OB Rag

The OB Rag has received word that Councilman Kevin Faulconer is hosting a news conference tomorrow morning – September 24th – at Sunset Cliffs to unveil the new, City-installed wooden benches. The conference/ unveiling is at 11:45 a.m. on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard between Froude and Guizot streets.

People who have exhausted their jobless benefits are pressing policymakers for more aid and joining together to call attention to their cause.

After his wife of 23 years pulls out of the driveway every morning to head to college, Scott Mathewson sits down at the computer in his apartment and talks to his unemployment group.

A Gulf Breeze couple is riding across America in support of the families who are victims of the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. Feeling an obligation to help, Roger and Vicki Grooters of Gulf Breeze embarked Friday, Sept. 10 on a cross-country ride. Roger is riding his bicycle from Ocean Beach in San Diego, Calif., to Jacksonville – a distance of approximately 3,200 miles.

‘The Daily Show’ event is planned as a comical response to Glenn Beck’s recent rally — but politically minded fans are taking it, and Stephen Colbert’s ‘March to Keep Fear Alive,’ seriously. The moment Shawna Riley heard Jon Stewart lay out his plans to hold a “Rally to Restore Sanity” on Oct. 30 on the National Mall, she raced to get online and book her hotel and airline tickets. The 41-year-old owner of an advertising firm, who lives in Marble Falls, Texas, described the event as “one of those we-got-to-be-there moments.”

Originally published 9/22/10

The recent sticker “wars” in Ocean Beach have reminded me of just how much a student of bumper stickers I really am – and one of my favorites was circa 1969. Highlighting the political tension in America back in the late Sixties and early Seventies, this one was quite famous: “America: Love it or leave it.” It had the flag either in the background or on the side.

Editor: “Terriers” is not the only new TV series that has an uber-local connection. There’s a new CBS series that starts Thursday, September 23rd, based on the twitters of a young man from Point Loma – Justin Halpern – who wrote down the spicy and witty sayings uttered by his cranky 74 year old father, a retired doctor. And William Shatner is playing the dad.

Controversy has surrounded potential management plans for the Children’s Pool at Casa Beach since seals formed a rookery on its shores more than a decade ago. One of the most recent attempts at regulating interactions between humans and seals has been hiring a park ranger using private funds secured by District 1 City Councilwoman Sherri Lightner’s office.

Randy Hawley, who became the city of San Diego’s first park ranger in 1989, interrupted his retirement to supervise the area as a provisional employee while the city searches for a full-time ranger.

Democrats are in trouble come November. If current polling is any indication, Republicans have a good chance of reclaiming a majority in the House of Representatives and perhaps even the Senate (though the Senate is a less likely prospect). That’s not because people are wildly excited about Republicans. In fact, a recent poll shows that registered voters rate the GOP’s performance as worse than the Democrats’. But the enthusiasm gap between the parties gives the GOP an advantage; a nine-point advantage among likely voters, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll .

The California Beer & Beverage Distributors is spending money in the state to oppose a marijuana legalization proposition on the ballot in November, according to records filed with the California Secretary of State. The beer sellers are the first competitors of marijuana to officially enter the debate; backers of the initiative are closely watching liquor and wine dealers and the pharmaceutical industry to see if they enter the debate in the remaining weeks.

The opposition to pot among beer makers, however, is not unanimous among the CBBD’s membership. …

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have cast their faux dueling Washington rallies as a kind of grand satire of the current state of media and politics.

“It’s just like everything they do – it’s really for the joke,” said one person familiar with the planning of the October 30 event, who asked – in the spirit of the “Daily Show” – to be described as a “senior administration official.”

by Jim Grant

Ocean Beach is known for being Ocean friendly and aware of the community and environment. And the association between the two. Surf Rider Paddle Out’s…Beach Clean Up’s and the like are very common in Ocean Beach. People come from all over San Diego to watch the sunset ……From Dog Beach to Ladera Street, the Cliffs and Beach is packed with people coming to enjoy the sunset.

By Marjorie Cohn / Huffington Post / September 19, 2010

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking military secrets to the public. This week, his supporters are holding rallies in 21 cities, seeking Manning’s release from military custody. Manning is in the brig for allegedly disclosing a classified video depicting U.S. troops shooting civilians from an Apache helicopter in Iraq in July 2007.