Month: March 2012

By Larry Gordon / Los Angeles Times / March 7, 2012

An Alameda County Superior Court judge Tuesday temporarily blocked the release of a University of California investigative report about the controversial pepper-spraying of UC Davis student protesters by campus police in November.

Judge Evelio Grillo’s ruling in an Oakland courtroom came at the request of the UC police union. The Federated University Police Officers Assn. contends that state law forbids public disclosure of such information as the names of UC Davis campus police officers involved in the spraying incident and personnel information garnered from interviews with them. The matter is scheduled to return to court on March 16 for a hearing on whether the temporary restraining order should be dropped or a permanent injunction granted.

Today (March 7), the U-T San Diego reported that the Sheriff’s Department is conducting an internal affairs investigation of a sergeant deputy who has been accused of abuses while in her uniform.

The main complain involves allegations that she – Sgt. Elizabeth Palmer – had unlawfully detained and searched an African-American male in the Chula Vista Court parking lot. Thing was, the guy she hassled was a retired San Diego police officer. Whoops.

Editor: Here is an update on Larissa Danielli by OB blogger Gail Powell. Larissa, you may recall, was arrested November 3, 2011, in Ocean Beach when she returned to her Cape May apartment to find an adjacent apartment had caught on fire and firefighters had entered her unit. Medical marijuana was found and her troubles exploded. For three months, her young son was taken from her. Larissa has given her side of the story before, yet her travails just stagger the mind.

By Gail Powell

Last year, when a fire consumed the Ocean Beach apartment building where Larissa Danielli and her son, Silas resided, another fire of injustice and persecution started up that very day.

There were terrible consequences suffered by single mom Larissa and her sweet little boy who were doubly victimized by the tragedy that ensued.

This old dude was so tired that evening but there was no way I was going to miss a Town Hall Meeting with such a compelling theme as “Silence is Worse than Violence” – especially considering that a number of youth leaders decided that such a gathering was needed to begin a conversation for solutions to the problem. I love it when our children take the lead.

The night was kicked off with a bumping rap about how, “We got to rise up above it” followed by a spoken word piece about love and respect and honoring our ancestries and histories. Amen.

That set a tone that was soothing to my aging bones and the featured speaker and moderator of the evening, Kevin Powell, a prominent voice in the hip hop generation, jumped right in without missing a beat with anecdotes about the rough edges of his youth and how he turned it all around and has devoted his life to positive hopeful causes like ending violence, in keeping with why we were all gathered at the Joe & Vi Jacobs Center.

The Ocean Beach branch library is set to re-open this Saturday, March 10th. This, after a period where it was remodeled with a new carpet, new paint, and a new roof.

But with just a few days away from the doors being swung open again to OB, our library needs help.

The place needs cleaning and all the books need reshelving. Before it can open again, there’s a bunch of internal work that needs to happen.

By Bob Sullivan / msnbc / March 6, 2012

If you think privacy settings on your Facebook and Twitter accounts guarantee future employers or schools can’t see your private posts, guess again.

Employers and colleges find the treasure-trove of personal information hiding behind password-protected accounts and privacy walls just too tempting, and some are demanding full access from job applicants and student athletes.

In Maryland, job seekers applying to the state’s Department of Corrections have been asked during interviews to log into their accounts and let an interviewer watch while the potential employee clicks through wall posts, friends, photos and anything else that might be found behind the privacy wall.

Previously, applicants were asked to surrender their user name and password, but a complaint from the ACLU stopped that practice last year. While submitting to a Facebook review is voluntary, virtually all applicants agree to it out of a desire to score well in the interview, according Maryland ACLU legislative director Melissa Coretz Goemann.

Women from all over San Diego County will rally in front of the US Federal Courthouse in San Diego on Thursday, March 8th, to support women’s rights to contraception on International Women’s Day. The rally will be held from noon to 1pm, and the Courthouse is located at 940 Front Street, in downtown San Diego.

The rally will address a number of recent attacks on a woman’s right to contraception and family planning:

• US Rep. Darrell Issa convenes a hearing about contraception with 5 men on the panel, and no women.

• Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum touts the “dangers” of contraceptives and that sex is “only for purposes of procreation.”

• Foster Friess, main donor to a super PAC for Rick Santorum, suggests women use aspirin as a contraception method.

• Rush Limbaugh, on a national radio show, calls a young woman a slut and prostitute because she speaks out in favor of birth control.

U.S. Supreme Court move backs game warden power over OB Pier fisherman

By Denny Walsh / Sacramento Bee / March 6, 2012

The claim of an unconstitutional search by a San Diego fisherman who got caught with an out-of-season lobster was rebuffed Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In denying review, the high court let stand a California Supreme Court opinion in June that people who hunt and fish have fewer of the privacy rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.

The state high court granted game wardens the authority to stop, question and search citizens without a warrant or even without probable cause to believe a law has been broken.

All the warden needs, the California court ruled, is knowledge that a person is or has been fishing or hunting.

Here is the agenda for the monthly meeting of the OB Planning Board, to be held Wednesday, March 7th, at 6 pm. The Board meets at the OB Rec Center, located at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. The agenda below is in two pages, so be sure to scroll down for the second page.

The OB Planners are coming off a “win” of sorts, as last week they took the issue of improper variances being granted by the City to property owners to avoid the requirements of the OB Precise Plan to the city-wide body of community planners, called the Council of Planning Committees (CPC). The CPC agreed to investigate the issue as it could and perhaps does pertain to the rest of the city.

Arrests Cap Day-Long Demonstration By California Students Against Cuts to Higher Education

Calif. troopers arrest dozens in state Capitol

By Hannah Drier / Huffington Post / March 5, 2012 08:19 PM PST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Highway Patrol officers arrested dozens of protesters who refused to leave the state Capitol Monday night after repeated warnings, capping off a day of protests over cuts to higher education that saw thousands descend upon Sacramento.

CHP Capt. Andy Manard said police expected the number of people arrested to be 68. They would be charged with trespassing, he said.

Police started pulling out protesters who remained in the Capitol rotunda around 7:30 p.m., more than an hour after they began warning them with a bullhorn to leave. Protesters chanted “We’re doing this for your kids,” as they were lifted up by the arms one-by-one, handcuffed with plastic ties and led them away.

The LA Times is reporting:

Thousands of students and activists marched through Sacramento’s streets and rallied outside the state Capitol on Monday to protest cuts to California’s colleges and universities. …

The plaza on the west side of the Capitol was teeming with protesters during the rally, which was billed as a chance to “occupy the Capitol.” Outside the building, student leaders and top Democrats who voted to slash higher education budgets last year addressed the crowd.

“We’ve cut billions of dollars and I’ve hated every minute of it,” said Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

Sacramento CBS is reporting that about 300 students have moved inside and are now occupying the rotunda. CBS:

Some of the thousands of students protesting at the State Capitol have moved inside and are now occupying the rotunda. About 300 people are inside the rotunda, some sitting on the floor.

By Dr. Mercola / Mercola.com / Originally published Feb. 28, 2012

High-risk patients with chronic, underlying health conditions that increase the risk of severe illness and death after influenza infection are among the first of all groups that public health officials target to receive flu vaccinations.

This population is targeted for vaccination despite the fact that very few studies have ever examined the efficacy – or safety – of vaccinations in this high risk group…

One recent study on the effectiveness of the 2009-2010 season’s H1N1 vaccine provides solid evidence against the effectiveness of vaccinating persons at high risk for complications from influenza infection.