Author: Source

The recent spate of town hall dustups may look like an overnight sensation, but they’ve been years, even decades, in the making.

Since the days in the late 1970s, when the New Right began its takeover of the Republican Party, it has cultivated a militia of white people armed with a grudge against those who brought forth the social changes of the ’60s.

FOX News has always been the propaganda arm of the Republican Party, willing to twist facts and even lie to promote the Republican agenda.

But the election of President Obama in 2008 pushed FOX News into outright hate-mongering and incitement of violence, which is intolerable in a democracy.

Here are some examples of intolerable hate speech and incitement to violence (go inside for links):

…

Construction for Dusty Rhodes Dog Park enlargement is scheduled to begin the end of August. The curb will be cut in the Sunset Cliffs Parking Lot to provide handicap accessibility. Chain link fencing will run from the equipment gate to the public restrooms, enlarging the leash-free area by about 30 percent.

This will provide an opportunity to allow a third of the park to be closed for six week periods to promote the growth of turf.

Gophers have made many enemies at Robb Field in Ocean Beach, burrowing and creating numerous holes on the park’s playing fields.

The San Diego-based Animal Protection and Rescue League (APRL), however, is not among that list of enemies. APRL is urging the city to find a non-lethal method to control the gopher population at Robb Field.

by Anthony Gentile / Peninsula Beacon / August 6, 2009

With city staff members present at Monday’s Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council meeting, the two sides agreed to disagree when it comes to the safety and relocation of popular cliffside benches.

The result of the deliberation between the two sides was a temporary hold on further removal of Sunset Cliffs benches until …

By Sara Robinson

All through the dark years of the Bush Administration, progressives watched in horror as Constitutional protections vanished, nativist rhetoric ratcheted up, hate speech turned into intimidation and violence, and the president of the United States seized for himself powers only demanded by history’s worst dictators.

With each new outrage, the small handful of us who’d made ourselves experts on right-wing culture and politics would hear once again from worried readers: Is this it? Have we finally become a fascist state? Are we there yet?

By Jeremy Scahill / Peace Resource Center / August 4, 2009

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia.

The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company.

Editor: This was sent to us by an anonymous contributor.

by OBserver

What kind of neighbor is World Oil Corp.? Well since I live very close to what I’m going to refer to as “ground zero” I feel very qualified to say that they are a pretty shitty one!

…

by Kim

World Oil’s proposed construction is overwhelmingly over-the-top when considering bulk and scale and leaves much to be desired when considering compatibility with the existing community character.

Sure, the rights of the property owner should not be disregarded, but what about the community for a change?

by Timothy LaSalle

Good news! You can rest assured that the organic food you bought today is every bit as beneficial for you and the planet as it was three days ago. Advantages for health and ecological soundness are still there, despite a review released this week claiming that there is insufficient evidence to prove organic superiority on the nutritional grounds it evaluated.

By Bill Maher

How about this for a New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. It used to be that there were some services and institutions so vital to our nation that they were exempt from market pressures. Some things we just didn’t do for money. The United States always defined capitalism, but it didn’t used to define us. But now it’s becoming all that we are.

Did you know, for example, that there was a time when being called a “war profiteer” was a bad thing?

Thanks to local photographer Jim Grant we can enjoy scenes from Sunset Cliffs hours after the sun has gone down.

Remember, if you have photos of OB or the surrounding environs that you would like us to share with the community, email them to us at obragblog@gmail.com