Have At It

hughes
Here’s how it happened. And no, I wasn’t there…

As expected, the new council voted 3-2 to begin “negotiations” with Dan Hughes to become Fullerton’s police chief.

Flory, Chaffee and Fitzgerald took their vote even as questions remain unanswered about Hughes’ role in the aftermath of Kelly Thomas murder, and accusations that Hughes himself was involved in an incident which is now the subject of a lawsuit against the City; and of course ongoing suspicion that Hughes has been an active part of the Culture of Corruption every step of the way.

Now watch ’em give away the store.

Oh, and yeah: you will not be getting a police oversight committee.

Why Can’t We Have Cops Like This?

The fine state of Washington recently made the bold move to end the senseless prohibition on marijuana. Not only will citizens who want to enjoy a puff o’ pot in private be spared being processed through the legal system, it also sets the stage for the state to collect up to 500 million dollars annually in taxes.

So if you’re in Washington, it’s now legal for adults 21 or older to consume marijuana in private, and to possess up to an ounce for personal use. And, like alcohol, open consumption in public can result in a citation.

On the Seattle police department’s blog, Jonah Spangenthal-Lee explains how the department views these recent developments:

But the police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a Lord of the Rings marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to.

 

And so can you!

 

Hmm, what are the chances for our own men in blue to sport such a sensible attitude? Could it ever happen here in Fullerton?

 

Thanksgiving Message to Friends

Here is a re-post of a Thanksgiving message from last year. So much has changed and yet much remains to be done. Nobody ever thought the forces of avarice, corruption and moral turpitude would go into their good night quietly.

As we pause today to give thanks for whatever we have to be thankful for, please consider how fortunate we are to live in a nation where freedom of speech actually means something.

This blog has never abused that basic right. We are abusive, rude, enlightening, abrasive, endearing, funny, not funny; we are free with our opinions, but never make things up. And we always remember what Dick Jones, Don Bankhead and Pat McKinley do not: that we derive the right from ourselves, and not from the government that would make us fill out a little blue card to speak to them.

We have been accused of being angry. Hell, yes we’re angry: as our elected representatives cut ribbons and hobnobbed at Chamber of Commerce mixers and rubber stamped every idiocy put in front of them, our city (ours, not theirs) was turned over to a gang of grifters, liars, thugs, pickpockets, perverts and killers.

These same buffoons have turned downtown Fullerton into a urine-soaked, booze addled free-for-all upon which our city council unleashed a band of uniformed goons hardly better than the low-lifes they invited into our city.

They have given their campaign contributors free land and even public streets upon which to erect the overbuilt stuccoed monstrosities that have swallowed up the historic downtown. Are they even ashamed? Hell, no, they are proud of what they have done and apologize for nothing.

Yes, there is anger; yet, anger tempered by hope. Hope that with a clear, sharp message Fullerton can be relieved of the dead hand of an ancient and corrupt regime. That message of hope is being delivered by the Fullerton Recall campaign.

You are all welcome to share that hope. And be assured: the winter of discontent will give way to a new year and spring of accountability and responsibility on the part of Fullerton’s elected representatives.

 

 

 

Kiger’s Lead Shrinks To 56; About 1500 ballots Left to Count

As of yesterday, November 13th, Travis Kiger’s lead over Jan Flory had been reduced to 56 votes. According to the ROV there remain about 1500 mail in ballots and provisional ballots left to count.

It’s gonna be close! Will Fullerton move ahead or will it retreat to the bad old days of denial and unaccountability? Will Jan Flory’s Dog become a major player in the OC blogosphere?

Stay tuned. We should know by the end of the day!

Planned Parenthood

The wife and I were having a discussion over dinner about the pros and cons of Proposition 30, and its claim to save education from a devastating blow of the budgetary axe. Then I remembered this post I’d uploaded some time ago in 2011 about the NOCCCD’s “School of Continuing Education”, and decided to re-post it. So if you happen to be sitting on the fence with this one, well, I won’t tell you how to vote, but it might help to keep in mind how tax dollars have been spent in this particular scenario. Enjoy!

The North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) is the proud parent of Fullerton College and its younger sibling, Cypress College. But apparently the nest wasn’t quite complete, as NOCCCD decided years ago that it wanted yet another baby, and popped out the abundantly productive School of Continuing Education (SCE) on Wilshire Blvd., across the street from Fullerton College. Amazingly, SCE has no academic courses, but has new buildings, deans and even its own Senate like a regular university!

Well, the Senate has to meet somewhere, right?

And what does this seemingly well-greased, finely-tuned bureaucracy manage to provide for the taxpayers? A substantially rich offering of classes, such as (read this carefully):

  • How to Sell on eBay
  • Digital Scrapbooking
  • Blogging for Beginners
  • Toddler Fitness
  • Raising Caring Kids
  • Bartending Workshops
  • Latin Cardio Blast
  • Journey Back into Time for Older Adults
  • Needlecrafts, Knitting, Crochet for Older Adults
  • History of Comedy and Humor for Older Adults
  • Beginning Drama for Older Adults
  • Draw and Paint Animals (ages 5+)
  • Making Yummy Snacks (ages 6-10)
  • Sing and Learn Chinese for Parent and Child (ages 0-6)
  • Cheerleading (ages 4-7)
  • Public Speaking for Children (ages 8-12)
  • Career Exploration (ages 9-12)
  • Please Pass the Manners (ages 5-7)
  • Teen Etiquette (ages 13-17)
  • Puppetry and Storytelling (ages 3-6)
  • Readiness for Kindergarten (ages 4-5)
  • How to Be a Best Friend (ages 5-8)
The bartending workshop is the best in North Orange County!

Okay, just in case this list hasn’t left you completely baffled, keep in mind that the SCE’s course offerings are funded by the North Orange County Community COLLEGE District! Do these classes have ANYTHING to do with college? Don’t offerings like these really belong in the domain of something like parks and recreation?

Meet the new freshman class of SCE!

Despite the inappropriateness of these course offerings, the Chancellor of the NOCCCD, Dr. Ned Doffoney (one can only imagine what kind of salary the title of “Doctor” delivers) continues to cradle the SCE as a fresh newborn, giving it his support and blessing as only a chancellor can do.

Meanwhile, administrators at the colleges are suggesting the cancellation of 46% of the courses that were offered this year, a move that is likely to prevent significant numbers of students from graduating and moving on to university because they need classes in chemistry, calculus and business. Well, at least we can all take comfort in knowing that senior citizens will fully comprehend the History Of Comedy, or that toddlers will know how to make Yummy Snacks!

Did somebody say Yummy Snacks?

Sooner or Later, Social Justice For Kelly Thomas

It’s funny, in a sick sort of way, but the very types who used to bray the loudest about the need for “social justice” have been virtually silent in Fullerton in the wake of the Kelly Thomas murder at the hands of members of an out-of-control police department.

The graying establishment Democrats had been hiding behind their drawn chintz curtains, curled up in an intellectual fetal position on their plastic slip-covered Naugahyde sofas. It was just too scary and, well, controversial to say anything, let alone actually do anything.

Fortunately, others, such as Stephan Baxter, Marlena Carrillo and Lauren Becker are willing to keep up the pressure.

Here is a link to Becker’s website that reminds us exactly what a Culture of Corruption can do, and try to get away with, when left to its own devices. It also reminds us what we can do to push back against an entrenched system.

The bars stayed open and the bands played on…

Democrats like Jan Flory, and Molly McClanahan and Pam Keller didn’t say a word in the aftermath of the murder. No, they only got outraged when people outside their cozy little circle took the reins of government out of the hands of three incompetent old fools.

These people are a lot more worried about the fate of the bureaucracy than they are about the people of Fullerton. All of them.

 

Jan Flory Wants to Get Something Off Chest

Seeing Jan Flory in action I have come to recognize a bitter, humorless shrew who happens to be a cheerleader for the department heads in City Hall and the worse their actions, the less accountability she requires.

Is she also losing her marbles? I don’t know. But I do know she wrote this weird entry on Facebook in which, among other things, admits that she employed “undocumented” domestics:

You’re going to love this one.

Last night I picked up a cryptic email message from O.Co. Register reporter, Tony Saavedra, asking me to call him today. We talked about 10:30 this morning. Apparently Tony had received a copy of a letter from an anonymous “concerned court employee” that had been sent to Shawn Nelson, our esteemed county supervisor. Tony said that Shawn had turned the letter over the District Attorney for investigation. WHAT! Tony wanted to know if I had been contacted by the D.A. WHAT!

My next 2 questions were: 1. Am I going to be arrested for something? That would be a bummer for the campaign, and 2. What was the letter about? 

As described to me by Tony, the anonymous letter described an encounter that the writer had with me mid-August when I appeared in North Court with a 19-year-old friend of mine, Jackie, to deal with a traffic citation Jackie received the month before. Jackie was cited for an illegal left hand turn and driving without a license. The letter accused me of asking the court for some kind of special favor for Jackie. (I’m still trying to get a copy of the letter.)

Let’s back up. Jackie is one of the “Dream” kids. She was brought to this country by her undocumented parents when she was 8 and has lived here since then. Because Jackie has no documents herself, she (like hundreds of thousands) cannot get a driver’s license. I’ve known Jackie for 10 years, and she is a good girl who has done everything asked of her. She earned a 3.9 GPA in high school and has just finished her first year at Fullerton College with a 3.7 GPA. She volunteered as a poll worker for the June election. She has applied to work as a cadet for the City of Anaheim, but cannot get a job because she has no papers.

Once upon a time, Jackie’s parents worked in my home cleaning my house, and I developed a friendship with Jackie. Although her parents haven’t worked for me for a while, Jackie and I keep in touch. She was terrified of going to court by herself because she didn’t know if she might be arrested by ICE officials and deported. I offered to go to court with her to help out if I could.

When Jackie’s matter was called, I stood up with Jackie and notified the court that I was an attorney appearing to vouch for Jackie’s character and ask the court to cut Jackie a break if it had any discretion at all in the matter. The judge heard me out, and asked if Jackie was driving without a license. Jackie admitted that she was, and pled guilty to both counts. Jackie and I went downstairs where she had to pay nearly $600 for the fine.

This is what gets me. Based on the facts set forth above, 

1. Why would Nelson (an attorney himself) turn such a letter over to the D.A. for investigation? 

2. How did Tony Saavedra get the letter conveniently “leaked” to him?

3. Does this have anything to do with my being the frontrunner in the city council election? YA THINK! And more important,

4. Does this have anything to do with Shawn’s tight relationship with Tony Bushala who has been attacking me on his blog for the past 4 years.

Mr. Nelson, you owe me an explanation.

Apparently the progeny of these illegal aliens recently got a citation including driving without a license. What the girl’s GPA or employment status has to do with the ticket is anybody’s guess. It sounds like Flory did what the anonymous letter claims: asked the court for a favor.

Apparently Flory has got her corset in a twist; in her warped worldview she is the “frontrunner” and Shawn Nelson turned over an anonymous letter to the DA to derail her frontrunnership. I don’t know about any of that, but I do know that her obsessive paranoia about Tony Bushala doesn’t seem to fit the profile of a frontrunner – or even a completely balanced person.

I’m not a lawyer but I’m pretty sure Flory didn’t break any laws. However that letter should be turned over to the California Bar Association to let them decide if that was appropriate behavior.

The Moral Bankruptcy of Bankhead

Somebody captured this campaign sign recently. It suggests one of three things.

Re-elect? How many times does this boob need to be recalled?

1) Don Bankhead is a liar who wants people to think he is an incumbent; or,

2) Bankhead belongs in a memory care unit since he can’t remember that he was recalled four months ago and is no longer on the City Council; or,

3) he is too cheap to buy new campaign signs and is using old ones.

Pay no attention to the dinosaur behind the curtain…

Well, which is it?

What the Hell Is Wrong With Chris Norby?

Okay, I really want to know.

Our State Assemblyman and former County Supervisor has made some really lame endorsements in the past, including the unspeakable corn pone donkey, Dick Jones.

But this time he has really surpassed himself, bestowing his political benediction on an Anaheim city council candidate named Steve Lodge. Except that his name isn’t Steve Lodge at all. It’s Steven Chavez Lodge, a name he recently adopted in an attempt to curry favor with Anaheim Latino voters and, not insignificantly, get his name to the top of the ballot.

If you set aside the fake name and carpetbagging there’s really a lot less there than meets the eye!

Let’s set aside the fake name gambit for a moment and consider a few other unsavory facts about Lodge. First he is an ex-cop with a dirty record, “retired” with a disability at 52, set up in a make-work schmooze job by who knows who, and of course, worst of all, this cypher is a creation of the Kurt Pringle government for sale machine that has a hold of the City of Anaheim by the balls.

“Chavez’s” list of endorsers includes a who’s who of OC repuglicans including “Everything Must Go” Bill Campbell, carpetbagging spouse Dick Ackerman, carpetbagger Harry Hairball Sidhu and the other Pringle puppets on the Anaheim City council. Disney and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce have joined the band, endorsing this miscreant as some sort of businessman who didn’t just move into Anaheim in the past year. Naturally, Ed Royce is a supporter.

And then there is Chris Norby. An endorser. Why? Why on Earth? You’ll have to ask him since the answer isn’t readily apparent. Maybe his political handler John Lewis dictated that it must be so. Maybe Norby was simply flattered to be asked for an endorsement that is now completely devalued.

This guy is an up and comer, Norby. Get on board!

But this Lodge creep stands for everything that is abhorrent to those who want intelligent and responsible leadership. So what could Norby be thinking? Who knows.

Doesn’t look like he is thinking at all.