Articles by Jack Hamlin

Scratchy curmudgeon with a reflective side, my students call me Lao Xu Long (Old Snow Dragon). Surfer, teacher, facilitator, recovering attorney (I’ve had all my shots), cook, canine steward and writer, I proudly maintain dual citizenship with the People’s Republic of O.B. and Planet Earth. Opening a can of worms is only the beginning of a good time and don’t change the subject to avoid doing so. Peace be with you and Namaste…

Jack has written 36 articles for the OB Rag!

From Ferguson to Yemen: What If We Aren’t So Different After All?

December 5, 2014 by Jack Hamlin

Bridging the liberal- conservative dichotomy

By Jack Hamlin

imgresWhile saddened by the news out of Ferguson, Missouri this past week, I am not surprised. Once again an unarmed black teen was shot dead by an “other than” black man, and the legal industry was used to exonerate the killer. I say legal industry, because it is no longer a system of due process and equal protection, and no longer seeking justice. It is merely an industry which allows experts and insiders to use the law to further their own agenda.

I am certain, had Michael Brown shot and killed Darren Wilson in the same manner Wilson shot and killed Brown, the outcome would have been very different. …

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Tired of Hate: A Commentary on the Treatment of Homeless in Ocean Beach

July 20, 2013 by Jack Hamlin

Editor: Jack Hamlin wrote this a year ago. Jack led efforts back in 2009 and 2010 to bring all sides together in a series of community forums about homelessness. Now we repost it as the attitudes he focused on have arisen once again in the seaside village.

By Jack Hamlin

Keith of OB. San Diego CityBeat photo.
It is happening again. Three years ago we were able to come together as a community to try and begin to resolve the issues surrounding homelessness and the poor in Ocean Beach. I am not so naïve as to look back on that time as “Halcyon Days of Kumbaya,” in O.B. Rather it was a time during which we began to look for solutions, instead of blame and division. But we all have become complacent and are returning to the awful time of “Please Don’t Feed Our Bums.”

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A Farewell to My Beloved Dog “Lil Bear”

May 28, 2013 by Jack Hamlin

Baby BearBy Jack Hamlin

The early morning sunlight filtered through the venetian blinds and fronds of the potted palm, highlighting her multi-hued earth toned fur. She lay on her cushion strategically placed by the bay window so she could keep watch, guarding our home; a task she had performed diligently for over fourteen years.

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A Christmas Wish: The Gift of Compassion

December 27, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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It is Christmas, 2012, and I sit in the sunlight of the early morning and welcome the day. For many years I have been alone on Christmas morning; my children, parents, sister and I celebrate Christmas on its eve. My children spend the day with her mother and later in the day, my parents, sister and I have dinner at my cousin’s home. As a result, the gift I receive Christmas morning is time. Time to sit and reflect, time to meditate, time to just be.

As a Catholic Christian of the Franciscan brand, and a student of Buddhism and the Tao, I spend much of my time thinking about the concept of compassion; what it means and how to let flow from me and perhaps by example, to others. I know in my imperfection, I fall short on many occasions, but I try.

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How Many More Mondays? Changing a Culture of Glorified Violence

December 17, 2012 by Jack Hamlin

The plan for the day had been to finally get the Christmas decorations up and address cards. I turned on the news to get my daily laugh from the cirque de D.C. and see how much closer we were coming the fiscal cliff. I wish I had not. The news was so just awful, again, I wept. Twenty-six souls lost, 20 of them only 6 and 7 years old. In an instant, another mad man took away so many dreams, so much joy, and so much love.

According to reports, the 20-year-old murderer took his own life, so we will never get the chance to ask him why or how he became so full of evil. Even if we were able to, it would not stop the carnage which all too often frequents the innocent, here and abroad. It will not stop, because we either do not care enough, or we must ghoulishly enjoy it enough to not do anything about.

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Post-Election Thoughts … What if the Blue States seceded from the Red States?

November 14, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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The election is over and the dust really has finally settled. By the way my candidate lost, but it isn’t easy being Green. The 47% and then some spoke up and now, maybe, just maybe, WE can get to work and do the good things we do well, fix the good things we use to do well, and set aside the bad stuff which has been gnawing at our insides for so long.

WE proved the Koch Brothers, et al. could not buy an election, and Karl Rove is as superfluous as a dead rat on the floor just waiting to be swept up and thrown out with the garbage. WE, with the help of Donald Trump and Ted Nugent, proved that just because you have money and a forum, does not preclude you from being as crazy as a three-dicked goat. WE proved that even FOX News has to concede something to the other side every once and while.

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Arizona v. United States Ruling by Supreme Court Hinged on Two Points of Law

August 22, 2012 by Jack Hamlin

Editor: The following lesson in immigration law by our blogger Jack Hamlin – a lawyer and law professor – was initially set as a comment to an article criticizing the US Supreme Court upholding Arizona’s draconian SB 1070’s main provision, “show me your papers.” The court left standing SB 1070’s most controversial provision requiring Sheriff Joe Apario type, “state and local police to check the immigration status of anyone that they suspect is in the country illegally; if that person was initially detained for other legitimate reasons.”

The Arizona v. U.S. decision, from what I understand, came down on two points of law. 1) Separation of Powers/Supremacy Clause, and 2) The Preemption Clause. Let me explain, while you must take into consideration it is mid-afternoon on a sunny, summer, Sunday, in OB, California.

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OB Ragster Tapped for International Conflict Resolution by State Department

June 26, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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North African & Mideast Conflict Resolution Delegation visits San Diego; Looks for Answers and finds more Questions

Clearly the vetting process at the State Department needs some updating from the Google dartboard they must be currently using, I thought to myself a little over a week ago, last Friday. After all, the last rumor I heard about the OB Rag / San Diego Free Press staffers was we were all under investigation by Homeland Security for our Occupy Movement support. But unlike some other thoughts I have, at least there was a basis for this one.

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Today – June 20th – Is International Surfing Day !

June 20, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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Good morning Dudes and Dudettes!

Today, Wednesday, June 20, 2012, is the eighth annual International Surfing Day. Regardless of the June Gloom or lack of bump in the water, Our Mother Ocean is calling us to come and play…especially if you surf.

Now I know most who work in OB most likely will not have a problem getting the time off to commune with our Beautiful Lady to the West. Not all who live in San Diego, however, live west of I-5. I do not understand this, but it is the subject for another time.

So for those of you who work for uptight, tie-wearing, clock-puchin’, worried-about-makin’-a-buck bosses, regardless if it is in a high-rise downtown or changing tires in El Cabong, you need to get in the water. Have no fear, an answer has been provided to your dilemma.

Seems Jim Moriarty, the CEO of the Surfrider Foundation (truly an oxymoron if I ever heard one) has taken time to provide those of us who need to splain’ to their bosses why they need to get off work.

Just cut and past the link below, and Jim has drafted a fill-in-the-blank letter which should, in most reasonable cases, allow you to get off work. It looks official enough that if you worked for me, I’d give you the day off.

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The Shingle Chronicles: Emergence, False Starts and Realizations – Part 4

June 15, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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The Shingle Chronicles

This is the fourth and final installment of a series about my recent run-in with a most unpleasant malady, Shingles. I hope it will encourage those who have not had the vaccination to set aside all your acrimony and distrust toward “Big Pharm,” and get vaccinated. It is also a lesson learned and an acquisition of empathy for all those who suffer from disabilities and illness we cannot “see.” (Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.)

Part Four: Emergence, False Starts and Realizations

Sitting in an AA meeting somewhere years ago, I remember the talk turned to what is referred to as “the moment of clarity.” Not quite on par with an epiphany, which is more of a mystical experience, a moment of clarity occurs when you realize you have had enough of a certain behavior; it is counterproductive at best, and self-destructive on the other end of the spectrum.

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The Shingles Chronicles: The Compassion of Others – Part 3

June 11, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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The Shingle Chronicles

This is the third in a series about my recent run-in with a most unpleasant malady, Shingles. I hope it will encourage those who have not had the vaccination to set aside all your acrimony and distrust toward “Big Pharm,” and get vaccinated. It is also a lesson learned and an acquisition of empathy for all those who suffer from disabilities and illness we cannot “see.” Here is Part 1, and Part 2.

Part Three: The Compassion of Others

During the first full week of my Shingles, the only way to describe me, other than particularly high, was miserable. And to those who were around me, I most sincerely apologize. But as I wrote in Part One, I do not do sick well. Rather than shy away (“Ewwww! Gross!”) or find something better to do (“Sorry Jack, I’d like to help but I have to (fill in the blank i.e. weed the garden, stare mindlessly into space, wash the cat, etc.).”), my friends and family did what they could to make me more comfortable. And sometimes, compassionate aid came from unexpected corners.

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Descent into Shingles Hell

June 7, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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The Shingle Chronicles – Part Two

This is the second in a series about my recent run-in with a most unpleasant malady, Shingles. I hope it will encourage those who have not had the vaccination to set aside all your acrimony and distrust toward “Big Pharm,” and get vaccinated. It is also a lesson learned and an acquisition of empathy for all those who suffer from disabilities and illness we cannot “see.” Here’s Part One.

Descent into Shingles Hell

After a night of vivid dreams which rivaled Alice’s trip through the Looking Glass, I awoke to sunny May morning. Normally this would have been the start of good day. I was on leave from University and as I recall, there was nice little bump in the surf and Our Mother Ocean was starting warm up. Light, off shore winds marked the end of Winter’s chill and an approach of balmy Summer days. There would, however, be no surfin’ for a while and the previous night’s medications were beginning to wear off. I found myself a bit out of sorts and “scratchy.” Surprisingly, the pain was not yet particularly bad. So I just took the anti-inflammatory, with a sort of wait-and-see attitude toward the pain medications. It was now a full week from the initial symptoms showing up. Only eight more to go….

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The Shingle Chronicles

June 6, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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This is the first in a series about my recent run-in with a most unpleasant malady, Shingles. I hope it will encourage those who have not had the vaccination to set aside all your acrimony and distrust toward “Big Pharm,” and get vaccinated. It is also a lesson learned and an acquisition of empathy for all those who suffer from disabilities and illness we cannot “see.”

Part One: Tripping into the Shingles Abyss

Reading any contemporary literature, there appears to be what I would call “module writing.” This seems to hold true for most cinema, as well. For example, the First Module gives us the setting (Tropic Island, South Central LA, Oxford), the characters who are acceptable for the particular setting (Island girl, middle-aged black man, ruddy faced ginger cook) in a particular genre (lost and abandoned, coming of age, off-beat romance).

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Coffee with Toni Atkins at the Newbreak on Abbott Street

May 3, 2012 by Jack Hamlin

Last Saturday, April 28, I attended an hour and a half coffee Q&A with Toni Atkins, the State Assembly Representative for the 76th District, of which OB is a part. The small turn-out was not an indication of interest, but rather limited to those who had been invited to the small venue; Newbreak Coffee Co. on Abbott Street. In other words, it could not have been a more perfect venue and environment to talk with the Majority Whip regarding issues which affect us all.

After introductions to a very diverse klatch of constituents and before Ms. Atkins jumped into some more important issues, she discussed the district changes and how it will affect OB. She will continue to be our representative in the State Assembly, but the district which ended in Bird Rock will now extend north to Solana Beach. While she will continue to represent those east to the I-15 and south of I-8, she will no longer represent Clairemont & Kearny Mesa. From what I could tell, the reformation opens up new areas and the elections will not simply be a formality in strictly Republican and Democratic districts.

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The Compassion of a Cat’s Nipple: The Dalai Lama at San Diego State University

April 21, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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Sometimes in life we get very cool and much unexpected surprises. Yesterday was one such. I am working with a fledgling group of folk who are starting a local chapter of Mediators Beyond Borders International (the story behind this group I will save for another post). Our fearless leader is an energetic woman, Yvette Durazo, whom I met through a training session in Restorative Justice. When you are with Yvette, just buy the ticket and go along for the ride, she is one of those folk who simply inspire.

A few weeks ago, she sent me an e-mail and asked if I would like to attend the Dalai Lama event with her at San Diego State University. I had already decided I would not spend the $30 – $70 to see a spiritual leader (it simply does not sit right with me… sort of a Jimmy Swaggart thing), but I have yet to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth, and so I accepted her invitation.

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Today I Washed Feet – Maundy Thursday in Ocean Beach

April 5, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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The morning grey still hung over OB as I parked my car up the street from the Episcopal Center Church on Sunset Cliffs Blvd. It was my first day of several much needed weeks off and I had made the mistake of responding to the Editordude’s request an hour earlier to cover the Maundy Thursday for the Needy at the Center. Groggily, as I walked down the street, I saw several familiar faces reclined on the grass outside the sanctuary, and the end of a line of folk stretching out to the street.

Ooops, I forgot my audience… what is Maundy Thursday you ask?

Come inside for the photo gallery…

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Open Letter to Assemblywoman Toni Atkins on Proposed Bill Requiring Registration of Medical Marijuana Patients

April 3, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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Assembly Member Toni Atkins
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0076

Re: A.B. 2465

April 3, 2012

Good morning Ms. Atkins:

I am writing to you with concern over A.B. 2465, introduced by Assembly Member Campos of San Jose. As I am sure you are aware, the bill contains provisions which directly affects the privacy rights of those who use medicinal marijuana as they are provided under the provisions of the Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (codified as California Health and Safety Code §§ 11362.7, et seq.).

As I understand the gravamen of A.B. 2465, inter alia, it would require those who seek to use medicinal marijuana, after obtaining a physician’s recommendation, to register with the State of California to obtain an identification card as a part of a state-wide registry.

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City Council to Announce Plans for Two Homeless Shelters in Point Loma

April 1, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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Sunset Cliffs and Silvergate Elementary Schools to be Converted to Large Scale Service Communities

The Mayor and members of the San Diego City Council will hold a press conference today at 3:00 p.m. to announce plans for what has been termed, two “Mega Service Centers and Shelters for the Homeless,” to be established in Point Loma. Mayor Jerry Sanders’ office announced the press conference yesterday. When contacted for comment, mayoral spokesman, John Galt, said, “We have had to be a bit secretive, but the plans for the centers have been over two years in the making. We are very excited about how well these particular sites will suit the needs of so many.”

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Please Don’t Hit Me, I Have a Job….

March 28, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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Spring was in the air yesterday in Ocean Beach as I walked down Newport Ave. The Ocean had the color of cobalt blue and the wind was strong, although decidedly warmer than it has been. Is it possible? Is summer just around the corner?

I was on a break from preparing the evening meal at Sacred Heart of OB’s Ministry for the Hungry. I had just a quick lunch at the Old Townhouse Café, …

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Oil Company Theater: Keystone Pipeline Blocked and Gas Prices Go Up … Again.

March 12, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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Hey Gang, for the fourth time in as many months (or at least it seems like it), the Keystone XL Pipeline has been blocked. The Republicans needed 60 votes to pass S.B. 1813, in which they inserted the rider to allow the pipeline. The bill, sponsored by Senator Boxer, was to increase the Federal Transportation Commission’s budget to build roads and increase highway safety. The bill was ostensibly a public works act to help increase employment recovery at the state and local level.

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My – We Certainly Look After Our Own, Don’t We….

January 31, 2012 by Jack Hamlin

Some of you may remember me being a wet blanket to Doug Porter’s request for ideas on how to get arrested for free speech. I very school marm-ily suggested it constituted conspiracy, a felony in California. Be careful and don’t run with scissors.

Then about a week later, several members of Occupy San Diego disrupted the Mayor’s State of the City Address. They did so with the now familiar “Sound Check!” and their follow-up chorus until they were arrested for an anti-free speech law at council meetings and…..conspiracy. And along with the misdemeanor disruption charges, they were charged with felony conspiracy charges as well. Chicken shit, yes…but arrested and charged with a felony nonetheless. [Editor: DA Dumanis has decided not to charge them with felonies and has kicked their case back to the City Attorney.]

Well today, groggily over coffee I read about a Deputy DA and a Cop who conspired to destroy a traffic ticket. A Court Summons! A Court Document! A complete circumvention of the judicial process by those very people who are tasked with “protecting” us. A nose thumbing at those of us who are preyed upon daily at their discretion. Those who have sworn to uphold the constitution and wield authority in an even handed way….deep breath….

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Follow-up to a Matter of Channel Safety

January 3, 2012 by Jack Hamlin
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Well y’all might remember when I wrote about the safety issue in the NTC Channel back in late October. Scott MacLaggen has been checking with Harbor Police Chief Bolduc monthly on the status of the Navy’s fix to the channel… but nothing other than promises from the Navy. That is, until two days ago – just before New Year’s.

Scott forwarded me an e-mail in which Chief Bolduc let him know the Navy had installed nine new 5 MPH buoys the length of the channel, with a verbal promise to enlarge the 5 MPH sign at the entrance of the channel. And just like that, change for the better occurred.

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The Special Week Between Christmas and New Year is a Time of Reflection

December 31, 2011 by Jack Hamlin
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Sacred Heart Kitchen: A Time and Place for Miracles

The week between Christmas and New Years is, and has, always been one of my favorite times of year. The madness of Christmas day preparations, regardless of how much you keep to the spirit, can be in a word, “draining.”

This special week between the culmination of the year and the leap into the next is my time of reflection… and not merely to read the media’s take on the highs and lows and celebrity events of the past year. It is my time and no one expects anything commercially productive out of me.

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It’s Just a Matter of Safety … Speedboats, Paddlers in a No-Wake Zone

October 31, 2011 by Jack Hamlin
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Despite mutual frustration, it was a friendly meeting with the new Harbor Police Chief, John Bolduc and several members of the waterman community a week ago last Monday, October 17, at one of the Starbucks at Liberty Station (of course there is more than one…). He had agreed to meet with John Decker, an avid stand up paddler (SUP) and representative of Kings SUPs, Randy Peterson of the Kanaka outrigger club, and Scott MacLaggen, longtime area water activist, and me. At issue was a small waterway, 54 acres, which runs between Liberty Station and the San Diego International Airport and is bordered on the north by the United States Marine Corp Recruit Depot.

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Blessed Are the Peace Makers

October 19, 2011 by Jack Hamlin
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Annual Conflict Resolution Conference Brought World Healers to Our Shores

Sister Pauline Acayo, is a large African woman. Large not merely in physical presence, but in the sense her heart is filled with love and compassion. George Gacharo is a young African man. Young not merely in the sense of age, but in the sense he is full of fire and energy for the work he does. Gidon Bromberg looks a bit like an Israeli Peter Sellers. And like Sellers’ comedic nature, his work is subtle and surreptitious in nature and he tells of it with a wry smile.

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“You Cannot Buy Mindfulness in a Grocery Store” – the Teachings of Brother Thay

September 8, 2011 by Jack Hamlin
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Certainly we all have someone in this world we would savor meeting and perhaps spending time to listen to his or her words. Several come to mind as I write this. Some I will never meet because I have missed the chance opportunity for this reason or that. Joe Strummer was one. My friends invited me to come along to Rock-a-Billy show several years ago, but I had some important shit to do, and later they told me of sharing a beer with Joe backstage… and then six months later Joe left us.

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Politics in America – The Blame Game

August 22, 2011 by Jack Hamlin
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Whose fault is it anyway?

A few years ago, I left politics behind in my life and tried to focus on the things which really mattered; family, spiritual self-improvement, working at a job which would give me satisfaction, doing right by others. In the past I had circulated petitions calling for Nixon’s impeachment while attending UCLA, worked hard for the elections bids of George McGovern, and Tom Hayden, railed against Ronald Reagan’s game of nuclear chicken with the then Soviets protesting as far away as Dublin, Ireland, and spoke out against the former head of the CIA, George H.W. Bush, being our president.

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Where is the Military When We truly Need Defending

August 19, 2011 by Jack Hamlin

Over the past several weeks I watched the squabble between the Republicans, and the Republicans, and some Democrats over the debt ceiling. It seemed like a no-brainer to resolve, and so the Republicans, and the Republicans and some Democrats seemed to be the perfect folk to figure it all out.

After it all played out, the resolution would turn out the same way whenever the Republicans and the Republicans, and some Democrats try to resolve an issue; they generally end up blaming us because we think we are so entitled, and take another animal off the endangered species list so it can be slaughtered and a power plant can be built…or something like that. But this time there was something sinister in the background which seemed to be disturbing to everyone. This time our credit rating was being threatened.

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CAUTION – PROHIBIDO! Is this a message that represents tolerance in Ocean Beach?

July 22, 2011 by Jack Hamlin
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It went in about a year ago, another cheap souvenir shop on Newport Avenue. You probably walk by it at least once a week, Pacifica Fashion at 4949 Newport Avenue, between the Old Townhouse Restaurant and Margaritas. Out front stand a couple of lily white mannequins modeling Rastafarian head gear, a rack of $5 bikinis, and hanging from the front edifice are a number of cheap t-shirts referencing OB, surfing and weed. When it opened about a year ago, I thought to myself sarcastically, “Good another cheap tourist shop selling crap, just what OB needs.” Admittedly and disdainfully, I have never been inside.

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Urge Representative Susan Davis to Stand with Nancy Pelosi in Protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

July 21, 2011 by Jack Hamlin
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I am a political activist. Always have been, always will be. I am allowed to have voice in governance, and I exercise it, sometimes to the chagrin of my friends and colleagues…but it is my right and I will not be silent.

In a day and age of rapid and easy communication, we have an opportunity without leaving our barcalounger to let our representative know our opinions of political issues we deem important in our lives; electronic petitions, e-mails, and cheap long distance telephone rates. Enough from Captain Obvious on that subject.

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