OB Rag

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.

This modern world is so confusing! Right now, the countries of the European Union – most of them capitalist nations, are putting together a one-trillion dollar bail out for Greece – which is run by a Socialist government!

Originally posted May 15, 2008
More that we can’t forget

Shattered windows at Alexander Hall, Jackson State, May 14-15, 1970The shootings at Mississippi’s Jackson State University still linger in the shadow of Kent State. Less than two weeks after Kent, two black students were killed and 12 others wounded by state troopers on May 15, 1970.

The incident started after student demonstrators, protesting the Vietnam War and seeking more rights at the historically black college, responded to an order to disperse by throwing stones and bottles. It ended as police opened fire outside a women’s dormitory.

Phillip Gibbs, 21, a junior preparing for law school, who had a child and a pregnant wife, and James Earl Green, 17, a high school track star on his way home from his job at a grocery store, were killed.

by Dr. Tawny Lanos

The decision by the City of San Diego Planning Commission yesterday to approve the environmental document for the Department of Stormwater’s Program Maintenance plan should be no surprise to people who follow politics in San Diego. The entire scene played out exactly the way the directors wrote the script – and the players performed exceptionally. But the real tragedy is yet to unfold —

The OB Town Council is now accepting applications for grants that the Council will fund for the year 2010. Through the Ocean Beach Tree Festival Committee, the OBTC provides organizations and groups an opportunity to receive funds, raised by its Annual Tree Festival.

Last year the OBTC provided over $15,000 to a wide variety of organizations.

by John M Williams / Special to the OB Rag / May 14, 2010

Let me set the stage. The school I work in is a remedial college designed as a feeder for King Saud University (KSU). My school is called the Preparatory Year Program (PYP). Students take courses in English, physics, chemistry, biology, math, IT and a group of business related subjects.

The organization is a little complex, but let me try. At the top is King Abdullah. Then comes the Ministry of Education. Next is KSU. KSU contracted with a Saudi company named Obekan. Obekan hired Bell, a United Kingdom-based English language teaching charitable trust associated with Cambridge University. Bell recruited teachers, created the administrative structure, and runs the school on a day to day basis. The role of Bell is rather like that of a middle manager; they have very little real power, but are the face of the organization to teachers and students.

by Katie Drummond / wired / May 11,2010

More than 30 years after it was written, the Pentagon has released a memorandum detailing its involvement in the CIA’s infamous Cold War mind-control experiments.

But a warning to conspiracy theorists on the lookout for new fodder: This isn’t quite Men Who Stare at Goats II.

The 17-page document (.pdf), “Experimentation Programs conducted by the Department of Defense That Had CIA Sponsorship or Participation and That Involved the Administration to Human Subjects of Drugs Intended for Mind-Control or Behavior-Modification Purposes,” was prepared in 1977 by the General Counsel of the Department of Defense and released on May 6 after a Freedom of Information Act request.

by Jon Carr

Ahhh…Ocean Beach, it’s beside the point. It’s an attitude, not an address, it’s a bastion for bohemian drifters, free thinkers, artists, bikers, and an occasional right wing nut-job. But we love it. We thrive on it. It’s our home.

While on a leisurely bike ride the other day, I was reminded of another reason I love OB; because OB has been keepin’ it weird since before I was born, and local artist Robert Guenther is no exception.

by Ernie McCray

Is there anything in the world as cool as just “cooling it,” you know, kicking back in your comfy jeans, and that nice fitting tee-shirt you found in Borrego Springs, some broken in running shoes, acting and feeling like you just know you’re cool.

Talking about a little respite from rising everyday and entering into Twilight Zone like scenes wherein wee-minded anti-this and anti-that beings scurry about frightened to death of life, all caught up in their “America Love it or Leave It” proclivities and philosophies.

– ALL LINKS AND STORIES INSIDE –
* Young at Art Beautify Corner at Cable and Newport
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* Deadline for OB Historical Society Annual Photo Exhibit and Contest Extended to May 19th (was May 13th)
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* Fire Rings Saved But Watch What You Burn
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* OB’s Sacred Heart Parish School Family Festival- May 15
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* Rummage Sale to Pay for OB Elementary’s 4th Grade Sea Camp
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* OB Planning Board to Discuss Sunset Cliffs Traffic at Project Review Meeting on May 19th
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* Planning Board Fills Vacant Seat in District 3
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* Peace Movement to Hold “Die-In” Against the Drones Made by General Atomics May 19th
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* City opens bidding for OB Pier Café concession
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* OB Beach Ball – CANCELED until 2011
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* School Board Candidate Forum at Liberty Station – May 20th
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* Coffee Party to Stage Tour of San Diego’s Mega-Banks – May 21st
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* OB Friends of Library Book Sale – June 19th

Three problems in the US today that have to be solved.

1. New economy must be created as the prior economy of borrow and no production has failed. Must create an economy based on production.

2. Cheap energy bubble has popped …

by Carl Manaster / Special to the OB Rag / May 12, 2010

Van Jones spoke to a nearly full house last night at UCSD’s Price Center. The crowd was diverse – old and young, multiracial, male and female, and most notably right and left.

Supporters – from the left – made up the bulk of the crowd, but probably five percent were from the other side, holding signs that accuse Jones of having an “evil” agenda, calling him a “radical communist”, and calling his green jobs “snake oil”.