Month: July 2011

Charles “Chuck” Curtis found paradise at age four when he moved to the Theosophist community at Lomaland in Point Loma. He attended Madame Tingley’s school, later joined the navy and married a woman from a prominent Point Loma family.

The Ocean Beach Historical Society Presents: Charles Curtis’ Adventures in Lomaland
Thursday, July 21st, at 7 PM
P.L. United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B.

Here is the agenda for the OB Planning Board’s Ad Hoc Committee meeting tonight, July 20, 2011. The Committee will meet at the OB Rec Center at 6pm sharp. The Rec Center is at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. Landry Watson is the Committee chair.

On July 18th, 200 family members, community members and lawyers across CA mobilized outside the headquarters of California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) in Sacramento to demonstrate their support of the people on hunger strike at Pelican Bay, Corcoran and other prisons, and to call on the CDCR and Governor Brown to intervene in this urgent, life-death matter.

By Los Angeles Times – Editorial / July 20, 2011

Conditions in California prisons are so bad that a panel of federal judges ruled that they violate the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, but until recently the ensuing protests came mainly from lawyers rather than the inmates themselves. That changed on July 1, when thousands of inmates at one-third of the state’s prisons started a hunger strike.

by Marjorie Cohn / CommonDreams .org / July 19, 2011

The torture of prisoners in U.S. custody isn’t confined to foreign countries. For more than two weeks, inmates at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison have been on a hunger strike to protest torturous conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) there. Prisoners have been held for years in solitary confinement, which can amount to torture. Thousands of inmates throughout California’s prison system have refused food in solidarity with the Pelican Bay prisoners, bringing the total of hunger strikers to more than 1,700.

The County of San Diego is asking the lowest paid County employees to take pay cuts between 7 and 14%!

This while the County has 1.2 billion in reserves; while they have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars in cash on infrastructure property, including $120 million on a planned “Legacy” water park at the County Administration Building; and while the top management, executives and elected officials have continued to get raises on top of their $200k plus salaries, plus better health care benefits and car allowances of between $600 and $1000 dollars

By Carolyn Kellogg / The LA Times / July 18, 2011

Jane Fonda writes that a planned Saturday appearance on QVC was canceled by the shopping network after viewers complained, citing Fonda’s political statements during the Vietnam War. Fonda was scheduled to promote her aging-with-spirit book “Prime Time: Making the Most of Your Life,” due out Aug. 9.

There has been much to do about the memorial benches stolen off the cliffs in Ocean Beach. And there should be – as their theft during broad daylight earlier this month is outrageous. The media has been all over the story of the missing memorial bench that the Cappellucci’s had for their son who passed away from cancer two years ago.

The other memorial bench stolen belonged to the family of George Story. Both benches were reportedly taken sometime between 7 and 8 a.m. on July 8th, by a large crane and placed on a flatbed truck, as witnesses have said. One person even took a photo of the truck. The City has denied taking the benches, and the police are investigating.

I spoke to George Story’s son, John – who lives in OB – , earlier today. And he’s upset.

UPDATE:

We took a drive over to the Cabrillo Bridge today a little after 2:00 and found about 30 people carrying signs and chanting “Save Our Park”, to the approval of many of the people passing through who honked and waved their support. See photos inside.

There will be a gathering on the Cabrillo Bridge today from 2-4pm to protest the mayor’s plan to destroy Balboa Park.

Protest signs will be available, or the public may bring their own, please, no obscenities.

Where: Cabrillo Bridge – Arched entrance to the park

When : Today, July 18 · 2-4pm

For more information visit SOHOsandiego.org

by Liam Dillon / Voice of San Diego / July 18, 2011

The two-year-old allegations are as scandalous as they come: Mayor Jerry Sanders or one of his deputies fired a high-level city of San Diego employee because he was helping investigate contracting involving one of the mayor’s supporters. And the lawsuit that makes those allegations doesn’t show signs of going away.

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned.

Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home.

Working to counter military recruiting and demilitarize our schools

I was asked to see if I could rekindle (and I can barely keep a campfire going) energy around leafleting our high schools with information to help students understand and deal with the attempts at militarizing them they’ll find in their schools and in their communities and beyond, as anyone can see in commercials, video games, and every form of media.

Well, it should be obvious that there’s a tremendous need for us, especially those of us who dare to refer to ourselves as “community activists.” We look out for our children when Uncle Sam comes after them with his zest for war, even though some of the organizations and activities that counter the militarization of young people are shrinking nationwide.