OB Rag

Editor: The following is the text that was handed out by the Save the Bill of Rights coalition on February 11th at their rally in front of the State Democrats’ Convention at the Convention Center in downtown San Diego.

REPEAL THE NDAA – The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012

During last December, both the US Senate and the House of Representatives passed this Act and President Obama signed it into law on December 31, 2011. It is now the law of the land.

The Act includes provisions that would allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens without any recourse to legal interventions or civil rights if accused of a “belligerent act” or any terror-related offense.

These provisions mean that anyone of us – or any group of us – could be imprisoned without arraignment, without access to a lawyer, without access to habeas corpus, without a jury trial, without due process – without the protection of the Bill of Rights, our basic, fundamental rights as citizens.

By Robert Reich / Robert Reich’s Blog – RSN / February 21, 2012

Nothing drives voter sentiment like the price of gas – now averaging $3.56 a gallon, up 30 cents from the start of the year. It’s already hit $4 in some places. The last time gas topped $4 was 2008.

And nothing energizes Republicans like rising energy prices. Last week House Speaker John Boehner told Republicans to take advantage of voters’ looming anger over prices at the pump. On Thursday House Republicans passed a bill to expand offshore drilling and force the White House to issue a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. The tumult prompted the Interior Department to announce on Friday expanded oil exploration in the Arctic.

If prices at the pump continue to rise, expect more gas wars.

In fact, oil prices are rising for three reasons – none of which has to do with offshore drilling or the XL pipeline.

No. 1. Caltrans’ Screw-up: the Drive out of Ocean Beach on I-8
There is only one lane for motorists leaving Ocean Beach and getting on I-8 East from Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, the main north-south avenue into and out of OB. There used to be 2 lanes – and yes, they did have to converge as you drove onto I-8. But with the elimination of one of those, there are now just not sufficient lanes. There is a one lane for turning onto Nimitz Boulevard but hardly anyone takes it. There are two lanes that are available if you want to go north across the bridge over the San Diego River and head toward SeaWorld. Hmmm. Is there a connection there? I know of at least one accident that occurred in the lane that is destined for the freeway, an accident of 4 vehicles – that I firmly believe would not have happened if there had been two lanes for the waiting vehicles. So, only one lane gets you onto one of the largest freeways in Southern California, but there are two lanes if you want to go to SeaWorld.

No. 2. Caltrans’ Screw-up: Only 1 Lane for transition from 5 North to 8 East.

This is really a no-brainer, but there’s always backed up traffic on 5 North waiting to make the transition onto 8 East, as there is only one lane. These are two of the most important and major freeways in this part of the world, the 5 and the 8. But there is only one lane between them if you are going north on 5. This causes crashes, rear-enders and a lot of anxiety among drivers trying to make the change. There are two lanes – thankfully- that get you into OB and the beach area.

By Jed Sanders / Nug Magazine / Originally published Jan. 6, 2012

Mario Acevedo Torero pushes art beyond the level of a tangible commodity and employs it to build community, beautify surroundings, enrich lives, and encourage understanding. Born in Lima, Peru in 1947, Mario was introduced to the arts at a very young age by his father, renowned artist Guillermo Acevedo. His family came to the United States when Mario was 12 years old.

He established Downtown San Diego’s first art gallery along with his father, which later became the first multicultural arts center. He later opened Acevedo Gallery in Mission Hills, which operated throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s. His public art can be seen in numerous places locally, including Chicano Park, various spots around the Boulevard, and UCSD in La Jolla. He has also created public works throughout other cities in the United States as well as internationally in Peru, Japan, Costa Rica, Barcelona, and Czechoslovakia.

Mario is a self-proclaimed “Artivist”; a term that is very fitting to his visionary and warrior-like persona. He has founded, and is active, in many art, cultural, and politically related groups and organizations. He gives his time and knowledge to teach painting to people of all ages through his Cosmic School of Art. Mario also currently operates the Mundo Gallery in University Heights.

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 Joel A. Harrison, PhD, MPH / East County Magazine / Feb. 17, 2012

“If we had free market competition, SDG&E would have to absorb the costs of the fire. Quite simply, if they raised their rates, consumers would switch to other providers.”

Sempra-owned utility San Diego Gas & Electric wants “San Diego-area utility customers to pay for nearly all of an estimated $463 million in cost not covered by insurance from the catastrophic 2007 wildfires that were triggered in large part by its power lines,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. “At stake is who ultimately pays for the fire’s destruction — ratepayers or shareholders.” SDG&E wants the ratepayers to cover 95 to 100 percent of excess wildfire and related litigation costs.

Twelve years ago, California deregulated utility and energy companies based on the promise that free market forces, i.e. competition, would lead to an expansion of available energy, better quality service, and lower prices–the age-old mantra of free-market advocates. Instead we saw exponentially increasing costs with industry contrived rolling brown-outs and black-outs. We saw the greed of an unregulated industry almost single-handedly destroy the economy of an entire State. Finally, the State partially re-regulated by giving authority to the California Public Utility Commission to oversee rate increases.

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!

In response to last Wednesday’s kick-off press conference for the Millionaires Tax Initiative here in San Diego, Channels 6 and 10 were careful to give well over half of the time in their stories to local right-wing libertarian anti-tax nut Richard Rider.

Rider, the chairman of the San Diego Tax Fighters, opined that:

“If people think that rich people are greedy, why would they think that they wouldn’t move out of state if the taxes got too high? . . . It’s a very interesting conflict in their reasoning.”

Other than mischaracterizing a call for the top 1% to pay their fair share to help support education and vital public services as an ad hominem attack on the greedy rich and making the evidence-free claim that an extra 3% in taxes will force Hollywood stars and CEO’s to strap their hot-tubs on their Mercedes and head for Arizona, he was spot on.

For those who are wondering, there is zero evidence to support the claim that higher individual or corporate tax rates in the past hurts job creation or forced a mass migration of afflicted plutocrats. Indeed as Warren Buffet has pointed out, there was actually more job creation when taxes were higher on the rich than they are now.

An Aide of Opponent Scott Peters Attempts to Disrupt Kick-Off Event

By Nadin Abbott / February 18, 2012

Lori Saldaña officially launched her primary run for the June 5th election, for Congressional District 52. She is running against Scott Peters on the Democratic Party Primary. During the event Saldaña highlighted her achievements in Sacramento during her six years in the Legislature.

During the event a young man with her opponent Scott Peters’ Campaign tried to disrupt it. His efforts to mar the kick-off event was prevented by volunteers.

During Saldana’s six years she worked on clean water, which is not a “partisan issue.” It is also not a partisan issue to work on clean sea food, in a city that relies on sea food. During those years she worked with Rick Rudy, a commercial fisherman, on these issues. Mr. Rudy is a commercial lobsterman, and a registered Republican.

Saldaña also emphasized the fight for the middle class and labor, and how wages have stalled over the last thirty years. As she pointed out, a master carpenter wages start at around twenty-five dollars, where they were thirty years ago. Another issue that matters to the grass roots are college loans, and access to college.

Have you been following the story about the killing of an unarmed Camp Pendleton Marine by an Orange County Sheriff, a little more than a week ago – up in San Clemente? It reportedly happened at 4:45 in the morning on February 7th.

The basic story line from the Sheriffs is that because Sgt. Manny Loggins was acting irrationally and endangering his two daughters who were in the back seat of the family’s SUV, a deputy alongside the vehicle shot him to prevent him from driving away and causing harm to the girls, aged 9 and 14.

Loggins had supposedly crashed his GMC Yukon through a gate in the parking lot of San Clemente High School early in the morning. Reportedly he then refused to comply with a deputy that confronted him; then he “disappears” into the darkness and upon his return, he got back into the vehicle and again refusing orders, was trying to drive away when he was shot. The girls, allegedly, told sheriffs that dad was “acting oddly”.

Right off the top, there are so many problems with this story, that when I first read it last week, I earmarked my brain to follow it as it developed. An unarmed Marine shot right in front of his daughters?

And develop it did. Let’s see if we can follow its twists and turns:

The U-T first picked the story up on Thursday, Feb. 9th – two days after the incident.