Month: July 2011

ComicCon, like the Burning Man festival or a Nico’s beans-cheese-y-papas burrito, must be experienced to be fully appreciated. But at The OB Rag, we believe that vicarious enjoyment is important, too. So here are some pics from Thursday, the first day of a full weekend of ComicCon fun.

It went in about a year ago, another cheap souvenir shop on Newport Avenue. You probably walk by it at least once a week, Pacifica Fashion at 4949 Newport Avenue, between the Old Townhouse Restaurant and Margaritas. Out front stand a couple of lily white mannequins modeling Rastafarian head gear, a rack of $5 bikinis, and hanging from the front edifice are a number of cheap t-shirts referencing OB, surfing and weed. When it opened about a year ago, I thought to myself sarcastically, “Good another cheap tourist shop selling crap, just what OB needs.” Admittedly and disdainfully, I have never been inside.

Theodore Roszak, who three weeks after the Woodstock Festival in 1969 not only published a pivotal book about a young generation’s drug-fueled revolt against authority but also gave it a name — “counterculture” — died on July 5 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 77.

His wife, Betty, in confirming the death, said he had been treated for liver cancer and other illnesses.

Dr. Roszak’s book “The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society” had gone to press months before the music festival was held in August that year, displaying the exuberance and excesses of a generation rebelling against war and seeking new ways to be and think. But in serendipitously timely fashion, the book provided what many regarded as a profound analysis of the youth movement, finding its roots in a sterile Western culture that had prompted young people to seek spiritual meaning in LSD, exotic religions and even comic books.

At the turn of the last century, as the robber barons’ first gilded age lingered on, many Californians came to regard one powerful enterprise as the symbol of oppressive avarice and of big money’s corrupt appropriation of the political process.

By Katrina vanden Heuvel / The Nation Magazine / July 20, 2011

With too much fanfare , the contours of a “grand bargain” on the budget have emerged with a proposal offered by the Senate’s Gang of Six. It’s a deal that looks a helluva lot more like a Raw Deal than a New Deal or a Fair Deal.

A rally and vigil will be held on Thursday, July 21, 2011, at the Hall of Justice in downtown San Diego in support of the hunger strikers in California prisons. The Hall of Justice is located at 220 W. Broadway San Diego, corner of Broadway and Front Street, and the vigil will go from 1pm till 8pm.

10News has reported that it has identified the person who hired the crane operator to remove the two memorial benches from the bluff at the end of Del Mar Avenue on July 8th.

The television station – the first to break the news of the theft of the benches – reported that Robert Bryson paid George Gonzalez to take out the benches. The station stated that Bryson wished to tell his side of the story but changed his mind when reporters with the station showed up at his OB home. The report did not indicate where Bryson lived.

But a simple internet search shows Bryson lives at 1605 Ocean Front Street, the lot just north of where the benches were located.

I am a political activist. Always have been, always will be. I am allowed to have voice in governance, and I exercise it, sometimes to the chagrin of my friends and colleagues…but it is my right and I will not be silent.

In a day and age of rapid and easy communication, we have an opportunity without leaving our barcalounger to let our representative know our opinions of political issues we deem important in our lives; electronic petitions, e-mails, and cheap long distance telephone rates. Enough from Captain Obvious on that subject.

On the 6 pm KUSI news this evening, Michael Turko – the channel’s flamboyant consumer crusader of “Turko Files” – was credited by police for finding the missing and presumed stolen memorial benches taken from the Ocean Beach bluff.

It was the very top story at the news channel, and Michael Turko took center stage as he explained how he tracked down the benches for the Story and Cappelluchi families. A police lieutenant credited Turko for helping them with the crucial leads in the case. Turko in turn credited his viewers and fans and said they’ve “done it again” in calling him and helping him break the case. Turko said that after his show on Monday, (July 18) “tips flooded in”.

Editor: There have been new developments in the highly-controversial “make-over” of Balboa Park plan, put forward by local kingpin and billionaire Irwin Jacobs and his politician-ally Major Jerry Sanders. Yesterday, the City Council voted 7 to 1 to order an environmental review of Jacob’s plan and approved a memorandum of understanding with Jacobs. Yet, there are still many detractors of the Jacobs plan, so scroll down to read Bruce Coons view as head of SOHO.

LATEST:

• Police credit ‘Turko Files’ and tipsters for finding stolen memorial benches and the people who took them.

• Local News Station Learns Identity of Man Who Paid Crane Operator to Remove the Benches

By Jason Everitt / Two Cathedrals / July 19, 2011

Without much time to produce a side-by-side comparison of the major redistricting proposals and the newly minted “July 19th Plan,” here is my first take on the obvious shortcomings of this map.

It’s clear that the so-called “Coast and Canyon” district, the historic African-American empowerment district, and Border-Barrio Latino empowerment district are locked. Expectedly, there has been little variation in the borders of these districts in any major proposal, including the “July 19th Plan.”