OB Rag

Editor: The mainstream, corporate media has been blatantly ignoring what’s been going on in Washington, DC. There have been five days of sit-in’s and arrests at the White House in protest of the proposed oil pipeline.

By Frances Beinecke / HuffPost / August 24, 2011

It is the fifth day of the sit-ins at the White House urging President Obama to deny a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.

“What concerns us as people of faith is the destruction of the human spirit. When human beings are subjected to conditions that destroy who they are, it is incumbent upon the whole faith community to call our culture, and yes, even our government, to accountability. If we allow solitary confinement to continue in our society – especially when we have been informed of the harmful results – what does that say about the kind of people we have become?”

In 1995 in Ocean Beach, California, childhood friends Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald formed a band that created a fusion of music between acoustic rock and blues and reggae, hip-hip, and punk. Soon after, the late Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell discovered the duo and asked them to perform a set at the Foot Hill Tavern in Long Beach, California. Nowell immediately signed them to his label, Skunk Records, while the band was still in high school. Sixteen years later, Doughty and McDonald, known as Slightly Stoopid, have released eight albums and have been compared to bands such as Sublime, Operation Ivy, Rancid, and Streetwise.

By Jennifer Dreyer / Guest Columnist Voice of San Diego / August 22, 2011

Recently I’ve been asked why San Diego should elect a pro-choice mayor. After all, mayors run city departments, manage the municipal budget, and (hopefully) set a clear vision for our city’s future. They do not run any health services or enact heath care policy. So why should it matter whether San Diego’s next mayor is pro-choice?

The answer is that it matters greatly. During the past decade, anti-abortion rights groups have expanded their agenda to oppose contraception programs and women’s health services.

By Phat Jim / San Diego Politico / August 22, 2011

What in the Sam Hell. . .

To those of you out there who are more closely intertwined with politics than I am these days, I have one question – what in the sam hell is Bonnie Dumanis doing? It looks like Dumanis and DeMaio are both skipping the mayoral debates between now and Oct. 17.

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.