How You Can Support the OB Rag : Get a New T-Shirt or Packet of Original OB Rags

May 4, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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It’s that time of year when we make our pitch for support from our readers in Ocean Beach and elsewhere. And we’ve made it easy to show support, by having brand new OB Rag T-shirts and packets of the old, original OB Rags – all for donations.

The donations we receive for our T-shirts is one of our chief fundraising endeavors. After all, we do have expenses, and even though much of the labor that goes into maintaining this website is volunteer, we do try to pay our writers a small, occasional stipend – plus we now have our new office to maintain.

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News From the Village of OB

May 3, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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* Oxygen Masks for Dogs First Used in OB
* OB Noodle House Gets Thumbs Up for Sidewalk Cafe From Planners
* OB Plan Update to be Presented at Planning Board Meeting on June 5th
* Blue Tsunami Occasional Wave of the Future
* Point Loma High Tech High Wins World Robotic Award
* Councilmember Faulconer Has New Rep for OB: John Ly
* OB Surfing Legend “Mouse” Turns 80 – and Gets His Day from City Council

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Sex in San Diego: Getting Older, Getting Better

May 3, 2013 by Source
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By Charlie Glickman, PhD / Charlie Glickman

Today is the 20th anniversary of the date that I met my partner. In the last two decades, we’ve both changed a lot. We’re both much more secure and solid in who we are. We’ve grown and challenged each other to overcome many of the habits that caused friction in our lives and in our connections with other people. We’ve learned many, many ways to support our relationship. And yes, our bodies have changed, too.

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Shining a Beam on Black and White

May 3, 2013 by Ernie McCray

Black and WhiteThoughts on the “Fluency of Light”

By Ernie McCray

As I sit writing as a still new 75 year old, I’m so glad I’ve lived, in spite of how scary our world is at times, to see shreds of promise rise before my eyes, hopeful happenings like Arab Spring, gays marrying, and Occupy. I love anything that keeps hope alive.

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The Incredible Lightness of Being Able to Understand Mayor Filner’s 2014 Budget

May 3, 2013 by Anna Daniels
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Community Power Affecting Budget Decisions that Impact Our Neighborhoods

by Anna Daniels / San Diego Free Press

It is highly unusual for a group of strangers to smile broadly at each other and enthusiastically confess that the workshop they had just attended on how to read the City’s Capital Improvement Budget had been really interesting and very worthwhile.
That is exactly what happened a few weeks ago when I got into the elevator with a group of people with whom I had just attended the Community Budget Alliance‘s hands on budget workshop held in City Heights. It’s budget season…
(Come inside for insight into the City’s Budget.)

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Ocean Beach Lawyer Leads Innocence Project March to Sacramento

May 2, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Some lawyers talk a lot when serving their clients – and now an Ocean Beach lawyer is walking a lot.

OB’s Justin Brooks, a law professor at Cal Western School of Law, is leading a 600 mile march from San Diego to Sacramento, on behalf of his clients. He’s walking with other lawyers and supporters of the California Innocence Project.

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Ocean Beach Planners Vote to Support Inn at Sunset Cliffs’ Application to Okay Deck

May 2, 2013 by Frank Gormlie

In a contentious meeting last night, May 1, the OB Planning Board voted 6 to 3 with 1 abstention to support the application by the Inn at Sunset Cliffs to permit a deck that was covered over with asphalt two decades ago. Some Board members and many in the packed room were in opposition to the permit and said the vote would legitimize ten years of illegal practices by the Inn.

Here is the language of the motion: …
(See inside for more.)

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Right now, the “no’s” are winning in U-T Poll on whether San Onofre should be shut down

May 1, 2013 by Staff
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The UT-San Diego has a poll for its readers going right now on whether you think the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant should be shut down.

As of yesterday, May 1, “Yes”was winning – but as of today, the “no’s are ahead.

C’mon OBceans and San Diegans – Vote to shut it down. We have the link right here so you can vote.S

Here’s the link to vote

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May Day Events in San Diego

May 1, 2013 by Staff

Here are some events and marches and actions occurring today – May First, May Day – that are happening in San Diego County.

May 1 @ 2pm
May 1st Day of Action on International Worker’s Day
Workers of the world, unite! Join numerous organizations interested in supporting the working class with a march from Downtown San Diego to Chicano Park. Rally begins at 2pm at the Civic Center. The march to Chicano Park begins at 3:30pm with a rally there to close out the demonstration.
Civic Center
3rd & B St. Downtown
For more info visit

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Celebrate May Day and Know Its Origins

May 1, 2013 by Source
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Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers’ Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don’t realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as “American” as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.

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Trying to Stay Wise at 75

May 1, 2013 by Ernie McCray

75

By Ernie McCray

Just turned 75.
As I think about being a year older,
my first thought is
I’m so glad to be alive.
No jive.
On my list of priorities,
breathing is most high,
as I want to take all that I’ve seen,
over the years, with these old eyes,
all the bits and pieces of life
that are memorialized
and analyzed
and crystallized into my being’s archives
and use these experiences
in a constant quest
to stay wise -
because I dare to surmise
that there is no point in being 75
if you’re not wise.

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Google’s Spymasters Are Now Worried About Your Secrets

May 1, 2013 by Source
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By Robert Scheer / Truthdig

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal by Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, “The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution,” makes for very scary reading. It is not so much because of what he and co-author Jared Cohen, the director of Google Ideas, have to say about how dictators can use new information technology to suppress dissent; we know those guys are evil. What is truly frightening is that the techniques of the totalitarian state are the same ones pioneered by so-called democracies where commercial companies, like Google, have made a hash of the individual’s constitutionally guaranteed right to be secure in his or her private space.

The dictators, mired in more technologically primitive societies, didn’t develop the fearsome new implements of control of the National Security State. Google and other leaders in this field of massively mined and shared information did.

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The Best Bike Ride Around Mission Bay – The Long Version and Photo Journal (for those who will never ride it)

April 30, 2013 by Frank Gormlie

This is a chronicle – complete with a photo journal – of the best bicycle ride around Mission Bay. It is a ride that has been honed by the author – along with a few friends – over the last three decades – since the early Eighties.

It is a ride along a route that has a minimum of traffic and street exposure, and it is a route that is approximately …. 13 miles round trip from the Ocean Beach Skateboard Park in Robb Field.

(Editor: See the “short” version here)

It is a bike ride that is chronicled for two types of people:

  • those who actually try the route (or already have), and
  • those who will never ride it – (although they may walk parts or even all of it).

The main method of my chronicle is a photo journal that accompanies this introduction.

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Factors that “Flip” Airport Landings at Lindbergh – When Take-Offs Are Reversed and Go East

April 30, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Every OBcean knows – as well as every Point Loman and anyone who lives just west of Lindbergh Field, San Diego’s airport – about plane take-offs.

They usually go right over the Peninsula. And have for years. I grew up on Point Loma and went to Point Loma High School and clearly remember many classroom instructions being interrupted by the low-flying giant aircraft directly overhead or slightly over. People in OB call it “the OB Pause” – when all conversation or listening is muted by the roar of aircraft engines over your head.

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Video of Mission Beach Cigarette Citation Goes Viral and Lights Up National Debate Over Cellphone Videos

April 30, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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A video by a guy on the Mission Beach boardwalk who was being given a citation for smoking a cigarette has gone viral. The incident involved Adam Pringle who refused to shut off his cellphone while videoing the San Diego police officer – and now Pringle’s video of part of the incident has sparked a conversation that has gone national over the rights of people using the video on their cellphone (or other cameras).

Pringle – from Escondido – was smoking a cig on the boardwalk at Mission when he was approached by San Diego Police on bicycles. As the officer began writing up a citation, an infraction, Adam Pringle began using his cell phone to video the officer.

The officer then asks Pringle to shut off his cellphone. Pringle refuses – saying it was his right. The officer asks him at least one more time – and Pringle continues to video the officer.

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“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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OB Town Council Decides to Keep Historic OB Entryway Sign Design

April 30, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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The results are in – and now it has been declared that the Ocean Beach Town Council will keep the current design of the OB entryway sign at the end of I-8 when they replace the actual sign very soon.

Town Council members voted during a multiple-month process for the winning design – from a field of 5 designs. Here is what the Council reported on their website:

We had five outstanding finalists for the sign (including keeping the same design, but refurbishing it)! Electronic ballots were distributed to Ocean Beach Town Council members on Monday, April 1 and voting occurred between April 1 and April 8. The winning option was announced at the OB Town Council meeting on Wednesday, April 24.

WINNING OPTION: Keep the same design, but renovate the sign!

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Ocean Beach Planners Have Another Controversy on their Agenda Wed Night – May 1st

April 30, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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Yessiree, the OB Planning Board has yet another controversy on their agenda for Wednesday night, May 1st. This time it’s the Inn at Sunset Cliffs issue.

Briefly, at issue is the application by the owners of the Inn, at 1730 Sunset Cliffs Boulevard – at corner with Point Loma Ave. – of a permit for what’s being called “an ‘after-the-fact’ surfacing of a deck on environmentally sensitive lands”. The Inn has 24 rooms and sits upon a .56 acre plot.

There has been some opposition in the surrounding neighborhood to this application, and there is an expectation that residents from that area will attend the meeting to express their views. Reportedly, the sub-committee of the Board that usually makes recommendations to the full Board on projects before it did not take a stand on this issue.

This meeting is the Board’s monthly meeting, held in the OB Rec Center, at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. The meeting usually starts sharply at 6pm.

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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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Green Store and OB Rag Open House a Success – Thank You!

April 29, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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The Open House that the OB Rag and The Green Store held yesterday, Sunday the 28th, turned out to be a huge success – with a big turnout. The Mayor was a no-show, however, but he is forgiven as he was down at the international border opening gates, a worthy pastime.

The significant turnout from the community and from supporters of both organizations is gratefully appreciated by all the volunteers who work for the two groups that are now under the same roof. Donations were given, T-shirt sales were made, delightful acoustic music was played, and the liquid refreshments ran out before the vegetarian food. Thanks to all who came and joined us in our celebrations, and who donated to our causes. And gracias to those who also brought food.

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Petition Drive to Get People’s Food Co-op to Move to Old Apple Tree Market?

April 29, 2013 by Frank Gormlie

We have heard rumors that there is a petition drive just getting off the ground here in OB in an effort to get People’s Food Co-op to either purchase or lease the old Apple Tree Market site over in the central commercial area of the village.

The former business – Apple Tree Market – closed at the beginning of the year. The store owner had talked about opening a smaller version of the store in his property on Newport Ave – the old OB Bike and Skate Shop (the old Bof A building), but we are unaware of any progress in that direction.

In the meantime, residents, shoppers, and visitors do not have immediate access to a large market in downtown Ocean Beach. The nearest large food stores are over in the Midway (Barons), up near the high school (Stumps), or on top of Point Loma (but the Fresh & Easy is closing itself).

And then there’s OB People’s Food Co-op – the organic store that has served the community and outlying areas since the early 1970′s – and already OB’s largest employer – with over one hundred full and part time people – many of whom live in the village.

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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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Are They Going to Slip Something By Us Again at “The Inn at Sunset Cliffs”

April 29, 2013 by Judi Curry
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By Judi Curry

I was stunned to find out that there is a potential building change going to be asked for that will totally destroy the Sunset Cliffs area.

Let me tell you what I know – and let me stress I do not know how much truth there is to this, but people are talking, just like we heard the “talking about the VFW building.”

“The Inn at Sunset Cliffs” – corner of Pt. Loma Avenue and Sunset Cliffs – is seeking permanent and private ownership of the coastal area just west of the hotel.

The Ocean Beach Planning Board hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday, May 1, at 6:00pm at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center.

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Mayor Filner to Attend OB Rag and Green Store Open House on Sunday, Apr 28

April 27, 2013 by Frank Gormlie
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We have received confirmation that Mayor Bob Filner plans on attending our Open House this Sunday, April 28th.

The OB Rag and The Green Store are sponsoring a joint “happening” promising food, drink, entertainment, and good vibes.

The Open House will be held from 1pm to 6pm at 4843 B Voltaire Street. The Mayor is expected sometime between 2 and 3 pm at the event.

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Police Crackdown in Ocean Beach?

April 27, 2013 by Staff

We have heard reports that around 2pm on Friday, there was a massive San Diego Police “crackdown” on Ocean Beach.  One observer counted 15 patrol cars. The new commander of the Western Division took a rather highly-publicized “walk through” in OB not too long ago. Capt. Andy Mills, commander of the department’s Western Division, took [...]

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“Eat drink & Be Monkey”

April 26, 2013 by Source
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Our friends at Surf Rider Pizza on Abbott Street asked us to but this up:

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