September 2009

District Parents Stand Up to School Board that Banned Obama’s Speech

September 15, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for District Parents Stand Up to School Board that Banned Obama’s Speech

by Frank Gormlie
____________________
LA MESA, CA. I felt exhilarated tonight. I had just witnessed dozens and dozens of parents of the La Mesa Spring Valley School District chant “Resign! Resign! Resign!” to Trustee Rick Winet – the right-wing instigator who had caused the Board to vote to prohibit the showing of President Obama’s speech to school kids. At a special Labor Day meeting, the East County board had voted 3-2 to ban the live showing of the speech. Then, in emails and publicly, Winet had declared that the speech was an assault on the Constitution.

Tonight, Winet’s partisan extremism indeed felt the backlash. It was the backlash of ordinary parents, of ordinary people, of ordinary Americans.

Read the full article → 20 comments

Sonic weapons used in Iraq brought to recent San Diego town hall meetings

September 14, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Sonic weapons used in Iraq brought to recent San Diego town hall meetings

by Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine
_______________
San Diego) – “Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs] for crowd control can be extremely dangerous. These are used in Iraq to control insurgents. They can cause serious and lasting harm to humans…We want to know WHY our Sheriff Dept has this weapon,” Sal Magallanez of San Diego-based Liberty One Radio said in an e-mail sent to East County Magazine, prompting a joint investigation.

Read the full article → 8 comments

OB Rag Transcends Itself

September 14, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for OB Rag Transcends Itself

Have you noticed our new “look”? If you scroll down far enough, it appears that we have four columns, two of which are side-bars. So, two side-bars. This is new – this is big. This will allow us to take on ads. We need ads to sustain this community webpage.

After many hours of testing and prep, Saturday night, September 12th, Patty Jones clicked the icon with her mouse – and “poof” the new changes were established – our blog transcended its former self, with upgraded software and a more robust platform. We have not ironed out all the bugs yet – so if you see something that appears out of whack, let us know in a comment to this post.

(Click on the headline to see the rest of this post.)

Read the full article → 11 comments

Sunday’s Surfers

September 14, 2009 by Jeff Stone
Thumbnail image for Sunday’s Surfers

OCEAN BEACH, CA.  Despite its cancellation due to high surf, the 2009 Clean Water Paddle sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation still attracted many folks.  And some of them went surfing. Our good friend and local photag captured these (click on the headline to see the rest of the pics):

Read the full article → 4 comments

Reader Rant: Cancellation of Surfrider Clean-Water Paddle reflects take-over by ‘business-types’

September 14, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Reader Rant: Cancellation of Surfrider Clean-Water Paddle reflects take-over by ‘business-types’

by anonymous surfer dude

Believe it or not- Surfrider – that world wide surfer organization- actually canceled Sunday’s Clean Water Paddle because they said the waves were too big! Unbelievable!

Read the full article → 27 comments

City Beat: Dispensaries raided for acting like for-profit businesses

September 10, 2009 by Source

The police raids on numerous San Diego County medical marijuana dispensaries that took place throughout the afternoon are the culmination of a five-month investigation, CityBeat has learned. A law enforcement source close to the operation and familiar with the details told CityBeat the investigation revealed that many of the marijuana collectives and co-ops were functioning as for-profit businesses, and thus lost the protection granted to them by voters under Proposition 215 in 1996.

Read the full article → 9 comments

Friday Sept 11th: Special beach clean up featuring Stefan Lessard of the Dave Matthew’s Band

September 10, 2009 by Jon Carr
Thumbnail image for Friday Sept 11th: Special beach clean up featuring Stefan Lessard of the Dave Matthew’s Band

Hey folks, this Friday 9/11/09 Surfrider Foundation SD is sponsoring a special beach clean up starting at Veterans Park in Ocean Beach!

As an added bonus, Dave Matthews Band’s bass player, Stefan Lessard will be joining the effort, chatting with the volunteers and holding a special contest …

Read the full article → 1 comment

The 18th Annual Surfrider Paddle For Clean Water is taking no BS.

September 9, 2009 by Jon Carr
Thumbnail image for The 18th Annual Surfrider Paddle For Clean Water is taking no BS.

This years Paddle For Clean Water event is happening Sunday- September 13th at 10:00am at the OB pier. This marks the 18th year the San Diego chapter of Surfider Foundation has hosted the event in Ocean Beach and this should prove to be one of the biggest and best years to date.

Read the full article → 19 comments

The Dilemma of the Disenchanted Progressive – Part I

September 8, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for The Dilemma of the Disenchanted Progressive – Part I

This latest politicization of President Obama’s speech that he gave to school children this morning was way over-the-top. It is the latest round of extreme partisanship being carried out by elements within the Republican Party, led by right-wing radio pundits and and being promoted and propagated by the mass corporate media.

They mobilized people to call schools and administrators to cancel the address – or organized a boycott of schools or kept their children out of school for the day. This was ridiculous. The flap they caused was outrageous and clearly unacceptable.

Read the full article → 15 comments

Poll Shows Dissatisfaction With Booze Ban At Beach

September 8, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Poll Shows Dissatisfaction With Booze Ban At Beach

OCEAN BEACH, CA. The results of our last week’s poll on the beach alcohol ban show a clear over-all dissatisfaction with the booze prohibition.

59% of our 105 respondents voiced discontent with the ban. People voted that the ban trampled their freedoms or that they had less fun at the beach, objecting to not being able to bring a cup of wine or beer to the sand.

Read the full article → 27 comments

OB Flashes – Community Bulletin and Discussion Board: September 8th – 14th

September 7, 2009 by Staff
Thumbnail image for OB Flashes – Community Bulletin and Discussion Board: September 8th – 14th

OCEAN BEACH, CA. This is OB Flashes – the OB Rag’s weekly Community Bulletin and Discussion Board. Discuss anything that is bugging you, or exciting you, or of interest. Do it in the comments section. Not only that, if you or your buds are having a meeting or event you would like to inform the rest of us about, do so here. If you want to get rid of something, like an old working TV, do it here.

Read the full article → 10 comments

Labor Day 2009: A Social Worker’s Reflection On Why We Do This Work

September 7, 2009 by Lane Tobias
Thumbnail image for Labor Day 2009: A Social Worker’s Reflection On Why We Do This Work

by Lane Tobias

Anyone who works in human services knows that these are lean times. Budgets have been cut, while the services we provide are in higher demand.

This goes across the board, from government agencies to non-profits, and while the services provided to the community may not be lessened in terms of effectiveness, there is certainly an emotional effect on both those seeking services and the providers themselves.

There are more people seeking help, and just as many people to help them as before…

Read the full article → 18 comments

President Obama’s Address to School Children

September 7, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for President Obama’s Address to School Children

by President Barack Obama – to be delivered Tuesday, September 8, 2009
______________________
Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous…..

Read the full article → 12 comments

Reader Rant: “Hrrrrmppff On the Peace Rock Killjoy”

September 7, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Reader Rant: “Hrrrrmppff On the Peace Rock Killjoy”

by Peace Rocker
______________
I was discouraged almost two years ago when the Peace Sign was stolen in the middle of the night. Perhaps, I thought, the thief chose (wrongly!) to see the sign as a political statement, rather than as a simple and eternal prayer for “peace on earth, good will towards all.”

Read the full article → 16 comments

Why Honor Organized Labor on Labor Day?

September 7, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Why Honor Organized Labor on Labor Day?

Labor Day, to most people, is little more than the end of summer. Labor Day commemorates the labor union movement, the demand for an eight hour work day, better working conditions, fair wages and an end to child labor.

Read the full article → 17 comments

Right Wing Radio Fuels National Boycott of Obama’s Speech to Schoolkids

September 4, 2009 by Doug Porter
Thumbnail image for Right Wing Radio Fuels National Boycott of Obama’s Speech to Schoolkids

by Doug Porter
____________
In the world of right wing talk radio hosts, Rick Roberts has to keep ahead of the curve. His daily show on KFMB-AM Radio ranks behind competitor KOGO-AM (Chip Franklin) and his audience is pretty much limited to the teabagger fringes of the Republican rank and file. Need to know what topics will be covered on his show this week? Just surf over to any of the Fox News discussion boards and look for the most inflammatory material: that’s what you’ll be hearing on the show this week.

Read the full article → 21 comments

Court in San Diego Medical Marijuana Case Denies Valid Request for Dismissal

September 4, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Court in San Diego Medical Marijuana Case Denies Valid Request for Dismissal

SAN DIEGO – A San Diego County Superior Court today denied medical marijuana patient Donna Lambert’s request for dismissal. Ms. Lambert’s supporters urged District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis not to pursue the case, to uphold the state’s medical marijuana laws and to turn law enforcement’s attention to matters of public safety not politics.

“I’m disappointed at today’s ruling, but I am resolved to fight this egregious case against me,” said Ms. Lambert, who faces seven felony counts for providing medical marijuana to another qualified patient.

Read the full article → 17 comments

Do you agree that recent stench is from the San Diego River?

September 4, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Do you agree that recent stench is from the San Diego River?

OCEAN BEACH, CA. Something’s fishy in Ocean Beach. Or at least the recent stench that has seemingly permeated the community has a fishy source (not literally). Where is it coming from?

SDG&E reports that they received 500 calls about a gaseous odor. 25 technicians were sent out to investigate.

Read the full article → 12 comments

City pressured to conduct new traffic study on Sunset Cliffs Blvd

September 3, 2009 by Source

by Anthony Gentile / Peninsula Beacon

The nagging issue of traffic calming on Sunset Cliffs, spearheaded by the Slow Down Sunset Cliffs effort started a year ago, became a key topic of the Aug. 26 meeting of the Ocean Beach Town Council (OBTC).

A representative from the city’s Traffic Engineering Division was on hand …

Read the full article → 2 comments

Former OB Councilmember Michael Zucchet’s Acquital Upheld

September 3, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Former OB Councilmember Michael Zucchet’s Acquital Upheld

Editor: OB’s former City Councilmember Michael Zucchet just had his acquittal on corruption charges upheld. Zucchet, now executive director of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association, had to resign from the Council in 2005 due to the charges against him. A jury convicted him originally in 2005, but the convictions were thrown out.

The original corruption charges against Zucchet – and the three other Council members – were the result of a decision to prosecute by then-US Attorney Carol Lam (herself later fired by Karl Rove from the White House), …

Read the full article → 3 comments

Homeless On San Diego River

September 3, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Homeless On San Diego River

A breakfast forum last Thursday on the subject of homelessness included Rob Hutsel, executive director of the San Diego River Park Foundation.

Hutsel, who’s headed the nonprofit for eight years, has become an unlikely expert on the people who call the river banks home: The organization’s twice-monthly trash pick-ups and bi-annual “river blitz” clean-ups have somewhat become field studies of the living conditions of river-bank dwellers.

Read the full article → 3 comments

Darrell Issa conservatives are civil at their “own” town hall meetings

September 3, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Darrell Issa conservatives are civil at their “own” town hall meetings

by Frank Gormlie

By 6:00 pm, there was a long line that stretched from the gym’s doors almost all the way to the main road, lining the school’s parking lot as it crept up the small hill. Doug and I were at Rancho Buena Vista High School for Congressman Darrell Issa’s Town Hall meeting on health care. We had driven to southern Vista – a land of new suburbs, condos and malls – from the southern reaches of the county. Everything in sight seemed to have been built in the last ten to twenty years or so.

It had been a long drive from San Diego, and so we had a while to muse about was in store for us … in conservativeland.

Read the full article → 28 comments

… in the year 2010 …

September 3, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for … in the year 2010 …

SUNSET CLIFFS, CA. Local photog Jim Grant captured this sunset and new addition to “Peace Rock” .

Senior students from Point Loma High School placed their year on top of the rock. Jim spoke to the guys and girls who put it up Sunday night( Aug 30) at high tide.

They hope it stays up until graduation next year !!

They paddled it out on a long board and attached it with long steel spikes.

Read the full article → 6 comments

Reaching for the Sounds of a Childhood Game

September 3, 2009 by Ernie McCray
Thumbnail image for Reaching for the Sounds of a Childhood Game

by Ernie McCray

On July 31st, in an effort to get on with my life after the death of my precious soul mate, I wrote in my journal: “I’m on my way down a long highway, trying to make my way to something faraway called normalcy where I used to live before the tragedy. But I’ll get there. Just you wait and see.”

Read the full article → 10 comments

The Real Story On the Town Hall Meetings

September 3, 2009 by Source

By E.J. Dionne Jr. / The Washington Post / September 3, 2009

Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change.

But what if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong?

Read the full article → 1 comment

Voltaire and Sunset Cliffs: OB’s Corner of Contention

September 3, 2009 by Frank Gormlie
Thumbnail image for Voltaire and Sunset Cliffs: OB’s Corner of Contention

Originally posted August 21, 2009

by Frank Gormlie

No other corner in all of Ocean Beach has had as much attention and been the point of so much contention and conflict within the community as has the corner of Voltaire Street and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. The northwest corner to be exact.

Read the full article → 20 comments

Point Loma Actors to Perform in Ocean Beach

September 2, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Point Loma Actors to Perform in Ocean Beach

The Point Loma Actors are at it again, and this time they are bringing the classic French playwright Moliere’s “The Forced Marriage” to Ocean beach on Sep. 5th and 6th!

Read the full article → 4 comments

Rep Darrel Issa to Hold Town Hall Meeting in Vista Tonight – Will the Gun-Toters Appear?

September 2, 2009 by Frank Gormlie

Local Congressman Darrel Issa appears to be trying to capture the right-wing momentum sputtering here and there at town hall meetings across the nation. He all of a sudden announced that he, too, is holding a health care reform town hall meeting – this one is tonight in Vista.

Read the full article → 31 comments

Now There Are Bread Lines: “the face of hunger in San Diego is changing.”

September 2, 2009 by Source

A line wrapped down the block and around another one in Hillcrest Tuesday morning. If you didn’t know, you would think they were handing out free money not free nectarines and bread.

One after another, young and old collected plastic bags filled with fresh produce — bread, cantalope, nectarines, bananas and potatoes — from volunteers.

Read the full article → 4 comments

Health Care and Town Hall Meetings

September 2, 2009 by Source
Thumbnail image for Health Care and Town Hall Meetings

by George Mitrovich

At the tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy Friday night at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Mr. Kennedy’s closest friend in the Senate, told a story of how he recently underwent prostate cancer surgery and when he came out of recovery his first phone call was from Mr. Kennedy, who said, “Given the choice between prostate cancer surgery and going to town hall meetings, you made the right choice.”

Read the full article → 4 comments

← Older Articles

Newer Articles →