OB Rag

Also: Sign the Petition to Stop FBI Harassment – [see below]

Join peace and solidarity activists all around the country today in the National “Call-In Day” to stop the FBI harassment of this community of American activists. October 12th is the day.

by Krystal Ball / Huffington Post / October 11, 2010

[Krystal Ball is the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 1st District]

When I was fifteen-years-old, I watched Hillary Clinton during the difficult times she faced when her private life and President Clinton’s private life became public. Nevermind that the people conducting the impeachment hearings were having multiple affairs and oozed hypocrisy.

I noticed today, on my way out of Ocean Beach, that the ARCO station has, once again, raised the cost of gasoline over last weeks price. I noticed today, while shopping at Ralphs, the cost of meat has gone up over what it was last week.

by Bill McKibben / 350.org / October 11, 2010

How do you say ‘thank you’ 7,347 times?

People got to work yesterday in at least that many places around the world — the planet has never seen anything quite that widespread. Or quite that beautiful.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to visit 350.org to look through some of the thousands of pictures that we have managed to sort through so far:

by Olive Guy

What about the olives I asked? No one knew what to say. Our front yard has two large olive trees, each with weighted down branches, full of black and green oval fruit – and every shade in between. In fact, one large branch was so heavy, it cracked and dangled close to the ground. Both trees had begun to shed its fruit – that ancient delicacy.

I wanted to harvest the dozens, no hundreds of olives that were ripening and wasting their lives by falling to the hard earth below, where they would become mashed down with everything else. But no one else in the house either liked olives that much or knew what to do with them.

MANY SAN DIEGO EVENTS – LISTED INSIDE

From the 350.org website:
Dear World,

It’s been a tough year: in North America, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; in Asia some of the highest temperatures ever recorded; in the Arctic, the fastest melting of sea ice ever seen; in Latin America, record rainfalls washing away whole mountainsides.

So we’re having a party.

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That’s the date.

OBceans and other citizens of the world:

Your OB Rag needs you!

As we cruise into our Third Anniversary as a blog – we began in October 2007 – we are celebrating the fact that we’re still here – and mostly because of those who have been supporting us over these few years – and of course because of our talented writers and bloggers and photographers and techies.

Editor: The following was a response by Seth Connolly, a member of the OB Planning Board, to Dan Morales’ post about the October 6th Board meeting (“Class bias dominates OB Planning Board discussion” ).

I always appreciate Dan’s perspective, but as someone who serves on the OBPB and who was at the meeting last night, I am just going to offer a few thoughts mostly in counterbalance… speaking only for myself as a community member, of course, and not for the OBPB or in that capacity.

That is pretty much the choice we face in voting thumbs up or down on a five year one half percent sales tax increase on Prop. D in November. Also throw in reduced Fire and Police services, which also concerns us, if D doesn’t pass.

Last month Mayor Sanders announced that the City was facing a $72Million budget deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011. As you all know, yearly and sometimes twice a year budget reductions have been going on for a long time- four years in fact.

What is it about this poster that is a threat to others? And, more importantly, why can’t I put a poster on MY fence, on MY property, and have it remain where I have put it as long as I want it there. Who is the skunk that thinks he can foul my yard and violate my privacy. (Of course, if you read the poster you can KNOW what the skunk thinks.)

I have had three signs removed by a “skunk” in the neighborhood. He has smelled up my yard several times since the election began. BUT…this poster is not about the election. This poster is about tolerance, understanding, and acceptance.

I can’t shake the sadness I feel for Tyler Clementi, the 18 year old Rutgers University student who recently took his life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after a classmate broadcast his intimate encounter with another man online.

My goodness, how many more gay people must die due to society’s hateful attitudes towards them? Tyler wasn’t the only gay youth to end his life in September. There were about seven ….

by Michael Moore / OpenMike blog

So … it turns out President Eisenhower wasn’t making up all that stuff about the military-industrial complex.

That’s what you’ll conclude if you read Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s War.

In fact, after you read Woodward’s book, you’ll split a gut every time you hear a politician or a government teacher talk about “civilian control over the military.”