Month: September 2013

By ApostleOfCarlin / Daily Kos

I’ll come out of my closet and state up front that this is a topic close to my heart, because I am asexual. No, I don’t reproduce through mitosis. I simply don’t experience sexual attraction to the same sex or to the opposite sex.

I have not spotted much in the way of discussion … on asexuality, though I’m glad to see there’s a lot of support here for the LGBT* community in general. I thought I’d be helpful and post a little introduction to asexuality, also known as the Fourth Orientation.

Unless you live in a cave, I’ll assume you’re familiar with heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality, characterized as attraction to the opposite sex, the same sex, and both sexes respectively.

By Ernie McCray

I hadn’t camped since Nancy died in ’09. But there I was, this past weekend, laying my sleeping bag down on the ground, to spend some time in the wilderness, near Julian, for two days and two nights with some of the most delightful people one could ever meet in life. It would be an understatement to define those moments as nice.

I mean we were living good, just kicking back, underneath a sky that was black as it could be considering that there was a full moon at play, eating meals off the grill, over burning logs we needed to feel cozy in the evening chill.

It had been a while but nothing had changed since the days when Nancy and I and our offspring would get out into the woods. Like back then, no sooner than I stepped out of my car my spiritual nature rose to the fore.

Notice to our readers:

We have to beg off today – the OB Rag is officially “down” for the day, as Editordude just had shoulder/neck surgery. It was minor but his range of motion is limited and even being at the keyboard is a strain. He has been cautioned by the doctor not to stretch too much as he might break his stitches.

By Paloma Esquivel / Los Angeles Times / September 21, 2013

For years, a stubborn divide between youth in Orange County’s beach communities and those who visit from the inland has been summed up in the term ‘909ers,’ a less-than-flattering reference to an Inland Empire area code that — in beach slang — has come to mean anybody east of the county line.

Its popularity has waxed and waned but resurfaced with a vengeance in the aftermath of the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach in July.

Generated waves are safe and predictable, but they’re also a major energy drain

By Gillian Flaccus / Salon / Sept. 23, 2013

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Some of surfing’s biggest names aren’t just catching waves. They’re also talking about making them.

Surf parks — massive pools with repeating, artificial waves — are the latest buzzword in the surf community, as everyone from top athletes to retailers look for ways to expand the sport, boost sales and create a standardized way to train that could help surfing earn an Olympic pedigree.

Editor: We thought a repost of this article originally posted on the San Diego Free Press March 19 this year would be appropriate.

by Kimberley Beatty

Starting in 1990, I was a federal agent with both the DEA and ATF. My first assignment was with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms at their Richmond, Virginia office. At that time Virginia was a major source for illegal gun trafficking to urban centers in the eastern United States.

Over an 18 month period, 1,627 guns were obtained from crime scenes in New York. 41% of those guns had been purchased in Virginia and 10% of those guns were traced to one store, the Virginia Police Equipment Company in Richmond. That gun shop was not far from the federal building where I worked.

By Joe Flynn

Odd isn’t it? The self professed “cheerleaders” for San Diego – the editors of the U-T San Diego – preview the grand opening of the new library with this article puffed up with a quote from San Diego’s Dr. No, Richard Rider, libertarian. I wanted to get the spelling right, but after reading his remarks no one will mistake him for a librarian.

Richard Rider, a local libertarian, called the new library “a monument to an era that is ending — a structure that in a few years will have little more utility value than a Pharaoh’s pyramid in Egypt. The only difference is that the library will have high operating costs — the pyramids need no such annual funding.”

–UT San Diego article “New library: Is this monument necessary?”

by Jim Miller

This last week marked the two-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, a political happening that finally put the issue of economic inequality in the spotlight and started a national discussion about money, class, and political corruption. That movement was largely brought to us by young people, Millennials mostly, whose view of mainstream politics is justifiably jaded.

As Peter Beinart recently pointed out, “Compared to their Reagan-Clinton generation elders, Millennials are entering adulthood in an America where government provides much less economic security. And their economic experience in this newly deregulated America has been horrendous.”

And this experience has been made worse by bankrupt politics that pits what Beinart rightly characterizes as “a procapitalist, anti-bureaucratic Reaganized liberalism” that is “inclined toward market solutions” to everything against a radicalized “right wing populism”:

Filner was pushed. And yes, he jumped

by Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Editor: Here’s Part 1 and Part 2.

Here’s a quick reminder about our former Mayor: there is no dispute that Bob Filner’s interpersonal habits, short fuse, and juvenile impulse control in the presence of women were blatant failings. The problem is, these failings were embedded in a unique individual whose political agenda was like long-awaited manna to the voters who elected him.

Tension, arguments, and righteous proclamations have erupted during these past months among San Diegans (mostly Democrats) genuinely torn between condemning a “progressive” political leader for his personal defects and giving up their hopes for a new, more enlightened social and economic agenda for San Diego — a no-win dilemma.

But there’s much more to the story. Last week, in an effort to shed light on likely suspects in the political defenestration of just-elected and swiftly-deposed Bob Filner, we herded the San Diego “wolfpack” into one side of a large meeting room for some mug shots.

By Matthew Wood

A potential new cell phone tower could be going up on the roof of the Newport Antique Center, at 4864 Newport Avenue.

Craig Gerwig, owner of the antique store between Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Cable Street, confirmed that he had plans to add the tower, but said no contracts were in place. A group of men were seen on the rooftop of the building late last week, presumably scoping out the site.

Gerwig refused to answer any questions about the possible addition to his business, but did say he had no concerns about any health issues that might arise from having a tower so close to a residential area.

Surfrider’s Annual Paddle for Clean Water Around OB Pier Hits 22

WHEN: Sunday, September 22, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

WHERE: The Ocean Beach Pier at Newport and Abbott, in OB 92107

From Surfrider Foundation:

The Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter’s Annual Paddle for Clean Water marks its 22nd year. The Paddle is a non-competitive event demonstrating support for pollution-free beaches and waterways.

Participants are encouraged to bring

• a surfboard,
• kayak,
• body board
• or other human-powered craft

In this paddle around Southern California’s longest pier in a mass display of solidarity for the protection of our precious coastline.

Old Venice Restaurant
2910 Canon Avenue
Point Loma, CA 92106
619-222-5888

San Diego’s Restaurant Week unleashes the names of many restaurants that people do not try on a regular basis. Usually the cost is too high for the regular menu and some of these gems go untried by only those that can afford pricey meals. Barbara and I had made plans to go out to lunch as early as 3 weeks ago, but could never find a date that was agreeable to both of us.

Then Wham! Restaurant Week was upon us and one of the restaurants in the Pt. Loma/Ocean Beach area and a place she had been to last year appeared on the list. After checking the menu, she called me and suggested that we go to Old Venice for their $10 lunch special. It sounded like a good idea to me and she made reservations for us at 12:30 pm.

Although they take reservations at lunch, it was not needed.