Never A Dull Moment...
Geez! I go out of town for a nice, relaxing long weekend and return to a very strange bag of accumulated news stories.
In no particular order....
RIGGY'S PROFILE RISING
First, Old Riggy, the carpetbagging Planning Commissioner, Jim Righeimer, some how managed to be included in Assemblyman Van Tran's recent trip to the border to view the accomplishments of the National Guard first hand. He wrote a nice trip report for us in Saturday's Pilot, which can be read HERE. I guess Riggy is posturing because, after all, it is an election year. Who knows which ring his hat will land in this summer. It will make for very interesting viewing - and commenting.
MANSOOR'S FEEBLE REJOINDER
Then, our young jailer/former mayor, Allan Mansoor, took exception to Orange County Register's Steven Greenhut's view on immigration enforcement in Costa Mesa as expressed in a recent commentary, HERE, with his own letter to the editor this weekend. You can view it HERE. Of course, Greenhut had it right, but Mansoor just can't let anyone criticize his plan. He rants about all those dangerous criminals taken off the street as a result of the presence of the ICE agent's presence in the Costa Mesa jail, but has not given us a reference point against which to compare. His comments assume there would be less enforcement of the law in our city - a view that is a direct slap in the fact of the men and women of the Costa Mesa Police Department. It's no wonder they supported his opponents in the election in 2006.
BODY DISCOVERED IN HOTEL
Then we are told that, in one of the priciest hotels in Newport Beach, a woman's body was found packed in dry ice in a sealed tub! Yikes! This strange story is still unfolding but it looks like the poor woman may have been dead for many months. You can read the coverage HERE.
OFF DUTY COSTA MESA COP SHOOTS ASSAILANTS
And then there is the strange story of an off duty Costa Mesa police officer who was involved in a shooting in Temecula over the weekend, apparently while attending a Hot Rod show. Details are still very sketchy, and the officer is still unidentified, but some reports imply that he shot his way out of a beating being administered by a couple men outside a restaurant. One man died and another was injured in the scuffle and the officer is on administrative leave, recovering from injuries incurred in the fight. Local coverage can be read HERE and HERE.
BYRON'S PEACE OFFERING REBUFFED
And, finally, my pal Byron de Arakal used the second half of his column in the Daily Pilot today, HERE, to attempt to mediate a peace between the Daily Pilot and others in the community with an activist described in many postings on this blog and elsewhere. It was a noble effort. Not unexpectedly, it was met with a virtual loogie to the face, HERE.
In no particular order....
RIGGY'S PROFILE RISING
First, Old Riggy, the carpetbagging Planning Commissioner, Jim Righeimer, some how managed to be included in Assemblyman Van Tran's recent trip to the border to view the accomplishments of the National Guard first hand. He wrote a nice trip report for us in Saturday's Pilot, which can be read HERE. I guess Riggy is posturing because, after all, it is an election year. Who knows which ring his hat will land in this summer. It will make for very interesting viewing - and commenting.
MANSOOR'S FEEBLE REJOINDER
Then, our young jailer/former mayor, Allan Mansoor, took exception to Orange County Register's Steven Greenhut's view on immigration enforcement in Costa Mesa as expressed in a recent commentary, HERE, with his own letter to the editor this weekend. You can view it HERE. Of course, Greenhut had it right, but Mansoor just can't let anyone criticize his plan. He rants about all those dangerous criminals taken off the street as a result of the presence of the ICE agent's presence in the Costa Mesa jail, but has not given us a reference point against which to compare. His comments assume there would be less enforcement of the law in our city - a view that is a direct slap in the fact of the men and women of the Costa Mesa Police Department. It's no wonder they supported his opponents in the election in 2006.
BODY DISCOVERED IN HOTEL
Then we are told that, in one of the priciest hotels in Newport Beach, a woman's body was found packed in dry ice in a sealed tub! Yikes! This strange story is still unfolding but it looks like the poor woman may have been dead for many months. You can read the coverage HERE.
OFF DUTY COSTA MESA COP SHOOTS ASSAILANTS
And then there is the strange story of an off duty Costa Mesa police officer who was involved in a shooting in Temecula over the weekend, apparently while attending a Hot Rod show. Details are still very sketchy, and the officer is still unidentified, but some reports imply that he shot his way out of a beating being administered by a couple men outside a restaurant. One man died and another was injured in the scuffle and the officer is on administrative leave, recovering from injuries incurred in the fight. Local coverage can be read HERE and HERE.
BYRON'S PEACE OFFERING REBUFFED
And, finally, my pal Byron de Arakal used the second half of his column in the Daily Pilot today, HERE, to attempt to mediate a peace between the Daily Pilot and others in the community with an activist described in many postings on this blog and elsewhere. It was a noble effort. Not unexpectedly, it was met with a virtual loogie to the face, HERE.
Labels: Byron de Arakal, Mansoor, Riggy
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 3/12/2008 10:34:00 AM
3 Comments:
Geoff, I see no problem with Mansoor's reply. It was a straight recitation of statistics. The numbers do prove Greenhut wrong about Costa Mesa.
I am disappointed in Greenhut's column, I usually agree with everything he writes. His use of the PPIC study demonstrates intellectual laziness and inappropriate bias. That study, which I have written about extensively in other forums, is fatally flawed, as it does not distinguish between legal immigrants and illegal aliens.
Regardless of where you stand on illegal immigration - morally, ethically, practically, etc. - at least be honest about the debate. Greenhut's column was a dishonest attempt to excuse illegal behavior.
Reform is on the way - every candidate is calling for it. What many fail to acknowledge and disngenuously ignore, is the FACT that coming here illegally or employing those here illegally is a CRIME.
It is deeply offensive to most who respect the rule of law that is necessary for a viable society when otherwise good people get up on their soapboxes and stretch reality in every conceivable way in a futile and intellectually corrupt effort to justify wholesale illegal activities.
Change the law, stop advocating total disregard for it.
Rob:
Well written and spot on.
I suspect that debaters on both sides of the illegal immigration issue can find many studies to prop up their own views. Greenhut's presentation of facts as provided by that particular study track with many others that have been quoted in the past couple years. I stand by my comment that Mansoor's rebuttal is feeble. I've recently reviewed the tapes of the council meetings in which the programs were discussed. His original plan was much more draconian than the one finally passed. However, in both cases, his pitch was to assure us that he only wanted to get dangerous felons off the streets. He has provided us no point of comparison against which to evaluate the success, or lack thereof, of the presence of the ICE agent in weeding out felons. Felons would have been arrested without his presence and, as they wiggled their way through the penal system, would have been identified as illegal aliens and handled exactly as they are being handled now.
One thing is sure - more illegal immigrants have been removed from our streets. I'm not one who thinks that is necessarily a good thing. Most of those folks snatched up for minor infractions were hard-working people who came here to make a better life for their families - just as Mansoor's parents did and just as my great grandparents did. Most came here simply because there were jobs to be had that would provide a better life - not to prey on the populace as criminals. I'm not convinced our city is safer because we deported the Sunday school teacher or riding his bike down the wrong side of the street or that gardener stopped for a broken tail light.
We could continue to vent our collective spleens on this issues from now until the elections in November. We do know that change is coming. If McCain is elected he tells us his first step will be to secure the borders - an approach with which I agree and have said so many times. NOTHING we do until that happens can be effective. As long as the border is a revolving door, all the efforts taking place to snatch up and deport illegal aliens is futile.
However, I'm sure we will continue to see politicians of all stripes at all levels continue to ride this issue into office.
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