OB Rag

At the annual Surfrider-sponsored Paddle for Clean Water, hundreds of surfers, paddle boarders, kayakers, boogieboarders, and others jumped into the Pacific Ocean at and around the OB Pier, on Sunday, September 21. It was the 23rd anniversary of the organization’s Paddle for Clean Water event around Southern California’s longest pier in a mass display of solidarity for the protection of our precious coastlines.

They came from far and wide, they were young and old, and all participants were fed a free breakfast.

Shamu, we hardly knew ye

By Linda Perine /San Diego Woman’s Democratic Club

For most of us it has been a slow, painful process to understand that our love affair with cute, cuddly, smiley Shamu has made us participants in a cold-blooded business that imprisons and mistreats sentient, social creatures in ways that turn the stomach and shock the conscience.

Concerned environmentalist and civic leaders have been telling us for years that the capture of orcas was nasty and brutal

By Lori Saldaña / Part Two of Four

In Part One of this series, Lori Saldaña discussed her motivations and personal considerations leading up to her run for the California Assembly in 2004.

At the end of yesterday’s installment, she’d just been told by a Los Angeles woman’s organization at the end of a fundraising presentation that they viewed her a good candidate for school board, not the statehouse.

They ultimately endorsed my opponent- a woman with no prior elected experience who had worked as a pollster for the state teacher’s union. Fortunately, I was unwilling to accept these evaluations as the final say on my qualifications to run, or my ability to serve in state-level office.

Drinking diet soda could cause weight gain, obesity, even diabetes research suggests

CBC News /September 17, 2014 1

Artificial sweeteners may exacerbate, rather than prevent, metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes, a study suggests.

Calorie-free artificial sweeteners are often chosen by dieters in part because they are thought not to raise blood sugar levels.

In Wednesday’s issue of the journal Nature, researchers report that artificial sweeteners increase the blood sugar levels in both mice and humans by interfering with microbes in the gut. Increased blood sugar levels are an early indicator of Type 2 diabetes and metabolic disease.

At their most recent Board meeting on September 10th, the Ocean Beach Town Council passed a resolution that called on government – all levels of government – to deal with chronic homelessness in OB, at the beaches and coastal areas of San Diego and the San Diego River channel. It also stated that it should be a priority to end the homelessness of veterans.

The resolution passed was in support of addressing chronic homelessness “with best practices”, calling upon the City and County of San Diego to bring homelessness resources, outreach, and programs to the San Diego coastal communities.

It read:

The Ocean Beach Town Council calls upon the City and County of San Diego to now bring their successful practices, and homelessness resources and programs …

Have you checked your calendar for this weekend recently? Yeah, it’s full. There’s plenty happening in OB and around the City – so, here’s the short list:

Saturday, Sept. 20th

Annual OB Pier Pancake Breakfast – 7:30 am – Noon

People’s Climate March – 12:30 pm at City Hall

This coming Sunday is the People’s Climate March in New York City, here in San Diego, and elsewhere around the world.

Folks will gather at City Hall at 12:30 to call for a strong Climate Action Plan, stop at the

COME INSIDE FOR DETAILS…

If you haven’t already, you gotta check out the OB Rag Calendar page – called “Events” on the nav bar – and the Rag’s free Classifieds.

OB Rag Events / Calendar Most Complete

The OB Rag Calendar is the most complete calendar in OB because most other calendars focus on the particular group who sponsors the calendar. For example the OB Town Council, or the OB Planning Board’s respective calendars only announce their own meetings, whereas the OB Rag’s Events list both groups’ meetings.

Free Classifieds

The OB Rag has the only free, daily classified section online for Ocean Beach. You can post your own classified. Here’s the ads and how to post.

Come to the OB Historical Society presentation, Thursday, September 18th for “the Battle of San Pasqual – Looking Through the Haze of Gunsmoke” – featuring local historian Richard L Carrico.

Ever wonder what really happened at the Battle of San Pasqual on Dec.6-7, 1846? Who really won the battle between Andres Pico and the Californios and General Kearny and the American forces?

Check this out – this has got to be one of the most strangest things that occurred during Tuesday’s crazy storm: burning palm trees in Pacific Beach – hit by lightning.

A couple of weeks ago, veteran ace U-T reporter, Lori Weisberg, did a friendly analysis of the status of Belmont Park and its “Hits and Misses”.

Here are the highlights of her report, in case you didn’t see it:

Pacifica Enterprises and Eat Drink Sleep are the new overseers of Belmont Park, and over the last two years of their management, have enlarged the dining places and the entertainment options, while giving the place a face-lift. This has all boosted revenues – for the owners and for the City of San Diego as it receives a share of the revenues from park sales.

By Carey L. Biron / Inter Press Service / News Report / Nation of Change / Sept. 7, 2014

A rebuke comes from the United Nation as a pattern of U.S. homeless laws violates the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination as the majority of the homeless are minorities.

A United Nations panel reviewing the U.S. record on racial discrimination has expressed unusually pointed concern over a new pattern of laws it warns is criminalizing homelessness.