Category: Health

Hundreds rallied in front of the San Onofre nuclear reactors on Sunday, March 11th, in commemoration of the disaster exactly one year ago at the Fukushima plant in Japan. And two speakers from Japan addressed the crowd and expressed appreciation for Americans’ solidarity during the warm afternoon near a cliff just off the Pacific.

Organized by local peace and anti-nuke groups, such as the Peace Resource Center in San Diego, and sponsored by a variety of progressive organizations, the rally was the largest demonstration at the San Onofre nukes in years. Protests against nuclear power were more widespread in the 1980’s, and the site just south of San Clemente has been the target of such protests over the decades.

Comics about women’s reproductive rights simply not “appropriate”

Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau takes on Texas’ controversial abortion laws this week, but you won’t see them in our big bold San Diego U-T. U-T editor Jeff Light joins a number of equally feckless editors in places like Kansas City, MO, pulling the strip completely, or providing “replacements.” Father knows best…

In today’s Doonesbury strip, a Texas woman walks into an abortion clinic and is introduced to the shaming room.

On the one-year anniversary of Japan’s nuclear nightmare at Fukushima, San Diego peace, anti-nuke, environmental, and civil libertarian activists will be converging on our own nuclear- nightmare-to-be – the San Onofre power plant. The action will be this Sunday, March 11th, from 1 to 3pm.

San Onofre Nuclear Power plant has the worst safety record of all US nuclear reactors …

by Dixon Guizot

When I called in to schedule a vasectomy a few months ago, my health insurance company said I’d have to first attend a one-hour class at a Point Loma medical office.

I showed up to the class along with 9 other guys, and the woman running the class kicked things off by asking each guy in the room how many kids he had.

I was the last guy she called on. I was the only one who said this: “I don’t have any kids.”

Women from all over San Diego County will rally in front of the US Federal Courthouse in San Diego on Thursday, March 8th, to support women’s rights to contraception on International Women’s Day. The rally will be held from noon to 1pm, and the Courthouse is located at 940 Front Street, in downtown San Diego.

The rally will address a number of recent attacks on a woman’s right to contraception and family planning:

• US Rep. Darrell Issa convenes a hearing about contraception with 5 men on the panel, and no women.

• Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum touts the “dangers” of contraceptives and that sex is “only for purposes of procreation.”

• Foster Friess, main donor to a super PAC for Rick Santorum, suggests women use aspirin as a contraception method.

• Rush Limbaugh, on a national radio show, calls a young woman a slut and prostitute because she speaks out in favor of birth control.

By Dr. Mercola / Mercola.com / Originally published Feb. 28, 2012

High-risk patients with chronic, underlying health conditions that increase the risk of severe illness and death after influenza infection are among the first of all groups that public health officials target to receive flu vaccinations.

This population is targeted for vaccination despite the fact that very few studies have ever examined the efficacy – or safety – of vaccinations in this high risk group…

One recent study on the effectiveness of the 2009-2010 season’s H1N1 vaccine provides solid evidence against the effectiveness of vaccinating persons at high risk for complications from influenza infection.

With the first anniversary of the Fukushima disaster approaching, expect a barrage of “experts” braying that there was little to no damage to human health as a result of Fukushima’s radioactive releases.

But others say thousands have already died in the US alone as a result of Fukushima fallout.

This coming March 11 will mark the first anniversary of Fukushima’s multiple meltdown nuclear disaster.

The mainstream media has already begun trotting out assorted “experts” to assure us all is well and no one’s been harmed by all the radiation the reactors released. For example, on March 2, The Wall Street Journal-Japan ran a piece, “Fukushima Health Impact: Minimal?”

It lead off, “The health threat from radiation in the wake of the Fukushima accident is extremely low…according to a panel of American radiation experts who studied the Japanese case for the past year.”

Judge Cancels Oral Arguments in Case involving Briana Bilbray and Dispensaries Seeking Injunction to Stop Federal Crackdown

By Eugene Davidovich / Special to the OB Rag

SAN DIEGO – In October of last year several U.S. Attorneys from the Department of Justice (DOJ) held a press conference in Sacramento announcing a new Federal crackdown on medical marijuana patients and providers across California.

Days after the announcement, hundreds of letters from the DOJ were sent to landlords renting commercial spaces to dispensaries threatening criminal prosecution and property forfeiture, unless their dispensary tenants were immediately evicted. Similar letters were sent to patients threatening federal criminal indictments.

In San Diego, the attacks involved both the DOJ and local officials. Jan Goldsmith, the San Diego City Attorney with support from City Council also wrote landlords and patients, making similar threats. In addition, his office filed almost one hundred lawsuits against the facilities claiming they were in violation of local zoning ordinances.

By OB Joe

Hey y’all! Hi ya’all doin’? You made it through the week – cowabunga dude!

Doug Porter couldn’t write up his First Cuppa Coffee this morning cause he’s been ill. So, once again Editordude calls me at the last moment to fill in. I told him that Doug usually has a theme to his column and I can’t do that. He says not to worry. So, here ya go – a bunch of newsclips that were lining my bathroom wall:

Chris’ Deli almost robbed early this (Friday) morning. One of the workers at the Deli, located at the corner of West Point Loma Blvd and Sunset Cliffs Blvd, walked in early only to find two guys trying to break into the store’s safe. He told investigators that one of the guys pointed a handgun at him, so he took off. But he watched what happened from a safe distance. He saw the guys then place a sledgehammer and a gray trash can into the bed of an older dark pickup with a California license plate. They both had on white bandanas and hooded zip-up sweatshirts, one orange and the other yellow. Oh, btw, the first U-T version of the attempted theft called Chris’ Deli, “the Princess Deli and Liquor”.

What a rip! Thanks a lot Carquest Auto Parts! SDGLN.com reports that Golden State Supply, doing business as CARQUEST Auto Parts stores in the San Diego area, has agreed to pay a $242,715 judgment after being accused of charging customers more than the advertised or posted price on items when they were scanned at check-out counters. In addition, inspectors observed in eight stores that the cash registers failed to display the price of items where the consumer could see the display, which is a violation of state law.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / Feb. 19, 2012

I first saw The Vagina Monologues in 1998. One of my sisters bought tickets for the women in the family while I was back east for a visit from California. We trundled off to Manhattan to see playwright Eve Ensler perform her one-woman show at an off-Broadway theater. It was a stunning celebration of things down there, one that stunned my then 70-something mother into silence, which was a first and, perhaps, a function of her Depression era Southern upbringing. The rest of us cheered all the way home. The play was, as the title indicates, a lot of talk about vaginas. Or, more accurately, about vulvas, labia and clitorises, pubic hair and orgasms, and the grand diversity of women and girls who possess them — with varying degrees of familiarity.

By OB Joe

All right, kids – time to face the new week. The weekend is over and … but wait – THIS JUST IN: It’s a national holiday today … for some – The Presidents’ Day. Okay, time to figure out if you still need to go somewhere or do something for this holiday to dead presidents. Unfortunately most working people – who have jobs – do not have this day off, and still went to that job this morning. Post offices are closed, as are banks, some schools. So, ya still have time to light up and ponder what you’ve missed. Here, let us help … here is a light for you:

Stephen Colbert returns Monday night! Looks like he was caring for his 91 year old mom. A fresh “The Colbert Report” will be shown on Comedy Central. There was no official explanation on Wednesday, when production was abruptly halted. Repeats of “The Colbert Report” were shown Wednesday and Thursday; the show doesn’t tape on Fridays. Plus, there was no formal statement but the network confirmed Colbert’s return. People close to Mr. Colbert were quoted as saying that that he was caring for his 91-year-old mother, but that was not confirmed. Colbert responded to fans’ well wishes on Twitter on Friday night: “My family and I would like to thank everyone who has offered their thoughts and prayers,” Colbert wrote. “We are grateful and touched by your concern.”

Over the past few weeks a seemingly endless parade of dour old pontificating shriveled up white guys have set us straight on contraception, abortion, sex and even the definition of life itself. They have done it at all levels of government, from the pulpits and on the airwaves.

Now that they have fixed the economy, brought back jobs and lowered the deficits, those who have been aptly described as “the best minds of the thirteenth century” can now turn their attention to what they really seem to enjoy—sex talk and lots of it!