Category: Health

There we were, all 21 of us, crowding around under the shady umbrella at Java Jungle. And we were all talking politics – imagine!

It was a meeting of the “coastal” section of San Diego’s Coffee Party movement, a movement that is barely two months old, yet already has nearly 400 chapters across the country. What started as a facebook rant about the incivility of American politics and the apparent stalemate in Congress, and which has now blossomed into a nation-wide movement, had its first San Diego meeting on March 13th. The turnout was so huge, that the group broke down into four sections.

The “west of I-5” folks, naming themselves the coastal chapter, had decided to meet on the 27th in OB. And at least half the turnout was from Ocean Beach.

by Michael Moore / Huffington Post / March 22, 2010

To My Fellow Citizens, the Republicans:

Thanks to last night’s vote, that child of yours who has had asthma since birth will now be covered after suffering for her first nine years as an American child with a pre-existing condition.

Thanks to last night’s vote, that 23-year-old of yours who will be hit one day by a drunk driver and spend six months recovering in the hospital will now not go bankrupt because you will be able to keep him on your insurance policy.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted for a sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system.
Here is what to expect if the bill becomes law:

WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF ENACTMENT

* Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.

* Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

* Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ health plans until the age of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college.

by Ernie McCray

Nothing has helped me get back into the swing of things more, after losing my sweetheart, than getting up on stage and giving life to a delightful old goofy character named Wilmer in a play called “Funny Little Thing.”

Wilmer, like I have been in real life, is crazy about his wife, Paula, and she feels the same about him as my Nancy loved me – in spite of the little “things” that come along in a marriage, the irrelevant minutia that Wilmer and Paula, like Nancy and I did, zip by with healthy “Don’t sweat the small stuff” attitudes.

What a fun role and it was just what I needed to discover if I could ever, again, focus my attention, for any reasonable length of time, on something other than the nagging emotional pain that for so long was caught up in my heart and soul like a cat entangled in a sack full of yarn.

San Diego’s Coffee Party Movement officially forms up this Saturday, March 13th, as its first “kick-off” meeting is being held at a local coffeehouse – of all places. This initial gathering – organized for the City of San Diego – will be at LeStat’s coffee house on Adams Avenue at noon. There’s also chapters forming in North County and Ramona.

And there’s hundreds of such meetings occurring across the country this Saturday. Of course, the meetings are at coffee houses. It’s the Coffee Party Movement.

By Leo Hindery Jr./ Huffington Post //March 9, 2010 |

Two old friends, civil rights activist David Mixner and former U.S. Senator (and my oft co-author) Don Riegle (D-MI), believe that in the economic recovery, not enough attention is being given to ‘who’s really poor’ now. David and Don have for years advised me — and others — on the issue of poverty in America, and they are worried that too many people, and especially too many people in the administration and Congress, are missing this imperative.

To help make their point, they referred me to poverty activist Marsha Timpson, who describes today’s poor as “America’s dirty little secret, hidden in the backyards of America’s shining homes, the hollows, the reservations, the border towns and the dark ghettos of the city where they are the lie of the American dream.”

The San Onofre nuclear station is included in a list of commercial nuclear plants that have leaked radioactive tritium, a known cancer causing chemical.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) compiled the list. About one quarter of the nation’s operating nukes, 27 out of 104, have leaked tritium.

Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen, created as a byproduct of nuclear fission. It combines easily with water, and can persist inside us for years if it enters our bodies.

by Kelly Bennett and Dagny Salas / Voice of San Diego

San Diego County’s low participation in the food stamps program stems from problems with the way the county operates, a study released February 5th by the Supportive Parents Information Network concludes from more than 170 interviews with low-income residents.

by hippiereborn

This is not an article laced with numbers, statistics, and quotes from various sources. In writing this, I am reaching back into my own experiences over the last year and a half as a social worker who happens to live in OB and putting the truth out on the table.

For those who have complained about the influx of “drug crazed” (mostly young) transients infiltrating our neighborhood, you are finding it difficult to hold someone accountable for the disturbances and quality of life issues this population has brought to OB. You want them gone, out of here, ejected. You don’t care really where they go, so long as they are not bothering you anymore.

Guess what? You are to blame.

By Chris Roberts / SFWeekly.com / February 01, 2010

Though less famous than its San Diego–area namesake, San Francisco’s Ocean Beach is anything but unknown to surfers: Its three miles of coastline provide “a world-class surf spot,” says surfer Josh Berry. Its rip current and big winter waves mean it’s for experienced riders only, and those riders come from “all over — not just [locally] — to surf here,” Berry adds.

However, the recent spate of storms means surfing at Ocean Beach could soon get shitty — as in, 10 million gallons of raw sewage shitty.

Editordude: Channel 10 News is raising the issue of public drug use in Ocean Beach, – on the beach itself, in the parking lots – in the following piece. It raises the thought that there’s been an increase in young people in the neighborhood, panhandling, selling and doing drugs. Some local residents are upset. (Our local photog Jim Grant is quoted.) All these allegations shouldn’t surprise old-timers – these are the same kind of accusations – true or not – that have been made about the kids in OB since the late sixties. And if it is all true, it’s not surprising at all – given the nature of the Great Recession. How many jobs are actually out there for young people? By the way, if there are more homeless – kids or not – why are there no homeless services in OB? Here’s the post:

PUBLIC DRUG USE UPSETS OCEAN BEACH RESIDENTS

Channel 10NEWS / February 2, 2010

Ocean Beach residents are upset about what they said is dangerous activity and aggressive panhandling. It’s a coastal community known for its sunsets and unique local shops, but it’s what’s selling on the sand that has some residents and business owners fuming.

The Voice of San Diego, an online news publication, has begun a series on the dismal nature of San Diego County’s safety net. It is too excellent to pass up. Here is an excerpt and links to the original article byKelly Bennett and Dagny Salas:

San Diego County’s safety net is riddled with gaps ….

A voiceofsandiego.org investigation has found that the county government’s historical resistance to provide social welfare programs has left a wide chasm between last-resort aid and those on the bottom rungs of economic survival.