Month: October 2010

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.

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?

I have a 14 year old granddaughter that’s driving her parents

wild,

No one would ever have suspected it of this child.

A swimmer, a junior life guard to boot,

When it comes to homework she doesn’t give a hoot.

By David Moberg / In These Times / Originally published Oct 8, 2010

One union came out on top this week at California’s Kaiser Permanente facilities.

In a much-anticipated showdown over the future of healthcare unionism in California, a substantial plurality of the 43,000 members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers-West at Kaiser Permanente facilities have voted to remain with the Service Employees union …

Some San Diegans are trying to find a San Diego location for reasonable and progressive leaning people to gather to rally/watch the Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Washington D.C. rallies on October 30th. The event will be broadcast from 9 am to noon west Coast time. [SEE LINKS INSIDE}

Also: Sign the Petition to Stop FBI Harassment – [see below]

Join peace and solidarity activists all around the country today in the National “Call-In Day” to stop the FBI harassment of this community of American activists. October 12th is the day.

by Krystal Ball / Huffington Post / October 11, 2010

[Krystal Ball is the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 1st District]

When I was fifteen-years-old, I watched Hillary Clinton during the difficult times she faced when her private life and President Clinton’s private life became public. Nevermind that the people conducting the impeachment hearings were having multiple affairs and oozed hypocrisy.

I noticed today, on my way out of Ocean Beach, that the ARCO station has, once again, raised the cost of gasoline over last weeks price. I noticed today, while shopping at Ralphs, the cost of meat has gone up over what it was last week.

by Bill McKibben / 350.org / October 11, 2010

How do you say ‘thank you’ 7,347 times?

People got to work yesterday in at least that many places around the world — the planet has never seen anything quite that widespread. Or quite that beautiful.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to visit 350.org to look through some of the thousands of pictures that we have managed to sort through so far:

by Olive Guy

What about the olives I asked? No one knew what to say. Our front yard has two large olive trees, each with weighted down branches, full of black and green oval fruit – and every shade in between. In fact, one large branch was so heavy, it cracked and dangled close to the ground. Both trees had begun to shed its fruit – that ancient delicacy.

I wanted to harvest the dozens, no hundreds of olives that were ripening and wasting their lives by falling to the hard earth below, where they would become mashed down with everything else. But no one else in the house either liked olives that much or knew what to do with them.

MANY SAN DIEGO EVENTS – LISTED INSIDE

From the 350.org website:
Dear World,

It’s been a tough year: in North America, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; in Asia some of the highest temperatures ever recorded; in the Arctic, the fastest melting of sea ice ever seen; in Latin America, record rainfalls washing away whole mountainsides.

So we’re having a party.

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That’s the date.

OBceans and other citizens of the world:

Your OB Rag needs you!

As we cruise into our Third Anniversary as a blog – we began in October 2007 – we are celebrating the fact that we’re still here – and mostly because of those who have been supporting us over these few years – and of course because of our talented writers and bloggers and photographers and techies.