When I first heard about the unusual pairing of wine and ice cream, honestly it sounded like a stomach ache waiting to happen.

Then again, I'm one of those people who likes to try weird and possibly gross food, so I decided to check it out.

The four-course tasting was held at the Wine Gallery in Corona Del Mar, and I have to say it was a little weird, but not gross at all.

The pairings were complex and absolutely delicious.

I snagged one of the menus, in case any of you have adventurous palates and want to try it for yourselves (All the ice cream is Haagen-Dazs Reserve).

1. 2005 Honig Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc paired with Brazilian Acai Berry Sorbet
*this one was my favorite

2. 2003 Castelnau Suduiraut Sauternes paired with Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle Ice Cream

3. Warre's Otima 10 Year Old Tawny paired with Pomegranate Chip Ice Cream and a Pinot Noir reduction

4. Yalumba Museum Reserve Muscat paired with Hawaiian Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream Ice Cream with a Chardonnay reduction

The next wine & ice cream tasting will be held at the Southern California Wine Festival September 8 & 9.

Our favorite OC boxer, Ronny Rios, came home this week after a decisive and controversial loss at the Olympic trials in Houston. The potent, artful boxer says he's ready to refocus, turning his sights to his pro career and to finishing out his senior year in high school. "It's time to move on," he says.

Ronny created such a stir this year when he nabbed both the prestigious National Golden Gloves and U.S. Championships title belts, and then headed to the Olympic team trials, that the Santa Ana City Council will issue a proclamation next Tuesday Sept. 4 declaring the date, rumor has it, "Ronny Rios Day" (See "Ronny," August 2).

He's come home to a lot of new hometown fans who plan to follow his pro career, including us. Go Ronny. We love you. (See slideshow).

Staff writer LYT's been visiting family in the UK all week, but he hasn't forgotten his OC pals. He writes:

Greetings from the land of overcast August skies and wonderful cask-aged warm beer! Been staying out in the Devon countryside for a family reunion, and having a grand old time playing with giant chess pieces, and adoring home-cooked meals. Also passing out copies of my OC Weekly cover -- yes, our paper is truly world-famous, as the blog-header claims. Or at least transatlantically famous.

The local pub near where we were staying was supposed to be the highlight of the trip. Essentially described to us as an oversized sitting-room that only serves one kind of beer, it sounded like the sort of quaint thing that's either awful or awesome. Well...

On the last day, I managed to persuade my uncle MIke to go with me, walking a mile and a half uphill in search of tasty beverages. Braving steep slopes, run-ins with cows, and the ever-present stinging nettles (think poison ivy, quicker healing but more hurting), we made it to the Luppitt Inn and found it locked. As we investigated the nasty toilet facilities around back, an old woman emerged. Note that it was around 6:30 p.m.

She: "I'm not open till seven, so it's no good 'angin' around!"

Okay. We backed off, and she went inside, but not before my uncle Mike took a closer look at the pub. At this point, the woman comes out again, looking really furious, and yells "Nor mind lookin' in the window neither! Clear off!"

Not a candidate for the "Best of Devonshire" issue of any local paper, let's just say.

Pictured: LYT's grandpa

• Bye for now: Harald Martin, the Anaheim school trustee everyone loves to hate (and Gustavo likes to thank for unleashing The Mexican within) handed in his resignation letter yesterday. But don't drop the balloons just yet. He says he'll be running again next year.
• Ride a bus today: If you've never been on an OCTA bus, today's the day to do it. The public trans people are celebrating 35 years, and reducing their usual $1.25 rate to 35 cents for the occasion. OCTA's also rolling out a Birthday Bus, decked out in 70's decor. If you catch it, you might just win a prize.
• Angels vs. Anaheim: Angels owner Arte Moreno isn't pleased with the city's proposed development in the Angel Stadium parking lot. The Times reports that he could take it to court. The city once said it wouldn't build on the lot without the Angels' consent, but now council members are singing a different tune. "...we are proceeding further without any negotiation," said Councilman Harry Sidhu.
• Today at 5: The Orange International Street Fair starts up in Old Towne Orange, at Chapman Avenue and Glassell Street.
• Tonight to Labor Day eve: The Boom Boom Room is closing after 80 years of giving pretty gay bois a place to brush up against each other in Laguna Beach. The Boom says goodbye with four nights of extreme partying. The DJ list is over here.

High school football season is upon us, and there is no better time to remind prep stars about the textbook that is Todd Marinovich. The former Mater Dei and Capistrano Valley quarterback still owns the record for the most career passing yards in Orange County history, a feat more astounding considering it's the longest standing major record in OC prep football. USC signed him in the early 1990s, and Marinovich promptly won a Rose Bowl as a freshman. But the phenom fanned out in the NFL, due largely to drug abuse and general stupidity--there's a reason he's called Marijuanavich in some circles.

Now, word comes that Marinovich is facing drug charges yet again after Newport Beach police caught him with methamphetamine. That's not the biggest crime, however: according to the Los Angeles Times report, officers initially stopped Marinovich because he was skateboarding on the Newport Beach pier boardwalk. At 1:15 in the morning. C'mon, cops: don't you have more important folks to hassle than a beach bum skating in the morn?!

Wow. So much happened on Newport Harbor last night. Its getting hard to keep up with all of the drama and refrain from vomiting all over the front of myself. So here we go again with the monotony and stupidity of this fucking show.

Episode three begins with a bang. Chase breaks up with Taylor because he is "getting tired of always having to check in" and "tired of this girlfriend stuff." Taylor doesn't seem fazed by this in the least and goes with the flow with no argument. Perhaps that's because she knows Chase is a huge douche bag.

Anyway, it comes out that apparently this guy Chase has a bitter enemy named Grant and Grant is best friends with Clay. So Clay talks Grant into asking Taylor out since she just broke up with Chase. Grant complies.

Here is how Grant asks Taylor out:

"What up Tay Tay?" he asks.
"Nothing," she answers.
"I was thinking about getting dinner."
"What time?"
"Seven."
"OK. See ya."

It's almost poetic. Almost.

• Where Do Broken Hearts Go? Orange County, it seems. This week singer Robert Barisford Brown—better known as Bobby Brown--filed suit against his wife, Whitney Houston, in OC Superior Court. His grievance? She won’t let him see his 14-year-old daughter. Why file in OC? Brown, 38, claims Houston, 44, moved here for her latest attempt at drug rehabilitation and is living large at his expense in some “posh” hotel. (Montage?!?!) Not sure how far the case will go. A judge has already given Houston sole custody of the couple’s daughter.
• Journalist Sucker Punched: There have been some fine news folks who’ve worked in OC journalism over the years, but none better than J.R. Moehringer. I chatted with Moehringer during some political event we both covered years ago and I think it’s fair to say that he wasn’t pleased that in the LA Times empire he’d been assigned here. Since that stint, he’s only written a best-selling memoir, won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and seen one of his articles turned into a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson, Alan Alda and Josh Harnett. But the movie Resurrecting the Champ “is so irksome” to Dana Parsons at the Times because Harnett’s role—based on Moehringer—makes the journalist in the flick both lazy and unethical. Writes Parsons, “All the things the movie says the reporter didn’t do—ask the boxing experts, check the archives, talk to Satterfield’s relatives, be skeptical—the real-life Moehringer did.” To him, the movie “resembles dangerous propaganda.” In the film, the story takes place in Denver. In reality, it was Santa Ana.
• Matt Leinart Watch: The Arizona Republic reported yesterday that Santa Ana Mater Dei’s Matt Leinart is making women “swoon” again. This time the onetime USC football quarterback and current Arizona Cardinal has made the cover of . . . drum roll . . . Animal Fair, according to the paper. Talk about great timing. On the heals of the Michael Vick publicity disaster, the NFL can point to Leinart and Hunter, his German shepherd, and Max, his bulldog. Money quote: “I believe puppy love is out there.”

  Pour him some milk.



• Dana has an idea! It took $500 billion, four years and a couple thousand dead soldiers, but Dana Rohrabacher (R-Skipped Vietnam War Combat Duty) finally caught a wave! The self-styled “Surfin’ Congressman” has abandoned his backing of W’s ridiculous Iraq War strategy. According to Alicia Robinson at the Daily Pilot, Rohrabacher wants the citizens of Iraq to vote to keep or send U.S. troops home. “When we talk about democracy, if we really mean it we should give the Iraqis the chance to vote on the most important issue confronting them today,” he told Robinson. “This may well be an avenue in which, if they don’t want us there, Americans can withdraw with honor.” The congressman recently returned from a European vacation that included fellow OC GOP pal Mike Schroeder, an outspoken critic of the Bush quagmire.


• Is Port the Left Side? The Lido Yacht Expo is opening on Thursday, Sept. 6! The three-day event at Lido Marina Village in Newport Beach promises “an upscale in-the-water show” of more than 250 vessels. Among the features: a $5.75 million 92 Paragon Motor Yacht, The Ocean Alexander 80, The Cheoy Lee 103 and The Viking 67 Sports Cruiser. Did you know famous OC criminal defense lawyer Joe Cavallo (Haidl gang rape fame) parks his yacht in these waters? Yep. Admission will be $12 for adults. Kids under 12 are free, but please keep an eye on them. For more information, contact: www.lidoyachtexpo.com.

• Rove's Tricked-Out Ride: Some folks at the White House apparently have a sense of humor. Karl Rove made the mistake of leaving his Jaguar on the private driveway next to the West Wing when he took off for Texas with le President. Now his car's covered in plastic wrap, post-it notes, stuffed animals and an "I love Obama" sticker. The area's heavily patrolled by the Secret Service, reports CBS, so the joke looks like an inside job.
• Ex-quarterback in trouble: Former USC quarterback Todd Marinovich was arrested in Newport Beach Sunday after police allegedly found a gram of methamphetamine, a metal spoon and a hypodermic needle on his person.
• Santa Ana school woes: Earlier in the year, the Los Angeles Times discovered that elementary schools in Santa Ana were improperly implementing class size reduction. That cost the Santa Ana Unified School District $2 million in state funds. Now the Times reports that an audit has found similar problems at the high school level. That'll be $90,000 back, please.
• Garden Grove killings: Four teens (aged 14-18) were arrested in relation to Monday's double killing near a 22 Freeway pedestrian overpass. Everyone involved allegedly has a gang affiliation, according to the Garden Grove cops.
• Crocs of war: Those plastic, rubbery Crocs are some of the ugliest shoes out there, but they're apparently pretty useful. The Style Scoop blogger was told that "nearly every soldier (in Iraq) had a pair of Crocs or were asking loved ones to send some back because they were practical for the showers and for walking around rocky terrain."

Yorba Linda is now the richest city in the United States according to a newly released 2006 U.S. Census Bureau Report.

The ultra-chic YL, famous for being the birthplace of Richard Nixon, boasts an impressive median household income of $121,075. That's almost $18,000 above Newport Beach, which only placed third.

Guess now they're gonna have to change their name to Old-and-broke-port Beach.

Bangdon.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from my good friend and former colleague Anthony Pignataro, who's now the editor of the Maui Time Weekly (lucky bastard). Anyways, when Pignataro's not busy teasing me about my recent depiction in the Vietnamese-language media as an ugly, big-nosed communist mastermind, he likes to show off his vast knowledge of history and literature. Most recently, he clued me in on what has to be just about the stupidest part of the stupidest speech President George W. Bush has ever made.

After refusing to comment for years about the obvious parallels between his ill-concieved and poorly executed invasion of Iraq and the Vietnam War, Bush finally addressed the issue in a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City last Wednesday. Seems Bush finally heard of a certain book about Vietnam—Graham Greene's The Quiet American—that was written 52 years ago, and if Presidents Kennedy or Johnson had read it, they would have steered clear of Southeast Asia. And if Bush had read it, well . . . you get the idea.

Here's what Bush said about The Quiet American:

In 1955, long before the United States had entered the war, Graham Greene wrote a novel called The Quiet American. It was set in Saigon, and the main character was a young government agent named Alden Pyle. He was a symbol of American purpose and patriotism and dangerous naivete. Another character describes Alden this way: "I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused."

So far, so good . . . Bush definitely has been hitting his Cliff's Notes.

But then he continues:

After America entered the Vietnam War, Graham Greene—the Graham Greene argument gathered some steam. Matter of fact, many argued that if we pulled out, there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people. In 1972, one anti-war senator put it this way: "What earthly difference does it make to nomadic tribes or uneducated subsistence farmers in Vietnam or Cambodia or Laos whether they have a military dictator, a royal prince or a socialist commissar in some distant capital that they've never seen and may never heard of?"

So in a nutshell, Bush is using a work of literature that specifically warned against America getting arrogantly involved in an unwinnable war to justify not withdrawing from an unwinnable conflict Bush personally started because he's such an arrogant prick.

That's it. No punch line.

Bush is a moron, folks, and the joke—if there is one, which there probably isn't since invading Iraq has killed thousands of Americans and tens of thousands, if not more, Iraqis and the entire fucking planet hates us now—is on you and me.

The very first article I ever did--and I mean ever; I spent my college years trying to become a Latino Kubrick--dealt with how the Democratic Party used the spectre of former California Governor Pete "Proposition 187" Wilson to scare Latinos into voting Democrat. We haven't heard much from Pete since until this weekend, when supporters unveiled a statue of his likeness in San Diego, where he started his political career. The ceremony was marred by angry Mexicans and gays, who rightfully accused Wilson of bigotry, but we expected that. The true surprise was the brave people who signed up to fend off the inevitable wave vandals: the Irvine Company. The lords of Orange County recently acquired Horton Plaza, where Wilson's statue will stand until someone tears it down like a Tan Nguyen sign. But betcha Don Bren puts extra security there, as he definitely doesn't want to piss off someone who sits on his board of directors.

Did you get your prison boots dirty?

Spotted on: Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana

Finally: A non-ugly way to incorporate the Asian aesthetic into your everyday wardrobe.

(Oh, stop that—Mandarin collars? Not so awesome. And chopsticks in your hair? Not even close to the real thing. Please stop. You look fucking silly.)

These charms and pendants crafted by origami guru Cindy Ng are actually fashioned out of single sheets of silver and folded the same way you'd fold their paper counterparts, but without all that finger fumbling and crumbled up paper.

Available in a variety of critters—frog, rabbit, crane and turtle—the charms are somewhat reasonably priced and available for purchase online at Ng's website, Finger Magic.

The county's biggest public worker union called on all OC factions -- Republicans, Democrats and all those in-between -- to join them in a countywide recall effort to remove County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Chriss Street, from office. The County's money manager is under investigation by the Orange County DA's office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for, among other things, spending $1 million on his office remodel and awarding a $23,000 contract to a former employee. Nick Berardino, head of the Orange County Employees Association made the announcement this morning. "Our effort will only be successful if we have a non-partisan approach," Berardino told reporters. The group says it will wait ten days or so to see if other county groups join the recall effort, which would require 170,000 signatures for a special election. County Supervisor and former Street supporter, John Moorlach, has asked Street to resign, but yesterday Street refused, announcing that he will stay in office even if the county strips him of investment powers. In an effort to calm those worried about his questionable spending habits, Street handed out three-ring binders with explanations for his behavior.

Photo: Moorlach and Street during better times.

Did anyone stay awake all through night to witness the total lunar eclipse?

Not me. But for some reason I awoke at 5:20 a.m. and trudged to my backyard, half asleep to capture this grainy image. The tail end of a magnificent display of nature...

If you get nerdy for this kind of thing the way I do, then check out this informative link.

• Wrong side of the Street: Everyone and his mother is nagging OC Treasurer Chriss Street to step down in the midst of federal and local probes. (C'mon, even temporarily? asks the LAT's Dana Parsons.) But nu-uh, no-way, no-how, Street told reporters yesterday, handing them a 3-inch-thick binder filled with "facts" he believes the media should be reporting to clear his name. Patrick Desmond, who ran against Street last year, is crossing his fingers.
• More Sanchez protests: Earlier in the month, six people who staged a sit-in at Loretta Sanchez's office were arrested. Yesterday, six more sat outside her office building and pledged to go on a hunger strike till the congresswoman agrees to stop voting in favor of funding the Iraq war. Sanchez was on vacation yesterday, so one can only guess how much impact this had...
• Quiet crossings: To spare residents eardrum-shattering train horns (which reportedly howl up to 110 decibels), OCTA's pushing forward with a $60 million plan that would add gates and signals and eliminate the need for noisy warnings.
• Daily Pilot in the clouds: DP reporter Jessie Brunner pilots a Cessna 172 Skyhawk plane over Long Beach and lives to tell the tale.
• Wanna do something nice today? The folks at OC nonprofit Straight Talk recently purchased an 8-bedroom, 4-bathroom house in Westminster which will shelter folks with HIV/AIDS. They're hosting an open house today and are hoping for furnishings and decor. Details here.

Growing up in Garden Grove- there are few places to grab a moment of solitude conveniently located next to one's home.

Huntington Beach is kinda far. La Habra heights too.

A park? Maybe.

This may sound odd but when life was getting me down, or hell, even out of sheer boredom - my friends and I found ourselves gathered on the Harbor pedestrian bridge, that arches over the 22 freeway.

My good friend Jeremy ( seen in above photo) was the person I'd frequent the bridge with the most - mostly within the wee hours of the morning. They were good times. Sometimes we'd sneak a beer or two into our pockets on a cold night, but more often, there were those heartfelt conversations and random photo shoots as we watched his dog, Mariel patrol the area.

Oddly enough, last night after a farewell dinner for our friend Kim, we contemplated making a trip to our beloved hangout spot. After some thought we both decided we were just too tired to kick it. Yeah, it may sound lame but there was something kind of intriguing about this spot. Maybe 'twas the drone of minimal traffic at 3 a.m. on a usually sardined 22 freeway, which produces a calming effect. Perhaps it was the last place on Earth someone in their right mind should be when darkness falls. Probably the latter.

Definitely the latter.

This morning two bodies were found, shot to death, along the pedestrian walk way. The victims are said to have been in their early twenties.

Garden Grove residents say that gang activity plagues both sides of this bridge. The answer as to whether or not these deaths were gang-related is pending further investigation.

Needless to say, we won't be visiting our bridge anytime soon...

Seen on a sidewalk on Santa Ana Ave. in Santa Ana:

The premise was as simple as it's hackneyed: in anticipation of a mega-baseball series, writers from each city would trash the other team. At least that's what I proposed to Mike Seely, managing editor for our brother paper to the north, Seattle Weekly, because your Anaheim Angels and his Seattle Mariners start a three-game series tonight in the Emerald City.

But Seely couldn't do it: see, he *hearts* the Angels. And my journalistic knives weren't exactly sharp for slicing, either, as Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is the best hitter since Wee Willie Keeler. The following debate, then, will either earn Seely and I the enmity of our respective baseball tribes or serve as a guidebook in diplomacy for the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The lovefest after the jump:

• Working the System: A California Democrat who recently won House approval of a bill that “would prevent federal legislators from placing spouses on their campaign payrolls has joined advocates for clean government in calling for the state to also prohibit the controversial practice,” reports Patrick McGreevy of the Times. Congressman Adam Schiff says that state representatives paid $1.12 million in campaign funds to spouses, sons, daughters and companies that employed them during the past seven years. Schiff told McGreevey, “When it's the spouse who gets campaign money, it goes directly into the officeholder's pocket, and that's a grievous conflict of interest.” State Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman (R-Orange County) sees no need for Schiff’s bill. No surprise. His wife, Linda, has pocketed $68,500 from Ackerman’s various campaign accounts funded, the Times reports, by “businesses wanting Ackerman's vote, including insurance-industry groups, pharmaceutical companies, unions, and casino operators California Commerce Club and Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.” Campaign bank accounts belonging to state Senator Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) paid $98,000 in the past two years to Coronado Communications. The senator’s wife, Dianne, is a consultant to Coronado Communications. Not in this story but related: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Skipped Vietnam Combat Duty) pays his wife more than $55,000 per year from campaign contributions. All of the politicians insist money has absolutely no impact on their public service.
• Rhinotillexomania: C.P. Smith, a crusty old editor at The Orange County Register, retires this week after 35 years of journalism. In a salute, his colleague Frank Mickadeit this morning hails Smith’s accomplishments, including once tricking killer/cult leader Charles Manson to sing to him from a pay phone at Pelican Bay State Prison. Beautiful. Mickadeit also says Smith—who gained some recent notoriety for picking his nose during the filming of a KOCE interview from Reg HQs—“engineered all sorts of coups in our then-heated competition with the Times.” (Yes, kids. There was a day almost 20 years ago when the Reg and Times battled.) It seems Smith, 53, is a victim of the Reg’s recent layoffs.
• Christopher Cox for U.S. Attorney General! Not really. But now that the Alberto Disaster is over, the White House needs a replacement. Those of us who’ve had the honor of watching CC over the years know OC’s most famous résumé builder is twiddling his thumbs in deep thought: How? How? How? (In the past, he’s angled unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate, CIA boss, Speaker of the House, AG, the federal bench and VP.) Yes, Cox (pictured) has a lovely office as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. But come on, folks: A-frigging-G! Of course, it would be a fox-guarding-the-hen-house (no, that is a weasel that's pictured) scenario on par with the Gonzales era. If the departing AG is a country bumpkin, CC is a city slicker. Before joining Congress, Cox—then a corporate lawyer—personally advised fellow Republican William E. Cooper, Orange County’s biggest swindler of the elderly and senior citizens. But Cox has twisted his service to Cooper into an advantage over the years. It wasn’t that he aided a crook stealing old people blind. He says Cooper’s actions were deplorable but now he has valuable insight into the criminal mind.
• Can You Say Oops? Joe and Mary Gordon left Orange County several years ago for the Inland Empire and a 4,000-square-foot home, but the move has proved disastrous, according to Christelyn Karazin of Reuters. Foreclosure signs dot their neighborhood and the Gordon’s home, for which they paid $741,000, is now worth less than $550,000. Money quote from the couple: “After what we’ve been through the past two years—short of Charles Manson moving in—it can’t be any worse.” It’s a good thing houses aren’t overpriced in OC.
• Shut up and check out: Orange County’s Joan Todd had a dilemma: An office-supply store offered a great back-to-school sale on pencil sharpeners and pencils, but signs in the store read, “limit three per household.” Todd didn’t want to be limited, so she asked her husband to also max out with her. She asked The Right Thing advice columnist at The New York Times: Was this ethical? Follow the rules, the paper suggested. But this tale wasn’t so easy! While store signs said "per household," Internet advertising by the store used the term “per customer.” Now, what to do? NYT: Ask the manager. Dear NYT: That manager is the idiot who offered conflicting terms.

Nothing to wear to your next peace rally? Dont worry my liberal babies, mama's got you covered.

1. For the humorous: Instant Asshole Just Add Oil Tee, printed on organic material, $15.95 www.bant-shirts.com

2. For the sweet: Freedom Is Not Free Until They Come Home Tee, Each purchase made supports Freedom Is Not Free's mission to aid wounded heroes and their families, $14.99 www.freedomisnotfree.com

3. For the stylish: War Peace Gauge Tee, $30 L.A. Based www.aplusrstore.com

4. For the Im-not-fucking-around protester: Bush Lied They Died Tee, background text lists 3461 names of the fallen in alphabetical order. This shirt is currently illegal in 5 states. $22 www.carryabigsticker.com

(See shirt behind the cut.)

Billy Joe Johnson, Orange County's most infamous white supremacist and killer, inched closer this week to San Quentin State Prison's Death Row.

Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh charged Johnson (pictured) with the lying-in-wait 2002 murder of a fellow Public Enemy Number One (PENI) Death Squad member in Anaheim.

In July, a jury convicted Michael Alan Lamb and Jacob Anthony Rump for the killing. But during the trial Johnson tried to save his friends from convictions by claiming he alone shot Scott Miller in the back of the head. The attempt failed perhaps because Baytieh got Johnson to admit he'd never fired the murder weapon. He quickly realized his mistake and said he'd fired it once.

Johnson, a Costa Mesa-native who fell out of favor in the Nazi Low Riders, has been trying use the tardy confession to score points in his new gang, according to Baytieh. If true, the plan backfired. Baytieh plans to use his testimony against him.

The District Attorney's office hasn't officially decided to seek the death penalty against Johnson if he is convicted. A jury was split on sending Lamb to death. On Aug. 31, Rump faces a potential life in prison sentence.

Baytieh, one of the most skilled homicide prosecutors in California, believes that Johnson drove the murder victim to an apartment complex ambush after a Costa Mesa party. Rump and Lamb waited on a Meth high with lofty dreams of gangland grandeur and, sadly, a 9mm handgun. The duo was caught three days later--still high out of their minds--in a stolen car and carrying the murder weapon.

Johnson, 44, is currently serving a 45-to-life sentence for the ambush, hammer murder of a young man in Huntington Beach in 2004. In 1983, he burglarized a house. In 1989, he committed robbery. In 1995, he assaulted another inmate. A few years ago, Orange County jail deputies found him with Meth in his cell (wonder who brought that inside; any guess deputies?) and beat him severely for allegedly not obeying their orders.

PENI gang associates--who color their entire bodies in pro-Hitler tattoos--tell the Weekly that their intentions are misunderstood.

Want to start a jihad against jihadis? You'll get your chance this October, when the David Horowitz Freedom Center plans to organize "the biggest conservative campus protest ever" with something called Islamo-Facism Awareness Week in college campuses across America. It didn't surprise us that UC Irvine is amongst the universities that will host the event, due to the campus' wacky Muslims (read Reut Cohen's fascinating blog for more details), but Cal State Fullerton and Santa Ana College? The only radicals there worth targeting are the Aztlanistas that remain in their Chicano Studies departments. More bizarrely, why hasn't Chapman University--the place where every third building is named after an OC GOP bigwig--signed up?

Nick Schou's Aug. 17 cover story "Red Scare in Little Saigon" has struck a nerve in the Vietnamese-American community, so much so that he's been immortalized in a none-too-flattering cartoon. It's currently up on the Vietnamese-language website www.take2tango.com.

It's unclear just yet in what way Nick is supposed to be controlling Viet Weekly publisher Le Vu—our translation of the accompanying Vietnamese text is still pending—and I must say, that really doesn't look like Nick at all.

Except for the fountain pen for a hand. Totally accurate. I've been meaning to get one of those for myself.

Friend: i ALMOST am THIS CLOSE to wanting a man purse à la Tumi

Friend: AND I WANT TO WEAR IT ON MY SHOULDER

Friend: ALMOST

Me: well, it looks like a duffle bag.

Me: that's not so bad.

Me: would you wear it all the time though?

Me: and not just to work?

Friend: probably not

Friend: that's where i'm still functionally gay

• Doesn't marijuana go stale? I dunno, but Jim Spray, 51, and Felix Cha (the person, not the tea), 22, want the government to return the pot police officers confiscated two years ago, according to Christine Hanley at the Times. Lawyers for both men told the Santa Ana-based Court of Appeal yesterday the narcotic was legally possessed for medicinal reasons. In separate cases, judges have previously tossed out their arrests but bureaucrats in the cities of Garden Grove and Huntington Beach refuse to return the pot. With Hanley watching, Magdalena Lona-Wiant--Garden Grove's attorney--argued that although the Compassionate Use Act allows patients to smoke the drug, it doesn't necessarily mean that lawmakers intended for patients to have “property rights” to it. Uh-huh. Just give the crap back, bitch.
• Aiding and Abetting: On the same day that the Orange County DA's office announced it had obtained a 10-year prison sentence for identity thief Michael Alexander Hartsell, the state government apologized for printing social security numbers on brochures it mailed this week to more than 445,000 retired state employees. Officials at California Public Employee's Retirement System (CalPERS) tried to downplay their boneheaded mistake by claiming “it is unlikely that someone would recognize the series of numbers as being a Social Security number except our members.” Right.
• Yes, Chriss. That's Dionne Warwick you heard: Until recently, Supervisor John Moorlach stood by his man, county Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street, even as embarrassing ethical blunders mounted. Peggy Lowe, who has owned this saga, reports this morning that Moorlach finally crossed the Street by claiming his longtime pal “may have used a falsified document to cover up an improper award process on a contract to a private company.” (If you aren't aware of this guy's questionable financial activities at this point, shame on you. Suffice to say: the U.S. Justice Department is investigating.) The powerful supe--who hired Street when he was treasurer--now agrees with the rest of the civilized world that Street has no business running the county's $7 billion investment portfolio. Moorlach told Lowe at the Reg that Street refused to resign during a private meeting. The board of supes may now initiate action to suspend the treasurer's powers. It wasn't too long ago that I imagined Moorlach singing to his pal, “Keep smilin', keep shinin'. Knowin' you can always count on me, for sure. That's what friends are for. For good times and bad times, I'll be on your side forever more. That's what friends are for.”
• I'm betting Dillow's nipples are erect this morning: When I read stories about men in uniform taking stern action, I know that across town Gordon Dillow has quietly locked the door and lowered the blinds. Reporter Tony Perry of the Times reports today that a San Diego Marine drill instructor was charged yesterday with 110 incidents of assaulting recruits. The only description Perry offered was “cruelty,” and so I was forced to look elsewhere for the entire story. Hey, thanks Rick Rogers at the San Diego Union Tribune! Rogers reports that Sgt. Jerrod Glass is accused of “244 counts of abusing recruits in what could be the worst case of such maltreatment in modern Marine Corps history.” The military claims Glass struck almost every member of his 60-man platoon “during a month-long rampage early this year” and other abuses that “resemble fraternity pranks,” according to Rogers. Can someone at the Reg get Bootlicker a napkin?
• Channelling Barney Fife: City officials in Laguna Beach are hailing their successes from the past year and they include hiring a private company to process its lucrative parking meter violations business. Apparently, the two city employees who were paid to process the fines weren't collecting as much as the city wanted. Okay, so far so good. Police Chief Michael F. Sellers had whipped out his pencil, grabbed a notebook and licked his thumb. Let's see. Carry the two. Minus the six. Anyhow, Sellers calculated that a private company would process each ticket for $2.16 while it costs the city $2.46 per ticket using two city employees part-time. Still fine. City council members even bought it. The deal was signed. But Sellers made a move that qualifies him for The Government Bureaucrat Hall of Fame: He privatized and then kept both city employees on the public dole. See Mike, the cost now is $4.62 per ticket.

Well, the verdict is in. Newport Harbor: The Real OC episode two was almost as stupid as episode one. Almost.

Where we last left off, our friends Clay and Allie were meeting up for what we could only assume was a late night make-out session. This was scandalous behavior because Clay had just come super close to making out with Chrissy but stopped because it would be too much drama, you know, with Chrissy's dad calling her every five minutes and all.

Episode two picks up with Allie meeting up with her friend who doesn't matter to the story line to plan a pretty-in-pink party.

"Like after the movie?" her non-important friend asks.

"There was a movie called that? Oh my God! I didn't know that!" Allie responds.

I hate them.

The family that wears eyeshadow together, stays together. Click the image for more photos of goths at the Magic Kingdom:

Oh, and read the related LA Weekly article.

Orange County's most prominent talk-show host (take a seat, Joe Escalante) frequently proclaims himself independent of the Republican Party, but everyone knows that's a damn lie. Hugh Hewitt's latest example, however, is particularly egregious not only because he spins for the GOP, but he also skewers his old boss in the process.

In his post, Hewitt blames the Democratic Party of the 1970s for the Cambodian genocide and Vietnamese re-education camps and warns the Democrats of today that, similarly, blood will be on their hands if our troops pull out of Iraq. "America's Vietnam policy of intervention, manipulation, and then withdrawal represented a series of choices," Hewitt writes. "The Democrats of those years, urged on by a hard left anti-war front, finally made a choice to leave, a choice with awful consequences. This is the crucial point: The Democratic Party and their supporters made that choice, cheered on by the anti-war left. They own the consequences."

All fine and true, except for one crucial omission: it was Hewitt's old boss and fellow Orange Countian, Richard Nixon, who initiated troop withdrawals with his Vietnamization policy--any freshman history student can tell you that. So why not Hewitt? Why not implicate your boss in genocide, especially considering the Nixon-approved policies of bombing Laos and Cambodia largely sparked one third of the genocides (both old and continuing) you so decry? That's right--because that would mean admitting conservative culpability, and that's just something not included in the Hewitt dictionary. Hypocrite.

We like our 17th Street parking lot.

But some folks seem to like it a lot more than we do:

The big news on Grand Street is that longtime Orange County Register publisher N. Christian Anderson III is leaving the paper--pushed out, according to the Los Angeles Times, as "part of a company reorganization," according to the Reg. The Times story noted that Anderson--who Editor & Publisher mysteriously named Publisher of the Year for 2007--failed miserably in his two recent attempts to squash the OC Weekly, the OC Post and Squeeze OC.

But what interests us the most are the Register readers' feedback on the Reg's website.

• About that balloon: The Register has an update on the Great Park balloon story for y'all. Ready? OK: People are actually riding it. Yep, that's the update. Later! (More balloon photos from the Weekly's trip here.)
• While the web editor's away: Kevin Roderick of LA Observed took a much-needed vacation, but the folks running the site in his absence missed the OC Reg departing publisher story. Roderick would have been all over that one. So they didn't break the news, no big, but it's quite strange that it wasn't even mentioned in today's morning news roundup.
• LATimes.com's mini-face lift: I don't know if anyone else noticed, but a simple font and color change on articles at the Times' website makes them much easier to read. They look almost...blog-like. I'm guessing this is part of the "Botox treatment" web executive editor Meredith Artley talked about when she started months ago.
• Man meat extravaganza part II: Remember how I said to grab your binoculars and head to Newport Beach to see some lifeguard action yesterday? The Register must've been listening. They even took video. How thoughtful.
• Free Tix Fridays: Every Friday, we'll be giving away tickets to local shows at our music blog, Heard Mentality. Tomorrow's giveaway: 15 pairs of tix to see glam metal parody band Metal Skool on August 31st in Long Beach. Check out HM before noon to win.

The Register has -somewhat- reported that their publisher, N. Christian Anderson III, is on his way out, and Terry Horne of the East Valley Tribune is settling into his seat.

I say somewhat because while the Reggie's article says who is taking Anderson's job, it doesn't touch upon the all-important WHY he is leaving or whether the decision is of his own accord.

Anderson leaves the Freedom Communications Inc. family after winning the award Editor & Publisher's 2007 Publisher of The Year and putting in 27 years at the company. His last day will be Sept. 15.

The murky reporting was not lost on readers, as seen in the comments below the online article:

One says, "No info on Horne's age, education, years in the business,family, philanthropic interests, objectives for the paper, etc. It's obvious he was brought on the Arizona paper to take over for Anderson since the buyout. Hope the paper regains a focus on reporting and focusing on regional issues that the community papers can't or won't."

Ouch.

Related: The Los Angeles Times has a better take.

Photo of Anderson via LAT.

At yesterday's Sawdust Art Festival excursion, they were nice enough to let me enter the glass-blowing cage as Laguna Beach artist Nicole McQuaid put her mad blowing skills on display. Between the face-melting heat from the open furnace and dodging McQuaid's searing-hot iron rod, I got some photos in.

Check them out by clicking the image below.

Alas, the piece she was working on met a sad ending. But it was pretty while it lasted.

It's like playing with paper dolls—only with much, much more expensive, classier options.

Polyvore's an interactive website which allows you to switch and move around ensembles. It offers an array of really, really, really nice pricey choices (like this outfit consisting of mostly Chloé pieces, pictured here) and the more affordable, like GAP basics. The site also lets you know who designs each item and where you can purchase it.

The main purpose, of which, obviously, is letting people devise their own outfits without all that multi-website or store searching—so basically, the site is pretty much an assbackwards way of making something already a luxury even simpler. Not that I'm complaining.

Orrrr, you could be like me, and use Polyvore for putting together outfits that cost veritable boatloads of money just so you can avoid doing any work. Does blogging count?

(Hi, boss!)

Quite a night last night for Garret Anderson, who socked in a club record 10 ribbies for the Angels in their 18-9 thrubbing of the hapless Yankees, who they totally OWN (the Halos are the only MLB team with a winning record against the pinstriped peckerwoods during the Joe Torre era). Included in G.A.'s stats were two home runs, one of them a grand slam -- in his final at-bat, the man was a three-run homer short of breaking the all-time single-game RBI record.

A big deal, for sure. So how did the local press play it? The LA Times did it up huge -- a front-page A1 color photo teasing the story in the sports section, and once you flipped there, a good-size banner headline above the fold. Then we picked up today's OC Register, and could've sworn the two daily rags had switched geographies -- nothing but a small, below-fold blurb on A1, and on the front sports page, a standard report on the game, as if 10 ribbies smacked by one player in a single game was a perfectly ordinary event (it's not; a 10+ RBI game is rarer than a pitcher hurling a perfect game).

The kicker: at the top of the Reg sports section was a report on yet