Civil Rights

“Move to Amend” – the Campaign to Get Big Corporations Out of Politics – Meets Tonight in Point Loma – Tuesday, April 30th

April 30, 2013 by Source

The Campaign to Get Big Corporations Out of Our Constitution and Big Money Out of Our Elections The OB Rag was contacted by some local organizers for “Move to Amend” – a nation-wide group that works to kick large corporations out of US politics, elections, and our Constitution. There is an important event in our [...]

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How Much Is Your Life Worth?

April 30, 2013 by Source

The price of some cancer drugs exceeds $100,000 a year.

By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press

doctor2How much is your life worth?

In a free market economy like the US, that question is settled by ability of the individual to pay. If you can’t pay over $100,000 a year for a life-saving cancer drug, your life isn’t worth as much as someone who can.

In a free market economy your life is worth exactly your ability to pay. In countries where the government pays the cost of drugs, they decide how much your life is worth. In Britain it’s $50,000; that’s the price the British government has negotiated the most expensive drugs down to. Is there a moral limit to how much Big Pharma can charge for some life saving drugs?

Some doctors seem to think so.

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Labor Bashing and Lincoln Club Love : the Last Refuge of Losers and Scoundrels in San Diego Democratic Politics

April 29, 2013 by Jim Miller
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Local Races in Assembly District 80 and City Council District 4

By Jim Miller

Before I devote the month of May to the San Diego Free Press’s upcoming focus on my Golden Hill neighborhood, recent events compel me to do one last column on the special elections in Assembly District 80 and City Council District 4.

The 80th California Assembly District: Lorena Gonzalez vs Steve Castaneda

In the race to replace Ben Hueso in the 80th it shouldn’t be shocking that Lorena Gonzalez’s opponent has attacked her for being a “union boss” except for the fact that that charge was hurled at her not from a Republican but from fellow Democrat, Steve Castaneda. Indeed, Mr. Castaneda, who would surely have taken labor’s endorsement if offered, was far too quick to turn to cartoon like right-wing anti-union stereotypes. This should tell us all we need to know about this variety of Democrat.

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Suit Against Sheriffs Allowed to Proceed – Bogus 2008 Arrest of OB Woman Used Against Her in Custody Dispute with Boyfriend Sheriff

April 24, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Suit Alleges Conspiracy and Excessive Against Sheriffs and County in Arrest

There has been a positive development in a convoluted and sad story about a woman arrested in OB for using her boyfriend sheriff’s credit card. Her arrest had been used against her in a child custody dispute with him. With all charges dropped, Michelle Cameron had sued the County and the Sheriffs for the use of excessive force and conspiracy.

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Mayor Filner Angry at Federal Raid on Pot Dispensary and Demands Answers

April 24, 2013 by Frank Gormlie

Federal Official Reacts to Filner’s Anger and Displays Woefully Inadequate Understanding of Medicinal Herb

Mayor Bob Filner is very angry with the Federal raid on a pot dispensary in downtown San Diego on Tuesday, April 23rd. He called it “provocative” and described it as intimidation. And he wants answers.

A day after the City Council and the Mayor discussed finding solutions to the issue of medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego, federal agents agents raided a marijuana collective, reportedly breaking a glass door in order to gain entry into the downtown building on Tuesday.

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Dave Davis – Once San Diego’s Printer for the Movement

April 23, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Every now and then we must pause in our daily rush and grind to acknowledge the passing of someone who is important to us. This is especially true in the tiny world of progressive journalism in San Diego. And it is true as we pause on the passing of Dave Davis.

Now, there are probably very few people in San Diego right now who even remember Dave Isaac Davis, but it was his little print shop in Golden Hill that was responsible for printing up the very first issues of the original OB Rag way back in 1970 and 1971, when we considered it to be an “underground newspaper”.

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Gabby Giffords: A Senate in the Gun Lobby’s Grip

April 22, 2013 by Source
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“If we cannot make our communities safer with the Congress we have now, we will use every means available to make sure we have a different Congress”

By Gabrielle Giffords / New York Times / April 17, 2013

SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.

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When Banks Wrongfully Foreclose, They Get a Slap on the Wrist

April 22, 2013 by Source

Those illegally foreclosed on get a pittance in return.

foreclosure

By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press

Banks foreclosed on military service members, homeowners who had been approved for a loan modification and even homeowners who were current on their payments. At least 53 homeowners who weren’t behind on their payments were successfully foreclosed on and lost their homes for no reason.

There was widespread criminal behavior on the part of the banks, but in a recent settlement they got off relatively cheap.

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Corporate Education Reform Goes to College Despite Flunking Out in the K-12 System

April 22, 2013 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

6671_500611959997407_1321783566_nThings haven’t been going too well for the corporate education reform forces lately. In Chicago there is great controversy surrounding and parent resistance to school closings as a result of the efforts of over zealous reformers. This shameful turn of events puts yet another black mark on former Obama Administration chief of staff and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s heavy-handed reign of error over his city’s schools.

Across the country in Seattle, teachers, students, and parents came together to resist the overuse of standardized tests by asking questions that resonated nationwide about the disservice we are doing to our children. And, in Atlanta, a massive cheating scandal raised eyebrows about the hegemony of high stakes testing as well.

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We’re All Bostonians Today

April 16, 2013 by Staff
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OB Rag Poll on the Use of Drones: 82% Oppose Drones in the U.S.

April 8, 2013 by Frank Gormlie

Recently, the OB Rag ran a readers’ poll on the use of drones by the US government either in America and/or abroad. The results of the week-long poll are in: 82% of respondents oppose the use of drones in the United States.

36% of the respondents replied that they are okay with the use of the unmanned flying vessels in other countries by our government. 17% indicated that they are okay with their use in America.

45% of the 108 readers who responded specifically feel that the use of drones in America is unconstitutional or that they should not be used in our country. Another 37% replied that they specifically opposed their use overseas as well.

26% said that their use in America is “absolutely unconstitutional”. Another 19% were okay with their use in hunting down terrorists abroad, but opposed their deployment here in this country.

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Mission Valley Hunger Strike by “the San Diego Nine” Reflect Last Work by Martin Luther King

April 8, 2013 by Jim Miller

hunger strike 2

“The San Diego Nine” picked the perfect week for a hunger strike. They may not have known it, but the ghosts of Memphis were haunting the Mission Valley Hilton. What’s the connection?

Last week was the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was murdered in Memphis where he had gone to support striking sanitation workers. As I noted in my column for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in January, the real MLK is frequently neglected in favor of a distorted picture of a vanilla saint who just wanted us all to get along. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Indeed, King was a provocateur who wanted to disturb us about America’s hypocritical racial inequality AND its shameful class divide. King died fighting for the rights of poor workers of color because he thought nothing was a better example of what he wanted the Poor People’s Campaign to be than the sanitation workers’ strike. Their fight was a call not just for legal civil rights for black people, but a cry for economic justice for all.

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Majority of Americans Favor Legalization of Marijuana

April 5, 2013 by Source
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For the first time, a major US poll has found that a majority of Americans support legalization of marijuana.

By Linda Feldmann /Christian Science Monitor / April 4, 2013

The Pew Research Center announced Thursday that 52 percent of Americans say that marijuana use should be made legal, versus 45 percent who say it should not. The trend line has been moving gradually in the direction of majority support for more than 20 years. In 1991, only 17 percent supported legalization, while 78 percent opposed.

As with gay marriage, which has also seen a sharp rise in support in the past few years, the Pew poll found major generational differences in views on marijuana. Among Millennials – those now aged 18 to 32 – support is at 65 percent, up from just 36 percent in 2008. Among Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1980, support has risen dramatically, from 28 percent in 1994 to 54 percent today.

Half of Baby Boomers support legalized marijuana today, and among the over-65 Silent Generation support has doubled since 2002 – from 17 percent to 32 percent.

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San Diego’s “Anti-Drone Days of Action” Kick Off Nation-Wide Protests April 4 – 7

April 3, 2013 by Source
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San Diego Has Become “National Capital” of Military Drone Production

From San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice /April 3, 2013

“National Anti-Drone Days of Action” from April 4 through 7 in San Diego start a month of protests across the United States against the policy and practice of drone warfare and secret surveillance.

Local and national organizations are coordinating a series of events to increase the attention to why drone killings and surveillance are bad practice and policy for the United States.

San Diego’s “Anti-Drone Days” is not one, but a series of events (see listing).

San Diego is where these protests will start based on the region’s role as the “national capital” of military drone production. Killer and surveillance drones pour out of San Diego at increasing rates, matched by the rise in deaths and dismemberment from US strikes across the globe.

Most of this production is tied to two corporate contracting giants — Northrop Grumman and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which is headquartered in San Diego.

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OB Citizens’ Patrol to Meet Tuesday, April 2nd

March 29, 2013 by Staff

Perhaps spurred on by the latest sexual assault (and though the suspect has been caught), OBceans are organizing the next meeting of the OB OB Citizen’s Patrol.

The first meeting of 2013 will be held Tuesday, April 2 at 5 pm. The meeting will take place at the Tower 2 Cafe, in OB.

Tower 2 Cafe is located at 5083 Santa Monica Avenue, OB, CA 92107; and their phone is (619) 223-4059.

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Follow the Money: Former Anti-Drug Officials Call Pot “Dangerous” While Pulling in the Cash

March 26, 2013 by Source

Former DEA agents and cops are lobbying for tougher drug laws that make them rich.

By Kevin Gray / AlterNet – The Fix

When eight former DEA chiefs signed a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this month, demanding that the feds crack down on Washington and Colorado, the states which voted last November to legalize marijuana, there was more than just drug-war ideology at stake. There was money.

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How Hospitals Mark Up the Cost of Over-the-Counter Supplies Like Aspirin and Q-tips as Much as 1000%

March 26, 2013 by Source

Chargemaster: Hospitals’ Killer App for Sucking Your Financial Blood Dry – Part 3
blood-240x240by John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press

Hospitals charge their customers … er, patients, through the nose for simple products which anyone can purchase at WalMart for a fraction of the amount. In Part 1 and Part 2 we detailed the ridiculous prices hospitals routinely charge their patients – like several thousand dollars a day – just for a room. In this installment we will go over the markups on products that are added on to patients’ bills.

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Point Loma Democratic Club Speakers: ‘How we convinced the City Council to pass a resolution condeming “Citizens United” – March 24

March 23, 2013 by Frank Gormlie

Overturning Citizens United: Money Out of Politics

From PL Democratic Club

Join the Point Loma Democratic Club on Sunday, March 24, when the Wonder Women from WOSD Money Out of Politics, Point Loma’s own Pam Page and Dianne Lane, return to and describe how they convinced the San Diego City Council to pass – with an unanimous vote – the resolution to reverse ‘Citizens United’ and Amend the Constitution.

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Local Focus: Dave Martin – President of Ocean Beach Town Council

March 22, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Dave Martin, the President of the OB Town Council, agreed to meet me at Shades at 1 pm the other day. That was easy – as he has his own table there – the one closest to the kitchen, the bar, and the serving area – for, as many know, Dave owns Shades. Or rather Dave – along with his wife Jennifer, his daughter and her husband; they’re the four owners.

Even though it was mid-week, the inside of the restaurant was about half-filled, with a few outside in the front. The lunch hour had just passed. But everyone in OB knows Shades – it’s a fairly popular place (even the Widder Curry gave it a thumbs-up).

Yet, even though Dave’s at the restaurant from 10 am to 7 every night, as he told me, it’s apparent that he amazingly still has the time and energy to serve in the leadership of the Town Council – a very active group – plus serve on the board of the OB Mainstreet Association, be active on at least one of its sub-committees, and generally maintain a strong and visible voice for a spirited vision for Ocean Beach.

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Did Richard Nixon Commit Treason By Sabotaging Vietnam Peace Talks?

March 20, 2013 by Source
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Newly-released tapes record LBJ saying Nixon committed treason.

By Eric Brown / International Business Times / March 17 2013

Newly released tapes recorded during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency have confirmed long-held rumors that in 1968, then-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon worked to sabotage Vietnam War peace talks.

The LBJ tapes were recently declassified and released by the Johnson library in Austin, Texas. According to the BBC’s summary of the tapes, not only did Nixon possibly commit treason, but LBJ knew about it and decided not to expose him in the closing days of an election that Nixon barely won.

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10 Years of Lying About the Iraq War Has to Stop Now – Bush and Cheney and Co. Must Be Held Accountable for the Sake of America

March 19, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Ten years of lying about the Iraq war has to stop now – immediately. The government – our government – lied to us, the America people, about the reasons they said it was necessary to go to war with Iraq – a country that was not threatening us. One decade ago to this day, their lies produced action: the “shock and awe” “bunker-busters” unleashed on the capital of Iraq, March 19th, 2003.

They lied to cover up their invasion of Iraq a decade ago to this day.

And now ten years later, after more than 4400 Americans killed, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, 30,000 Americans injured, after we have spent over $3 Trillion dollars, we have come to the realization that, if America is to be honest with itself, we must now demand that someone be held accountable for these lies and the wastes of lives and resources.

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Proposed City of San Diego Medical Marijuana Dispensary Regulations with Map of Proposed Zones

March 19, 2013 by Source
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Mayor Filner Proposed 2% tax, $5000 annual licensing fee, and collectives / cooperatives in limited commercial and industrial zones; Full Council Votes March 25th

From Americans for Safe Access / March 15, 2013

Over the years, medical marijuana patients in San Diego have endured a lack of representation in local governments, raids, lawsuits, eradication efforts, federal interference, and outright misinformation about the issue. Fortunately, now we have a new Mayor who sides with compassion instead of ignorance and is willing to move forward with regulations.

After attending the January San Diego Americans for Safe Access Meeting, where he promised to move forward with regulations, Mayor Bob Filner began working on a proposal to bring to council.

Friday, the Mayor’s office announced his proposal is finished and the issue tentatively scheduled for the March 25th City Council meeting.

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Chargemaster: Hospitals’ Killer App for Sucking Your Financial Blood Dry – Part 1

March 19, 2013 by Source

We spend more on artificial knees and hips every year than Hollywood collects at the box office.

Closeup Money rolled up with pills falling out, high cost, expensive healthcare

By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press

A recent exhaustive article in Time magazine details the exhorbitant charges that hospitals are imposing on the American people, charges that have nothing to do with the actual costs of services provided. A woman in Stamford, Connecticut suffering from chest pains called 911. She was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Stamford Hospital, a non-profit institution, four miles away.

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Should We Be Outsourcing Public Higher Education in California?

March 18, 2013 by Jim Miller

…suggesting we drop existing standards for the wild west of market based online education will do for education what deregulation did for banks and the stock market.

Last week State Senator Darrell Steinberg proposed what he thinks of as a bold new way to reshape higher education in California and to deal with the bottleneck of students who have trouble getting into “gateway” classes in our community colleges and universities. What is Steinberg’s answer to our access ills? Sadly, it is outsourcing higher education to the corporate interests who have long been aggressively lobbying to get a piece of the publically funded pie that is California’s public education system.

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Dirty Tricks Fly in San Diego’s District 4 City Council Special Election

March 17, 2013 by Doug Porter

Part One of a three part series: Setting the Scene

There’s a special election coming up in San Diego on March 26th to pick a City Council person to represent the residents of District 4. Ho-Hum. Expect low voter turnout. Nobody cares, right?

Somebody cares. Somebody cares enough to send out smear mailers from a shadowy group trying to discredit progressive candidate Myrtle Cole. It’s getting nasty out there.
smear mailer

Voters in the 4th District are getting mail from a group called ‘San Diego County Voters for Progress and Reform’. Last they were heard of was last fall when they funneled $25,000 from California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee of Los Angeles in support of the failed city council candidacy of Republican Ray Ellis.

The mailers have the City of San Diego official seal at the top of the page and on the front of envelope. In bold type with a bright red background they say “Urgent City Message to Residents… Open Immediately”.

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Wells Fargo: California Leader in Predatory Lending and Heartless Foreclosures

March 14, 2013 by Source

by Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment / San Diego Free Press

ACCE_logo_2colorWhen it comes to foreclosing on Californians, it looks like Wells Fargo may take the prize. According to a report released today, Wells Fargo is responsible for more homes in the foreclosure pipeline in California than any other single lender.

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