NEVER FORGET...

"A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY..."
Today marks the 68th anniversary of the sneak attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, which launched the United States of America into World War II. I wrote about it last year, HERE.

AN UNHEALED SCAR
That date, more than any other in the history of this country, left a scar that has never fully healed. Recalling the events of that day, the four years of strife that followed and the hundreds of thousands of American lives that were lost should be a splash of cold water in the faces of those who would counsel our trainee president to withdraw from the current conflict in the Middle East without a satisfactory solution.

OBAMA SHOULD LEARN FROM HISTORY
President Obama needs to understand that his recent pronouncements about withdrawing from Afghanistan before the next presidential election is viewed by our enemies as weakness and will almost certainly encourage them to try to attack us again. In my opinion, Obama should learn from history and provide our military all the resources necessary to win this War on Terror.

UNITED STATES MILITARY CEMETERY - FLORENCE, ITALY

It's Time To Stand Up And Speak Up!

MILLIONS MARCH TO SHOW CONCERN
It was an interesting weekend in this wonderful country of ours. On Saturday, September 12, 2009 - while many of us were enjoying college football on a perfect fall day - well over 1,000,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. to protest the policies of our trainee president, Barack Obama. Some estimates were as high as 2,000,000. If you view the following time lapse video taken between 8:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. as the crowd was marching toward the Capitol you can make your own judgment as to the numbers involved.


YOU TELL ME... ARE THEY "WACKOS"?
Some will say that it was just a mob - a bunch of wackos - intent on disrupting the "great works" the president has embarked upon. They will describe the attendees as "extremists" and "nut cases", whipped into a frenzy by conservative talk radio personalities. I wasn't there, but I have viewed many of the videos of the event posted on YouTube. Here's one that might give you an idea about some of the folks that spent their Saturday on the National Mall.



I DON'T HAVE THE ANSWERS
I don't have answers to many of the questions posed by this grand national debate. I do feel, however, that Obama is moving too fast with too many programs that will bankrupt this country if we, the people, don't speak up. I think he and his liberal buddies will use the power they now have to ram new programs and taxes down our throats if we don't speak up. I don't kid myself that I can influence the national debate, but I can make my opinion known here and encourage you to do the same.

IT'S TIME TO STAND UP AND SPEAK UP
It has taken 250 years of blood, sweat and tears to create this wonderful country and to protect and preserve the way of life it provides to us. It is possible that it will take only a matter of months to destroy the country as we know it if we don't speak up against this current administration. Those folks who took the time to do just that on Saturday are an example of what can become a much broader national statement of concern.

CALL OR WRITE... AND DO IT NOW!
Pick up the telephone and call your congressional representative. Call the White House and express your concern. Sit down at your computer and write a letter to the president.

Obama's Propaganda? Er, Where?

(*My post mortem of Obama's speech at Wakefield High School at the end of this post)

FROM ONE FIRESTORM TO ANOTHER
I returned from the Labor Day Holiday to find myself in the midst of a virtual firestorm - as opposed to the real firestorms that were burning when I left.

OBAMA'S SPEECH TO OUR CHILDREN
The firestorm I mention now is the one created by the speech our trainee president, Barack Obama, will deliver to a group of school children this morning and that will be made available to be streamed live into classrooms all around the country simultaneously.

BENDING YOUNG MINDS?
Since this speech was announced it seems that the totality of the conservative movement has risen up against it as some kind of socialist takeover plot - a way to bend the malleable young minds of our children, turning them into something akin to World War II Hitler youth!

NOT AN OBAMA FAN
Now, let me say that I AM NOT a fan of Barack Obama. I think he's doing serious, perhaps irreparable, damage to our country in his mad scramble to recreate it in an image most of us don't recognize. I am a conservative - a lifelong Republican - and have gotten very angry at Obama for the many things he's done and is trying to do since his election last year.

NEWPORT-MESA WON'T SHOW THE SPEECH LIVE
So, I read of the decision by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District's decision to not show Obama's speech live in it's classrooms with great interest. You can read Dr. Jeffrey Hubbard's letter on the subject HERE. Dr. Hubbard tells us that the district will capture the live feed for future viewing, and that parents will have the opportunity to "opt out" their children from any such viewing if they choose to do so.

ADDING TO THE CHAOS OF THE FIRST DAY
I do understand that expecting our children to view this speech within the first couple hours of their first day back in school would tax even the most efficient administration. This year, of course, we have the probable chaos of the large numbers of children who will be turned away from school because they don't meet the residence requirements. That, alone, is probably a good reason to postpone presentation of the speech.

I READ THE MEDIA COVERAGE
I've read the Daily Pilot article on this issue, which has been amended for today's publication, along with the many comments posted online from readers on both sides of the issue. You can read it HERE. I read nanny-to-us-all Steve Smith's column on the subject, HERE. Quite honestly, Smith threw me a curve ball, because he has spouted his disdain for the evils of television over the years, so I thought he might lump Obama's speech in with it. No, that's not the route he took.

LOOKING FOR "RED MEAT"
Then I went online and read the text of Obama's speech - all 2438 words of it. I read it, then re-read it, looking for the red meat that has my fellow conservatives so riled up. I didn't find any - not even a sliver of gristle. You can read it for yourself HERE.

PRETTY GOOD PEP TALK
What I did find was a pretty straight-forward pep talk, which will probably be delivered with much skill and enthusiasm by Obama this morning at 9 a.m our time. I'm going to print out the text and read along with The President, to see if he adds any last minute propaganda. Honestly, I don't see that happening.

MESSAGE FROM A NEIGHBOR
When I arrived home this weekend I found the following email from a neighbor awaiting me. He has a child currently attending Newport-Mesa schools and two others who have graduated and are in college. Here's what he wrote to me:

How is it possible for parents in N-MUSD to have their children “opt out” of viewing a presidential address? Who decided this? Who demanded this of the N-MUSD? Do parents feel that a speech by a duly elected U.S. President is NOT WORTHY of their children’s ears and eyes if that president (or any president, past or present) does not represent the parents’ political viewpoint? Will N-MUSD be extending this same “opt out” form to parents who do not want their children exposed to speeches, papers or legislation by other members of federal, state and local governments, including decisions by our judicial system? Isn’t the purpose of our publicly-financed educational system to impart knowledge in our school children of the U.S. government and political party system so that they can make informed decisions about matters that effect them as they become adults? Is the school district being pressured by some parents to preventing their children from hearing an address by the current President of the United States based on the parents’ disagreement with the President’s age, sex, race, religion, employment status or political party membership? Does this action constitute indirect “censorship” by a governmental agency (i.e., N-MUSD) of a U.S. president?

I am in total disagreement with this action by N-MUSD; and feel that it should receive the attention of the local press for public debate.

OK, BUT THE DECISION'S BEEN MADE
Having read Obama's prepared text, I certainly understand my neighbor's point of view. However, the decision has been made and the district says it will provide an opportunity for viewing of the speech at a future date. To me, the speech doesn't have an urgency to it, so a few days delay in presenting it to our kids won't hurt anything. And, for those who feel they don't want Obama's "propaganda" to infiltrate their children's skulls, they can always "opt out". It seems to me, though, that it would be their loss.

KEEP THEM HOME AND VIEW IT WITH THEM
And, for those who feel strongly about their children having the chance to see this speech live, they can always keep them home and watch it live on C-Span or on the live stream.

*****

*THE SPEECH WAS OK
OK, after all the hoopla, angst and controversy, our trainee president, Barack Obama, spoke to the students at Wakefield High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and to students all across the country. (Except those in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District)

HE STUCK TO THE TEXT
During his 16 minute presentation he stayed pretty much on script. He tripped a couple times, but you wouldn't have known it if you didn't have a copy of the prepared text in front of you, as I did.

SOME CHANGES
A couple of interesting changes: About six minutes in, while he was setting the scene for his own personal struggles, instead of saying that he was raised by a single mother, he used the phrase "single mom". I suspect that change resonated better with his audience.

A little further on, instead of saying, "But I was fortunate." He changed it to, "But I was lucky." I guess that makes him sound more like a man of the people. "Fortunate" sounds a little elite to some folks.

Two-thirds of the way through he changed a phrase from, "...all kids deserve a safe environment.." to "...all young people deserve...".

At the end, he planned to close with, "I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down - don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it." He actually left out that last six-word sentence. Maybe he's not really sure if they can do it...

I GUESS IT WAS WORTH IT...
The speech was OK. It might inspire some young folks to work hard and stay in school. If it accomplishes that, then it was worth the time. I saw no reason that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District shouldn't show this brief speech to all students in the near future.

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 and 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....

Small Town Obamamania

(Photo courtesy of Daily Pilot)

ON THE ROAD WITH THE ROOKIE
Unless you've been in a coma for the past couple weeks you know that our trainee president, Barack H. Obama, visited Costa Mesa last week.

MASSIVE CARBON FOOTPRINT
Yep, I guess he forgot that he won the election last November and that the campaigning is over. He flew in on Air Force One and a fleet of five (5) helicopters for a little one-hour "town hall", during which he peeled off his coat in that steaming exhibit hall and led the cheers of fawning Obamaniacs. I think the place was packed with teachers ditching school because every time anything about education was mentioned the whole crowd went nuts.

WALTZING WITH THE ENEMY
I guess he decided Costa Mesa is just the right place to plug his stimulus plan. After all, he did carry the city during the election. Of course, he snubbed Republicans Dana Rohrabacher and Van Tran, our elected representatives to the House of Representatives and State Assembly respectively and was, in turn, snubbed by 4/5ths of our elected city leaders, all Republicans, by the way. Only Democrat Katrina Foley was present among the vocal throng to represent our city's interests.

LOW CLASS OR BAD MANNERS? YOU PICK...
I thought it was very interesting that Mayor Allan Mansoor and his right-wing compatriots on the city council, Wendy Leece, Gary Monahan and the almost inconsequential Eric Bever, chose to ignore the presence of the President of the United States in our city. Talk about bad manners and, maybe worse, bad politics. Of course, it doesn't surprise me. Their views are so far-right that I'd have been surprised if they'd demonstrated the common courtesy of welcoming the President to our city. Talk about inept!

NOT A BHO FAN
I'm not an Obama fan. I've written before that I thought - and still think - that he's unprepared for the job. He's demonstrating that every day that he's in office - all two months of it, so far. At a time when our economy is in bad shape and the prevailing wisdom calls out for fiscal restraint he's flying around the country, burning fuel like a Saudi Arabian prince, speaking before hand-picked audiences and acting like a rock star. He swoops down from the sky, delivers a lot of words but says nothing and we smile and cheer him! Good grief!

HE'S A GOOD READER, BUT...
Obama is a charismatic and effective speaker. He and his writers know just how to reach those who think "government" is the answer to every problem in their lives. His patter was smooth as long as he stuck to his script. Once that teleprompter is removed, though, he gives us little peeks into his personality that should make us very nervous.

CATCH A...
For example, while I was watching his performance in that darkened exhibit hall on local Orange County television, I head him begin what could have been a disastrous faux pas. At the end of his little Question and Answer period he turned from the cameras and faced the folks behind him in the bleachers to select the final questioner. He had been going boy, girl, boy, girl to demonstrate his sense of fairness. Now, apparently wanting to choose just the right person to wrap things up, he began by pointing at individuals and saying, "Eenie, Meanie, Minie, Moe..." Well, folks, I held my breath, wondering if he was actually going to finish that little chant and which version he would use! Fortunately, he left his "Moe" dangling...

OOPS!
During his visit to the Southland he chatted up Jay Leno and made some gaffes that will linger for awhile. And, I watched snippets of his speech the next day at yet another "town hall" - basically the same speech he gave in Costa Mesa - and found him to be much less smooth. Even though he already had a test run in the boondocks - here in Costa Mesa - he came off sounding bored and he fumbled the very words he'd spoken 24 hours earlier in a similar setting here in our little town.

GOOD DAILY PILOT COVERAGE
Our local newspaper of record, the Daily Pilot, had a full crew at the event and did a good job of providing coverage. They produced three articles and a joint column plus a nice video feature. These were followed up by a good editorial, too. However, some readers have taken the Pilot editors to task, indicating that they presented a biased viewpoint. Horse manure! They did a good job of presenting articles of interest with accuracy, fairness and balance.


***

BRIEF PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
If you blinked tonight you may have missed what may be the shortest Costa Mesa Planning Commission meeting in recorded history. Chairman Jim Righeimer did a good job with the presentation of the 2008 Design Awards to four projects finished last year and the only public hearing was continued to April 13th.

KUDOS
Vice Chair Jim Fisler did offer gratitude to the city staff for the recent memorial service honoring former commission chair and mayor Donn Hall, who passed away recently. He also paid tribute to former commissioner Bruce Garlich on the recent passing of Marietta Garlich. Righeimer joined him in comments on both services. Good going, men.

It's Time To Talk!

RENE MENG REVISITED
Last week, in the previous entry here, I wrote about Reserve Police Officer Rene Meng's poignant comments before the City Council at their most recent meeting. To read that entry click HERE. The Daily Pilot published a similar essay which ran in print last Friday. You can read it online HERE.

STORM CLOUDS OVERHEAD
I continue to be very concerned about the fiscal well-being of our city in light of the national economic climate and the boneheaded moves made by our state government. It's my opinion that, unless our public employee unions decide to sit down with our city leaders very soon to discuss modification of their current labor agreements, the city will be forced into laying off many of those brave folks who serve us in public safety jobs and keep the wheels of city government working.

WHAT DOES THE RANK AND FILE THINK?
This morning, as my wife and I were finishing breakfast at one of our favorite places, I noticed four members of the Costa Mesa Fire Department also finishing theirs. As they left and passed my table I spoke out to them, thanked them for their service and asked what they thought about the current budget situation.

"WE'VE BEEN TELLING THEM..."
The two more senior men stopped at our table and began to talk about it to me. One said that, and I'm paraphrasing him here, "We've been telling them for years that they have to do something." Turns out he meant the city, and that they have been telling "them" to find new sources of revenue. One mentioned the Transient Occupancy Tax and I told him that ship has sailed. We cannot address that issue again until 2010.

SHUT UP AND KEEP WALKING!
Then, curiously, the other fellow told his friend that they were not supposed to be talking about this subject. He acknowledged that admonition, then agreed that they'd been told not to discuss it and left the restaurant. I was just a little disappointed, because it's important to know how the men and women who will be directly affected by the decisions of their union leaders feel about this situation.

HEELS DUG IN?
I had the strong impression that, based on what they said and the way they said it, the employee unions are not eager at all to re-open discussions of their current contracts. Instead, they will be pointing the finger at city management for falling down on their job of raising revenue for the city. This does not bode well for the near-term problem of balancing this year's budget nor does it hold out much hope for a good solution for the Fiscal Year 09/10 budget, either.

NEGOTIATION TRAINING ON TAP
In an interesting bit of timing, the agenda for next Tuesday's City Council Study Session includes an item that was on the last council meeting agenda but was pushed off because of time constraints. This item is a presentation to them by an organization that specializes in training folks in leadership roles on the nuances of negotiating with employee groups.

UNION RECON?
I wonder if any members of the employee unions will be present at this study session?

BLEAK ECONOMIC NEWS CONTINUES
The economic news over the weekend continued to be bleak. The talking heads on the weekend news shows continued to provide us no good news. Quite the contrary. Our trainee President seems determined to completely re-make our country within his first 100 days and to saddle the next two generations of Americans with a debt load that will be virtually impossible to carry.

LOOKING FOR HOPE (NOT BOB)
I hope our local leaders find ways to lessen the impact of stupid, destructive decisions being made at the state and national level. I keep looking for a silver lining in the storm clouds that surround us these days. So far, there are only dark clouds.

JUST TALK!
One more time... I'm NOT against the public employee unions! I don't want them to shoulder all the burden of balancing our municipal budget. What I DO want them to do is to sit with our elected leaders and the city staff and negotiate, or at least listen.

Costa Mesa Graffiti And Our Trainee President

Here's some reading for you on a stormy weekend in Southern California:

CMTRUTH ILLUSTRATES A PROBLEM
I borrowed this image from our anonymous friend over at the CMTRUTH blog, who has posted several excellent entries over the past couple weeks which illustrate the graffiti problem in Costa Mesa. Of course, the author has also included some interesting comments about one insidious rabble rouser here in town, too. I suggest that you take a few moments to jump over to that blog and scroll down through the entries.

BAHNSEN ON OBAMA
Second, there is an outstanding entry on the Newport Beach Voices blog by author David Bahnsen addressing the first couple weeks of the Obama presidency. You can read it HERE. Bahnsen provides us with yet another interesting perspective on how this regime is beginning to play out.

OBAMA NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME
I, for one, am extremely apprehensive about the way Barack Obama is beginning his presidency. As I've said before, this is no job for a trainee and that's exactly what he is. I've spent a lifetime assessing and selecting strong leaders, so I know just a little bit about the subject. Obama has no proven leadership experience and his first couple weeks in office demonstrate that deficiency. He's made abysmal choices for some key administration positions which demonstrates to the American people and foreign leaders that he is simply not ready for this job.

This blog is not aimed at national issues, but that's my view on this one.