October 2010

Mission Beach Sand Dredging Project Pissing People Off!

October 22, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

Some people are really pissed off about the City’s sand dredging project on Mission Beach. And for good reason.

The project is supposed to be dredging the Mission Bay Channel to make it safer for boats, while at the same time pushing sand onto Mission Beach to replenish sand lost due to tides, storms, and erosion. The sand flowing onto Mission Beach is being sucked up from the bottom of the channel. And there’s the problem: the dredging project is also pouring trash, old rebar and other sharp objects, wire, tires, cans, and other debris onto the beach.

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People Shouldn’t Have to Make Health Care Decisions Based on Money – or Lack of It

October 22, 2010 by Judi Curry

I am very lucky. As a child growing up in the Beverly Hills/West Hollywood area of Los Angeles, there was not much that I wanted that I didn’t get. Sure, I was just a child during WWII, but my parents were well off and I always got one piece of bubble gum a week – I had to put it in a glass of water to save for the next day. (I wonder if that was the precursor to putting my dentures in a glass of water when I got older.)

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San Diego budget cuts target OB Fire Station for ‘brown-outs’ and reduction in lifeguards

October 21, 2010 by Staff

A local news source has reported that the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is considering adding the Ocean Beach Fire Station on Voltaire – a one-unit fire station – to its list of fire-stations subject to “brown-outs”, as part of the budget cutting for fiscal year 2012. Reductions in lifeguard services are also being contemplated to meet the $72 million budget deficit.

Name Of New Herb Shop In OB Grabs Attention

October 21, 2010 by Source

Happy Healthy High Horny Herbs Shop Located Along Santa Monica Avenue

10News.com / October 20, 2010

OCEAN BEACH, Calif. — A new, bright yellow store along Santa Monica Avenue in Ocean Beach is getting a lot of attention because of its name.

The store’s name is The Happy, Healthy, High, Horny Herb Shop.

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State Fish and Game Commission wants to establish more ocean preserves

October 21, 2010 by Source

SAN DIEGO: Hundreds of people weigh in on marine life plan

By Deborah S Brennan /North County Times /October 20, 2010

More than 700 people weighed in Wednesday on plans by the California Fish and Game Commission to protect marine life by expanding coastal areas that limit fishing and other activities.

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The battle over banning booze in San Diego

October 21, 2010 by Source

By Christopher Cadelago / San Diego U-T / October 19, 2010

PACIFIC BEACH — When San Diegans approved a booze ban at city beaches, bay shores and coastal parks, they uncorked a cascade of complications that two years later have left some calling for tighter restrictions and others decrying further affronts to their liberties.

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CityBeat calls on County Supervisors to “fix the problem” that Registrar Seiler caused.

October 21, 2010 by Source

By CityBeat Staff / San Diego CityBeat / October 20, 2010

Dear San Diego County voter: If you received a letter from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters saying, “This form is being sent to you because your original affidavit of registration was not properly completed. Before we can complete the process of your Affidavit of Registration, we must have additional information from you,” don’t be alarmed, and don’t assume that you are not eligible to vote.

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Is Attorney General Eric Holder Serious About Enforcing the Marijuana Laws?

October 20, 2010 by Source

When the majority says marijuana should not be a crime the law looses its legitimacy.

By Kevin Zeese / OpEdNews / October 18, 2010

It is hard to imagine that Eric Holder’s letter threatening to “vigorously enforce” federal law if California votes for legalization of marijuana is serious. It seems timed to manipulate voters in California, but in this year when political elites are hated it is likely to backfire and lead Californians to vote to end the failed marijuana war.

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Public School Races : Proposition J, School Board Seats

October 20, 2010 by Doug Porter

OB RAG Local Elections Coverage – Part 3

I mailed in my ballot yesterday. As part of my research in this series (we’ll publish a summary next week) on the election, I’ve been paying close attention to all the issues and advertising. I’ve also—full disclosure—been working with a group (California Alliance) that focuses on increasing voter turnout amongst infrequent voters in economically challenged communities in San Diego.

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So … you think that dogs can think?

October 20, 2010 by Judi Curry

I own a 9 year old Golden Retriever named “Buddy.” (Of course, it is questionable about who owns whom.) I think it is time to enlighten non-dog owners – and even dog owners – about the intelligence of our canine friends. (Since I am not a man – I get upset when I hear about “man’s best friend”, because if it were not for Buddy, I probably would not be here today writing this piece.)

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Busby and Bilbray Square Off in Raucous Debate

October 19, 2010 by Andy Cohen

Democratic and Republican candidates dominate debate

Democratic challenger Francine Busby took to the stage last night to take a few proverbial swings at Republican incumbent Congressman Brian Bilbray for their first and only scheduled debate. A standing room only, bitterly partisan crowd gathered in the Del Norte High School Performing Arts Center in 4S Ranch to see the event and cheer on their candidate. It was a scene more befitting a highly charged college basketball game than a political debate, with only slightly less decorum than a kindergarten classroom.

It was a microcosm of just how sharply divided this county, and country, really are.

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John de Beck is still running for the school board

October 19, 2010 by Source

by Emily Alpert / Voice of San Diego

Most sitting school board members talk up how the school district has improved on their watch. Not John de Beck. As he campaigns for another four years on the board, de Beck sounds more like an upstart, complaining that San Diego Unified hasn’t tackled its biggest problems.

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Is County Registrar Deborah Seiler trying (again) to discourage voters?

October 19, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

San Diego County Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler has sent out a letter to potential San Diego County voters that actually could discourage some people from voting. This is the same Deborah Seiler who used to work for Diebold – the corporation that made faulty voting machines. (Diebold has since changed its name to Premier – presumably to get away from all the adverse PR.)

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CityBeat reviews new OB ‘Sessions Public’ restaurant

October 19, 2010 by Source

Sessions Public is a nice place to take your honey

By Jenny Montgomery / San Diego CityBeat

I’m wary of restaurants that spend too much time on just-so décor. Perfect design and attention to the hippest of trends often means food is an after-thought. H

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The Perfect Storm

October 19, 2010 by Source

by Robert Reich

It’s a perfect storm. And I’m not talking about the impending dangers facing Democrats. I’m talking about the dangers facing our democracy.

First, income in America is now more concentrated in fewer hands than it’s been in 80 years. Almost a quarter of total income generated in the United States is going to the top 1 percent of Americans.

The top one-tenth of one percent of Americans now earn as much as the bottom 120 million of us.

Who are these people?

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OB Elementary to Benefit From Skateboard Jam on Saturday, October 23rd

October 19, 2010 by Staff

Local Ocean Beach business to host skateboarding event to raise funds for school

The Ocean Beach Surf and Skate shop is holding a skateboard jam this Saturday, October 23, to raise funds for cash-strapped Ocean Beach Elementary School. The Jam, to be held at the Robb Field Skate Park from 1pm to 5pm, will also include famous skateboarders, a kids’ BBQ, vendors, autograph signing, and a raffle to raise the funds.

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The OB Rag – 3 years ago: ‘born in the crucible of fire’

October 18, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

When the OB Rag website first started publishing three years ago, the massive October 2007 fire was raging across San Diego County. Our blog/ website was hatched in the midst of fire, born under fire, so to speak. The fire and the responses to it raised all kinds of issues that we began addressing.

Here are a few of the posts that we wrote and published about the fires – and a few other issues – during that period:

COME INSIDE FOR HEADLINES AND LINKS …

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Why, oh why, are brand new intersection ramps being replaced in OB?

October 18, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

Apparently, all over Ocean Beach, intersection ramps are being replaced to meet ADA standards. Trouble, is the ramps that are being replaced are fairly brand new!

The same thing has been occurring in Pacific Beach. Last week, the San Diego Reader ran a short piece by Paul Severt on this very issue:

[The City has a] current project of replacing the handicapped sidewalk curbs with ones that include plastic yellow rectangles with raised domes. ….

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Proposition D: It’s The End of The World As We Know It

October 18, 2010 by Doug Porter

OB RAG Local Elections Coverage Part Two

Proposition D proposes to raise sales taxes in San Diego by ½ of one cent, provided that the city government makes good on promises of fiscal reform. Everybody on both sides of this issue agrees that the city government is facing a shortage of funds. And that’s about the only thing they agree on.

A coalition of moderately conservative politicians/business groups and more liberal elements of the city council/union groups are supporting this proposal. The tango that lead up to this alliance between Mayor Jerry Saunders and long-time foe City Councilwoman Donna Frye …

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Leave No One Behind

October 17, 2010 by Patty Jones

This 60 Minutes video from CBSnews.com was sent to us by a reader.

Stand Down 2010

In the middle of July this last summer, 947 homeless vets walked in to a three day event sponsored by Veterans Village of San Diego.

A safe place, for three days…. 879 of them walked back out and 68, picked by lottery, won a bed in the Veterans Village Treatment Center. It’s wonderful, and sad.

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Local Ballot Measures Part One: Proposition A – Revenge of the Supes

October 15, 2010 by Doug Porter

Proposition A was placed on the November ballot by the County Board of Supervisors. It’s revenge in retaliation over a union-sponsored initiative that passed last spring limiting Supes to two terms. This ballot measure asks the voters to ban “Project Labor Agreements” (PLAs) for San Diego County construction contracts.

The use of PLAs dates back to the World Wars, when the Federal government, anxious that labor stoppages would be detrimental to the war effort, …

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A funny thing happened on the way to the bus stop …

October 15, 2010 by Judi Curry

Last Sunday I decided to go see a play downtown. I didn’t want to pay the price for parking, so decided I would take the 35 bus to the trolley station and then take the Blue Line from there. I got all ready to go, allowing myself plenty of time to get there, and went to the bus stop on Sunset Cliffs and Pt. Loma Ave.

Guess what? On Sunday there is no 35 bus on Sunset Cliffs and Pt. Loma Ave.

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Book Review: “The Continual Condition” by Charles Bukowski

October 15, 2010 by Dixon Guizot

At age 33, I’m a relative newcomer to reading poetry. In high school, the standard stuff they foisted on us — Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Keats, Byron, Shelley, and so on — struck me as dull, dated, and often incomprehensible. In fact, like so much of the literature I remember reading in English classes, many of the poems we were assigned felt like they were written solely to make teenagers hate reading.

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Back to school benefit for gay and lesbian students at the Big Kitchen

October 15, 2010 by Ernie McCray

No discrimination is reasonable but there, to me, is nothing more screwed up than the discrimination inherent in our “Don’t ask, don’t tell” world.

Now, thanks to old Jim Crow back in the 40’s and 50’s and 60’s, I’ve faced more than my share of discrimination but I overcame all that, beginning in my childhood …

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The Case Against Fluoride Comes to San Diego and Ocean Beach

October 15, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

Paul Connett, author of the newly released book The Case Against Fluoride, will be speaking in San Diego from Oct. 14 – 16. Connett will provide new, compelling science-based arguments against community water fluoridation. Following are the times and locations of his public presentations.

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Proposition 26: Alcohol, Tobacco and Oil Companies Seek Loopholes for Toxic Waste

October 14, 2010 by Doug Porter

OB Rag Fall Elections Part 9

You couldn’t put together a more unsavory group—from a public health point of view—than the corporate sponsors of Proposition 26. The oil lobby (Chevron and Occidental Petroleum); the tobacco industry (Philip Morris); the booze lobby (Anheuser-Busch and Miller-Coors); and the high fructose heavyweight at the soft drink lobby (American Beverage Association) have all joined together under the leadership of the California Chamber of Commerce to sponsor this amendment …

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Ernie McCray Honored by University of Arizona Black Alumni Basketball

October 14, 2010 by Source

BB Standout made his mark in education

TUCSON, Ariz. – University of Arizona men’s basketball alumnus Ernie McCray was named the 2010 Outstanding Alumni Achiever by the UA Black Alumni.

McCray, a Wildcat letterwinner from 1957-58 through 1960, received the recognition from UABA. A longtime educator and principal in San Diego, he is now retired and focuses his time on community theater and community activism.

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OB FLASHES: News, Calendar and Whatever – October 14, 2010

October 13, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

ALL DETAILS AND LINKS INSIDE:

* OB Bus Routes Detoured Due to Digging Ditches
* Planning Board Review Committee meets Wed, Oct. 20th
* OB Historical Society: The Portuguese 100 – Plus Years of in San Diego -Oct. 21st
* OB Halloween for Dogs – Canine Carnival & Costume Contest, Oct. 24th
* OB Rec Center Sponsors Halloween Carnival & Costume Contest
* OB lifeguard part of team honored for dangerous rescue
* Sports Arena bought by San Pasqual Tribe & renamed “Valley View Casino Center”
* Pot Dispensaries On Edge
* McMillin reverses at Liberty Station: withdraws hotel and residential plans – and destruction of conference center
* New Sushi at the old Rags on Newport?
* Healthy and Horny Herb shop?
* Food trucks in Los Angeles to have public health ratings

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Five Reasons to Watch the Ocean Beach ‘Terriers’

October 13, 2010 by Source

The fall season hasn’t treated new shows kindly. With few exceptions, not many programs made a critical splash, and one of the few that did (‘Lone Star’) got the boot after just two episodes.

It’s all well and good to think in theoretical terms about what can be done to ensure that only the safest, most inoffensive and blandest programming gets the green light in the near future. But I’m here to propose a simpler, more concrete, and potentially more effective way to combat a future slew of boring TV: watch FX’s ‘Terriers.’

Lost in the shuffle in more ways than one, ‘Terriers’ had quietly produced five consecutively strong episodes right out of the gate.

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Reader Rant: An Alternative to “Pink October”

October 13, 2010 by Source

I wrote the first part – below – in response to the pink blindness I see everywhere. It has been a pet peeve of mine for many moons. It (pink ribbons) has been exploited for profit and now that Kentucky Fried Chicken jumped on the bandwagon it is so laughable. The very worst food for Health promotes BC Awareness?

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