OB Rag

By John Lawrence / Will Blog For Food / August 23, 2011

The Tea Party wants to get “government off ‘our’ back.”

But is government really on our back or is the case really that corporations and wealthy interests are on government’s back? There are 40,000 or more lobbyists in Washington, DC. They are there for the purposes of extracting taxpayer money for their corporate sponsors’ benefits and for no other reason.

How could the US put five million unskilled workers on the job in three months without raising taxes? Simple- invest in a self-payout revolving fund which would underwrite putting solar panels on residential roofs all over America. Much of this labor is pretty much unskilled labor. You certainly don’t need a college degree to haul solar panels onto a roof and screw them down.

By Juan Cole / Informed Consent / August 22, 2011

The Libyan Revolution has largely succeeded, and this is a moment of celebration, not only for Libyans but for a youth generation in the Arab world that has pursued a political opening across the region. The secret of the uprising’s final days of success lay in a popular revolt in the working-class districts of the capital, which did most of the hard work of throwing off the rule of secret police and military cliques. It succeeded so well that when revolutionary brigades entered the city from the west, many encountered little or no resistance, and they walked right into the center of the capital.

Hey boys and girls! The OB Rag is having a contest! Yea!

It’s the “San Diego Crumbling Infrastructure Contest” – all you have to do is find and locate some good examples of crumbling San Diego infrastructure, take a photo of it (or more), and send us the photo(s) and its location. And … depending on the response … we will review the entries and declare a winner and a runner-up by next week at this time.

They both win OB Rag T-shirts! Yea!

We wish to find local roadways, bridges, dams, and other public structures that are in need of repairs, replacements, and/ or removal. Once we find them, we want to show them to local politicians. And convince them they need to help create jobs to deal with all of it.

Please join Empower San Diego for a community conversation about California’s ballot initiative system. We want to know about your thoughts and experiences as a voter to help us learn how we can help improve the system for all Californians. The format of this meeting will be similar to a focus group, emphasizing community conversation and input.

UPDATE: Today, August 23rd, 60 more people arrested, including Canadian actors Margot Kidder and a Tantoo Cardinal, bring the total to more than 220.

As of today over 160 people, including 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, have been arrested at the White House. Others arrested include co-founder of Natural Resources Defense Council and former White House official Gus Speth, gay rights activist Lt. Dan Choi, author and activist Mike Tidwell, Firedoglake founder Jane Hamsher. For the past three days, large groups of Americans have joined a non-violent civil disobedience action at the White House. The goal is to send President Obama a simple message: “Stop the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline.” These protests will continue over the next two weeks.

Please support the 62,000 grocery workers from Santa Barbara to San Ysidro who face a looming strike and join them for leafleting and a rally on Wednesday, August 24 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Downtown Ralphs Store 101 G Street, San Diego 92101.

Across this vast region, grocery workers voted by more than 90% to declare that health benefits are worth fighting for — even if that means going on strike in the near future. The companies insist their offer would protect current standards of health benefits. This is not true. If they are allowed to stand, the companies’ proposals would devastate members’ access to medical care for themselves and their families. Within 18-20 months, the fund that pays for the medical benefits of 62,000 grocery workers would run out of money. The only alternative at that point would be to cut benefits drastically and raise out-of-pocket costs — premiums, deductibles and co-pays — through the roof.

The 16-unit Casa Del Monte Apartment complex in Ocean Beach at 4812 Del Monte Ave., San Diego 92107, has been sold for $2.95 million.

The buyers were Virginia Wilmoth Beck, trustee of the James Alfred Beck and Virginia Wilmoth Beck Family Trust (50 percent); Richard J. Beck and Helen M. Beck, as trustees of the Richard and Helen Beck 2003 Trust; as the sole and separate property of Richard J. Beck, (25 percent) and Elaine Virginia Hornby (25 percent).

Bernie Sanders : It’s Time for Them to Pay up and Share the Sacrifice

While hard working Americans fill out their income tax returns this tax season, General Electric and other giant profitable corporations are avoiding U.S. taxes altogether.

With Congress returning to Capitol Hill on Monday to debate steep spending cuts, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations must do their share to help bring down our record-breaking deficit.

Organizers of San Diego’s MoveOn are planning on holding a “Rally for the Jobless” on Labor Day, September 5th.

Scheduled for noon on Labor Day at Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego, the event will continue to highlight the employment crisis in America, and it is hoped will continue to place pressure on Congress and the White House. The national, state-wide, and San Diego County unemployment rates just increased.

Whose fault is it anyway?

A few years ago, I left politics behind in my life and tried to focus on the things which really mattered; family, spiritual self-improvement, working at a job which would give me satisfaction, doing right by others. In the past I had circulated petitions calling for Nixon’s impeachment while attending UCLA, worked hard for the elections bids of George McGovern, and Tom Hayden, railed against Ronald Reagan’s game of nuclear chicken with the then Soviets protesting as far away as Dublin, Ireland, and spoke out against the former head of the CIA, George H.W. Bush, being our president.

“If we don’t get a deal, “ grocery workers union leader pledged, “we’ll take this fight to the streets.” Picketing could begin this week.

By East County Magazine

A grocery workers’ strike at Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs supermarkets could begin as early as this week. Union members voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to authorize leaders to call a strike, with 90% voting in favor.