Category: Health

Big Food companies like ConAgra, Smucker, Hormel, Kellogg, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo want to block Proposition 37

[The California Ballot Initiative to label genetically engineered food is] “a serious, long-term threat to the viability of agricultural biotechnology. Defeating the Initiative is GMA’s single highest priority this year.” — Pamela Bailey, President of Grocery Manufacturers Association, speech to the American Soybean Association, July 9, 2012

This November, Californians will vote for or against Prop 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act.

A Majority of Americans Support Legalization of Marijuana Now for the First Time

This is an Open Letter to President Barack Obama Calling on him to legalize marijuana.

If you legalize marijuana, Mr. President, you’ll get the youth vote and win the 2012 Presidential election. It’s as simple as that. However you do it, Mr. President, if you legalize cannabis, you’ll then do for the young of this country what you did for the Mexican-American and Latino populations, and then what you did for the gay and lesbian communities earlier this year.

How is this so? …

By Dr. Warren M. Patch

After spending seven straight days in deep, intensive study and daily meditation at the World-Wide, Self-Realization Fellowship Convocation in Los Angeles, I think I finally got it all figured out:

Your Spine is Your Chi Chiminea for Your Transistor Radio.

What? Yep, that’s right. It’s that simple.

Yesterday – July 31 – witnessed a page right out of the annuals of Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin – pranksters from the Yippie days of the Seventies: several newspapers, including the prestigious LA Times and our local San Diego Reader, ran stories about how the US Attorney in San Diego, Laura Duffy, was starting to target pharmacies for illegal sales of drugs. (See this story from San Diego Free Press.)

The stories were sent to the media by emails that purported to be from Duffy’s office. But the emails were discovered to be phonies and Duffy had to send out her own email saying so. Hours later at a press conference, Americans for Safe Access, a national advocacy group for medicinal cannabis with a local chapter, announced that they were responsible for sending out the false emails. Eugene Davidovich, the head of the local chapter, stated that it was a “satirical” way for his group to call attention to the federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries. He called it civil disobedience.

It’s the 2nd Annual Hounds for Hope Walk, coming up on Saturday, July 28, 2012, at Dusty Rhodes Park, Ocean Beach, from 10:00am-1:00pm.

Hounds for Hope Walk is a canine cancer awareness and wellness festival designed to promote healthy care for our furry friends. A short walk around the perimeter of the park will kick off the event.

This is a family-friendly celebration and all leashed dogs are welcome for a great day of fun and hope.

Rally to Save Medical Cannabis

Join us, Wednesday July 25th – 12pm at the San Diego Federal Court House on 880 Front St. to rally against federal attacks on the Medical Cannabis Community!

After closing down over 200 dispensaries throughout San Diego County, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy has set her sights on Mother Earth’s Alternative Healing Cooperative the only Sheriff Permitted medical marijuana dispensary in the 4 most southern county’s in California. The Coop received an eviction notion to cease operation on Wed, July 25 due to the pressure from U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy’s office on there landlord.

Regulators Cover for Edison: “No One at Fault”

The announcement on July 19th by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) stating that Southern California Edison (SCE) – the owner of the San Onofre Nuclear Power station – had complied will all regulations is yet another dangerous case of regulators looking the other way coupled with gutted unsafe regulations, according to local anti-nuke activist groups. The groups include Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE), Citizens’ Oversight, and the Peace Resource Center of San Diego.

Listen to the activists:

Carol Jahnkow of the Peace Resource Center of San Diego:

“It’s a very sad commentary when regulatory agencies will allow transgressions to occur and will not speak out about them, to avoid scrutiny themselves.”

We have just heard that the San Diego Planning Commission this morning voted 4 to 1 against authorizing the so-called Quail Brush Power Plant, planned next to the Mission Trails Regional Park.

For now the power plant is dead. The plant applicant will most likely appeal to the San Diego City Council. The actual vote was to deny an application to order staff to conduct a full study on rezoning the area near Santee. The gas-fired plant application was to initiate a review of the East Elliott Community Plan by Charlotte, N.C.-based Cogentrix.

Here’s a Youtube video about Ocean Beach in the surfin mid-Sixties to the rowdy late Sixties. The artist is Trouble 6.

Come on inside to let us know your fave scene or other minutia of our OB history.

By Jim Hightower / NationofChange/ July 16, 2012

Some people are too smart for your own good.

Food geneticists, for example. These technicians have the smarts to tinker with the inner workings of Momma Nature’s own good foods — but not the smarts to leave well enough alone.

In fairness, much of their scientific tinkering has been beneficial. But during the past half-century, too much of their work devolved from tinkering into outright tampering with our food. This is mostly the result of money flowing to both private and public research centers from big agribusiness corporations that want nature’s design altered in ways that fatten their bottom lines. Never mind that the alterations created by these smart people are frequently not good for you and me.

Recently, I had the great pleasure of visiting a Buddhist monastery to do a walking meditation on a luminous summer morning. It was a beautiful experience but what struck me afterward was how quickly even many of those bent on being here now reached for their cell phones to check their text messages or play Angry Birds. As charmingly ironic as this is, it is also a perfect manifestation of what most ails us. We just can’t stop working/amusing ourselves to death.

Not too long after my encounter with the texting Buddhists, I came upon an illustrative article in the Travel section of the New York Times entitled “Call Waiting: ‘It’s Me, Vacation’: Can’t Let Go? Eight Rules for Getting the Most Out of Your Time Off” by Matt Richtel. Richtel’s article starts with the story of a failed vacation that left him “exhausted, defeated, and irritable” rather than refreshed and at peace. He then turns to the wisdom of neuroscientists, behavior experts, and business executives to learn that “letting go” is something you have to “practice on a daily basis.”

Assembly District 76 Small Business of the Year: OB PEOPLE’S ORGANIC FOOD MARKET

Each year the California Small Business Association partners with the California State Assembly to host California Small Business Day. An annual tradition since 2000, each Assemblymember chooses a small business in their district to honor the contributions that small business makes to California.

This year Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Market was chosen as the 76th Assembly District’s Small Business of the Year. Serving the community since 1972, People’s is unique in that they are San Diego’s only customer-owned grocery store. People’s members manage their co-op through a democratic process, holding quarterly meetings to make the major decisions.