Open Thread

by Open Thread on February 11, 2009

One of my favorite winter moments in Ojai is when the sun is shining in the west, the dark rain clouds fill the eastern sky, and the light illuminates the tallest trees as they tower above the orchards.
Here’s an interesting thing coming up March 5th from the Ojai Concert Series… “Fishtank Ensemble” – a unique eclectic blend of Romanian folk, Gypsy, Balkan, Flamenco, Klezmer and originals.

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Anonymous February 12, 2009 at 7:38 pm

What’s the scuttlebutt on the extensive renovations happening at the old Iwata Gardens / Los Coparales building on East Ojai Avenue at Gridley Road?
Or has this been covered in a previous thread?

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Suza February 12, 2009 at 11:44 pm

Hey! I noticed something going on there too. I will ask…

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Donna Lloyd February 13, 2009 at 6:51 am

I heard it was going to be an office complex

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spk February 13, 2009 at 10:15 am

Here’s a letter I wrote about our California budget problems. It was actually published in the VC Star, the VC Reporter and the OVN. The Title below is from the editors at the Reporter, not me:

Strickland failing the people
The state of California and our budget are in crisis. Nearly $4 billion dollars in public works projects, including our own bridge replacement project on the east side of Ojai, have already been suspended. One wonders how many layoffs stemmed from this alone. Next, checks to the disabled for everything from assistance with rent to basic foodstuffs are simply going to stop. The poorest and least able are about to be cut off. Why is this happening?
Recently elected State Senator Tony Strickland and his Republican cohorts in the state Legislature are blocking the budget process. In this failing economy, which has been created because of the strict adherence to the supply-side or trickle-down theories of the right, the minority Republican caucus in the state Legislature has seen fit to pledge “no tax increases.” This pledge was taken, one imagines, while kneeling before the great and powerful Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax
Reform. Can someone explain to me why state legislators are beholden to out-of-state ideologues touting failed economic theories? Senator Strickland and his fellow obstructionists in the Republican caucus seem to think that further spending cuts for our already woefully underfunded public schools is preferable to tax increases of any kind. This kind of ideological thinking is not helpful. Strickland behaves as if he has won a mandate when in fact he won by just four-tenths of a percent.
It is time for Tony Strickland and his cohorts in the Republican caucus to either renounce their failed ideology and do the people’s business or get out of the way. The citizens of California will not look kindly on them if they continue their obstructionism.
Sean P. Keenan

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Anonymous February 13, 2009 at 9:41 pm

We sometimes forget here in Ojai that we are part of Ventura County, which takes credit for bringing Ronald Reagan and the whole bankrupt Grover Norquist ideology to the world. Strickland – and Gallegly, and … and … and… – if we’re talking about bad legislators peddling bad ideas, bad leaders bankrupting the world and killing people to add an ever-diminishing number of single pennies to their pockets … no surprise they represent Ventura County. I think if you talk to Ventura County Republicans, you will find they think Grover Norquist is getting on his knees and making a pledge to them. Not the other way around.
Any way to change it?
I suggested here before, couldn’t Ojai just secede from Ventura County and join San Francisco County?
That would be worth it for the burritos alone. (Not to mention universal health care, clean public water, etc. etc.)
I wonder if they’d take us?

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The Great Republican Die-Off February 14, 2009 at 11:54 am

Hey, I woke up this morning with a beautiful vision from a dream of how morning finally came to America…
Led by Rush Limbaugh on a serious hillbilly heroin rush, with Bush, Cheney, and Pat Robertson walking abreast, the Republican leadership called the faithful to a “march to end all marches.” Republicans everywhere spent a week getting their affairs in order, in which they were directed to leave their assets – the money and property that they cannot take with them to the promised land – to the liberal foundations and community chests of those who were to be left behind.
Then they joined the march, walking from all over America to that famous sheer cliff in Maine, right off the cliff into the Atlantic.
The next morning, after the last had left, Jesus appeared on the Amtrak main line, apologizing profusely for having let things get so out of hand. He was of course forgiven.

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