BOYS LIKE GIRLS; GOOD CHARLOTTE; METRO STATION; THE MAINE, Friday 7:30 p.m.
Don't forget your eyeliner
The Grove of Anaheim
2200 E. Katella Ave.
Anaheim CA 92806
714-712-2750

DIRTY SECRETS BURLESQUE, Friday 10 p.m.
Dirty dancing
The Pike Bar & Grill
1836 E. Fourth St.
Long Beach CA 90802
562-437-4453

NATIVE SKILLS WALK, Saturday 12 p.m.
Learn how natives lived in Orange County nearly 500 years ago.
Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy
28672 Ortega Hwy.
San Juan Capistrano CA 92693
949-489-9778

PACIFIC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: THE WIZARD OF OZ, Saturday 8 p.m.
There's no place like home.
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8808 Irvine Center Dr.
Irvine CA 92618
949-855-8095

O.C. FIRE SERVICES ASSOCIATION SUMMER SHOW, Sunday 7 p.m.
Ever wanted to meet a fireman? This is your chance!
Anaheim Convention Center
800 W. Katella Ave.
Anaheim CA 92802
(714) 765-8950

With apologies to Orange County Register sports genius Randy Youngman, notes, quotes and observations, from this night's Orange County Press Clubs shindig at the Island Hotel near Fashion Island:

*Event was sold out, which meant there were around 150 people in attendance. Men wore suits; women, dresses. Me? Khakis and Chucks. Where was Frank Mickadeit to outschlub me?

*Menu was amazingly delicious considering it was catered. Starting with a salad that didn't suck (heirloom pear tomatoes), continuing with a thick mac 'n' cheese, and concluding with a main course--most folks stuck with salmon, while Register theater critic Paul Hodgins and myself went with a delicious steak on top of mashed potatoes and a portabello mushroom. Only disappointment was the dessert--strawberries, cream, and a puff pastry of sorts.

*The event was sold out long mostly because of the keynote speaker: Los Angeles Times editor Russ Stanton. Most people thought he wouldn't show due to the massive layoffs he has had to institute this week, but the man showed up--however, he looked as a man missing something in his countenance.

What Stanton said after the jump!

Read on...

Getting stiffed by a porn star took on a whole new meaning Monday when Huntington Beach's Janine Lindemulder was arraigned in federal court for allegedly failing to pay about $80,000 in income taxes, The Smoking Gun reports today.

The racktacular 39-year-old entered a not guilty plea and was released without bail. A Sept. 16 trial was set. Smoking Gun's item includes a copy of the original charging document that was filed June 18 in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon. Lindemulder, who moved from Oregon to Surf City, is accused of not paying her taxes due on $350,101 of 2004 income.

Lindenmulder, who was charged under the name Janine Marie James, was previously married to tattooed lug nut Jesse James. (Scenes from their rocky marriage appeared in this Weekly article by Theo Douglas).

Besides appearing in dozens of adult films with titles such as Dyke Dinner, Sleeping Booty and Janine's Got Male, the La Mirada native graced a gazillion-selling Blink-182 CD cover in a nurse get-up, had a bit part in Howard Stern's Private Parts and, ahem, grabbed much more screen time in an infamous homemade sex tape with Motley Crue singer Vince Neil.

Politicker's Alex Isenstadt reports that Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook outraised incumbent Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) in the second quarter. Fundraising reports show Cook took in $92,990 between April and June to Rohrabacher's $78,712 over the same period. However, Cook had only $97,392 in cash on hand at the close of the reporting period to Rohrabacher's $387,950.

A lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court two days ago includes stunning allegations about a bizarre incident first reported by the Weekly two years ago.

On June 28, 2006, Santa Ana police arrested Dr. Michael Fitzgibbons, an infectious diseases specialist at Western Medical Center, when they found a weapon and gloves in his car after he allegedly brandished a handgun while driving near his office.

They acted on a tip from an anonymous caller using a pay phone. Police found no evidence linking the gun or the gloves to Fitzgibbons—besides the fact they were stashed in his car—so the District Attorney's office declined to press charges against Fitzgibbons, who claimed someone set him up in retaliation for his efforts as a whistleblower who exposed shoddy conditions at the hospital.

Just a few weeks before the arrest, a judge had dismissed a lawsuit against him by Integrated HealthCare Holdings, Inc. (IHHI), which owns the hospital, based on work e-mails Fitzgibbons wrote claiming that the company was in dire financial straits.

The July 15 lawsuit was filed by Orange County Phyiscians Investment Network (OCPIN), of which Fitzgibbons is a member, against IHHI and its chief executive officer, Bruce Mogel, and apparently follows efforts by OCPIN to have Mogul fired by IHHI for alleged wrongdoing, including embezzlement and lying about his past history of lawsuits. But the most stunning allegation contained in the 30-page complaint concerns Fitzgibbons' mysterious firearms arrest two years ago.

Read on...

When you think of soldiers and especially those killed in action, you generally conclude most came from the poorer parts of town. But with five young servicemen cut down in their primes, Irvine is the Orange County hometown with the most war dead from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's also the fourth best place to live in the country, according to new Money magazine rankings that would have placed Irvine higher were real estate not so expensive there.

According to figures compiled by the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (and subject to immediate change that could blow this roster out of whack), the next OC towns, with three war dead each, are Anaheim, Fullerton, Orange, Placentia and Santa Ana. Two each from Huntington Beach and Mission Viejo gave the ultimate sacrifice, while one apiece called Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Westminster and Yorba Linda home.

Broken down by Orange County high schools the young heroes attended, two each went to Irvine High, Mission Viejo High, Sunny Hills High in Fullerton and Valley High in Santa Ana. Schools with a lone war dead (so far) are Calvary Chapel High School of Santa Ana, El Dorado High of Placentia, Esperanza High of Anaheim, Garden Grove High, Huntington Beach Continuing Adult Education School, Huntington Beach High, Loara High of Anaheim, Newport Harbor High of Newport Beach, Saddleback High of Santa Ana, San Clemente High, Trabuco Hills High of Mission Viejo, Valencia High of Placentia, Western High of Anaheim and Westminster High School.

There has been only one man who called Orange County home killed in action this year. Orange's Brandon A. Meyer, the son of a Lutheran pastor, was one of five soldiers killed in Mosul on Jan. 28 when their convoy was hit by a roadside explosive.

Today's Orange County Register has a fascinating op-ed piece by K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director of the Pacific Research Institute. In it, he argues that the reason SanTana councilmember Busty Bustamante was recently axed from two state commissions wasn't because he's a liar or because his water-bra joke was crass but because California is politically correct and has a double standard. Billingsley brings up the case of former California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, who infamously said "nigger" at a meeting in front of a bunch of African-Americans a couple of years ago. "Party affiliation doubtless has a lot to do with [how Busty and Bustamante were treated]," Billingsley writes.

Bull. The cases of Busty and Bustamante are nowhere close to similar. Bustamante committed his gaffe as a verbal slip of the tongue, and immediately apologized to his audience; Busty is still denying he ever made his crack, let alone apologize for anything. Bustamante's defenders were people on both sides of the political aisle who knew it was an unfortunate error; Busty's backers are people who conveniently ignore his lies and try to cast Busty's attackers as PC police run amok. More importantly, as the Liberal OC has pointed out, Busty said his remark while getting paid as a government employee; Bustamante wasn't working. Nice try, Lloyd, but no cigar.

Speaking of no cigar: Lloyd last year wrote an article trashing the Chicano student group MEChA and used me to make the claim that Mechistas are little better than Klan members. Per Billingsley's modus operandi, he completely misconstrued this article to make his point. Nice try!

Congressman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) has jack-assed his way back into the news. Seems he owns $20,000 in toll road bonds. What's the big deal? Miller is a big-time toll-road supporter, putting his signature on letters of support to the project as well as garnering earmark after earmark of pork-barrel tax-payer dollars for the project, the completion of which is necessary for the return of Miller's money.

The Register tried out a new tactic this week and actually did some reporting for a change:

"Financial disclosures for Rep. Gary Miller, a land developer who represents Orange, San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties, show he purchased $20,000 in Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency bonds in 2000. The bonds pay investors a fixed rate and are repaid by drivers' tolls."

Though Miller has repeatedly signed financial disclosure forms listing the bonds, he expressed surprise when asked about that investment. Miller said his wife must have purchased the bonds and added that she is largely responsible for the family's investment decisions.

The whole kerfluffle is reminiscent of a 2006 Weekly piece, "Ken Ryan and Friends," regarding then-mayor of Yorba Linda (and chair of the Foothill/Eastern Board) Ken Ryan:

As a principal for EDAW (Eckbo, Dean, Austin and Williams), Ryan is working on the Carrari Ranch Project in San Bernardino County, on land belonging to G. Miller Development Co., owned by Congressman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar). Miller is the same congressman whom Congressman Ken Calvert (R-Corona) thanked for his work on the 2006 Transportation Equity Act, which diverts $8 million in federal funds to the 241 project—despite the fact the toll road is supposed to be a private venture. It was classic pork: The act also included $2 million for sound walls in Yorba Linda and Anaheim. Ryan, Miller and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle gathered on Feb. 17, 2004, in an Anaheim mobile-home park to commemorate the occasion.

In a 2002 Riverside Press-Enterprise article, Ryan is listed as a spokesman for Lytle Development. In the 2004 election, Lytle Development was Miller's top donor.

In 2003, Congressman Miller requested more than $3 million to build a pedestrian bridge over the Imperial Highway in Yorba Linda, where his friend Ryan was known as "Mayor Ryan." Miller was also one of five signatories to a Feb. 17 letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in support of the 241. The other four? Calvert, Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and John Campbell (R-Irvine). Miller, Calvert and Rohrabacher all list real-estate firms as their top campaign contributors in 2004.

Congressman Miller phoned up the Weekly when that article was published, sounding mighty pissed off—butt-hurt, as the kids would say. He claimed we were manufacturing information, alleging impropriety where none was to be found. In short, he was dancing around accusations of libel. We said we had no idea what he was talking about. He said how there was nothing wrong with getting money for the toll road, declaring, "I wish it had been TEN million!" Of course he did. The more federal money he earmarked for the project, the faster it might get built and the sooner he'd get back his twenty stacks.

"Rep. Gary Miller says he will sell his investment in the Foothill/Eastern tollway if the Transportation Corridor Agency is ever successful in building the southern extension to the road…. Miller's congressional spokesman, Scott Toussaint, said in an e-mailed statement that Miller wants to 'make clear that he is committed to upholding the ethical responsibilities of his office.'

"'If TCA ever completes Foothill-South, I will sell my bonds before completion of the project to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest,' Miller said in the statement."

Is there anything illegal about Ken Ryan, Yorba Linda City Councilman and sometimes-mayor, working for a company which then became top donor to a Congressman who earmarked money for projects to benefit Ken Ryan's town and toll road? Probably not. Does it sound bad when phrased that way? Hell yes.
What's odd is that Miller staunchly defended his relationship with Ryan in 2006; what could have changed to make him so sensitive? So tender? So raw? Could it be that, in terms of appearances of impropriety, Congressman Miller's toll road bond investment is Strike Two?

In fact, we're being generous by limiting the strikes to toll-road-related impropriety. Why is Gary Miller a vertex on the California Democratic Party's Triangle of Corruption? Look it up here but I'll give you a quick summary: garnering earmarks to support the projects of his top donors, not to mention pursuing public funds for the purchase of land he owned. No wonder Miller assumed I was alleging impropriety when I made the Ryan-Lytle-Miller connection; it seems to be something with which he's overly familiar.

OPEN JAM NIGHT, 9 p.m.
More fun than closed jelly.
Perq's
117 Main St.
Huntington Beach CA
714-960-9996

THE WAILERS; EEK-A-MOUSE; PATO BANTON, 7 p.m.
For heightened acoustics, smoke pot before entry.
Pacific Amphitheatre
Orange County Fairgrounds, Fair Dr.
Costa Mesa CA
714-740-2000

JOBING.COM CAREER FAIRE, until 5 p.m.
Nothing takes takes the mind off of joblessness like a career fair!
Anaheim Convention Center
800 W. Katella Ave.
Anaheim CA 92802
(714) 765-8950

BACK TO THE EIGHTIES, 9 p.m.
Bust out your crimping iron and leg warmers, its time for some Billy Idol
The Blue Cafe
17208 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Huntington Beach CA 92649
562-592-1302

JOHN VAN HAMERSVELD EXHIBIT, Daily
View Van Hamersveld's concert posters and album-covers including pieces for Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane and others. The Artery at the Lab is hosting works by Van Hamersveld through the 20th.
The Artery at The Lab
2930 Bristol St.
Costa Mesa CA 92626
714-966-6660

Don't assume that because Deep Arora won a top prize at a math competition that women wouldn't find him irresistible. On February 16, 2006, Emily, whom he'd met online that evening, invited Arora to drive from Placentia (where he lived with his parents) to her Laguna Beach apartment. The 19-year-old college student aiming for a degree in engineering at Fullerton College couldn't wait for the rendezvous. As he drove down Interstate 5 and then Laguna Canyon Road towards the Pacific Ocean, he shared his excitement via phone with his upcoming date.

“He said his dick was jumping,” Emily recalled. “He said, 'I'll lick your pussy.' I said, 'Okay.' He asked if I knew that the first time you do sex blood comes out of your pussy. I said, “Uh-huh.' He said to be prepared [because] he would kill my pussy. I said not to kill it because I want it to live. He said he'd fuck me hard. I said I couldn't wait.”

Too bad that Arora's date was 12 years old. Or, to be precise, he thought his date was 12 and her doctor father wouldn't return home for hours. Emily was actually 25-year-old Monique Bedard, a sex sting decoy working for PervertedJustice.com in conjunction with detectives from the Laguna Beach Police Department.

Imagine Arora's shock when he knocked on the door expecting youthful accolades for the gifts he brought: candy bars, fruit candy rolls and chocolate-flavored condoms. Instead, “He slumped over and began to cry,” a Laguna detective remembers. “He said he knew it was wrong and he was sorry.”

But after hiring a defense lawyer, Arora denied guilt and fought the charges. He pointed out that he'd been entrapped; he was a young immigrant who'd arrived from India less than two years earlier; he knew the girl told him she was 12 but that he thought it was part of the enticement for wild sex by an adult female; he'd had no prior criminal record; and, finally, that he was “not aware of some of the customs of this country.”

During a five-day trial in 2007, a jury heard the case brought by Orange County prosecutor Beth Carmichael as well as Arora's defense and sided with the government. For attempting a lewd act on a minor under the age of 14, he received a year in county jail and three years' worth of formal probation. Superior Court Judge Craig E. Robison also ordered him to stay away from porno, avoid places where minors congregate, wear a GPS unit on his leg and to register as a sex offender.

But after accepting the terms, Arora decided he was being punished too harshly. He filed an appeal, claiming that law enforcement agents should not be allowed to randomly search his residence during his probationary period. He argued that unlike a convicted bandit who could hide stolen loot or a drug addict who could store illegal narcotics, folks like him nabbed for pedophile activities don't hide their potential crime “instrumentalities” at home.

The appellate court didn't buy it.

(Wednesdays at OCWeekly.com, discover the depths of human depravity in Orange County, California.)

Click HERE for previous "Citizen of the Week!" winners.

— R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly

Seemingly everybody and their political consultant has opined on this week's New Yorker cover that mockingly shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim imam giving a fist rap to wife Michelle, who's dressed a Hezbollah warrior princess. Even old, wretched Barbara Coe, head witch of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform. On Monday, Coe sent off a graphic of the cover to her email list, with the thought, "Is this a 'parody' or did The New Yorker share the TRUTH?

What 'truth,' Babs? That Obama is a Muslim? WRONG. That he's a terrorist? WRONG. Manchurian Muslim? WRONG. That Islamofascists are funding Obama? Yesterday, Coe forwarded an email she received from Ted Hayes, the homeless activist turned unwitting Commie that contained an article purportedly written by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd about Obama's shady fundraising. "Many thanks for this New York Times article," Coe wrote. "If the stats and facts the reporter, Maureen Dowd, can be confirmed, we fully agree with her that there should be an in-depth investigation. We MUST know whether or not known Muslim terrorists OR anti-American Chinese are funding Obama's campaign."

Oh, but Coe didn't wait for any confirmation on an article shown to be a lie. That Coe remains a hero for the anti-immigrant movement says more about the state of the anti-illegal movement than anything. Come on, Know Nothings: defend your fact-free female fool!

. . . rampage. Of course he does.

In what assorted Internet pundits are already calling the stupidest hit-and-run ever, Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar (and Irvine resident) Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who was the subject of this 2007 Weekly cover story, was arrested yesterday in Balboa after slamming his truck into several vehicles, jumping a center divider and driving up onto a sidewalk, which forced several pedestrians to leap out of the way to avoid injury.

Apparently the reason for the Rampage rampage (groooaaan!) was a Newport Beach car accident he was involved in around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday near where the 55 freeway meets 19th Street. Rampage fled the scene, and the cops gave chase. Big question, though, is this: did Rampage actually think he could escape, since, as you can see from the photo below, his ride has a HUGE-ASS PICTURE OF HIMSELF plastered on the side? (And yeah, that's Rampage kissing asphalt as the cops have their guns drawn on him.)

According to several media sources, Jackson was booked into Orange County Jail for investigation of felony evading, hit and run and reckless driving. Bail was set at $25,000.

Still unsolved is the mystery of what caused the Rampage rampage (okay, okay, enough punnery). Was it his recent upset loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 earlier this month in Las Vegas? Distress over the vast, cobwebby expanse of Triangle Square, near where the incident began? The born-again-Christian thing not really working out? Steroids? Hemorrhoids? Stay tuned...

Just as it had on 11 prior occasions during the last 37 years, a California prison board rejected Susan Atkins' request for parole today. There probably won't be a 13th rejection. The 60-year-old ex-Manson family member has a brain tumor and just months to live, according to doctors who had launched a "compassionate parole" procedure for the convicted killer in March. Her plight earned the sympathy of famed Charles Manson family prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. For the first time he voiced support for Atkins' release, in part, because she no longer poses a threat to society. (Her left leg also was amputated and she's reportedly bedridden.) But, according to a reporter who attended the Sacramento hearing, relatives of the victims forcefully opposed her return to freedom. They asked the 12-member panel to let Atkins die in prison. Without offering an explanation, the politically appointed panel agreed.

-- R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly

As noted below by Scott, William Lobdell has left the Los Angeles Times. And, as Scott noted, Lobdell was no ordinary reporter--the man was a multiple-award-winning titan, one of the best religion reporters ever to grace American newspapers, and definitely the best in covering the Gospel Swamp that is Orange County. He left the religion beat last year, sickened by the county's many Pharisees. Now, Orange County has no full-time reporter covering religion at the Times or the Orange County Register--Orange County, California, home to Schuller, Warren, Crouch, Calvary Chapel, Goat Boy, Robert Fuller and so many other major figures in American Christianity I devoted an entire chapter to them in my upcoming history of Orange County (couldn't resist a plug--sorry!).

I emailed Lobdell--who's also the voice of reason in between Orange County Register editorial writer Steven Greenhut and myself on the bi-Thursday at 10:30 a.m. segment on KPCC-89.3's AirTalk with Larry Mantle--for comment. Ever the gentleman, he responded thusly:

Read on...

LAobserved.com is reporting on the latest round of forced/voluntary retirements at the Los Angeles Times and noted that the Orange County bureau will lose Bill Lobdell.

Lobdell has served the Times in numerous capacities, including as editor of the Daily Pilot, which covers Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. In recent years, he proved to be an excellent investigative reporter, uncovering a series of sensational church scandals plaguing Southern California.

But we've learned that it's not just Lobdell. Veteran Times OC reporters David Reyes and David Haldane will also be departing.

By my calculations, this latest round of personnel moves leaves just eight reporters in Orange County for the paper.

"We found out yesterday," said one source. "It was sad. Hopefully, that's the end [of layoffs] for us."

-- R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly