Passing

     Yesterday, the OC Reg’s Martin Wisckol gave us his take on O.C.'s top political stories of 2012.
     Wisckol’s story #1, of course, was the rise of the county Democrats--or at least the continued decline of the county Repubs:

1. GOP advantage narrows. Democrats' share of the county electorate has remained around 32 percent since 1996, but Republicans' share has continued its steady decline from 56 percent in 1990 to 41 percent for the November election. Unaffiliated voters now account for 23 percent of the county's voters. Six of the county's 34 cities are now Democratic – Republicans lost two more this year – and Irvine is on the verge of becoming the seventh.

Story #2 is the further unfolding of the inevitable:

2. Latinos, Asians vote Democrat. Helping fuel the narrowing gap between parties is the growing Latino and Asian electorate. Nationwide, 73 percent of Asians and 71 percent of Latinos voted for Barack Obama. In the state, 79 percent of Asians and 72 percent of Latinos voted for Obama. In the county, there were no extensive exit polls but the five most heavily Latino cities, including one with more Republicans than Democrats, voted for Obama. And the four most Asian cities favored Obama despite all having more Republicans than Democrats.

Story #6 was the death of Trustee Tom Fuentes, a man associated with both the dominance of the GOP in OC and the party's failures (e.g., persistent alienation of Latino voters), leading to its decline:

6. Fuentes dies. Tom Fuentes, chairman of the county GOP from 1985 to 2004, saw the party's dominance rise and fall during his reign. Beloved by some, detested by others, Fuentes stepped down amid shrinking voter share and increasing criticism. He died May 18 of cancer at age 63.

Typical of the kinds of looks Fuentes

shot my way over the years.

     It is interesting that some of Fuentes' supporters, including some family members, speak of Tom's capacity for love. I do not doubt that he had that capacity, but he is one of the few people I have known about whom it cannot be doubted that he carried with him always a list of those people and kinds that he hated. (I suspect that, for him, I was not among the latter group; it always seemed to me that I amused him more than bothered him. But who knows.)

     CONDOLENCES. DtB wishes to join others in expressing condolences to Nancy Padberg and family over the passing of her husband, Tom.

Who are the gun nuts?

Above graphic from yesterday's Political profile of gun owners in the OC Register.

     Thirty years ago—at about the end of the Carter administration—Republican, Democratic, and Independent households owned guns at essentially the same rate: about 50%. Since then (according to an article in yesterday's OC Reg), things have changed dramatically.
     Not among Republicans: a slightly smaller proportion of Republican households now own guns (still about 50%)—but the rate has essentially remained flat. Meanwhile, among Independent and especially Democratic households, gun ownership (per household) has plummeted to under 30%. Among Democrats, it has declined to just over 20%.
     I draw two conclusions. First, that gun ownership is in rapid decline in the U.S.
     Given the large number of guns sold, it appears that gun owners buy more guns than they once did. There's fewer people buying more guns.
     That brings me to my second conclusion: that lots of members of the G.O.P. are fuckin' nuts.

If you haven't seen this, you should. (Pratt is the Ex. Director of Gun Owners of America. Evidently, Morgan is no fan of the organization.)
 

From the Washington Post

The GUARDIAN explains the end of the world (Earth) HERE. Pay attention. It's all very scientific.

Still more—HERE—on the fate of the universe. Nobody really knows.

Kitten meth

     Dropped by my folks' place this morning, but they weren't home. I used my key to enter the house and found Bugsy the kitten standing in the middle of the place—evidently happy to see me, or someone.
     He seemed to want something from me. Play time? I headed over to his turbo toy and tried to get him interested in its rolling white ball. I rolled it, and, soon, he came on over to watch. At first, he lay under a nearby end table, safe from my clutches. (He's still a skittish little fella.) So I slid the turbo thingy closer to him, launched that ball around, and, bit by bit, he got excited about it. The darned guy can't help himself. We played. Together.

      A coupla days ago, my sister Annie came by and used a little laser light to shine a dot of red on the rug. Bugsy immediately scrambled for it. Naturally, he went nuts. Cat people know how nuts cats can get with such toys, but my folks are really dog people, and they've never seen such unbridled enthusiasm. They figured Annie was killing their cat, maybe causing him to have a heart attack or something. They told her to cut it out. She relented, more or less, but not before squawking like she does.

      Well, maybe mom and pop are on to something, 'cause that Bugsy had laser beams on the brain for the next hour of so. I tried to get him interested in his turbo toy, but he was all twitchy and nervous in hopes (if that's the word) of spotting that damned red dot. "Gotta have that red dot; gotta have it now," his body language seemed to say. "That's no way to live, Little Man," I said. I told my sis to leave her stupid laser at home next time. It's like she was selling meth and messing up feline youth.

      That fool Bugsy got himself into trouble three or four days ago when my mom found him "screaming"—mom's word—from inside the goddam Christmas tree. The little guy had climbed up into the tree and then managed to get tangled in all those stupid green wires. My mom didn't know what to do: she kinda freaked, I think, and then my dad showed up and tried to yank the kid out of the tree. (My folks sure can be helpless, now that they're older.) But, like I said, my folks aren't cat people, and they didn't know about the "spinning ball of razor blades" phenomenon, so familiar to cat people (a scarred and gnarled bunch). Bugsy, said my dad later, was doing the ol' "slice 'n' dice" when he tried to grab the little fella. Nevertheless, somehow, dad snapped the right twigs and branches and that knucklehead suddenly came flyin' out of that tree.
     Later, my sister and I rolled our eyes when we were told about this episode. "Next time, just get a towel or something and wrap it around your hand and arm. Cat panic is dangerous but it's manageable."
     We know cats.

     The Bugster seems to have bounced back quickly from that sorry episode. Today, anyway, he was his cute and playful self. He was back to playing with that ball in that turbo thingy, too. He and I batted the ball back and forth. Then Bugsy got all "commando": he'd jump on the white ball to stop it from spinning; then he'd run furiously over to the nearby couch, frenetically finding his way under the blanket that covers it. He'd squirm around under there and then poke his head out from funny places. That stuff makes me laugh every time.

     Took these pics. He sure is one cute kid.

Camera Eye

 3:00 p.m.: from the hills above Orange, looking toward Catalina Island

9:50 p.m.: going up Harris Grade (near Cook's Corner)

9:55 p.m.: the road to my place (inverted)

Have a nice day

End of the World - coming soon [Update: guess not]

According to R. Scott Moxley, Tom Fuentes was a freakin' spy

Check it out: 
Tom Fuentes: Secret Agent Man? [Moxley Confidential]

Once-classified FBI files reveal the ex-Orange County GOP boss snitched for the feds and sought foreign lobbying deals