CM PRESS # 472

Last updated: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 5:40 PM--scroll down

WHY WE NEED TO ELECT THREE IMPROVEMENT CANDIDATES IN COSTA MESA THIS YEAR

Here are some of the statistics (without the numbers this time) that the CM PRESS has published before. If you want the numbers, just do a search of our site:

--Costa Mesa has more of its land zoned industrial than any surrounding city except Santa Ana, and much of Costa Mesa's industrial zoning is on the best land in the city--the Westside Bluffs.

--Costa Mesa's violent crime rate, as reported by the FBI, is higher than any surrounding city except Santa Ana.

--Costa Mesa's home prices are lower than any surrounding city except Santa Ana.

--Costa Mesa has a higher rental vs. owner occupied residence rate than any city that surrounds us.

--Costa Mesa's average student school scores are lower than any similar student school scores in any city that surrounds us except Santa Ana.

If you think it's desirable for Costa Mesa to be like Santa Ana, then vote for Flopsy Katrina Foley or others who are helping create the negative conditions in this city.
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WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR A STRAIGHT IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTED SLATE

Costa Mesa needs all five Councilmembers to be on the same page as far as improving our city.

We can no longer afford improvement obstructionists. Also, by electing three improvement suggested candidates, we'll create some desirable chemistry on the Council that can only benefit citizens.

So, this year, while you'll have three votes, it's probably not wise to treat the ballot like a Chinese restaurant Menu. Instead, if you want an improved Costa Mesa, vote for the three candidates who can do the job.

So far, it looks to us as though the best candidates for a safer and nicer Costa Mesa will be Bever, Monahan and Righeimer, but we'll be watching and listening to all the candidates, and if we change our mind, we'll let you know.
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WHAT PART DOES THE CM PRESS PLAY IN THE ELECTION?

We speak out and we vote. That's about it. We're not part of any candidate's election team. We don't sign nomination papers. We don't donate money. We don't endorse candidates.We just pay attention and try to determine who we think will be best for Costa Mesa and then we publish that information.
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ARTICLE ABOUT BLOGS AND THE ELECTION IN COSTA MESA

Here's an article from the October 28, 2006 edition of the almost daily Daily Pilot about blogs and the election. LINK

Back then, we were hoping that the almost daily Daily Pilot would do a follow-up article after the election to see if blogs really did have an effect on the outcome, but the ADDP didn't run one.

Maybe some lefty bloggers and their fellow travelers at the ADDP were upset that their two favored candidates (Garlich & Schaefer) lost, and that the CM PRESS was right again--as we have been since 2000 when we first began publishing.

We recall that back before the 2006 election, there was a poll taken by the ADDP that showed Chris Bunyan winning the election. One of the columnists for the paper even jumped on that and treated that poll result as though it would really happen.

We knew that the result was wrong and we predicted that Bunyan would come in dead last--which is what actually happened. We weren't fooled by the poll and figured that Bunyan's friends were simply stuffing the poll.

The same thing happened over at the OC Register about a month ago with a poll that also showed Bunyan far ahead of all other candidates in Costa Mesa in the 2008 election. Again, this is not a good poll result.

As of this writing, our prediction is that there is a high probability that Bunyan will finish third from the bottom.

However, it's still early, and we're still collecting data and factoring in variables. We'll adjust our predictions throughout the election season.

We'll have a much clearer idea of the election after the next candidates' forum and when we look at some data in October that we're tracking.
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MCCAIN AND PALIN ON THEIR WAY TO STOP HURRICANE GUSTAV AND SAVE NEW ORLEANS. TAKE THAT, OBAMA AND BIDEN! LINK

Which reminds us...During Hurricane Katrina, we vaguely remember seeing a video of Geraldo Rivera in a row boat on his way to rescue some people.

The impression being given to viewers was that Geraldo was in deep and dangerous water. Then, all of a sudden, a man walked past the rowboat in the water--which was barely knee high. Oops. Cut.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 471

Last updated: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 10:00 PM

SHOULD POLICE AND FIRE UNIONS ENDORSE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES?

It's only natural that police officers and firefighters are respected in just about every community in the nation.

That respect--a salute the rank, not the man, type of respect--comes with the job, the badge and the uniform whether or not a particular individual having the job, the badge and the uniform really deserves the respect.

So, when police officers or firefighters endorse political candidates in municipal elections, those endorsements often can bring in lots of votes. "Hey, if the police officers and firefighters, who we respect, endorse candidates, then those candidates must be big against crime and big on fire safety," goes the subconscious thinking.

The problem is that most voters don't stop to think that often the real reason for the endorsements is not because the endorsed candidates are necessarily strongly against crime or that they want the latest fire equipment to fight fires, but that they often support additional benefits for these city employees. It's usually about higher pay, better pensions, more vacation time, etc. It's just you rub our back and we'll rub your back.

And, in Costa Mesa, many of these police officers and firefighters can't even vote for the candidates they endorse, because they don't choose to live in this city that pays them so well.

In fact, the last time we checked, about 75% of our police officers don't choose to live in Costa Mesa. We never checked on the firefighters, but our guess is the percentage may be very close to the police percentage.

To many citizens, who have thought about this, and who want to see the best people elected so that Costa Mesa can improve, this buying votes with a badge doesn't seem right.

In the last election, one police group even used the Costa Mesa Police Station as its address on brochures it sent out supporting candidates.

What kind of message does that send to voters? Good grief! A political brochure backing certain candidates, and its return address is the Costa Mesa Police Station that our taxes pay for.

No doubt we'll see a similar thing happen again this year. Just be advised and don't think candidates who receive such endorsements are necessarily the best for citizens of this city. They may just be best for the unions of these city employees who live in other cities.

Here's a LINK to the Newport Beach Voices blog where there's an article about this same problem in Newport Beach.
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IF WE DO NOTHING TO REMOVE SLUMS--THE HABITAT FOR GANGS AND VIOLENT STREET CRIMINALS--WE'LL KEEP NEEDING MORE AND MORE COPS

At the next City Council meeting, the Council is being asked to approve the use of:
$220,680 to fund a police sergeant position, including overtime cost. LINK

Unfortunately, we probably do need a new police sergeant, so this expense is needed. And, next year we'll need some more police officers and the year after that even more.

Why do we keep needing more police officers?

Because the City Council is not removing the habitats for gangs and violent street criminals or other magnets that are drawing them here.

With $220,680, the City could make down payments on several slum buildings, and could then raze them to put in pocket parks. No eminent domain. No forced sales. Just start buying them up on the open market at fair market value.

As we've written before, buying up slum buildings this way is a little like the saying: Give a man a fish and he'll be hungry the next day, but give him a fish hook and he'll never be hungry.

In our case, the saying might read: Hire another cop and we'll need another next year, but buy up a slum building and our crime rate will go down.
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ILLEGAL ALIEN SUPPORTERS IN COSTA MESA WANT TO LULL YOU TO SLEEP

As we get deeper and deeper into the election season, the usual squishes will be trying to downplay our high crime rate (higher than any city around us except Santa Ana), and its connection with illegal aliens.

Don't buy their lies folks, and don't listen to those who say we shouldn't tell the truth about our crime rate. These people want you to elect their fellow squishes and people who will keep inviting illegal aliens to move here.

The only way we're going to reach a critical mass of concerned citizens demanding that the gangs and criminals be driven out of Costa Mesa is by telling the truth. No exaggeration is needed. The truth is grim enough.

As a reminder, here's a LINK to an August 24, 2006 article in the almost daily Daily Pilot about gangs. Here we are two years later, and we still have gang problems.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 470

Last updated: Friday, August 29, 2008, 2:25 PM--Scroll down for Sarah Palin article

CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

The CM PRESS sees little of interest to Improvers on the agenda for the September 2, 2008 City Council meeting. LINK

However, since two members of the City Council are running for reelection, it's always good to keep an eye on them as they may engage in subtle electioneering and posturing from the dais.

Flopsy Katrina Foley, the City Council's very own snow bunny, can usually be expected to somehow insert her mug in anything that is going on whenever she decides to show up for the meetings instead of going skiing, and Mayor Bever probably understands that it's not wise to be a shrinking violet as we head toward the election.

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McCain's Smart Move--maybe

(Don't cry for me Alaska)

By naming Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, John McCain may have made a very smart move on many levels.

First, this may bring in voters to the GOP who feel that Hillary Clinton was denied high office in the Democrat Party because of her gender. Hillary really was the most qualified on that side of the aisle.

Second, it may bring in novelty voters who want to feel part of history. Now, those who might have voted for Obama because he's the first black to have a serious chance to be president, will be able to get some of the same feeling by voting for McCain/Palin.

Third, Palin is photogenic (she won some beauty contests), and relatively young (44), but she's also the mother of five, which sends a message that she's not an empty bra.

Fourth, she's pro-life and even refused to abort her youngest child, who was born in April,when she learned that he might have Down Syndrome (which he does have). She has since described him as perfect.

Fifth, she sounds down to earth. Ordinary voters may connect with her. She hunts, fishes, works with her hands, etc. and sounds pretty much like an ordinary guy; if your ordinary guy can also win beauty contests.

Sixth, she's been a whistleblower in Alaska and hasn't minded stepping on GOP toes when she smells crooks.

As with all politicians, the proof is going to be in the pudding. We'll have to watch to see how she stands up to the rigors of the campaign and how she handles herself in a debate with Senator Biden.

And, you can bet the Dems are going to be all over her to see if they can break her.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 469

TAXIFORNIA

California has some of the highest taxes in the nation, and Governor Schwarzenegger is now trying to raise them some more. Here's a site where you can join the tax revolt and actually start doing something to stop the rip off. LINK

BACKGROUND

Back when voters were working to unseat Governor Davis, we wrote a number of columns supporting Governor Schwarzenegger.

Our reasoning was simple:

1. Schwarzenegger said he would never raise taxes.
2. To get California back on track he would have to do something about illegal immigration which is bleeding the state dry in many direct and indirect ways.
3. He was an outsider, not a politician, and he didn't need the job, so he could step on toes.

Thus, if # 1 were true, he would have to do # 2; and # 3 gave him the ability to do so.

Unfortunately, Schwarzenegger didn't do anything about illegal immigration, and now he wants to raise taxes. He has become the new Gray Davis.

Like so many before him, Schwarzenegger appears to have lost his outsider touch and has become an insider.

It takes a special kind of person who can remain an outsider in politics for long. One gets caught up in the minutiae of the job and begins relying on others too much and forgets why he or she got elected in the first place. It happens on the federal, state and city level.

It is often said in law school that the first thing you lose when you study the law is your common sense. Politics is like that also.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 468

NINE SNARKY SNIPPETS ABOUT THE NINE CANDIDATES

(drawing is not of --------but there is a resemblance)

LISA REEDY--We call her the Ostrich because she buries her head in the sand about real problems. Well, she also went to college in Australia so it fits on that level also. She lives in Mesa del Mar (as does Flopsy Katrina Foley) but is doing nothing meaningful to rid her neighborhood of one of the worst slums in the city--the Mission-Mendoza slum. We put her in the liberal squish column. The photo of Reedy on her campaign flyer handed out at the candidates' forum is something to behold. Frankly, it looks like something landed on Reedy's head, died, and then melted. She told the CM PRESS that the photo had been taken early in the morning. We're not sure such things improve later on in the day.

NICHOLAS MOSS--Baldy is this guy's nickname around the CM PRESS HQ. He's a complete newbie. Not a serious candidate. Didn't even buy a candidate's statement in the voter pamphlet. The stage lights made his head blindingly shiny at the candidate's forum. Maybe he can stand where Reedy was standing and something will land on his head,or maybe he can powder the chrome dome for the next forum. When asked about 1901 Newport at the candidates' forum, he veered off into a discussion about rent control. Really.

CHRIS MCEVOY--The Beard. Doesn't seem to know much about Costa Mesa or business. At the candidates' forum, his knee jerk response about what to do with the now vacant Kona Lanes lot on Harbor Blvd. was to put in another bowling alley. This got him a clap from some of the dimwits in the audience. Hey, McEvoy and dimwits, you want a bowling alley there? Put up your money, buy the lot and build one. Then, we'll all watch as you go broke. What the hell do you think a bowling alley is, a friggin' charity? A bowling alley is a business and it has to make money or it goes out of business. Comprende? As with Moss, this guy didn't even bother to put up the dough for a candidate's statement in the voter pamphlet. Not a serious candidate.

CHRISTOPHER BUNYAN--Tree hugger. More serious than Moss and McEvoy, but also didn't bother to buy a candidate's statement in the voter pamphlet. Big on saving Banning Ranch for the possums. Is a hair stylist by trade. Say, did Bunyan have anything to do with Ms. Reedy's hair in her campaign flyer? Do we have a real Sweeney Todd here who musses up the hair of his rivals to make them look bad?

WILLIAM SNEEN--Dancing Sneen to the CM PRESS. This is the guy who we wrote about in our last issue. Seems to be drawing the support of the Return to Reason libs. Can't seem to answer a direct question with a direct answer. Wants to be on all sides of all issues.

Talks big about his business expertise and keeps saying the city needs a business plan, but declined to offer even a proforma business plan when we asked him about it in on the phone yesterday. Told us that Mexicans don't only eat tacos when we asked what kinds of food he markets to Hispanics.

KATRINA FOLEY--Flopsy Foley (or sometimes Snow Bunny) to the CM PRESS. She doesn't mind missing City Council meetings to go skiing. Hopefully, voters will retire her from the Council so she can go skiing all the time. She's a liberal Democrat who tries to fool voters into thinking she's a conservative Republican. Squishy on illegal immigration. She's the only Councilmember who refused to sign a letter to President Bush asking him to secure our borders. As is typical with Foley, she tried to fool voters at the time by saying she was going to write her own [better] letter to Bush. As far as we know, she never did so. It's been about two years, now. Well, maybe she's just a slow writer. Actually, it just seems that Flopsy doesn't match her words with her actions. Figures she can say anything but not walk the walk. Phony, phony, phony. Her idea of fighting crime is to plant flowers in front of the Mission-Mendoza slum in her Mesa del Mar neighborhood as a publicity stunt, and to talk through an interpreter to day workers, including many suspected illegal aliens, to reassure them that she's on their side.

JIM RIGHEIMER--Tallerwife is our temporary name for Righeimer. When the CM PRESS went to the candidates' forum, we saw Righeimer and his wife standing next to each other and she was taller than him. On his campaign brochure, however, he looks taller than her. It's an obvious camera trick and he's actually standing a few feet in front of her in the photo so she looks shorter. If he had stood a few more feet in front of her he could have had a keen photo of her standing on his hand.

GARY MONAHAN--The Leprechaun. Monahan reminds us of Irish politicians we know in Boston. They're usually unpretentious regular guys. Their strength is that they connect with ordinary people on a very basic level and when you vote for them, you feel you're voting for a friend who will help you out in a bind. It's kind of like voting for your friendly, oh, bartender. Mohanan is usually a big vote getter in Costa Mesa and that's probably going to be the case this year.

ERIC BEVER--LEVEITTO. Our current nickname for Bever is an obvious play on the name of the old TV show. Yes, we know that "Leave," has an "a" in it, but Eric Bever's last name is missing the "a" that is found in...oh, never mind. We may change the nickname. Bever seems to be something of an introvert, which is rare in someone running for office. In fact, of all those running, Bever may be the only one who probably doesn't want to be a politician, but who is running because he wants Costa Mesa to be improved. A politician with more on his mind than his own political career is always okay with us. We were toying with the nickname Madame Pompadour, which sort of fits, except for the fact that he's not a madame and he doesn't exactly have a pompadour. Still, ever since Bever cut off his pony tail, he doesn't seem to know what to do with his hair. Say, maybe he can get together with Lisa Reedy and they can both go visit Christopher Bunyan...or, maybe they already did.

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Those are our snarky opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 467

Last Updated: Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 6:31 PM-scroll down for LONG update on Sneen

NOTORIOUS TRASH CAN BURNER PICKS DANCING SNEEN FOR ONE OF HIS VOTES THIS YEAR
(This is not a photo of Sneen or Smith)

In his column in the almost daily Daily Pilot today, Auntie Steve Smith, the ADDP's resident scold and notorious trash can burner, says he's going to cast one of his three votes for Bill Sneen for City Council this year. LINK

In contrast to Smith's impression, the CM PRESS put Sneen on our list of the four worst candidates: Sneen, Reedy, McEvoy and Moss.

Here's a little that we know about Sneen.

He's a newbie and just seemed to fall out of bed one day and decide to grace us with his candidacy. His manner seems patrician and yuppie. During the candidates' forum, he praised a "foundry" on the Westside, but didn't seem to know its name.

He told the audience that he specializes in Hispanic marketing (our guess is that this is the reason Auntie Smith likes him). His answers were often couched in dance around language using stock phrases.

For example, when he was asked about what an acceptable density would be in residential and commercial areas, he was totally unprepared and didn't have a clue. As he verbally danced, he mumbled "That's a difficult question," and then finally said that he agreed with [Flopsy] Foley who had answered earlier by saying it depends on the area.

On a question about a possible 19th Street bridge (he opposes), his answer was mostly non-responsive and he switched to talking about the 55 Freeway. And, while there is a strong link between the traffic from the 55 and a possible 19th Street bridge, Sneen's comments were off the mark and mostly just vague babble.

On a question about whether Banning Ranch should be left natural or developed, he again didn't have much of a clue and began his dance with the throat clearing "Very controversial," and ended up at some point by trying to straddle the issue with a middle of the road "minimize development."

In fact, all of Sneen's answers seemed calculated to avoid having to be for or against anything.

We imagine:
Q. Are you for or against [fill in the blank]?

A. Well, that's a very deep question and it requires much thought and [thinking: I don't even understand the question so I better keep dancing], why, I think the employees of this city are doing a fine job, a very fine job, and well, of course, most people, ah, and well, I will come down strongly, strongly, I say, for listening to the people, and my door will always be open, and residents of Costa Mesa should be very happy that we have such fine employees who keep on top of these things.

Here's some actual snippets from Sneen's campaign brochure given out at the candidates' forum:
"As a non-partisan [Why aren't you partisan? Don't you have opinions?] member [of the City Council] I will apply this successful experience [business experience marketing to Hispanics] to build consensus [Oh boy, another consensus builder] and help create a proactive [standard yuppie word] business plan [Ohhh, a business plan] that meets the expressed goals of Costa Mesa residents." [Which expressed goals? Which residents? Illegal aliens?]

"If elected, I will continue to support other needs expressed by Costa Mesa residents."

WE TRANSLATE: I don't have any opinions or ideas and I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm a real swell guy and you peons should be happy that I'm running. And, I know how to string together vague words to make it sound as though I do know what I'm doing.

Look folks, we don't need City Councilmembers who don't bring in any views or ideas but who say they'll just do what residents want. It's arrogant of such candidates to think we even need them at all.

This goes for all candidates: TELL US YOUR IDEAS AND VISION. We'll then decide if we think that's what we want. Don't just tell us you want to be on the Council to listen to residents.

We need people on the Council who have ideas and a vision on how to make Costa Mesa a nicer city.

Frankly, we think Sneen is a candidate of the out of town industrialists and the squishes who want Costa Mesa to be an illegal alien sanctuary.

We'll be studying Sneen's and all other candidates' statements filed with the Registrar of Voters and translating them as the election season continues.

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UPDATE ON SNEEN--Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 6:31 PM-- Sneen has been seen!

After a Return to Reason sad little man, whose tiny brain has barely enough wattage to trigger his flaccid impotent muscles, started defending Sneen, we began talking to improvement minded people about Mr. Sneen and the other candidates.

Some have long felt that some of the Return to Reason liberals--stung badly in the last election--would try to field a stealth candidate or two who might try to slip under the radar and who wouldn't be identified as Return to Reason.

Could it be that Sneen is one of those candidates, we wondered?

We called Mr. Sneen today to learn more.

And, the dance began...

We put our right foot forward and asked Mr. Sneen if he's a Republican or Democrat.

Sneen put his left foot forward and replied that he has mostly voted Republican during his life.

We moved our right foot to the side and said that was nice, but the question was about his party affiliation.

He turned his left foot all about and told us that was a matter of public record.

We spun all around and replied that we could look it up, but why didn't he just tell us?

He then hopped to the left and said that he had been a registered Republican but is now an independent.

And so it went.

He said that he feels that politics shouldn't be involved in City Council matters. He also said he believes that illegal immigration is a federal matter, that he speaks fluent Spanish, and that he lived in Mexico for three years.

He said that he has been meeting with various people in the city, including many at City Hall, and that he already has, or is planning on meeting with Joe Erickson, Mary Hornbuckle, Peter Buffa and others.

He said he was unaware of the plan to turn the Westside into a new Huntington Park that some were proposing in 1999 and 2000 but felt that wouldn't be a good idea, although he wasn't able to articulate why it wouldn't be a good idea other than that the Westside is diverse.

On crime and gangs, he said that he believes Costa Mesa has problems in this regard because we have some low income areas in the city. We pressed him to explain why he thinks we have low income areas while Newport Beach, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Irvine don't have such areas or, if they do, why they don't have the high crime rate and gang problems that he believes are caused by our low income areas, and how it is that we seem to be trending more like Santa Ana than these other cities that surround us? He indicated he didn't have an answer.

We asked if he had supported Bruce Garlich and Mike Schaefer in the last election and he said he thinks he may have voted for them but that he was not part of Return to Reason.

He voluntarily brought up the subject of creating a business plan for Costa Mesa. This is a subject he also broached at the candidates' forum and it's also mentioned on his campaign flyer.

Given the fact that he brings this up so much, we asked if he planned on creating a proforma business plan to illustrate to the voters exactly what he has in mind, and he said that he had no plans to do so.

We asked why he has suddenly decided to run for the council when he doesn't seem to have been very active in the city. He replied that he has been active with the Boy Scouts and the Measure A Committee. We pointed out that being active with the Boy Scouts is not really being involved with the city, and that Measure A is a school district matter.

He said he had read the CM PRESS this morning, and we thanked him for reading it. We asked if there was anything we got wrong that he would like us to correct and he replied that he hadn't just fallen out of bed and decided to run for the council.

BOTTOM SEVERAL LINES: Our impression is still that Mr. Sneen tries to avoid answering direct questions in a direct manner and dances around them in a most liberal way. Mr. Sneen shall continue to be known as Dancing Sneen around the CM PRESS HQ. But that's just our opinion.

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REMAKE OF FATHER KNOWS BEST STARRING MICHELLE AND BARACK

The first night of the Democrat convention looked like a remake of Father Knows Best. The only thing missing was having Obama with a pipe in his hand.

Looking at Michelle and Barack, we wonder if a conversation in their household might not sound a little like this:

Michele: Get in here Barack!

Barack: Not tonight, honey, I have a headache.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 466

JUST A FEW OF THE THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

http://www.victimsofillegalaliens.com/

Most of Costa Mesa's very high violent crime rate is the result of some of Costa Mesa's

"upstanding citizens" putting out a welcome mat for illegal aliens in the form of charity handouts.

If you or your family are victims of violent illegal aliens, you can lay some of the blame at the feet of these "upstanding citizens," who you read about in the squishy almost daily Daily Pilot all the time.

And, you can lay the blame for our low school scores, lower than they should be home values and many of our other problems at the feet of these same upstanding citizens--these "kind and compassionate" souls who often don't even live in Costa Mesa but who travel here to make sure illegal aliens are welcome in this city that is turning from being Costa Mesa into Costa Mexico.

Every one of the victims above would be alive today if illegal aliens hadn't taken their lives.

We live in a cause and effect universe. Things don't just happen. There are always causes.

In Costa Mesa, most of the causes for our crime and social dysfunction problems have solid line links to illegal aliens, and dotted line links to many of the upstanding citizens who encourage them to come here and stay here.
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VIOLENT CRIME STATS

According to the FBI, Costa Mesa's violent crime rate of 27.61 victims per 10,000 residents is the second highest of any of the cities near Costa Mesa except for Santa Ana. Here's a LINK

to the FBI stats courtesy of the OC REGISTER.

Perhaps Auntie Steve Smith of the almost daily Daily Pilot will now contact the FBI and ask them to lie about these statistics because it may give people and businesses a truthful impression about Costa Mesa and cause them to locate to a safer city.

When you vote this year, folks, demand change. Vote against Fopsy Katrina Foley and other lefties who are helping screw up this city and vote for tough on crime, big on improvement candidates.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 465

LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, August 24, 2008, 11:21 PM

OCCUPANTS OF CAR BLASTED WITH SHOTGUN NEAR HARBOR AND WILSON BY HISPANIC IN COSTA MEXICO

Oops 1. According to Auntie Steve Smith of the almost daily Daily Pilot, we shouldn't publicly discuss the high violent crime rate in Costa Mesa lest we scare off businesses that might want to locate here.

Oops 2. We're not supposed to mention the race/ethnicity of the outstanding criminal, lest people correctly think that Costa Mesa's violent crime mainly has a non-white face to it.

Never fear, dear readers, Auntie Smith's almost daily Daily Pilot hasn't even reported this incident yet. We got the info from the OC REGISTER

Some of those commenting on this latest crime in Costa Mesa at the OCR are bemoaning the fact that Costa Mesa seems to be going down hill to Santa Ana levels.

Now, why would we have so much crime and in particular so much Hispanic crime in Costa Mesa? Hmmmm? Think it might have something to with having a welcome mat out for illegal aliens?

Hopefully, the Complainers will complain even louder and will ignore peculiar Auntie Smith who wants them to lie about our violent crime and social dysfunction here in Costa Mexico, ah, Costa Mesa.
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IN THE IS THAT A GUN SENOR, OR ARE YOU JUST HAPPY TO SEE ME DEPARTMENT

The CMPD is still looking for a Hispanic man who apparently exposed himself to a woman near Baker and Bear streets on Wednesday. LINK Say, maybe it's the same guy with the shotgun.
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IN THE WE DON'T KNOW WHY WE HAVE SO MANY PIGEONS DEPARTMENT

--All living things--including humans--gravitate to where they feel comfortable.

--As long as you feed the pigeons, they won't leave and even more will come.



We read in the latest charity gush news in the almost daily Daily Pilot that about 1,200 back packs and other school supplies were given to the "needy" in Costa Mexico, ah, Costa Mesa, the other day. LINK

How nice of the kind compassionate folks to come to Costa Mexico, ah, Costa Mesa, as though our city is the Third World, and hand out freebies all the time.

What do you want to bet there will be even more "needy" and even more handouts next year?

Oh, and "needy" is one of those euphemisms, like "stakeholders," that in Costa Mexico, ah, Costa Mesa, primarily means "illegal aliens" (with just a few citizens thrown in so the kind compassionate folks can deny this is an illegal alien hand out).

Elizabeth Evans, the marketing and communications manager for Share Our Selves, which put on the event, told the almost daily Daily Pilot: "A backpack with a binder and a lunch box and other supplies is going to take the child well into the year, and it isn’t something the family is going to have to factor into their expenses.”

Right. Except citizens will have to factor these things in to our expenses when we send our kids to school. And, we'll also have to factor in paying full price for our kids' lunches while the "needy" (now most of the kids in Costa Mexico's, ah, Costa Mesa's schools) won't have to factor that into their expenses.

And, most citizens have to factor in medical insurance and various other things that the "needy" don't have to factor into their expenses in Costa Mexico, ah, Costa Mesa.

Gee, when you don't have to factor normal living costs into your budget you get a lot of extra money with which to buy new cars.

Is that why the CM PRESS sees lines of new or almost new cars driving up and dropping off "needy" students at all the schools in Costa Mexico?

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IMPROVERS HAVE A LOT MORE WORK TO DO

Folks, when you read stories like those above, and if you haven't had your brain pithed by lefty psychobabble, you know that we need to put even more improvement minded people on the City Council.

We have three there right now, but they need help. We need all five Councilmembers to be concerned about improving our city and stopping its slide. We can't afford to have even one or two squishes on the council anymore.
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HEY CITY COUNCIL, COSTA MEXICO NEEDS MORE SENIOR HOUSING, NOT MORE SENOR HOUSING. COMPRENDE?
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 464

LAST UPDATED Saturday, August 23, 2008, 5:31 PM-scroll down

CORRECTION

In CM PRESS # 463 we erroneously reported that Mayor Eric Bever didn't mention gangs or illegal aliens during the candidates' forum on Thursday night.

Mr. Bever did, in fact, mention both, and he also promised to continue his work to drive down crime and rid the city of gangs.

As most people probably know, Mr. Bever has been one of the strongest anti-crime and anti-gang voices on the city council.

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NOTORIOUS TRASH CAN BURNER FOAMING AT THE MOUTH AND SAYING WE SHOULD LIE ABOUT OUR GANG AND CRIME PROBLEMS!

Check out the almost daily Daily Pilot's resident scold Auntie Steve Smith's column in which Auntie Smith thinks he's coined a clever substitute for "Improvers," in the term "Complainers."

Be sure to also look into Smith's mind by reading his many posts in answer to his critics that appear with the column.
LINK

Actually, the term Complainers is not bad. The CM PRESS hopes we have Complainers on the City Council instead of just heads in the sand Pollyannas like Flopsy Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon.

Auntie Smith foams on and on about how we shouldn't point out our gang and crime problems because this might give people the wrong idea about our city.

Wrong idea? We do have gang and crime problems.

The truth can never be the wrong idea. To pretend we don't have such problems is a lie. So Smith, who always tries to claim the moral high ground, is suggesting that we should lie?

The first thing you have to do in solving a problem is to admit you have a problem. If you don't do that, you'll never solve the problem.

We have a gang and a crime problem and a poor student score problem and a slum problem and they are all a direct result of prior city councils turning Costa Mesa into an ersatz illegal alien sanctuary city.

Thank God for Complainers in Costa Mesa. They may help keep you and your family safe from violent street criminals and they won't lie to you and lull you into a false sense of security.

Would you rather hear about crime and gangs before you or your kids are victims or after?

The CM PRESS knows someone who was attacked by a gang in the Mission-Mendoza slum in Flopsy Katrina Foley's Mesa del Mar neighborhood. And, we saw the police try to pretend there were no gangs there.

There was also an OCC college student who was murdered in Flopsy Foley's Mission-Mendoza slum shortly after she had moved in to be close to the college. Apparently, she was lulled into a false sense of security because upstanding citizens hid the fact that the slum was dangerous.

Would you like to pretend we don't have gangs and violent criminals and then have your 15-year-old daughter shot by a gang member as happened recently?

Would you like to be the family of the almost daily Daily Pilot's employee who was stabbed to death by an illegal alien because some upstanding citizens hid the fact that the Shalimar slum, near where the ADDP's employee was murdered, is dangerous?

Would you like to be the parents of the 14-year-old girl who was murdered behind Estancia High School by an illegal alien?

Listen to the Complainers, folks, because in Costa Mesa, the most vocal complainers are Improvers who want this city to be a safe American city, not a new Tijuana full of crime and gangs.

When it comes time to vote this year, be sure to check the lefties that Smith likes and then be sure to vote against them for the safety of you and your family and your trash cans.
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IT'S ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

This photo reminds us a little of one that appears on one City Council candidate's brochure handed out at the candidates' forum last Thursday.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Thanks for reading the CM PRESS.

CM PRESS # 463

LAST UPDATED: Friday, August 22, 2008, 11:15 PM--scroll down


CANDIDATES' FORUM LAST NIGHT---YAWN!

Even for political junkies, such as the CM PRESS, the candidates' forum last night was boring. There just didn't seem to be any passion, and even the five top candidates seemed to lack focus and a deep understanding of our problems and how to fix them.

Here are some of our impressions.

Of the nine candidates running for City Council, only five of them seemed to be prepared for the forum and to have more than a surface knowledge of Costa Mesa and its problems and to be serious candidates for the City Council.
As of today, here's how we rank the candidates chances of winning and who we think will end up with the most or least votes in November. This is based partly on what we saw and heard last night and partly upon extrinsic factors including our own subjective political instincts.

1. Gary Monahan
2. Eric Bever
3. Jim Righeimer
4. Katrina Foley
5. Chris Bunyan

All five of the above gave credible, but passionless, and unfocused performances. Monahan and Bunyan talked the most about crime and gangs and Monahan indicated that these issues will be his top priorities if elected. Monahan was also the only one to mention that we need to solve our illegal alien problem. Bever barely mentioned crime and didn't mention illegal aliens at all. Foley, as usual, just gave very vague answers about wanting quality neighborhoods and safe streets. Righeimer's whole emphasis appeared to be on development. There were no standouts.

IN OUR OPINION,THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT SERIOUS CANDIDATES AND/OR HAVE NO CHANCE OF WINNING


6.William Sneen
7. Lisa Reedy
8. Chris McEvoy
9. Nick Moss
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OTHER VIEWS OF THE CANDIDATES AND THE FORUM

LINK to the almost daily Daily Pilot.

LINK to the OC REGISTER. [Don't be swayed by the poll. It's just friends of the candidates swamping the poll to spin things.]
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Those are our opinions and they're subject to change as the political season unfolds.

CM PRESS # 462

CANDIDATES' FORUM TONIGHT

Mesa Verde Community, Inc. is presenting a Costa Mesa City Council candidates' forum tonight, Thursday, August 21, 2008 at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave. Costa Mesa (Airplane Park). The event is open to all citizens of Costa Mesa.

The reception begins at 6:00 PM and the forum itself starts at 7:00 PM.

The moderator will be Jay Humphrey.

The CM PRESS liked what Humphrey told the almost daily Daily Pilot about trying to get specific answers from the candidates. LINK

We'll see if he is able to do that.

A good moderator knows how to quickly ask a question and get out of the way instead of wasting a lot of useless words in grandstanding while asking the question. We'll have to wait to see how Humphrey does in this regard.

OUR SENSITIVE GAG REFLEX

You'll hear the CM PRESS gagging in the rear of the room if even one candidate:

1. Gushes "That's a great question," and then gives some lousy Ms. America answer about seeking world peace instead of being specific.

2. Says "There's no 'I' in team," or uses other hackneyed and canned expressions.

3. Indicates that he or she wants to get along with everyone on the dais and wants to end arguments.

And, we'll also gag if one of the newbie and totally unknown candidates, who has never done anything in the city and who has never even spoken at a City Council meeting, tells the audience that he wants to be elected to (fill in the blank): represent or listen to or speak for the people and offers no ideas about what he specifically wants to do.

If this happens, you may hear the CM PRESS yell: Get off the stage you lousy bum, who the hell needs you, you friggin' pompous nobody! Represent this!

Also eliciting a gag reflex will be any blue haired canine versions of cat ladies who show up and waste too much time with cutesy pie questions about the barking dog ordinance or who refer to their dogs as their "children." It'll be a double gag if they actually bring their dogs with them.

We'll analyze the event and candidates in a new issue of the CM PRESS either later tonight or in the morning. Check back.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 461

WE GET MAIL ABOUT TRIANGLE SQUARE

Dear CM PRESS:

I've been a commercial real estate broker for many years. My specialty is retail properties (shopping centers).

Over the years, I've watched as a long list of very competent leasing brokers have been hired to revitalize Triangle Square and then I've watched each be replaced after they failed.

They've all come on board with glowing press releases about how they'll do this and that. Then, they've all quietly slipped away in the night after having failed to make the center profitable.

Good intentions and even good ideas that may work elsewhere won't save Triangle Square.

Triangle Square is different than most centers and has different problems. Different solutions are needed.

At last night's City Council meeting (August 19), Councilperson Linda Dixon said she wanted to know what the owners of Triangle Square are doing to attract new retail tenants. Implicit in her question--given her facial expression and tone of voice--is an apparent belief that all that is needed is an aggressive campaign to bring in new retail tenants.

With all due respect to Ms. Dixon, this is what has been tried and this is what has failed and will continue to fail. This is why amateurs (such as the original City Council who approved Triangle Square) should seek expert advice.

Retail real estate is different from other types of real estate. It is highly dependent on a proper tenant mix, demographics, traffic patterns, placement of traffic signals, curb cuts, parking lot design, and much, much more that would take me too long to discuss here.

It is not like residential, office or industrial real estate. Retail real estate involves a complex mix of variables that have to be handled and balanced if a center is to be profitable.

Instead of offering a complete course about retail real estate, let me just cut to the chase. Here's what I'd be considering if I owned Triangle Square or if I were advising the owners.

PLAN A (The best plan but also the most expensive and the one that would take longer to do.)

1. Underground the 55 Freeway to about 15th Street.
2. Then, turn the east side of the center on the surface along Newport Blvd. into a pedestrian friendly shopping area with Triangle Square as the focus.
3. Then, re-tenant the center with the types of tenants that thrive in such an open area.

PLAN B

1. Close off Harbor Blvd. just south of 19th Street and turn the west side of the center into a pedestrian friendly area that would flow into the Court Yard shopping center.
2. Re-tenant.

PLAN C

1. Stop focusing on retail tenants. This is a black hole for such tenants as things now sit.

2. Find tenants whose "customers" have to come to the center and who have to park in the dark caverns down below. This means rent to a college or government agency.

If properly executed, any of the above three plans have a high probability of making the center profitable.

In PLANS A and B, a more modern look that would change the appearance from the present hinted at Spanish Mission look of the center would help.

Name Withheld by CM PRESS

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Thanks for reading the CM PRESS.

CM PRESS # 460

WE HAVE OUR EYE ON A YACHT FOR THE COSTA MESA MARINA

New readers may not be aware that Costa Mesa was once going to have a marina below the Westside Bluffs that extended all the way up to Victoria Street.

That's why we have the presently land locked Newport Beach neighborhood of Newport Terrace at the end of W. 19th Street, and why we have a neighborhood on the Westside called Marina Highlands.

That's also why we have a large square "pond" in the scrub brush near Victoria Street that is full of water 24 hours a day. That pond was a test ditch to see if we could, in fact, have water that far inland to, ah, float our boats. We could and we do; at least in that pond. Poke a stick in the dry dirt near there and water will spring up.

So, what happened? Where is our marina?

The answer lies with voters of this city not paying attention and voting in the wrong people to the City Council.

Back when the Marina was being planned, all we needed were three votes on the City Council to move forward. Unfortunately, we only had two votes to move forward. The majority at that time was a gang of short sighted liberals who voted the marina down. Yup. We were just ONE LOUSY VOTE short of having a marina in Costa Mesa and being a true (almost) ocean community.

Your vote counts folks, and it especially counts in local elections.

VOTE WISELY
We have five people on our City Council. It only takes three to improve or destroy our city.

It only takes three votes to have a crime infested, illegal alien sanctuary city with failing schools and unsafe streets. Right now, the soft on crime and illegal alien friendly mob only have two seats on the City Council--Flopsy Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon.

Dixon isn't running this year, but Flopsy Foley is, and there are others in her mold who are also running.

And, the almost daily Daily Pilot is now in election mode and is trying to once again elect liberal squishes such as Flopsy Foley and defeat improvement minded citizens.

If you want a good clue about who not to vote for, just see who the almost daily Daily Pilot and its liberal commentators want elected. Which brings us to...

AUNTIE STEVE SMITH
Take a look at what the ADDP's resident scold, and trash can burner, Auntie Steve Smith has to say in his most recent column. LINK

Auntie Smith, in his usual knuckle dragging manner, can't seem to make distinctions between things and apparently thinks that team sports should be played on every tiny piece of land that the city owns which is called a park.

Does Smith's lumping all parks together under one heading make sense?

Here's our headline using that logic: STEVE SMITH OF THE DAILY PILOT SAYS IT'S OKAY FOR KIDS TO PLAY WITH DYNAMITE!

Huh?

Well, doesn't Smith say it's okay for Costa Mesa to have explosives on July 4th? And isn't dynamite an explosive?

But, wait a minute, that's not really what Smith is saying. In this case he has been able to make a distinction. He's saying that it's okay for kids and their parents to have "safe and sane fireworks." Ahhh, Smith may be educable. In this case he was able to make a finer distinction.

So, why can't Smith understand that the word "park" is like the word "explosive"?

There are PARKS in Costa Mesa that have sports fields, and then there are these smaller places, these (lower case) parks, that do not have sports fields and which cannot logically accommodate sports fields or the types of activities found on such sports fields.

From reading Smith's columns, one suspects he might not score very high on a Miller Analogies Test. FYI, here's a very simple test question from the MAT:

WALK : LEGS

A. blink : eyes
B. chew : mouth
C. dress : hem
D. cover : book
E. grind : nose

If Auntie Smith can't figure out the correct answer to the above, he can email us and we'll tell him the right answer and the logic behind it. We'll also explain the following to him:

METAL TRASH CAN : PLASTIC TRASH CAN

A. doesn't burn : does burn
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DYNAMITE : SAFE AND SANE FIREWORKS

A. soccer field : passive park

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 459

Last Updated Monday, August 18, 2008, 6:00 PM--Scroll down to new story about crime

MARK YOUR CALENDARS--CANDIDATES' FORUM THIS THURSDAY

Mesa Verde Community, Inc. is presenting a Costa Mesa City Council candidates' forum this Thursday, August 21, 2008 at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave. Costa Mesa (Airplane Park).

The reception begins at 6:00 PM and the forum itself starts at 7:00 PM.

Although this is usually just a soft ball love fest, with a format that discourages tough questions and follow-ups, the CM PRESS will be there and, as we have at past forums, we'll try as hard as we can to nail candidates who are full of crap.

The improvement of Costa Mesa is too important to just elect phonies who don't have any good ideas on how to move improvement along.

At one of these forums a couple of years ago, a couple of yuppies sitting in front of the CM PRESS heard Flopsy Katrina Foley--the Council Snow Bunny--answer a few questions, and then they said to each other that she sounded like a good Republican conservative. We kid you not! We then let the yuppie couple know that Foley is actually a radical liberal Democrat who will say anything to get elected.

"Oh, dear, how do you know that, Mr. CM PRESS sitting behind us taking notes?"

"I know that because I pay attention--all the time--to what's going on in Costa Mesa and I don't just wander into one of these beauty contest candidates' forums for a couple of hours every two years to get a free snack and to have my head turned by friggin' liars and phonies. That's how I know, yuppie couple. And, I sure as hell don't suffer fools."

And, speaking of free snacks, this year I won't forget to wear my pants with the rubber pockets so I can stuff them with free food to take home to my single-wide out by the train tracks to feed my hundred or so kids.

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NOT ONLY INVISIBLE CRIMINALS, WE NOW HAVE INVISIBLE LOCATIONS!

Below are just three crime log reports from the OC REGISTER about gang involvement in Costa Mesa. LINK

Notice that the CMPD didn't release the locations of the gang involvement.

We checked all the rest of the gang involvement reports for Costa Mesa in the paper today and they were all the same: "undisclosed location."

Now, why isn't the CMPD releasing the locations of the gang involvement?

Is it to keep citizens from knowing that our gang involvement is mostly coming from just a few slum areas and that if we remove the slums we'll pretty much get rid of the gangs and the gang involvement?

Or is this an election year gambit on the part of one or more Return to Reason cops who know that if they downplay crime and not reveal locations (to keep activists in affected neighborhoods from organizing to vote for tough on crime candidates--meaning improvement minded candidates), their squishy candidates such as Katrina Foley will have a better chance of being elected?

Again, is someone in the CMPD playing politics with crime reports to help elect people like Foley?

First, we get no real descriptions of most violent perps and now we don't even get the locations where there is gang involvement.

The majority on the City Council should ask some questions about this and get straight answers. Pronto.

What: Gang involvement Where: Undisclosed location Costa Mesa, CA When: 5:52 p.m. Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Description: Y 495 350 9 Y 6 Undisclosed location, Costa Mesa, CA Gang involvement Undisclosed location Costa Mesa, CA

What: Gang involvement Where: Undisclosed location Costa Mesa, CA When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Description: Y 495 350 9 Y 6 Undisclosed location, Costa Mesa, CA Gang involvement Undisclosed location Costa Mesa, CA

What: Gang involvement Where: Undisclosed location Costa Mesa, CA When: 7:37 p.m. Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Description:

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 458

FOUR INVISIBLE MEN IN BLACK ATTACK AND ROB MAN AT POMONA AND 17th STREET SATURDAY NIGHT. LINK

If you see four invisible men dressed in black, be sure to call the CMPD at (714) 754-5252 with your tip.

When the police ask for a description by race/ethnicity, hair color, etc., just tell them that you're following PC protocol and that you can't release that information lest citizens get the (correct) impression that most of Costa Mesa's violent criminals do not have white faces.

Say, wait a minute. Pomona and 17th Street? Why, that's right near the Shalimar slum where Latino gangs operate and where a 15-year-old girl was allegedly shot by an alleged gang member who is the alleged son of a Latina who ran for City Council twice.

And, hey, there are also a whole bunch of alleged non-profits in that slum where alleged saintly Great White Mothers and Great White Fathers say they're stopping crime and who want you to give them more money to continue their saintly work.

And, be sure to genuflect when these alleged saintly Great White Mothers and Great White Fathers drive out of the slums in their luxury cars when the sun goes down. As you genuflect, the alleged saints may give you a beatific smile and a slight nod.

The fact remains, folks, so long as Costa Mesa keeps the habitats (the slums) for illegal aliens, gangs and assorted violent criminals, we will have a high crime rate.

Remove the slums and the criminals will self-deport.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 457

RHODE ISLAND GOVERNOR GETS IT ABOUT ILLEGAL ALIENS


Eight members of Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri's Commission on Hispanic Affairs quit on Thursday in protest of the Governor's crackdown on illegal aliens . They will be sorely missed. LOL! Don't let the puerta hit you in the ass creeps. LINK

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Thanks for reading the CM PRESS.