It's like waving a red flag in front of 'em!

By Orange County's  Emigdio Vasquez

Todd Spitzer

     WHISTLE BLOW HARD. A few months ago, when Assistant DA Todd Spitzer accidentally poked into the nasty FUBAR that is John Williams’ Public Administrator/Guardian office (down at the County), it got him summarily fired from the DA’s office.
     People noticed. It was like turning on a flashing neon sign that said, “corruption and mismanagement, here.”
     Now, of course, Spitzer’s running for Supervisor, and so, naturally, he’s exploiting his recent adventures in accidental whistle-blowery for all that they’re worth.
     For instance, in today’s Red County (Public Administrator John Williams: Pension and Salary Robber), the Toddster roars

     The now-infamous Orange County Public Guardian John Williams was stripped of his powers as both the Public Administrator … and Public Guardian … on Tuesday after he refused to resign based on his incompetence in office and failure to perform his basic duties.
     It is my unwavering successful efforts for two decades as a prosecutor and elected official to get to the bottom of government corruption that has the backroom power brokers concerned.  For years they have comfortably placed their pals in position of power, gained lucrative no-bid contracts and hid behind the lack of transparency in government for their own personal gain.
     This online story from two days ago is now a FRONT PAGE OC REGISTER LOCAL Section story today. Read it. The article connects a lot of dots of the politically powerful in Orange County. But this is why I am running for County Supervisor. To end the nepotism, pension spiking, "I'll hire you if you hire me" mentality and the liability exposure to the taxpayer for putting incompetent politically connected people into important government positions. Enough already!

     Let’s hope Spitzer is serious about all this. I mean, what he’s describing, more or less, sure is real (like I’ve been sayin’). But will Todd really blast Crony-Connectoville once he’s elected (if he’s elected)?
     Maybe.

To be an Orange Countian is to have Mexican and Vietnamese tastes

     THE OC: PORTAL TO VIETNAM. Meanwhile, our pal Gustavo Arellano over at the “Stick a Fork in It” blog posts today about, of all things, a recent addition to the OED!

   Oxford English Dictionary Adds 'Banh Mi' to Dictionary

     Ah, the august [OED], grammatical gatekeeper to all that is proper and just in the world of the English language. The great thing about the tongue of Shakespeare, of course, is how it absorbs foreign words as they inextricably become part of the Empire—and, just this week, OED deemed bánh mì worthy of inclusion.
     "As the culinary appetites of the English-speaking world grow ever more diverse, loan words referring to new cuisines are a perennial source of new OED entries," explains Katherine Connor Martin, senior editor of new words (how awesome a job is THAT?!) for the dictionary….

     I’m none too worldly, but I’m guessing that this OED business is newsworthy (here in OC) because the term “banh mi” has entered the English language via Orange County, which is after all home to, well, the biggest Little Saigon in the world—namely, Westminster and Garden Grove, a portion of OC that is about 25% Vietnamese.
     —And very Republican. You know, like Miami with all those commie-hating Cubans.

     ART SHOULD BE PROTECTED. A few days ago, I posted about the “Cypress Street Barrio” in the city of Orange, my hometown, sort of. In the course of that story, I mentioned OC artist Emigdio Vasquez, who, as it turns out, grew up in that barrio and, I’m told, still lives on Cypress Street.
     Rebel Girl reminded me that IVC is in possession of a fine Emigdio Vasquez mural—it’s in the hallway bisecting the B100 building, one of IVC’s many architectural monstrosities. I was going to take a picture of it today, but that didn’t work out. I’ll try again on Monday.
     Rebel Girl tells me that the mural is on canvas and is utterly unprotected—and there’s lots of traffic in that hallway.
     Tsk, tsk. That ain't right.

Flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

     BRING BACK THE FLAGS O' THE WORLD! And that reminds me—let’s try to get those “flags of the world” flying again in the Student Services Center! You’ll recall that, a couple of years ago, some Vietnamese Americans complained that, included among the flags of the world colorfully displayed in SSC, was the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (boo, hiss!). Well, owing to the particulars of OC’s Vietnamese community (namely, their bein’ refugees from the Communist invasion that occurred after we declared victory and left Southeast Asia), flyin’ that flag around OC's Little Saigon crowd is like, um, waving a red flag in front of 'em.
     Yeah, it’s like dressing up as Castro down in Miami. It just won’t do, I guess.
     Naturally, when these none-too-subtle Vietnamese-American bulls hinted that there might be hell to pay if that red flag keeps flyin’, our Rocky decided to take down all of the flags. Problem solved.
     I.e., he caved.
     Well, that’s just bullshit. Let’s get those flags back up there. They were purdy. They shouted "global community." And, like it or not, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is among the nations of the world. Heck, we have friendly relations with ‘em these days!
     That’s good, right?
     Yes, it is.