OB Rag

Dishonest Use of Gas Prices and Gay Marriage As Advertisement Should Spur An Investigation

SAN DIEGO – The Fair Political Practices Commission was notified of potentially fraudulent activity by the Comprehensive Pension Reform for San Diego campaign committee on August 3rd, including the video documentation of paid-signature gatherers using a phony petition to supposedly “lower gas prices” as a bait-and-switch that resulted in voters signing petitions for ballot measures that eliminate a retirement safety net for city employees.

Group hacks mostly rural sheriff sites, steals data for international arrests of its members

LONDON (AP) — The group known as Anonymous said Saturday it has hacked into some 70 mostly rural law enforcement websites in the United States, a breach that one local police chief said had leaked information about an ongoing investigation.

Today, Saturday – August 27th!

Focusing on jobs, quality of life, prosperity, equality and fairness, the San Diego Community-Labor Coalition wants to change the narrative in San Diego, getting away from the right-wing dominance of discussion of issues in the media, moving away from, for example, a monopolization of the pension issue to more everyday issues like ‘where are the jobs?’ and other quality of life concerns.

And now the combined coalition plans to hold an economic summit in San Diego later this month. Entitled “A Better San Diego”, the coalition will sponsor a day long conference at a local middle school on August 27th at Horace Mann Middle School.

“Pray for your Governor,” exhorts the Lord of Hosts, “for I desire to use him and raise him up. Pray for his protection and for those around him, for all that concerns him in this critical hour, for he is Mine…. He is a key player in the shift that must take place, indeed that has already begun issuing forth from My innermost chambers.” Tom Schlueter, A Statewide Call to Prayer Day Thirty-Four, Texas Apostolic Prayer Network

“Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention.” Molly Ivins

By Thom Hartmann / OpEdNews / August 6, 2011

Have you seen, anywhere, in any media, or even heard reported or repeated on NPR, the following sentence?

“We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.”

Today, on our daily walk around the “hood”, Buddy and I had an experience that is repeating itself daily. On our walk on Sunset Cliffs, from Adair south to Osprey, we were met by the following:

7 skate boarders – that were not about to relinquish the “right of way” and would just as soon run us than move over, …

Ah, the lazy days of summer! Check out this lucky dog, Buddy, who belongs to our own Judi Curry. Nothing like a dip in the pool to ward off the dog days…

Click on the images and leave a caption for the photos!

By Michael Moore / MichaelMoore.com / August 5, 2011

From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, “When did this all begin, America’s downward slide?” They say they’ve heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent’s income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free).

That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer.

For the past several months, I have listened to a commercial advertising “San Diego Home Cooking Restaurant.” A lovely woman, with a decidedly East European accent has touted the home cooking of the four restaurants in the chain. Since all of those restaurants were far from my home in Ocean Beach, I have never tried them, even though the pictures of the meals served have been enticing. (Stephanie told us the owner was from Serbia.)

Oh, did I ever fall in love with this morning. It was so nice and sunny, so soothing to my soul and bones. And I was still all a swoon when this lovely beginning of the day segued into the afternoon.

At some point on such a day I knew I would want to write, something, anything, because writing to me, is a form of play and this was a day in which to play. I, however, had no particular topics to approach in mind so I went to a website of writing prompts and blindly chose one that asked me to go through a dusty photo album which was no problem because my soul mate, a photographer del mundo, bequeathed me enough dusty albums to ignite a Haboob like the ones that smothered Phoenix…

Editor: San Diego billionaire Irwin Jacob wants to redevelop Balboa Park, and the City of San Diego gave tentative approval recently in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). In response, SOHO -the Save Our Heritage group – has sued the City. Then in reaction to the suit, the City Attorney has immediately moved to have it dismissed as “frivolous”.

SOHO Files Suit Over City of San Diego’s Approval of the Plaza de Panama Circulation & Parking Structure Project
On August 2, 2011, Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) sued the City of San Diego regarding its failure to comply with state environmental laws …

(Come inside for the remainder of this post.)

City Attorney Moves to Dismiss SOHO Lawsuit

Preservation group declines, vows to press forward on overturning Plaza de Panama memo

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith struck back Wednesday against SOHO over the group’s challenge to proposed changes to the center of Balboa Park.

(Come inside for the remainder of this post.)

One thing about statistics associated with the Great Recession is the sheer number of times you can say we’re experiencing the “biggest rise” or the “steepest decline” since the Great Depression or since the government has collected data for a particular economic measurement. A record number of people collecting unemployment benefits. A record number of people out of work for more than six months. A record number of home foreclosures. A record number of bank failures. A record number of people using food stamps.

Indeed, the record on food stamps has been going on for well over two years now. In March 2009, that record was 31 million people. Now, according to the U.S. Department of Agric