OB Rag

My First and Last Article for the Union Tribune

by Katherine Sweetman / It was in the U-T until pulled / Nov. 8, 2010

An Introduction/ Resignation (A Small Gesture)

In an effort to step up the appearance of supporting the visual arts, The Union Tribune has graciously offered a handful of artists, scholars, and arts professionals the opportunity to write for them– requiring only one blog post per week (52 per year). And the pay? Oh… no pay.

Arts are very important to the Union Tribune but… so is money.

CalTrans wants to expand I-5 along a 27 mile stretch of freeway between La Jolla and Oceanside. They want to add 8 to 10 new lanes, plus more HOV lanes. They want to pour more concrete to allow for more vehicles in order to shave dozens of minutes off the average commute at peak times. It will only cost between $3.4 and $4.5 Billions, depending on which of the four options are chosen.

The new freeway expansion would potentially cause damage to only six coastal lagoons, only a mere 32 acres of wetlands and a pittance of 74 acres of coastal sage.

by John Lawrence/Will Blog for Food

I can think of no more apt metaphor for what voters did to themselves than the title of this post. Dissatisfied with the economy, voters voted in a party dedicated to the destruction of the economy as far as the middle class is concerned. They voted for a great economy for Wall Street bankers and billionaires. Obama, despite his failure to get the economy back on track in two years and despite his Republican lite tendencies and seeming inability to take a strong stand, is vastly preferable to the Republicans who now control the House. Obama, who already was governing from the right of center, is continually accused of being a left wing socialist and told by Republicans that he now must move to the right. If he moves to the right any further, he might as well resign from the Democratic party and join the Tea Baggers.

The third Ocean Beach forum on homelessness will be held on November 16th.

This one – in a series that began as a response from local churches to all the heated controversies surrounding the homeless – will be at 7pm in the fellowship hall at Point Loma United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

I was speaking with Mindy Pellessier the other day – she and her partner Jane own and run the Dog Beach Dog Wash on Voltaire Street.

Mindy is really concerned that with the defeat of Prop D, the City will be so hard up for cash, that it will seriously consider corporate advertising on public facilities at Dog Beach and other areas of the sand. This will be the subject of a later post – but what really amazed me was how much her business has spent over the years on keeping Dog Beach and another park clean!

Welcome back, brave souls who’ve endured my first three rambling diatribes! I see no reason to bore you with much off-topic banter, so let’s launch into Fustercluck, the fourth installment in the new Terriers series.

If you’re new and lost, click on my name at the top of the article and you’ll be linked to previous articles that will bring you up to date, along with other things I’ve written that, due to the quality of content, should not be viewed by anyone.

We open to Hank, sleepless at half past four, trying to catch the rats that he’s been hearing scurrying around in the night and presumably eating all his food. Bummed out with his kill rate of zero, he cruises down to the Old Townhouse Restaurant to meet Britt for breakfast.

By Rocky Neptun

About forty activists, mostly Democrats, gathered last week for breakfast at the office of the San Diego Foundation for Change to lick their wounds, investigate what went wrong and listen to an exciting presentation on possible future progressive election victories.

Lamenting the Republican gains in the mid-term elections, participants, ranging from the chair of the San Diego Democratic Club to the editor of Indian Voices to church groups, power liberals all, spoke of their despair over what many saw as a conservative turn to the electorate.

By Colleen Dietzel

I attended Tom Hayden’s talk on Thursday with the rest of the mostly over 50’s crowd to hear his take on the depressing results of the election.

He was somewhat comforting with his wit and that not all the outcomes were bad. California elected Jerry Brown and possibly Kamala Harris for attorney general. He reminded us of the important work Jerry Brown did as past governor in promoting alternative energy. As with any politician Jerry Brown is not perfect but he will move us forward in the area of green jobs and alternative energy.

By Greg Bledsoe / NBCSanDiego.com / November 6, 2010

Just like its 85-year-old roller coaster, Belmont Park has had its ups and downs.

“When I took it over it was half empty and there were drugs and gangs, and it was bad,” says Tom Lochtefeld, owner of the company that operates most of Belmont Park.

Lochtefeld says the city asked him to take over the lease on the park back in 2002 when it was in need of a redevelopment. He says he spent $12 million repairing and adding onto the park.

By Joe Howard Crews / The Progressive Post

The deadly red TEA tide swept across America Tuesday, drowning many progressive leaders and fortresses – but New England on the East Coast, and California on the “Left Coast” survived.

As the largest, strongest and best positioned fortress for progress, California must rearm quickly to build for the future, to show the rest of the nation the wisdom of “Government of the people, by the people and for the people.” We are now America’s best hope. Let’s do it!

Msnbc TV host Keith Olbermann was suspended indefinitely on Friday [November 5, 2010] for making campaign donations to three Democratic congressional candidates, apparently in violation of NBC News ethics policy.

The incident the other night at Election Central at Golden Hall where defeated tea bagger Nick Popaditch and his supporters corralled, harassed, and shoved the winner of the Congressional race Bob Filner up against a column, has not been covered by the mainstream media. Except for the OB Rag, the San Diego CityBeat, and the Chula Vista Starnews, San Diego and national press have ignored this violent and anti-Semitic incident against a sitting member of the US House of Representatives. (The OB Rag – with the help of CityBeat and others – broke this story.)

The story also has even more ugliness and a deep undertone of white supremacy. …