OB Rag

Get your history of voter suppression right here! GOP rev’s up efforts to make voting more difficult by Americans

In the 1964 presidential elections, a young political operative named Bill guarded a largely African-American polling place in South Phoenix, Arizona like a bull mastiff. Bill was a legal whiz who knew the ins and outs of voting law and insisted that every obscure provision be applied, no matter what. … It turned out that it was part of a Republican Party strategy known as “Operation Eagle Eye”, and “Bill” was future Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.

By Channel 8 News

A strike by 10,000 grocery workers in San Diego County was averted Monday when union negotiators struck a tentative agreement with the owners of Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons/Pavilions.

The two sides faced a 7 p.m. Sunday strike deadline, but labor talks continued through the night, with both sides indicating that some progress was being made.

Editor: This was originally published on Sept 19, 2011, so the intro is somewhat dated. But I’ve picked this tomb up in the last few days to reread it – and it is definitely worth a second look.

Last week on KUSI’s Republican campaign infomercial, Carl DeMaio, Jerry Sanders, Kevin Faulconer, and all the usual suspects lined up to pound home the point that the pension scandal is the root of all things evil in San Diego.

If only we can bust city employees’ pensions, the future will be golden for San Diego’s taxpayers. It is time, they said, as the KUSI lapdogs nodded along, to save the city from the horrors brought them by the public employee unions. Other than the show trial-like atmosphere, this exercise in right-wing demagoguery was nothing new. And it explains little. Back in 2005 in the afterward to the paperback edition of Under the Perfect Sun, I addressed the emerging scandal by putting it in its larger context…

By Micah White and Kalle Lasn / September 19, 2011

We need deeper changes to our financial system, or tent cities of people angry at corporate greed will keep appearing.

On Saturday 17 September, many of us watched in awe as 5,000 Americans descended on to the financial district of lower Manhattan, waved signs, unfurled banners, beat drums, chanted slogans and proceeded to walk towards the “financial Gomorrah” of the nation. They vowed to “occupy Wall Street” and to “bring justice to the bankers”, but the New York police thwarted their efforts temporarily, locking down the symbolic street with barricades and checkpoints.

Wall Street Protests Continue, With at Least 5 Arrested

By Colin Moynihan / New York Times / September 19, 2011

In a continuation of the demonstrations that began on Saturday, nearly 200 protesters marched along Wall Street and other parts of the financial district Monday morning, brandishing American flags and signs denouncing the economic system. At least five of them were arrested.

Boy, things you do when you’re seventeen.
Especially when you think you just about the coolest thing
the world has ever seen.
Know what I mean?
Now, I was cool at seventeen,
not to brag or anything,
but being a teenage male Negro
in 1955,
a dude had to be cool
just to stay alive;
That’s positively no jive….

By Kit-Bacon Gressit / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / September 19, 2011

I vaguely recall the first time someone asked me what it means to be a feminist. I was still a kid, freshly baptized in the blaze of radical feminism.

Or so it seemed, as our consciousness-raising group met in Anita’s living room. She was into her middle years, a professional woman returned to college, and the group was a school project.

I have had some good meals in Ocean Beach recently. “SHADES”, “NATI’S”, “OB NOODLE HOUSE,” “OB BBQ”, etc.

Tonight some friends and I decided to go to the “Village” for dinner, only to find at 6:15pm it was closed. It was suggested that we try Denny’s on Rosecrans for a fast and relatively inexpensive meal.

The first table we were shown was quite wet, so we asked for another one. Although it was wet too, the greeter came back with a handful of paper towels and dried the table.

By Jason Everitt / Two Cathedrals / September 16, 2011

On Wednesday, the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council called on KUSI to acknowledge their broadcast of the station-sponsored special report, “Pension Reform: The Fight to Get it on the Ballot,” as a campaign contribution. The Labor Council’s claim is based on the fact that the “special report” was explicitly produced for the purpose of advocating for qualification of a ballot measure. For anyone who watched the hour and a half long CPR commercial (and I did), it would be impossible to draw any other conclusion

Last chance to help grocery workers avoid a strike

This weekend is our last chance to help our local grocery workers get a fair contract before they face the frightening turmoil of a strike. Join us at 9 a.m. tomorrow in front of the Ralphs store in Hillcrest to let the supermarkets know their customers will support the workers.

Rally to Protect Grocery Workers!

9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17

Ralphs in Hillcrest

1030 University Ave, San Diego 92103

The local CBS affiliate, Channel 8, is reporting that San Diego Police have opened up an investigation into local Steven Marquez’s mysterious death. His body was found floating near the Ingraham Street Bridge on August 31st. The County Medical Examiner had originally opined that his death was by “drowning”.

But Steve’s family was convinced that something was not right – partly because they knew Steven didn’t know how to swim well and that he wouldn’t go into the water at Mission Bay. So, they hired a private investigator, Bill Garcia, and now the police are investigating his death.

Steve was last seen in the Crown Pointe area of Mission Bay. According to police, his cell phone was last used at 3:30 am on August 25th. Fliers are up in that neighborhood asking for any information on him.

Canceling the contract does not mean grocery workers will walk out in 72 hours, but it removes the final barrier to a strike. After the contract is no longer in effect, a strike can be called at any time.

Frustrated at supermarket corporation stonewalling, workers take next step towards strike

As contract negotiations stall, grocery workers issued a 72-hour notice canceling the grocery contract extension and paving the way for a strike.