GUN CONTROL NEEDED
We just received the following press release from the CMPD:
On
May 28, 2012, at about 2:41 A.M., an unknown suspect pried open the front door
to a home in the 2400 block of Elden
Street. The homeowner was awakened by the noise
and found the suspect in his bedroom. The suspect pepper sprayed the homeowner.
The homeowner was able to retrieve his own handgun. The homeowner fired several
shots at the suspect; however, the suspect was not struck. The suspect was last
seen running eastbound down the driveway. There is no loss reported at this
time, and there are no further details or suspect description to provide.
If
anyone has information concerning this case they are encouraged to call
Detective Rob Hanson, at 714.754.5162.
This clearly shows that the homeowner in question needs gun control. He needs to learn to control the gun so he hits what he's aiming at. This is proper gun control.
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UPDATE OF JEFFRY HARLAN COLUMN IN THE DAILY PILOT: Some of the commenters [
HERE] are suggesting that the good Councilmembers are screwing up because there are fast food restaurants going in along Harbor Blvd. and they imply that what "we" need are more expensive sit down restaurants on the street.
Okay, you commenters, who are instant experts on the subject, should mortgage your homes and take out some big loans and put in more expensive restaurants on the street. You know what will happen? You'll go broke. Why? Because the demographics aren't right for those kinds of expensive restaurants along that street.
But, if you do decide to open such a restaurant, we have a suggested name for your expensive bistro:
CHEZ CRETINE.
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UPDATE OF THE FITZPATRICK/CMSD STORY DOWN BELOW: Be sure to read the comments from the usual anti-good-Councilmembers-commenters below the column in the Daily Pilot [
HERE].
Notice how none of them (as of this writing) address Fitzpatrick's concerns about the CMSD but veer off into name calling and personal attacks.
You really have to wonder what's wrong with these people. Are they against good government? Are they against saving money for the citizens of Costa Mesa? Are they against someone getting elected who actually works for the citizens and who understands that his fiduciary responsibility is to the citizens, not to other elected officials? Don't they think that citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent?
Why are they griping about Fitzpatrick asking questions over at the CMSD? Do they think government officials shouldn't be asked questions? Do they think that long term, almost evergreen, contracts should be given out without genuine competitive bids?
Some of the commenters sound as dumb as the people of Bell.
The CM PRESS is for more transparency in government including over at the CMSD.
Government, at all levels, is supposed to work for us, not the other way around.
The only way you can find out if your money is being used correctly is by asking questions and demanding solid answers. That's what we think Fitzpatrick is doing.
Maybe everything that the CMSD is doing is the best way of doing things and maybe what they're doing is giving us the best service for our money. But, how do we know that if we don't let people ask questions and get factual answers?
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RACIAL MOTIVE IN MIAMI CANNIBAL STORY?
Attacker was Black, the victim White.
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JOKE OF THE DAY...
There is only one race of humans, the human race.
That's as stupid as saying there is only one breed of dog, the dog breed.
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COLIN MCCARTHY IS INVITING YOU TO A KICKOFF FOR HIS CAMPAIGN
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Click for larger view |
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FITZPATRICK CONTINUES TO DO WHAT HE WAS ELECTED TO DO
And, the good old boys over at the Costa Mesa Sanitary District continue trying to get him out of their private club.
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Jim Fitzpatrick |
Look, folks, the CMSD needs more people like Jim Fitzpatrick watching the store.
As far as we can tell, Fitzpatrick is making waves because he wants things to be more open at the CMSD and he wants true competitive bidding on contracts to save us all money.
The CM PRESS is all for openness, competition and saving money.
As we wrote before, a few years ago, the CM PRESS got a tip and an earful of information from a couple of activist citizens about the CMSD.
In brief, what was happening at that time was that the CMSD was switching from citizen supplied trash cans (remember them?), that the trash truck operators had to pick up by hand and dump in the trucks, to the present system of using a robotic arm to pick up standardized containers.
With the old system, each trash truck needed two people on board. One to drive, and one to jump out and pick up the trash containers.
The new system was supposed to be less expensive, as each truck just needed a driver who also operated the robotic arm from within the cab of the truck.
Okay, so far so good, er, except, have you seen any savings or do you actually keep seeing rate increases?
But, here's where the rub comes in.
The requests for proposals for the new containers went out to several manufacturers of the new type of containers that could be picked up by the robotic arm. We write "new" because they were new to Costa Mesa, but these containers had been in use in Los Angeles and other areas for years.
The bids came back and the one that was accepted by the CMSD was not for the least expensive or the strongest containers, but for the more expensive and less strong (in drag tests) containers.
So, the CM PRESS called some of the losing bidders and did some research.
It turns out that the winning containers were being manufactured by a company owned or controlled by relatives of the trash hauler that had a long term contract with the CMSD.
And, according to some of the other manufacturers we contacted, the process being used by the winning bidder to manufacture the containers was not the latest standard for the industry, and the material the containers were manufactured from was also not the latest standard.
So, we asked these manufacturers how it was that they didn't get the contract since they claimed that their containers were state of the art in material and manufacture, were stronger, and were less expensive.
One of the manufacturers laughed and told us that was the way the trash business works.
Then, in other conversations, we got two substantive answers:
The first answer was that the request for proposals that was sent out by the CMSD was a virtual copy of the spec sheet for the containers manufactured by the winning bidder. In other words, the request for proposals described the containers manufactured by the final winning bidder to a T. And, since these containers were different from most other containers in material and manufacturing methods, no other containers met the same specs.
The second answer was that the winning bidder reportedly kept sweetening the pot by offering intangibles such as promises for quick replacement of broken containers and local support since the containers were being manufactured in Anaheim.
So, there you have it, a brief replay of what we wrote about several years ago.
But, there's more to think about.
Remember, the Costa Mesa Sanitary District is a mini-government that is supposed to be serving the needs of citizens.
Where are you activists who constantly complain about everything that the Costa Mesa City Council does? The CMSD is no different than City government--it's just smaller. Why aren't you people complaining about trash and sewer rate increases and other things?
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Robins Lefflers |
And, Robins Lefflers, you constantly complain that Jims Righeimers uses "we" when he speaks, and you want to know who the "we" are, meaning you think there is some behind the scenes stuff going on; why are you silent about the CMSD? Why aren't you Robins complaining and going to the CMSD meetings?
Why aren't you supporting Jim Fitzpatrick as he tries to open things up and let competition give us the best deals possible?
Well, we can probably answer our own questions to the Robins.
Because trash and sewer services are the types of things that fly under the radar, most citizens can't be bothered with the details. "Hey, my trash gets picked up and my toilet flushes, so all is well," is the attitude. And, since Fitzpatrick is seen as an ally of the good Councilmembers, the activists such as the Robins don't want to support him because they are against the good Councilmembers.
And, when there are rate increases, almost no one complains.
When a rate increase was being considered a few years ago, the CM PRESS showed up at the CMSD board meeting--they are conducted much like City Council meetings--and there were just three of us ordinary citizens (out of a population of around 115,000 Costa Mesa residents) there to protest the rate increase.
That's it, just three of us.
The board listened to the public comments of the three of us--we were all against the increase--then, one board member yelled at the CM PRESS (we yelled back) and then the board passed the rate increase.
As we wrote before, waste is a terrible thing to mind, and Jim Fittzpatrick can use some citizen support as he tries to do just that.
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