OB Rag

Three weeks after the fact, the banking giant fixes its own error.

On June 8^th, I wrote an article about how my foreign language student, Monica, made a withdrawal from her checking account leaving an additional amount of $300 in her account. The following day she went to make a $20 purchase from her account only to have it denied because there was no money left in the account. After a frustrating talk with the bank manager, the $300 was put back into the account a few days later and we were told that Wells Fargo would do further investigation into the matter.

This is an update on what happened:

On June 28^th a call came to Monica from the Supervisor of Security at the Wells Fargo headquarters in San Francisco. Her name was Sheila. She originally would not talk to me, even though Monica had given them permission to do so. I had to wait until Monica came home from school. Putting Sheila on speaker phone, Monica iterated that I had permission to speak for her, and the conversation began.

Not allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good, progressives should be happy that the Supreme Court dealt the Neanderthal right a huge blow by upholding the constitutionality of health care reform. Now 30 million more Americans will have access to health care, parents will be allowed to keep their adult children on their policies longer, and those with pre-existing conditions can no longer be excluded from coverage among other good results. This is a real, tangible win for scores of Americans, but not all of us.

On the political front, years of insane ranting about death panels, the end of American liberty, and creeping socialism got slam dunked by a conservative judge who joined the liberals in affirming the lion’s share of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. This will not stop the bullshit machine at Fox News and elsewhere from cranking out more lies, but it will most likely help more than hurt Obama’s campaign for a second term. With no alternative to offer, all the right has, as Paul Krugman wrote last week, is prevarication and cruelty. Not an attractive combination even when being presented by the ever-so-suave Mitt Romney.

From San Diego Free Press

California became the first state in the country yesterday to enact tough consumer protection legislation holding to a higher standard that will help financially troubled borrowers stay in their homes. The legislation, SB 900 and AB 278, will make California the first state to prohibit lenders from “dual tracking,” the practice of negotiating with clients to modify a mortgage while concurrently pursuing foreclosure, outlaw “robosigning”, allow state agencies and private citizens to sue financial companies if lenders willfully or recklessly violate the law, and simplify dealings between homeowners and banks by requiring a single customer representative for consumers to work with. The bill requires all lenders to abide by a number of provisions of the national mortgage settlement negotiated by state attorneys general earlier this year to rein in foreclosure abuses.

The Assembly approved the legislation on a 53-25 vote, and the Senate voted 25-13. From San Diego Free Press

Labor and the STOP TPP Coalition Sponsor a Kick-Off Press Conference / Protest Rally / Street Theater

Today begins a week of protests and teach-ins aimed at raising public awareness about the negotiations taking place at San Diego’s Hilton Bayfront Convention Center concerning a the 13^th round of negotiations on a proposed trade pact called The Trans Pacific Partnership(TPP). The nations involved are the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia,Vietnam, Brunei ,Chile and Peru. Japan, Mexico and Canada have indicated a desire to join. The economic power of this group is more than 40% larger than the 27-nation European Union. While the claimed purpose of TPP is to promote development and create jobs, protesters say this meeting is one of the final conclaves to secretly negotiate the economic structural adjustments necessary to appease the world’s largest multinational banks and multi-unit

The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp, our ships had hemp sails, and pioneers’ covered wagons were covered in — what else? — hemp.

AlterNet / By Jill Richardson

David Bronner was recently arrested for attempting to eat a healthy breakfast. Does that sound stupid? Even once you know the details, it should sound stupid: Bronner’s food of choice was bread spread with hemp seed oil he pressed himself from industrial hemp plants, which he did in front of the White House under a banner reading: “Dear Mr. President Let U.S. Farmers Grow Hemp.”

Bronner’s company, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, spends over $100,000 to buy over 20 tons of hemp seed oil from Canada each year to use in its soaps. Bronner wants to give that money to American farmers instead.

If it’s legal to use in soaps – and even to eat – then why is it illegal to grow here? Because according to the government, hemp is a drug. Specifically, it’s considered identical to its close cousin, marijuana. But Bronner says it is no more a drug than a poppyseed bagel. The plants he gathered seed from to press his oil in front of the White House had been tested to confirm they contained less than 0.3 percent THC, which means it would be “impossible to get a high of any kind” even from smoking extremely large quantities of it. A more likely result from smoking that much industrial hemp would be a bad headache or perhaps a sore throat.

Immigration or a Historical Labor Issue?

By Herman Baca / Committee on Chicano Rights / San Diego Free Press

To this date, it never ceases to amaze me that the biggest problem/issue (the war in Afghanistanand economy) for the great-great-great grandchildren of immigrants who immigrated to the U.S.is…. immigration? This week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Arizona’s (Nazizona) draconian SB 1070’s main provision, “show me your papers.” For the remainder of this article, please go to San Diego Free Press.

The fight for Women’s Reproductive Freedom has been going on in every country around the world. Jane Cawthorne has been a long-time advocate for women’s rights in Canada. She is the writer of the play “The Abortion Monologues”. The play, according to Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation,“…gives a voice to the perspectives of real women who are all too often missing from the public debate. These powerful monologues have the potential to change the way people talk about abortion.”

In the following article, Jane asks us to take a moment to appreciate what our work can accomplish.

By Jane Cawthorne

Calgary, Alberta – These days with women’s reproductive rights under constant attack, especially in the United States, it’s sometimes hard to remember our true goals are in the reproductive justice movement. While we are busy trying to explain what’s wrong with legislating mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions, or explaining why it’s unacceptable and unethical for doctors to be forced to lie to women about their pregnancies so they won’t consider abortion, or fighting to make sure women facing poverty can access contraception, we might need a reminder of what winning really looks like when it comes to reproductive rights.

For the remainder of this article, please go to San Diego Free Press

The middle class is being hollowed out; increasingly, there are the super-super-rich, and there are the rest of us.

AlterNet / By Sarah Jaffe

June 29, 2012 | This week, David Segal at the New York Times broke the news to America that not only was Apple — the computer and gadget manufacturer formerly seen as a symbol of good old American ingenuity — making its profits on the backs of abused factory workers in China, but also on poorly paid store employees here in the US.

Apple store workers, he wrote, make up a large majority of Apple’s US workforce—30,000 out of 43,000 employees in this country—and they make about $25,000 a year, or about $12 an hour.

Lawrence Mishel at the Economic Policy Institute notes that that’s just a dollar above the federal poverty level. This for a company that paid nine of its top executives a total of $441 million in 2011.

“The discrepancy between Apple’s profits/executive pay and its compensation to its workers is a particularly glaring example of what is occurring in the wider economy,” Mishel writes.

Water mains in San Diego are breaking at a pace of more than 100 a year and emergency water valves warrant investigation

By Kelly Thornton / Investigative Newsource / July 2, 2012

During a water main break at Famosa Slough, a wetland area between Ocean Beach and the San Diego Sports Arena, it took city crews six hours to find a functioning valve to shut off water to the burst pipe.

Jim Peugh, who lives in the area and chairs a watchdog committee that oversees water rates, couldn’t believe it.

“There were literally two pickup trucks driving around trying to find one valve that would turn off the break,” he said.

During the break in September, 2006, workers scrambled back and forth between diagrams and the street, checking valve locations before finding one that worked. In the meantime, two million gallons of water spewed into the slough.

Today – Monday, July 2nd – Ocean Beach gets its Brighton Avenue beach restroom back – or at least a new version. The beach “comfort station” is unveiled at an 11:00 a.m. ceremony today. Councilmember Kevin Faulconer will be on hand as he opens this facility for the public to enjoy for many summers to come.

The City is so proud of this. The restrooms will officially open on Ocean Beach in time for the Fourth of July holiday.

A press release from Faulconer’s office went to great lengths to hide the frustrations and false-starts that the City forced the community to go through with a more-than two year effort to replace the old structure, which fell apart so many moons ago, we forgot when. (We really can’t fault Faulconer’s office for attempting a positive spin on the entire thing.) But here is what it stated:

The City of San Diego went to great lengths to replace a condemned 1960’s-era restroom structure with a new building that incorporates the distinctive character of Ocean Beach to delight locals and visitors alike.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / July 1, 2012

Warning for the faint of heart: Adult language ahead.

We were a small group, three women and three men, assembled at a coffeehouse last week to talk about a business venture. We were mostly strangers to each other, but for the meeting’s host. Still, the inevitable quests to establish credibility were civil and benign.

Here at OB Rag central, there’s no one left as we’ve all gone camping.

But we’ve left an OPEN THREAD – so readers can speak their minds and express their thoughts – someone will be monitoring comments to let newbies in. Just add your comments at the bottom here and we’ll see you next week.

And don’t forget – the good folks over at San Diego Free Press are still in town, so use this weekend to check them out.