Time To Move On

R.I.P. Zach Reed Oct. 17, 1992 - February 14, 2013
R.I.P. Zach Reed Oct. 17, 1992 – February 14, 2013

Dear Friends,

Friends For Fullerton’s Future was born on November 6, 2008, and this will be our farewell post. We will be setting the blog a sail for now, into the deepest oceans of the blogosphere. It will remain online as a testament to what we stood for and didn’t stand for, to our principles or lack thereof, and to those principles which were worthy enough for a fight of our time, our knowledge and of our lives.

This farewell post is dedicated to my Friend and Hero Zach Reed who was born October 17, 1992. His mother Stacy and stepfather Dave Miranda loved Zach just as his twin 15 year old sisters Daily and Brooke and his older brother Cody did. Zach was a Troy High School Warrior just like me, but Zach was much braver and courageous than I.  Zach was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma (bone cancer) at 18 and fought every day and night for peace and happiness for the last 3 years of his life.

Zach’s doctors tried almost every known manufactured drug after nasty drug, but nothing helped Zach like cannabis did. Cannabis helped Zach eat, sleep, relax, and most importantly relieved his piercing aches and pain. Cannabis pills, rubs, cookies, buds, tinctures, anything that contained THC helped ease Zach’s pain and brought him a little happiness.

About a year ago, I heard about Zach’s need for cannabis through a mutual Friend and contacted him immediately. As a medical marijuana farmer, I was able to grow six plants and ended up with many more flowers than anyone would need in six years. Zach needed help from friends who had extra flowers; help to get get a medicinal flower that came from a plant that grows in back yards or in closets from a seed that comes from a flower from another plant…light, water and care- virtually free and that’s the way it should be!

The last time I saw Zach was after the November election results were certified. We were sitting in my truck eating Taco Bell. Zach turned to me and asked why I looked sad. While explaining to him about the election results, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “Tony, you tried your best, you fought hard, maybe it’s time to move on”.

Friends, Zach was right…maybe it is time to move on. Thank you Bloggers, Friends, Contributors, Readers and to all those who have come here at one time or another. Thank you for all your encouragement, time and knowledge that you have given and for learning and understanding things that we never knew or thought about before.

Remember it’s never too late to be smart. Cheers!

Tony “admin” Bushala

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Will we be back? Who knows?

Good Samaritans Needed To Help A Good Man

Save Mike Atta Flyer
From Steve Baxter:

Our dear friend Mike Atta, is a founding member of the iconic OC punk band  The Middle Class and the owner of downtown Fullerton’s coolest store, Out of Vogue and he needs our help. Hibbleton Gallery at the Magoski Arts Colony will be hosting a benefit art and music exhibit to raise money for Mike’s treatment and for his family. Mike has been an integral part of Fullerton’s art and music scene for many years and Mike and Pam are generous and kind to everyone that walks into their store. All proceeds will go directly to the Atta Family.

We are accepting art and music memorabilia donations up until 7pm tonight, but most of all we want you to be part of something positive and come to the Arts Colony at 223 W. Santa Fe anytime between 6 and 10 pm. You will have fun, see wonderful artist space and you will know that you started 2013 out by helping a wonderful family.

More info can be found at http://www.artwithanagenda.org/save-mike-atta.html

Art for this exhibit has been being donated by:
John M. Sollom
Valerie Lewis
William Zdan
Mike Myers
Roxanna Mostatabi
Ryan Ward
Bongo
Katherine England
Michael Magoski
Hagop Najarian
Christie Yuri Noh
Jonathan St. Amant
Shannon Le Clair
Rene Cardona
Jeñifer Míller Hernández
Alan De Herrera
Katie Perdue
Dave Castr
and more!

Music & More (autographed LPs, t-shirts, posters, etc) by
Signed skateboard by Christian Hosoi
The Adolescents
DEVO
45 Grave
The Middle Class
Sons of Anarchy
Agent Orange
Social Distortion
Jon Doe
Love & Rockets
Manic Hispanic
Rikk Agnew
LIT (J-100 Gibson Guitar)
Stuffed Animal Baby

Stephan Baxter | Organizer/Co-Currator
Art With An Agenda
Mail:    917 N. Ford Ave
Fullerton, CA 92832
Cell:      714/342-3052
email:  sbaxter65@gmail.com

Sharon Quirk, Poor Little Rich Girl and The Myth of the Union/Corporation Dichotomy

I was struck the other day by a post on the Voice of OC(EA) about Sharon Quirk that started out with Q complaining that there is now a target on her back by the GOP who want their Republican seat back. The rest of the post is the typical mush-drivel we’ve come to expect of the local media so I’ll let that pass.

What intrigued me was the absurdity of making yourself out to be a target by the very sorts of people who got you elected. What am I talking about? Check out this post from OC Political. Quirk got almost $300,000 funneled into her campaign account over the course of 18 days – laundered through various county Democrat Central Committees, including obscure Del Norte County – 800 miles away.

As expected, a lot of it came from public employee unions. But a lot of it also came from giant corporations like AECOM, Blue Shield, AEG, and of course, our good friends at Disney. So it would appear that Quirk was obviously looked favorably upon by these corporate behemoths, despite their subsequent attempts to distance themselves from their odd gifts to distant Democratic County Central Committees.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

The whining lefties are forever complaining that the lavish benefits, pay and massive pensions showered upon public employee unions are somehow a necessary counterbalance to all the misfeasance and excessive compensation of those greedy private business exec bastards. Of course it was always a false choice, but that falsity has never been made clearer by the fact of big corporations bellying up to Quirk’s bar.

The fact of the matter is that big corporations like big government. They are comfortable with it; they profit from it. Whether Republicans or Democrats are at the helm matters not a whit. Think big corporate subsidies, tax loopholes, and onerous regulations that chase small businesses out of business and you will start to get the picture. Big business likes balanced government budgets, and if that takes raising taxes on the rest of us, so be it. The very last thing they want is a small government advocate like Chris Norby. Think OC Business Council and you will understand that these people have no interest in anything other than a smoothly run plantation. You and I are the coolies that make the thing run for the benefit of our overseers.

Or to put it another way, the public employee unions and the big corporations both regard the taxpayer the same way: we are just pigeons to be plucked.

It’s actually rather amusing that Sharon Quirk is trying to gin up sympathy for her re-election against the big, mean Republicans, even before she is sworn in. Her dim-witted supporter may fall for that. She really doesn’t have anything to worry about.

Just ask Mickey Mouse.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

We Get Mail

Dear Madam Mayor & Council Members,

We cannot pretend that Fullerton is serious about reform when those involved in the murder of Kelly Thomas, the illegal arrest and imprisonment of Veth Mam, and the many other documented cases of police misconduct, are still employed by FPD. We contend that you as our representatives at city hall, now being fully aware of the extent of misconduct by certain officers, that it is your duty above all else to protect the citizens of Fullerton, including those that may now feel targeted because of their public involvement in seeking justice for Kelly Thomas. There will be members of the community who will not comply to the orders of Officer Kenton Hampton, Sgt. Kevin Craig and Cpl. James Blatney, as they feel that these officers do not hold any moral authority over them. This reality puts all residents and peace officers in danger, and makes any contact by these men with the general public unwise. The adoption of the attached resolution by you, and the eventually firing of any officer who cannot live up to the ideals of a post Kelly Thomas Fullerton Police Department, will not only benefit all residents of Fullerton, but it shall restore public faith in the department itself. In doing so you will stimulate public trust to the benefit to those  other officers who have always conducted themselves professionally. Professional officers with good intentions deserve to work in an environment which is free of the stigma that the continued employment of these accomplices in a taped public execution places on the entire department.

Only by publically setting standards for peace officers which embody excellence in public service and respect for all Fullerton citizens, and by demanding the termination of all those who represent the worst of FPD’s past, can we move forward with confidently that reform and change has resulted from the tragic murder of Fullerton resident Kelly Thomas on July 5th, 2011. The city attorney, while perhaps well intentioned, has an established propensity to filter his advise through the fear that one of these subpar officers may litigate on grounds of wrongful termination. We advise this council to also consider what may result if any of the officers in question, who have now returned to active duty, are again involved the death or injury of one of our citizens.  Prudence dictates that they must be removed before they are given another opportunity to harm the public and burden the city with additional million dollar settlements.

Civility and healing will come to Fullerton when our leaders are responsive to the public and  we are not required to pry  every hint of justice that this case has brought forth over the last 14 month from the clinched fists of a stubborn leadership at city hall, the DA’s office or  FPD. Today we  present you with yet another opportunity to partner with us in seeking justice. We urge you to take advantage of this opportunity.

Respectfully submitted by

Stephan Baxter, Fullerton CA

www.ArtWithAnAgenda.org