Category: Health

by anonymous OBcian

Often these days, we hear so many bad things about our country – the political tensions and the economy -, and we hear so many bad things about our state of California – how its going broke and the legislative stalemate -, and plus we hear so many negative things about our southwestern County – its conservatism and shyness in handing out benefits -, that we sometimes forget where we are.

Well, for one, I want to shout out: “Let’s hear it for the other side – let’s hear it for our country, our state, and yes, even for our county: “hip, hip, hurray, hip, hip, hurray!”

What the heck am I shouting about???

I’m shouting ‘hurray’ loud and clear for everyone to hear — for the safety and social nets of our county, state and country.

FIND ALL LINKS AND DETAILS INSIDE ….

* Rumor: Locals Plan to Celebrate Herb Holiday on 4/20

* French Students Stuck in San Diego Due to Iceland Volcano Find OB Their “Favorite” Place Because of “the funny people there”

* Truesdail Posthumously-Produced- CD Release Party at Portugalia April 29th

* OB Town Council Plans Community Clean-Up on April 24th

* Fund-Raising Cross-Country Rollerbladers to Reach OB on April 24th – Barring Snow and Rain

* Rally for “No More Cuts In Education” on Saturday, May 8th

Spring is here, but the endless, pointless wars grind on. U.S. troops are preparing for an offensive in Afghanistan ‘s Helmand province. As people lose their homes, their jobs, and struggle to make ends meet; as teachers are laid off and libraries are closed across America ; money gushes into the war and military budgets.
*Defund the Afghanistan Escalation!
*National Call-in to Congress Days April 13-15

The number of earthquakes greater than magnitude 4.0 in Southern California and Baja California has increased significantly in 2010. Scientists are studying the uptick but cannot fully explain it.

Seismologists in California were busy this week fighting rumors apparently floating on Twitter that a major earthquake was likely in the next few days.

Officials at Caltech say that rumor is not true — and that no such prediction can be made. But researchers say there has been an uptick in earthquakes this year.

The San Diego chapter of the national Coffee Party movement is holding a kind of “coming-out” party in the late afternoon on Sunday, April 11th, and Congressman Bob Filner is the keynote speaker.

This private affair will be at Queen’s Bee, an entertainment venue/ coffee house in North Park from 3:30pm to 5. Stacy Taylor, one of San Diego’s most popular (ex-) radio personalities will also be on hand as a speaker. There is music and poetry, so this could be quite a gig.

The San Diego Coffee Party organization is not even one month old. Its first meetings were on March 13th, and there was so much of a turn-out of kindred spirits that it was organized into 3 to 4 groups. There’s also a chapter in Oceanside, one in Carlsbad, and a small one in Ramona. There are efforts a foot to establish one in the South Bay as well.

About a dozen OBceans are active in the “coastal” section …

By Dixon Guizot

Though he doesn’t seem like he’s in a hurry, Ocean Beach’s Dr. Jeoffry Gordon gets a heck of a lot done.

In addition to treating patients and managing his practice, Dr. Gordon speaks to local political clubs. He writes articles for medical journals. He works with the national movement for a single-payer health care solution. And along the way, the doctor stays powerfully well-informed in areas like politics, history, and finance. He recommends works by authors such as Kevin Phillips, Niall Ferguson, and Thomas Frank.

You might think a person with all that to keep him busy wouldn’t have a moment to spare, but Dr. Gordon’s demeanor isn’t rushed. He speaks deliberately, choosing his words carefully. And on a recent Monday afternoon, as we walked to lunch at Rancho’s Cocina from his office at the corner of Cable Street and Santa Monica Avenue, he strolled at a relaxed pace, prompting me to slow my normally anxious stride.

SURVEILLANCE CAMERA AND POLICE WATCH TOWER COMING TO OCEAN BEACH

Big Brother is creeping into our lives, inch by inch, camera by camera, tower by tower. Recent posts on our blog have described plans by the City of San Diego to install surveillance cameras in and around Mission Bay, including one on the OB Pier, and that the San Diego Police Department dragged out their controversial mobile watch tower for this year’s first Floatopia.

Surveillance cameras, police towers … Big Brother is definitely creeping in … do you remember the origins of Big Brother? He is a fictional character in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the dictator with seemingly absolute control in Oceania, a society that is a totalitarian state.

Editor: Where were you during Easter Sunday’s earthquake? Patty and I were on the wooden deck and we felt every rock and roll, and went through four aftershocks. The following by Doug Copp will make you forget everything you’ve always learned about surviving earth quakes.
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The “Triangle of Life”: Ten Ways to Survive the Next “Big One”

by Doug Copp

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world’s most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries…

At first, it looked safe to go in. So, two young highschoolers decided to try swimming at Sunset Cliffs. But Katie Kitchenka and Breyaundra Woods, both 18 years old and from Steele Canyon High School, soon found out it was too cold.

They tried getting back to shore, but couldn’t. Fortunately, an off duty border patrol agent came upon them yelling for help, and he threw them a beach towel and helped get them to a ledge.

By Sting / Huffington Post / March 31, 2010

Whether it’s music, activism or daily life, the one ideal to which I have always aspired is constant challenge — taking risks, stepping out of my comfort zone, exploring new ideas.

I am writing because I believe the United States must do precisely that — and so, therefore, must all of us — in the case of what has been the most unsuccessful, unjust yet untouchable issue in politics: the War on Drugs.

The War on Drugs has failed — but it’s worse than that. It is actively harming our society.

Editor: The following Ten Myths was prepared this month by the California Budget Project. Go here to see their nifty graphs and pie charts.

Myth #1 : The Largest Share of the State Budget Goes To Prisons

The Facts:

* The State spends more than four times as much on K-12 education as it does on corrections and one and one-quarter times as much on higher education as it does on corrections.

It appears that complaints about one of OB’s veterinary clinics are rising. Local musician and producer Chuck Schiele recently posted a long rant about the Point Loma Veterinary Clinic “terrorizing” his cat.

Apparently, after making them wait for more than two hours, the vet said she did not know how to treat the feline, did not have a diagnosis, and then billed them more than he thought they should.