OB Rag

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.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / August 22, 2011

We were on a quest for the perfect loveseat, my daughter and I. Clean enough that you don’t mind touching skin to upholstery and just enough wear so a little spilled tea won’t break your heart. Kate and I were clear on our priorities, and, as luck would have it — or was it something more intentional? — we found a treasure at our favorite Fallbrook thrift store, a nice church-sponsored place that seeks charity and justice, values we share. Well, minus the dogma. And the misogyny. We’re also passionately opposed to that celibacy thing.

On Saturday, August 27^th, the Coalition for a Better San Diego is holding an Economic Summit at Horace Mann Middle School from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

The goal of this summit is to bring together a wide array of people from labor and the community to share their ideas about what would make San Diego a better place. The themes of this gathering are jobs, prosperity, quality of life, equality, and fairness. Issues set to be discussed will range from job creation, education, and public services to housing, racial equality, and fair taxation—just to name a few.

Over the past several weeks I watched the squabble between the Republicans, and the Republicans, and some Democrats over the debt ceiling. It seemed like a no-brainer to resolve, and so the Republicans, and the Republicans and some Democrats seemed to be the perfect folk to figure it all out.

After it all played out, the resolution would turn out the same way whenever the Republicans and the Republicans, and some Democrats try to resolve an issue; they generally end up blaming us because we think we are so entitled, and take another animal off the endangered species list so it can be slaughtered and a power plant can be built…or something like that. But this time there was something sinister in the background which seemed to be disturbing to everyone. This time our credit rating was being threatened.

Here is our Friday’s Drive-by – news and links to news from around San Diego’s blogosphere:

• Monthly Vigil for Peace by Vets

• Marriage Equality Protest Today at Courthouse

• No Stadium for the Chargers by Don Bauder

• Lori Saldana to Run for Congress Against Bilbray

• More Parents in San Diego County Opt Out of Vaccines

Interviews with Bob Filner, Candidate for Mayor – – Come inside – There’s much more …..

by Lucas O’Connor / Two Cathedrals / August 18, 2011

Two months ago I took on some of the most persistent failures of conventional wisdom in San Diego politics, including that the city’s voters lean to the right. At the time, I pointed out that the city of San Diego is not only willing to elect Democrats, it voted for every possible Democrat in the November 2010 election by almost the exact same margin as the state overall. Now, California has become a reliably Democratic state over the last ten or twenty years, so it’s perhaps worth going back over a sample size a bit larger than last November.