Potpourri For You And Me
ANOTHER VIEW OF THE STIMULUS
Over at the Red County Blog, which is undergoing a painful metamorphosis, by the way, there was a very clever post by Kathy Michael entitled, "Obama orders Steelers to forfeit half of their Super Bowl trophies". When you click on the title and read it I suspect you'll get a chuckle from it. Sadly, the point she makes is all too true.
***
ADIEU, DON LAMM
As reported earlier, the Westminster City Council chose Costa Mesa Director of Development Services, Don Lamm, to be their new City Manager effective May 1st. Congratulations to Don and kudos to Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder for creating a nurturing environment that has produced so many current city managers around our county.
***
TOLERANCE - A PARADOX
We have an interesting paradox going on here in the land of Newport-Mesa. On the one hand, we have the 8th annual Diversity Day celebration at Corona Del Mar High School, in which students ask probing questions on their views of gays and lesbians. Brianna Bailey's article, entitled "Tolerance is urged" may be found HERE.
A DISTASTEFUL CONTRAST
On the other hand, we have an influential guy in Costa Mesa who is the personification of intolerance and uses his blog and right wing web essays to preach his views. Much of what he says are simply untruths, conjured up to support his bias. For example, he frequently complains that the local news media doesn't publicize Latino gangs enough - that they, incorrectly, point at White gangs. He stated flat out in a recent blog posting that, "There are no white gangs in Costa Mesa". That, of course, is a lie.
HERE'S SOME TRUTH FOR YOU
Over at the new liberal blog, OC Progressive, one of the authors published a post entitled, "NeoNazi Skinheads in the OC - A Troubling Rise of Activity" You can read this article HERE and consider the information for yourself. Follow the embedded links to fully understand this problem.
***
LOBDELL PLAYS TO A PACKED NEWPORT BEACH HOUSE
I attempted to attend the lecture/book signing at the Newport Beach Main Library by former Daily Pilot editor and Los Angeles Times religion writer William Lobdell this week. The event was standing room only and, although I arrived a few minutes before the scheduled start time, I was among three dozen or so disappointed individuals turned away. In his column Thursday, HERE, Joe Bell mentions this meeting with no small degree of pride. Bell was Lobdell's college journalism instructor a few moons ago a
nd was mentioned prominently in the credits in the book. According to Bell, the book, "How I Lost My Religion", is in it's second printing and just flying off the bookstore shelves. Yes, I'm still working my way through it - I'm 2/3 done. It's a great read, but I have not had time recently to just sit and read anything and I want to plow right on through it to the end in one sitting. I'll report back when I've finished it.
***
LAME EXCUSES FOR SNUBBING OBAMA
Much ado was made this week about the fact that 4/5ths of the Costa Mesa City Council snubbed the President of the United States during his recent town hall meeting at the Orange County Fairgrounds - right across the street from our City Hall. Only Democrat councilwoman Katrina Foley attended the town hall to represent the elected leadership of our city. In the Daily Pilot today the question was posed to each of the council members, "Why did you or did not attend President Obama's town hall meeting?" You can read their responses HERE. Every one of them, except Foley's, were lame and demonstrated one more time what happens when you elect small people to big jobs.
***
FIREWORKS ISSUES EXPLODING - AGAIN
The whole "Costa Mesa Fireworks" issue has re-energized local youth group sponsors and parents, who seem ready to run Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece out of town on a rail because she recently proposed changes in the way fireworks sales are managed, including a hefty tax. Even though I agree with Leece that illegal fireworks are dangerous, the Costa Mesa public safety folks seem unable to apprehend those who break the law by discharging ILLEGAL fireworks - the really dangerous kind.
CITIZEN BOUNTY HUNTERS?
I suggested in a couple Daily Pilot comment threads that, perhaps, what we need is a cadre of citizen bounty hunters. Create a system whereby normal residents can collect a bounty by turning in their offending neighbors. Make them provide photographic evidence and at least one more witness to the crime, call the cops and perform a citizen's arrest in their presence. The penalties for false arrest are very significant, so this cannot be used to settle old grudges, but it might work as a deterrent to future use of illegal fireworks in our city. Award a hefty bounty - $200, $500 or more - and see what happens. While I suspect this plan will meet with a lot of opposition, it's very likely that those most vocal against it are offenders or close to some who do use illegal fireworks.
***
THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!
That's all for now... I suspect I've managed to raise the blood pressure of more than a few folks this evening. This will give you something to chew on over the weekend....
Over at the Red County Blog, which is undergoing a painful metamorphosis, by the way, there was a very clever post by Kathy Michael entitled, "Obama orders Steelers to forfeit half of their Super Bowl trophies". When you click on the title and read it I suspect you'll get a chuckle from it. Sadly, the point she makes is all too true.
***
ADIEU, DON LAMM
As reported earlier, the Westminster City Council chose Costa Mesa Director of Development Services, Don Lamm, to be their new City Manager effective May 1st. Congratulations to Don and kudos to Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder for creating a nurturing environment that has produced so many current city managers around our county.
***
TOLERANCE - A PARADOX
We have an interesting paradox going on here in the land of Newport-Mesa. On the one hand, we have the 8th annual Diversity Day celebration at Corona Del Mar High School, in which students ask probing questions on their views of gays and lesbians. Brianna Bailey's article, entitled "Tolerance is urged" may be found HERE.
A DISTASTEFUL CONTRAST
On the other hand, we have an influential guy in Costa Mesa who is the personification of intolerance and uses his blog and right wing web essays to preach his views. Much of what he says are simply untruths, conjured up to support his bias. For example, he frequently complains that the local news media doesn't publicize Latino gangs enough - that they, incorrectly, point at White gangs. He stated flat out in a recent blog posting that, "There are no white gangs in Costa Mesa". That, of course, is a lie.
HERE'S SOME TRUTH FOR YOU
Over at the new liberal blog, OC Progressive, one of the authors published a post entitled, "NeoNazi Skinheads in the OC - A Troubling Rise of Activity" You can read this article HERE and consider the information for yourself. Follow the embedded links to fully understand this problem.
***
LOBDELL PLAYS TO A PACKED NEWPORT BEACH HOUSE
I attempted to attend the lecture/book signing at the Newport Beach Main Library by former Daily Pilot editor and Los Angeles Times religion writer William Lobdell this week. The event was standing room only and, although I arrived a few minutes before the scheduled start time, I was among three dozen or so disappointed individuals turned away. In his column Thursday, HERE, Joe Bell mentions this meeting with no small degree of pride. Bell was Lobdell's college journalism instructor a few moons ago a
nd was mentioned prominently in the credits in the book. According to Bell, the book, "How I Lost My Religion", is in it's second printing and just flying off the bookstore shelves. Yes, I'm still working my way through it - I'm 2/3 done. It's a great read, but I have not had time recently to just sit and read anything and I want to plow right on through it to the end in one sitting. I'll report back when I've finished it.***
LAME EXCUSES FOR SNUBBING OBAMA
Much ado was made this week about the fact that 4/5ths of the Costa Mesa City Council snubbed the President of the United States during his recent town hall meeting at the Orange County Fairgrounds - right across the street from our City Hall. Only Democrat councilwoman Katrina Foley attended the town hall to represent the elected leadership of our city. In the Daily Pilot today the question was posed to each of the council members, "Why did you or did not attend President Obama's town hall meeting?" You can read their responses HERE. Every one of them, except Foley's, were lame and demonstrated one more time what happens when you elect small people to big jobs.
***
FIREWORKS ISSUES EXPLODING - AGAIN
The whole "Costa Mesa Fireworks" issue has re-energized local youth group sponsors and parents, who seem ready to run Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece out of town on a rail because she recently proposed changes in the way fireworks sales are managed, including a hefty tax. Even though I agree with Leece that illegal fireworks are dangerous, the Costa Mesa public safety folks seem unable to apprehend those who break the law by discharging ILLEGAL fireworks - the really dangerous kind.
CITIZEN BOUNTY HUNTERS?
I suggested in a couple Daily Pilot comment threads that, perhaps, what we need is a cadre of citizen bounty hunters. Create a system whereby normal residents can collect a bounty by turning in their offending neighbors. Make them provide photographic evidence and at least one more witness to the crime, call the cops and perform a citizen's arrest in their presence. The penalties for false arrest are very significant, so this cannot be used to settle old grudges, but it might work as a deterrent to future use of illegal fireworks in our city. Award a hefty bounty - $200, $500 or more - and see what happens. While I suspect this plan will meet with a lot of opposition, it's very likely that those most vocal against it are offenders or close to some who do use illegal fireworks.
***
THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!
That's all for now... I suspect I've managed to raise the blood pressure of more than a few folks this evening. This will give you something to chew on over the weekend....
Labels: Bill Lobdell, Don Lamm, fireworks, intolerance, Obama, Stimulus
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 3/26/2009 11:29:00 PM
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