OK, I couldn’t help myself. A friend gave me a link to Red County/OC Blog this morning, and I just had to read it. Apparently, the fireworks are really going off in the GOP Primary for the 33rd State Senate District (a HUGE swath of Inland OC stretching from Fullerton all the way to Laguna Niguel).

Today, all the Reeps are talking about State Assm. Mimi Walters’ hard hits against Anaheim Councilmember Harry Sidhu, basically calling him a “liberal, pro-ACLU, illegal alien lover” (Welcome to the club, Harry!)… And maybe going too far in including “racist” photos darkening his skin? But hey, Mimi Walters supporters say that she only struck back against Harry Sidhu’s hard hits against her, basically calling her a “liberal” (Welcome aboard, Mimi!) and claiming that she’s part of the “problem in Sacramento.” Whoa, it looks like the primary’s getting awfully “contested” over in SD 33!

So what do you think about all the wild & crazy nastiness on the GOP side in SD 33? Have you actually received any of these attack ad mailers? And if so, who do you think is being more negative?

Oh yes, and why do these Reeps always use “liberal” like it’s a cuss word? Last I checked, “liberal” meant individual rights, equal opportunity, and free thought. Why would the GOP not like that… Oh wait, I think I can answer my own question.

But anyway, go ahead and have your say… On the wonderful GOP gutter fight in SD 33.

Filed under: Orange County - Local | No Comments »

No, this post isn’t about the pending avalanche of new taxes about to be unleashed against Southern Californians, it’s about the massive Earthquake drill that will be the largest in US History.  It’s that kind of “ShakeOut”.

The earthquake scenario that has been developed gives us a glimpse into our future–and an earthquake of this magnitude will be unlike any we’ve ever experienced before. This is why for the first time, governmental agencies, science organizations, emergency preparedness groups, arts communities and the City of Los Angeles are coming together to teach Southern Californians how to prepare for the large earthquakes in our future through the Great Southern California ShakeOut.

Natural disasters are unavoidable; they can strike at any time. However, we can control how ready we will be when they occur. The preparation efforts we make today affect us all, and they will determine how resilient our society will be in the future.

With this in mind, disaster preparation begins at the individual level, and must include businesses, organizations, institutions, neighborhoods and communities. The Great Southern California ShakeOut aims to show us that our own preparations will affect the recovery of others.

Shakeout.org

A large earthquake in Southern California is most certainly in our collective future.  When?  Of course there is no sure way for scientists to tell but they do know we are painfully overdue for a massive earthquake.  According to Shakeout.org, this earthquake expected in our lifetime will occur on the San Andreas Fault and will be at least a 7.8 which would mean shaking for two minutes and damage that spreads out over a very wide area of Southern California.  The damage caused by such a trembler will overshadow the damage caused by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

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As you all know, the June 3 election is fast approaching us! And yes, there are many exciting races happening… One of them being for Superior Court Judge Seat #12. We have a great candidate to support in Debra Carrillo, a former police officer who’s recently been endorsed by the Democratic Party of OC.

Check out this special announcement I just got from the party on what we can do to support this fantastic woman who will hopefully be our next judge!

Dear Andrew,

Orange County Assistant District Attorney Debra Carrillo received the Democratic Party of Orange County’s endorsement yesterday! As a former police officer and public defender, Carrillo can bring a wide-range of experience to the bench. She has the endorsement of many elected Orange County Democrats as well as several police departments and the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs.

Please join supporters at the campaign kick-off for Debra Carrillo!

Wednesday, May 7th

5:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Antonello’s Restaurant

1611 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, CA

Please RSVP to 949-715-7167 or carrilloforjudge@yahoo.com

Carrillo is running for Orange County Superior Court Judge (Seat #12).

Sincerely,

Melahat Rafiei, Executive Director

Democratic Party of Orange County

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Yes, Blackwater lied. I know, crazy isn’t it? One of the largest profiteers of the Iraq War has been deceitful in attempting to get a permit to use a 61,000 square foot existing building as a training facility in South San Diego County, just miles from the California/Mexican border.

Blackwater abandoned plans to build a facility from scratch in Potrero after fierce protest from surrounding area residents and help from The Courage Campaign. It was determined that their presence would include disruptive noise from the facility to the local community. I believe they were run out of town on a rail. Either way, the first battle was won.

After the first defeat, Blackwater filed it’s paperwork using the name of a subcontractor to bypass the County’s strong opposition to the facility.  The permit was approved on March 19th.  When the city council discovered the permit was filed under false pretenses, they decided to find some way to challenge the permit.  San Diego Congressman Bob Filner is also planning to protest the latest attempt by Blackwater to bring a training facility to San Diego County.
What does Blackwater have to say?

Blackwater vice president Brian Bonfiglio says his company will fight if the city tries to backpedal. He says the anti-Blackwater movement stems from anti-war sentiment, not a problem with the facility.

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I just got a special alert from Young Democrats of America about something really important. Right now, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) are sponsoring a bill to ensure our Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans get the education they deserve once they’re home. This is considered to be the new “21st Century GI Bill”.

Here’s what it will do if passed:

* Make benefits available to all members of the military who have served on active duty since 9/11/2001, including activated reservists and National Guard.

* Provide benefits for tuition, housing, and books for up to 36 months of education for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

* Link amount of benefits to amount of time served on active duty.

* Increase amount of time after leaving active duty to collect educational assistance to fifteen years compared to ten.

* Allows additional payments for tutorial assistance as well as licensure and certification tests.

* Create a new program in which the government will agree to match, dollar for dollar, any voluntary additional contributions to veterans from institutions whose tuition is more expensive than the maximum assistance provided.

OK, so don’t you think our vets deserve a good education? If so, then please sign this petition. Let your Congresscritters know that we really want to support the troops by making sure they’re taken care of when they come home.

Thanks.

Filed under: National-US | 2 Comments »

It’s going to be a busy and exciting couple of weeks for Debbie Cook’s Congressional Campaign.  Not only will she be accepting volunteer help and in kind donations on Saturday May 3rd, just a week later her new offices will be hold a Campaign Kick Off Party and Democratic Registration Drive!

Building on the momentum from endorsements by groups across the district, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook’s campaign for Congress will open an office on Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach.”It’s exciting to have a base of operations for our campaign, where people from across the district can work together to get our message out to voters,” said Cook. “Our supporters are eager to spread our message of fiscal responsibility, healing our economy, creating green jobs, and ending the war in Iraq”On Saturday, May 3, at 10 AM, supporters are asked to make in-kind donations of office furniture and office supplies at a morning office-warming.Particular needs for our new office are work tables, free-standing cubicle or room dividers, folding chairs, and a hand-cart.Volunteers are also invited to join us for late morning/early afternoon precinct walking.

On May 10, at 10 AM we will be starting a voter registration drive and will have a Campaign Kick-Off Party at 5 PM.The office will be open daily from 10 AM to 7 PM, Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM Saturday and 12 noon to 5 PM on Sunday.

Information regarding the details of the registration drive beneath the cut… (more…)

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As you may have noticed there has been a bit of disagreement between the bloggers over at The Orange Juice, and those here at TheLiberalOC. I don’t know if our disagreements have become based in petty rivalry or honest disagreement.  For my part, I think it’s a bit of both.

At any rate, as Publisher of this blog I choose to deal with these disagreements by pretending that the Orange Juice Blog, and therefore our disagreements, do not exist. We will simply ignore them.

Now I know that this is not going to be easy, and some of my fellow bloggers here may trip up a little as well as suffer brain aneurisms making the attempt, but for now, The Orange Juice Blog, no longer holds legitimate content for us to write about.

Since some of our readers like having Orange Juice on the Launching Pad, it will stay. But we won’t be writing about their B.S. any more.  If you want to read the Orange Juice that is your right.  Just don’t complain about it over here, because we no longer care.

I close this post with a poem by Robert Fulghum that I have hanging on the wall next to my computer,

All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school. These are the things I learned:    (more…)

Filed under: Orange County - Local | 27 Comments »

In case you forgot, here’s a reminder from our newest Democratic Club about their first meeting tonight. If you’re in West OC and looking to get more involved, here’s a good place to go. You won’t want to miss this.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 7:00pm
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
5402 Bolsa Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92649

New! OC Beach Cities Democratic Club

Speakers:
Melahat Rafiei, Executive Director, Democratic Party of Orange County
Lindsay Hopkins, Political Director, Democratic Party of Orange County
Debbie Cook, Huntington Beach Mayor
Keith Bohr, Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem
Henry Vandermeir, President, California Democratic Council
Pauline Younkin, President, West Orange County Democratic Club

Candidates:
Debbie Cook, 46th Congressional District
Dan Kalmick, 46th Congressional District
Ginny Mayer, 35th Senate District
Steve Blount, 67th Assembly District

Meet your local officials as well as your candidates!

I could never stress too much how important it is to build a strong local Democratic presence. We truly can make a difference by building a local Democratic base, which leads to electing more Democrats locally… And then making more of an impact for Democrats statewide and nationwide! And really, all it takes is for us to take that first step by getting involved locally.

So don’t you want to attend the first OC Beach Cities Democratic Club meeting tonight? Just think about it for a moment. This may be the first step you make to help turn OC blue.

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As I posted earlier, Hoa Van Tran received the endorsement of the Democratic Party of Orange County on Monday night. A win is a win, even if it is by 4 votes.  As some of you may recall, I posted on Monday regarding Hoa Van Tran’s mailer with the photo of Sal Tinajero. The post, titled Hoa Van Tran-Desperately Implying Endorsements, pointed out how the mailer falsely implied the endorsement of Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero.

I had hoped that calling Hoa out on this blatant faking of an endorsement would help him recognize that the actions of his campaign were simply NOT COOL. I was wrong.

At the Central Committee meeting in the Q&A Tran said “I’m a member of OCEA” (Orange County Employees Association). For the record, Mr. Tran WAS a member of OCEA when he worked for the County of Orange, but he is not now a member, since he no longer works for the County.  Maybe the tense of present and past was simply lost in translation.

Mr. Tran was then asked if he had received any union endorsements. He responded that while he had not received any formal union endorsements, he had spoken recently to the County Domestic Workers Union and they liked his speech and what he had to say. Can someone please tell Mr. Tran, that liking a speech and getting an endorsement are two different things?

Again congratulations to Mr. Tran on his endorsement.  I only wonder if, given the looming questions about his linkage to Dina Nguyen, it would have occurred had the members of the Central Committee seen this picture from this webpage promoting Dina Nguyen for Garden Grove City Council?



And while I hate to admit it, Jubal over at Red County is on to something with the picture below.

Filed under: Orange County - Local | 7 Comments »

Debra Carrillo was endorsed in the 12th Judicial contest with 64.9%

Neutral in the 25th Judicial Race.

The DPOC also endorsed Measure G, 31 to 4.

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BREAKING

Hoa Van Tran was endorsed at the Central Committee meeting with 66% of the vote. 60% was required.

33 votes in favor of endorsement; 8 votes opposing endorsement, and 9 abstensions.

Congratulations to Hoa Van Tran.

Filed under: Orange County - Local | 3 Comments »

I just got this special alert from CREDO Action. This is something you don’t want to miss. And btw, don’t forget to go to OCVote.com to find out how to register to vote early by voting by mail!

Early voting is starting as early as April 29. Be counted. Vote early. Early voting sites and start dates vary by county; contact your local election officials to find out when & where you can vote early.

Here’s a convenient way to have your say. California offers early voting — so you can head to the polls before Election Day. It’s a great option if you’re planning to volunteer on Election Day, prefer to bypass long lines, or have a busy schedule and need the flexibility. The best part is, you don’t need a special reason to vote early. You can just go vote.

Early voting sites and start dates vary by county, so check with your local election officials to find out when and where you can vote early.

CREDO can also help remind you about upcoming elections. Just sign up at our web site to receive text message alerts to your mobile phone.

Here’s a convenient way to have your say. California offers early voting — so you can head to the polls before Election Day. It’s a great option if you’re planning to volunteer on Election Day, prefer to bypass long lines, or have a busy schedule and need the flexibility. The best part is, you don’t need a special reason to vote early. You can just go vote.

Early voting start dates vary by county, so check with your local election officials to find out when and where you can vote early.

Share this with everyone you know in California — friends, family, and colleagues — who is interested in exercising their fundamental right to vote on June 3.

Thank you for working to build a better world.

Will Easton,
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Filed under: California, Uncategorized | No Comments »