June 2011

Republican-led ballot measure leaves city workers without retirement safety net.

June 30, 2011 by Source
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Mayor’s Proposition Depends on Breaking State Law In Order To Achieve Lion’s Share of Projected Savings

The Republican ballot measure to leave city workers without Social Security or any other retirement safety net includes a maneuver that Mayor Sanders claimed was illegal just a few months ago.

According to the ballot measure’s supporters, the section of the proposition requiring the city to freeze pensionable pay for 5 years accounts for up to 87% (or $1.1 billion) of the savings heralded by supporters. It is against California state law to impose a pay freeze for that long without bargaining in good faith with employees first.

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Britain shuts down as massive public-sector strike erupts.

June 30, 2011 by Source

By Karla Adam / Washington Post /  June 30, 2011 LONDON– Airports, courts and more than 10,000 schools were among the services hit by a massive public-sector strike across Britain on Thursday as thousands of workers staged what they said was the biggest walkout in a generation. Union organizers said that more than 750,000 public […]

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We Don’t Need More Stuff; We Need a Different Way of Distributing the Stuff We Have.

June 30, 2011 by Source

by John Lawrence / Will Blog for Food / June 30, 2011

Everyone is talking about how to get the economy moving again and how to create jobs. President Obama talks about “winning the future.”

This means more education, more entrepreneurialism, more new industries, more new products for consumers to buy.

Surely, all this new economic activity is exactly what we need or is it?

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There Are No Plastic Water Bottles in Heaven

June 30, 2011 by Source
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by Livia Borak / Two Cathedrals

Summer’s here and you’re thirsty! Parched, you walk in to your local convenience or grocery store and buy a bottle of water, a plastic bottle. Right then, you seal your fate. You’re going to plastics hell, where you’ll hear the sound of baby dolphins crying and watch images of struggling sea turtles for all of eternity.

OK, maybe not. But perhaps you should think twice nonetheless.

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Darrel Issa Stocked Up on Goldman Sachs Bonds While Blocking Its Investigation

June 29, 2011 by Source
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By Lucas O’Connor / Issa Exposed / June 29, 2011

Darrell Issa is back in hot water for using his powerful Congressional perch to help his personal investments. A new report out today from Think Progress finds that Issa was busy last year buying up Goldman Sachs High Yield Bonds worth up to $50,000 a pop while pressing strongly to thwart an SEC investigation into potential wrongdoing at Goldman Sachs

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Health care main issue as unions and grocery chains ramp up rhetoric

June 29, 2011 by Source
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Progress towards a new labor contract between unions and three Southern California supermarket chains is moving at a glacial pace, but the rhetoric is heating up over the main sticking point – health care.

A Vons grocery chain spokesman on Tuesday characterized the unions’ health care benefit proposal as “unrealistic,” while a San Diego union leader said the grocery stores’ claim that half of the union workers don’t contribute to their health benefit package is “a blatant lie.”

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Idea of the City selling ads at the beaches surfaces, again

June 29, 2011 by Source

Come inside for Update

By Mike Lee / San Diego U-T / June 29, 2011

San Diego once again is looking at selling some prime beachfront property — space on signs in Mission Beach Park — to raise money for city coffers. A similar idea surfaced last July, then fizzled despite interest by the City Council. It’s back in front of a council committee Wednesday morning, adding another chapter in a long-running debate about corporate America creeping into natural settings.

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Introducing “Victim Blamer” Extraordinaire

June 29, 2011 by Patty Jones
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Dan Rottenberg
A few days before hundreds of people took to the streets for the event SlutWalk San Diego, Dan Rottenberg, editor of the Broad Street Review, posted a column titled “Male sex abuse and female naiveté“. In the lead-in to the column he advises us,

“Earth to liberated women: When you display legs, thighs or cleavage, some liberated men will see it as a sign that you feel good about yourself and your sexuality. But most men will see it as a sign that you want to get laid. Forewarned is forearmed.”

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New OB Rag bumper stickers, decals, and T-shirts

June 28, 2011 by Staff
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The OB Rag is proud to announce that we now have bumper stickers, decals, and a new batch of T-shirts available for our supporters and readers.

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Community Planning Lesson # 1: The coming gentrification crisis of Ocean Beach

June 28, 2011 by Frank Gormlie
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After sitting down recently with a couple of members of the Ocean Beach Planning Board, I now have a grasp of the coming gentrification crisis about to hit OB. I spoke with Board member Tom Gawronski, representative for District 1 – the northwest beach portion of OB, and with Landry Watson, the vice-chair of the Board. Both had bad things to say about this new trend that they see and what the village of Ocean Beach is experiencing along the 5100 block of West Point Loma. And what it all means.

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Barney Frank Introduces Bill to End Federal Marijuana Prohibition

June 28, 2011 by Source
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Bill would essentially treat marijuana like alcohol on the federal level.

On June 23rd, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and spokespersons from three other advocacy organizations announced the introduction of the first-ever bill to end marijuana prohibition on the federal level.

This bill, the “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011,” is broader and bolder than the medical marijuana bills that Congressman Frank has introduced in every Congress since 1995. The bill introduced today would allow states to determine their own marijuana laws — not just medical marijuana laws — without federal interference.

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Police looking for witnesses to incident on Brighton Avenue on Sunday in OB.

June 28, 2011 by Frank Gormlie
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Apparently, there was some kind of incident on Brighton Avenue in Ocean Beach last Sunday, the 26th of June, in the early afternoon. San Diego Police did investigate but up to now, nothing and nobody has been found to indicate to them that a crime has occurred.

Police have confirmed that a number of 9-1-1 calls and other complaints came in about a white minivan traveling east on Brighton Avenue right around 12:30 pm, with yelling or screaming.

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State Mental Health Cuts: a National Crisis

June 28, 2011 by Source
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From the National Alliance on Mental Illness

The tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six innocent citizens in Arizona focused national attention on the state of the public mental health system in Arizona and other states. Many asked how a tragedy like this could happen again, with chilling references to Virginia Tech. How did Jared Loughner fall through the cracks when the signs of a serious psychiatric crisis seemed so clear?

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Anybody in OB see something strange on Brighton Avenue – Sunday around 1-2 pm?

June 27, 2011 by Frank Gormlie

We have an initial report of a strange, and potentially ugly incident that occurred on Brighton Avenue yesterday Sunday in OB, and we’re looking for any witnesses. It occurred around 1 to 2 pm, Sunday, the 26th of June – yesterday.  The incident may have involved a minivan and someone yelling. There may have been […]

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Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Chokes Liberal Justice Over Union Ruling

June 27, 2011 by Source
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A report by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and Wisconsin Public Radio described an episode in which three unnamed sources said that Justice David T. Prosser had grabbed another justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, around the neck during an argument in her chambers this month. This alleged assault occurred just before the justices released their ruling on the anti-union resolution passed by the GOP-controlled Wisconsin legislature.

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Will liberals start a tea party?

June 27, 2011 by Source

At last weekend’s Netroots Nation gathering in Minneapolis, liberal activists expressed frustration that they lacked the political power or media focus given to the conservative tea-party movement. Former White House environmental official Van Jones is hoping to change that with a new political effort dubbed “The American Dream Movement.”

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Ocean Beach’s Water Quality at Dog Beach Good Enough?

June 27, 2011 by Brenda McFarlane
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Party Pooper – A Call to Prevent Dog Feces From Reaching Our Water

An OB Rag article on May 27th reports that “Ocean Beach beaches all get “A’s” in water quality tests – not so all Mission Bay.” This is great news and, while I am proud of our beaches for receiving this grade, I’ve got to be a party-pooper (pun intended). As a dog owning activist for picking up dog poop, I looked at the Heal the Bay site to find ammunition arguing for even greater effort in pollution prevention, specifically dog poop.

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Excavating San Diego Noir: A Jumping-Off Place

June 27, 2011 by Jim Miller
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As the Union-Tribune noted in its article on San Diego Noir: “When it comes to the literary genre known as noir—that dark terrain of desire and desperation, of passion and paranoia—certain cities come immediately to mind. Los Angeles. San Francisco. New York. Not San Diego.” Well, not exactly.

While San Diego does not have as rich a literary and/or filmic history as Los Angeles, it too has some noir in its past. In the 1890s, Thomas and Anna Fitch saw Coronado as a suitable location for testing a doomsday weapon in Better Days: Or, the Millionaire of To-morrow. Then famously, in 1932, Edmund Wilson labeled San Diego the “The Jumping-Off Place” as a result of its nation-leading suicide rate….

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New County district boundaries would throw Ocean Beach and other beaches into Ron Robert’s district.

June 27, 2011 by Source
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Editor: New boundaries for the County Board of Supervisors’ districts are being drawn. Most of the new plans would have Ocean Beach and most of the beaches shift to Ron Robert’s district – areas currently in Greg Cox’s district.

By Christopher Cadelago / SignOnSanDiego

Proposals to redraw the county’s political boundaries — a process that has long been fraught with power plays and legal challenges — would require supervisors to represent unfamiliar areas.

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Supreme Court overturns California ban on violent video game sales or rental to kids

June 27, 2011 by Source
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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to let California clamp down on the sale or rental of violent video games to children, saying governments lack authority to “restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed” despite complaints that the popular and fast-changing technology allows the young to simulate acts of brutality.

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Renters Union Head Drops Out of Mayor Race – Supports Filner

June 27, 2011 by Source

By Helen Villines / June 27, 2011

“Why run for a political office, when you don’t even intend to vote for yourself,” Rocky Neptun asked a recent gathering of the San Diego Renters Union. In announcing his withdrawal from the race for mayor of San Diego next year, he told the tenant group that “we have the first opportunity in many decades to elect a progressive candidate in Congressman Bob Filner, who will take back our city from the special interests and their wealth based politics.”

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Musings on a Father’s Day

June 27, 2011 by Ernie McCray
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I have six kids I’m proud to call my own and this past Father’s Day, my 54th as a dad, I spent a few moments just thinking about them when I was alone.

Our journey as father and offspring began when I was but 18. My own life, in the scheme of things, seemed to have just begun as I welcomed Debbie, my very first one, into the world. What a darling little girl. She took that frightened teenager who was me and, ever so innately, and ever so gently, guided me with a demeanor of “Hey, I don’t know what I’m doing either – so let’s just go with whatever feels right.”

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Mexican President Confronts Hilary Clinton Over Deadly Border Patrol Shooting

June 24, 2011 by Source
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In response to a deadly Border Patrol shooting by this week in the Tijuana River Valley, Mexico’s president confronted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the incident, and later demanded punishment for whomever was responsible.

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Will San Diego’s Restrictions on Medical Marijuna Dispensaries Be Overturned?

June 24, 2011 by Source
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San Diego’s controversial restrictions on medical marijuana cooperatives could be reversed next week.

The San Diego County Registrar is expected to certify over 31,000 signatures collected by medical marijuana supporters that oppose the ordinance. That would force the city council to make a decision; end the ordinance and start over, or put it to the voters.

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8 Reasons Why Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Must Step Down

June 24, 2011 by Source
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Plagued by ethical breaches and links to groups calling for armed insurrection against the U.S. government, Clarence Thomas must resign his seat on the Supreme Court.

Time was when, at any right-wing gathering, chances were that you’d hear the justices of the Supreme Court derided as black-robed usurpers of democracy. Today, not so much. Ever since the seating of the Roberts court, the right has been pretty happy with high court’s decisions, especially the outcome of Citizens United v. FEC, the case through which the court, in a decision handed down last year, opened the floodgates of corporate money into the electoral system.

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Water fight continues between Metro and San Diego

June 24, 2011 by Source

MWD to San Diego water managers: you’ve betrayed us

by George J. Janczyn / Grok Surf’s San Diego

You’ll recall that Metropolitan Water District (MWD) recently terminated a number of agreements to help fund local conservation and water supply development projects like the San Vicente Recycling project in Ramona and also decided against entering pending agreements to support projects such as the Carlsbad Seawater Desalination Project.

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Is Darrell Issa a Muslim Terrorist Sympathizer?

June 24, 2011 by Andy Cohen
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As the only member of Congress to have visited Lebanon–a country partially governed by a terrorist organization–and with Lebanese roots and a somewhat sordid past, can Darrell Issa be trusted with a prominent role in the United States Government?

After all, Issa is one of a handful of members of Congress that is of Arab descent: He is Lebanese and claims to be a Christian, but how do we know for sure? We can only take his word for it…. Darrell Issa is the only member of Congress to have visited the turmoil ridden Lebanon.

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Obama Quickens Afghan Withdrawal in Face of Pressure for Peace

June 23, 2011 by Source

By Tom Hayden / The Nation / June 23, 2011

Two years ago I was on a Chicago panel with a just-retired military officer, Charles Tucker, a former top adviser to the US embassy in Iraq, general counsel to the Pentagon and a major general in the Air National Guard. During our debate, he made a statement worth remembering on this night of Barack Obama’s speech on Afghanistan. His words were these:

“The only relevant debate in the next two years will be counterinsurgency versus counterterrorism. After that, Obama will begin surrendering to the peace movement.”

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Get thee to the 32nd Annual OB Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off Festival

June 23, 2011 by Staff
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32nd Annual OB Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off Festival is TODAY – Saturday, June 25, 2011 – 10:00am to 8pm. Band schedule listed inside.

Each year, thousands flock to Newport Ave. and surrounding areas the 4th Saturday in June for the live music and entertainment, unique vendors, talented artists, thrilling rides, refreshing beer garden, and so much more! Ride the FREE trolley

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Pacific Beach residents deal with alcohol-related problems

June 23, 2011 by Source
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By Dorian Hargrove / San Diego Reader

Pacific Beach residents looking to curb alcohol abuse in Pacific Beach are waving the white flag in an attempt to bring the community together.

“There are many residents, businesses and civic groups struggling with alcohol-related issues in our community,” reads an email blast from pbspirits.com.

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