OB Rag

The American military’s involvement in Iraq is over, with the formal ending of the engagement being announced yesterday by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at a very low-key ceremony at the Iraqi airport. Attended, by the way, by very few Iraqi politicians and civilian leaders.

This war – which cost 4500 American lives and 32,000 wounded, and over (a conservative estimate) 100,000 dead Iraqis – which forced us to spend $1 trillion, was one of the most shameful periods in modern American history.

This has to be said – as the corporate media, the pundits and politicians declare how proud they are of American combat troops while saying nothing about all the lies that the Bush administration pushed in order to invade that country in March of 2003.

In this celebratory atmosphere – we need to remind ourselves of the lies that got us there.

Lie No. 1: Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government had weapons of mass destruction. None were ever found.

Lie No. 2: Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks on 9/11. Totally not true.

Lie No. 3: the Iraqis had connections with al Queda. Totally not true.

It was the Fall of 2002 and the winds of war were whipping mightily from Washington, DC. President Bush and his cabinet were banging the drums for an attack on Iraq. They had weapons of mass destruction, were tied into the attacks of 9/11 – fresh in the nation’s conscience -, harbored Al Queda terrorists. All lies that everyone now accepts as misrepresentations.

But there were already chants emanating from the citizenry: “no war!” and “Peace now!”

And in Ocean Beach, that cute, little waterfront village of hippies and retirees, several hundred people were marching and rallying – calling for no war, attempting to galvanize their neighbors to join in calls to keep the peace.

The rallies in OB were organized by the Ocean Beach Grassroots Organization (OBGO) – now defunct – but back then, a very vibrant local group that returned grassroots organizing to OB.

Gay for Good San Diego (G4G) is looking for volunteers to participate in its next community service project to take place Sunday, Dec. 18, at 9 am.

Volunteers will work with the San Diego River Park Foundation to help them replant the Point Loma Native Plant Garden, which houses many rare and endangered native plants. The foundation says that some plants in the collection are unique to the region, and are not found naturally anywhere else in the world.

by Lester Macgurdy / Portland Occupier / Dec. 15, 2011

The Portland Occupation stumbled upon a tactical innovation regarding occupying public spaces. This evolution in tactics was spontaneous, and went unreported in the media. On December 3rd, we took a park and were driven out of it by riot police; that much made the news. What the media didn’t report is that we re-took the park later that same evening, and the police realized that it would be senseless to attempt to clear it again, so they packed up their military weaponry and left. Occupy Portland has developed a tactic to keep a park when the police decide to enforce an eviction.

By Scott Galindez / Reader Supported News / December 15, 2011

Occupiers from around the country held actions on Wednesday to protest provisions in the Defense Authorization Act, a bill that some civil liberties groups say could lead to the indefinite detention of American citizens by the military. Without a trial, no less.

Occupiers assembled in DC included retired Army Colonel Ann Wright, who resigned from the State Department in protest of the Iraq war. They went to Senator Carl Levin’s office where they met with his Chief of Staff, David S. Lyles. Wright, who served 27 years in the military, told Lyles that she was afraid that provisions in the bill gave too much power to the military and it was setting a dangerous precedent by allowing the military to participate in civilian law enforcement. Other Occupiers rallied at the White House, calling for the President to veto the legislation.

Senators Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul along with 8 others voted against the National Defense Authorization Act

By Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post / Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2:41 PM

A sweeping defense bill that sparked a heated debate over the handling of terrorism suspects passed the Senate on Thursday afternoon and is headed to President Obama’s desk, bringing to an end weeks of wrangling that included a veto threat from the White House.

The $662 billion defense authorization bill was approved by the Senate on an 86 to 13 vote one day after the White House withdrew its threat to veto the measure over several controversial detainee provisions that it said infringed on its executive power. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House on Wednesday night on a 283 to 136 vote.

It’s official! We had a run-off vote including the top three names for an Ocean Beach resident. And “OBcean” is the winner!

“OBcean” comes from the ditty that says: Put the “OB” into “ocean” – it won 56% of the votes, with “OBecian” getting 31% of the votes with 22, and with “OBcian” trailing with 13%. 71 readers participated in this poll which ran a week.

Our poll was the second week in which we asked readers to decide the “final” version of how to spell it.

By Anthony Gregory / HuffPost / Dec 15, 2011

Today is Bill of Rights Day, the 220-year anniversary of this revered document’s addition to the U.S. Constitution in 1791. The Anti-Federalists had demanded a Bill of Rights to ensure that the federal government created in 1789 would not morph into the type of tyranny that the American colonists had resisted in the Revolution.

It might seem like a difficult day to celebrate, however, as we consider the current state of liberties in our nation. With the militarization of police, the erosion of requirements for search and seizure, the presidential powers used as a blanket for deplorable detention policies, the raging war on drugs, invasive TSA “security” procedures and so much else, today’s governing principles at times seem to reflect the authorship of George Orwell more than that of James Madison.

By Robert Scheer / truthdig / Dec 15, 2011

Once again the gods of war have united our Congress like nothing else. Unable to agree on the minimal spending necessary to save our economy, schools, medical system or infrastructure, the cowards who mislead us have retreated to the irrationalities of what George Washington in his farewell address condemned as “pretended patriotism.”

The defense authorization bill that Congress passed and President Obama had threatened to veto will soon become law, a fact that should be met with public outrage.

Time mag’s annual “Person of the Year” is The Protester this time around. The image by Street artist Shepard Fairey is of Sarah Mason, a member of Occupy LA, and a resident of Highland Park. Fairey took Mason’s photo during a November 17th protest outside the Bank of America tower in the financial district.

At that action, she was was arrested with dozens of others. Plus Mason was present when LA cops moved in and cleared the Occupy LA camp outside City Hall less than two weeks later. She told a reporter that she left the park at City Hall because she didn’t want to risk another arrest. She was upset that she had walked away from her protesting companions and was angry at the city for closing the camp.

Protester Ends Hunger Strike to Join Court Battles

A press conference will be held today, Wednesday, Dec. 14th, at 5:00 pm, at the Civic Center Plaza by the Occupy San Diego activist who has been on a hunger strike for 36 days.

Occupy protester and hunger strike participant John Kenney, who was arrested earlier this week for “illegal lodging” at the Civic Center, is currently on his 36th day of the hunger strike. It is anticipated that Mr. Kenny, who as a member of the occupy movement in San Diego has been occupying the Civic Center since October 7, 2011, will announce the end of his hunger strike, his food deprivation protest. John is an OBcean and lives less than a block from the ocean.

In a press statement, Mr. Kenney is quoted:

“I went on hunger strike in an attempt to get the City of San Diego, its Mayor, City Council and the San Diego Police Department to recognize our right to occupy at least part of Civic Center, but they won’t even put the issue on the agenda.”

A recent report out tells the story: 38% of homes in the Ocean Beach 92107 area are “underwater” on their mortgages.

Here’s a December 2nd article by Lily Leung at the San Diego U-T:

California ranked sixth in the nation in negative equity, widely known as being “underwater” on your mortgage, based on the latest data from real estate tracker CoreLogic this week.