Month: January 2012

CBS 8 Local San Diego News reports that Ocean Beach and the coast is in store for some major waves over the next few days.

Meteorologist Shawn Styles reported from OB tonight (Thursday) that big swells are forecast to roll ashore in San Diego in the next few days, and are expected to stick around through the end of the week, and produce waves up to 12 feet.

Stiles said that he visited the shore today and in the morning, it was flat. But by the afternoon waves were peaking at 4 to 6 feet, he reported. He claimed that by Friday – tomorrow, the 6th, – the waves will have an occasional height of up to 8 feet.

Editor: Here is an update of the “Occupation” of the house of a disabled and bedridden retired schoolteacher Lesliane Bouchard by her daughter Kristiane Chappell. Bouchard is about to have her home foreclosed up north in Murrietta in Riverside County. A number of Occupy San Diego activists were among those who joined in occupying her house. (See our earlier posts here and here.)

By Kristiane Chappell

Wanted to give you the link to the most recent press story on mom. I was on Fox 5 this morning, it went really well. I was interviewed by the Washington Post on Wednesday morning and it is supposed to be in the Sunday paper I believe. I have more interviews in the works. The campaign is up over 40 thousand as of right now, making it the 6th most popular Economic Justice petition of all time on Change.org and the numbers continue to go up.

President Obama just signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law on December 31, 2011, despite startling provisions that will allow the military to indefinitely detain American citizens. It’s a travesty, defying basic principles of justice and due process in perhaps the most extreme respect our nation has ever seen.

Thankfully, several lawmakers are keeping up the fight. Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation to undo these provisions of the NDAA, in the form of the Due Process Guarantee Act. We need to urge other Senators to support it.

It is not often that I venture away from the Ocean Beach/Pt. Loma and write an article about it. But my widow support group, me included, had such a wonderful experience at the Maritime Museum yesterday morning that I have to share it with you.

Once a week my group gets together and does something “for us.” It may be going out to lunch, either at someone’s home or to a restaurant. We have been to movies; shopping; walks, etc. and today we did something new. We went to the BERKELEY to see the art exhibit of Cook, Melville and Gauguin courtest of the Kelton Foundation.

Every year for over three decades, there has been a Martin Luther King Day Parade in San Diego, and this year’s is the 32nd such event.

During its first years, the Parade was a great outpouring from the African-American community in this area and their supporters who believed in King. It was the Black community of San Diego’s annual presentation of King’s words and values, and an event in honor of his leadership in overturning the Jim Crow laws of the segregationist South, and in showcasing the racism of the North and the West.

LRAD Corporation Says Sales Of Sonic Blaster Are Booming

10News.com / January 3, 2012

Business is booming for a San Diego company that is making its presence felt – and heard – at protests, including the “Occupy” movement.

The LRAD, or long-range acoustic device, is the creation of the LRAD Corporation, which is based in Carmel Mountain and employs about 40 employees. The device was initially used the military on ships and vehicles to issue warnings. Now, the LRAD is being used by law enforcement during “Occupy” protests.

Recent Police Crackdowns Mirror Infamous San Diego 1912 Free Speech Fight

January 2012 named “Free-Speech Month”

100 years after the San Diego City Council infamously suppressed free speech in downtown San Diego, Occupy San Diego will commemorate this historic event by naming January 2012 as “Free-Speech Month,” and by proposing a ballot measure to amend the City’s municipal code to improve the respect of free speech in San Diego. This amendment will create an explicit exception to the current encroachment law (SDMC 54.0110) to allow for “peaceful picketing, lawful labor activities and peaceful political activities.”

“As San Diego gears up to commemorate the now infamous Free Speech Fights of 1912, Occupy San Diego will present the San Diego City Council with the choice to protect free speech or to repeat the mistakes of a hundred years ago and continue to allow the arrest and imprisonment of peaceful citizens exercising their First Amendment rights in San Diego,” said Martha Sullivan, an active San Diego community volunteer and supporter of Occupy San Diego.

By William Gagan / Special to the OB Rag

A parade that was originally founded by a group of social and economic magnates in the late 1800’s, was for the first time in history, occupied by protesters speaking out against large corporations and big banks early Monday. They were members of local Occupy Wall Street groups from southern California and neighboring states. Some even came from as far away as New York and Atlanta.

They came together to form what was a sizable but inspiring tail section to the notorious Rose Bowl Parade. The goal behind joining the parade was to bring the Occupy Wall Street movement cause to almost 40 million television viewers nationally. The City of Pasadena had negotiated with organizers of the event to allow them to march behind the last float in the parade.

San Diego Events Set to Commemorate Historic Struggle That Resonates Today With Clamp-down on the Occupy San Diego Movement

From San Diego Free Speech Fight

January 2012 is the 100-year anniversary of the San Diego Free Speech Fight, one of the most important moments in the history of the city of San Diego.

During the winter and spring of 1912, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and their allies in labor and the community engaged in a pitched battle against a city ordinance that banned public speaking in the area around 5th and E Streets in downtown San Diego.

Editor: Yes, President Obama signed the notorious National Defense Authorization Act on New Year’s Eve day. Happy New Year everyone! And as promised, the White House released his “Signing Statement” on the bill, which we repost in its entirety (see especially the sections in bold with our emphasis):

From the White House

Statement by the President on H.R. 1540

Today I have signed into law H.R. 1540, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.” I have signed the Act chiefly because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, …

Well y’all might remember when I wrote about the safety issue in the NTC Channel back in late October. Scott MacLaggen has been checking with Harbor Police Chief Bolduc monthly on the status of the Navy’s fix to the channel… but nothing other than promises from the Navy. That is, until two days ago – just before New Year’s.

Scott forwarded me an e-mail in which Chief Bolduc let him know the Navy had installed nine new 5 MPH buoys the length of the channel, with a verbal promise to enlarge the 5 MPH sign at the entrance of the channel. And just like that, change for the better occurred.

Here is the agenda for the next OB Planning Board meeting, to be held on Wednesday, January 4, 2012. Meetings are held at the OB Rec Center at 4726 Santa Monica Ave., 6:00 pm sharp. (We believe that in Action Item #1, election material to be reviewed concerns the March 2012 Board election – not from 2011 – it’s just a typo or oversight.)