Orange County News Blog

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"Hit the Bitch" suffers a black eye.

​The furor over "Hit the Bitch" now prevents you from visiting the supposed "anti-violence website" out of Denmark that allows a mouse-powered (and male-looking) hand to repeatedly smack and slap a young woman.

Politico, which is a good, important publication, caught up with our Santa Ana/Garden Grove/Fullerton/Anaheim U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez to find out what's in her purse.

Red County's Matt Cunningham zinged the piece, saying the Democrat "must have left her 'Handy Guide To Increasing Federal Control Over Americans' Lives' at home." He's probably right! But we watched nearly one minute of accompanying six-minute video and think that Cunningham missed a few important details:

So legendary liar Lou Dobbs quit his CNN show last night, and the expected reactions are flowing in: Aztlanistas rejoice, Know Nothings rail. The campaign against Dobbs was very much a La Raza conspiracy, but California for Coalition Reform head Barbara Coe is also pointing a gnarled, cigarette-stained, deluded finger at President Barack Obama.

"Believe what you wish," Coe told her minions last night in an email. "However, in my opinion, Obama and La Raza are primary suspects and I hope and pray that FOX NEWS has the courage to hire him and keep him on the air - sharing TRUTH with ALL Americans! She also added this disgusting postscript:

If Islamic terrorist NIDAL HASAN recovers from his wounds suffered as he MURDERED 13 American servicemen/women in cold blood, perhaps OBAMA will mandate that HE be the host of this portion of the CNN show, with CAIR and LA RAZA as co-sponsors.

Sadly, that's one of the least-craziest remarks Babs has ever made. Anywoo, some of Dobbs' worst hits!

Watch Mr. T infomercial FlavorWave Turbo in Celebrity & Showbiz  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

You know it's a sad day in America when outside commercial interests horn in on the resurrection of an iconic television attraction. This, of course, is a reference to the upcoming movie The A-Team and the new infomercial starring Mr. T, who was B.A. Baracus on TV's The A-Team from 1983-87.

That's right: How dare Hollywood foist unrelenting hype for its commercial movie production at the same time Mr. T is lapping up glory from his turn as today's answer to George Foreman and his grill?

So your Anaheim Angels of Anaheim lost the American League Championship Series to the New York Yankees because of a shocking loss of their trademark sharp play (seriously, guys: that error in the bottom of the eighth?). Whatever--let's move on to meatier issues.

SO...at a carne asada Sunday event, I met someone who works as a chauffeur. This driver has driven New York Yankees to their hotel when they visit and has the pictures to prove it--for the playoffs, they stayed at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, according to the chauffeur. All except two players, that is: A-Roid and another player I'll assume is another of their big names (Mark Teixera? Derek Jeter) but whom the person couldn't identify because they're not a baseball fan.

Awright, readers: in what hotel did the chauffeur say Alex Rodriguez stayed at in Orange County during the playoffs, away from his teammates? One hotel per guess, and the winner gets a baseball autographed by a random Weekling! Quick aside: the chauffeur said the Island Hotel lobby was PACKED with chicks trying to seduce any Yankee within their tanned grasp.

And now, the upcoming World Series!

HEY KIDS! It's TERRI!



That's right! The mascot robot for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is coming to Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific on Nov. 14. As we all know, that's "Our Planet Day" at the Aquarium.

MSNBC's top talker spent some time last night on the confrontation between John Ziegler and David Keene at the Newport Beach Radisson this past weekend:


If you missed it, Olbermann at one point speculates that Zielger was "defending his crush," Sarah Palin, with his actions. Ziegler doesn't take kindly to that assertion and has challenged  Olbermann to a debate. He'll even pay Keith for it!

Ziegler's response to Mediaite below:

Wikicommons

John Ziegler in NYC

​We sadly couldn't make it to the Western Conservative Political Union Action Conference this weekend at the Radisson in Newport Beach. Luckily, conservative filmmaker and former KFI blabber John Ziegler was on hand to film the top drama of the conference: his own antics.

When David Foster Wallace profiled Ziegler in 2005 for the Atlantic, my takeaway was that Ziegler doesn't really get along with other human beings very well. He recently got arrested for making trouble at a Katie Couric appearance at USC. And, lo and behold, this weekend in Newport, he got into a confrontation with CPAC chairman David Keene and was kicked out by WCPAC organizer Jim Lacy.

All three videos of Ziegler's saga are posted on Red County, but here's the one where things start to get dicey:

I thought book burnings in the South went with the way of the Beatles, but this shows how much I know: to celebrate Halloween, Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina will host an ol'-fashioned Scripture bonfire complete with "Bar-b-Que Chicken, fried chicken, and all the sides," according to their website (click on the link, if only to hear a funny 1930s-era song about a boy who bought a Bible--yee-haw!). Among the literature the church claims constitute "Satan's popular books" include all the tomes of local preachers Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, and Benny Hinn. Pastor Marc Grizzard doesn't spell out exactly how the trio are part of Lucifer's minions, but wouldn't you trade your copy of The Purpose-Driven Life your co-worker left on your desk for a plate of Carolina 'cue?

Anyways, here's Hinn at his best:

Oh, television. Last night, comedian and budding political pundit Joy Behar had Orange County's own Orly Taitz on her new HLN show. Whereas past cable news appearances for Taitz have seen our "eligibility" activist in panic mode from the mere few seconds of air time she was given and the decibel level of the hostile hosts, Behar gave Taitz nearly a full nine minutes to do her best to come off as a sane dissident. Watch:



I hope you'll indulge me stepping out of my normal "impassioned Taitz chronicler" stance and getting something off my chest...

Joy Behar, you dun fucked up.

Eh, kinda funny:

 

See the real thing on Monday, when Dr. Taitz is in Santa Ana federal court again. About 100 people showed up last time, but one supporter on her Facebook page predicted a 10,000 spectator turnout for this one. Line up now!

I don't know what the hell is California Bike Week, and I think that's KLOS-FM 95.5's Uncle Joe Benson as the emcee, but here's disgraced ex-Assemblymember Mike Duvall presenting some sort of award while wearing a leather vest. To paraphrase him, so kinky! And don't forget to vote in our online Duvall nickname contest!
 

Been a slow week for posting on my end, but whatever: most of ustedes are either vacationing, stuck in a freezer to beat the heat, or feverishly applying for work. Cool off, and enjoy some snow on the Ortega Highway...back to true hell-raising after Labor Day!  

Supervisor John Moorlach wants to get rid of our bus system? What a buffoon! This video is too earnest, but what are you gonna do...

Don't believe the Red County gang: state assemblymember and Little Saigon don Van Tran had next to no chance to unseat incumbent Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in next year's 47th District congressional race. All Tran had on his side were mostly Vietnamese voters and all Mexican-haters, while Loretta has all the Dems, wabs, and some Vietnamese voters on her side despite doing next to nothing in her 12 years in Capitol Hill. No amount of weekly press releases by the National Republican Congressional Committee was going to change that.

But now word emerges that Tran tried to interfere in the police investigation of Westminster councilmember (and Tran protege) Andy Quach after Quach slammed into an electricity poll while drunker than your average Balboa Bay Club member come midnight. Law-and-order Republican? HA! I'm sure the powerful police unions of Anaheim, SanTana, Garden Grove and Westminster aren't going to fork over cash for a scofflaw like Tran come election time. And so Loretta wins again...yippee.

Anyhoo, here's Tran:

It took a most unusual campaign for advertising/public-relations/brand-identification firm Young & Rubicam Brands to convince fellow Irvine-based company Toshiba U.S. to jump back into advertising via television commercials after being absent from the airwaves for several years. The above ad from the just-launched Toshiba "Breakthrough" Campaign is trippy enough. But for a real dose of strange, check out another component of the campaign that pits the towns of Boring and Normal against one another. That would be Boring, Oregon (population 12,851 in 2000), and Normal, Illinois (45,386).

Among the contests in this burg vs. burg deathmatch: knuckle cracking . . .

I haven't paid much attention to Hugh Hewitt as of recent, mostly because all he seems to talk about is Obamacare, and that's not exactly the sexiest of subjects. But I did tune in yesterday, at the very end of the show, and he was playing one of my favorite songs: Lulu's "To Sir with Love" (don't ask). Beautiful, overwrought, late-1960s Brit pop. I have no idea why Baby Hewie was playing it, or why he kept giving biographical details about the singer, but O.C.'s most prominent conservative yakmouth played the song in its entirety and spoke about if the entire time. SHUT THE FUCK UP, HUGH HEWITT, AND LET ME HERE LULU! Maybe he was trying to tie her with Sarah Palin or someone (qdpsteve?) in Commentlandia can provide context, but here's the song without any Baby Hewie yammering:

Earlier today, Weekly food blogger Lesley McCave forwarded a video from The Tonight Show Starring Conan O'Brien featuring William Shatner reading from Sarah Palin's goodbye, Alaska speech:



Its reign as the Greatest Video Ever only lasted a few minutes, however. That's because a scroll through LA Times' television critic Robert Lloyd's appreciation of a certain roving reporter for KCET/Channel 28 revealed Video Valhalla.

Ladies and germs, for your consideration, "Huell Howser Tripping":

So the Left has been all atwitter (and remember the days when that word didn't have a social-network meaning) about the below video, in which some Australian comedians interrupted a class at Chapman University two weeks ago of visiting professor John Yoo, he of the infamous Dubya-era war memos. What's most disturbing isn't that my alma mater invited Yoo to teach a class, that the students would applaud in his defense, or that the Aussies resorted to such a cheap visual (did the guy really have to assume the persona of that poor hooded Guantánamo Bay detainee?

No, what's worse is that the Aussies nailed both Yoo and Chapman without knowing it. The last line in the video has one of the guys yelling, "OK. I'll just go to the human rights class down the road, professor. I think you probably won't be teaching there." Thing is, the Aussies don't even have to go down the road; he could've just visited another part of campus and taken a course by Don Will, head of the school's Peace Studies program, or walked around and found the exhibit on Albert Schweitzer, who long exemplified the Chapman ideal until the GOP hijacked the college back in the 1980s. If the Aussies were true brilliant satirists, they would've made this point. But they're not, so you get amateur hour on the barbie.

Anyway, the video:

My email and Facebook in-box have been invaded with the news that longtime Latino activist/racialist Larry "Nativo" Lopez was arrested on felony counts of voter fraud this Wednesday. We'll see whether the charges (that he voted in Boyle Heights but lives in OC), but my only comment at this point is either Lopez is colossally stupid, lazy, or this is a modern-day case of Al Capone getting nabbed for keeping false books. Meanwhile, here's Larry on The O'Reilly Factor:

The new California Republican Party video at the top says union bosses are coming after your wallet, trying to protect state programs in their interest from budget cuts--even if it means raising your taxes. Among the union thugs the GOP singles out is the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The new SEIU of California video below that one questions Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzengger's claim to support "shared sacrifice." The ad points out that the Governor calls cutting healthcare for kids, college for students, and home care for seniors  "shared sacrifice," while asking big oil and tobacco to pay is a "deal breaker."

Jeez, who to believe?

At least the SEIU is trying to get its message to more Californians by also releasing a version of its ad in Spanish:

The YouTube video above supposedly captures a young man proposing marriage to his girlfriend in the middle of Disneyland's Main Street USA. But as MousePlanet points out, the whole thing reeks of a stunt to promote the new Summer Nightastic spectacular by hoping the "amateur" video goes viral.

There are several clues the proposal was staged:

-The would-be groom is obviously a professional performer.

-The area the crowd is giving up is too perfectly shaped.

-No crowd is that polite, not even at the Happiest Over-Your-Credit-Card-Limit Maker on Earth.

-Harbor Boulevard hobos break into song unprovoked. Prickily heated tourists do not.

-The dance folks just happen to break into was obviously choreographed.

-The lighting appears to have been hauled in from the set of a Disney Channel tween sit-com.

-MousePlaneteers identified many "spectators" as members of Disneyland's entertainment department.

-Rooftop cameras were used to capture wide-angle shots.

-The street-level camera crew is visible at different points in the video.

-Wireless microphones worn by participants are exposed.

While everyone else publishes hagiographies about the 75th anniversary of Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant (good food, btw), which eventually became Knott's Berry Farm, let's remember the man behind the landmark for what he was: a paranoid loon who used the massive revenues from Ma Knott's kitchen to publish some of the funniest anti-commie pamphlets this side of Jimmy Utt's mimeograph, help start the Lincoln Club, and organized the Orange County School of Anti-Communism, a crucial spark to create our unique brand of conservatism.

Here's Walter on the classic Groucho Marx show, You Bet Your Life. By all accounts a stern man (and you would be, too, if you grew up in Calico), at least he cracks a smile for Groucho :
 

The protests with tens of thousands of participants in Iran dwarf the one Wednesday afternoon in Orange County with just shy of 1,000 locals (by some counts), but the word about demonstrating dissent on both sides of the world spread the same way: via blogs, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, other online social networking, good old-fashioned emailing and--who knows?--perhaps even those ancient phone and fax machines.

Weekly photographer Christopher Victorio was told on the scene--just outside the District at Tustin Legacy shopping plaza at the intersection of Barranca Parkway and Jamboree Road--to expect 10,000 protesters. You can see from his damn-fine shots that the crowd never got that huge. But those present were loud, boisterous, wearing green, shouting support for opposition presidential candidate and possible grand theft victim Mir-Hossein Mousavi and damning the alleged perpetrator of that crime, "re-elected" president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Don't be too hard on those who did not make it out to join the fun. The Persian TV ratings war was heating up at the time with a My Mother the Infidel Car marathon running against the hot new reality show I'm a Shah Royalist, Get Me Out of Here!

Seriously, Aria Ghafari of Laguna Niguel told the Weekly beforehand it was shaping up to be one of the biggest Iranian protests in America so far. "Given that we have one of the largest Persian populations outside of Iran here in Orange County, and crazy Dana is calling for regime change, I'm hoping the media is interested in covering it."

The media did not disappoint (here, here, here, etc., etc.)

Finally, an issue has come along that has united people of all political stripes all over the country: the U.S. Government's refusal to bail out California (at least for now). Most bloggers used today's Washington Post story as a jumping-off point to analyze the development. While they were all over the political map with their respective spins, the netizens who commented to their posts were near unanimously against bailing out the Golden State. A gratified Lux Luther even chimed in. Here is a sampling:

Daily Kos:

The problem with extending exception aid to California is, Californians don't want to pay their state taxes. So the rest of us will have to make up the difference? We'll have to pay California's state taxes as well as our own? A blanket state aid package is probably more politically feasible.  Bailing out one state above others because that state refuses -- although it is quite capable -- to pay its bills could be a very unpopular proposal. -- Bink

Californians don't want to pay their taxes because the money ends up going to the new guy instead of their kids.  Can't build a community with such a huge influx of people.  And please, doesn't matter what race or social class those people are, sheer numbers eventually crumbles your infrastructure and people's willingness to pay into the system. -- Parent

It's about the fed'l gov't stepping in when a state gov't fails its citizens and/or is affected by circumstances beyond its control. In California's case, it's both; so Californians should be footing the bill, at least eventually. In many/most other states, however, it's more a case of circumstances beyond their control. Retroactively these other states may address this, in terms of repaying debt to the government; but, generally speaking, government should be a bit more lenient with them than with California in that regard, IMHO. -- bobswern

There is a part of me that is glad that they turned down Arnold. Here is why, because if they bailed out Calif. there would be no incentive for the legislature to buckle down and fix things. It would be business as usual. They (the legislature) would just kick the can down the road until the next crisis comes along. The people of Calif. need to start taking responsibility for their government and stop looking for "The Last Action Hero" (be that Arnold or Obama) to save them. I'm betting that come next year's elections there will be fewer Republican obstructionists going back to Sacramento. -- Unbozo

This video is a couple weeks old (I just saw it yesterday on LAist), but it promotes the Maloof Money Cup, "the premiere showcase for amateur and professional skateboarding in 2009," which runs as a three-day festival during the opening weekend of the Orange County Fair July 10-12 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Last year's Maloof Money Cup boasted the largest purse in the history of professional skateboarding with more than $450,000 in prize money awarded in three professional U.S. Championship Competitions: Men's and Women's Pro Street, Men's Pro Vert and the U.S. Amateur Championships.

Because the events run concurrently with the fair, organizers are suggesting those who drive to the fairgrounds to give themselves plenty of time "since the local traffic is typically congested at this time." Oh, and parking can be a bitch, too. More details here.

A new feature in which Gustavo posts a video clip every Friday regarding Orange County past, present and (perhaps) future to provide rest for his weary, carpal tunnel syndrome-ravaged hands and to give him time to further research great weekend posts. Today: what the hell is SanTana mayor Don Papi Pulido rambling about in the same conference in which he revealed the wasting of federal funds for one developer?

 

Prepare for a wee history moment from everyone's favorite wacky, wannabe-surfin' congressman later today...in the meanwhile, he runs away!

Huntington Beach U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher went on Chris Matthews' Hardball yesterday to "debate" whether man-made global warming is real. Things got pretty heated (sorry).

Matthews and Rep. Jim Moran (D-Virgina) set out to make Rohrabacher's ideas look like idiocy. Rohrabacher sets out to make global-warming look like idiocy. We all walk away thinking that the real idiocy is in having politicians try to debate each other about science.

See if you can catch our congressman saying the word "Gloogle":


Best moment probably was Matthews asking Rohrabacher the question that many constituents have wondered about in regards to a range of Rohrabacher's views: "Congressman, are you a luddite, a troglodyte, a part of the Planet of the Apes that doesn't want science?"

Rep. Moran is completely unequipped to refute D-Roh's talking points. Daily Kos makes up for that here and here.

Hey, look! The fresh faces you normally see at the average Capistrano Unified School District board meeting have been picked up and plopped into a professional-looking documentary trailer:

NOT AS GOOD AS YOU THINK - Official Trailer from Lucas Abel on Vimeo.

The movie, sponsored by the pro-"school choice" Pacific Research Institute, chronicles the "Myth of the Middle Class School" -- the idea that by living in affluent areas, your kids are guaranteed an at-or-above-par public education. To make their point, the film makers went to richie-rich south OC and interviewed the parents behind the Capistrano Unified "recall" movement, which has been extensively chronicled by the Weekly.

Even in the trailer's two-minute run-time, we get a good blast of nostalgic drama imported from the James Fleming CUSD era, with the now-indicted superintendent's "enemies list" appearing sinister indeed. Capo parents featured in the film include Lynn Baydu, Jennifer and Tony Beall, Barbara Casserly, Donna Furnis, Jim Reardon, Theresa and Tom Russell, and trustee Mike Winsten. We also get some shots of local schools, including my alma mater (full disclosure!) Dana Hills High. I'd like to note that the pic they used was of the run-down area behind Dana Hills' weight room, which is disgusting and scary but probably has always been and will always be that way.

As for anyone skeptical of the recall movement, thinking it's just a front for the advancement of private school interests: This film might not assuage your fears, given that it's pro "choice" -- which includes, yes, vouchers. But it does tout the Swedish system of education, so it can't be all bad for hard-core evil socialist liberals.

Anyways, Not As Good As You Think makes its SoCal debut tomorrow, May 20, at the St. Regis in Dana Point.  Cocktail gala at 6 p.m., movie at 7 p.m., Q&A with the director, producer and recall rep at 8 p.m. RSVP online here.

[7 p.m. update: Jonathan Voltzke at the Capistrano Dispatch blogs the news that space in the premier screening has filled up. The movie's overbooked email says, "We apologize for any convenience this may have caused you or your guests." On top of the convenience you save by not going, there will be DVDs available to view in a few weeks.]