OB Rag

Tuesday’s Rapid Response: Converge on Duncan Hunter’s Office 12 Noon

Progressives are mobilizing this week – Tuesday, August 2nd – at the offices of Congressional Republicans to protest their willingness to place our entire economy at risk over raising the debt ceiling. Progressives are outraged at how the Repubs are willing to do this just so millionaires, billionaires, and oil companies get to keep their tax breaks. We need to send a strong, clear message to all the the GOP:

Don’t destroy the American Dream.

San Diegans are urged to join this “Rapid Response” action at Duncan Hunter’s office, located at 1870 Cordell Court, #206 in El Cajon, at 12 pm.

by John Nichols / The Nation / August 1, 2011

WASHINGTON – “Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time,” said Harry Truman.

If the thirty-third president was right, then Barack Obama just did himself and his party a world of hurt.

Faced with the threat that Tea Party–pressured Republicans in the House really would steer the United States toward default, and in so doing steer the US economy over the cliff, Obama had to do something. But instead of bold action—borrowing a page from Ronald Reagan to demand a straight up-or-down vote on raising the debt ceiling; borrowing a page from Franklin Roosevelt to pledge to use the authority afforded him by the Constitution to defend the full faith and credit of the United States—the president engaged in inside-the-Beltway bargaining of the most dysfunctional sort.

Here is the agenda for the next Ocean Beach Planning Board meeting. It will be held Wednesday, August 3rd at the OB Rec Center, located at 4726 Santa Monica Aveune. Meeting begins sharply at 6pm.

The two big ticket items are chickens and the memorial benches.

For those of us who read the news and analysis of the news online, it is not uncommon to find a correction appended to an article or some part of the original text struck through, but still visible, with a modification following it. Online material is uniquely adaptable to quick corrections and updates in the interests of getting a story “right.”

Removing a story, scrubbing it from the site’s archives and replacing it with a completely new version is a jaw dropping breach of journalistic integrity and responsibility. The U-T did precisely that when it wrote that it had “moved” an article written by Wendy Fry on July 25 about the presence of paid “activists” at a series of Chula Vista city council meetings in which rent control in mobile home parks was being deliberated.

State lifeguard officials are reviewing training policies after one of their trucks ran over a Poway woman this week at Torrey Pines State Beach.

It was the second time in a month that a lifeguard truck ran over someone at a local beach. The earlier incident occurred June 30 at Pacific Beach and involved a 3-year-old girl whose collarbone was broken. San Diego police are investigating both accidents.

There are many reasons thousands of teachers traveled across the country to protest in front of the White House on Saturday — including to oppose charter schools, to fight for equal funding for poor schools, and to have more say in public education policies.

But at a noisy rally starting at noon under soaring temperatures, their message boiled down to one point, which was summed up by the sound check before the first speaker took the stage:

Tap. Tap. “No testing, no testing, 1-2-3.”

Some time ago our own Sunshine wrote about her experience participating in the Point-in-Time-Count where she met Ricky and Darcie. Ricky and Darcie are going to have a baby real soon and need a little help. Sunshine is throwing them a baby shower this afternoon and wants to invite our readers to attend. Sunshine says,

Darcie’s baby (sex to be determined at birth) is due on Aug 8th. Please RSVP (through facebook) soon. Feel free to invite others who would enjoy sharing some baby/mama items to my lovely friend Darcie.

By Jason Everitt / Two Cathedrals / July 28, 2011

On Thursday, July 21st, the San Diego Citizen’s Redistricting Commission finalized its preliminary draft of the new council districts. We can now say a few things with confidence.

Todd Gloria will be moving. Gloria was drawn out of the old District 3. …

By Miriam Rafferty / East County Magazine / July 28, 2011

Hundreds of local residents spoke out at a hearing held by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Monday evening at the Al Bahr Shriners auditorium in San Diego.

The majority voiced support for a proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile. Supporters said the merger could create a more reliable network for cell phone service and create good-paying union jobs; many also praised AT&T’s record of community service. Opponents, by contrast, voiced concerns over creating a monopoly and feared the merger would lead to higher rates, decreased incentive for innovation, and job lay-offs.

By Tom Lemmon / SignOnSanDiego / July 28, 2011

When I was a kid growing up in the South Bay, I remember bringing my progress reports home to share with my parents. Just like many teachers before them and since, my teachers would set goals for me and assess my performance, and my parents would push me to do better. They would identify ways I could work harder to improve my performance, with hopes that my final report card would bring better grades.

Author’s note 7/30/10: The link in the article below no longer goes to the original U-T article upon which I based this post (see the reposted article at Tenants Together). I’ll let you all decide whether the new article is an “update” or a “correction,” because in many ways it is a whole different animal.

U.S. Capitol Police arrested 11 Christian and Jewish faith leaders Thursday after they staged a Capitol sit-in against budget cuts. The group called on the Obama administration and Congress not to “balance the budget on the backs of the poor,” according to the release sent out after the incident.

The religious leaders, members of an interfaith coalition to protect the poor, have been charged with demonstrating within a U.S. Capitol building, according to a Capitol Police spokeswoman. All have been taken to Capitol Police headquarters for processing.