February 2011

Calling All of Santa’s Helpers – “Polar Express” Float Faces Derailment

February 28, 2011 by Annie Lane
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Imagine, for a moment, a typical San Diego Christmas: It’s just after dark and there’s a chill in the air; carefully dressed trees peek out from nearby windows; lights of every color twinkle along the neighbors’ eaves; Garrison Street is once again visible from space; and carols have become rulers of the airwaves. And then […]

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Get Ready: The GOP Has Declared War on the Environment

February 28, 2011 by Source
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Republicans are trying to take down the EPA and with it environmental regulation that seeks to protect our air, water, food and health. By Jill Richardson / AlterNet / February 25, 2011 Many who follow environmental issues find themselves routinely disappointed with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its failure to adequately protect the environment […]

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Ocean Beach VFW Moves Into Point Loma Ave. Location Despite Some Local Opposition

February 28, 2011 by Source

by Channel 10News / February 27, 2011

A veterans group is moving forward with plans to relocate to a new neighborhood although the group says it is not welcome there.

After a month’s delay, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1392 is working to make a former market in Ocean Beach at the corner of Ebers Street and Point Loma Avenue a permanent home as it continues to talk with community members about the one sticking point.

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Photo Gallery – San Diego “We Are One” rally, February 26, 2011

February 27, 2011 by Source
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This gallery of photos was sent to us by Merton Gaudette, who we met via the California and San Diego US Uncut movement on Facebook. Thank you Merton!

Click on the title of this article to see all the images.

All photos Copyright © Merton Gaudette 2011

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Lack of coverage of Saturday’s rally displays the U-T’s tea-party favoritism and spurs letter-writing campaign.

February 27, 2011 by Frank Gormlie

The total lack of coverage by the San Diego U-T of Saturday’s 1000-strong demonstration in support of the Wisconsin protests here on the steps of the County Admin Building displays the local daily’s favoritism toward the tea parties. And it has spurred us to mount a letter-writing campaign to the U-T. (See below.) Here is […]

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San Diego rallies for Wisconsin workers facing Scott Walker’s union-busting, 26 Feb 2011

February 27, 2011 by Dixon Guizot
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Video of February 26,2011 San Diego rally to support Wisconsin and workers everywhere!

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A 1,000 San Diegans Rally in the Rain in Support of Wisconsin Working People

February 26, 2011 by Frank Gormlie
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Over one thousand San Diegans – mainly of them union members – rallied today, Sat, Feb 26th, in the rain in support of Wisconsin working people. Under dark gray clouds, and in front of the County Admin Building, representing every union in the County, San Diego labor flexed its muscle today in a show of […]

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Stories in a Vault

February 26, 2011 by Ernie McCray
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A little while ago I read a book by longtime Tucson Citizen sportswriter, Steve Rivera: The University of Arizona Basketball Vault, the History of the Wildcats.

What a nice trip down memory lane the book was for me as I’ve followed Wildcat basketball since the 40’s. And, never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think the program would evolve to what it is today although the school had a couple of pretty good teams in my childhood.

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An Insomniac’s Nightmare

February 26, 2011 by Judi Curry
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One of the things I learned 40+ years ago, when almost the only airline flying into San Diego International Airport was PSA, that the planes stopped taking off at 11:30 pm and didn’t begin again until 6:30am.

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“I paid my taxes. Why doesn’t Bank of America?” ask citizens as they plan actions at 50 branches across the country

February 25, 2011 by Source

New Nationwide Effort to Make Corporate Tax Dodgers Pay Up

Protests in more than 50 cities, including Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago

Groups of citizens in more than 50 cities will sit-in and protest at Bank of America branches on Saturday, February 26 in an effort to get corporate tax dodgers to pay their fair share. The actions are loosely affiliated with US Uncut, a new grassroots movement organized through social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

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OB be proud! It was your little blog that was the small pebble that got the boulder rolling.

February 25, 2011 by Frank Gormlie
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The Genesis of the Saturday Rally in San Diego In Support of the Working People of Wisconsin

OBcians – you should be very proud – for it was your little blog that got the big boulder rolling. Your little blog – the OB Rag – was the first organization (if you can call us that) that initiated the call for a rally in San Diego on this Saturday in solidarity with the working people of Wisconsin.

We were the little pebble that got the big boulder – the San Diego County Labor Council – rolling. And now, the Labor Council, with all its members, experience, and resources, have taken over the bulk of the organizing for the noon time demonstration in front of the San Diego County Administration Building for tomorrow, Feb. 26th.

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Evicting the Homeless From Robb Field Before the Storm

February 25, 2011 by Dan Morales
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A storm is gathering for this weekend in San Diego County with record cold predicted to bring snow levels into the City. As KPBS reported, due to “lack of funds” hundreds of previously housed people will be without shelter. Add to that number the disabled vets, pregnant women, youth and their pets who made the Sunset Cliffs Blvd. side of Robb Field their home for the past six months.

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Ocean Beach Elementary Thrives in the face of State Budget Woes

February 25, 2011 by Andy Cohen
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For over 100 years, Ocean Beach Elementary has been in the business of educating the children of Ocean Beach, the sleepy seaside community of San Diego that is more characteristic of a small Oregon coastal town than it is the second largest city in the largest state in the United States. Take a stroll through OB, as it’s referred to, and one gets a sense that not much has changed in the last 30 years, which is why the local residents love it so much.

Change does not come easy in OB, and that’s just the way they like it.

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“US Uncut”- a Grassroots Uprising Against Corporate Tax Deadbeats

February 25, 2011 by Source
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A few weeks before he died, Howard Zinn had lunch at the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan with New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. Their topic of conversation was, of course, social justice.

“If there is going to be change, real change,” Zinn told Herbert, “it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That’s how change happens.”

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Anna’s Video Pick – N.A.S.A. “Money”

February 24, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Off to my wonderful OBcean tax preparer Byrna, with visions of Shepard Fairey dancing through my head. Byrna reminds me that the good news is that My Beloved and I, card carrying union members, have enough income to pay taxes. Hey! We’re middle class- for the moment! Our taxes are generally computed on a short form and last year our Federal and State tax rate was 13%. And the truth is we are ok with that- except for the war funding.

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Brighton Ave. Restroom Project Delayed, Over Budget

February 24, 2011 by Andy Cohen
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The anticipated Brighton Ave. public restroom project has suffered a major setback and now may not be completed until well into 2012. That was the bad news delivered to the Ocean Beach Town Council’s monthly public meeting.

The design for the project was approved on June 7, 2010, with contributions and approval from the Ocean Beach Planning Board. Final approvals from the City Council were not given until December when the project went out to bid. The City Engineering and Capital Projects division expected to receive several bids on the project, but received only four by the January 18 due date. Two bids were immediately rejected, one because it did not have all of the proper paperwork completed, and another because it was not presented to the City in a three-ring binder.

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Take a Stand: Against the Right Wing Agenda, For the Wisconsin Protests

February 24, 2011 by Doug Porter
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And for Your Own Well Being So you’ve been seeing all this stuff in the media about what’s going on with workers in the mid-west, or the attacks on Planned Parenthood funding, or the move in the US Congress (by the GOP) to strip the federal government of virtually all its capacity to regulate public […]

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Corporations Use TV Ads to Lie About Their Real Motives

February 24, 2011 by Source
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By John Lawrence / Will Blog for Food There’s an ad on TV that features a righteously indignant woman who doesn’t want the government telling her what food products to buy at her local super market. She claims to be fully capable of making those decisions for herself. And she particularly doesn’t want the government […]

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The Dirty Secret of Public-Sector Union Busting

February 24, 2011 by Source
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By Alyssa Battistoni / Salon / Feb. 24, 2011 Amid all the rightful outrage over Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to do away with collective bargaining rights for public sector unions in Wisconsin, one important point has been neglected: The demise of public sector unions would be most detrimental to women and African-Americans, who make up […]

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The Republicans’ Faux Fiscal Concern

February 23, 2011 by Andy Cohen

Isn’t it cute that Republicans in Congress suddenly have this pang of responsibility towards our nation’s fiscal health? Doesn’t it sound great when they say that they’re the ones with all the answers? And the sound bites of Republican lawmakers blaming Barack Obama and his administration for the current budget deficit sure sound like good arguments. Until you actually do some digging and realize that they’re completely and totally full of it.

The Republicans would have the nation believe that they’re the party of fiscal responsibility, and that the Democrats are the ones who are digging the hole even deeper. But where were the Republicans when the country went from a budget surplus to a budget deficit? And who was in charge back then?

Oh yeah! I remember………..

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Call to Action In Support of the Wisconsin Workers – Sat, Feb. 26 Rally

February 23, 2011 by Frank Gormlie
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There’s been a national “50 State Call to Action” in solidarity with the Wisconsin workers and public unions for rallies this Saturday. The original call was for rallies at every state capital. But here in San Diego, 500 miles from Sacramento, we are organizing a rally at the County Administration Building for Noon, also on February 26th.

Rally In Support of Wisconsin Working People – We Are One

Noon – Saturday, Feb. 26th

San Diego County Admin Building – Bay Side

1600 Pacific Highway

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Introducing The ‘American Dream’ Movement

February 23, 2011 by Source
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By Van Jones / HuffPost / Feb. 22, 2011

In the past 24 months, those of us who longed for positive change have gone from hope to heartbreak. But hope is returning to America — at last — thanks largely to the courageous stand of the heroes and heroines of Wisconsin.

Reinvigorated by the idealism and fighting spirit on display right now in America’s heartland, the movement for “hope and change” has a rare, second chance. It can renew itself and become again a national force with which to be reckoned.

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Ohio Union Protests Gear Up as Vote Nears on Similar Bill as in Wisconsin

February 22, 2011 by Source

By Mark Niquette / Bloomberg News / Feb 22, 2011

Protesters demonstrated at the Ohio Statehouse before a hearing on a bill to limit collective- bargaining for public employees as Wisconsin’s Assembly prepared to vote on a similar measure.

In Ohio, protesters packed the Statehouse atrium as a crowd gathered on the steps outside because the Ohio Highway Patrol is limiting the number of people inside for safety reasons, said Joe Andrews, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. Former Governor Ted Strickland, who came to support the demonstrators, said more people should be allowed in.

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Revolt Spreads: Indiana Dems Leave the State to Thwart GOP Union Busting

February 22, 2011 by Source

By Chris Bowers / AlterNet / February 22, 2011

Mirroring events in Wisconsin, Democrats in the Indiana House have left the state to deny a quorum and block legislation that would strip collective bargaining rights. From the Indianapolis Star:

House Democrats are leaving the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation, The Indianapolis Star has learned.

A source said Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.

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To Make Amends

February 22, 2011 by Source
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A Fictional Oddity

Heaven and earth are threads from one loom. -Shaker proverb

by A.W. Maris

“Are you an ocean lover?” she asked. “Is that why you’re in Ocean Beach?”

You stood still, anticipating reaction. Instead his gaze remained fixed on the muted stone of the Veterans Memorial at the foot of Newport Avenue. Allison thinks, ‘WE LIVE HERE, YOU TWIT!’ but having observed ‘little miss perky blonde’ asking the same question of another couple, strikes back with, “What’s your game?”.

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Is the Tea Party Winning?

February 22, 2011 by Source
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. / truthdig.com

Take five steps back and consider the nature of the political conversation in our nation’s capital. You would never know that it’s taking place at a moment when unemployment is still at 9 percent, when wages for so many people are stagnating at best, and when the United States faces unprecedented challenges to its economic dominance.

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Don’t Mourn, Organize! The Struggle for Freedom Gets Personal

February 21, 2011 by Doug Porter
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As conservatives in eight other states moved to limit collective bargaining this week, union supporters throughout the United States are organizing rallies in support of the Wisconsin protestors. Rallies are scheduled in 38 states over the next couple of days.

San Diego got off to an early start on Friday, as about 150 people gathered in Mission Valley in the late afternoon despite very short notice and heavy rains. Although it seems to be that any gathering of more than a dozen Tea Party supporters will draw TV cameras these days, the labor council rally was largely ignored.

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Someone in Egypt Sent a Free Pizza to Wisconsin Protesters

February 21, 2011 by Frank Gormlie
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People from across the world have donated to provide free pizza to protesting Wisconsinites

By Meredith Shiner / Politico

MADISON, Wis. — Someone in Egypt has been paying attention to what’s happening in Madison and wanted to send a message of solidarity from across the globe — so they ordered a pizza.

It might seem like a small gesture, but it’s overwhelming to the staff at Ian’s on State Street — a campus staple mere blocks from the Capitol — where in the last few days, they’ve fielded calls from concerned citizens of 12 countries, and 38 out of 50 states looking to donate money to provide free pizza to the Wisconsinites who have congregated here.

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A Bittersweet Day

February 21, 2011 by Judi Curry
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February 21st – a day of joy; a day of sorrow. Today is my birthday; Today also marks the 17 month anniversary of my husband’s death. Right next to my birthday candles will be a memorial candle to Bob. This article is not so much about my birthday as it is about Bob’s death. You see, he died of LUNG CANCER 18 months after it was diagnosed.

Bob was a smoker for 30 years. He admitted to smoking 3 packs a day before he quit 34 years ago. If he “admitted” to 3 packs a day, one can’t help but wonder just how many packs he really smoked daily. It doesn’t matter, because he ranked giving up smoking as his #1 accomplishment in life. His Ph.D was secondary to giving up smoking.

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It’s Time to Support Our Workers

February 21, 2011 by Rocky Neptun

The greatest threat of the 21st Century is not terrorism or religious fanaticism or nationalism….. it is concentrated power – both political and economic – within the corporate state. That very power, concentrated in an elite, an oligarchy, whether national or local, is an interlocking system of wealth, politics, media, and corporations whose sole purpose is to destroy the ability of individual citizens to organize together for the common good through the mechanism of government.

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