Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Skin Writing

I have diagnosed myself with allergic contact dermatitis, caused by a reaction to the adhesive in band-aids. The question is whether I should see my doctor, for the dermatitis, as well as the port incision, which hasn't healed. In researching on the net I found very interesting things. I found a discussion group in which people talked about latex allergy, which I don't have (according to me). One person said he was allergic to latex and when he was in high school he once wore a condom on his foot all day to see if he would react. He didn't, and so he knew he could wear a condom where it is more customarily worn. There's a connection between latex allergy and allergy to mangoes, because the proteins in them are similar. I was interested to see that a number of people on-line had a reaction for the first time, as adults, to band-aids, both to the latex and the adhesive.

I've been reading about hives, which I thought came only in the form of bumps like mosquito bites. But they come in other forms. To wit: "The term physical urticaria refers to hives produced by direct physical stimulation of the skin. By far the most common form is 'dermographia,' which literally means 'skin writing.' This is an exaggerated form of what happens to anyone when their skin is scratched or rubbed: a red welt appears at the line of the scratch. In dermographia, raised, itchy red welts with adjacent flares appear wherever the skin is scratched or where belts and other articles of clothing rub against the skin, causing mast cells to leak histamine." That's from medicinenet.com. I do have the red welts. A medical dictionary tells me that a flare is "an area of skin flush resulting from and spreading out from a local center of vascular dilation and hyperemia," and I think I have that, too. So now that the deliberate skin writing has faded from my head, it's finding its way onto my chest. Psychics also talk about skin writing. From what I read, I think that a message appears for a short time on the skin of a "sensitive."

What is the writing on my chest? It says, I am sensitive. I am itching. I am mired down. I am turning on myself. I am allergic. I am overreacting. Allergy is an overreaction, the body gearing up to fight what it perceives as a dangerous foreign body. (But self, can't you see, it's just the stuff that makes the band-aid stay on; and it's just pollen, and mold and dust mites; what harm could they do?) Cancer is overproduction, the assembly belt gone haywire, cells gone wild. The sorceror's broom wheeling out of control when the apprentice thinks he knows enough. Too much too much too many. Let's cut it out. Let's bombard it with poison. And wait.
READ MORE - Skin Writing

Great Councilwoman Daigle Opinion Piece...I Think.

Newport Beach has recently suffered through internal fighting regarding the location of the White Elephant (New City Hall) while the most important thing which truly affects the every day lives of Newport residents has been largely ignored, while still continuing to break records for passenger loads. The Daily Pilot even proclaimed that "John Wayne Airport enjoys record summer." Great...

Well...finally a Newport Beach City Council member has something to say other than where to put the White Elephant. Finally, it seems that the real issue of substance is being discussed...problem is...I don't really understand what she wrote.

Councilmember Leslie Daigle wrote this opinion piece in today's Daily Pilot. And according to it's title, "Council working to protect residents from JWA effects" it's about stopping the expansion of John Wayne Airport...I think. So how come I cannot read through the entire 972 word piece without nodding off? I know this is a very important issue, so I keep trying to read through it again, but time after time, I get about 1/3 of the way through and I stop caring. So I'll try to read it again right now...that ad on the right side for Carnival cruise ship looks nice...so is that 4 line ad 2 weeks free deal for Daily Pilot advertising...can't do it. I cannot read through the entire piece!

I consider myself well educated. Attended a top notch school as an undergrad. Went to a 2nd-tier graduate school (with a GREAT football team though). So I don't think it's about intelligence. I can converse pretty well with Congressman Rohrabacher and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, but both can drop the clutch and lose me pretty easily though. I have had conversations with both Mayor Rosansky and Councilman Keith Curry and understood what they wrote in their opinion pieces in the Daily Pilot. I've even had conversations with Councilmember Leslie Daigle, but for the life of me, I cannot get through one of her opinion pieces.

I even wrote about a previous one she had in the Orange County Register. I couldn't get through that one either without nodding off.

Perhaps it's my MTV-Generation X-Short Attention span reading comprehension issues that I'm having problems with. Is it me?

In my dealings with the IRS, the Franchise Tax Board and the California State Board of Equalization, I've learned a very important lesson. Complicate to deceive, simplify to tell the truth. Is that my problem here? Are these two articles by Leslie Daigle too complicated for my simple brain? Maybe it's all the acronyms that she puts in there.

I don't know. All I can gather, as I read the article again, is that she is against the expansion of John Wayne Airport...I think...so that is very good. Keeping the expansion of John Wayne Airport in check is truly the most important issue which will truly affect the most amount of Newport's residents and it's future. And she's the first Newport Councilmember to deviate from the White Elephant debate to bring it to the forefront of Newport's consciousness, so that's good.

I just wish I could understand what she wrote.
READ MORE - Great Councilwoman Daigle Opinion Piece...I Think.

Sober Living Home - Here We Come!

I have two morbid curiosity websites that I go to on a regular basis. One tells me which restaurants had to be shut down by the Orange County Health Department (my previous mention of it here) during the past 60 days, and the other tells me who were arrested for "Suspicion of Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant." With both sites, I click on them, then hold my breath looking down the list to make sure I don't recognize names on either. Sometimes I do, but most times, fortunately, I don't.

In this week's DUI Arrests, however, I do. And they are both pretty "connected" in the Political world.

One name will be easily recognized by those on the current City Council (since that person and their family donates rather well to them). That person is also very involved in an increasingly influential Political Action Committee which, as described in their website, is "a network of young business and community leaders committed to making a difference by empowering individuals and causes to provide long-term solutions that will better our individual and collective futures. Our forward thinking and cutting edge approach, combined with our extensive resources, provide a platform for advocates who represent the center-right voice of the Next Generation of Americans."

The other name is one which only truly local political insiders might know, since that person's function is more of a technical campaigning tool. One which is extremely crucial in today's technological advanced world-wide arena.

As I've mentioned before about Due-Process and the Presumption of Innocence, and as the Daily Pilot says, they are considered innocent until proven guilty, which is why I've left both names out.

However...if they are found guilty of DUI, they are lucky they didn't kill someone while driving around intoxicated and I hope they suffer the consequences of their actions to the fullest extent of the law.
READ MORE - Sober Living Home - Here We Come!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Night with B

We just came back from B's. He called us when we were just going out the door to buy food. His elevator hasn't been working for a week, and he was stranded outside his building. His downstairs neighbor (tenant) had carried him and his scooter down earlier so B could go out and teach. Now the neighbor was at Ravinia listening to B. B. King and B was at the foot of the porch stairs.

Precisely. We went over there and first saw the empty scooter. Then we saw legs behind it. He had fallen out and was lying curled up with his head resting on the first step to the porch. We got him sitting up and I brought him some food from upstairs. Meanwhile, I called my mother, who had called earlier. She said we should call the fire department. But they did that last week when K the Irregular, his evening and morning helper, got stuck in the elevator. The elevator repairman had come today but hadn't succeeded in fixing it, and didn't bother to call B to tell him he hadn't fixed it. B had called our friend D to come over and help but he was downtown at a concert. So we were thinking we would sit and wait with him until his tenant came back.

The Cubs had just won against Milwaukee and the lights of Wrigley illuminated the yard for a while. B's house is three doors down from the stadium. When the lights went out, L pointed to the bats careening around and we watched them fluttering and I could see why people used to think they were birds. I'd always heard of bats at Wrigley but had never seen them.

I asked B if K was coming, and he said yes, he expected her between 10:30 and 11. I asked if K's brother could come, because he sometimes does. I had never met him but asked if he might be strong enough to carry B upstairs. B called and about 20 minutes later the cavalry came riding up in a bike. With L steadying him, K's brother V carried B up two flights. He and L took the scooter apart and carried it upstairs.

And then we came home. I didn't know whether to weep or scream. I didn't do either. When I say to B, you have to move, you have to move into a building with multiple elevators, you can find a vintage one like the Wieboldt's by Whole Foods, you can live on one floor instead of two and make everything open and accessible, when I say that, I know I'm saying what I and others have said for over two years, and he knows he's heard me say it millions of times, but he and S have no intention of moving. They love their 100-year-old frame house with its three sets of staircases and garden (tomatoes, cukes, beans, phlox, peonies, apples). They love the hardwood floors they've had refinished and the walls that S has painted different colors over the years, and they love the two decks above the front porch. They love it all and don't want to leave. They don't want anything to change.
READ MORE - Night with B

Ontario

I went to the dentist today, as I am in the middle of the longest-ever root-canal procedure. I got the temporary crown today.

He is in solo practice and takes off only a week a year, during which he goes fishing in Ontario with a buddy. They've done it for 30 years. His parents were city folk, he said, but his father had a cousin, M, who had a bunch of different jobs and no job but was married to a German woman who didn't mind. They lived in Wisconsin. When my dentist was in high school, his father was dying of cancer. The cousin suggested that my dentist come stay with them. He did and learned to fish. He loved being in the middle of the water without telephones or TV, just with the silence and the fishing, away from everything.

So that is why he likes to fish. His sons used to but don't any more, after his wife talked about the suffering of the fish. But they eat fish. There's no reason to force them, he said, and there's nothing else to do at the place in Ontario except fish.

My dentist and his friend eat fish every day of their trip but don't bring any home any more because of conservation rules.

Fishing is like meditation but with a concrete goal. I liked fishing when I did it at camp. L doesn't. I don't seek fishing out, and so I don't fish. I stopped eating fish for a while and became a lacto-ovo vegetarian when I saw one struggling on a line. But now I eat fish and shellfish and chicken. I am a species-ist. We're more powerful than they are and we overtake them and eat them. I take 3000 mg. of fish oil a day, to help my chemo brain. It would be nice if my dentist's son liked to fish with him. Maybe one day he will.

And that is all I have to say about fish.
READ MORE - Ontario

Smoking Good for Longevity?


Taken from the Drudge Report, here's an article and picture which give me a good lunch time laugh. And they say that smoking is bad for you...reminds me of one of my favorite movies.

Enjoy.
READ MORE - Smoking Good for Longevity?

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Email

Typically Assemblyman DeVore's email come through as objective, smart and balanced.

This one came across as emotional and angry.

From Assemblyman DeVore:

Never before in my time in the Legislature have I been so upset and angry at a vote that was brought up on the floor. Yesterday afternoon we voted on a measure that has no legal standing and is completely unconstitutional, yet will kill American service members by emboldening our enemy.

The measure? Senate Bill 924, the Iraq surrender resolution by Don Perata.

SB 924 will ask the voters of California whether we should “achieve the immediate, complete… withdrawal…” from Iraq, calling the “surge” “ill-conceived.”

I had no idea I was elected by the people of the 70th District to be the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Or, was it U.S. Secretary of State? The resolution also calls for “…diplomatic and nonmilitary assistance to promote peace and stability in Iraq and the Middle East.”

Most political analysts believe that Senator Perata schemed up this bill to increase liberal voter turnout for the February 2008 election, the election that will feature his cherished term limit extension initiative, allowing him to serve an extra four years in the Senate.

Just bringing this measure to the floor made me sick to my stomach as it has no legal effect. What it will do is serve as a propaganda tool for al-Qaeda. In this, if it is not vetoed by the Governor and makes it to the ballot, it will be similar to California’s 1982 nuclear freeze ballot initiative – which, of course, stopped the building of nuclear weapons by the evil Soviet Union and ended the Cold War – NOT. (Interesting side note, Assemblyman Martin Garrick’s father, retired Admiral Garrick, wrote the arguments against the nuclear freeze initiative. It passed by about 52 percent to 48 percent.)

I had a few words to say on this “ill-conceived” measure, both on the floor and to the media. NBC quoted me in a piece as saying,

But the California legislature has no authority over American troops overseas -- that is the role of the commander in chief. Republicans argued the resolution provides aid and comfort to the enemy, according to former National Guardsman and current Assemblyman Chuck Devore R-Irvine.

"It will be rebroadcast by Al Qaeda and the Al Qaeda mouthpieces and be used as proof of America's moral weakness and quailing cowardice in the face of Islamic fascist terrorism," Devore said.

(See: http://www.nbc11.com/news/13989769/detail.html)

Please ask the Governor to veto SB 924.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore

State Assemblyman, 70th District

www.ChuckDeVore.com

READ MORE - Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Email

Monday, August 27, 2007

Todd Marinovich - From Hero to Zero...

I know this isn't related to Newport Beach politics, but it does kinda relate to a Newport Beach resident, from the OC Register's Police Blotter:

W. Balboa Boulevard, 1300 block: arrest, Aug. 26. Todd Marvin Marinovich, 38, of Newport Beach, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance.

It wasn't that long ago when Todd Marinovich was an Orange County hero, first at Capo Valley High (I thought he went to Mater Dei too), then at USC, then for the Raiders. Through all that time, you cheered for him, because he was an Orange County product, who chose to live in Newport Beach. After all, he was the Freshman prodigy who won the Rose Bowl. Then he became, "Todd Marijuanavich" and he became another burnout who wasted his gift.

A Gift everyone of us wish we had for just one second.

He became one of ESPN's Biggest Flops and another Newport Beach afterthought on the police blotter.

It's ten after 9pm on the 27th of August and I cannot find this story anywhere else. Am I the first to notice or the only one who cares?

Maybe he'll get assigned to a Sober Living House in Newport, so he won't have to go too far from home...
READ MORE - Todd Marinovich - From Hero to Zero...

No Hair Today

Cancer Bitch has returned. Her hair has not.

Our power was out for 24 hours due to the storm that swept through Chicago and environs, but we were out while it was out. We returned to sticks and branches on the street and sidewalks, and a huge uprooted tree trunk around the corner, but our place wasn't damaged much. There is talk of siding that was ripped off, but I haven't seen it.

Last night I saw S for the first time since she left for Mexico in July. She came back while we were in Oregon. She thought I'd shaved my head; she was expecting that my hair had returned. Alas, I am still hairless. The oncology nurse said that I would keep losing hair three weeks after the last chemo. The last chemo treatment was four weeks ago. Most of my head markings are faded, too, except some messy ones around my face. I am bored with head markings. I am tired of rounding up head-decorators. I am tired of ordering tiny bottles of black jagua ink for $25 a pop, and having the black sludge inside turn runny and difficult after a month. I have a cone of henna around here somewhere that I got in an Indian market on Devon but I can't find it.

In Chicago I'm used to strangers complimenting me on my scalp and asking if the tattoo hurt. In Oregon no one said a word. It was either because it was too avant-garde or because it was too faded. I noticed very few piercings in Portland and just a few mohawks. I saw an outstanding colored spiky Statue-of-Liberty-like mohawk just east of Pioneer Square, where black-clad kids and vagrants congregate. Further east, we were excited to read in our guidebook, there's
a Louis Sullivan building downtown called the Auditorium. We went there and found a red brick building with *no* plaque on it and an empty first floor. There was some Sullivan-esque decoration, but it was an otherwise small, plain vertical building, influenced by the Romanesque. It was sort of a red-brick scaled-down version of the Auditorium (Roosevelt University) in Chicago, and was designed basically with a base, column, and capital (well, sort of a capital. The top floors have arches.) L took pictures of it and we saw a guy about a foot away from us taking pictures, too. I asked if he was a Sullivan fan. He didn't know anything about the building and was taking pictures for a collection of Flickr of "ghosts"--those faded painted advertising signs on old buildings.

We came home and consulted a Sullivan biography and looked on the web and found that the building had been designed in 1894 by Frederick Manson White. The guidebook author must have looked up Auditiorium Building somewhere and instead of realizing it referred to the one here, she thought it meant the one in Portland. She had other mistakes in her book, but this was the most grevious. You can see the building here. Scroll down.

Because of the storm, we came back Saturday instead of Friday. My neighbors had a party Saturday night and I wore a scarf with fringe. It was outside and dark and my neighbor thought I had grown rasta-strands. But alas. Alas. Just little stubs, and they are shorter than they used to get between doses of Adriamycin. The Taxol just wiped out my follicles.

Meanwhile, I am waiting. I will get the results of my first genetic tests in about two weeks. That'll tell me whether I have the BRCA gene mutation that's more prevalent in Ashkenazim like myself than the general population. If I have the breast-ovarian cancer gene mutation, I'll get my second ovary removed and then officially be ushered into menopause and will be prescribed aromatase inhibitors. I probably don't have the mutation. The genetic counselor said, based on family history, I have an 18 percent chance of having it. If the first test is negative, the blood will go through another test for more mutations. I think I'll end up keeping my ovary and going on tamoxifen, which can increase my chances of getting uterine cancer. Which could be side-stepped by getting a hysterectomy. So the fun continues.

Warning: The following is obsessive and ultimately, gross:
My attention has turned to the incision where the port was removed. It's a one-and-half-inch horizontal cut between my collarbone and (right) breast. It had super-glue-type stuff on it and a stitch or two, covered by steri-strips. The steri-strips fell off. When we left town it had scabbed up and had a little pus in it and itched. There was a little pink around the edges. Our first night in Portland we had dinner with two former steelworker pals of L's. They're both MDs now. One specializes in infectious diseases and I asked her to look at the cut. She said it looked fine. I asked if I could put antibiotic ointment on it and she said I could if I wanted to. Since, I've had a series of bandaids (some with antibiotic on them) and both the cut and the skin around the cut (where the adhesive part of the bandaid adhered) have been pink and itchy, so much so that there's a pink square surrounding the cut. I know you're going to say I'm allergic to latex, but I'm not, though just to be sure, I bought non-latex bandaids last night. The cut is now bloody and oozy. I have a large, non-latex bandaid on it and no antibiotic cream. It doesn't itch. I think it's fine. There's no pink around the wound itself, no streaks coming from it, so it's not infected. I think there are two schools of thought when it comes to cuts. One is to let it scab up, but then it leaves a scar. The other is to cover it and keep it moist, and it doesn't scar as much. But I think covering it and putting antibiotic ointment on it may make it, paradoxically, more susceptible to infection. That is my scientific finding, based on observation of a very limited population. I'm sure I'm displacing all my cancer anxiety on this small cut, but knowing it doesn't keep me from obsessing.
READ MORE - No Hair Today

Sunday, August 26, 2007

We Are #17!

According to Blognetnews.com, this little blog about Newport Beach is the 17th most influential political blog in California, for the past week at least.

It kind of reminds me of David Letterman's We're #2! sign he had put up in NYC after Jay Leno beat him in the ratings.

A few thoughts here:

1. I think that Blognetnews.com just lost any credibility they had by calling this babble the 17th most influential political blog in California. I, myself, would have a hard time calling it the 17th most influential in Orange County. I'm not even the most influential in Newport Beach...

2. I had the most site visits recently when I went after State Senator Tom Harman for wanting to Nanny-fy the video game industry. Shoot, my little story even got picked up by Gamepolitics.com. That was neat. Maybe, by attacking more...I can move up in the rankings...

3. Another topic with lots of visits was this one, where I wrote Lube and Irvine Company in the same sentence. Maybe sexual innuendo does sell...especially when it's about the Irvine Company.

4. I expect to see this blog drop off the top 20 next week. Just a feeling...

5. I'm honored, if not just temporarily.

After six full months (I started this on March 1, but I didn't put in the counter until March 13), I've had over 7700 visitors. Not alot (let's see...averages 1283 a month, 320 a week, 46 a day...guess what I do for a living) but it's about 6000 more than I expected at this point. Plus, I have a friend who said that he clicked on the site 50 times in one evening to help drive up the counter...but that was back in March. God knows how many other are doing the same...

Thanks to Councilman Keith Curry for admitting that he reads this site regularly. Thanks to Dolores Otting for the great phone calls of encouragement. Thanks to the Winships for contributing. Thanks to FreeNewport.com for the criticism (ALL constructive, of course)

Thanks for reading.
READ MORE - We Are #17!

Friday, August 24, 2007

Damn, damn, damn

Grace Paley died yesterday.
Breast cancer.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Poet and short story writer Grace Paley, a literary eminence and old-fashioned rebel who described herself as a "combative pacifist," has died. She was 84.

Grace Paley's short story collections include "Later the Same Day."

Paley, who had battled breast cancer, died Wednesday at her home in Thetford Hill, Vermont, according to her husband, playwright Robert Nichols.
A published writer since the 1950s, Paley released only a handful of books over the next half century, mostly short stories and poems. Writing was a passion, but not a compulsion: She never felt the need to put every experience into words. Her fiction, although highly praised, competed for time with work, activism, family and friends.
"None of it happened, and yet every word of it is true," she once said of her fiction. "It's truth embedded in the lie."
Paley, a longtime New Yorker, moved to Vermont in 1988 after having spent summers here. She was named state poet laureate in early 2003. "Artists are known for challenging convention," said Gov. Jim Douglas at the time. "Great artists like Grace Paley do that and more."
In many ways, Paley wasn't a typical American writer. Her characters did not suffer "identity crises." Instead of living on the road, they stayed home, in Greenwich Village. They discussed politics, dared to take sides and belonged to clubs anxious to have them as members.
"People talk of alienation and so forth," she said in a 1994 interview with The Associated Press. "I don't feel that. I feel angry at certain things, but I don't feel alienated from it. I feel disgusted with it, or mad, but I don't feel I'm not in it."
She was a child of immigrants who seemed to embody a more intimate time, the kind of person strangers at readings would call by her first name. Short and heavyset, she had a round, open face, a warm smile and a friendly disarray of hair.
Her voice was small and surprisingly girlish, with every thought seeming to occur to the speaker only at the moment she expressed it.
Born Grace Goodside in New York in 1922, she was one of three children of Russian Jews. Her family spoke English, Russian and Yiddish, but politics proved the universal language. Her parents had opposed the czar in Russia and were supporters of the New Deal. The bitterest neighborhood feuds were not among drug dealers, but between Trotskyites and Stalinists.
"I thought being Jewish meant you were a Socialist," Paley said. "Everyone on my block was a Socialist or a Communist. ... People would have serious, insane arguments, and it was nice. It makes you think the rest of the world is pretty bland."
She started writing poems early and continued to do so even as she married a movie cameraman, Jess Paley, had two children, worked part time as a typist and became involved in community affairs around Greenwich Village.
Paley began writing prose in the 1950s.
Novels seemed too long -- she never wrote one -- so she turned to short stories. Although many of her pieces were rejected by magazines, an editor at Doubleday learned of her work and her first collection, "The Little Disturbances of Man: Stories of Men and Women at Love," was published in 1959.
"I felt some of these stories, writing about women and writing about children, I had a reluctance to write for a while because it seemed to me it was not interesting," said Paley, who published "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute" in 1974 and "Later the Same Day" in 1985. Her collected stories came out in 1994.
Paley's fiction set an easy, informal tone, but was developed out of weeks and months of careful refinement, all sentences read aloud before being committed to paper. Many stories were not so much "stories" as conversations overheard, with fitting titles such as "Listening" and "Talking."
Like longtime neighbors, Paley's characters become familiar faces, especially the compassionate Faith Darwin. It was typical of Paley that she did not look upon Faith as an alter ego but as someone who might have been a "good, close pal."
At the same time, Paley was a self-described "combative pacifist" who joined the War Resisters League in the '60s and visited Hanoi on a peace mission. She was arrested in 1978 during an anti-nuclear protest on the White House lawn and for years could be found every Saturday passing out protest leaflets on a street corner near her New York apartment.
"I happened to like the '60s a lot. I thought great things were happening then and I was glad my children were part of that generation. As an older person in the peace movement, I learned a lot from it. I mean I learned a LOT," Paley said.
"So, I don't know where things went wrong, except, whatever happens in society, the society corrupts, eats up and takes over. ... But at the same time there's always this really small little hill of hope that's right in the middle of this. You see people from that period doing wonderful things, all the things they meant to do."
Paley married Nichols in 1972. In the late 1990s, they formed Glad Day Books, which publishes political fiction and nonfiction.
She never let fame or politics obscure her devotion to family, her stepson said.
"A lot of well-known people are hard to access," said Duncan Nichols, of Thetford. "She was just the opposite. She was just a very family person. I think it's absolutely true that she would give someone the shirt off her back. She was just very, very generous that way a people person rather than a reclusive artist type."
**Links to interviews with her
READ MORE - Damn, damn, damn

U.S. Senator John McCain Event

For those who cannot get enough of Republican Presidential candidates coming to Newport Beach...

Friday, 9/7/07
8:00 AM
Special Event

Where: Pacific Club, Newport Beach

Please join U.S. Senator John McCain on Friday, September 7, 2007 at the Pacific Club, Newport Beach. 8:00am Roundtable. 8:30 am Breakfast. Please RSVP to Stacy Davis at 949-474-6930 or email stacy@stacy-davis.com.
READ MORE - U.S. Senator John McCain Event

The Thrill is Gone...

By now...most everyone has heard the news. County Supervisor John Moorlach has asked his heir apparent County Treasurer/Tax Collector to step down. Below is the statement from Moorlach's office, pulled from the OCBlog.net:

SUPERVISOR MOORLACH ASKS TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR CHRISS STREET TO RESIGN

Orange County Supervisor John M.W. Moorlach has asked his successor as Treasurer-Tax Collector, Chriss Street, to resign. Following is the formal statement from Supervisor Moorlach:

“Generally at all times, but particularly in light of Orange County’s experience, the Treasurer of this County must be above reproach, candid with the Supervisors, other authorities, and the public, and able to devote his entire time and attention to the management of the County’s finances. I believe that Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street is a highly motivated, talented manager. But his recent career with the Fruehauf-related companies and the related court cases and governmental investigations are too much of a distraction for him and the voters.

“As reported in the press, Mr. Street is now facing several government investigations. Three of them (the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation) arise from his operation of the Fruehauf Liquidation Trust. The fourth is recent, and is being carried out by the Orange County District Attorney’s office, and reportedly involves an architect-engineering contract. In addition, he faces a civil lawsuit arising out of his conduct of the Trust, based on a 45-page complaint containing twelve counts, ranging from self-dealing to numerous breaches of fiduciary duty to conversion. Standing alone, these actions, both the public investigations and the civil suits, give rise to an appearance that would cause most fair-minded persons to question Mr. Street’s judgment. But, while Mr. Street is certainly entitled to his day in court on the allegations, it is unfair to the public and the taxpayers and citizens of the County of Orange to have their elected Treasurer-Tax Collector divide his time between the duties of his office and his personal legal battles.”

Accordingly, Supervisor Moorlach now calls on Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street to recognize his public duty and obligation to the people of the County of Orange and to resign his elected office immediately. If necessary, Supervisor Moorlach and Chairman Norby will move the Board at the next Board meeting on September 11, 2007 to: (a) pass an urgency Ordinance to revoke Resolution 07-020 (which delegated its investment authority to the Treasurer), thus revoking Mr. Street’s authority to invest the County’s investment pool, and transferring such authority, and the departmental employees necessary to make and monitor such investments.

Here are the news articles from the OC Register and the Daily Pilot.

Here's Supervisor's comments from his MOORLACH (email) UPDATE - Chriss Street - August 24, 2007:

The two articles below (linked above) fairly capture events of late. This has been a difficult decision. But, the taxpayers should not have to worry about the County’s Treasury while their elected Treasurer is explaining time lines and documents to the District Attorney, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and in two lawsuits regarding Fruehauf in front of a judge and jury. The distractions are not fair to the taxpayers, the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Department and the County of Orange. We will have to wait and see what the outcomes are, but in the meantime, he should focus on these matters to their conclusion where they began, as a private citizen.

What do I think? This one is rough for Chriss. So much for giving him the benefit of the doubt and the Presumption of Innocence. At least the NFL waited until Michael Vick plead guilty before officially kicking him out of football, and they STILL haven't done that.

To quote B.B. King, "The Thrill is Gone."
READ MORE - The Thrill is Gone...

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Cancer Bitch on Vacation

Cancer Bitch is writing to you from Portland, Oregon. She and Cancer Bitchusband aka L have been in Oregon for almost a week, spending five days at the coast, one of Bitchusband's favorite places, and celebrated a milestone birthday (his) there. Cancer Bitch doesn't usually get along well in The Nature, but the sea was an exception. She walked on and on along the beach, picking up sand dollars, whole and broken (mostly broken), saw a starfish (probably dead), rode with friends to Garibaldi, a little fishing town with a 101-year-old marina, to get fresh crab and tuna. She even saw the half-moon reflected on the ocean. She first saw true moon light (that she remembers) only 20 years ago, since she is a citified Cancer Bitch and mostly stays around artifically-lit places. (She has heard that there's a good recent New Yorker piece about light pollution but hadn't read it yet.) She recommends Rockaway Beach, Oregon, to all her readers, and quick, before it gets all fancified and cute. It is pretty much down home now, though condos encroach. And, thankfully, like much or all of Oregon, there is espresso everywhere.
READ MORE - Cancer Bitch on Vacation

Dock that man $1000 bucks!

Newport Beach is the most special place on earth.
It is the central gathering place for intelligence,
caring, cash and avarice! Uh oh, we suppose we
shouldn't have mentioned the last two...to be
politically correct.

Well then, let's just talk about Property Values
and the Great American Dock issue...going on right
here in our town! Moorings....what are those?
Commercial Docks...what are those? Piers.....what
are those? Residential Docks...and what are those?

This is truly a funny story of a very popular
location to bring your huge boat and cruise the
harbor. Follow behind tourist boats that broadcast
where the most famous people on earth live. Travel
the byways and elegant restaurant locations..located
right on the water for those ever present sunny days
and fine bills of fare!

Ok, back to what this issue is all about: Can we do
all of the above .... "On the cheap!"? Reality might
suggest that starting with Newport Beach Piers, moving
to Commercial Docks and Moorings....these are all cash
cows for the city. If they don't receive direct lease
or rental...they receive accessibility for those boat
owners that either live here or visit here from afar.
The Balboa Bay Club, The Newport Yacht Club, The Balboa
Corinthian Yacht Club...say all of them..have a tendency
to either avail the premises for their members or for
visiting dignitaries..or just passing through. How about
the American Legion Yacht Club...the last one in America
that totes to Veterans?

Well, this is no new issue. Residential Docks are in
fact Property...much as is a garage or new deck on your
multi-million dollar house. Not everyone in Newport Beach
has a dock in front of their house....believe it or not
and....or believe what the Chamber of Commerce might
encourage us to tell everyone visiting our fair city.
So, after about 50 years of not counting Residential
Docks as property (or keeping the annual rate so low it
is ludicrous)...our "On the Cheap Millionaire Property
Owners" are complaining that they should not be paying
more...for Property taxes just because they have a Dock
in front of their house! Are we kidding here or what?
How many of these docks are being "rented out" on a
yearly or monthly basis? How do we know? Does it even
matter if we were getting a fair market price?
Right now, they pay nothing for taxes with a Residential
Dock and pay the City of Newport Beach $100 bucks a year!
Hey...how can you beat that deal? Currently, we only
have a 30 year wait for available dock or mooring space
in Newport Harbor....(which probably hasn't moved in 20
years!)are these special residents offering up their
empty docks for the waiting demand? Hardly! And if they
are..are they charging $30-$50 dollars a foot to the
sub-lease person for the privilege!

So, what should we do? We have Tidelands; County, City
and Federal that all need tending to. Does our yearly
intake of cash support revenue meet all the necessary
Harbor Patrol activities, expenses and storm damage
or insurance? Might this issue be worthy of serious
inquiry...ya think? Let's get down to it: If you put up
a 70 ft Dock in front of your house...would a logical
person suggest that it increases or decreases the value
of the property? Should OC Tax Assessor Webster Guillory,
turn a blind eye...and just take cash for his re-election
campaign...or might he in fact, do the right thing and
give the home owner a stated revaluation of how much
that was a improvement to his property?

The days of the quarter hair cut are over people. We
actually have a City here now. The days when you could
build out on the beach and put your barbecue unit next
to the water is over! If you have a dock...pay for it
or remove it. Hey, this is still a free country! Do what
you might think is right...maybe even paying the going
rate for having an optional privilege and adding the
$200,000 to your Property Value! Hey, maybe you can
even get Webster to just add that value for the next guy
to buy the property! We doubt it!
READ MORE - Dock that man $1000 bucks!

Attack on Property Rights?

The City of Newport Beach has recently had it's issues with Sober Living Group Homes. And there has been lots and lots of ugly accusations thrown around. Whether it's conflicts of interest to over concentration of homes on a street to a moratorium, this issue has been discussed and discussed (put in Sober Living in the search menu in the top left of the screen to see all the stuff I've written), even to a point a City Committee was formed and Community forums were held. So, this issue may actually get in front of the City Council, but not before more conflict will arise.

Before I start, let me emphasize that the City definitely needs to do something REAL to stop the proliferation of Sober Living Homes in residential areas. With that said...

With the proposed Newport Beach City Ordinance discussion, for some reason (due my ignorance) I cannot figure out why Short Term Rentals have been thrown in the mix. In today's Bible is this article about how the proposed ordinance will probably upset more than they had intended to upset. From the Daily Pilot, "The rule changes, which the City Council has not yet approved, would end the practice of vacation rentals in single-family districts." The article quotes Burr White Realty's owner Craig Batley (who is a member of the City's Economic Development Committee) saying, "unlike many group homes, his clients’ rentals already are regulated, they pay hotel bed taxes, and they account for 1% or less of the noise complaints in the city — “They’re not a nuisance,” A look at Burr-White's website shows 191 short term vacation rentals that they handle. How many of them are in R-1 areas, I do not know, but to say that this proposed ordinance would hurt Craig Bately and Burr-White Realty's business is a given.

So in addition to the fact that this part of the proposed City ordinance would HURT BUSINESS, wouldn't it be an attack on PERSONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS?

The City Ordinance would make it so I could not do with my PERSONAL PROPERTY as I choose (within reason), meaning that I could not rent out my house for the summer, or winter.

Are these Short-Term rental people a problem? Well, I know many people who rent, on a weekly basis, vacation homes in Newport Beach in the summer. At least one Congressman and a former Orange County City Councilman, to start. And while some Congressman can be problematic...I don't think this one is. Isn't that how Newport Beach was? People who lived in Los Angeles came to Newport Beach in the summer? They didn't buy the first year they came right, I think they rented? Shoot, we even have a current City Councilmember who, up until a few years ago, summered here (in a home he owns), and lived up in LA the rest of the time. Short Term Rentals is part of Newport Beach. So much so that the City recognized it as a REGULATED AND TAXABLE BUSINESS (while the Sober Livings Homes are not regulated). I never heard complaints about the people who spent $8000 for the week they were next door. Now...when these Summer rentals become Winter rentals and the college kids rent them...well...that's another subject (and Newport Beach pastime).

But I'm not surprised with the City's desire to limit PERSONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. Just last year, they tried to limit it. The recently voted upon General Plan originally had part of the Peninsula and West Newport getting down zoned from R-2 to R-1, with a current City Councilman going along with that plan saying that some change is good, nevermind all the money those homeowners would lose. When those residents caught wind of it, they turned out in mass to the City Council chambers to voice their displeasure. If it wasn't an election year (and 6 seats weren't up) I don't think the City Council would have cared.

But what about this ordinance? Well, my guess is that most of the homeowners affected don't live in Newport and since this is not an election year, not a peep will be heard. And since it's tied to limiting Sober Living Homes, no one on the dais will dare make a peep about it, if they want to get re-elected in 2008.

So the City will help put a few business out of business, or at least seriously hurt business.

So the City will tell homeowners in R-1 areas what they can and cannot do with their own homes, even if what they want to do with it is ALREADY REGULATED AND TAXED.

And so the City will purposely take out a small percentage of income from their coffers (Hotel Bed Tax, albeit, not a big part of the pie...too lazy to check).

To pull out this quote...again, as President Ronald Reagan once said, " The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
READ MORE - Attack on Property Rights?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Get the Lube Ready...Here Comes the Irvine Company!

As expected, the Irvine Company doesn't give stuff away without a price. In Newport's Bible is this article is most appropriately called, "Irvine Co. has City Hall demands." Need I say more?

Actually, yes I do.

Turns out that in order to build the New White Elephant (City Hall), our City of Newport Beach will have to dance with the devil, getting "permission" from the Irvine Company for three out of the four possible locations (the only "safe" location being the current City Hall site). In return, the Irvine Company will do it's best Lets-Create-Another-Irvine dance. I've talked about the Irvine Company before (here, here and here) and actually have wondered before why, and how, the Irvine Company hadn't really squeezed that tightly before. Don't get me wrong, the Company are integrated into our lives here pretty well (Newport Coast, Fashion Island, making the Newport Nautical Museum move), but not nearly as much as our neighbors in Irvine have to put up with. But now...with the huge "majority" of the City demanding a New White Elephant (nevermind the additional debt and more City Employees), the Irvine Company, who patiently waited and waited, will pounce.

And pounce they will.
READ MORE - Get the Lube Ready...Here Comes the Irvine Company!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Bravo..Hail the new Port Theatre!

We are going to say our prayers.....and hope that virtually
everyone will support saving the facade of the Port Theatre!


Monday, August 20, 2007
Port Theatre in Newport may be spared
Interior of shuttered cinema would still become offices,
but façade would be preserved under new plans.
By JEFF OVERLEY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

NEWPORT BEACH – The historic Port Theatre in Corona del Mar,
recently slated for demolition, would have its façade preserved
and be converted to an office building under new plans for the
half-century-old landmark.

While no formal plans have been submitted, city planners said
in a Friday memo that they had met with architects who want to
redesign, but largely maintain, the sleek, Art Moderne exterior.
The first floor of the theatre would be used for a 12-space
parking garage and reception area, while the second floor would
have 4,300 square feet of office space.

In the memo, architects are quoted as referring to the concept
as the "new Port."

The Port, which closed in 1998, was purchased earlier this year
by a company headed by microtechnology mogul Fariborz Maseeh.
A receptionist for Maseeh's company said Monday that officials
had no comment on the new plans.

In March, demolition permits were obtained from the city and
California Coastal Commission. City officials said at the time
that they had sought to convince the new owner to preserve the
façade, to no avail.

The apparent change of heart might have resulted in part from
modern building codes. Razing the structure would have required
even more new parking, a standard Planning Director David Lepo
called "pretty tough" to meet while still adding significant
office space to the property.

Lepo predicted that many longtime residents would cheer the new
plans. "There is a small but often vocal group that remembers
the Port) from the heydays, and they would like to see the theater
stay," he said. "In the absence of that, the physical presence
is important to them."

Contact the writer: 714-445-6683 or joverley@ocregister.com
-------------------------*Excellent...hopefully
members of our City Council, Homer and the whole crew at
City Hall will assist in the process..to save the facade!

The new owner of the property will certainly establish
themselves as friends of the community if they can pull
this off!
READ MORE - Bravo..Hail the new Port Theatre!

CaliforniaCityNews.org

Here's a pretty interesting site. It has blog listings for some California Cities, and a handy link to all to city's websites.

But the most interesting thing is the link to three You Tube videos, most appropriately called "Gadfly Hall of Fame." I'm sure more videos will be added soon. The Carson City Council Head Smack video doesn't load very well, so here's another link to it. Funny stuff. Other than the occasional nodding off and crossword puzzle-playing audience members, Newport Beach has nothing on these other cities...

I've added the link to the left side under interesting reads.
READ MORE - CaliforniaCityNews.org

Newport Beach Related News

Cranky, cranky...

The OC Register had some Newport-centric news items of interest:

A Newport Beach lifeguard crosses the English Channel, just to say he could. Congrats.

The outside of the Port Theater may be spared, only the inside will get gutted and changed.

Some Newport Beach parents are suing Harbor Day Elementary School. In addition to the $14k/year for tuition, plus the numerous thousands it costs to get a plaque of appreciation, parents expect the administrators to properly send off paperwork to High School. Sounds reasonable.

And now, to celebrate the New White Elephant, the Daily Pilot has a section dedicated to discussing it exclusively (although it was pretty neat to get a mention in one of the articles). Nice picture of Bill Ficker (I think it's Bill Ficker) and Mayor Pro-Tem Ed Selich playing tug of war over the City Hall. Although I think having Mayor Rosansky and Councilman Curry in a boxing ring would have been a bit funnier.
READ MORE - Newport Beach Related News

Monday, August 20, 2007

The Hits Just Keep Coming...Or Much Ado About Nothing?

Everything must have happened on Saturday, when I was knee deep in dirty diapers...

It looks pretty obvious that "someone" has something out against Orange County's Treasurer/Tax Collector. I mentioned the OC Register's article from last week about the Federal Investigation into Chriss Street's previous life, but now the Orange County District Attorney has opened up their own look. After all, everything in the press must be correct and 100% accurate right?

But then again...all this attention, in the media nonetheless, towards it really does bring up doubts.

At least Chriss' investments for the County treasury are doing well.

More to follow, I'm sure.
READ MORE - The Hits Just Keep Coming...Or Much Ado About Nothing?

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Rankings

Although these were posted on the OCBlog.net on Saturday, I thought that I'd post it here too...since it deals with our Newport area State Representatives...and also since I didn't get to my email until today.

I've posted two OC delegation ratings to the OCBlog as part of my ongoing service to people who like to know such things -- it's interesting to see how special interest groups rate lawmakers, rather than what the carefully cultivated perceptions may be.
All the best,
Chuck DeVore
California State Assemblyman, 70th District
www.ChuckDeVore.com

More O.C. delegation ratings

As part of an ongoing service to OCBlog readers to show them how various interest groups view the O.C. legislative delegation, here are two more ratings for the previous session that haven't been posted yet.

The California Manufacturers and Technology Association (CMTA) legislative ratings for 2005-06 reflect votes that favor jobs creation in California versus more taxes and regulation (note, the CMTA has taken down the ratings for lawmakers who termed out in 2006, so Senators Dunn and Morrow and Assemblymembers Daucher and Umberg are not listed):

Chuck DeVore-R: 24 of 24, 100 percent
Bob Huff-R: 23 of 24, 96 percent
Todd Spitzer-R: 23 of 24, 96 percent
Mimi Walters-R: 23 of 24, 96 percent
Mark Wyland-R: 23 of 24, 96 percent
Van Tran-R: 22 of 23, 96 percent
Dick Ackerman-R, 21 of 22, 95 percent
Bob Margett-R, 21 of 22, 95 percent
Tom Harman-R: 15 of 24, 63 percent

For the CMTA ratings, just go to Google, and type in the members name in quotes, followed by CMTA, for example: “Chuck DeVore” CMTA.

Planned Parenthood of California, 2006 ratings include not only taxpayer funded abortions, but also various social welfare spending favored by Planned Parenthood.

Rudy Bermudez-D, 100 percent
Joe Dunn-D, 100 percent
Tom Umberg-D, 100 percent
Lynn Daucher-R, 71 percent
Todd Spitzer-R: 57 percent
Van Tran-R: 57 percent
Tom Harman-R: 50 percent
Bob Huff-R: 43 percent
Mimi Walters-R: 43 percent
Mark Wyland-R: 43 percent
Dick Ackerman-R, 40 percent
Bob Margett-R, 30 percent
Bill Morrow-R, 30 percent
Chuck DeVore-R, 29 percent

http://www.ppacca.org/atf/cf/%7BEFB50FD8-3121-4382-99F6-00195A71A78D%7D/PPACScore2006.pdf

READ MORE - Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Rankings

Thursday, August 16, 2007

State Senator Nanny Harman?

In today's Bible, there were lots of interesting things (here and here) which merit discussion. But both relating to the White Elephant and have been driven into the ground. Councilman Keith Curry apologized for his behavior. Ok...good. Irvine Company offering to lease a parking lot. Heard that one yesterday from the OC Register. What caught my eye was something which I almost didn't click on, but I'm glad I did.

A Bill (AB1179) was signed into law by Governor Arnold which tries to bans all violent video games from getting in the hands of children under the age of 18. But last week, a Federal Judge went back and called the law unconstitutional saying, "In his 17-page decision, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose wrote that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that video games "are any more harmful than violent television, movies, internet sites or other speech-related exposures." Since he was a major supporter of this bill, the Governor has promised to appeal it.

So...the Daily Pilot picked this up and decided to ask our State Assemblymen (Chuck DeVore and Van Tran) and our State Senator (Tom Harman) what they thought of this.

Although Assemblyman DeVore did not vote on this particular bill, he said, "Might violent video games be a problem? Yes. Is it government's job to be our nanny and tell us who can and cannot buy a video game? No. Do we want government to rate (essentially censor) video games? No. Parents should decide. Parents should know what their children are buying and doing in their spare time. This is not government's job. The governor needs to respect the 1st Amendment."

100% right! As a parent of three, I don't want the government to tell me how to raise them. My wife and I are the ultimate judges of how they are to be raised, within reason of course. No violent TV shows, no violent movies, no UNSUPERVISED internet access, no violent video games (for now). My wife doesn't even let me play violent video games (unless it's a hockey fight).

Assemblyman Van Tran (who voted NO) said, "It is the responsibility of parents to be engaged in their children's lives, protecting them from unwanted content and teaching them to make good decisions. It is not the role of government to take away the fundamental rights of Americans to make those choices."

100% right! As a new father himself, he knows that he, and his lovely wife Cindy, ultimately should decide what choices should be made for their son Alex.

Now we get to our State Senator Tom Harman. Based upon my previous posts (here and here) and based upon the California Republican Assembly's Who's Your GOP Nanny contest, how do you think Sen. Harman voted when he was in the Assembly? You guessed it. He thinks that parents need the help of the State of California on how to raise their own children saying, "I voted in favor of this law when it was in the Legislature because these games should not be readily available to minors without parental consent." But it isn't parental consent, it's GOVERNMENT consent. IT'S GOVERNMENT CONTROL. IT PERPETUATES THE NANNY STATE! Ugggghhhh. As the CRA's website says, "Senator Harman was nominated for numerous activities from a bill to mandate “volunteering” in schools to his bill to force volunteer board members of homeowners associations to take classes. Win or lose Harman knows what’s best for you."

Did the Daily Pilot set Senator Tom Harman up? Assemblyman DeVore's and Tran's responses were first, and both were very good in explaining why this bill was bad, then they put Harman's response and why he voted YES. Do you think they realized what they were doing?

As President Ronald Reagan once said, " The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

If interested, here's how Conservative icon State Senator Tom McClintock, and the rest of the 2005 State Senate, voted.
READ MORE - State Senator Nanny Harman?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Neighbor $ Watching

Saw this on the OC Register's Total Buzz. Really interesting. Click here, enter in a zip code and see which Presidential candidates your neighbors have donated to.

Fun stuff.
READ MORE - Neighbor $ Watching

Ok...A Step in the Right Direction

I'm a bit perplexed by the contents of this Daily Pilot article. Councilman Keith Curry proposed a Charter Amendment to give the Newport Beach voters the thumbs up/down on Employee Pension hikes.

Ok. That sounds good. But I have a few questions (mostly due to my ignorance of how the City functions):

1. I thought the City Council approves employee raises and their pension raises and terms. Is this Charter Amendment in place so that the voters can "overturn" these pension raises and terms decided upon by the Voter-Elected City Council?

2. Is this so the heavily Police and Fire Union backed City Council doesn't have to worry about suffering through the wrath of the Unions who spend thousands and thousands of dollars on supporting their City Council slates (In 2006 Fire supported ALL the winners, Police won all except Barbara Venezia), since the decision to vote down the Employee Pensions increases would not be in the hands of their City Council. The Union-Backed City Council says yes, the voters (who also voted for the City Council) would say no?

3. I was under the impression that we wanted a Representative Form of Government where we trust of City Council to make a majority of the decisions for us and that City Councils typically don't like Ballot Box Governance. I thought that is why some of the voters and the City Council didn't like Greenlight I, Greenlight II and the City Hall in the Park initiative?

Councilman Curry wanting to limit the Employee Pension hikes is a good thing and definitely a step in the right direction (as well as being a very Conservative things to want/do), but it's certainly different that what County Supervisor John Moorlach is doing to combat the Unions. I just would hope that the City Councilmembers (who are voted in) would be fiscally responsible enough and the Gatekeepers of our City's purse strings so that the residents WOULD NOT have to get involved and reverse what the City Council approves.

Follow Up Question - This just occurred to me...if this go to the ballot, can you IMAGINE HOW MUCH MONEY THE POLICE AND FIRE UNIONS WILL SPEND TO DEFEAT IT? Oh boy, that would be some serious dough.
READ MORE - Ok...A Step in the Right Direction

Irvine Company to the Rescue?

I couldn't find an article on the Daily Pilot for this, I guess Jeff Overley at the OC Register must have stayed later at the Newport Beach City Council meeting, but OC Register had this article about the Irvine Company offering to lease, for 99 years mind you, a parking lot across from the heavily disputed potential City locations (the Library/Park vs. OCTA site) for the City of Newport Beach to build their White Elephant on.

It's an interesting proposition, and obviously the City Council also thought so because of their unanimous vote to start negotiations with the Irvine Company. Instead of "taking" already dedicated parkland next the Library and instead of buying/land swapping with the Orange County Transit Authority, we'd rent the land...hmmmm...let's think about this for a bit.

Doing this wouldn't upset the Parkland fans.

We wouldn't have to buy land or trade for the property. What we sell the current City Hall land could offset most (some?) of the costs of building the new White Elephant, thus borrowing less.

Chances are, we'd have to build a new White Elephant before the 99 years are up (only God knows where it would go in the year 2106, if a Tsunami or Earthquake hasn't taken us out beforehand).

One downside would be that the City would then "Owe" the Irvine Company for saving the City from further acrimony and mayhem. Who knows what they would want in return for the "Favor."

This sounds like a better alternative. It's still early and there's still that Initiative out there. Can't wait to hear more about this one...
READ MORE - Irvine Company to the Rescue?

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Savage Inequalities...

...to borrow the title of Jonathan Kozol's book on education in this country. Here is a piece by Carol Marin on mammograms in our fair county. It's great that all the mainstream breast cancer organizations push for early detection. Here's a glimpse at the obstacles to testing.

Women falling through holes in safety net (http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/506959,CST-EDT-marin12.article)
August 12, 2007
CAROL MARIN cmarin@suntimes.com
It is one of life's leveling moments: There you awkwardly sit in a wrinkled, blue cotton hospital gown you had trouble tying, waiting for your name to be called so you can untie, strip and be squeezed into the vice-like grip of a mammogram machine.
It was early Wednesday morning last week, and I was the only woman in the waiting area of Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Lynn Sage Clinic until Jenny Vega burst into the room. I'm calling her that, though it's not her real name, to protect her privacy.
Jenny was about 42, a big-boned woman with wild, wavy hair and a breathlessness about her as she collapsed into the chair next to me.
"You been here before?" she asked.
Yes, I said, I come here every year.
"Whoa, really? It's my first time and I'm scared," she confided. "I've never had a drink in my life, but I'm getting cirrhosis of the liver because of having hepatitis C."
Heroin user? Infected by dirty needles?
"Yep," said Jenny. "When they cut my methadone treatments way back, I said to hell with it, I'll go cold turkey. I'm not on anything now."
Why the mammogram?
''They sent me here for tests," she said, not making it clear who "they" were.
Just then, a medical staffer called Jenny into one of the examining rooms. I never got to ask if she has insurance, but I'd bet anything she doesn't.
If I'm right about that, then Jenny's examination at an excellent, respectful place like the Lynn Sage Clinic is a hopeful sign that pieces of our frayed public health safety net still exist. Vouchers for poor women, financial assistance from community groups and federal funding funneled through the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program fill some critical gaps.
The looming gap, however -- the biggest hole in the safety net -- is still at Cook County's Stroger Hospital. Because of backlogs of thousands of unread screening and diagnostic mammograms, much of that service to poor women has been suspended until the hospital can bring that backlog down.
''The program will relaunch in October,'' said Cook County spokesman Sean Howard, who added that President Todd Stroger is also setting up a nonprofit foundation to fund a fleet of mammogram screening vans for community outreach.
''The two vans we have are in deplorable condition and must be replaced," Howard said.
In the meantime, the county is referring women to other clinics and hospitals.
But it isn't working.
Here's why, according to Jude Andrews, executive director of Y-ME Illinois: When a woman arrives at Stroger Hospital, she is told to go home and wait by the phone to receive a referral to another health-care provider. In poor and transient populations, that in itself is an iffy way to proceed.
If and when she gets that call, when the woman arrives at the assigned clinic, she learns they need her records and X-ray films from past mammograms, requiring a trip back to Stroger, a $22 fee, and another wait to see if they can even locate her file. Then another trip to pick it up.
Provided she has the time and carfare for all those journeys, maybe she'll finally get her mammogram.
''Most women have stopped going to Stroger,'' Andrews said. ''We don't know how many women have been rerouted.''
''Y-ME,'' she said, ''has left a lot of messages on [county hospital] answering machines but hasn't been called back. . . . There's a real transparency issue here.''
Other advocacy groups such as Gilda's Club and the Sisters Network, she said, complain they've hit the same information stonewall.
Howard said he would look into that and called back Friday morning to say that they were addressing the problem ''as we speak.''
Meanwhile, back at the Lynn Sage Clinic last week, as my name was called to go in, Jenny was coming out. She looked relieved.
''It wasn't so bad!'' she said of her first mammogram. ''Good luck to you, Carol.''
Good luck to you, too, Jenny.
READ MORE - Savage Inequalities...

More on Congressman Campbell

The OCBlog.net also had some stuff today on Newport's Congressman John Campbell and his efforts to cut down Government waste.

If you have some time, follow the links, they are good.
READ MORE - More on Congressman Campbell

Monday, August 13, 2007

Port Removal Authority

Friday I got the port removed. It was a fairly simple process, but beforehand involved blood testing and much bureaucracy at Fancy Hospital. A very nice physician's assistant did the job. He was very young, also. When the port was put in, I was knocked out (twilight, I think they call it). This time I was wide awake and the area was numbed with shots of lidocaine. I looked away while we talked--about air conditioning, the great heat wave of 1995 (he was in college at the time), and I forgot what else. There was a tech in the room, who wheeled me in and out, and during the operation sat at a computer and drank take-out that appeared to be coffee.

I went alone. I got an MRI earlier in the week, and went alone, too. It becomes routine after a while.

While I was waiting for the port removal I started talking to three women also waiting. I would call them middle-aged, which means 10 years older that oneself. I guess they were early 60s. Two were there for their friend, who had just gotten a port installed, and was told by the chemo nurses that there was something odd about it. She'd come to get it checked out. I asked how long she was going to have chemo and she said, The rest of my life.

Oh. That kind of breast cancer. The kind that spread.

She'd been cancer-free for six years. She said it was a good six years, that she'd traveled to Europe and had other good vacations. When she was going through treatment the first time, she was living with her sister, who had also been diagnosed with breast cancer. Now her sister has cancer in her lungs and adrenal glands. The woman asked me if I had made any great life changes since my diagnosis and I said not really. I told her I'm a writer and am writing about the breast cancer, but that didn't seem like a great change. She said she's accepted that if that's what God wants for her, it's OK. She was at peace with dying. Though neither of us said the word. Her friends were trying to lighten things: Oh, you'll be fine, etc.

But it is a disease that can't be cured, can only be contained at this point.

This is a disease that makes us sisters. I taught at a writing conference over the weekend and a cheery woman came up and shook hands with me vigorously. Someone had pointed me out to her. She was treated for stage 3 breast cancer and is doing well. I couldn't tell if she was writing about it, too. She had a double mastectomy and had gotten smaller breasts, easier to jog, she said. Another woman there said she was meditating for me. Her sister had died of breast cancer, but hadn't been a fighter. I was afraid she was blaming the victim. I don't know what her sister did or didn't do. What would someone have to not do in order to be giving in to the cancer? Refusing treatment would be up there. I don't think her sister refused treatment. In Jerome Groopman's book on hope, he talks about an Orthodox woman who refuses chemo because she saw the breast cancer as God's punishment for adultery. A more senior doctor convinced her to take the treatment, but much time had passed.

L points out that I have a 16 percent chance of recurrence, which is almost the same chance that Anywoman has of getting breast cancer. Except recurrence for me could include "mets"--metastasized cancer. And that is far more serious than what Anyone might get, first time around.

Friday afternoon a doctor I'd never met called to report that the MRI results were fine, and that I didn't need to be tested again until next summer. Here's hoping. As Emily Dickinson said, "Hope is the thing with feathers." And Woody Allen, of course, said, "How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not 'the thing with feathers.' The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich." And I would add, The thing with feathers is the back of a woman I saw in line at the Jewel. Her boyfriend tattooed wings on her shoulder blades. She offered me his business card but I traffic only in tattoos that are temporary.
READ MORE - Port Removal Authority

Taking a Stand!

Newport Beach Congressman John Campbell has finally taken a somewhat controversial stand! Congressman Campbell has always been known as a "safe" and a very well accomplished, and fiscally minded, legislator, in the same "safe" mode as his Congressional predecessor SEC Chairman Chris Cox. Unlike our neighboring Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who has made Maverick and Controversial as part of his introductory description, Congressman Campbell has taken a more pragmatic route to his acclaim...until now.

The issue of local illegal immigration enforcement has been controversial, to say the least. Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor has angered (among other phrases) many with his, and his Costa Mesa Council majority, support and enactment of an agreement with the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws. In fact many have called his actions racist because they feel that he is targeting the Hispanic population with this and some of his other actions. Mission Viejo Mayor JP Ledesma has taken a similar tract going after Illegal Immigration in his City, creating "an ordinance requiring its (the City's) employees and contractors to participate in a federal program verifying legal employment." And as far as Orange County cities are concerned, these two are the only ones "willing" to go out on that limb to take on the battle against Illegal Immigrants.

A while back, Congressman Rohrabacher told me that we should make Illegal Immigration an issue in the City of Newport and try to enact similar ordinances. In candid (drinks and cigars) discussions with current and former Newport Beach Councilmembers, they indicated that they wouldn't touch Illegal Immigration with a ten foot pole, since it was too controversial of an issue and they wouldn't want to be labeled as racist (as Mayor Mansoor and former NB Councilman Dick Nichols were).

But now...Congressman Campbell, in the Daily Pilot's Pol Position commentary, has requested just that, saying,

"...let's just let local law enforcement officers check immigration status as part of routine police work. They are already out there every day in big numbers across the entire country. If a police officer stops you for speeding and sees you have illegal drugs in the car, that officer will charge you for the drugs as well as the speeding. If that same officer on that same stop finds you are here illegally, why should you not be charged for that too?"

Bravo Congressman Campbell. Bravo.

But Congressman Campbell is safer about it (like he always is) saying that the Illegal Immigration problem isn't just about Hispanics,

"Of the estimated 12 million people illegally in the United States today, approximately half did not get here by running across a border or otherwise being smuggled in. They came here legally on a visa. Then they overstayed that visa. All the border fences in the world won't stop that."

And he is correct. All you would have to do, a few years ago, was to go to the International Youth Hostel in Huntington Beach to find about a dozen European kids who had done just that. Go to the Japanese market in Costa Mesa, the Chinese Market in Irvine, Big Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar, and the Little Saigon area in Westminster/Garden Grove and you will see many Illegal Immigrants, but only a small few might be Hispanic.

Why is these comments by Congressman Campbell especially important for Newport Beach? Councilman Keith Curry said it on this blog, "...on any given weekend, 100,000 visitors flock to our city, (7.5 million annually)." We have lots of people coming to this City and our very well paid Police need to enforce all the laws, even the Federal ones, to keep the people coming and the residents safe.

What Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor has done is controversial, but it is a model which, as Congressman Campbell is suggesting, "is a necessary part of any immigration reform if it is to ultimately be successful." And while Newport Beach has it's hands full figuring out how to borrow more money and hire more City Employees (Building a New City Hall...for those who don't know), the rest of the Country and State are fighting a losing battle against Illegal Immigration and the Millions and Millions of bucks which are spent on their education and healthcare.

Maybe it should be time for Newport Beach to step off the "Safe" perch and step up to take a stand, like Congressman John Campbell has.

Again, thank you Congressman Campbell (and Congressman Rohrabacher) for your efforts against Illegal Immigration.
READ MORE - Taking a Stand!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Dime Patrol!!

The front page story in the Daily Plot today by Publisher
Tom Johnson was interesting to say the least. Seems like
Councilman Keith Curry has stirred the "Wrath of Kahn"...
and now between Editor Tony Dodero, Mayor Steve Rosansky
and now Publisher Tom Johnson....we have assembled the finest
literary hit people available. We say available because
that doesn't make it great reading or truthful in least.

Wow, everything seems just fine in good old Newport Beach
as long as all the nodding doggies in the back windows of
those high priced BMW's stay in line. Councilman Curry
luckily is not alone on this treacherous Civic Center
Complex Issue. He seems to have the support of Councilman
Ed Selich, Michael Henn and with enough goading...Nancy
the Gardener! Now, by pure happenstance...we are supporting
the majority position on the Council directing our dutiful
staff bureaucrats to make sure that the dedicated Park in
Fascists Island...be so....dedicated to 100 percent Park
allocation. No 3.7 Acres of self-agrandizing with a view!

We have beaten up this issue so many times it becomes too
difficult to have the fingers hit keys with much passion, but
having said that...when we see the likes of Dodero, Johnson
and Rosansky just thrilled to do be hit jobs on our majority
....it kind of makes us laugh. Bruce Whitaker, a founding
member of Cutting Edge - a talk show and now Associate to
Supervisor Chris Norby said it well, way back in the summer of
2000...."Follow the money...seems to be the prevailing wisdom
for developers to areas that will benefit just a select few!"
I responded to the Bruce: "Sort of a developer's field of
dreams....if they build it...you will come!" If you in fact
want to see the remarks on video you can do so...by going
to the Cutting Edge home page and clicking on our Promo Explosion
Video Box.

Ok...back to this merciless attempt by the Daily Plot to do the
work....of whom? We need not make idle assessments of the who
or the why of this needless debate....but we will mention that
these boys are "way out of line" and deserve the words of Curry
and anyone else that wants to defend the Representative Government
that currently resides in Council Chambers! Mayor Rosansky has
from the beginning...determined that "demeaning others" was a useful
tool...as well as "dismissing out of hand". We would mention to
Mayor Rosansky that those that live in glass houses....probably
should not be displaying negative behavior.

Stirring up the pot seems to be the strategy of both the Daily
Plot and those that support the Flicker Ficker plan. We suppose
their efforts to achieve enough signatures for their "Baying at
the Moon" Initiative are falling short and they evidently need
a little shot in the arm. Perhaps our animus against the project
will assist them! Perhaps not! Perhaps, people understand that
"mean spirited conduct" by even an agreed to Mayor...unelected by
the people that is.....is truly unacceptable. A true gentleman
would "agree to disagree" and certainly not characterize his fellow
collegial fellows in any mean spirited way! Another good reason
to elect a Mayor!

As mom used to say: "All the money in the world can't buy
class or kindness!" Mom was right as usual!
READ MORE - Dime Patrol!!

You are ...who you hang with!

Chriss Street is a great guy. He in fact was one of the first
people back in 1994 that supported us for City Council in Newport
Beach. He had the right read on seemingly everything and privately
supported our underdog campaign. So we of course supported his
run for OC Tax Collector!

The good news is that we haven't found any Dogfighting allegations
against him yet. Fast forward to modern days....and Chriss has taken
the reigns of the Orange County Tax Collector's office. As everyone
knows...he was the fair haired choice of his predecessor John
Moorlach who is of course a newly elected 2nd District Orange
County Supervisor.

In Chriss's defense, since the day he declared his candidacy...he
has had those pesky political enemies stirring and digging up the
dirt faster than a D-9 Cat Earthmover. He has been further accused
of misrepresenting a few things and in fact some legal charges have
come his way, which has made it less quiet at the Tax Collector's
office than one might expect after taking over for a modern day
Don Quixote - Moorlach! Chriss's role as Sancho Panza however has
hit a glitch or two on the way to the forum.

A few months back, there seemed to be a general lack of convention
and propriety at the OC Board of Supervisor's office. Newbie
Moorlach and a few of the other newly elected Supervisor's decided
that "their digs on the 5th floor" were less than appealing. They
decided in their temerity to upgrade a few things. They thought
....only an "out of work Marine" could live like this! The carpet
was old, the furniture old, the desks old, the technology old. Hey,
when someone gets elected by a sizable margin....surely the people
....would want these sterling icons of government to have "the
latest and greatest" equipment to serve the people! Several 52 inch
LCD Televisions, perhaps a $7,000 to $10,000 computer desk.....for
the entry. Perhaps, $30 a yard carpet ...perhaps, a professional
Interior Decorator to bring a little light and love to the place.

Now in the middle of this "misread by the newbies"....there was
one Supervisor that "had a bad feeling about this"...and did not
put his self proclaimed conservative economic principles at risk.
Supervisor Bill Campbell...thought: The appearance of impropriety
...is just as bad...as actually using the people's money for one's
own comfort. Oh, but we digress. Chriss Street is this great guy
and certainly with all his petty problems wants to be part of the
crowd and just get along with everyone. Moorlach sold him on the
idea that buying several 52 inch LCD Televisions could save the
entire group money. Wrong! It seems, the County has some arcane
rules that restrict purchases to those "insider approved guys".
So, the same TV you can purchase on the open market for
$4,000 bucks will cost you $7,000 when the County Purchasing
people leap up to bid. Well, as you can imagine the price for
a few Interior Design Improvements was starting to ramp up.

A few months ago when this came up...we suggested that even though
Supervisors have their budgets to play with....that Infrastructure
Improvements to County Buildings and the like....be approved by a
particular Agenda Item....so that the public might make a few well
chosen comments prior to implementation. They obviously have not
taken our suggestion to heart. This being said...the self approved
expenses for the Orange County Treasurer's office is now expected
to exceed $1,000,000 bucks - give or take. Those other Supervisors
with upgrades haven't yet given full disclosure of their total
expenses yet either.

Hey, it's easy to get wrapped up in the feeding frenzy of spending
government money. Hey, new drapes ...maybe take a wall out here,
add a few skylights, maybe even a sunken bath tub for those tough
days going up and down those old elevators. Yes, we have empathy
fully for these "electeds" who have no qualms about spending freely
from the government trough! The Mayor of LA had little or no
problem utilizing paid police security when meeting with his
paramour with impunity too! But there is no excuse for "over doing
it"..is there?

Back to our friend Chriss. Sadly, while he was under fire for
other issues...we would not have urged him to raise the specter
of public scrutiny by exposing himself to excessive Interior
Decorating purchases. As Supervisor Moorlach goes after the
excesses of Pension payments and other issues with which we
agree ......we find it sad ...that he and the other self styled
spend-thrifts at the top of the food chain....do not use much
common sense or caring when spending on personal comfort items
with funds from those that they serve. Maybe they just don't
fully grasp or understand the "serve and protect" concept of
public service! So, when you see our friend Chriss on the front
page of the OC Register today please remember: He was led astray
...by others that should have known better! People that had been
doing this "Public Service" for a long time! So, to Chriss, his
staff and lovely wife: In the future, we suggest:
"Be careful of who you hang with.....!"
READ MORE - You are ...who you hang with!