Category: Culture

ALL LINKS AND DETAILS INSIDE:

* Volunteer(s) Needed to Update Websites of Town Council and Planning Board
* Stand Up Is Dead Comedy Tour at Winston’s Friday July 16th
* A Historian’s View on Growing Up in OB – July 15th
* Join OB Historical Society on their Annual OB Historical Walk – July 17th
* New Homeless Sticker Going On Sale
* Ocean Beach’s “Don’t feed the bums” sticker taken to a new level in Miami
* Voices of OB’s Homeless
* “Hodad’s Too” to Open in “Sept-ober”
* Top Chef winner turned away from South Beach Bar & Grille
* New Restaurant Bar on Voltaire Offers 16 Craft Beers and Late Night Kitchen
* Jazz 88 OB Music & Art Festival September 11th

July 14th is Frances’ July 4th -a national holiday, as it commemorates the storming of the hated Bastille – a fortress like prison in Paris – in 1789. The date celebrates the victory of the French people in their revolution that overthrew the king and feudal system. The storming of the prison is seen as a symbol of the uprising of the first modern nation and the beginning of a constitutional government for France.

(The American revolution preceded this, of course, but our struggle was not technically a revolution per se but more of a colonial war against an imperial power. See this earlier post explaining the origin of modern politics.)

For impartiality, we turn to wikipedia:

In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (National Celebration) and commonly le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July). …

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) spoke out against the war in Afghanistan, and against the war’s funding, at a press conference of the Out of Afghanistan Congressional Caucus.

“Every dollar we spend in Afghanistan, every life we waste there, is a waste,” said Nadler. “An intelligent policy is not to try to remake a country that nobody since Genghis Khan has managed to conquer. What makes us think, what arrogance gives us the right to assume that we can succeed where the Moguls, the British, the Soviets, failed…..

It’s one thing to have the OB Rag blog on the front cover of both the Union-Tribune and the LA Times over the homeless and the ‘bums’ sticker controversies, and it’s quite another to monitor the hate mail, the mail filled with anger, and other vulgar comments that we have received over the past month because of our strident advocacy of the rights of the homeless.

You might have heard this: BP is so well connected in Washington that even after being cited for 760 different safety and environmental violations, the company still got environmental waivers for the Deepwater Horizon rig that’s now destroying the Gulf.1

But BP’s not alone in using its DC influence. Check out the list below of other companies’ outrages—then pass it along. And be sure to sign the new Fight Washington Corruption Pledge to support 3 key measures that will protect our democracy from corporate lobbyists!

We met Lane Tobias during the fight to save the Ocean Beach branch library back in the fall of 2008. He enthusiastically joined our staff as the youngest blogger at the time and wrote for us for a year and a half. One of his posts about the lack of food stamps in San Diego County remains one of our most popular articles of all time.

Alas, Lane, originally from New Jersey, and his partner Carianne, had to permanently return to their roots …

Two groups that have long advocated public financing of elections plan to spend at least $8 million this year to prod Congress to vote on proposed legislation aimed at reducing the influence of big donations in politics.

The joint effort by Common Cause and Public Campaign, called the Campaign for Fair Elections, will launch its first wave of advertising this week aimed primarily at Democrats who have yet to sign on in support of the bill. The legislation would give candidates $4 of public financing for every $1 dollar raised through contributions of $100 or less. Participation would be voluntary, and candidates could opt out from the system.

by Peter Callstrom / Regional Task Force on Homeless / Special to the OB Rag

Kudos to Ocean Beach! This progressive community held a forum last night to proactively address homelessness in their community. A diverse and overflow crowd gathered to constructively dialogue, listen, and find common ground. A number of persons who are homeless were in attendance and actively participated in the discussion. There are no easy answers, but dialogue is so critical: to build understanding, empathy, and ideas. Wisely, more forums are planned.

Editor: Our blogger OBCindi attended last night’s community meeting on Homelessness in Ocean Beach at the Sacred Heart Church on Sunset Cliffs. She volunteered to be a scribe for one of the “peace circles” so was deeply involved in enunciating the results of her circle’s ideas and thoughts. Here’s her report:

As I walked to the meeting, I was met by a neighbor who wanted to hear the issues on homelessness in OB, but was specifically interested in aggressive panhandling. My neighbor shared with me his concern with the growing threats of violence, a need for clean streets, more police, and decreasing theft/break ins.

The church-sponsored community forum last night (Tuesday July 6) drew as many as 250 residents, merchants, homeless, and property owners to a discussion on OB homelessness.

Volunteers signed people in as they lined up entering the lengthy hall, some homeless guys played music on the front lawn. Reporters mingled with attendees on the sidewalk. Many of OB’s active residents and business-owners were there – this was the place to be in OB on July 6th. Town Council members, the community relations police officer, the woman who feeds homeless people every Monday, OB Rag bloggers, seniors, middle-aged property owners, church volunteers. Christine Shames, a homeless advocate, brought a half-dozen young people who were homeless to the forum.

OPEN COMMUNITY FORUM:
To Discuss the issues surrounding
HOMELESSNESS IN OCEAN BEACH

When: Tuesday, July 6, 2010, 8:00 p.m.

Where: The Parish Hall, Sacred Heart of Ocean Beach

4776 Saratoga Avenue

We received a troubling message from Dusty Rhodes Dog Park Friends late last week who wanted us to broadcast a reminder to all participants at that dog park to be especially cautious with any of their small dogs.

Apparently, earlier last week – the week of June 28 – July 2, a very small dog who had been brought regularly to the dog park by her owners for the last few months was attacked and killed by a large aggressive Husky.