OB Rag

By J. Harry Jones/ U-T San Diego / January 17, 2012

PALOMAR MOUNTAIN — A nonprofit citizen’s group hoping to save Palomar Mountain State Park from permanent closure this summer has mounted a pledge drive with the goal of raising $60,000 annually.

Last month the Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park Committee submitted a proposal to the Department of State Parks offering a straightforward deal: If they’ll keep Palomar open, the committee will cover the deficit between revenue and operating costs from public donations.

The park is one of 70 parks slated for permanent closure this July and already all the campgrounds have been shuttered. Rick Barclay, chairman of the committee, said the park isn’t self-sufficient, meaning revenue doesn’t cover expenses, even after the operating budget’s been slashed to the bone.

Ocean Defenders Alliance Says Abandoned Fishing Nets Threaten Marine Life

By 10News.com / January 17, 2012

SAN DIEGO — A team of scuba divers on Monday worked to remove hundreds of pounds of abandoned fishing gear off the coast of San Diego that was threatening sea life.

The mission of the Ocean Defenders Alliance is to clean and protect coastal waters from “ghost gear,” or leftover commercial fishing equipment, such as nets.

“These nets are killing all the time,” said Kurt Lieber, who is with the Ocean Defenders Alliance. “Even today, they released some fish from it to live another day.”

On Monday, Lieber and volunteers from Ocean Defenders Alliance removed about 400 pounds of commercial fishing nets about two miles south of the Point Loma marina.

The Senate is considering holding a vote on an internet censorship bill (PIPA) next Tuesday, January 24. Help us stop them from voting the wrong way! Please share this infographic now to educate people on the dangers of PIPA and SOPA.

The Ocean Beach Historical Society Presents:

PHOTOGRAPHER JOE EWING

“THE SEQUEL”

Thursday, January 19th, at 7 PM

P.L. United Methodist Church,

1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B.

You won’t want to miss the Jan. 19th OBHS’s program by Ocean Beach Photographer Joe Ewing. We’re happy Joe’s back for the second year. Last year we were blown-away by Joe’s incredible O.B. photos with fascinating stories and tips on photo- graphing. He had so many images he couldn’t fit them all into one program. You’re in for a treat with this sequel of Joe’s current photos.

After positioning myself on the median along Harbor Drive near the very front of Sunday’s Martin Luther King Day Parade, I watched the entire event and took over 160 photos of the marchers, floats, bands, and collections of people participating.

And I can say this without hesitation: the Martin Luther King Day Parade is dominated by law enforcement and the military. There were more of these groups than civic organizations, churches or sororities.

The San Diego Police Department, the Border Patrol, the Harbor Patrol, ICE, Homeland Security, the San Diego Sheriffs, the ROTC marchers, and even the FBI marched in this parade that honors a man of peace and justice. I mean the FBI persecuted Martin Luther King to the hilt – its leader, J. Edgar Hoover believed King was the most dangerous man in America. The Border Patrol, ICE, and Homeland Security all routinely violate peoples’ rights.

Come inside for the photo gallery!

Candidates Differ on treating Occupy protesters and whether they’d retain Police Chief Lansdowne.

Editor: Last Friday the 13th of January, the four major candidates for San Diego mayor held a debate. It was the very first time that all four major candidates appeared on the stage together as Bonnie Dumanis and DeMaio had been avoiding earlier debate opportunities (they both declined to attend the debate held by the San Diego Labor Council in November of 2011). But it was a debate – held at the Grant Hotel – that was a ‘pay for play’ debate, as it charged an entry fee. This meant, of course, that ordinary San Diego citizens and voters weren’t there.

So, to remedy that, here are two versions of the debate to consider, the first from the Daily Transcript and the other from the U-T:

Four mayoral candidates spar over plans and policies

By Claire Trageser / The Daily Transcript / January 14, 2012

All four major San Diego mayoral candidates squared off in a debate for the first time Friday, answering pointed questions from members of the local media about their plans and policies.

Editor: Along with the following article by U-T reporter Mike Lee about the erosion in Sunset Cliffs Park, was a photo purporting to show drastic erosion at the Park. But the photo (see above) is misleading as it shows a hillside full of ruts and erosion runways – yet a hillside I know well. The hillside is just beyond the intersection of Sunset Cliffs Blvd and Ladera Street. I know it well because I lived in the immediate neighborhood as a teenager and played on that very hill and others in the area. I can attest that that same hillside has looked that way since I was 13 (now I’m sixty-something).

Yes, there is erosion at the Cliffs and there always has been. The Cliffs are made of sandstone and that’s what sandstone does with time. Look at what happened to the famous “Needle’s Eye” that once rose above the ocean near the famous surfing spot “No Surf”. Should we have built walls around it or support braces to save it? Of course not.

But the debate over what to do and how to “control” the erosion at Sunset Cliffs goes on, but that discussion is not helped with misleading photos.

By Mike Lee / U-T San Diego / Originally published Jan. 7, 2012

Across Sunset Cliffs Natural Park, fast-flowing water has carved chasms in the iconic seaside spot so that one prominent website recently named it one of the nation’s top five “disappearing places.”

By Nadin Abbott / East County Magazine / Jan. 15, 2012

On Thursday January 11th, 2012 Mr. Derek Casady of La Jolla brought a proposal for the June Ballot allowing for voluntary public financing of elections in the City of San Diego. We are just starting to see the toxic effects of the Citizens United Supreme Court Decision on our democracy. In that decision, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations could pour virtually unlimited amounts into funding campaigns for candidates and political initiatives, opening wide the floodgates for corruption and undue influence on public officials.

The (mis-) adventures of our pals traveling to Occupy Congress demonstrations that begin tomorrow, Jan. 17th, was picked up the Rachel Maddow Blog (see above). This drove hundreds of viewers to our site – thanks Rachel – we watch you nearly every night. By 9:00 a.m. this morning (1/16/12) the post had over 1700 hits.

Occupy San Diego Road to Congress – Update Day 2

From Las Crusas to the Amarillo 13

By Eugene Davidovich/Special to the OB Rag / January 15, 2011

With no breaks from the road all night, and after traveling hundreds of miles through California and Arizona, the group of activists from Opccupy San Diego finally got a chance to stretch their legs in Las Cruces, New Mexico in the early hours of Saturday, January 14th.

When the bus pulled into the Las Cruses station at 7:30am, everyone’s hopes for a working restroom were shattered as the sign on the door read, “Restroom Not Operational.”

To add to the difficulties, weather outdoors was a crisp 30 degrees Fahrenheit, a sharp change form the relatively blazing 70 degrees most protesters are used to in San Diego.

At the Las Cruses Greyhound station the group was met by Jeff and Stella Miller from Occupy Las Cruces who brought loafs of freshly baked hot bread and coffee for the travelers. After everyone got their fill and had an opportunity to stretch, the group quickly organized a small rally with protest signs and chants outside the bus station.

It appears our brothers and sisters from Occupy San Diego who are on their way to Washington DC to “Occupy Congress” were rudely thrown off the Greyhound bus by an unsympathetic bus driver. This was in Amarillo, Texas in the middle of the night, Saturday, Jan 14th.

Here is a report from Michael All-In Ponsler:

“Don Ainsworthy, Greyhound’s most psychotic driver really screwed up tonight. This man was completely rude to all passengers waiting to board and when he saw our Occupy logos he made several negative comments.

Once we were on the bus this guy began shouting at people to sit down and shut up. This did not go over well with any of the passengers, but I made it clear that we will not be treated so disrespectfully.