OB Rag

by Gary Gilmore

There’s more to our little Street Fair than chili, music, beer & good times.

What makes this whole extravaganza tick is money. That’s right, crass as it may seem, it’s money that makes the Street Fair go ‘round.

All 250 vendors (give or take a few) with their colorful booths, … had to fork over $365 bucks each …

OB Rag Makes the Union-Tribune

Today – June 26, 2009: this was the original headline one year ago, posted on June 14, 2008. We thought we would run it again for some obvious reasons.

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Here’s the piece on O.B. that ran in Saturday’s U-T and we’re quoted …

Why hassle with trying to find a parking space when you can be eating chili and groovin’ to the tunes this Saturday? If you are one of the 70,000 people anticipated to attend the fair, and if you are driving, you can park at two locations, take a trolley and leave the hassles to Larry, Curley and Bob. And it’s FREE!

by Gregg Robinson

Yesterday roughly 150 people showed up at the California State building on Front Street to demand rejection of Gov. Schwartzenegger’s draconian cuts to state services. Rally attendees heard speakers from religious, trade-union, and community groups speak out against the cuts.

With nearly one million children threatened …

Jim Grant is one of the best local photographers in the OB/ Point Loma area. He keeps sending us his shots of sunsets and other wonderful views – and we just have to share. Which one do you prefer?

If you have any beautiful – or not so beautiful photos of OB or Point Loma you’d like us to showcase, send them to us via email : obragblog@gmail.com

I worried, oh how I worried, when my favorite ice cream company, Ben & Jerry’s, was bought out in 2000.

Since I live in their home area, rumors were thick; the giant, Unilever, decided they couldn’t beat them, so they made Ben & Jerry’s join them. I heard from supermarket managers that they were up against losing shelf space, always hotly contested. Stock problems; premium ice cream losing sales; owners getting older.

by Lane Tobias

As I have been following the election protests in Iran over the last week or so, I can’t help but feel inspired by the movement’s energy. Long a polarizing global political figure, Iran now has everyone fixated on the unrest in its streets.

For those of us who grew up only knowing Iran as an “evil” place with religious dictators who present death doctrines for anyone not supportive of the ruling regime, it has been an eye-opening experience seeing first-hand the cultural importance Iranians place on personal freedom.

People United Against Cuts is a local coalition formed to oppose the Governor’s recent “All Cuts” budget. The Governor’s proposed…

Protesters Rally, Bloggers and Journalists Arrested, Re-form Clerics Step Up Their Criticism of Government – 3 Days of Mourning Called for the Dead

Peaceful demonstrations on Sunday. Here’s alleged video from a blogger in Iran. CNN reported on Twitter: “Eyewitnesses: Thousands of riot police lining Tehran streets Sunday; marches taking place, but no violence reported.”

OCEAN BEACH, CA. Saturday, June 20th, was the first (for some) Great Graffiti Paint-out for Sunset Cliffs, marred by countless taggings. About twenty people showed up bright and early and proceeded to paint clean the entire stretch from Orchard north to the Pier. Special thanks go out to Ed Baer, Lou, and Jon Carr for making this happen. Cheers to you!

I am attempting to cover the situation in Iran this morning, Saturday, June 20th, using several live blogs – so you don’t have to. I’ll do this for the next couple of hours. The original plans of the opposition in Iran was to hold a rally at 4 pm their time. I’m referring to The New York Times’ The Lede, Huffington Post by Nico Pitney, and Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic. My writings are in Pacific Daylight Time.

by Frank Gormlie

The next day in Iran is very critical. The country is at the breaking point. This morning in his prayer-speech, the chief cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, came out swinging at the opposition movement that has been in the streets for the last week in support of their reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.