Hangin' with the nieces and nephew on a Saturday afternoon

Adam is 3 and a half, almost.

Natalie is barely 1.

Natalie's twin, Cathryn.

Sarah is nearly six.

But guess what (Tom Fuentes ♥ Mike Carona, and other factoids)

WRITTEN OFF? Thursday’s big earthquake drill seemed to go off well at Saddleback College.

The event was, um, no great shakes at IVC, however, where classes were briefly interrupted by an intercom announcement of the grand event followed by—nothing, except over at the Student Services Bldg. (An administrator later told me that the event only targeted SSB; but then, why the intercom announcement campus-wide?)

Many were bewildered.

“Wow. Now, I guess, we’re prepared for the Big One,” I told my class. I launched into a brief lecture on the importance of having an emergency stash (water, food, first aid) in car and home. Then it was back to free will and determinism.

The OC Reg reports (Saddleback College continues with earthquake preparedness) that Saddleback actually continued its preparedness exercises on Friday.

…Saddleback College emergency leaders gathered Friday at a campus emergency operations center to simulate an earthquake scenario involving significant damage to the campus.


In the scenario, the college served as an evacuation shelter for 1,000 citizens displaced by the hypothetical earthquake. The simulation included establishing plans and procedures in serving as an evacuation site, assessing the casualties and damage at Saddleback College, identifying the administration and logistics associated with executing an evacuation shelter and mass care plan, and establishing communication protocol with the Orange County Emergency Operations Center and media outlets….

Meanwhile, over at IVC, people were joking that, obviously, Chancellor Mathur has written off our little college to the north.

Maybe he read up about liquifaction. Dunno.

OODLES OF TAXPAYER MONEY. One of the more irksome elements of Mr. Tom Fuentes’ recent campaign for reelection (to the SOCCCD board) was his boast that our district is a friend to the taxpayer, for, unlike other districts, it has not pursued bonds.

That boast was, of course, a classic example of the fallacy of suppressed evidence, for, in fact, our district spends oodles of taxpayer money. Shitloads even. It has been able to do so without resorting to bonds because it employs an unusual funding approach that draws from local property tax funds rather than state funds. (It’s called “basic aid.”)

During good times in which home prices remain high, the district is showered with cash. So it’s been swimming in dough—taxpayer dough—for years.

But guess what.

As the LA Times reports this morning (Orange County faces budget squeeze), “Orange County officials are trying to slash tens of millions of dollars in spending, cutbacks that could lead to layoffs and jeopardize public services….”

That’s because tax revenues are expected to drop bigtime. But we haven’t seen the worst of it yet:

The squeeze on local government is expected to tighten further next year when the full impact of property tax adjustments hits. As property values have slumped, homeowners have asked for their homes to be reassessed—a process that will cut the government's property tax revenue.
…
Despite its above-average per capita income, Orange County has been hard hit by the economic downturn. Median home prices in Orange County plunged 28% in July, unemployment increased to 5.7% and sales tax revenue designated for law enforcement is down 3% from 2007, Mauk said in a memorandum calling for the cutbacks.

"We have to do it because the revenues are going to be down not only this year but more dramatically next year," said county Supervisor Bill Campbell….

MEANWHILE, IN THE FUENTESPHERE:

R. Scott Moxley over in the OC Weekly (Is OC GOP Shill Jon Fleischman Goofy, a Moron and a Shakedown Artist too?) provides a transcript of a conversation between former Sheriff (and IVC "Hometown Hero") Mike Carona and his pal Don Haidl:

Don Haidl: Is somebody paying that goofy bastard [Jon Fleischman]?

Mike Carona: Big bucks. Big bucks. You and I had a difference of opinion on him. I just think he was a moron on his best day, but . . . Well, apparently . . . (Laughs)

They're willing to pay morons a lot of money because I was probably paying him when he left $90,000 a year. He made four times what I was paying him in a year, he made it in six months. And, uh, it's all through that silly ass Flash Report. He was doing consulting for business and stuff like that, too, you know? He's doing a George Jaramillo . . . He's doing a shakedown.

More power to him, I guess, you know?

—An August 13, 2007 FBI-recorded exchange between then-Sheriff Mike Carona and his onetime Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl about Carona's taxpayer-paid flack whose job at the Orange County Sheriff's Department was to spin/attack reporters investigating Carona's questionable activities. Fleischman, who is a heavyweight in California Republican Party circles and is a protege of Michael J. Schroeder, left the OCSD before the FBI and IRS indicted Carona on corruption charges. [—From Moxley's piece in the OC Weekly.]

MORMONS, PROP 8, and the "CREATOR'S PLAN":

An article in yesterday’s New York Times ( Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage) tells the story of the role of Mormons in the recent successful effort (in California) to ban same-sex marriage:

...Shortly after receiving the invitation from the San Francisco Archdiocese, the Mormon leadership in Salt Lake City issued a four-paragraph decree to be read to congregations, saying “the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan,” and urging members to become involved with the cause....

SATURDAY A BIG DAY FOR SUPPORTERS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE:

The Times reports this morning (Protests to be a key test for Proposition 8 opponents) that “A series of protests against the passage of Proposition 8 scheduled to take place today in Los Angeles and across the country will be a key test for a loosely formed Internet-based movement that has emerged since California voters banned gay marriage last week.”

Some of us have high hopes.

♥ Prop. 8 protests could become national movement (San Francisco Chronicle, today)

GUSTAVO ARELLANO VISITS IVC AND UCI:

OC Weekly columnist and bestselling author Gustavo Arellano was a guest last week at one of Rebel Girl’s writing classes here at IVC. The event was a success.

Evidently, Arellano was also a guest at UCI. According to UCI’s The New University (Ask the Mexican), Arrellano visited UCI on the 5th to discuss immigration, among other topics:

“[My new book {Orange County: A Personal History}] is trying to give a richer, more honest understanding of the real Orange County, which often gets ignored in favor of its myths,” Arellano said.
…
He spoke, for example, about the history of racism in Orange County. “Orange County is the Mexican-hating capital of the country,” Arellano joked.
…
Keeping with his theme of publicizing historically significant, but unknown events, the Anaheim native also discussed the community-mobilizing effect school segregation had on returning Mexican -American World War II veterans.

“Here were these Mexican Americans who bled for their country, and they came home to a place that said their kids had to go to worse-off schools,” Arellano said. After a suit and countersuit, the 1946 Mendez v Westminster case was finally resolved at the state level by Thurgood Marshall, who later worked on Brown v. Board of Education.”

In his book, these major city events that barely made a blip on Orange County’s historical radar are paralleled by events in Arellano’s family, making otherwise distant issues relevant.
…
“As a reporter, this is the best place to work because you have all these crazy stories of insane people,” Arellano said. “Orange County has become the Ellis Island of the 21st century, and I want to be here and take as big a part as I can.”

Arrellano [sic] will be teaching a course on the history and evolution of Orange County for the School of Social Sciences this coming winter quarter.