OB Rag

For many of us the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life is, for better or worse, inextricably bound to the yuletide season. Growing up I was subject to the annual revisiting of the film and, surreally, it was even running on the hospital TV the Christmas eve that my wife went into labor with our son who finally graced us with his presence on Christmas day, forever transforming the holiday into a celebration of life itself in my family.

Of course, the part of the film that always makes people cry is when George is saved by the incredible generosity of his neighbors in Bedford Falls who flood over to his house bearing cash to keep him from being arrested for bank fraud after his Uncle Billy loses all the money from their building and loan business on the way to deposit it.

As cultural historian George Lipsitz has pointed out, It’s a Wonderful Life, is part of a postwar film wave that began to redefine American freedom as free enterprise: “the freedom to own more commodities, to experience upward mobility, and to form nuclear families built upon male authority and female domesticity.”

Julia Glover pulls on her knitted gloves, wraps her scarf tighter around her shoulders as the chilly breeze whips through San Diego’s newly named Freedom Plaza. Fixing her eyes grimly on the costumed patrons of the ballet in tuxedos and firs as they line up for the annual Nutcracker presentation at the Civic Theatre, across the square from the Occupy San Diego base camp, she shivered and said sadly, “there they go, the fools of empire, the subsidiaries of the 1 percent, they will never understand, much less appreciate what Bradley Manning did for us.”

From Florida, she was visiting a friend in San Diego and was determined to spend her 68th birthday marching for Pfc. Manning on their shared birthday, December 17th. As she waited for the Saturday march to begin, listening to San Diego Occupiers discuss strategy at their daily General Assembly gathering in the plaza, she commented “we need to occupy Ft. Meade; all of us, thirty or forty thousand from across the nation, marching upon the base, requiring our government to release this young hero.”

Upset over plans by President Obama to sign the National Defense Authorization Act, various members of local progressive groups had an emergency meeting Sunday morning and formed San Diegans to Save the Bill of Rights. The group is holding a sit-in at the Democratic Party headquarters on Monday, December 19th.

Here is their Press Release:

From: San Diegans to Save the Bill of Rights

In protest of President Obama’s promise to sign the National Defense Authorization Act, San Diegans to Save the Bill of Rights are holding a sit-in at the headquarters of the San Diego County Democratic Party.

What: Sit-In Protest at Democratic Party Headquarters

Date: Monday, December 19, 2011

Time: 11:00 a.m.

Place: 8340 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, San Diego, Calif.

Please join us in Protest, Monday

Spectrum of Views on the Loss of Freedoms If Bill Is Signed

This much we know: if President Obama signs the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), then it will be legal for American citizens to be arrested on United States soil, and be held indefinitely without trial. The House and Senate have now both passed the bill and it is going to Obama’s desk, where it is anticipated that he will quickly sign it.

Once the bill goes into law, it is a serious threat to the Bill of Rights and the rule of law within this country. It would seriously undermine the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Amendments in the Bill of Rights.

Here is what the NDAA will cut up, here is the (actual) text of these amendments that protect American citizens that will be decimated:

Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.

A lot is going on with Occupy San Diego.

Occupiers Plans To “Re-Occupy” Freedom Plaza Starting Saturday December 17th

First, a group of the occupiers are planning to re-occupy “Freedom Plaza” – the name given to the Civic Center Plaza by demonstrators – on Saturday, December 17th. They believe they have a right to sleep in public space, and declare:

“Therefore we’re lawfully re-occupying Freedom Plaza.”

Murrieta House Occupied to Foreclose Foreclosure

By Mirna Alfonso / Murrieta Patch / Dec. 15, 2011

A disabled and bedridden schoolteacher Lesliane Bouchard, is in danger of being evicted. She vowed not to leave her home at 40734 Mountain Pride Drive in Murrieta.

Statement by Occupy the Hood:

On December 17, 2011 Occupy the Hood invites you to participate and to let your voice be heard. Our communities have suffered due to neglect by elected officials and criminalization and harassment from the police for way too long. The Occupy movement has changed the national discussion from one of putting blame on individuals for their “own misfortunes” to putting the blame of the crisis on the real criminals- the 1%. The Occupy movement has also highlighted the growing wealth inequality in the worlds riches country.

At 1 in the afternoon we will be holding an open mic session in Chicano Park. This is a space to discuss the many grievances that effects our communities. Afterwards we will hold a general assembly so that we may form solutions in a horizontal manner.

Stop racial profiling and police brutality! Stop the raids and deportations! Stop foreclosures! Community control of community resources!

SAN DIEGO — A rally will be held Saturday, Dec. 17, from 3 to 5 pm which will be held at the San Diego Civic Center at Third and B streets, in support of the release of openly gay Bradley Manning, who was imprisoned on July 29, 2010, after being accused of releasing classified documents to WikiLeaks.

On the 17th of December – his 24th birthday – Bradley Manning will have been incarcerated for 571 days.

The documents consist of video of U.S. Apache helicopter crew in New Baghdad opening fire on innocent people, including two employees of Reuters and two children. It caused an international backlash against America’s foreign wars.

“Green OB” T-Shirts!

We had a batch of T-shirts – “The Green OB” – printed up by the James Gang a few months ago in a whole new style that have been a big hit with our supporters! These shirts have the OB Rag logo on the front (shown here) and a big, Green OB on the back (shown below). We have new colors, long sleeve styles and also some in a more tailored cut for our uppity women friends!

We still have the “Classic OB Rag” style, with a plain back and the front proudly announcing our affinity for freaks and politicos, too.

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.