OB Rag

I’m not sure how the The OB Rag ended up on the invite list for the F-35 Cockpit Demonstrator event hosted by Lockheed Martin on May 17. But I had that morning free — and as Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God” — so I volunteered to check it out.

The event was held at a Kearny Mesa office of Cobham Sensor Systems, a defense contractor with about 1,000 employees in San Diego. The goal was “to celebrate the past success and the strong future of the F-35 aircraft” with community leaders and media, said Eric Forstner, vice president of sales and marketing for Cobham.

Dear gang.  All morning we’ve had problems with our server. Otherwise this great post I’ve been writing would be up…

Editor: The following account was sent to our letters section.

By Devon/May 17 2011

How much tax money does it take to get a man silently resting on a bench in front of the shell station to move? I don’t know that answer, nor do I know if tax money goes towards hollow hand shaped blue latex. What I know is what I saw.

Editor: Last year, at the premier showing of the first episode of “Terriers” at a local pub organized by OB restauranteur Ted Caplaneris and his spouse Kathy, the FX television show was preceded by a short film noir entitled “The Fatal Heir”. The short was filmed in part at Ted’s restaurant, the Old Townhouse Restaurant – as were scenes, of course, of “Terriers”. Now we learn via U-T columnist Diane Bell that the director of the film, Michael Brueggemeyer, is currently at the Cannes Film Festival searching for financial backing to make it a feature-length production.

By Pamela Jayne / NUG Magazine / May 17, 2011

Our monthly patient profile [at Nug Magazine]is usually dedicated to telling the story of an individual who benefits from the use of medical cannabis. Due to the recent decision by the San Diego City Council, we have chosen to use this edition to speak on behalf of all patients.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command has today announced it’s intention to track the Rapture, as a curtain raiser to tracking the End of the World.

Commencing at 6pm on Saturday the 21st May, NORAD will use it’s highly acclaimed “SantaTracker” network of satellites and webcams to follow the Rapture from it’s beginning in Fiji and New Zealand and on, through the Far East, Asia, Europe and finally to the United States of America.

By Will Power / East County Magazine / May 16, 2011

Citing budget concerns , the State of California (and the U.S. federal government) are studying plans to turn over California’s most precious beaches, lakes, and forests to private entrepreneurs who will rent California’s own land back to its citizens for a profit.

Seventy California state parks are slated for permanent closure, including Palomar Mountain State Park and San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park in San Diego County.

by Lucas O’Connor / Two Cathedrals / May 16-17, 2011

The importance of preserving history is rooted in the conversations that we’re able to have as a result: who we are, where we came from, how it helps point us into the future. It’s an extremely difficult balance, and usually the forces of indifferent change-for-profit are much better equipped, leaving defenders of our shared history little choice but to throw themselves fully into every check in the process.

Carlos Santana was given the Beacon of Change award before the Atlanta Braves’ fifth annual Civil Rights Game on Sunday [May 15, 2011] against the Philadelphia Phillies and he used the opportunity to criticize Arizona and Georgia for their new immigration laws.

Saying he represented immigrants, the Grammy winner said at Turner field, “The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Join progressives at Congresswoman Susan Davis’ Town Hall Meeting – this Wednesday, May 18th. It’s at the Normal Heights Community Center, located at 4649 Hawley Blvd. The Town Hall meet is from 5 to 7 pm.

Here is the agenda for the OB Planning Board Project Review Committee of Wednesday, May 18, 2011. The Committee meets at the OB Rec Center – 4726 Santa Monica Avenue, begins at 6:30 pm, and is chaired by Vice-Chair Landry Watson.

The Mesa College Theatre Company, working with the San Diego Black Ensemble and Vagabond Theatre Project, is producing a series of staged readings, “Pioneers and the Journey: A Festival of African American Plays” to explore the African American Experience – an experience in and of itself based on my experiences within the experience, experiencely speaking if there is such a term (big smile)