Month: August 2012

By Middle Aged Woman Talking / Addicting Info / August 29, 2012

When Citizens United was originally passed striking down federal limits on campaign spending by corporations and unions, it effectively ended elections of the people, by the people and for the people and ceded control to corporations. As per Justice Kennedy, “independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption and the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy.”

“The first two crops on this list have been on the old, slower-track approval process, which allows 60 days for the public to comment. The remaining four are new additions but are on the fast track.”

By Lisa Garber / Natural Society – NOC / August 30, 2012

Remember when the USDA gave Monsanto’s new GMO crops the fast track to approval? Regardless of the numerous accounts of organ damage, pesticide-resistant weeds, …

How is climate changing?

Warming of the climate system now is unequivocal, according to many different kinds of evidence. Observations show increases in globally averaged air and ocean temperatures, as well as widespread melting of snow and ice and rising globally averaged sea level. Surface temperature data for Earth as a whole, including readings over both land and ocean, show an increase of about 0.8°C (1.4°F) over the period 1901-2010 and about 0.5°C (0.9°F) over the period 1979–2010 (the era for which satellite-based temperature data are routinely available).

San Diego Chapter to Monitor Beaches Impacted to Ensure Surfing Integrity

The Surfrider Foundation will be monitoring the upcoming large-scale beach nourishment project, called Regional Beach Sand Project II, with a video-monitoring program to assess how sand deposits change the surf zones in coastal areas along the San Diego County shoreline.

A lot of sand will be pumped from the ocean floor onto beaches from the South Bay to North County. According to KPBS, the dredging vessel that will undertake the job is on its way to San Diego and should arrive next weekend.

Dave Rice, an OBcean and current blogger for the San Diego Reader and former writer for the OB Rag was assaulted yesterday – August 29th – while covering a story about the mistreatment of Hilton Hotel employees. He was assaulted by men who work for the hotel.

Here is a report from the San Diego Free Press by Doug Porter on Dave Rice’s experience:

Mission Valley mayhem… A press conference being held yesterday by the Employee Rights Center to air charges that the hotel’s operator, Connecticut-based HEI Hospitality, had been named in a complaint …

Brother of Victim Has Posted Wanted Posters Around OB and Is Offering Large Reward

Yesterday we described efforts of the brother of the recent sexual assault victim to find her assailant. John Wilson had placed posters up around OB and has offered a $5,000 reward for info leading to arrest and conviction of whoever injured his sister on August 25th on the 5000 block of Muir Avenue.

But police are not happy. They have warned Wilson and the victim’s family to “leave policing to police,” which was what SDPD spokesperson Lt. Andrea Brown told Fox5 News yesterday.

Brother Posts Wanted Posters About Ocean Beach

By Chris Dotson and Frank Gormlie

The brother of the most recent sexual assault victim in Ocean Beach has posted a $5,000 reward. John Wilson is offering this for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of the assailant of his sister August 25th on the 5000 block of Muir Avenue.

This is the next section in my continuing series of early Ocean Beach history, as we investigate the “true” birthday of OB and review the contenders for Ocean Beach’s “founder”.

In Part One, I discussed the different possible birthdates of Ocean Beach and highlighted the different theories, the main one being that OB’s birthday stems from a …

By Mercy Baron / Special to the OB Rag

Ah, the sweet smell of ganja is in the air, I must be at a 311 and Slightly Stoopid concert. On Saturday, August 25, these two bands came to play at the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater. 311 Ska rockers returned for the third year in a row that I’ve seen them there, and OB homeboys made good, Slightly Stoopid opened for them.

Arctic sea-ice extent has fallen to its lowest level on record, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. Scientists say that the loss of the reflective ice could result in even warmer surface temperatures on Earth.

By Wynne Parry / Christian Science Monitor / August 27, 2012

Arctic sea ice, the white cap that covers the watery northern edge of the planet, has melted back to a record low level.

There’s good news for the OB Gateway Project – and it’s just in time, for the weeds at the site have taken over. The site’s Phase Two has been announced by city officials but no date set. The entryway at the intersection of West Point Loma and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard – its first phase completed months ago – has become an eye sore for those traveling into and out of our fair village. Weeds as high as a person dominate the site.

Phase Two – delayed due to lack of funding, is now back in gear, as the City of San Diego has now released additional funds which will make the gateway area more accessible to people – you know the joggers, walkers, and bicyclists who cruise our area.

By Peyton Farquhar / Prattle On, Boyo / Originally published Aug. 10, 2012

When I was a broke-ass student, my primary mode of transport was either the bus or my bike. Pedaling a bike wasn’t a bad thing because I’ve been on two wheels since I was four. But I remember all too well that boarding the bus made me feel even more impoverished, almost as if the very thought of taking public transport was an enormous badge of shame.

Back then, I didn’t realize that being an American meant having been brainwashed from a very early age by the corporate plantation owners that only poor folk take the bus.