OB Rag

By Norma Damashek / San Diego Free Press

I took a mindful walk through downtown La Jolla this morning. It was my version of a meditative exercise that’s supposed to smooth your soul and clear your mind.

Here’s how it’s done: you put one foot in front of the other in the usual way of walking while you notice what’s around you.

First you notice. And then you let it go.

Notice…and let it go.

These are some of the things I noticed on my mindful walk:

By Judi Curry

The well has run dry! There is nothing to be had anywhere. Life is a sad, lonely spiral, as the tap only trickles its remaining rust and dirt from the spigot. What the hell is she talking about, you ask? On line dating, of course!

I’ve tapped into Zoosk. I turned the spigot off on eHarmony. I cleaned out the faucet on Mingle. I prayed for a good catch at JD. I fished at Plenty of Fish. I didn’t care if I was overweight at Big and Beautiful People Meet. I didn’t lie about my age at Senior People Meet. It wasn’t my time at OurTime.com. There were no rich men at RichMen.com. There were no matches at Match.com and several other sites that I don’t remember for I was with them a very short time.

By Marjorie Cohn / truthout

Just as Bradley Manning’s court-martial was getting underway, another brave whistleblower dropped a bombshell into the media: The Obama administration is collecting data on every telephone call we make. Nearly 64 years to the day after George Orwell published his prescient book 1984, we have learned that the “Thought Police” are indeed watching every one of us. “They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type,” Edward Snowden told the Washington Post.

A former undercover CIA employee who has worked at the National Security Agency (NSA) for four years, Snowden provided a secret order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to the Guardian. The order requires Verizon on an “ongoing daily basis” to provide the NSA information about all phone calls in its system both in the United States and other countries.

Firehouse Subs
3625 Midway Dr., Ste. U
San Diego, CA 92110
619-925-3473

I received a flyer in the mail for the “Firehouse Subs” and thought I’d take Monica out with me and try it. I was not sure where it was, but guessed that it must be at the Food Court in the Vons Shopping Lot.

(I was wrong – but Wow! What in the world happened to the Food Court? Why did all those restaurants close down? More on that at the end …)

However, when we got there we realized our error – it is actually next to the veterinarian office, on the corner, across from Kinko’s in the Vons shopping center.) And you know what else?

Editor: The following is the News Release straight from Mayor Filner’s office on the passage of his budget on Monday, June 10th.

CITY COUNCIL ADOPTS MAYOR’S FRAMEWORK
FOR FINANCIAL SUCCESS IN THE YEAR AHEAD!!!

Mayor’s First Budget Focuses on Economic Recovery and Includes a Five-Year Labor Deal that Provides the City with Financial Stability

Mayor Bob Filner’s balanced budget and financial priorities were adopted by the San Diego City Council late this evening. A 7-2 majority of the Council sided with the Mayor and made an unequivocal commitment to fiscal responsibility and enhanced city services for the coming year.

Editor: The following press release was received from Councilmember Kevin Faulconer’s office on the issue of Mayor Bob Filner’s City budget – just approved Monday, June 10th, by a 7 – 2 vote of the Council. Faulconer was one of the votes opposed. We publish the statement verbatim, including the headlines.

Faulconer’s Labor Deal Ok’d to Save Taxpayers $1 Billion

While Mayor Filner’s Budget Delays Tens of Millions of Dollars in Neighborhood Services

Today, the City Council approved a historic labor agreement after tough negotiations led by Councilmember Kevin Faulconer. The five-year agreement will save San Diegans nearly $1 billion by implementing the five year pensionable pay freeze called for in 2012’s

Editor: The following “Reader Rant” is written by Geoff Page, a former chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, as a response to presentations by City planners of the new Draft OB Community Plan Update. Geoff is responding to a report in the OB Rag of Maxx Stalheim’s presentation to the OB Planning Board on June 5th, plus to other sources as well. Maxx Stalheim is the senior planner involved in the 11 year process of rewriting OB’s Precise Plan, and he did announce he was retiring next month at the OB Planning Board meeting on June 5. The OB Rag has invited Mr Stalheim to write a statement about the new Draft Update.

By Geoff Page

I am really happy Maxx Stalheim is retiring, we all should be.

Let’s look at the “highlights” Stalheim described. The first one was :

The Third Corner
2265 Bacon Street
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619.223.2700

Last Sunday. two new new friends, Susan and John, joined me for dinner at “The Third Corner” for their Prix-Fixe Sunday dinner.

“The Third Corner” is where one of my favorite restaurants used to be – the Belgian Lion -. I was sorry to see it close down, but have been to “The Third Corner” several times and have enjoyed it. This was the first time I had been there for their special Sunday menu, and it was also the first time for Susan and John.

We had barely been sitted when we were served fresh bread and butter.

There was a lot going on at the last OB Planning Board meeting; there was the unveiling of the new design for World Oil’s Sunset Plaza and a presentation by City planners on the new draft OB Community Plan Update. And there was more ….

Meeting in the community room of the OB Rec Center last Wednesday, June 5th, Chair Tom Gawronski gaveled the meeting to order right around 6pm. He had a quorum: newly appointed Andrew Waltz of District 1, Board members Barbara Schmidtknecht and Kevin Becker from District 2, Scott Therkalsen for District 3, Ronson Shamoun District 4 (Kelly Taing was absent), Giovanni Ingolia and Bill Bushe District 5, Tom and Pete Ruscitti District 6, and Raeanon Hartigan for District 7.

Recent renovations at Point Loma Nazarene University’s baseball field has earned it a new title: “America’s Most Scenic Ballpark”. This title was bestowed on the field, named after the university’s long-time coach, Carroll B Land, by Baseball America Magazine, which is considered the No. 1 authority on college baseball.

This article has several messages I would like to discuss. Last year I wrote about the deplorable condition of Ft. Rosecrans. Just a few weeks ago I was quoted by the “editordude” in an article regarding the condition of Ft. Rosecrans during the Memorial Day holiday.

To briefly recap that quote, several of the women from my widow support group went up to Ft. Rosecrans to visit our husbands. Even though we know they are not “there” – talking to them is no different than when they were with us – they don’t listen and they didn’t respond. However, whereas we used to be able to sit under a tree on the green grass and have a picnic, the green grass and the trees are gone.

The newly re-formed OB Citizens Watch is having their monthly meeting tonight, Monday, June 10th. It will be begin at 7pm at the OB Woman’s Club at 2160 Abbot Street.

One of the group’s sub-committees, Clean-Streets Initiative is sponsoring a beach cleanup and graffiti paint out starting at the OB Pier on Wednesday at noon. They are asking locals and merchants to come out or send an employee to help for an hour or two.