Category: California

Groups Claim National Marine Fisheries Service Fail to Protect Thousands of Whales, Dolphins, Sea Lions and Other Animal Life From U.S. Navy Warfare Training Exercises Along the West Coast

By Ed Joyce / KPBS / January 26, 2012

A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service Thursday, Jan. 26, over the use Navy’s use of sonar and other training exercises. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.

It claims the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Editor: Check out the following report by former OBcean Michael Steinberg who now lives in San Francisco. Apparently, the Occupy movement in San Diego is not the only one with problems with the daily fishwrap.

On January 20 Occupy protestors took over a 600 unit vacant hotel in San Francisco. But the San Francisco Chronicle missed the point. Actually it missed a lot of them.

As the final action of January 20th’s Wall Street West San Francisco protests, activists marched to the former Cathedral Hill Hotel at Geary and Van Ness and took it over.Why? The San Francisco Chronicle’s report the next morning only informed us that, upon arriving and being greeted by riot cops, “Some activists threw bricks and bottles, injuring two officers, one in the chest and one in the arm.” Also that “40 people broke in through a back entrance and loudly cavorted in the 600-room hotel for two hours. When they threw furniture from the roof, several dozen police cleared the building.”

By Gail Powell / Special to the OB Rag

The Occupy movement has some people thinking that the anti-Wall Street political group has co-opted the medical marijuana issue. Where once the closing of dispensaries would have incited the wrath of medical marijuana activists; now many of those same people are off doing their Occupy thing. That is not to say that the issues of the people supporting the utilization of medical marijuana is dead: it is not.

And I do not wish to make it seem that political protesters are dilettantes who jump from one exciting activity to another. But the federal pressure on the clinics that has come down from the Obama administration is a part of the bigger picture of injustice from the national level filtering malice upon the local level.

By J. Harry Jones/ U-T San Diego / January 17, 2012

PALOMAR MOUNTAIN — A nonprofit citizen’s group hoping to save Palomar Mountain State Park from permanent closure this summer has mounted a pledge drive with the goal of raising $60,000 annually.

Last month the Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park Committee submitted a proposal to the Department of State Parks offering a straightforward deal: If they’ll keep Palomar open, the committee will cover the deficit between revenue and operating costs from public donations.

The park is one of 70 parks slated for permanent closure this July and already all the campgrounds have been shuttered. Rick Barclay, chairman of the committee, said the park isn’t self-sufficient, meaning revenue doesn’t cover expenses, even after the operating budget’s been slashed to the bone.

By Dave Good / SanDiego.com / Jan 10th, 2012

The roots of the San Diego Zoo lie in Ocean Beach, California. That there is even a zoo here at all, world famous or not, is largely due to a chain of events that began in 1913 at the foot of Voltaire Street. On July 4th of that year the doors to the Wonderland Amusement Park were officially opened to the public.

In its time Wonderland must have been spectacular. Protected from the sea by high walls with exotic turrets it spanned eight acres of what is now dog beach.

By Erin Allday /SFGate / January 10, 2012

Smoking a joint or a bowl from time to time appears to cause no long-term damage to the lungs, according to a UCSF study that disproves one of the major concerns about marijuana use – that inhaling anything other than air on a regular basis must be harmful.

The study, results of which were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the lung capacity of people who smoked marijuana was not diminished by lighting up, even among those who smoked once or twice a week.

Smoking 20 or more joints a month did have a negative impact on the pulmonary system, but that level of marijuana use is unusual.

San Francisco Labor Council Resolution – Adopted Jan. 9, 2012 by unanimous vote (with one abstention)
Condemn Use of U.S. Military to Escort Scab Grain Ship in Longview WA

Whereas, EGT, a joint venture led by multinational grain giant Bunge, agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer funds to build a huge new grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview WA, but once the terminal was built has tried to void its contract and refused to hire ILWU labor. With the use of brutal police and courts and 220 arrests in the 225 member ILWU Local 21, EGT has managed to get enough scab grain across picket lines into the new terminal that EGT appears poised to load a ship soon in violation of their agreement with the port; and

Editor: Here is an update of the “Occupation” of the house of a disabled and bedridden retired schoolteacher Lesliane Bouchard by her daughter Kristiane Chappell. Bouchard is about to have her home foreclosed up north in Murrietta in Riverside County. A number of Occupy San Diego activists were among those who joined in occupying her house. (See our earlier posts here and here.)

By Kristiane Chappell

Wanted to give you the link to the most recent press story on mom. I was on Fox 5 this morning, it went really well. I was interviewed by the Washington Post on Wednesday morning and it is supposed to be in the Sunday paper I believe. I have more interviews in the works. The campaign is up over 40 thousand as of right now, making it the 6th most popular Economic Justice petition of all time on Change.org and the numbers continue to go up.

It is not often that I venture away from the Ocean Beach/Pt. Loma and write an article about it. But my widow support group, me included, had such a wonderful experience at the Maritime Museum yesterday morning that I have to share it with you.

Once a week my group gets together and does something “for us.” It may be going out to lunch, either at someone’s home or to a restaurant. We have been to movies; shopping; walks, etc. and today we did something new. We went to the BERKELEY to see the art exhibit of Cook, Melville and Gauguin courtest of the Kelton Foundation.

By William Gagan / Special to the OB Rag

A parade that was originally founded by a group of social and economic magnates in the late 1800’s, was for the first time in history, occupied by protesters speaking out against large corporations and big banks early Monday. They were members of local Occupy Wall Street groups from southern California and neighboring states. Some even came from as far away as New York and Atlanta.

They came together to form what was a sizable but inspiring tail section to the notorious Rose Bowl Parade. The goal behind joining the parade was to bring the Occupy Wall Street movement cause to almost 40 million television viewers nationally. The City of Pasadena had negotiated with organizers of the event to allow them to march behind the last float in the parade.

San Diego Events Set to Commemorate Historic Struggle That Resonates Today With Clamp-down on the Occupy San Diego Movement

From San Diego Free Speech Fight

January 2012 is the 100-year anniversary of the San Diego Free Speech Fight, one of the most important moments in the history of the city of San Diego.

During the winter and spring of 1912, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and their allies in labor and the community engaged in a pitched battle against a city ordinance that banned public speaking in the area around 5th and E Streets in downtown San Diego.

Editor: With this California Supreme Court ruling, San Diego’s ruling elites find that they now have to come up with a different revenue source to fund any downtown stadium for the Chargers other than public redevelopment monies. Check out long-time San Diego architectural expert and observer Roger Showley’s latest piece (Showley: Point Loma High Class of 1966).

By Roger Showley / SignOnSanDiego / December 29, 2011

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday against redevelopment agencies, including San Diego’s, and said they cannot remain in business by paying the state a portion of their property tax receipts.

The ruling, affecting some 400 redevelopment agencies statewide, throws into doubt many projects, including the proposed Chargers Stadium downtown and the Padres’ minor league baseball stadium in Escondido.