September 2012

‘Occupy’ Anniversary Protests in New York, San Diego & Around the World

September 17, 2012 by Doug Porter

Go to San Diego Free Press for updates.

Welcome to September 17^th. Today is the 225^th Anniversary of the Constitution of the United States. It’s also the first year anniversary of the start of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests/movement.

Over the weekend people streamed into New York from around the nation for a three day event remembering the protests last year. Although OWS events are scheduled for 30 cities around the world, most in the mainstream media are running with the meme that the Occupy movement is dead. There will be events in San Diego today. (See Below)

The Huffington Post, that so-called bastion of liberal news, ran an Associated Press report

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The Chicago Teachers Union Versus the New Democrats, the Same Old Republicans, and the Corporate Media

September 17, 2012 by Jim Miller

After nearly twenty years of ‘reform’, the schools of Chicago remain among the lowest performing in the nation.

A funny thing happened on the way to labor’s extinction: the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) staged one of the most daring and important strikes in recent memory. As Chris Hedges put it during his Democracy Now interview last week “the teachers’ strike in Chicago is arguably one of the most important labor actions in probably decades.” And in the midst of this struggle, most of the corporate media around the country have decried the horrible greedy teachers from their editorial pages and assured readers that they were on the side of the children rather than the teachers.

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The Green Store of Ocean Beach: Solar 101, DVD’s, Lending Library and more!

September 15, 2012 by Christopher Dotson

So, we’ve been hanging out at the OB RAG “desk” the past month or so, and it’s been a blast to take up residence at The Green Store of Ocean Beach. The co-founder, Colleen Dietzel, is on-hand with a wealth of knowledge, able to discuss at length most anything in the store, as well as the scene around town. What she isn’t familiar with, Colleen will readily admit without failure, yet, somehow all the while she’ll be steering you directly to a shelf or publication or DVD which will arouse your curiosity, and further your search for knowledge and resources available in Ocean Beach. She really is quite amazing!

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Coastal Clean Up Day: We Need Your Help on Saturday, September 15th

September 14, 2012 by Source

The California shoreline is one of the most beautiful in the country, yet each year thousands of tons of garbage end up on the beaches and in the ocean. Tomorrow, (Saturday) September 15th , thousands of volunteers will be meeting up at locations throughout the county starting at 9am to give our shoreline and coast areas a god scrubbing. Last year 7,600 volunteers removed 146,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from 201 miles of shoreline. Plus, an additional 2,000 people in Baja California collected 42,000 pounds in Tijuana, Tecate, Rosarito and Ensenada.

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A Cactus Speaks of Persistence (Thoughts about the Restorations of the Murals at Chicano Park)

September 14, 2012 by Ernie McCray

I shakily tried to take a picture with my AT&T 3G cell phone of a cactus painted by Mario Chacon. I acquired it from him a while back in Chicano Park. I had to shade the painting from the glare of a blue sky with the sun shining high and bright and far and wide and finally I got about as good a picture as I was going to get no matter how hard I had tried.

Trite as it may seem my persistence in getting this snapshot was based on Mario telling me that the protrusions reaching out from the cactus spoke to the persistence of the indigenous people.

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Time for Oversight of Predator Drones – Made in San Diego

September 14, 2012 by Source

Unmanned predator drones are now used for surveillance here in the U.S. and abroad

By Dave Patterson / East County Magazine / September 12, 2012

September 12, 2012 (Poway)–Every Thursday afternoon one can see a demonstration at the General Atomics plant in Poway, home of the Predator drone. The demonstrators are from the San Diego Veterans For Peace and their supporters, with the goal of enlightening the public on the desperate need for oversight regarding drone technology.

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Proposition 38 and the Undeclared War of 2012

September 14, 2012 by Source

By Kimberley Beatty / Special to San Diego Free Press

There is an openly secret war between Prop 38 and Prop 30 and it’s important to understand how this unnecessary conflict happened. Both propositions increase taxes and that’s where the problem begins. Any revenue increase requires a 2/3 vote of both the state senate and assembly. All but two Republican legislators have signed the Grover Norquist Anti-Tax Pledge, vowing to never, under any circumstances raise taxes or even allow the citizens to be able to vote on the issue.

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Burning Man 2012: The Journey Home to Ocean Beach

September 13, 2012 by Brenda McFarlane

On Tuesday of last week, my husband and I, dusty, weary and battered returned to Ocean Beach from Black Rock City – a sort of desert Brigadoon, appearing and disappearing every year on a Nevada dry lake bed every end of August.

Going to Burning Man is more commitment than holiday and more journey than destination. For us, while the 2012 Burning Man pinnacle is complete, the journey is not. A pile of shoes covered with the almost-white alkaline powder of the Burning Man Playa wait to be wiped off with vinegar and repaired.

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A RESTAURANT REVIEW : “Walk on Water” at the Ocean Beach Pier

September 13, 2012 by Judi Curry

“Walk on Water” (“WOW”)
Ocean Beach Pier
5091 Niagara Avenue,
Ocean Beach, CA

Oh my, oh my, oh my. It has been many years since I had a meal at “WOW”. They were famous for their macadamia nut pancakes that last time I was there, and I tried many times to duplicate the taste in my own kitchen.

This time, when I asked if they had any macadamia pancakes, the chef was not even sure what I was talking about; didn’t “think we have any”, but if we did could make them for me. (After placing my order for something else she said that she had found some nuts and could make them for me. I declined.)

Unfortunately, I think that “Walk on Water” tried walking on water one too many times, for I do not remember having a worse meal than I was served today.

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The Wreckage that Mayor Jerry Sanders Leaves Behind

September 13, 2012 by Anna Daniels

“Sanders said another savings in the works will come from using managed competition to lower the cost of city employees performing jobs that private companies can do for less. One such job is residential trash services. San Diego city employees are paid to collect trash. Most other California cities contract with a private company and residents pay for their own trash services.

“We don’t have to have government employees mow the laws in our parks. We don’t have to have government employees pick up trash,” Sanders said. Mayor Jerry Sanders reviews his legacy at La Jolla luncheon La Jolla Light 9/11/12

Three months to go in the last term of our first strong mayor — Jerry Sanders, and the legacy polishing tour has begun.

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Proposition 33: A Corporation’s Abuse of the Citizen’s Initiative System

September 13, 2012 by Doug Porter

If you ever needed a case study in how one rich individual can buy a law that favors his auto insurance business while screwing consumers, Proposition 33 would fit the bill perfectly. It’s such a bad apple that other insurance companies, not exactly known for their pro-consumer attitudes when it comes to making money, won’t even support this law. Not that they wouldn’t benefit, but they’re embarrassed by its audacity.

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Federal Judge Rules NDAA’s Indefinite Detention Unconstitutional and Issues Permanent Injunction Against It

September 13, 2012 by Source

Ruling Backed By Civil Liberties Groups Who Urge Obama to Give Up Defending Indefinite Detention

By Michael McAuliff / Huffington Post / September 13, 2012
Civil liberties groups are asking the Obama administration to stand down and give up defending America’s law allowing the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects after a judge Wednesday issued a permanent injunction against it. The indefinite detention law — contained in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 —

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What’s the True Birthday of Ocean Beach and Who Is Our True Founder? – Part 3 : the Legacy of Smiling Billy Carlson

September 12, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

This is a continuation of my series, examining the timely issues dear to OBceans of “What’s OB’s True Birthday?” and “Who Is It’s True Founder?”

In Part One, a discussion was begun on the different theories on the birth dates for Ocean Beach – with the main one being that OB’s birthday stems from a land rush celebration hosted by developer William Carlson and his partner Frank J Higgins in 1887.

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Community Weaving: Is this the new face of activism – as the Ocean Beach Entryway clean-up showed?

September 12, 2012 by Christopher Dotson

Is activism dying out in America? According to a recent OB RAG article which revisited the Occupy movement one year later, the Occupiers may no longer have their tents staked to the ground downtown, but they have returned home or are looking for jobs while continuing the movement. Since activists are a wide ranging bunch, is this now the state of activism in America?

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8 Units on Point Loma Avenue in Ocean Beach Sell for $1.85 Million

September 12, 2012 by Staff

In the middle of the 4700 block of Point Loma Avenue there are eight connected units in a single-story complex. They just sold for $1.85 million. They are located at 4746-4756 Point Loma Ave.

This represents $232,500 per unit, with the price per-square-foot of $265. They are at assessor’s parcel 448-351-06.

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NY Times: New Research Shows Bush White House Downplayed CIA Warnings About “Immiment” al Qaeda Strikes

September 11, 2012 by Source

The Deafness Before the Storm

By Kurt Eichenwald / New York Times/ September 10, 2012

On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning’s “presidential daily brief” — the top-secret document prepared by America’s intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.

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Keep On Seafood Truckin’ in OB

September 11, 2012 by Mercy Baron

By Mercy Baron

Without a doubt, the gourmet food truck scene is one of the hottest trends rolling right now in the gastronomical world. Between the TV offerings of, The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network, and Eat St on The Cooking Channel, to President Obama tweeting about his fave truck in D.C., (D.C. Empanadas) you just can’t get any more au courant with a hopefully, long lasting fad.

It all started just a short four years ago here on the West Coast, with the Kogi BBQ truck in Los Angeles. I remember reading about it when I still lived there and was hoping to catch up with it someday, but never did.

In the beginning of 2010, the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association (SoCalMFVA) was created, becoming the first organization started to protect the rights of gourmet food truck owners.

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OB Pier Clean Water Paddle – Sunday, September 16th

September 11, 2012 by Staff

Surfrider sponsoring OB Pier clean water event

The Surfrider Foundation – San Diego Chapter is once again sponsoring their annual paddle at the Ocean Beach Pier for clean water. And this year is their 21st paddle. They urge surfers, beachgoers and others who support a cleaner coastline to participate in the 21st Annual Paddle for Clean Water from 9 a.m. to noon on Sunday, September 16th at the Ocean Beach Pier.

Participants are urged to bring a surfboard, kayak, body board or other human-powered craft to paddle around the pier as a show of solidarity for safeguarding the water quality of our coastline and watersheds.

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Approval of New Chemical-Resistant GMOs Likely to Prompt Pesticide Escalation

September 11, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

by Jill Richardson / PR Watch / August 28, 2012

A decade and a half after farmers began planting the first genetically engineered (GE) crops, the future is clear. The scientists who pioneered genetic engineering thought of themselves as environmentalists, creating products that could reduce pesticide use. Instead, they have simply perpetuated the same “pesticide treadmill” as their pesticide-peddling counterparts resulting in the application of a greater volume of ever more toxic pesticides.

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Proposition 37: The Right to Know What You’re Eating

September 10, 2012 by Source

By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press
I wrote a previous article in the San Diego Free Press about genetically modified (GMO) foods. One might ask, “What is the purpose of genetically modifying a food item.” Is it to enhance the flavor? Is it to make it more nutritious? Well, no, not really.

The sole purpose of modifying corn and soy products is to make them resistant to pesticides and herbicides. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy seeds grow into plants that will not be killed when Roundup is sprayed on the soy field which kills every other thing in the field EXCEPT the Roundup Ready soy plant.

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Slouching Toward San Diego to Be Born: Carl DeMaio, Spawn of the Wrecking Crew

September 10, 2012 by Jim Miller

It’s the week after Labor Day and the Carl DeMaio attack machine is in full force, with SuperPac-funded ads in the works designed to keep pounding away at Bob Filner while DeMaio furiously tries to repackage himself as someone palatable to moderate Democrats and Independents. This will involve things like lying to San Diegans about his environmental record, spending big money to woo Latino voters, and hoping that some local Democrats are terminally stupid enough to buy his “independent” populist reformer act. While I have written extensively about DeMaio’s right wing think tank pedigree, it never hurts to revive the historical record, particularly when we can count on the local news to fail on all counts in this regard.

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Green Store and OB Rag Sponsored Clean-up of Gateway – Much a weed about nothin’

September 10, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

A dozen community volunteers showed Saturday for the Green Store and OB Rag clean-up of the Gateway Project. We began about 7:45 and went till 10:30 or so.

Weeds, weeds, weeds. We hacked, shoveled, dug, pulled weeds by the hand, raked, sweated … and … we ensured we didn’t take or pull flowers and native plants. But there was a lot of dead stuff, some trash, but a lot of work was needed to make the place less of an eye-sore and more of an inviting place for OBceans. One guy came by and said he weekly toured the site and picked up trash.

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One Year Later at Occupy San Diego – Checking Up on Our Own Occupy Wallstreet Movement

September 7, 2012 by Source

By Kali Kat / Special to the OB Rag

With the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street just around the corner on September 17, and many other cities’ occupy anniversaries falling in the weeks just after, like Occupy San Diego’s one year anniversary on October 7, the question being begged is:

“What is the current state of the Occupy movement?” If you go down to the Civic Center or your local City Hall, are people still living there?

The Occupy movement, including Occupy San Diego (OSD), is still alive and well, but no, there are not people still living there – well not people flying the Occupy flag anyways.

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Ocean Beach Volunteers to Attack Weeds at Gateway Project on Saturday, Sept. 8th

September 7, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

It has finally come down to this: the weed-strewn corner lot at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and West Point Loma can be tolerated no more! The Gateway Project is an embarrassment to every OBcean who cares about how the community looks.

Community volunteers will be assembling tomorrow – Saturday, September 8th – in the morning at the lot and will be attacking the weeds with a vengeance. The clean-up is being sponsored by the Green Store and the OB Rag – and organizers are expecting 30 volunteers to show up. Most of the work will be done between the hours of 8 a.m. and noon.

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Carl DeMaio TV Ad: Now He’s Running as an “Independent”

September 7, 2012 by Doug Porter

The ad says, “For Carl DeMaio, independence is not a label, it’s his life story.”

Talk about your makeovers. Perhaps he’s taking a cue from the Romney campaign and trying to humanize his image. Maybe somebody in his operation has actually drilled down into the polling numbers and realized that whoever wins San Diego’s mayoral contest is going to have to reach beyond party lines. Or possibly his advisors think people were turned off by his negative advertising in the primary race. Whatever.

The first round of video from the DeMaio campaign emerged Tuesday with a thirty second ad that seeks to remold “Fighting Carl” into “Mr. Rogers”, the iconic TV host who became known as a symbol of compassion and patience as he explained the world to children through the eyes of his neighborhood. It was jaw dropping.

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Sunset Cliffs Rescue Operation – Was Victim Pushed or Did He Fall?

September 6, 2012 by Christopher Dotson

UPDATE: See Inside …

Around 5:45pm on Thursday, August 6th, San Diego Police, Fire and Rescue, and Life Guard vehicles swarmed the streets of OB at the west end of Del Monte Avenue, as they rescued a man after he was injured from a fall along the cliffs.

While several officers reported the man was injured when he fell while “horsing around”, another report from Fire and Rescue personnel claimed he was pushed. Given the sheer number of police officers, and the police interviews being conducted along the cliffs, the high volume of activity seemed to suggest the latter report may be closer to the truth – that is he may have been intentionally pushed.

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OB’s People’s Food Gets Mention for Having Re-Useable Sandwich Bags

September 6, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

After discovering that a plastic bag takes over a 1000 years to break down, San Diego Reader writer Eve Kelly – who’s is a mom – decided to do a search for re-usable sandwich bags. A friend of hers had told her that “one child makes 60 pounds of lunch trash per year.”

Eve answered:

“Imagine the amount of plastic a school throws away yearly. And the amount of money we moms spend on that stuff. Time to look into some reusable sandwich bags.”

So Eve set out to find stores in San Diego that offer such an exotic thing as a re-useable sandwich bag. She found one in OB’s People’s Organic Food Market.

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Prop 34: “Yes” Means We’ll Never Execute An Innocent Person

September 6, 2012 by Source

By Carolyn Zellander

This November, Californians will their first opportunity in more than 30 years to abolish the death penalty. Last April, Proposition 34, also known as the Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act (SAFE California), qualified for the November Ballot. If approved by voters, the new law will convert sentences of death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Prop 36: Amending California’s “Three Strikes” Law

September 6, 2012 by Andy Cohen

Adjusting sentencing guidelines under three strikes will help alleviate prison overcrowding and help California’s budget.

In 1994, California voters approved a law that was rather revolutionary in its time……as Californians are wont to do. We’re trendsetters in that way. The purpose of the “three strikes” law was a noble one: Deter violent crime—particularly from repeat offenders—by making each subsequent conviction even more costly.

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Escondido: Mexican-American Activist Groups and ACLU Stone Walled by City Hall

September 6, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

ACLU Opens up Office to Educate and Mobilize Latino Voters

This Friday, September 7th, up in northern San Diego County in the City of Escondido, there will be a ribbon-cutting celebration of the opening of a pedestrian plaza.

On the City’s official website, the new Plaza is advertised as:

“a destination for people of all ages to sit and relax, visit local businesses or engage with members of the community in a vibrant public space.”

It’s interesting that city officials are pushing the plaza as a “vibrant public space” because the whole issue of public space – and free speech – …

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Mat Wahlstrom April 24, 2024 at 7:38 pm on City Council Committee Sides With Upstart Planning Group in Uptown and With Existing Group in La JollaTook the words right out of my mouth, kh – literally and figuratively, from almost three years ago: https://obrag.org/2021/11/another-assault-in-the-war-on-san-diegos-community-planning-groups/
Chris April 24, 2024 at 6:15 pm on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechNot to excuse the administration, but why did these students choose a school with a known anti LGBTQ stance due its religious affiliation?
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:55 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Not making false pipedream promises would be a start. I wish I could locate that press release from Todd Gloria as a councilmember where he...
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:53 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Sure. And vary widely based on zoning as well. I just checked two recently sold homes in Mira Mesa, and what they were reassessed at....
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:38 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyI know one of the appeals from 2022(?) was on the Inn at Sunset cliffs, and the appeal prevailed at city council. It was not...
T April 24, 2024 at 5:03 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyThis is great info. Last week at the PBPB meeting their planner was talking about the new $1000 appeal charge and why the city thinks...
gilbert field April 24, 2024 at 4:47 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Getting back to the original comment, which was what Larry Turner would do to reduce homelessness, I am still not sure what he means or...
kh April 24, 2024 at 3:38 pm on California Leaders Take Sides in ‘Most Important Supreme Court Case on Homelessness in 40 Years’Count me in the last group. Glad to see Governor Newsom has come around to my side and finally figured out that letting people die...
chris schultz April 24, 2024 at 3:34 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Exactly, land gets more expensive the closer to the coast generally speaking. The same standard doesn't apply everywhere.
CARL M ZANOLLI April 24, 2024 at 3:32 pm on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechParents spend so much $$$ to send their kids to PLNU because they weren't accepted elsewhere.
Gail April 24, 2024 at 3:10 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyI agree, these are land use issues heard at community planning meetings, by volunteers. There is a $500 stipend offered by the City for the...
kh April 24, 2024 at 3:02 pm on City Council Committee Sides With Upstart Planning Group in Uptown and With Existing Group in La JollaThis whole process is trash. Some goons at the planning dept wasted a whole lot of community members' time on this farce. The city made...
kh April 24, 2024 at 2:22 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Assessed value can be far from the true value unless you just purchased it. The land value of my property in OB is over 85%...
Dr. Jack Hammer April 24, 2024 at 11:35 am on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechBut isn't that why the parents pay so much $$$ for this education? So their little darlings can be protected from the 'evils' of the...
Gilbert Field April 24, 2024 at 10:23 am on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’I looked at Zillow for a typical home in Claremont. House is 1200 square feet and the price is $1 million. 1200 time $250 =...