Rebel Girl's the best

.....Ever read “Orange Coast Magazine”? It’s that glossy mag (about the OC—well, the ritzy half of the county) with the celebrities on the cover. I see it at Ralph’s all the time.
.....Well, last Thursday, OCM held a fancy-schmancy, invitation-only party for the purpose of unveiling a new and improved version of the magazine.
.....Rebel Girl was among the VIPs. During the event, she later told me, copies of the July issue were distributed. The “inaugural” issue presents the “Best of Orange County.”
.....And guess what? Among the best of OC, according to OCM, is our very own Rebel Girl! Go to Best of Media (“For those who enjoy reading, writing, and ribald rhetoric”):

Literary Blog (The Mark on the Wall)

As Rebel Girl, Irvine Valley College English professor Lisa Alvarez tirelessly tracks down Orange County literary events to create a one-stop shop for book-minded cyber-crawlers at her regularly updated blog. In addition to getting the word out about local readings, she also highlights local authors and venues, directs readers to publication opportunities, and links to local literary journals.

MEANWHILE...

.....• MORONS IN OC. Lots of Orange Countians, and even (especially?) rich Republican Orange Countians (well, most of ‘em) want Orange County to shed it’s right-wing, John Birch Society image. But some people sure do make that hard.
.....Check out O.C. anti-illegal immigration activists reject McCain, Obama:

.....The T-shirt said it all. Costa Mesa resident John Powelson, a lifelong Republican, displayed his political sentiments across his chest at an anti-illegal immigration meeting last week: "Is John McCain the Manchurian candidate?"
.....The slogan, Powelson explained, refers to the title of the 1962 film starring Frank Sinatra, in which Soviet agents capture an American soldier, take him to Manchuria, China, and brainwash him to become a communist agent.
.....Powelson, 57, wonders if McCain's policies on guns and immigration, which he sees as far too liberal, are the result of a real-life Manchurian incident. "It could very well be that he was brainwashed," he said, referring to McCain's six years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam….

Good grief.

.....• I AUTHORIZE YOU TO DO WRONG. You remember the Milgram Experiments, doncha? (If not, see slide show.) They revealed an awful truth about most people: that they will obey evil orders, as long as somebody else says they'll take responsibility.
.....Well, in the New York Times, Benedict Carey returns to those experiments, first done nearly 50 years ago:

Decades Later, Still Asking: Would I Pull That Switch?:

.....…In [one] paper, due out in the journal American Psychologist, a professor at Santa Clara University replicates part of the Milgram studies — stopping at 150 volts, the critical juncture at which the subject cries out to stop — to see whether people today would still obey. Ethics committees bar researchers from pushing subjects through to an imaginary 450 volts, as Milgram did.
.....The answer was yes. Once again, more than half the participants agreed to proceed with the experiment past the 150-volt mark….