Month: January 2018

By Phillip Smith / Alternet

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement Thursday that he is rescinding Obama-era guidance to federal prosecutors directing them to take a laissez-faire approach to state-legal marijuana except under specified circumstances (violence, out-of-state diversion, money laundering, etc.) is sending shock waves through the marijuana industry, but its impact is likely to be limited.

That’s because marijuana prohibition is a dying beast, and while the twitching of its tail in its death throes could cause some injury, neither the attorney general nor his minions are going to be able to get that beast back up and roaring again. They are too late.

The County’s Water Quality Advisory for the Ocean Beach Pier – south to Narragansett – has been lifted.

But the Advisory for Dog Beach has not and is still in effect.

Both were in effect due to high bacterial levels that may exceed health standards – and people were /are warned to avoid water contact in the advisory areas.

And now Advisories due to high bacterial levels have been added for

• the Shelter Island shore in Point Loma and for
• the Lawrence Street area, 100 feet south and 200 feet north – which appears to include the southern end of Kellogg Beach

By Kate Kelly

Springboard Music Festival is taking over San Diego for the second time to provide aspiring musicians the opportunity to pitch their music to industry professionals and bring music lovers an event in what feels like a grassroots “American Idol” or South by Southwest. The unparalleled three-day conference and festival ends with a Band & Brew Crawl in Ocean Beach.

The Springboard “West” Music Festival begins on January 11 at OB Theatre with a two-day “Band Bootcamp” — an opportunity for emerging artists from all over the U.S. to take the stage and showcase their talents in front of veterans and professionals in the music industry and generate exposure in front of a live crowd. Ticketed attendees are invited after the boot camp to enjoy unplugged performances, local art, fashion and craft beverages.

Another tragedy has occurred at Sunset Cliffs. Friday morning, January 5th, a 56-year old surfer died after being rescued by lifeguards.

The unidentified surfer was surfing with a friend early in the morning, when he took off on a wave and wasn’t seen again – until he was found face-down in the ocean. This occurred near Point Loma Nazarene University.

When emergency crews found him, he was not breathing and they performed CPR during the ride in a lifeguard boat and up on the dock – but to avail. The County Medical Examiner will determine cause of death.

The following green calendar for January is from our friends at the Ocean Beach Green Center, who compile a monthly listing of events, movies etc at their Center or elsewhere in OB and San Diego.

The Ocean Beach Green Center is located at 4843 B Voltaire Street, Ocean Beach CA 92107, 619.225.1083. Here is their webpage.

oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.com oceanbeachgreencenter.org

January Events at the Ocean Beach Green Center

by Joaquin Antique

I’ve been smoking cannabis since I was a young teen, for over fifty years now. As a kid, young adult, and on into middle age, I smoked it for the euphoric and mind expanding effects. It worked well, too. Used discretely and in relative moderation, it allowed me to have a great time and to still maintain a stellar professional career, be part of a functional and happy family, and avoid any legal problems or serious confrontations with the Man.

As I entered my late fifties, I developed some chronic health problems related to aging (joint pain and vertigo among them), I started using marijuana for medical

San Diego County has issued two water quality advisories for Ocean Beach Thursday, January 4th, 2018 – due to the bacteria levels that may exceed health standards – and are warning people to avoid water contact in the advisory areas.

The Advisory areas include:

• Ocean Beach – Dog Beach – Station: San Diego River outlet to 300 feet south

• Ocean Beach – Station: OB Pier to 300′ South to Narragansett Ave.

Introduction

The beautiful Sunset Cliffs that stretch from the residential southern portions of Ocean Beach to the lower reaches of the uninhabited sections of Point Loma are certainly a world-renown, indescribably gorgeous treasure of nature that line the land’s border with the Pacific.

At the right moment when the ocean earns its name and the Cliffs earn theirs, the beauty and serenity cannot be amply replicated by the pen – or keyboard.

With the park along the cliffs celebrating its centennial in 2015, the Cliffs themselves – as they have for thousands of years – continue to erode and evolve with time, and sections fall or collapse to the water and beaches below. (See Needle’s Eye rock formation that has eroded away.)

Yet these same cliffs with their jagged rocks and crashing surf are also very unforgiving

It’s heating up around the shuttered nuclear plant at San Onofre because locals are not happy with the plan to bury 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste at San Onofre State Beach. There were protests recently in the nearest city, San Clemente, against this plan.

Meanwhile, a local group, Citizens Oversight, has submitted a formal petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under NRC Regulations that govern how the nuclear industry handles spent nuclear fuel. They believe the containers of the toxic nuke spent fuel should be designed for 1,000 years rather than the current requirement of only 40 years.

Everybody is talking about San Onofre. In the current San Diego Reader, Don Bauder has a piece about how nuclear waste in the sand now will create a toxic ocean later. Sarah “Steve” Mosko, at Boogie Green writes there’s a ticking time bomb at San Onofre Nuclear Plant.

By The Times Editorial Board

January 3, 2018

The federal Wilderness Act of 1964 was not vague about its intent: to protect significant and as-yet unspoiled land and wildlife habitat from the ravages of “an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization.” Humans could visit, but only under certain conditions, and they couldn’t stay permanently

Preserving land and seeking to maintain it as close to its “natural condition” as possible required developing strict access rules: Everyone is welcome to trek through designated national wilderness areas provided they use their feet or those of horses or other pack animals. No motor vehicles or boats, nor “other form of mechanical transport” are allowed. Years later, the Americans with Disabilities Act made wheelchairs an exception.

Now, Congressman Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove), who represents wilderness areas in the Sierra Mountains, is proposing a rule change to allow mountain bikers to cruise through the approximately 109 million acres of land designated as wilderness

Editor: The following is an article that appeared in the op-ed section of the New York Times on January 2nd by the founders of the research firm Fusion GPS, Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch. Fusion GPS hired Russian-expert Christopher Steele to investigate Trump’s ties with Russia, and who then generated the now infamous “dossier”, now a virtual guide book to conspiracy and collusion between the Trump campaign, transition and White House with Russia.

By Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch / The New York Times / Jan. 2, 2018

A generation ago, Republicans sought to protect President Richard Nixon by urging the Senate Watergate committee to look at supposed wrongdoing by Democrats in previous elections. The committee chairman, Sam Ervin, a Democrat, said that would be “as foolish as the man who went bear hunting and stopped to chase rabbits.”