OC Blog

Long Wait For USS Rushmore Tour Worth It

The landing ship dock (LSD) USS Rushmore was open to the public today at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. The offical tour hours were 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. I arrived at the liberty gate at 1:00 p.m. with Jubalettes 3 and 4 in tow. Base personnel warned it was a three hour wait.

I thought, "Nah, it can't be that long."

It wasn't. It was two-and-half hours long. With a cold wind knifing through us. The base public affairs director is an old friend of mine, and he said they were expecting 2,000 people and ended up with about 5,000.

But it was worth it. Jubalettes 3 and 4 were troopers and thoroughly enjoyed the tour. They had never been on board a naval vessel, and I as glad for them to get at least some close up look at the men, women and equipment that defend our nation and our liberty.

The ship is essentially built around this cavernous hold:

We were led in groups of 15 or so through the ship's superstructure, the bridge and all around the decks. The crew were very friendly and hospitable.

Below is the Vulcan defense system, and the tubes that fire chaff and flares to confuse incoming missiles:

While the wait was long, the experience was worth it. I hope the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station does this again in the near future.

Dr. Pipes speaks at UCI -- MSU disrupts speech by walking out en masse

Dr. Daniel Pipes spoke tonight at UCI.  His topic: Islamic extremism. 

First, what didn’t happen, unlike earlier this year, members of the Muslim Student Union didn’t try to shout him down. 

What did happen was a Muslim Student Union-led walkout en masse, so, it was a disruption of a different kind as the MSU members did violence to Dr. Pipe’s free speech rights using a kinder, gentler tactic.  (Memo to the MSU: you can protest outside and hand out all the flyers you want.  But pause to reflect on how your actions and fear of violence caused seven hired police officers to be present – vs. no police hired to protect MSU events on campus – how does that look?  Also, big hint here: stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.  If you are not a citizen, you clearly should not pledge allegiance – but for goodness sake, out of politeness, respect and protocol, STAND, if you can.  I stand at a respectful position of attention when other nations pay respect to their flag.  When in America, you should do the same.  Not to do so looks bad, very bad.)

As the MSU walkout emptied about half of the room, Dr. Pipes continued his remarks.  Then the lighting system when dim several times, at one point almost plunging the room into darkness.  Dr. Pipes just smiled gently from the podium. 

As for the content of Dr. Pipes’ speech, it was all rather academic and reasonable.  There was nothing he said that was extreme or at variance with what I learned while a Strategic Studies major at Claremont McKenna College with two years of Arabic and a semester overseas studying Islamic political thought in Cairo Egypt.  Ironically, had the members of the MSU and their supporters stayed to listen, they would have heard Dr. Pipes say that going into Iraq and staying was a mistake and that we should not take responsibility for running Iraq and caring for Iraqis.  Same with Iran.  Toppling Iran or preventing their acquisition of nuclear weapons yes.  Occupation, no.   In this, Dr. Pipes draws a closer analogy to the defeat of Soviet communism during the Cold War in 1991, rather than the defeat and total occupation of the Axis powers in1945 – two examples he brought up three or four times in the course of lecture. 

Dr. Pipes’ main thesis was that America needs a coherent strategy to deal with Islamic extremism of the type that took its political cues from Italy and Germany circa the 1920s and 30s and first developed indigenously in India and Egypt.  In this, I am in full agreement with Dr. Pipes, both as to the origin of modern Islamic totalitarianism as an ideology that aspires to global conquest, as well as in the need for a comprehensive strategy.  As Dr. Pipes said: this is not a war against terrorism, terrorism is a method.  This is a war against Islamic extremism.  To win this war Dr. Pipes said that we will need the assistance of moderate Muslims who seek to modernize their faith.  He was confident that this was doable, if very difficult.

"My Dog Ain't Mean!"

Is it just me, or do pit bull owners always deny their dogs are dangerous after Cujo has bitten someone's face half-off?

That thought crossed my mind after reading this OC District Attorney's office press release that shot across the transom a little while ago (emphasis in press release mine):

PIT BULL OWNER CHARGED FOR ALLOWING VICIOUS DOG TO ATTACK MAILMAN

WESTMINSTER - A Westminster dog owner with a history of keeping aggressive dogs has been charged with allowing her pitbull to violently attack a mail man who was delivering mail to a neighbor's home. Sheri Moody, 54, is charged with one felony count of allowing a vicious animal at large to cause serious bodily injury. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Moody is scheduled to be arraigned Friday, December 7, 2007 at the West Justice Center in Westminster.

 

Daylight Saving: Set Clock 1 Hour Back

Just a friendly reminder to all loyal Red County/OC Blog readers: please set your clock back 1 hour before you go to bed tonight as Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday of November.  Yes, I lifted the cool graphic from a fellow blogger.

Servite High School Will Be No. 1 In OC

According to the OC Varsity website, No. 3 Orange Lutheran pounded No. 1 Mater Dei, 31-12.

God is good.

Meanwhile, my alma mater, No. 2 Servite High School, has beaten St. John Bosco 31-13. There'll be no ringing of the Victory Bell at Bosco tonight.

According to Steve Fryer, that means the Friars will be No. 1 in OC going into the Servite-Mater Dei game at Anaheim Stadium on Nov. 9 for a long overdue reckoning.

Go Friars!

Go See "Bella" This Weekend

My wife and I rarely make it out to the movies anymore, even though it is one of my favorite past times. But this weekend we are planning to see "Bella" by Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde, which won the "People's Choice" award at the Toronto Film Festival.

I've been hearing buzz about this film in the religious and conservative media - about the quality of the film and the resistance it has met from traditional distribution channels because "The drama in Bella centers largely on the crisis of a young waitress named Nina (Tammy Blanchard) who has just discovered that she is pregnant, and begins making plans for an abortion. Verástegui plays a chef named José who carries a burden from his own past, and who spends the day with Nina as she agonizes over her options."

Here's how an acquaintance of mine who saw "Bella" on Tuesday characterized the film:

Can the Fed Fight Inflation with Words?

By now most market watchers know that the Federal Reserve chose the path of least resistance today: a 25 basis point interest rate cut. Hilariously, with gold at $800/ounce and oil nearing $100 per barrel, many pundits still claim with a straight face that there remains no sign of inflation!

Bieber Communications' Spectacular Halloween Party

With the gravity of the situation surrounding Sheriff Michael Carona, I thought it be a nice little distraction to put up this post - some light hearted photos from the Halloween Party that Jim and Kellie Bieber put on every year.

Leisa Brug Kline: Chief of Staff and Barrel Racer

As some O.C. insiders may know, my Chief of Staff, Leisa Brug Kline, is not just a demur state employee Monday through Friday – she also competitively barrel races on many weekends.  Well, she did well enough this year to be invited by the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association to Texas this week to compete.  So, Leisa and the family loaded up the horses and drove out to Texas.

I am proud to announce that this wife and mother of two finished 23rd of 58 in the national competition. See: http://www.wpra.com/finals%20results-10-26-07-a.htm.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
State Assemblyman, 70th District

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association's latest ratings for the O.C. delegation

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, one of the most consistently pro-taxpayer groups in Sacramento (the California Taxpayers’ Association or Cal-Tax being the other http://www.caltax.org/) just came out with its legislative scorecards for 2007 and 2006.  You can see them at http://www.hjta.org/report_card.  However, as a service to OCBlog readers, I’ll list the ratings for this venerable organization below, going back to 2005 when I started in the Assembly:

                                                 2005   2006   2007  Avg.
Senator Mark Wyland*               97.8    100   98.9  98.90
Senator Dick Ackerman             96.3    100   100   98.77
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore      100     98.5  96.8  98.43
Assemblywoman Mimi Walters   94.8    100   100   98.27
Assemblyman Mike Duvall          N/A     N/A  97.4  97.40
Assemblyman Bob Huff              93.3    100   97.8  97.03
Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher 90.7    100   N/A   95.35
Assemblyman Jim Silva               N/A     N/A  94.8   94.80
Assemblyman Todd Spitzer        89.9    95.7 95.9   93.83
Assemblyman Van Tran             90.7    96.2  93.5  93.47
Senator Bill Morrow                  89.3    93.8   N/A  91.55
Senator Bob Margett               83.7    95.3   88.5  89.17
Senator Tom Harman*              85.9    79.6** 97.9  87.80
Senator Lou Correa                 N/A     N/A    59.4  59.40
Assemblyman Tom Umberg       36.2    65.4  N/A   50.80
Senator Joe Dunn                     8         31.6  N/A   19.80
Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez  8.1     23.1  N/A   15.60
Assemblyman Tony Mendoza    N/A    N/A   7.5     7.50
Assemblyman Jose Solorio        N/A    N/A   5.7     5.70

*Includes scores while in the Assembly
**Senator Harman received two scores in 2006, one for his votes in the Assembly, one for his votes in the Senate, the 2006 score is his average of the two

Congratulations to Assemblywoman Mimi Walters and Senator Dick Ackerman for having the only perfect scores in 2007 in the entire legislature.

In 2006, 15 lawmakers scored 100, including five members of the O.C. delegation: then Assemblyman Wyland, Senator Ackerman, Assemblywoman Walters, Assemblywoman Daucher, and Assemblyman Huff.

In 2005, myself and Senator Tom McClintock were the only lawmakers to score 100.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
State Assemblyman, 70th District