OB Rag

In a meeting devoid of the drama that led up to it, the San Diego City Council resolved a dispute with the mayor Friday, agreeing to more than $22 million in midyear budget cuts. The council begrudgingly approved the staggered closure of six city customer service centers, but retained three painting jobs the mayor wanted to eliminate.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, shut down the country’s legislature yesterday until January 26, in an effort to avoid a no-confidence vote that he was about to lose. This has provoked a constitutional crisis. Canada’s parliamentary opposition reacted with outrage. The opposition accused Harper of undermining Canada’s democracy. Thousands demonstrated yesterday in protest of the shut-down.

TOM HAYDEN: What does the US-Iraq Security Pact mean for the antiwar movement? It certainly may cement an American perception that the war is finally over, stranding the peace movement as public opinion turns its attention to the economy and the Obama administration. If the Pact’s terms are maintained, President-elect Obama will be acquiescing in a doubling of his 16-month deadline for withdrawal of combat troops, but also for the first time accepting a date for removal of so-called residual American forces–since “all” means all counter-terrorism units, advisers, trainers and back-up forces that could total 50,000 or more.

Jennifer Davis was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Nov. 18 near Boston, her contractions just 3 minutes apart. Her husband, John, was driving in the breakdown lane. They pulled up behind a state trooper to ask whether they could continue using the lane to reach the next exit. Not only did the trooper say no, he gave them a $100 citation for driving in the breakdown lane, made them wait for their citation, and even seemed to ask for proof of pregnancy.

Though many on the left put forth an analysis that appreciated the importance of defeating McCain and the Republican party, few of us were prepared for the raw emotion that surfaced in the wake of Barack Obama’s victory on November 4th. Cities across the US celebrated spontaneously in the streets and it seemed like the whole world celebrated with them. People’s feelings of joy can be attributed to a wide range of reasons, but a few of them seem primary.

Although the nation’s leading economists have determined that the national recession began in December 2007, regional economists are split over when San Diego County slipped into recession.
Some mark the beginning of the recession as early as spring 2007.

MICHAEL MOORE: You might assume that I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about these miserably inept crapmobile makers down the road in Detroit city. But I do care. I care about the millions whose lives and livelihoods depend on these car companies.

World Oil is coming back to Ocean Beach with a proposal for their property at the corner of Sunset Clliffs Blvd and Voltaire Street. Three times in the past, the corporation has approached the community and city planners with a proposal for a gas station at that very visible corner.

The American mainstream media has finally broken the story of the deployment of US combat troops inside America, news that the alternative blog media have been announcing and discussing since early September, three months ago. The deployment of US troops inside the country is the first time this has been done, plus it is in violation of American traditions and a number of laws, such as the Posse Comitatis Act. Here is the Washington Post article, which talks about 20,000 troops in 2 years.

Miami housing activists are organizing homeless people to illegally move into foreclosed homes. “We’re matching homeless people with people-less homes,” Max Rameau said with a grin. Rameau is part of a group of like-minded advocates who have formed Take Back the Land, which so far have moved six families into foreclosed homes, with nine on a waiting list. The organization also helps the new “tenants” with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep.

San Diego neighborhoods closest to the shore that are most affected by a beach booze ban soundly rejected Proposition D, despite arguments from supporters that a permanent prohibition was needed to make beaches safer. The restrictions, which also apply to the city’s waterfront parks, trailed in virtually every precinct in Mission Beach, Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach, the epicenter of the debate, The San Diego Union-Tribune found in an analysis of the Nov. 4 election results.

The National Retail Federation reports that consumer spending during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend was up 7%. This should spell relief for state and local government who depend on sales tax revenues to provide local services like Police, fire, parks, libraries, schools. But look a little deeper in the report to see why local governments are not breathing easier.