Month: September 2009

On the first day of August, a mob of 200 right-wing Texans stormed the parking lot of a Randalls grocery store in southwest Austin. They were united in a single goal: Disrupt the “office hours” that Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the district’s congressman, had scheduled for his constituents. The protesters targeted Doggett for his role in crafting the House’s bill to reform health care, brandishing signs that read “No Government Health Care” and “No Government Counselor in My Home!!!” But their anger seemed to encompass a universe of conservative fears: higher taxes, illegal immigration, socialism.

Editor: We have heard that students at UC Santa Cruz have taken over a campus building in protest of the cuts proposed for the UC system. On September 24th, students at UC Santa Cruz began the occupation of the Graduate Student Commons as part of a day of action at all UCs across the state. The occupation continues. They have set up a website here. The students have issued the following statement:
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We are occupying this building at the University of California, Santa Cruz, because the current situation has become untenable. Across the state, people are losing their jobs …

Our very own Mary Mann has been published on San Diego CityBeat! Way to go Mary!
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Culture Shock and the ABCs of break-dancing
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“So here’s the move,” says Joseph “Dyno Rock” Corrales, before sweeping his right leg under his entire body, hopping on his left foot and switching arms. His legs move with no thought, so intent is he on watching his charges imitate him. A hip-hop track fills the room, and the stars of the class, 14- and 15-year-olds with bodies like Gumby, match their steps to the music.

Editor: Marjorie Cohn teaches law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law – my old alma mater – plus she is the national president of the National Lawyers Guild. This interview with her on voiceofsandiego just appeared and we had to share.
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by Randy Dotinga / Voice of San Diego
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On the legal front, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have few bigger enemies than Marjorie Cohn, a professor at San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. What do you think about art installations on top of Peace Rock? This became an issue lately, when a group of Point Loma High School seniors placed their year “2010” in wood red numbers up on the rock. The rock is the large, protruding rocky sentinel that juts out of the Pacific Ocean just south of where Froude Street runs into Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. Everybody who has driven, walked, or jogged along Sunset Cliffs knows it.

by Michael Moore
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Friends,

The time has arrived for, as Time magazine called it, my “magnum opus.” I only had a year of Latin when I was in high school, so I’m not quite sure what that means, but I think it’s good.

I’ve spent nearly two years on this new movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” and have poured my heart and soul into this project. Many early critics and viewers have called it my “best film yet.”

by Anna Daniels
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I arrived at the UCSD La Jolla campus just as the planned rally began, picked up a sign and joined over a hundred striking employees and supporters. High noon on a hot day and suddenly there was a sound of drums and approaching people and notes played on a conch shell. The energy rose palpably as we were joined by over a hundred chanting, sign carrying students. Now three hundred strong, …

by Ernie McCray
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I feel like Arsenio Hall because everywhere I roam I see things that make me go: “Hmmm.” Like these crazy people I’ve seen on TV. You know the ones, they’re all blue in the face, looking scarily Incredible Hulkish, some of them without a shred of insurance, shrieking at a man who has: put keeping them healthy and well so they don’t have to foreclose on their American Dreams high up on his list of things to do.

by Sunshine

As my son, Van, and I planned and prepared for this years trip to Burning Man, I had no expectations and really no idea what would occur. What can I say to sum up such an epic journey that it ultimately transformed my entire existence?

For months before the event, we planned ~ I, of course, made my usual notes and massive to-do lists ~ checking off everything as we went: shop for supplies, have the van checked, and eventually pack up for the long journey away from OB.

BERKELEY — Thousands of UC students marched through downtown Berkeley and the area around campus this afternoon, staging a sit-down protest and blocking traffic as part of a demonstration against cuts to the university budget and proposed fee increases.

The unscheduled march started at the end of a two-hour rally on Sproul Plaza attended by an estimated 5,000 students, professors and other university employees. …

The Etiwanda House

The initial circle of the OB Rag newspaper consisted of Frank Gormlie, a local who had grown up in Point Loma, who had surfed in OB in his youth, and a recent graduate of UCSD – the Rag had been Gormlie’s brainchild as he saw it as a handy way to do community organizing in OB; the circle also included Bo Blakey, fresh from the campus battles at UC Berkeley and another graduate with Gormlie of Pt. Loma High; …

by Mary E Mann
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After very careful analysis, and more than a few whiskey gingers and Belgium beers, what follows is a review of the Ocean Beach bars/clubs. Pardon me if I missed one or two – a girl can only do so much drinking. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.
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Pacific Shores:

Ah, the black light undersea glow is almost as soothing as the drink prices …