Month: May 2011

Those who founded this country knew quite well that every citizen must remain vigilant or freedom would be lost. This is the true nature of a patriot — one who sounds the clarion call when the Constitution is under attack. If, on the other hand, the people become sheep-like, it will lead to a government of wolves. This is what we are faced with today as Congress marches in lockstep with the White House to renew the USA Patriot Act.

Finding Information for Senior Citizens

Obecians and beyond- I need your help! A few weeks ago a close friend of mine asked about medical marijuana dispensaries in the Hillcrest area. I pointed out a dispensary on University Avenue, not far from where we attend our weekly Buddhist meditation. I also tore out the back pages of the Reader which provide a pretty comprehensive list of locations and handed them to her.

Entire San Diego Congressional Delegation – except Filner – supported extension – as did Boxer and Feinstein

US President Barack Obama has signed a four-year extension of the Patriot Act from Paris, extending post-September 11 powers allowing the government to secretly search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of alleged terrorists or their supporters.

Hours after the US Senate and House of Representatives passed the law, through votes taken in rapid succession, and just minutes before the law was to expire at midnight in Washington DC, Obama sent in a digital signature, finalizing the renewal on Thursday.

Judging by the ratings, which never topped a million viewers after the pilot, you didn’t watch “Terriers,” a private-eye show on FX from “The Shield” creator Shawn Ryan and “Ocean’s Eleven” scribe Ted Griffin. And in a way, we don’t blame you.

The title and marketing were baffling, the biggest star was schlubby sitcom veteran Donal Logue, and the premise—an ex-cop and recovering alcoholic with ex-wife problems works as an unlicensed private detective in Ocean Beach, California, with a former burglar—couldn’t have been more generic if it tried. Unfortunately for you, “Terriers” was simply fantastic, and it’s now been canceled.

by Daoud Tyler-Ameen / NPR / May 27, 2011

Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon in New York, his book publisher reported. He was 62. The influential poet and musician is often credited with being one of the progenitors of hip-hop, and is best known for the spoken-word piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

The test scores are out, and all of the beaches in OB received A+’s or A’s. Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based non profit, conducts annual water quality tests of beaches and water-ways on the Pacific Coast, and has just released their results.

Here are the following OB beaches and their scores:

By Larry Gerston, Ph.D. / NBC San Diego /May 27, 2011

The U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold a cap on the number of California prisoners complicates the already cloudy California budget picture.

Under the terms of the decision, California must release 36,000 prisoners within five years because current overcrowded conditions constitute violation of the Eighth Amendment guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.

By Lucas O’Connor/Issa Watch/ May 24, 2011

It was a contentious day for the Oversight Committee, with high-profile testimony from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Elizabeth Warren. And twice in two hearings, committee Republicans accused their witnesses of lying to Congress, under oath…

By Amanda Marcotte /AlterNet /May 25, 2011

Glib comments about rape by anti-choice Republican lawmakers reveal that the anti-choice movement is deeply rooted in antagonism to women’s rights.

No big surprise that it was in Kansas, which has struggled with the most serious anti-choice terrorism in the country in the 21^st century, where a GOP state legislator named Pete DeGraaf compared being forcibly impregnated by a rapist to getting a flat tire. DeGraaf was responding to a pro-choice Republican legislator who raised the question of women being unable to afford to terminate pregnancies caused by rape, and DeGraaf responded by suggesting women should have prepared ahead of time for rape by saying, “We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life?”, adding, “I have a spare tire on my car.”

Tom Gawronski is very worried about the future of Ocean Beach. As the Planning Board representative for District 1, he’s especially worried about that section of West Pt Loma Boulevard that curves around down at the beach, west of Abbott Street. Gawronski sees the row of single-story duplexes along that stretch of boulevard as the front lines of the City of San Diego’s efforts to allow the gentrification of Ocean Beach. As a retired molecular biologist, Tom is not easily shaken. But he’s agitated now.

Mayor Sanders’ new budget avoids cuts to rec centers in OB, elsewhere

The Ocean Beach Recreation Center — like similar centers across San Diego — had been targeted for cuts to its operating hours in Mayor Jerry Sanders’ initial budget proposal for the city’s next fiscal year.

Under an updated proposal Sanders released last week, however, the city’s rec centers would maintain their current 40-hours-a-week schedule. Sanders originally had slashed rec centers hours by half, but his new plan reflects the better-than-expected performance of the local economy in recent months.

Supreme Court Calls BS on California’s 3 Decades of “Law and Order”

by Robert Cruickshank / Calitics / May 23, 2011

I suppose someone should write about [Monday’]s 5-4 US Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Plata, where the court ruled that California must release 33,000 prisoners to relieve overcrowding in state prisons. So I’ll take a shot at it.