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UC Davis Pepper Spray Report: “… should and could have been prevented.”

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The long-awaited report about the pepper spraying of UC Davis students by campus police last November is finally out. And the report doesn’t waste words:

“The pepper spraying incident that took place on November 18, 2011 should and could have been prevented.”

The report, by a task force appointed by the university and led by retired state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, himself a former UC Davis prof, determined that UC Davis campus police violated their own policy and used bad judgment in pepper spraying the non-violent, sitting student protesters. And it said that university leaders really screwed up their handling of the protest and its aftermath.

We all saw the video of campus cop John Pike pepper spraying the students directly into their faces as they crouched together on the sidewalk of the campus.

Here’s more of what the Report said:   [Read more…]

Controversy Surrounds Wrong Guy Named to San Diego Oversight Board

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The Public Should Be Eying Mark Nelson – Not Michael Zucchet

A mild controversy swirled around Michael Zucchet from Point Loma the other day because he was one of two people appointed to the San Diego Oversight Board.

Those who still are not convinced of Zucchet’s innocence in San Diego’s “stripper-gate” scandal of 2003 to 2005, and those who are bothered because he is currently the general manager of the the City’s largest public-employee union, the San Diego Municipal Employees Association, opposed his nomination and selection by Mayor Sanders and the City Council.

Yet, the real controversy should have swirled around the other appointee, Mark Nelson, but more on that in a moment.

Zucchet and Nelson were both nominated by our “strong” mayor, Jerry Sanders to serve on the San Diego Oversight Board, which will oversee and supervise the deconstruction of San Diego’s fourteen redevelopment projects, as mandated by State law.
  [Read more…]

How the Pentagon Overrode Obama on Afghanistan – Why We Need to Get the Hell Out – Part 2

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Bob Woodward’s “Obama’s Wars” Gives Us Ringside Seats in How Pentagon “Rolled” the President

It’s amazing, isn’t it, how quickly Afghanistan can fall off the front page or off the news cycle. And then something horrible will bring it back. But only briefly.

Like in this news, an Afghan guy dressed in a soldier’s uniform drove into a crowd that had gathered to see what US and NATO troops were up to in their neighborhood park. The guy donated a bomb – and people were killed – including 3 American soldiers. The park was in a relatively peaceful area of northern Afghanistan.

Then, there’s “news” that seems to tell us ‘everything is okay, and everything is under control’, what with the new security arrangement between the U.S. and the Karzai government. On April 8th, it was announced that we and Afghanistan had signed a deal on the despised US-led night military operations – long an “obstacle to a long-term strategic partnership between the two countries, including a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after 2014, when all foreign combat troops are set to leave the country.”   [Read more…]

Naked Ocean Beach Nighttime Swimmer Can’t Find Clothes, Goes Home – Sets Off 2 Hour Rescue Search

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What a story! Apparently, an Ocean Beach woman with friends went swimming last night – Tuesday night – and they went swimming without clothes – naked – . When she got out of the (low-50s?) water she couldn’t find her friends, she couldn’t find her clothes, her cellphone or even her wallet. What to do? So, she walks home. Now, the U-T is reporting that she walked home “drunk and naked”. OMG!

Anyhow, she probably fell asleep at some point, not even imagining that her absence on the beach would set off such a scene.

Anyhow, someone walking on the beach near the end of Brighton Avenue near Dog Beach found her stuff. This was about 4:30 a.m. – this morning. Sounds like the good Samaritan waited around for an hour to see if anyone claimed the clothes, cellphone and wallet. No one did. So, they called the lifeguards.   [Read more…]

The Green Store of Ocean Beach Has to Move – and Is Looking for Sponsors

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The Green Store of OB – sitting in an old storefront at 4827 Voltaire Street Voltaire Street – has to move. After 17 years being in the same location, the environmentally-and-socially- minded shop was given a 60 day eviction notice by its landlord on April 1st – and it wasn’t a joke.

But Colleen Dietzel – owner and manager – is not bitter. She and her partners at the Green Store have had a wonderful relationship with their landlord, Gregg Sullivan over the years. “He’s been very good to us,” Colleen told me over the phone. “Gregg supported what we’ve been doing here,” she said.

In a bit of irony, Colleen is getting ready to celebrate the Green Store’s 23rd anniversary this April 22nd. The store originally opened in one location in OB and had to move after 6 years. That’s when she and her partner Kip Kruegar moved into the place on Voltaire. Sullivan didn’t buy the place until 7 years later, so he’s been their landlord for the past ten years.   [Read more…]

OB Ragster quoted in Washington Post on why she cancelled her subscription to the San Diego U-T

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Seems OB Ragsters are getting quoted everywhere these days. Doug Porter was quoted by the San Diego U-T just this past Sunday on why their former comment policy turned people off – particularly newbies to town. And today, we are overjoyed to announce that our own Anna Daniels was quoted yesterday in a Washington Post […]

Bob Filner Easily Wins Mayor Poll

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For most of last week, the OB Ragran our latest San Diego mayoral election poll, and Bob Filner won it easily hands down. He garnered 46.7% of the vote which included 169 respondents.

“None of the above” was also a choice, and it came in second with 17.2%.

Among the Republicans running, Carl DeMaio topped the field with a meager 13.6%, followed by Nathan Fletcher with a single-digit of 8.3%, and then Bonnie Dumanis bringing up the rear with 7.1%. Combined, the GOP candidates won 29% of the vote.   [Read more…]

It’s official: Ocean Beach remains in newly drawn City Council District 2

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Well, it’s now official. The neighborhood of Ocean Beach will remain in District 2. This is significant, as it means that OB will remain in a district with other beach neighborhoods that have similar interests and needs.

Last Thursday, August 25, the redistricting commission finalized their approval of the newly drawn San Diego City Council districts. Many of the former district boundaries were changed, plus a new district, District 9, was created, as voters wished. This redrawing of districts occurs every ten years after the US Census results are studied.   [Read more…]

Community and Labor Activists Begin Movement to Change San Diego

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Over three hundred community and labor activists met yesterday, Saturday, August 27th, for an all-day economic summit and began the process of building a movement to change San Diego. Under the title of “A Better San Diego”, yesterday’s event at Horace Mann Middle School was the culmination of months of meetings and discussions initiated by […]

Tanja Winter – San Diego Hero For Our Time

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Editor’s Note:  We received the news that Tanja Winter passed away on February 9, 2014.  The date for  a celebration of her life in San Diego has not been determined at this time.  This article was published in 2011 and provides a glimpse into the life of an extraordinary woman.

When Tanja Winter – the matriarch of San Diego’s progressive community – was 12 years old, she watched as German Nazis troops rolled into Prague where she lived, in what was then Czechoslovakia. It was 1939 and she was coming home from school. She vividly recalls that awful scene to this day – all the adults were standing around weeping.

Over seven decades later, I’m sitting in her living room in La Jolla Shores, getting her to tell me more of her story. I’ve known Tanja for decades but never knew the details of her growing up or her earlier life on the East Coast with her soul-mate, Bernie, who passed away a quarter of a century ago.   [Read more…]

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