OB Rag

When Ocean Beach’s Heathens raise funds, they do it with style.

On a recent Saturday night, the OB-based group of artists, street performers and other free spirits welcomed 150 people to a warehouse in Barrio Logan. The night’s activities alternated back and forth between DJ-driven dance sessions and performance pieces featuring select members of the group.

Escape from Heathens Island was the name given the night’s festivities. Most guests wore costumes, the theme seeming to be a psychedelic blend of pirate and clown, with some tribal flavor tossed in.

Last performance today – Sunday at 4pm.

A few nights ago I saw a premiere presentation of “Nina: A Portrayal of the Life and Music of Nina Simone” in an intimate theater setting in North Park. This work was created over a five year period and directed by Calvin Manson. It is a deeply moving, well executed and revelatory piece of theater, and the last day to see it is Sunday May 23.

ALL STORIES AND LINKS INSIDE:

* Red Bull Rivals: June 5th – OB Is Home to San Diego’s North versus South County surf rivalry
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* Winston’s Holds Benefit for OBcean Injured in Hit and Run – May 23rd
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* The National Football League says Ocean Beach businessman is illegally using the Chargers logo.
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* Pizza Port Finally Opens

Downtown shoppers and office workers on their lunch break Friday, May 21, found a gaggle of Coffee Party activists and supporters agitating for bank reform. A little over a dozen folks with signs, fliers, and chants were targeting four of the mega-banks in downtown – all within a few blocks of each other: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, and Citibank. The action was part of a nation-wide focus by the Coffee Party on banks and financial reform. Over a third of the protesters were from OB.

The Coffee Party action also reflected the sentiment expressed in a recent poll by this blog. The poll found that three-quarters of the respondents wanted some kind of bank reform, everything from breaking them up to nationalizing them.

Editor: Verrrry interesting. Britain wants to dismantle its surveillance camera systems while the City of San Diego wants to install them, including a camera on the OB Pier.

By John F Burns/ The New York Times / May 19, 2010

LONDON — Defying those who said it might be paralyzed by internal divisions, Britain’s new coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on Wednesday unveiled the most ambitious plan in decades for upending the highly centralized and often intrusive way the country is governed.

The plan, as laid out by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, would roll back a proliferation of “nanny state” laws, non-elected administrative bodies and surveillance systems —

This Friday, May 21st, during the noon lunch hour, the San Diego chapter of the Coffee Party will be targeting four mega-banks in the downtown area. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi-Bank, and Chase, will all be targeted by the protest. In a tour of the banking area, activists will be pointing out how much each bank received in the bailout, what they pay their CEOs and other important info.

This is part of the nation-wide effort of the Coffee Party to clean up Wall Street and “K” Street (where the DC lobbyists all hang out) in favor of Main Street.

Activists will show up – some in costume – at Horton Plaza at 11:30 a.m. by the Fountain, the staging point for the tour. Everyone is invited to join with the Coffee Party as its highlights the role of the huge, mammoth banking institutions that control our economy.

On May 7, the FDIC placed 1st Pacific Bank, headquartered in San Diego, into receivership, effectively ending the bank’s operations. They then immediately turned over the bank’s assets, including $291 million in deposits at seven area branches, to City National Bank. City National previously operated 73 branches, mostly in New York City, the San Francisco Bay area, and Los Angeles.

Originally posted February 23, 2010

“Die-In” Planned for Today May 19th (see inside for details)

by Carol Jahnkow & Nancy Mancias

San Diego is home to defense contractors General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Northrop Grumman, the world’s largest and leading manufacturers of drones. General Atomics builds the Predator and Reaper drones. Northrop Grumman provides the software for a similar aircraft, the Global Hawk spy drone.

These remotely controlled vehicles come with a hefty price tag — Predator and Reaper’s range between $4-$12 million and the Global Hawk’s cost about $35 million. With their high tech sophistication, drones have become the weapon of choice in fighting the U.S. occupations. More than 7000 drones are ready to prowl the skies over Afghanistan and Iraq.

UPDATE: EARTHQUAKE CONFIRMED –

SDNN reports:

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California Monday at 5:38 p.m., 21 miles west of Mexicali where a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck on Easter Sunday.

It’s 5:39 pm, while waiting for dinner to cook, I just felt the entire house shake a small bit. The wood frame twisted for a half second. Must be earthquake season.

Everyone complains about the homeless. OB merchants, local residents, … you name the group and there is grumbling galore about those without a home who dot our beachside community.

One person is doing something about it. Lupe Haley is a cancer survivor and believes deeply in Jesus Christ. She has been answering his call to feed the needy for the past 22 years. Every Monday for all those years, Lupe comes down to Saratoga Park and sets up a food line where she literally dishes out food for the dozens of homeless people who show up.

In April FOX News Channel 5 did a story about her work. The very next Monday, Lupe showed up as usual – but this time there was a different ending. She was stopped by police who threatened to cite and even arrest her for not having the proper permits.

Editor: Frank Gormlie recently posted his third in a series about “Left versus Right” and asked for feedback from OB Rag bloggers and friends. Nate responded with the following – and in doing so reminded us of some of our weak points in describing politics. Politics CAN be fun. OB political activists have enjoyed a lot of fun over the decades in being political. So, we asked Nate to tweak his response a bit and post it. So, please bear in mind, that we can benefit from this type of discourse with our fellow citizen journalists and wish to improve our communication skills.
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Let me preface this by saying that I once got a ‘D’ in a political science class. Yes, that’s right. I showed up to class, took notes, wrote entire papers, went to the final, and still got a D.

I’m gifted.

You see, I’m extremely talented when it comes to “filtering-out” things I find boring. Been doing it my whole life! When I was a kid, it was zoning-out during the commercials that interrupted my Saturday morning cartoons. Today it’s skimming past ads in the margins of a website. Call it ADD if you want. But I believe it’s just how I deal with the daily bombardment of information.

UPDATE: We have just been informed this afternoon (5/16/10) by a spokesperson for the Heathens, that the bike ride – which they really liked – was not them. It was people who wanted to be Heathen-like and to do “crazy things like the Heathens.”

Dozens of crazily-clan bicycle-riding Heathens took over Ocean Beach for a few moments today, Saturday May 15th. It was the Tour D’Diego.With some dressed as pirates, others dressed as foil-covered robots, all having a good time, the Heathen bike ride down Abbott and then onto Newport turned many a head, gave many a smile, and stole a few puzzled looks.