Bill Hunt Now Officially Batshit Loco

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Arpaio, Coe, and Hunt: Pendejos in a pod? For sure, the first two...

It was bad enough that Orange County Sheriff's candidate Bill Hunt invited a man as controversial as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to shill for him at a fundraiser. But for Hunt to allow California Coalition for Immigration Reform head Barbara Coe into the fest means he has just sealed his fate with the rational people of Orange County.

Bill: that picture. Why? Do you really want to be associated with the godmother of the modern-day Know Nothing movement, a lady who rails about the homosexual agenda, who doesn't believe in vaccines because they're a government plot, who doesn't make qualms about her hatred of Muslims (not just the terrorists, Bill, but even those successful ones that can give you mucho cash)? Who says President Barack Obama is worse than Hitler, who is a Birfer, who believes cell phones can make popcorn kernels pop? Who recently wrote to her minions in an email that the Koran tells Muslims to "'torture, kill all American non-believers'"? Really?

If you do, your chances for beating current Sheriff Sandra Hutchens aren't necessarily over. Unfortunately, the crazies outnumber the good in this land, just like in Maricopa County. But given you're already running an underdog campaign, it's rather dangerous to associate with extremists and to pose with them for pictures, pictures that your political opposition will no doubt plaster across SanTana, Anaheim, Irvine, Little Saigon, and basically anywhere where diversity, tolerance, and logic reigns.

Then again, if you do want to associate with the despicable likes of Coe, that'll just mean you've become just like your professed hero Arpayaso. Congrats on that!

[UPDATED] Why Would This Man Try to Burn Down His Beloved Church?

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Courtesy of Orange County District Attorney's Office
Izad Chavoshan's booking photo.

UPDATED WITH COMMENT FROM A CHURCH OFFICIAL . . .

The bizarre case of the Huntington Beach man charged with trying to burn down Orange County Church of Christ not one, two, three but four times (!) just keeps getting bizarrer.

Thirty-year-old Izad Chavoshan could get up to 20 years in state prison if he is convicted of the three felony counts of arson, one felony count of attempted arson and a hate crime sentencing enhancement against him. It certainly won't help Chavoshan's defense that he has a prior strike conviction from 1998 for criminal threats.

Yet, to read Chavoshan's Facebook page, you get the impression that authorities must've grabbed the wrong dude. The 1996 Marina High School grad lists his nickname as "Johnny Cash," his party affiliation as Republican and his favorite quote being law-and-order moralista  Ronald Reagan's "I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself."

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From Izad Chavoshan's Facebook page

Chavoshan's page includes photos from Orange Coast College Persian Students Society events and parties, and among his message to the other 150 fans of the Los Angeles International Church of Christ-East Region Religious Center was this one from Aug. 5: "Hello LAICC . . . I encourage all of you to attend Harvest Crusade. I am a born-again Christian and a Republican. www.harvest.org."

Just 10 or so weeks later, he was arrested not with a smoking gun but a burning trash can in front of the LAICC's Orange County church in Irvine, and investigators linked him to three other fires there since Oct. 15.

What the hell happened?

REPORT: Freedom Fat Cats Enriched Themselves While Company Burned

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I'm rich, bitch!
Remember Freedom Corp, the folks who own the OC Register?

Yeah, that Freedom Corp, the one that filed for bankruptcy in September. The one that announced Nov. 2 that its 118-year-old East Valley Tribune is going bye-bye at the end of the year. The company that has been forcibly retiring and laying off just about anyone who isn't named Frank Mickadeit.

Well, according to a Nov. 5 story by the Arizona Capitol Times that was based on figures collected from recent bankruptcy filings, even while all these cut-cutting measures were taking place, Freedom executives paid out nearly $3.7 million in bonuses to--you guessed it--themselves. Freedom CEO Scott Flanders took home $1.1 million in the past year, including one "$400,000 bonus just weeks before the company filed bankruptcy."

What about Register publisher Terry Horne, you ask? He got about $200,000.

Flickr Photo of the Week!: Walking the Line in Seal Beach

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Flickr user Ross Fletcher
Got something to share with your community? Join the OC Weekly Flickr pool!

Dishney: Tweets From the Park

Everyone survive the week?
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Flickr user NewYork808

Don't worry, it's almost over... which also means it's time for our weekly feature, Tweets From the Park, where we round up the funniest, best and most irreverent tweets from Disneyland. Gold star this week to all the gals who chose to wear slutty costumes to the Happiest Place on Earth Halloween weekend. Follow us on Twitter at @OCWeekly!

joshmattvander: Disneyland won't let my niece in because her costume looks too much like Alice in wonderland?!?! WTF
timeforlivin: "I'm going to Disneyland" or "God gave me a world series ring". Changing the channel.
jeremyturner: So emberrassed. Somebody else just showed up wearing my Overweight Tourist at Disneyland costume! His is real good too. Extra knee rolls.
BillyTatu: Shit. I just unexpectedly bought a $350 Disneyland pass
alittletrendy: Parking. At Disneyland. This shit feels crowded. I might slap someone. Or their child.
JayKneeAnne: There are so many sluts at Disneyland right now! I wanna yell, "hey lady ur costume is too slutty for little kids to see, cover up bitch!"
alexander247: @theRealEsthero its those fuckin harajuku asian girls! their fucking amazing-they all flock to disneyland! ill post my gallery of them soon

Dude, Where's My VW Bus That Was Stolen 35 Years Ago? Oh, There It Is

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Courtesy of U.S. Border and Customs Protection
Found it!
You never know what will turn up in a container at the Long Beach port. Sure, the vast majority are filled with legal products bound for store shelves all across this great land. But every so often inspectors will find smuggled guns, drugs, humans . . .

. . . a Volkswagen Bus that was reported stolen in Washington more than 35 years ago.

Arpaio Raises Howls Inside, Heckles Outside Bill Hunt for Sheriff Dinner

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Photo by Beth Stirnaman
Joe Arpaio (left), Barbara Coe and Bill Hunt--together at last. They are shown here at a VIP reception before a fundraiser for Hunt's campaign for Orange County sheriff.
I went to a Bill Hunt for Sheriff fund-raiser tonight, and a Joe Arpaio Dinner Show broke out.

Just As CNN Begins to Implicate Young Gang-Bangers in Fort Hood Mass Slayings, a 39-Year-Old Army Major is ID'd as Killer

A funny moment--not funny ha-ha but funny nonetheless--happened during CNN's live coverage of the Fort Hood slayings this afternoon.

For anyone who was in a cave, at Disneyland or on the road at the time, 12 people were shot dead and 31 others were wounded in a shooting rampage at the U.S. Army base in Texas, a prime point of deployment for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lone gunman, who was originally reported to be among the soldiers killed, was being treated for four gunshot wounds, according to Army brass.

After a CNN reporter had just mentioned on air how fears have been expressed that lower enlistment standards have allowed people with criminal records to join the armed forces, Situation Room anchorman Wolf Blitzer wondered aloud to CNN consultant and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark if the gunman could have been a young gang-banger plucked from the worst streets in America.

As Clark began to answer, Blitzer interrupted to inform that the gunman had just been identified. At least one viewer repeated to himself, "don't be a young gang-banger, don't be a young gang-banger . . ." Of course, he wasn't.

Wax On, Wax Off: Kicking off the Snowy Season and Surfside's Snowboard Carnival

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flickr user Alena Romanenko
Fall is a brief season for Southern California. The first part of it sort of gets blended into the end of our summer. The groms go back to school, the weather gets hotter and the offshore Santa Ana winds start howling down the canyons. Things get dry and crackly, allergies rage, fires burn on the hillsides and west combo swells combine with the offshore conditions to create what some call "our real summer." But this summery part of autumn is short-lived. The later parts of the season fade quickly into cold, thin-aired winters with big, dark-watered north swells. That time is coming again. And aside from winter surf conditions, California also gets its snow season. Many of us surfers turn North and East to the rugged mountain ranges of California in search of powdery slopes and colder climes.

Every year, Surfside Sports helps Orange County kick off the snowy season with a huge, over-the-top event in their parking lot on East 17th Street in Costa Mesa. For 16 years now, the event has ushered in the annual shift in marketing and merchandising that takes place in the action sports industry, as well as provided the area with a big community event to mark the change in season. It will be the third year at the store's current location.

In the early years, says owner-operator "Duke" Edukas, people were bringing in truckloads of snow and that kind of thing." Now, he says, the shop has espoused what he calls "more of a carnival atmosphere."

Fraudster Who Fooled Grandmas and Grandpas Sought

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Garden Grove police are seeking an alleged fraudster who has been pouncing on grandmas and grandpas.
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