OB Rag

by Bill Maher

While America is still in the grips of swine flu mania, let me use this opportunity to clear up a few things about my beliefs concerning the flu shot, vaccines, and health in general. I do this because there is obviously a lot of curiosity about this subject of vaccines — it comes up in every interview I do these days, and I’ve been finding that people, including doctors, are privately expressing a skepticism that is still not very prevalent in public. I feel like I’ve become a confessor for people who want someone to be raising questions about vaccines.

The nation’s economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people — including almost one child in four — struggled last year to get enough to eat.

At a time when rising poverty, widespread unemployment and other effects of the recession have been well documented, the report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides the government’s first detailed portrait of the toll that the faltering economy has taken on Americans’ access to food.

by Anna Daniels

A recent comment stated how difficult it is to figure out the City budget situation. And I agree with that. I am anxiously awaiting the release of the Mayor’s mid year budget adjustment on the 22nd of November. Remember last year? We were fighting for libraries and parks. In reality, it has been an ongoing battle for the activists among us for 4 straight years now.

“Eber Street Man” has a new message
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Guinness World Record Holder Visits Dog Beach
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Join Animal Rights Activists to Protest Michael Vick at OB’s Dog Beach – Sunday, Nov. 15th
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3 Day Breast Cancer Walk to Pass Through OB
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OBcean a dissenting voice on Medical Marijuana Task Force
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Newport News
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OB Holiday News

San Diego’s new head of the Fire Department, Fire Chief Javier Mainer, has been tasked by Mayor Jerry Sanders to cut $34.7 million from his budget, which includes fire departments, medics, and life guards. In a recent interview with KPBS he indicated that”beach closures” are on the table.

Chief Mainer said San Diego citizens may see less fire engines and fewer lifeguards. This could mean beach closures.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. For some reason, Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs were cut out of the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s recommendations for Southern California coastal marine sanctuaries.

We had reported earlier that Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs had been included in proposals for redesigning California’s system of marine protected areas along the southern coast, as well, of course, other parts of San Diego County. Marine experts have been putting together proposals for a year. The OB coast had been considered one of the chief areas of contention.

Jim Carroll’s death on September 11 brought back a lot of memories. His burst into popular consciousness in the early 1980s with The Jim Carroll Band happened when I was living in San Francisco.

Ronald Reagan was just coming to power, and would soon axe my job as a tenant organizer. This job been funded by the federal government though a program created by the Carter administration.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. We did a poll recently, asking our readers what should be done about marijuana. The vast majority – 83% – believe the herb should be legalized in some way or form. Another 6% voted for the status quo – limiting sales to people with prescriptions through licensed dispensaries.

Only 6% stated that it should be kept illegal and that we should “build more jails.” Another 6% admitted that they were “too stoned to care.”

by Frank Gormlie

THE CONVERGENCE OF HISTORIC EVENTS

History is converging events for us very quickly: the first – the anniversary of the election of Barack Obama as President; the second – the rise of a reactionary and racist mass movement in this country; third – the passage by the House of what some call an “historic” health care reform package and the beginning of discussion on their version next week by the Senate; and fourth, we’re on the eve of the continuation and even expansion of the war in Afghanistan – as Obama contemplates just how many thousands of Americans he will be sending soon to the “graveyard of empires”.

by Lane Tobias

Picture this on a beautiful fall afternoon: Live art and in-motion clothing design on the sidewalk. A mural in progress. Wine, cheese, and make-your-own cupcakes to whet your appetite. A DJ spinning beats as beautiful women clamor over swapped (and now shared) clothing. A curly-haired, bearded reporter amidst the madness.

Nothing about my presence at the OB Centric “Women Only” Clothing Swap made sense; in every respect, I was the outlier. There was rule “# 5 – No Boys Aloud”.

by Sunshine / November 9, 2009

I feel privileged to have just witnessed this man, Sinh Tho Nguyen, conclude his walk across America right here in OB on November 8th. He left the east coast’s Atlantic Shore on June 10th and literally walked across this fine country of ours.

As we freely approached him on the shores of the Pacific, he was shaking from the cold. Some kind OBcean took off their jacket and gifted it to him. His demeanor is kind. He appeared awed and exuded gratitude for all of America.

by Ernie McCray

Once upon a time, at the outset of World War II, Japanese American students at CaIifornia State Universities were rounded up and shipped off to internment camps.

Now those Institutions of Higher Learning would like to grant honorary degrees to the students who suffered such indignities.

And I guess that although an honorary degree might not be as profitable as getting a home to replace the one you might have lost or as powerfully emotional as being reconnected with an old pal you were separated from and have never seen again – it’s never the less a nice gesture, a needed touch, perhaps, in making the world a better place.