’s nuclear program.

It marked the government’s latest move to put the financial squeeze on Iran, a country the United States accuses of fostering terrorism and whose nuclear ambitions have drawn international rebuke.

The action means that any bank accounts or other financial assets belonging to … three companies found in the United States must be frozen. Americans also are forbidden from doing business with them.

"So long as Iran continues to pursue a nuclear program in defiance of the international community’s calls to halt enrichment, we will continue to hold those responsible to account for their conduct," said Stuart Levey, the department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The action comes as leaders of the world’s eight major industrial powers, meeting in … Germany, on Friday, sent a warning to Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

Click to read the entire AP story, if you want all the details.  In the meantime, did you catch the portion that reads, "Americans also are forbidden from doing business with" the companies?

So, apparently the editorial board members at the SDUT, in opposing similar Iran-divestiture efforts at the State level, believe that CalPERS and CalSTRS — two of the largest pension funds operators in the nation (and the world, no less) — don’t need to act like Americans?

This comes a little more than a week after Florida Gov. Charlie Crist expressed his support for a bill that would divest Florida of its holdings in Iran-tied businesses, while also saying he would send a letter to the nation’s 49 other governors asking them to consider similar actions.  

Yep, Governor Crist, perhaps to the SDUT just another dupe tossing about hollow gestures.

Ironically, the SDUT’s Saturday editorial in opposition to the Anderson bill commences as follows:

The Assembly this week unanimously passed a measure that would require the pension funds for state public employees and state teachers to drop their investments in foreign firms doing business in Iran. (U.S. firms are already banned.)

Please note the parenthetical clause, speaking of absurd, since the newspaper itself chose to include it.  Yes, exactly…U.S. firms are already banned from investing in Iran.  So, we’re not expressing any opposition to that particular policy, yet we’re okay with our retirement dollars instead going to foreign firms investing in Iran…is that what we’re saying?  

Apparently.  Or, DOH! 

"Lawmakers far from investment experts," was the SDUT editorial sub-headline.  True.  As if the Union-Trib editorial board members moonlight at Citibank and Goldman Sachs.

Keep those Cards and Letters Coming… Kudos to Assemblyman Martin Garrick and staff for adding me to his standard media email distribution list.  I know bloggers aren’t considered traditional media (yet?), but a few of us do specialize in politics.  Although we may not have the readership of a SDUT or North County Times, Jon Fleischman might surprise you with tales of the FR readership and actual website hits.  In case you missed it, the web is a rising force in politics.  Again, DOH!  

So, to you SD area legislators and local politicos that haven’t added a blogger or two to your media lists, you may be missing a mention now and then.  You do want us to know what you’re doing, right?  

Tell us.

My email is here.  Have a great week!

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Read all of Barry’s posts.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.