OB Rag

By arodb / DaliyKos.com

This diary will be short on commentary, showing three video interviews I made that give some idea of the range of activity at this smaller venue. It reflects the goals and current state of organization of this small local manifestation of the much larger movement.

First there was this interview with Larry Garcia, who had been a residential mortgage broker, and was in the media booth. The caption of this interview is response to my question about the clout of entrenched powerful corporations, “We’re collecting a different type of capital here, it’s called votes.”

See inside for videos…

By Brad Johnson / ThinkProgress.org

In one of the largest mass arrests in recent Boston history, the Boston Police Department cleared a park of over 100 activists with the 99 Percent Movement in the early hours of Tuesday morning, dismantling and destroying tents that had been set up on Monday. Startling footage shot by an onlooker shows members of Veterans for Peace, an organization of U.S. military veterans who oppose war, being arrested by members of the Boston Police Department, their flags — including the American flag — being thrown to the ground…

See video inside…

By Charlie Grapski / MyFiregodlake.com / October 9, 2011

The following photograph taken by opednews.com shows a confrontation in the lobby of the National Air and Space Museum between two individuals and an officer shortly before video shows officers with the Museum’s security forces rush outside indiscriminately pepper-spraying numerous individuals.

It appears that one of the two in the confrontation with the security officer is Patrick Howley, Assistant Editor of The American Spectator.

I had already reached the conclusion intellectually, but it didn’t get to my gut until late last night. I was sitting on the wide steps in Civic Center Plaza amidst a heated discussion among about a dozen occupiers. Even with the electricity of our discussion coupled with all that had been put up during the occupation, something new and wonderfully addicting was being born. We were creating the beginnings of a new society right here in the shadow of City Hall, right here in the windy, cold corridors of San Diego power.

As you walk among the nearly 90 tents set up in the Plaza, and observe what the occupiers are actually doing, you can sense that a small town, a small village, has been created right in the bowels of our large city, right in the heart of its civic government. A village born in the middle of a city.

Getting rid of all the paper on his desk, Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday, October 9th, vetoed two pieces of legislation that would have been helpful to San Diego County.

Brown vetoed legislation that would have blocked a disputed landfill in North San Diego County, which is a major victory for Gregory Canyon LLC, developers of the long-pursued landfill proposed along state Route 76 near the Pala Indian Reservation, and a defeat for the rest of us, including the Pala tribe.

In addition, Brown also vetoed legislation that would have required big-box superstores – such as Wal-Mart – to submit a comprehensive economic analysis report when applying for a permit.

by Jed Lewison / Daily Kos / October 10, 2011

This man is a shameless liar:

On Fox News Sunday, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chair of the House Investigations Committee pushing for more information from the Obama administration about the $535 million loan guarantee to benefit Solyndra, was asked about a company in his district applying for a loan for which he advocated.

by Jason Everitt / Two Cathedrals / Originally Published on Oct 7, 2011

Here’s what we know…

Early reports indicated that the regional power outage caused roughly 2 million gallons of sewage to be released into the ocean via the Los Penasquitos Lagoon and Sweetwater River, which closed 10 miles of San Diego County beaches. The Los Penasquitos spill emptied into Torrey Pines State Beach, while the Sweetwater River spill emptied into San Diego Bay.

At an October 3rd meeting, the Point Loma district school alignment committee declared that they had identified school campuses in Point Loma and Ocean Beach to be either closed or “realigned”.

Here are the District’s preliminary recommendations for the Peninsula:

• Close Cabrillo Elementary;
• Close Barnard Chinese Mandarin Magnet
• Relocate the language program to Dana Middle as a K-8 school;
• Expand Dewey Elementary to include fifth-grade,
• Expand Loma Portal Elementary to include fifth-grade,
• Expand Ocean Beach Elementary to include fifth-grade,

With the economy in the tank and prospects of a recovery looking dim, everybody knew that the grocery workers were going to lose. They would either accept the gutting of their healthcare benefits and pensions or they would go out on strike and lose big. With so many people unemployed and with aggressive union busting in the air, they might as well surrender. At least that’s what lots of smart folks were saying in the local media and Southern California political circles. Everybody knew.

So much for the prevailing wisdom.

Originally posted Oct. 7, 2011

It’s been a long, short week, if that makes any sense at all… I haven’t slept much in the last few days, the wheels in my head have been spinning constantly, a mantra in the near reaches of my conscious thoughts, we, are, the 99%…

After 4 hours of sleep last night, an early morning meeting with the Better San Diego Coalition about the upcoming Mayoral Debate (more on that in the next few days) and tending to family matters most of the afternoon I grabbed a couple of chicken burritos from our neighborhood mexican grill and hopped on the trolley to downtown hoping to meet up with Frank and a multitude of friends, old and new, in the Civic Center to begin the Occupation of San Diego.

Update: Day #21 of Occupy America – the movement that began on September 17th at Wall Street.

The following is a summary of very recent Occupy actions around the country, over the last 24 hours. We counted 74 arrests from around the country of demonstrators by police.

Tonight, just back from the General Assembly of Occupy San Diego, we can report that a site has been chosen for the initial location of the occupation, and it is the very Children’s Museum Park that the group has been meeting since they started.

Here’s the general plan for Friday, October 7th:

• 3:30 ish pm – We’ll form up at Children’s Museum Park, First and Island

• Roughly 4:00 we’ll march through the Gaslamp up to Civic Center Plaza, 1200 Third Avenue, next to City Hall;

• Arrive at the Civic Center Plaza roughly 4:30