OB Rag

SD Community College District Canceled Most Of Summer Session Due To Cuts

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders proposed filling a $56.7 million fiscal 2012 deficit by cutting in half the operating hours of libraries and recreation centers in the nation’s eighth-largest city by population….

By E.A. Barrera / April 13, 2011

“You don’t have to be in the military to serve and defend your country. That s the duty of all of us.” – Lewis Meyer – January 8, 2010

Lewis Meyer was a fireman who became a prisoner of war in Vietnam from February 1, 1968 to March 27, 1973. He was taken prisoner during the Tet Offensive and kept for five years under the most brutal conditions a man could suffer through.

When he returned home, he found a world eager to forget his trauma as it was a nation’s trauma.

by John Lawrence / Will Blog For Food

The Tea Party says we are Taxed Enough Already. But who exactly is “We.” Are upper income individuals and families taxed enough already or is it just lower income individuals and families? Check out this graph of tax brackets for 2010 – inside. How many middle class families would object to adding a few higher brackets like say a Tax Rate of 40% for Married Couples and Individuals with Incomes over $500,000.

Thoughts Stimulated by a Historic High School Basketball Game

I was just looking through my scrapbooks and I came across two pictures of me playing high school basketball 55 years ago.

In one I was going in for an easy basket, a lay up, with my left arm shielding my defender from the play. In the other I’m springing high to win the opening tip of the same game, the first game in Pueblo High’s history. Their school building was still under construction, a few months shy of being done. We were housed in my school, Tucson High, the oldest public school in the state of Arizona.

Okay folks, Frank and Patty have given me a platform to post a random piece of marginally-listenable music once a week Anna, sorry if this is ripping you off, but what’s the sincerest form of flattery? I’ve chosen my videos among a handful of available YouTubes, going with what I feel does the best to convey the song’s message… lots of times it’s the band’s official video.

See inside for the video…

A new report released today by SIPRI, a Swedish-based think tank, reveals that U.S. military spending has almost doubled since 2001. The U.S. spent an astounding $698 billion on the military last year, an 81% increase over the last decade.

U.S. spending on the military last year far exceeded any other country. We spent six times more than China — the second largest spender.

Interesting question, since I don’t really care for breakfast in bed, but I found a wonderful alternative and something that I do like. And… the best part is that is right here in Ocean Beach.

Curious? Let me give you a few more hints. The “hidden place” is located on Santa Monica Blvd., just west of the Apple Tree Market. It is between Cable and Bacon, located on the south side of the street. There you can be pampered, fed, even “bathed” if you are interested.

Guns in churches, schools and bars. Immigrants expelled to solve financial problems. Morality praised as the key national issue.

American politics are getting more bizarre and in some cases, border on the nutty. Current politics include Republican legislatures in Texas, Arizona, Georgia and Minnesota fighting for their “rights” to reject energy efficiency light bulbs, while South Carolina will manufacture their own state’s rights incandescent bulbs.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse me, I’m writing / April 11, 2011

Southern colloquialisms are so darn charming — with those well-honed nasty edges!

Growing up, my family had particular fun with them, as we were wont to play with most words, great fodder that they were for what we considered erudite scoffery (a perfectly good word, if only the Oxford English Dictionary would admit it!).

A recent statewide poll, commissioned by the California Federation of Teachers, finds a solid majority of likely voters in California have a favorable opinion of public employees and support their right to engage in collective bargaining.

From the CFT’s press release:

In the aftermath of major demonstrations by labor unions on Monday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death and to bring attention to working families, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) today released new polling results showing that 56% of California voters have a favorable view of public employees and 61% support their right to bargain together.

Editor: Below you will find a piece by David Sirota about recent investigative efforts by Lowell Bergman, local boy, former 60 Minutes producer, and one of our heroes for helping to inspire the original OB Rag from the pages of the San Diego Street Journal.

By David Sirota / TruthDig / April 8, 2011

Lowell Bergman is the rare skunk who regularly finds his way into the power elite’s garden parties. As tobacco executives celebrated huge revenues in the 1990s, he was the journalist whose reporting about cancer and nicotine addiction stopped the festivities.