The San Bruno Beacon

By Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

Let me start by saying that racism in any form is not acceptable and it is illegal. Racism is not made acceptable or legal by denying that racist activity is not racist activity. Racism is not made acceptable by attempting to disguise a racist organization as anything else than what it is. Racism is not a joke and it is not a dirty little secret; it is morally reprehensible and, once again, illegal.

Any governmental entity, at any level, that condones, tolerates, or actively participates in racism is engaging in morally reprehensible and, once again, illegal activity. For any governmental entity, there should not even be the hint of impropriety when it comes to racism.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was founded in 1971 as a small civil rights law firm. Over the years, it has grown into an internationally recognized organization that, in the words of the SPLC site:

".....fights all forms of discrimination and works to protect society's most vulnerable members".

One branch of the SPLC is the SPLC Intelligence Project (SPLCIP). The SPLCIP:

"monitors hate groups and tracks extremist activity throughout the U.S. It provides comprehensive updates to law enforcement, the media and the public through its quarterly magazine, Intelligence Report. Staff members regularly conduct training sessions for police, schools, and civil rights and community groups, and they often serve as experts at hearings and conferences".

The SPLCIP has identified 125 Active White Nationalist U.S. Hate Groups. 5 of these groups are located in California. One of these groups that has been identified by the SPLCIP, the European American Issues Forum, is, according to the SPLCIP web site, located in San Bruno.

Here's what the SPLC says about these groups it has identified as White Nationalist hate groups:

"White nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the alleged inferiority of nonwhites. Groups listed in a variety of other categories - Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederate, neo-Nazi, racist skinhead, and Christian Identity - could also be fairly described as white nationalist. The groups .... range from those that use racial slurs and issue calls for violence to others that present themselves as serious, non-violent organizations and employ the language of academia. For many years, the largest white nationalist group in America has been the Council of Conservative Citizens, a reincarnation of the old White Citizens Councils that were formed to resist desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s."

There are approximately 30,000 cities in the United States. What is it about the City of San Bruno that makes it one of the very few cities (125/30000 or .00416%) in the United States to be specifically identified, by the SPLCIP, as the home of what the SPLCIP identifies as an active white nationalist U.S. Hate Group?

Does anybody in San Bruno's City Government care about having San Bruno identified by the SPLCIP as the home of a White Nationalist hate group? Has San Bruno's City Council, City Manager or anybody in San Bruno's Police Department talked with the SPLC about this disturbing information?

If the European American Issues Forum believes that the SPLC's characterization of their organization is incorrect, they should clarify this matter with the SPLC.

The bottom line is that the SPLC has identified the City of San Bruno as the home of an organization that the SPLC has identified as a White Nationalist hate group.

San Bruno's City Government needs to start a dialogue with its residents about racism in our community. Because San Bruno has been identified by the SPLC as the home of an active White Nationalist U.S. hate group, our City Government needs to have a heightened awareness of racist activity in San Bruno and engage in proactive efforts to prevent the growth of racism in our community.

Racism, in any disguise, is something that we cannot ignore, accept, or embrace.  

By Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

Let me start by saying that one of the main reasons the United States has so many problems is that voters continue to elect tax and waste, all sizzle and no steak politicans like Speier to higher levels of public office. During her years as a California State Legislator, Speier was instrumental in creating California's Budget disaster that we are now suffering through. Now, with all of the problems facing the United States, that require real solutions, the best that Speier can come up with is legislation to lower the National speed limit to 60 mph for freeways in urban areas and 65 mph in less populated areas.

It is quite clear that Speier does not understand the economic mechanisms driving the prices of oil and gasoline. The price of oil or gasoline will not go down based on how fast or slow people drive their vehicles in the United States.

Speier's limited understanding of finance and economics does not allow her to understand that the price of oil is being driven by increasing demand for petro based products in countries like India, China, Brazil, and Russia. In these countries, their growing middle class is now able to buy more vehicles and use more products requiring oil based energy and their hyper-active industries are devouring oil based resources to crank out more products.

In addition, the escalating price of gasoline, in the United States, is also the result of static US oil refining capacity resulting from the inability of oil refiners to open new refineries; ever increasing taxes on gas; and the fact that oil companies cannot drill for oil in oil rich areas of the United States.

The fact is that stringent environmental regulations coupled with modern oil exploration and development technology have now progressed to the point where oil resources can be developed without destroying the environment and refineries can be built that won't lay waste to the environment. However, luddites like Speier, who are stuck in the 1970s, don't realize this and are still against expanding the oil and gas exploration and development infrastructure in the United States for "environmental reasons".

If Speier really wanted to bring down oil prices and make transportation affordable for working people, then she would support increased oil and natural gas exploration and development and the building of more oil refineries. Otherwise, it won't be long before we may be paying $10 per gallon for gas. Of course, Speier doesn't care how much gas costs because she's a "let them eat cake" limousine liberal, multi, multi millionaire Hillsborough socialite who could afford $10, $25, $50 per gallon gas.

We need to increase oil exploration, oil development, refining capacity, and renewable resource technology.

However, because we have politicians like Speier, who are obviously still living in the 1970s (when national speed limit legislation was originally proposed) we can't move forward with energy independence programs that will significantly lower the price of oil so the US economy can grow its way out of our current economic problems. As far as gas taxes are concerned, you can thank tax and waste politicians like Speier for jacking up these taxes.

Speier and her non substantive side show solutions to the real problems facing the United States hurt you and your family.  

By Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

In 1995, when I started The San Bruno Beacon, the internet was young and the technology for creating an online newspaper was limited. Before there were blogs, before there was Google, and before almost any major newspaper publication was online, The San Bruno Beacon began its online presence.