OC Blog

Assemblyman Tran Collecting Toys for Children of Military Families

This came over a few days ago from Assemblyman Van Tran's office:

ASSEMBLYMAN TRAN JOINS WITH ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD TO PROMOTE 2ND ANNUAL CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE FOR LOCAL MILITARY FAMILIES

(Costa Mesa – CA) On Tuesday, December 4, 2006, Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Costa Mesa) will hold his 2nd Annual Christmas Toy Drive in partnership with our local U.S. Marine Corps ‘Toys for Tots’ program to bring some holiday cheer to our families who have a parent serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.  The event will be held from 5pm to 7pm.

Save the Date: Solorio Holiday Party

This came over in the afternoon from Assemblyman Jose Solorio's office:

WHAT: Assemblyman Jose Solorio's 1st Annual Holiday Party

WHEN: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 / 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

WHERE: 2400 E. Katella Avenue, Suite 640, Anaheim, CA 92806

CONTACT: Mayela Montenegro at (714) 939-8469 or by email at Mayela.Montenegro@asm.ca.gov

Larry Dick Campaign Declares Larry Dick The Winner Of Candidate Forum

This came over the transom earlier from the Larry Dick for Assembly campaign. I get deluged with post-debate spin e-mails from the GOP presidential campaigns, but this is the first time I've ever seen one from an Assembly campaign after a candidate forum:

MEMORANDUM

TO:       LARRY DICK FOR ASSEMBLY CITY CHAIRS
            LARRY DICK FOR ASSEMBLY FINANCE COMMITTEE

FROM:   JOE JUSTIN

RE:    REACTION FROM THE FIRST DEBATE BETWEEN LARRY DICK AND CURT HAGMAN AT THE ORANGE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS.

A quick update about last night’s First Republican Debate / Forum between Larry and Hagman.  The debate was televised live on Time Warner channel 3 from 7:00- 8:30pm for the viewers of the 60th Assembly District. As we talked about on our last conference call, it’s tough to run against a self funding candidate like Hagman who has been running for this seat for two years, but after last night’s debate, it’s clear we’ve got the stronger candidate.

Save the Date: Orange County CRA's 1st Annual Christmas Party

This invitation came over last month from the Orange County CRA Chapter:

WHAT: 1st Annual CRA Annual Christmas Party

WHEN: Sunday, December 16, 2007 / 6:30 PM - 11:00 PM

WHERE: Emerald Bay Restaurant, 5015 W. Edinger Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92704

CONTACT: Mr. Cuong Cao at caocuong@pacbell.net

The organizers are looking for sponsors for the event so here is a good opportunity for candidates to curry favor with this grassroot organization.

TCA Charging LA Firefighters Tolls

I heard this today on the Radio.  It seems that an LA firetruck, while on the way to help put out OUR fire, took the 133 toll road and did not pay the toll at the toll plaza.  Apparently they received a fine for up to $200, whereby the LA Fire Captain thought this must be a mistake and called the TCA.  NOPE, apparently it was not a mistake, and he was able to reduce the fine to $5, and paid it on his credit card.  Now I ask you, as if OC does not look bad enough lately...how does the TCA justify this outrageous fine?  And what is the point of not waiving the entire fine, and instead making him pay $5?  Someone please explain this to me. 

UPDATE: Apparently it was on the 73, and the fine was about $100 according to msnbc's site.  I would think that ANY official police or fire vehicle would be allowed to drive onthe toll road free of charge.  This is just plain silly.

Religion & The Left

Much is made of the influence of religious conservatives in the Republican Party. The mainstream media has been fairly obsessed with the topic for a generation.

Arthur Brooks wrote this article for National Review Online on the influence of secular Americans on the Left in general and the Democratic Party in particular. Here's an excerpt:

Secular liberals, and especially those who are explicitly nonbelievers, have become a major force on the political left. Researchers have found, for example, that delegates to the Democratic National Convention — the politically-active folks who nominate the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency — are more than twice as likely to be completely secular as the population-at-large.

Obama & The National Anthem

Yesterday I received an e-mail with this picture from a recent Democratic event in Iowa.

OK, I thought. This snapshot could very well be taken completely out of context. For all I know, Obama could have placed his hand over his heart the second after this photo was taken.

John Murtha: The Surge Is Working

Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who this summer characterize hope for the surge's success as "delusional," is back from a visit to Iraq.

And he says the surge is working.

Of course, the Democrats already pirouetted away from their earlier "the surge won't work" line to "It doesn't matter if the surge works" -- a line they can take refuge in no matter what happens in Iraq.

But it's still heart-warming to hear the lion of the anti-war Left come back and recognize reality.

CNN/YouTube Debate Debacle

I'm making an exception to custom by posting a few national news-related items today. The following about the CNN/YouTube Republican debate are from today's Political Diary (OpinionJournal.com's daily political news digest. It is an awesome service and costs only $3.95 a month).

PD points out how NPR's Mara Liasson viewed the debate:

"I think CNN does itself a great disservice when it doesn't apply the exact same kind of criteria to both debates. I covered both of them. In the Democratic debate, I don't think there were any questions that were clearly coming from, you know, a Republican point of view. They were generally sympathetic. They were about global warming and health care and education, all kind of Democratic issues. They weren't challenging them. There was one kind anti-tax question, I think, but they weren't challenging the basic principles of the Democratic Party. There were lots of questions last night [at the GOP debate] that were. I think the question about the Bible was mocking. I think one of the abortion questions was clearly not from someone who was pro-life"

And as John Fund reports, it turns out a large percentage of CNN's "undecided voters" posing video questions were actually partisan activists:

Objectivists on Sub-Prime

Since the news that lenders might freeze rates on certain adjustable-rate mortgages is going to be THE story in financial markets today, I thought I'd provide this link to a podcast interview I just did this week with Alex Epstein, analyst with the Ayn Rand Institute regarding the sub-prime lending mess and government's proper role in it.

His answer likely won't surprise you: there is no role, he says!

What may surprise, however, will be the little tid-bit near the end of our discussion, a description he gives of Libertarians.  Most would likely believe that Ayn Rand and Libertarianism are synonymous-- not so, says Mr. Epstein.  In fact, those who may have been heartened by the recent orgasm of hysterical financial support for Ron Paul's quixotic presidential bid will be equally disheartened by Epstein's remarks... pretty interesting stuff on another topic in the news lately.

The Ayn Rand Institute is based in Irvine, by the way.