OB Rag

For fear of overexposure, I’m hesitant to add an extra edition of this music thing. But I’ve gotten such a positive response, it’s tempting to make like Catherine Zeta-Jones in all those obnoxious T-Mobile commercials from the late ’00s and start throwing out more than one post every week or so. And you people that read me and watch my videos are coming up with some good suggestions that I don’t want to put on the back burner…and I don’t want to stop firing on all cylinders myself (at least not yet, because I’ve got a few months’ worth of ideas of my own). So with no further ado, I give you Green Day, a suggestion by the esteemed Andy Cohen.

Posing in a picture on the desktop of my iMac are some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known, members of MEChA, a Chicano student organization at Mission Bay High led by Luis Villanueva, a remarkable educator who constantly seeks ways to create learning experiences that are relevant to their lives. Each of them is a budding community leader and exemplary American citizen.

By Lowell Waxman

In a recent New York Times story, Rx: Read to Your Baby we are reminded that “[i]ncreasingly, research has supported the idea that children should be exposed to a language-rich environment as soon as they are born because it can significantly improve cognitive and language development and readiness for school.

Remarkably, we also learn that some pediatricians in New York City are now writing prescriptions for books for parents to read to their babies “because … pediatricians know that one of the most important things they can do to impact the long-term health of their patients is to make sure their patients are literate.”

By Jeanette Steele / SignOnSanDiego / April 25, 2011

The Navy’s Third Fleet said it has halted use of time-delay underwater bombs for training in the waters off San Diego after a March 4 incident that killed at least three dolphins.

by OB Joe

The editors of this here blog liked my comment from the other day so much, they asked me to put together an entire article, so here goes.

I was responding to an article about how the youth need to step up and help save the OB Library. This is so true!

A feisty group of “uncutters” raised a ruckus on the sidewalk in front of the Bank of America at 8th & University in San Diego on Saturday April 23rd.

Fifteen people picketed, chanted and distributed informational leaflets during busy noon-time Saturday traffic on the main street of San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood.

Editor: The good folks of Potrero successfully blocked a BlackWater private military training facility a few years back out in their neck of the woods. Plus Blackwater attempted to open other facilities closer to the border. (Go inside for links to earlier articles.) However, apparently, former BlackWater VP Brian Bonfiglio has done an end run, and started a new business, signed a contract with Los Coyotes Indian Reservation, and has opened Eagle Rock Training Center out on the res near Warner Springs. Local residents are upset and complain about the 2 a.m. helicopter noise, among other things. Seems there are a few other flies in the training camp’s soup.

Marines, SEALs confirm training on Indian reservation

by Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing

On Wednesday, April 13, campuses across the California State University system (CSU) hosted demonstrations — dubbed Take Class Action Day — to protest budget cuts to the Cal State system.

The rally was the first time, since landing at CSU San Marcos in January, that I sensed that protest high of my otherwise misspent youth. As I approached the gathering, shades of rhythmic rebellion synced with my beating heart as students, staff and faculty sang the praises of the inexorable right to higher education; of the state’s primal responsibility for equitable, affordable access; of rolling coins in a desperate attempt to pay steadily-increasing fees as the dastardly CSU Chancellor Charles Reed and legislators shirk that responsibility.

by Terrie Leigh Relf

While the title above may sound a bit clichéd, as does the proverbial “pay it forward”, etc. it is still a practice upon which cultures are created, sustained, disrupted, and otherwise meet their demise. When pondering this behavior, I often ask myself about various cultural practices—both simple and complex—and how they shape my daily life.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the end of the March for California’s Future, a 48 day, 352-mile march through the Central Valley to the State Capitol. There, on a rainy day in Sacramento, I was one of many union folks, students, and religious and community leaders who spoke to a crowd of thousands gathered to protest the ever-more draconian cuts to education and social services.

All the way from Los Angeles to Sacramento we carried the message that California needs a government and economy that works for everyone, not just the rich.

This video pick is in the key of quirky problem solving solutions. For those of you who will be facing a bumper crop of hard boiled eggs this weekend, here’s a novel way to shorten the time between egg and egg salad. Science! Projectiles! Yes!

Once again library supporters provided the majority of citizen input regarding the proposed budget, and once again, Mayor Sanders was dismissive of them. The mayor is holding two community budget hearings to explain the budget. The first one was held at Kearny High School. The fifty or so citizens who showed up were not given an opportunity to provide public testimony. We were handed a note card and told that we could ask the mayor a question about the budget.