The month of October FFFF had 62,035 visitors and 109,820 page views. Why is that scary? It means that we have to top that again, and again, and well you get the picture.
The only reason FFFF sprang into existence was because the people who pretended to be professional reporters stubbornly and steadfastly refused to do their jobs.
Their jobs. The jobs to which they accrete a professional aura, a sanctimony, self-righteousness, and institutional importance that demands as a concomitant an objectivity that is exercised in the public interest.
Of course all that stuff is pure bullshit. Oh, yeah, these people want to be treated as if they actually performed a function that allows them to claim an official title: “Fourth Estate.” But in reality their work is almost never objective, never diligent, and often downright incompetent. And the closer you get to tour own community the worse it gets.
But back to FFFF. We started in the fall of 2008 because F. Richard Jones, the Braying Donkey of Raymond Hills, the man for whom no issue could not be used to spin off, dervish-like, on an insane rant, was getting a free pass. Twelve years of insulting people from the dais, weird, barnyard rantings and raving, backtracking on key issues, and generally insulting the collective intelligence of the City was ignored.
And this being Fullerton very little has changed. Consider 2010.
Does “the press” inquire into how candidate Roland Chi got rung up on criminal charges by the DA for serially ignoring health inspection failures? Or ask why he is using a 501(c)(3) to prmote his political ambitions? Or even ask this miscreant how long he has actually lived in Fullerton?
Does “the press” ask Pat McKinley about his $215,000 pension payout – far more than he ever made actually working – and his ability to make rational pension decisions?
Does “the press” ask Aaron Gregg why a guy who skipped out on $75,000 in back taxes and stiffed local creditors though bankruptcy is qualified to manage the city’s $100,000,000+ budget?
Does “the press” inquire into what appears to be Don Bankhead’s increasingly diminished capacity to participate in, let alone conduct, a public hearing?
Of course our local reporters never said boo about the carpetbaggery of Hirsute Sidho or Linda Ackerman, either.
For some reason people who work for the Times and the Register would rather look the other way than admit that the emperors have no clothes on. What are they afraid of?
And so we soldier on…
As I was motoring down Highland Avenue the other day, I spied this sight in the 200 N. block.
Uh, oh! A church proudly displaying a Roland Chi sign. Somebody needs to inform this operation that the IRS doesn’t allow non-profits to promote political candidates, and not only that, but it really looks bad when churches do it.
Of course the idea of using a non-profit to promote his political ambition is nothing new for Roland Chi, it’s pretty risky for a church to jeopardize its standing with the IRS. What’s next for “Amazing Grace Methodist Church?” Can anybody say “property taxes?”
Okay, this isn’t really news anymore, but what the Hell.
In its annual “Best Of OC” edition, the magisterial and terribly proper OC Weekly named us as Best Blog 2010. Or something like that. You can read about it here, and then shower us with praise; or heap abuse upon us – as many of our FPOA and Sidhu campaign worker readers are won’t to do.
Yes, we are referred to as juvenile name callers. Guilty as charged. But boring? No, that title belongs to the tiresome party-run running dog blogs that have nothing to say except what their uber-bosses tell them is kosher.
Out here on the Fringe the air is rarefied, and sometimes we get a little dizzy. But we ever soldier on, bringing you the Truth. As we see it, anyway.
…shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.
It was a busy week for Fullerton’s trusty mail carriers. Here are some of the more entertaining pieces that landed in our Friends’ mailboxes in the last few days. As always, click to enlarge.
I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of hit pieces this year.
Our famous firefighter video has become some sort of Internet sensation, bringing in tens of thousands of viewers and building some serious buzz. Oddly enough, the clip seems to be extra popular on computers within the halls of public agencies throughout the nation.
But just in case you missed it, here it is again:
And a special thank you to our anonymous friend, Mr. Oliver Stone. The popularity of this clip has inspired other cinematic greats such as “Cop Gets Schooled” and “Fire Chief Watches House Burn.” Keep ’em coming, Mr. Stone.
You all know what happens when you forget to shut the back door. Invariably a fly will buzz in and start landing on places you’d rather he didn’t land. Pretty soon revulsion turns to annoyance as the pest refuses go away. Sometimes the big, fat, lazy ones are easy to smack and the problem is solved. The smaller, more agile ones defy your attempts to swat them and seem to have a positive genius for eluding eradication. You have something he wants.
Somebody left the door to OC’s 4th Supervisorial District open, and in came Harry Sidhu – uninvited, unwanted, unintelligible. And there he landed – right in the middle of the political potato salad. See, we have something he wants: our votes. Above all he seems to have a pathological hunger for the recognition that comes from elective office, and for that he needs us. For that he will even lie on voter registration forms and cook up fake addresses where he doesn’t live.
As our collective revulsion has blossomed into true annoyance at this home invasion, I have to wonder what Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s campaign is going to do in the next three weeks to obliterate this hapless, yet persistent irritant. Considering that Nelsons’ campaign consultant is the very same guy who worked for Mimi Walters against Sidhu in 2008, and who prompted the now comical Sidhu retreat, I predict it won’t be pretty. But sometimes you have to get tough with pests, once an for all.
Well, some cops, anyway, and not in Fullerton!
It transpires that the police union in the beautiful and high-toned town of Santa Barbra are unhappy with their city manager. “Joe” sez you, “so what?”
Well, it turns out that the City Manager of Santa Barbara is none other than James L. Armstrong, who used to occupy that job description here in Fullerton. The union has discovered our humble blog and shared some of our history lessons.
Although this stuff occurred a few years before my time, this blog has had some great fun recounting the myriad disasters that occurred during the reign of King James I. Things like Redevelopment boondoggles, general unaccountability, high-handed behavior, and the sort of arrogant bullshit that is normally reserved for those who can pull of the Divine Right of Kings gig.
Here’s the post on the website, just in case you’re interested in enjoying the SBPD union’s take on their beloved leader.
Well, we got rid of him, at least.
Update – the link is broken. Here is a back up copy.
As he slithers off into sad irrelevance, the former blog proprietor, now blog wage slave, Matthew J. Cunningham, is looking for any sugar daddy he can latch onto. After we blew his cover as a hyper-liberal nanny state teat sucker, he clearly needs work, and scribbling out press releases for the campaigns of Curt Pringle puppets may not even pay the rent.
Cynthia Ward, one of a diminishing breed of honest Anaheimers recently posted on the Red County blog about complaints to the State Attorney General about the incompatible offices held by Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, Curt Pringle, who also holds the esteemed positions of OCTA Board member and California High Speed Rail Authority Chairman.
Right on cue, Cunningham attacked me, personally, instead of explaining why Pringle has been using his chairmanship of the CHRA swindle to try to move state taxpayer resources into his OCTA subsidized Anaheim ARTIC boondoggle.
Oh, yeah, that one. The one that has already misdirected $140,000,000 of County-wide transit tax dollars for the immediate benefit of Pringle’s useless glass Taj Mahal. And let’s not forget the biz the soon-to-be termed out Pringle will be passing to himself when his “consulting” business really gets to some serious greasin.’
Cunningham has always congratulated himself on his self-perceived powers of thought and argumentation and “credibility,” a credibility that certainly took a shot in the mauve speedos when folks found out he was making $200 an hour passing out toothbrushes for Rob Reiner’s tax-and-redistribute First Five program. Well, lets take a gander at what Mr. Credibility has to say about yours truly. He begins his comments:
You neglected to mention the central in this drama being played by Tony Bushala, who has developed a habit of filing complaints against political enemies — or, at least, against those he perceives to be antagonistic to politicians he supports. Does anyone believe he would have filed a complaint if the Mayor in question wasn’t Curt Pringle? Or more to the point, if Curt Pringle had supported Shawn Nelson for supervisor?
Huh? A habit of complaints against political enemies? Oh yeah, like the serial perjuries of Harry Sidhu? Right well, that was one complaint. A habit? And what does Pringle’s behavior have to do with Shawn Nelson? That’s right, nothing.
This is an attempt to criminalize a policy dispute. Even if a conflict exists — which is flimsy possibility, at best — it will be obviated in two months when Curt ceases being both the Mayor of Anaheim and a member of the OCTA Board.
Attempt to criminalize? Who said anything about “criminals” beside The Jerb? Oops, a Freudian slip? But really: “a policy dispute?! Like fraudulently bamboozling the public into a deal the perpetrators of which knew or suspected was based on cooked up rideship numbers? No, not fraud, merely a policy dispute!
I know, says Cunningham. Let’s look the other way (obviate – there’s an awful big word for such a small boy) just like Jerbal did by exclaiming that Sidhu didn’t commit perjury because his supposed stay at the Calabria Apartments was a lie of such short duration.
But wait, then there’s this gem:
Bushala’s call? Cynthia, his involvement is hugely relevant. I’m not going into CARRD’s motives — other than trying to remove an effective opponent before mayoral term limits renders the complaint moot — but Bushala has been actively trying to inflict harm on Curt, so his motives ought to be suspect.
Wrong. Pringle is responsible for his own behavior. We’re just shining a light on it. If illumination of Pringle’s activities is harmful, that ‘s his fault! But, come to think of it, why should an honest politician worry about citizens bringing attention to his activities?
Bushala is a land speculator. It’s my understanding he’s trying to get the city to re-zone properties he has so he can develop them.
Oh no! An evil land speculator! Heaven forfend! Free enterprise is breaking out all over and Cunningham’s scared! The facts are wrong, and not relevant to anything he’s talking about but let’s try to whip up a little anti-capitalist hysteria, shall we, comrade, as we try out our old distraction trick.
It’s also my understanding he and his brother are coming into somewhere in the neighborhood of $13 million in an “eminent domain” action by the OCTA. I use quotes when local governments seeking to purchase property for some public purpose, the property owners often want the city to eminent domain them, instead, because of the tax advantages.
“Using quotes” – the humorless Jerb is getting all ironical on us here, and inserting more irrelevant information about which he knows nothing, but weasels his way around that fact by saying it is his “understanding.” Why didn’t he say misunderstanding and at least tell the truth?
Finally, this is an opinion from the Leg Counsel. Opinion. I take it you believe every legal opinion rendered by the Anaheim City Attorney to hold the force of law?
Holy Shit! Now the poor loser has really his rock bottom. Well almost. This motormouth’s not done making a fool of himself, now using numbered paragraphs to give his nonsense the color of authority:
1. Bushala’s motives are absolutely fair game, and it ought to have been noted in the post that one of the filers of the complaint is not only an avowed political enemy of Curt Pringle but someone whose honesty is questionable.
How does he know I am an “avowed” anything? And what in the world do my motives have to do with Pringle’s behavior, including his career of influence peddling under the guise of “lobbying?” My honesty is questionable? Ha! See next item, below.
2. At the end of the day, what Bushala and CARRD have is an opinion of about the applicability of an opinion. Which a far sight sight from Bushala’s claim that Curt is “breaking the law.”
And now an outright lie from Mr. Credibility. I never said that. Here’s what I said: “The credibility of the California High Speed Rail Authority program, and more importantly, both the appearance and substance of fair, open and honest government in California, demand it.” Hmm. Pringle a law breaker? Another Freudian slip by Cunningham?
3. Curt has been on CHSRC for three years. It wasn’t exactly a secret he was also Anaheim Mayor and an OCTA Director. Why only file a complaint now, when he’ll be leaving office in two months and the alleged incompatibility would be a moot point — assuming it even exists?
The fact that I became aware of the Legislative Counsel’s finding only week ago seems irrelevant to Cunningham, but not to me. There’s still a month for this miscreant to call meetings and cast votes. Cunningham, who loves to put time limits on honesty when it comes to his patrons and political clients just doesn’t seem to get it.
Oh, well, the facts clearly mean nothing to Cunningham, assuming he can even grasp them through the waves of desperation that make him cling to a creep like Pringle like a drowning man clings to a rock in the ocean. And I honestly wonder if Pringle sent him a check for that string of drivel.
Well, folks, there you have the very essence of repuglicanism: turn looking the other way into a full time business; in fact, try to make some green off of it. Perv priests, Church cover-ups, bogus consulting contracts doled out to fellow ‘pugs, “privatization” of unnecessary functions that benefit only yourself and your pals; ignore the facts; hell, forget your own party and its supposed principles when your crime boss tells you to.
Last week we presented this hilarious dialog between a distraught taxpayer and a union firefighter, which became an instant hit across the country. While the clip had no problem making it onto the workstations of public agencies far and wide, we also had many requests for a G-Rated version.
Despite our concern that self-censorship may inhibit the fine directorial talents of our anonymous Oliver Stone, he was happy to oblige:
Of course, most will probably prefer the original profanity-laced version here: Stop the Madness Now!