A Masterpiece of Brevity and Focus

The Grand Jury has reported on the OCTA’s budget mess and their deficiency in Bus service.  Here is how the report begins:

The mission statement of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is a masterpiece of brevity and focus:

“Our mission is to enhance the quality of life in Orange County by delivering safer, faster, and more efficient transportation solutions.”


The report identifies how the OCTA had the right idea when it cut bus services and raised fares by calling the action prudent.  Then later the report notes that the rise in fares had negative effect on the ridership.  Ergo, we must lower bus fares but only after full state funding is restored.

The report also calls into question competing priorities with the federal handout of $2.25 billion for high-speed rail and the $143 million set aside for the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, which the City of Anaheim is not contributing to.  The Grand Jury points out that OCTA needs to review its priorities with these funds.  The Grand Jury says that the “governmental relations committee of the OCTA Board should urge Orange County ’s congressional delegation to lobby for legisla­tive modification of the $2.25 billion.”

The final recommendation by the Grand Jury is for OC’s political and transportation leaders to hold a series of public meetings, the goal of which would be aimed at creating a countywide transit agency that will have sufficient au­thority and funding to overcome parochial­ism in developing a modern transit system.

I love this gem from the report:

One member of the transit agency’s board char­acterized the economic impact this way: “The busi­nesses and industries in Orange County that depend on low-income workers would grind to a halt.”

It would appear that we taxpayers subsidize bus service (to the tune of more than 80% of the total cost) so that low-income earners can keep their low-income jobs which helps keep low-income employers staffed with low-cost employees…  Ergo, you and I subsidize burger stands, Walmarts, and rich people with nannies and maids.

Thanks OCTA!

Looks Like Hairball Wants Some More Abuse

Please, Sir, may I have another?

I’ve got it on pretty good authority that Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu has decided that there is even more political humiliation he can endure. Apparently this perpetual office seeker has filed a ballot statement for the fall run-off against Shawn Nelson for 4th District Supervisor.

Sidhu already got handed a pretty solid 12-point beat down by Nelson in June, but it looks like having a massive ego and a non-existent sense of shame have prevailed over common sense. Hairball’s handlers must be salivating at the prospect of their sugar daddy opening his wallet yet again.

Sidhu’s only hope is to capture the vast majority of Democrat voters in the district who voted for somebody else. Will this mean a hard left and more union support for Hide and Seek? Who knows? They spent over a million bucks to help this assclown last time and it didn’t help at all.

Straw Man Produces Another Straw Man Argument. Classic!

Being a priest is one thing. Getting married is just plain wrong.

Over at the Red County, poor, lonely and increasingly isolated Matthew J, Cunningham lashed out at Libertarians in the wake of yesterday’s judicial smackdown on authoritarian ‘pugs who want government to discriminate against law abiding citizens.

The legal finding that California’s asinine Proposition 8 was unconstitutional caused Cunningham to reflect upon the oddity of Libertarians. He says:

At the same time, libertarians act is if the the Republic will fall and tyranny reign unless marijuana is legalized. Recently, one leading libertarian California libertarian flatly declared that if you oppose legalizing marijuana, you are anti-freedom.

Which is more vital to a the kind of healthy, stable, virtuous society the Founders believed necessary to ensure the survival of the Republic they had erected? The ability to use a particular intoxicant? Or that institution — marriage – that is the literal building block of a healthy, stable, virtuous society?

Judging by the commentary, libertarians think getting stoned matters more.

Good Lord! How did so much self-satisfaction, self-righteousness, bigotry and mental confusion ever get rolled up into one straw man?

Let’s correct the poor, muddled mind of this moralizing midget:

If you restrict the ability to use (not abuse, mind you) a particular intoxicant you goddam well are anti-freedom. And if you deny law abiding citizens the same right to enjoy contractual relationships enjoyed by others, you are anti-freedom, too.

So go put that in your pipe and smoke it, Jerbal.

Bruce Whitaker Aims for Shawn Nelson’s Seat

Bruce Whitaker has officially filed papers for the 2-year city council seat previously held by Supervisor Shawn Nelson.

The two-race situation has generated plenty of speculation as to which candidates will face each other for the separate seats. With Bruce being one of the strongest contenders, this action may solidify the choices of other candidates.

Whitaker has already received the endorsements of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Assemblyman Chris Norby, Congressman Ed Royce and Supervisor Shawn Nelson.

Bruce’s campaign is having a kickoff party this weekend. Contact the campaign at ElectBruceWhitaker@live.com for details.

Hide and Seek Sidhu Gone; Not Forgotten

The beautiful Calabria beckons. Over there. Behind the pool hall.

Although we now know that Harry Sidhu never lived at the Calabria Apartments on Lincoln Avenue, that hasn’t altered the fact that some of his would-be neighbors still want a piece of him – on the pool table, that is.

Will arm wrestle you for soggy nachos...

Here is a re-issued billiard challenge to Sidhu on the donpalabraz website. Well, good luck trying to pin down the elusive Sidhu!

Pathetic Red County Attack on Capo Kid

I play dodgeball with big words...

You’d think an individual like Matthew J. Cunningham, who makes his hypocritical livelihood leeching off of big government programs for kids, would show some  decency toward one.

But no. Here is the irrepressible Jerbal denigrating eighteen year old Saam Alikhani, who has the effrontery to run for the Capistrano Unified School District school board against some typically useless repuglicans.

Here’s the money quote from our rodentine friend:

Generally speaking, the thing about 18 year olds – especially those who are abnormally politically aware – is they believing they have all the answers while possessing limited awareness of how little they know. That’s an asset in the context of putting troops into the political trenches – but a liability in an elected official.

Of course The Jerb is describing himself as a Young Republican at 18; and, come to think of it, as a middle-age repuglican at 40-something  – sucking off the ample teat of the welfare state Children and Families Commission.

And then there’s this unintentionally hilarious observation:

Yes, one can point to Placentia Councilman Jeremy Yamaguchi, who was just 19 year old when elected in 2008. I have talked to Jeremy, and he is an impressive young man who, by all accounts, has been a fine councilman. But I’d maintain Yamaguchi is the exception to the rule.

Newsflash, readers: the Jerb’s  pal Jeremy Yamaguchi endorsed both hollow carpetbaggers Linda Ackerwoman and Hairball Sidhu; but of course to Cunningham that constitutes a paragon of virtue.

The Arab-phobic neocons at Red County may actually be more alarmed that this guy is an Arab-American than for any other reason. Why else attack an eighteen year-old young man? So get ready for the typical Arab bashing that has become the hallmark of the repugs.

And of course William Pitt was Prime Minister of Britain at 24.

An All-consuming Thirst For Education

The meeting had a hefty agenda...

Apparently at the July 27, 2010 meeting of the NOCCCD Board of Trustees there were some pretty serious issues being discussed. Not only did the taxpayers dodge a costly administrative bullet when it was announced that the district wouldn’t be filling the position for Vice Chancellor of Education (see the article in the O.C. Register by Teri Sforza for the details on that boondoggle; be sure to check out the job description in the fourth paragraph), but trustee Molly McClanahan informed the Board that the Fullerton Museum’s new exhibit, “10,000 Years of Beer Making,” will soon be on display. That’s quite a chaser!

Unser Gott! Haben Sie das job description fur die Chancellor gesehen?!

The Dingos Took My Baby!

And now, because you deserve it, we present another slow, mental unwinding by everybody’s Southern fried favorite, F. Richard Jones. Here he holds forth on the subject of coyote miscegenation, apparently an area of special expertise. Of course I couldn’t imagine mating with a wolf, at least not without a step ladder.

Remember Friends: when the coyotes attack your home, be sure to obey their commands and avoid eye contact!

On The Agenda – August 3rd, 2010

Get this!  The Fullerton City Council’s ONLY Regular Business for Tuesday’s meeting is…drum role please…to designate a voting representative and alternates for the League of Cities annual conference!! View the agenda.

That’s it, right?  No.  That is the only “Regular Business” item but I didn’t mention the Consent Calendar.

Item 4 of the Consent Calendar is a $2,705,000 bond for irrigation at the Fullerton Municipal Golf Course. You read that correctly; $2.7 million for golf course sprinklers! Apparently “staff” has identified this as the most “shovel-ready” infrastructure project.

The background on this item is interesting for those following President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).  The Act includes provisions for bonds issued by agencies in designated “Recovery Zones” and Fullerton has been designated as one of those Recovery Zones or RZ.

The eligible uses for RZ Economic Development Bond proceeds according to the staff report include: 1) capital expenditures for the acquisition or development of property within a Recovery Zone by a public entity; 2) expenditures for public infrastructure and construction of public facilities; and 3) expenditures for job training and education programs.

This is when the veins on my neck begin to pulse and I run the risk of bursting a blood vessel!  Our Congress has given local agencies certain bonding authority to raise money to fix their infrastructure and our beloved City Hall staff decides to use this authority to grow our indebtedness and fix golf course sprinklers!

I may not be much of a golfer but I do know they charge as much as $35 per person to play.  If that isn’t enough to cover the cost, I suggest they charge more or get out of the golfing business altogether.

I hope our council has the wherewithal to vote NO on this but I doubt it.  It is spending like this that makes me want to run for city council.  But the race is already full of rich would-be spenders chomping at taxpayers’ checkbook with pen in hand.  How will Bankhead vote?  How would McKinley or Burbank vote?  Tomorrow we will get to see how Bankhead, with 22 years of experience on the council, will vote.  I am quite certain he will vote YES and waist $2.7 million watering the grass while ignoring our roads, sewers, water system, and sidewalks.

Oh but the grass will be green and a council member will get to go to the League of Cities Conference in September all on our dime.  Not a bad gig if you can get it.