OB Rag

If you think the “Debt Deal” stinks, wait until you find out how they pulled off this heist, with the full complicity of the media!

This month, Activist San Diego brings together a panel of experts, to analyze and deconstruct how an artificial ‘crisis’ was created, just as outlined in Naomi Klein’s book ” Shock Doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism“. The panel includes:

• Congressman Bob Filner
• Lorena Gonzalez of the Labor Council,
• Floyd Morrow,
• Dr. Jeoff Gordon and

By Randall Erickson / Special to the OB Rag

PARIS, FRANCE. My previous dispatch may give a too idealistic image of life in France.

There are major and minor problems. Yes, like the United States, France has homeless individuals and families. They cannot afford available housing and may have trouble paying for food or even finding a school for their children because they don’t have an address.

Kevin Faulconer, it seems, is okay with gentrification in Ocean Beach. The District 2 City Councilman for Ocean Beach responded to a letter sent to him by members of the OB Planning Board protesting how the City was granting variances to property owners in the 5100 block of West Point Loma. In his response, Faulconer dismissed the concerns of our local planners about that block.

“Out there in San Diego
Where the Western Breakers Beat
They’re Jailing Men and Women
For Speaking on the Street”

2012 will mark the 100 year anniversary of the San Diego Free Speech Fight when workers from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) along with allies from the rest of labor and the community at large defied a city ordinance designed to prevent them from standing on a soapbox at the corner of 5^th and E in downtown San Diego and speaking. As I explain in Under the Perfect Sun, street speaking was part of a larger strategy for the IWW:

[W]hen the IWW came to San Diego, they sought to turn “bums” into men by transforming the attitude of the town’s small disposable labor force from individual shame and defeatism to solidarity and class anger. Their method was street speaking…

There’s a proposal floating around the country called a “Contract for the American Dream.”

It’s an ages old dream, simple in its scheme, a dream where everyone has a place of employment (JOBS, NOT CUTS!), roofs over our heads on homes we own and secure futures for ourselves and our children so they can pass the good fortunes on.

The dream eases me into a “What if?” kind of modality. Like what if tomorrow Obama woke up truly realizing that the Good Old USA is in a kind of “do or die” situation. Either he, and Congress, does something or we, in spirit, without a doubt, will surely die.

The other night, after dark, there was a knock on my door. I thought it was a friend, but lo and behold, a young woman with a clipboard. I thought, no, not another person with a clipboard asking for donations or to buy a subscription to the UT.

I admit I may have been a bit brusque with my usual “I’m sorry, I’m not interested in buying anything… ” and she said, “I’m not selling anything,” or something to that effect. I then informed her that I wasn’t able to make any donations. I don’t remember what she said after that, but within the next moment or two she said she was from CALPIRG.

Appalling: BART tactic may be first time a government agency disrupts cellphone service in the U.S.to quell planned protests

By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd /AlterNet / August 13, 2011

Thursday night [August 11, 2011] , a protest was planned in the Bay Area Rapid Transit to protest the latest police shooting of an unarmed man. But protesters found themselves without cell service, and now a BART official admits that cell service was shut off to quell the action—violating citizens’ First Amendment rights.

Saudi Arabia is a young country, being a little bit less than eighty years old. The ruling family (tribe – tribal affiliations are still reflected in the family names of Saudis), in the person of the first king, Abdulaziz Al-Saud, consolidated its power only in 1932. Oil was discovered soon after that and the accumulation of wealth which continues until today began, but as recently as 1960 most of Saudis were desert nomads. That heritage remains part of the identity of many of my students. They harken back to those days and proudly call themselves Bedouins, much as young men who grow up in the western states of America sometimes consider themselves to be cowboys. The grandparents of many of my students actually lived that life.

“Hey, honey! Want to go out to dinner tonight?” Put on your prettiest clothes; have your hair done, have a manicure and pedicure, and I’ll pick you up about 7:00pm.”

Don’t like that scenario? How about this one:

“Ah honey, I wanted to take you and the kids out to dinner at that new hot spot in town, but the McDonald’s is no longer there so we would have to buy the kids a full, expensive meal.”

By Lyneva Mottley

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 46 years since August 11, 1965, the day the Watts uprising began.

I’ll never forget the fear that I felt watching the chaos unfold. I was shocked but not surprised: you could feel the anger and frustration building up during that hot summer.

The booming California economy was providing little opportunity for people of color. Public policy was benefiting the already fortunate and was leaving behind those who were already disadvantaged. In California, as in the rest of the country, African American and Latino families were reaching a boiling point that could not be contained any longer. Over the following two years there were a number of additional riots in Chicago, Newark, Detroit and elsewhere.

By Robert Reich / Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Americans are deeply confused about why the economy is so bad – and their President isn’t telling them. In fact, the White House apparently has decided to join with Republicans and blame it on the long-term budget deficit.

Before I turn to the President, though, let’s be clear: The lousy economy is due to insufficient demand. Consumers – who are 70 percent of the economy — can’t and won’t buy because they’re running out of cash. They can’t borrow against homes that are worth a third less than they were five years ago, and most consumers are bad credit risks anyway because they’re losing their jobs and their wages are dropping. They also have to start saving for the kids’ college or for retirement, which will cut their spending even more.

Wednesday, August 10th, witnessed four rallies for jobs – mostly held at Congressional offices – across San Diego County.

Sponsored by MoveOn and its affiliate national coalition, the Rebuild the American Dream, the protest rallies had the theme of “Jobs Not Cuts”, and were held outside the offices of Congressional reps Duncan Hunter, Brian Bilbray, and Susan Davis. A fourth rally was held outside a Bank of America where Congressman Bob Filner spoke