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Blogs
May 17, 2013
Safieh Fard, Mortgage Scammer, Gets 5 Years After Guilty Plea, Withdrawal and Conviction
A Newport Beach jewelry store owner, who withdrew her guilty plea in a family mortgage scam case just before sentencing only to be found guilty in Santa Ana federal court anyway, has learned her fate. U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney sentenced 52-year-old Safieh Fard to 63 months in prison.
Blogs
May 16, 2013
Newport Beach and Huntington Beach React Differently to Fire Pit Pollution Findings
Call it "A Tale of Two City Takeaways:" Newport Beach and Huntington Beach's mayors, at opposite ends on whether to remove fire rings along their beaches, heard--and reacted differently to--state data indicating what's emitted from a pit over one evening equals the pollution spewed by a heavy duty d ... More >>
Blogs
May 14, 2013
UCI Immigration Rally Happening TODAY!
On Tuesday, May 14, the ASUCI DREAMer community and other concerned UCI Anteaters will hold an immigration rally at UCI's Student Center Terrace at noon. The Student Center Terrace will serve as a platform for students, professors, and activists to voice their reasonable angst over the inaction tow ... More >>
Blogs
April 22, 2013
Anaheim's Citizens Advisory Committee Recommends Districts Be Put on the Ballot
There were more empty seats and less acrimony inside the Council Chambers of Anaheim City Hall last Thursday evening. Long the scene of political turmoil over the course of last year during council meetings, the mood was lighter as the location played host for the second-to-last gathering of the cit ... More >>
Blogs
April 4, 2013
[Exene Says...] The Way Celebrities Portray Rural White Men With Guns is Really Mature
Have you viewed Jim Carrey's recent video Cold Dead Hand? Clocking in just under six minutes, the video is a satire with a bull's eye painted on gun advocacy, Charleton Heston and Hee-Haw. Basically everything a rural white guy from the '70s is supposed to hold dear. Released four months after a cel ... More >>
Blogs
March 3, 2013
In Which A Teacher Writes Back to His Congressman, Gently Correcting His Writing and Thinking Errors
I am this Sunday morning postponing my terrific and much-anticipated (by me, at least!) reviews of a first novel by OC's own Peggy Hesketh, the new short story collection by Gary Amdahl of Redlands, and Gold Line-chapbook award winner Alisa Slaughter's short stories to offer--completely unsolicited- ... More >>
News
January 17, 2013
Larry Agran's Sabotage Squad
[Moxley Confidential] The sneaky campaign to save Democrats' control of the Great Park failed but kept Beth Krom on the Irvine City Council
Blogs
January 7, 2013
Garden Grove City Council to Seek Limiting Public Comments at Meeting Tomorrow
Forget pension reform: if you want the ultimate indicator of how bloated city government is, look no further than item 7B on tomorrow's agenda for the Garden Grove City Council meeting. The item calls for the council to pass a resolution that would limit public comments from five minutes to person t ... More >>
Blogs
January 3, 2013
10 Orange County "City Leaders" We'd Just as Soon Not Hear from the Rest of 2013
Being a city council member is a thankless job, although they do usually save you a nice parking spot at city hall.While we applaud public service, many, many holders of local office in Orange County use their positions of "power" to do some really fucked-up things.Here are but 10 supposed city lead ... More >>
Blogs
December 19, 2012
[UPDATED with Second Reading Approval:] Lake Forest Scraps Pervs-in-Parks Ban
See the update at the end of this post about the council vote on second reading. ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 5, 9:39 A.M.: The Lake Forest City Council voted Tuesday night to repeal its ban on registered sex offenders in city parks. These are the same city leaders that last year passed the ordinance establi ... More >>
Blogs
November 27, 2012
Safieh Fard, Who Copped to Family Mortgage Scam Then Withdrew Plea, is Found Guilty
A year ago, jewelry store owner Safieh Fard did something her sister and two of her sons did the year before: plead guilty in Santa Ana federal court to charges related to mortgage scams the family pulled with Newport Beach oceanfront properties for years. But heading into sentencing, the then-50-ye ... More >>
Blogs
November 7, 2012
5 Sets of 2012 Orange County Election Losers
Anyone else hope someone switches the seating cards at the next Orange County Mayors Breakfast so that Tri sits next to Tita? Tri Ta became Westminster's first Vietnamese-American mayor and, he claims, the first in the country to win a mayoral seat via the voters rather than appointment. Meanwhile, ... More >>
Blogs
October 24, 2012
Ayn Rand Institute Bigwigs Piss on Libertarianism, Libertarians Fight Back!
Funny but true: recently on Facebook, a "friend" tried to insult me by calling me a libertarian and a Randian--a follower of bad novelist Ayn Rand. While I don't mind being labeled with the former since it's somewhat true, I laughed at the latter. We trash Rand and her followers--the creepiest culti ... More >>
Blogs
October 16, 2012
OC Weekly 2012 Election Guide: Costa Mesa!
Unlike other city election guides that have graced the benevolent blog pages of Navel Gazing, this one will take on a different format. A brief mention of the proposed city charter, titled Measure V, will precede an outline of city council candidates. Current council members tried to bring the initi ... More >>
Blogs
September 13, 2012
Shann Mou Lee Faces Up to 3 Years and Nearly $70k in Penalties For Filing False Tax Returns
Under a plea deal, a Garden Grove business owner who built small electronic airplane parts for C5 cargo planes and F18 fighters copped this morning to tax fraud.Shann Mou Lee, 69, of Buena Park, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging him with subscribing to a false income ta ... More >>
Blogs
August 29, 2012
William J. Ferry of Newport Beach Convicted of Investor Fraud Tied to Hurricane Katrina Relief
William J. Ferry, a former stock broker and investment adviser, was convicted Tuesday for his part in a scam promising investors extremely high yields from a cut of humanitarian funds for relief from disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, which smacked New Orleans seven years ago today. Among those th ... More >>
Blogs
July 6, 2012
Jerry Amante, Tustin Councilman, Has Grand Jury "Misfeasance in Office" Finding Marked With Call for His Head and Hiring as a Lobbyist
Hey, Tustin City Councilman (and former mayor) Jerry Amante: the grand jury beotch slaps you for "misfeasance in office" and "exceeding or misusing a public power or position and thereby risking harm" for lobbying a college president to force the resignation of a professor who exposed the massive a ... More >>
Blogs
June 25, 2012
[UPDATED with Loretta Sanchez: "This is a Victory":] Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Paper Check Provision But Tosses Other Parts of SB 1070
See update at the end of the post with reaction to the Supreme Court ruling by Rep. Loretta Sanchez:ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 25, 8:35 A.M.: The U.S. Supreme Court this morning rejected nearly all of Arizona's controversial immigration law yet upheld SB 1070's most controversial provision: the one requiri ... More >>
Blogs
June 14, 2012
[UPDATED with "Radical Idiot" Outing:] Fred Karger, Gay GOP Presidential Hopeful, Stumps in Utah
See update at end of this post about the wife of a Utah county GOP chairman calling Fred Karger "a radical idiot" and saying "thank goodness" he "cant procreate."ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 7, 2:39 P.M.: What does it say about Californians that only 6,641 voted for Laguna Beach's Fred Karger for president, ... More >>
News
June 7, 2012
Welcome Back, Jim Crow
[Crossing the Line] New laws in dozens of states could take out Barack Obama this fall
News
June 7, 2012
Bordering On Revolution
[Crossing the Line] A hostile Supreme Court. A feckless Obama administration. America's war on Mexicans has gone too far
News
June 7, 2012
Arizona Senate Bill 1070's Days of Rage
[Crossing the Line] The U.S. Supreme Court and President Barack Obama leave the undocumented and their allies no choice but to escalate civil disobedience
Blogs
May 4, 2012
Fred Karger Presidential Campaign Set For Saturday Walk in Laguna Beach
A reporter calls a Republican presidential campaign this afternoon hoping to speak to the candidate, but is given an excuse:The candidate is working out at the gym.Yeah, right.Think: Newt Gingrich or Herman Cain.But, bless their sweet souls, the Fred Karger for President campaign, specifically the e ... More >>
Blogs
April 20, 2012
American Civil Liberties Union Caravan Blasting Immigration Laws Coming to Santa Ana
The American Civil Liberties Union caravan stopping in Santa Ana at high noon Monday to draw attention to the damage done by immigration laws like Arizona's is sure to include a hippie van with stickers all over it. Only some messages will be in Spanglish, and Jerry Garcia's Dead head will be replac ... More >>
Blogs
March 26, 2012
Mysteries of Costa Mesa: Armalite and the Creator of the M16, a Walking Tour
For reasons not entirely clear, Orange County isn't out loud and proud when it comes to its connection to one of the most famous battle implements of all time. In my efforts to discover the one-time Costa Mesa location of ArmaLite, developer of the M16, I was met with blank stares and should ... More >>
News
March 1, 2012
Mike Carona's Excellent Big House Adventure
[Moxley Confidential] OC's incarcerated dirty ex-sheriff is enjoying his Rocky Mountain view and ridiculously favorable court rulings
Blogs
February 29, 2012
[UPDATED w/ Lawsuit Announced] Opponents of Anaheim Hotel Bed-Tax Giveaway Lawyer Up, Threaten Lawsuit
UPDATE FEB 29 12:31 P.M.: The clock ticked past the Friday afternoon deadline last week given by Anaheim community leaders who vowed to legally challenge the $158 million dollar tax giveaway GardenWalk hotel project. An invitation to city officials and one of the hoteliers to sit down at the tab ... More >>
Blogs
February 9, 2012
PETA Loses Whale of a Slave Suit But Still Crows
A federal judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that argued five orcas should be freed from SeaWorld under the anti-slavery 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.Judge Jeffrey Miller of the U.S. District Court in San Diego reasoned in ... More >>
Blogs
February 8, 2012
Reps. Gary Miller and Ken Calvert Get Their Assets Handed Back to Them
The Washington Post compared the annual financial disclosure reports filed by every member of Congress over the past decade to various public records and discovered that nearly 50 senators and House representatives directed millions of dollars in earmarks to projects that could either enhance ... More >>
Blogs
January 24, 2012
Aziz Duwaik, Palestinian Leader Who Secretly Met with UC Irvine Students, Held by Israel
Speaker of the Palestinian parliament Aziz Duwaik, whose secret meeting with UC Irvine students and faculty visiting Israel in 2009 raised cackles in some corners, was ordered to be held without trial for six months, his lawyer said today. The senior Hamas official, whose name is alternately s ... More >>
Blogs
December 27, 2011
Eric Dondero, Now Blasting Ex-Boss Ron Paul, Used to Beat Up the Register's Steven Greenhut
Ron Paul's former aide Eric Dondero blogged over the holiday weekend that his former boss was anti-Israel, isolationist on foreign policy, uncomfortable around homosexuals and out of touch with black and Hispanic cultures. Naturally, that kicked up a shitstorm as Paul continues to poll well in ea ... More >>
Blogs
December 1, 2011
More Than 60 Percent of Undocumented Adults Have Been in U.S. Over 10 Years: Study
Nearly two-thirds of the 10.2 million unauthorized adult immigrants in the U.S. have lived in this country for at least 10 years and nearly half--4.7 million--are parents of minor children, according to a new Pew Hispanic Center study. "Unauthorized Immigrants: Length of Residency, Patterns of ... More >>
Blogs
October 3, 2011
"Illegal" Descriptors of Undocumented Rejected by Journalism Society
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) just voted to do something that I thought was already set in stone in American newsrooms (drop use of the term "illegal alien"), but the organization also forbid a term I'd figured was the P.C. alternative ("illegal immigrant").Based on a recommendati ... More >>
Blogs
September 8, 2011
[UPDATED with Ex-Veep's "Arrest":] Dick Cheney Greeted by Protesters at Nixon Library
UPDATE, SEPT. 8, 9:56 A.M.: As Dick Cheney was lauding his profound role in Bush administration wars on terror, the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Constitution before a polite Nixon Library crowd Wednesday evening, he was "arrested."Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans rose from her chair in the East ... More >>
News
September 1, 2011
It's Gotten Costa Messy In Costa Mesa
Scenes from the civic dissolution of America's latest public-employee battleground
Blogs
August 17, 2011
[UPDATED with SJC Spooked:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC
UPDATE, AUG. 17, 11:17 A.M.: It's become so routine it's lost its news value: The District Attorney's office announces it's sending a rep before the latest of the 7,000 city councils in Orange County considering a ban on sex offenders in local parks modeled after the county law co-written by DA T ... More >>
Blogs
July 29, 2011
[UPDATED with Early RSM Nod:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC
UPDATE, JULY 29, 9:41 A.M.: The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council voted Wednesday night to move ahead with a ban on registered sex offenders in city parks that is similar to the county law enacted in April.The council agreed that banning only those who have preyed on children would leave kids v ... More >>
Blogs
July 26, 2011
Jerry Brown Criticized For Not Going Latino With California Supreme Court Pick
Goodwin LiuToday, Gov. Jerry Brown nominated UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court. Shortly after, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, whose district includes Buena Park, issued a statement about the pick. In it, he congratulates Liu, yada yada, and then tak ... More >>
Blogs
July 20, 2011
Illegal Mexican Tuna Granted Amnesty, to Invade U.S. Supermarkets Soon
Craving some authentic Mexican tuna ceviche? Well, next time you order it, the fish might actually be from Mexico.Reuters reports that the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) has made an important decision in a decades-long battle between the U.S. and Mexico over tuna imports. The trade o ... More >>
Blogs
July 8, 2011
[UPDATED with UCI Nixing Meeting:] Dr. Hazem Chehabi Urged to Cut Ties With Syria's Brutal Regime or Step Down From UC Irvine Foundation Board
UPDATE, JULY 8, 5:25 P.M.: Syrian freedom activists say that when they protested at UC Irvine the morning of June 9, a campus official promised a future meeting with an associate chancellor to discuss what they consider a troubling relationship between Syria's brutal regime and Dr. Hazem Chehabi, ... More >>
Blogs
June 22, 2011
[UPDATED with SJC Law on Agenda:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC
UPDATE, JUNE 22, 10:09 A.M.: While expressing some concern the county pervs-in-parks ban is too broad, the San Juan Capistrano City Council did decide Tuesday night to bring a local ordinance back for a vote July 5.Among the options the city with huge swaths of open space will explore are applyin ... More >>
Blogs
June 22, 2011
Will Gov. Brown Kill Garden Grove's Fantasy Hotel Resort Project?
For Garden Grove city officials, who've been trying for years to transform their benighted Harbor Blvd. corridor into a world class resort destination, the good news is that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the state budget last week. If it had passed, the budget would have killed local redevelopment agen ... More >>
Blogs
June 9, 2011
[UPDATED with UCI Promising Meeting:] Dr. Hazem Chehabi Urged to Cut Ties With Syria's Brutal Regime or Step Down From UC Irvine Foundation Board
UPDATE, JUNE 9, 4:31 P.M.: This morning's rally at UC Irvine targeting Dr. Hazem H. Chehabi--the UCI Foundation's president-elect, Syria's honorary consul general in Newport Beach and a prominent Orange County philanthropist and nuclear medicine specialist--went "smooth," according to an organize ... More >>
Blogs
June 2, 2011
Legalize Pot, Say Geniuses at Global Commission on Drug Policy
The Los Angeles Times, and just about every other newspaper that covers world news, is reporting today that the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an influential think-tank made up of world leaders, has just issued a report calling the war on drugs "a costly failure" and calling on the United Stat ... More >>
Blogs
May 27, 2011
[UPDATED with Enactment Cheered:] Westminster Jumps Aboard Bandwagon Banning Pervs in Parks
Erin RunnionUPDATE, MAY 27, 3:40 P.M.: An Orange County supervisor, the district attorney and perhaps the most famous mother of a local crime victim today applauded Westminster officially enacting a ban on registered sex offenders from city parks.Cheers from Supervisor Shawn Nelson and District A ... More >>
Blogs
May 17, 2011
Costa Mesa Fires City Workers While City Leaders Get Free Lunch
Yesterday, lawyers for the Orange County Employees Association (OCEA) filed a complaint in Orange County Superior Court, asking a judge to stop Costa Mesa's city council from firing 100 city employees. The complaint, which names Thomas Hatch, the city's chief executive officer, as a defendant, al ... More >>
Blogs
May 16, 2011
Rep. Loretta Sanchez Introduces Bill to Legitimize U.S. Military Women in Combat
Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) today introduced what her office is hailing as "groundbreaking" legislation: the Women's Fair and Equal Right to Military Service Act, which would allow qualified female soldiers in the U.S. military to fight in combat.The ranking female member on ... More >>
Blogs
May 11, 2011
[UPDATED with Split Response:] Rackauckas and Hutchens Support Ban on Sex Offenders in Irvine City Parks
Irvine council members Sukhee Kang, Beth Krom and Larry AgranUPDATE, MAY 11, 9:54 A.M.: The proposal to ban sex offenders from Irvine city parks did not wow all council members Tuesday night. Mayor Sukhee Kang, Councilman Steven Choi and the councilman who brought the matter before the panel, Jef ... More >>
Blogs
May 5, 2011
California DREAM Act Passes State Assembly
It's a little confusing, but no less a victory for illegal immigrant college students. While the national DREAM Act, an immigration bill aimed at providing a path to citizenship for young people, died in the U.S. Senate--and possibly forever--last year, the California DREAM Act is very much alive ... More >>
Blogs
May 2, 2011
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) in Anaheim Welcomes "Elimination" of Bin Laden
Hussam Ayloush, CAIR-LA executive directorThe Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Greater Los Angeles area office in Anaheim issued a statement today welcoming the news that Osama bin Laden, "a threat to America and the world," has been "eliminated." The statement came on the heels of ... More >>
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