They're making their own sauce

     EXCELLENCE, CONFERENCE-WISE. Today we noticed that Elise Blackwell’s recent piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education (The Word on Writers’ Conferences), which discusses the virtues and vices of the country’s major writers’ conferences, favorably refers to her experiences at The Community of Writers at Squaw Valley conferences in particular.
     As you know, our own Rebel Girl co-directs (along with Louis B. Jones) the Writers Workshop of the CWSV.
     Just sayin’.

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Just add water

     SELF-DEFECATING RIGHT-WINGERS. The “I named my dog Muhammad” story first broke (I believe) on the estimable Voice of OC.
     Yesterday, VOC returned to it (San Juan Councilman Is Criticized, Applauded, for Muhammad Comments), noting events at Tuesday night’s meeting of the San Juan Capistrano City Council.
     VOC reminds us of the issue—that libertarian and conservative Derek Reeve, a City Councilman (and Saddleback College adjunct), announced, a few weeks ago, that he had named one of his dogs “Muhammad”—a prima facie act of ridicule of Islam and of Muslims, who traditionally regard dogs as unclean creatures.
     VOC then reports that “Councilman Larry Kramer called on Reeve to apologize for the comment and promise not to make remarks at public meeting[s] that are offensive to minorities.” But “Reeve refused to apologize, instead unleashing a diatribe on what he considers radical Muslim societies in other nations.”

The Bauer family, 1961: first visit to San Juan Capistrano

     By the way: yesterday, the OC Reg’s Frank Mickadeit noted that the two City Councilmen who have taken issue with Reeve’s remarks have the greatest right-wing cred:

     But, funny, the two council members most vocal about saying they too were offended by Reeve's comments, and who most strongly urged him to apologize, were [Sam] Allevato, a 30-year cop, and Kramer, a 30-year Navy officer, a sub boat captain. Not exactly your weak-livered liberal kowtowers….

     The VOC article ends thus:

     At the end of his speech, Reeve's supporters cheered and hooted. … Everyone who spoke on the issue during public comments backed Reeve and attacked what they said was the threat of radical Islam and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim organization that condemned Reeve's remark.
     "These radicals have one evil goal, and that is to gain total domination of this beautiful Christian nation and western civilization," said Vaughn Becht, a Westminster resident.  
     "We Christians will not succumb to their evil ways."

     BAUER-SPEAK. As I have mentioned previously, the Bauer family—especially during the era of my and my siblings’ childhood (from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s)—always and compulsively played with the English language, which was actually a second language for my sister and me (we originally spoke German).
     In a situation like this (i.e., the spectacle of citizens making such remarks), a Bauer sibling—especially my little bro Ray, the master—would simply remark: “Just add water; it makes its own sauce,” a reference to those stupid commercials, now long forgotten. For some reason, such blatherings were constant objects of ridicule among us. And they became important vehicles of commentary and entertainment too. But that's another story.

1961: "Please don't ring bells."

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     THOSE AMAZING FULLERTONIAN DOLTS. The Fullerton PD is certainly making its own sauce. That is, they have a scandal, an ever-deepening scandal, that is entirely of their own making. First came the incident itself—the murder of “schizophrenic drifter” Kelly Thomas, back in July. And then there’s everything they’ve done since: releasing no information, yada yada. The Fullerton PD looks like a bunch of assholes. Everything they do makes them look worse. They're making their own sauce—you only need to add water (that is, you don't need anything, I guess).
     Today, the OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano blogged about a new video about the Kelly Thomas case put out by Reason Magazine (see Reason Magazine's TV Outfit on the Kelly Thomas Murder and the Power of Citizen Media).
     From the beginning, we here at DtB understood that the Kelly Thomas case is important, but there was no particular reason for us to comment on it. The case has particular resonance for me because my own brother, Ray, was also a “schizophrenic drifter”—one who, ultimately, lived a tragic life and met a tragic end at age 39, though not one quite so horrific as Thomas’. (He died very suddenly in a construction accident.)
     I am very pleased to see that the Kelly Thomas story has gone big and that, contrary to expectations (for OC political/governmental culture is about as dismally unhealthy as OC cop culture), the OC DA is pursuing the case aggressively. I didn’t expect that.
     Arellano provides the Reason Magazine video, though he carps (justifiably, I think) that it fails to take into account the important work done by the blog Friends of Fullerton’s Future.
     Here’s the video. It emphasizes how the growth of this particular "story" illustrates a larger phenomenon: a replacing of traditional journalism with citizen efforts, fueled by technology and the internet.

See also: Kelly Thomas: O.C.'s thoughts on the charges (Wow. Virtually all of these Orange Countians seem to be more or less on the same page.)

 

With my dad, feeding a "swallow." 1961

Mom and friend, SJC, 1961