CM PRESS # 417

UPDATE ON WHITE COP KILLED BY BLACK SUSPECT WITH PHOTO OF SUSPECT
Link
We had to get this information from a local Florida newspaper as the AP (as usual) wouldn't publish the photo or even give the suspect's name.  This is typical of the AP when a suspect is Black and a victim is White.
#                 #                   #
BRITISH FAMILY IS SHRINKING AS 60 PERCENT OF BRITS SAY THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO HAVE A SECOND CHILD
Link
Meanwhile, the millions of Third World immigrants to Great Britain are having many children and are changing the gene pool to such an extent that the nation as it was just a few years ago is now in danger of extinction.
#               #                   #
WORLD'S BIGGEST FAMILY--CHINESE MAN HAS 39 WIVES AND 94 CHILDREN
Link 
#               #                 #
FOUR WHITE AMERICAN HOSTAGES (TWO FROM OC) KILLED BY BLACK SOMALI PIRATES
Link
When is the U.S. going to get serious and simply invade Somalia and wipe out the pirates?

Oh right, we have Obama in the White House so it's not going to happen.

[Frankly, the above linked news report doesn't make much sense. There's something missing. Why would the pirates kill their four hostages while negotiations were going on?  Even stupid pirates are smarter than that.

The U.S. must have been trying to board the yacht or something similar.  Our guess is that the two pirates who were killed were actually shot before the four hostages were killed. And, after the two pirates were killed, the other pirates killed the hostages. There may also have been some friendly fire that killed one or more of the hostages. Maybe later reports will give the full details and will end any speculation.]
#              #                        #
ANOTHER BLACK MAN KILLS ANOTHER  WHITE COP--THIS  KILLING WAS IN ST. PETERSBURG FLA.

Link to AP news report.   In this report on the killing of a White by a Black, and as is usual with the AP, the race of the killer and his victim are not given.

Link to local news report with description of the killer.  In this local report, the killer is identified as a Black male and a photo of the dead police officer shows he's White.

Do you think racial/ethnic descriptions are important in violent crime stories?  We do.  We think people can get lulled into dangerous situations if they are not made aware that violent crime is not an equal opportunity employer.

Was this dead White police officer a victim of societal conditioning and PC thinking that kept him from properly assessing the danger?  We'll never know.
#                     #                       #
COSTA MESA, INC.

Open for business under new management

You may have read that Costa Mesa no longer has a City Manager.

As of the last City Council meeting, the title has been dropped in favor of City Chief Executive Officer.

If you've watched the City Council since the election in November, you probably realize that this change in title is more than just window dressing.

The new Council seems to have a new, more businesslike attitude than some previous councils.

In fact, it seems that the new Council is re-inventing Costa Mesa along business lines.

That's not a bad thing in the view of many of us.

Now, a city is not like a business in many ways. We all know that.

Still, many of us share the feeling that the city government should be more businesslike, not only to get our city out of the pool of red ink it's currently in, but also to make it a nicer place.

But what about this business analogy? Does it make any sense at all? Should we think of Costa Mesa almost as though it's a corporation that we see in the non-government sector?

Well, why not? Why not think a little along these lines and entertain a little fiction if it seems that it will adjust our psychology a little to make Costa Mesa a nicer place for those of us who live here?

We can, for example, think of Costa Mesa as a corporation that owns and manages a chain of retail stores. These are the assets of the corporation. In our case, the retail stores--the assets--are our neighborhoods.

We can think of the City Council as the Board of Directors of the corporation. City employees are corporate employees.

The citizens are the shareholders--each holding one share (their vote) in the corporation.

The citizens are also the customers of the corporation, and what they buy from Costa Mesa, Inc. are services and a certain quality of life.

If the customers/shareholders don't get the quality of life they want from the corporation, they may sell their shares and go to another city that does provide them with what they want and become shareholders there.

Now, do we have some underperforming assets in our chain and are they dragging down our bottom line? If so, how do we improve them and get them to perform up to where they should perform?

A real corporation with a chain of retail stores might just close down the underperforming assets. Of course, Costa Mesa can't simply get out of a lease if we have an underperforming asset or two and open up for business down the road where things are better. No, we have to fix the asset or it will continue to damage our bottom line.

Most customers/shareholders of Costa Mesa, Inc. probably think, and rightly so, that the Mesa Verde Store, the Eastside Store, the Mesa del Mar Store and most of the other assets in the chain owned by Costa Mesa, Inc. are performing as they should be performing.

And, most might think, also rightly so, that the Westside Store is an underperforming asset. Most shareholders who have given this some serious thought want corporate to take action to make the Westside Store a performing asset.

Now, like a business, a city has to compete for customers. It has to correctly position itself in the market and it has to attract the customers that will make it a success.

Some cities position themselves for an upscale clientele while others for a more downscale clientele.

Costa Mesa, Inc.'s business plan is to position itself as a slightly less expensive version of our nearest competitor, Newport Beach, Inc.

This makes good business sense because we share the same geographic territory and can draw on the same customer base if we can offer some added value to customers.

Can we do that? Sure we can. And it begins with our Westside Store.

We need to take a hard look at the Westside Store and see how we can improve it to draw customers/shareholders there who will make it a success.

By re-branding the Westside Store as an artsy, slightly Bohemian, light evening entertainment area with sidewalk cafes, coffee shops, sports bars, trendy mom and pop one of a kind shops, and with living lofts and restaurants mixed in to the industrial area, the Westside Store can become a destination location for all of coastal Orange County and become a high performing asset for Costa Mesa, Inc.

# # #

CM PRESS # 416

WINTER SHUTDOWN OF THE LHC IS OVER AND BEAMS ARE BACK IN THE MACHINE
Link
#                    #                   #
REPORT: GADDAFI ON HIS WAY TO EXILE IN VENEZUELA
Link
#                     #              #
WEST CONFUSED OVER MIDDLE EAST EVENTS

What you are mostly not reading in the Western press is that the leaders who are falling in the Middle East are pro-Western.

Even Gaddafi in Libya has become pro-Western in recent years.

So, what is going on and where is it leading?

We think that what we're seeing may be the greatest upheaval in the Middle East since Mohammad first conquered the area with his new religion of Islam, and we think that we'll see the rise of more Islamic, much less Western, governments throughout the region.

Secularism as we know it in the West may be over in much of the Middle East.

We think there's a high probability that the Iranian model may prevail in the region. That is, we may see more day to day quasi-secular governments watched over by high ranking religious leaders who can overrule the quasi-secular leaders, but who are mostly silent except when the day to day governments violate religious principles.

Remember, there is no separation of church and state in Islam as we know it in the West. Islam is an all encompassing way of life.
#             #                        #
MAJORITY BLACK AND FAILING MEMPHIS SCHOOL DISTRICT WANTS TO DISSOLVE AND JOIN WITH MAJORITY WHITE AND SUCCEEDING ADJACENT DISTRICT THAT DOESN'T WANT TO JOIN WITH THEM
Link
There is no genuine freedom if people do not have the right to free association or free disassociation.
#                 #                     #
GADDAFI ON THE RUN
Link
#                  #                   #
BLACKS ATTACK  WHITE FOX TV NEWS CREW IN AFRICA  CALIFORNIA
Link to several videos from different angles
#                     #                    #
LIBYAN MUSLIM LEADERS ORDER FOLLOWERS TO REBEL
Link
#                   #                         #
COTTON EYE JOE
Link
#                  #                 #
COSTA MESA, INC.
A shift in thinking begins reinventing the city. We ain't making noodles anymore.

I once read something about a business leader who was asked how he would describe a top management team in his business.

He replied something like this:  I would describe a top management team as one that could, in one year, switch a factory that had been making nothing but noodles for the past thirty years to one that not only just makes bicycles, but which is also a world leader in bicycle making.
#                #                   #
Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 415

BAD IDEA: COMMENTER "NOSTRADAMUS" IN DAILY PILOT SUGGESTS SPLITTING NMUSD 
Link

This would be terrible for Costa Mesa.  We need more contact and association with Newport, not less.

If many Costa Mesa parents couldn't send their kids to Newport schools with kids who are from upwardly mobile families, they'd move out of Costa Mesa.  We can't stand to lose them.

Those who think that Newport schools are better because those schools get more money or special treatment from the NMUSD are just plain wrong.

"Better schools" simply means the STUDENTS score higher on standardized tests.  Better has nothing to do with the money, teachers, bricks, or other things that go into a school.

The money, teachers, bricks and other things in Newport Schools and Costa Mesa schools are essentially identical. The only difference is the demographics of the students.

White students in  Costa Mesa schools generally score as high on standardized tests as the White students in Newport's schools.
#               #                   #
VATICAN'S SPACE MISSION
Link
Before the Big Bang?
#                  #                        #
COSTA MESA, INC.
A better, more efficient, cheaper way to deliver goods and services to the people of Costa Mesa.
#                #                   #

CM PRESS # 414

COSTA MESA--UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
More later.
#                     #                #

CM PRESS # 413

FAMILY OF IRISH TRAVELLERS GETTING A NEW HOME IN LONDON--ITS TWELFTH IN TWELVE YEARS
Link
I've written about Irish Travellers over the years.  They have their own ideas of what's important and what isn't and this upsets settled people to no end as the latter try to get the Travellers to fit into a settled mold.

Link to an Irish Traveller website

#                  #                       #
THE NBA'S RACE PROBLEM
Link
Whites not interested in watching mostly Black teams.
#                #                        #
COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL CLOSE TO MAKING A DECISION ON DISBANDING THE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT AND HAVING THE ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY TAKE OVER

According to a Costa Mesa City press release just received by the CM PRESS, the OCFA has submitted a formal proposal to take over fire fighting for the City of Costa Mesa.  The City Council will discuss the proposal at the March 8, Study Session.

The City Council is not able to vote on the proposal at the Study Session. However, if the Council feels this may be a desirable move for the City, it will put the item on a future City Council meeting for a vote.

If it is put on a very near future City Council meeting, this is usually a strong signal that the Council is serious about going in this direction.

If the City goes this way, the present firefighters will become County employees and the OCFA will henceforth decide how best to provide fire fighting services to Costa Mesa.

The advantages for Costa Mesa are in cost savings and being able to get out from under some contract provisions that tie the City's hands as to what it can do as far as manning fire stations, etc.

The disadvantage is that the City Council will no longer be in the driver's seat.

LINK to entire proposal

#                  #                       #
COLIN POWELL'S FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF SAYS POWELL WAS MANIPULATED INTO MAKING CASE FOR WAR AGAINST IRAQ
Link
Yeah, well if the CM PRESS could see the manipulation for what it was when it was going on (we even wrote about the manipulation), why didn't you guys see it and stop the madness before all those American kids were killed for nothing in George Bush's phony war?
#               #               #
NEOCON WANTS GOP TO LOSE IN 2012
Link
Too many Whites in the GOP and Whites are evil.
#               #                       #
BLACK STUDENTS OUTRAGED AFTER WHITE STUDENT CHOSEN FOR LEADERSHIP ROLE IN BLACK STUDENT GROUP
Link
How are you liking that multiculti stuff  and diversity is our strength nonsense now?
#              #                     #

CM PRESS # 412

CM PRESS IS LOOKING FOR A SMALL, INEXPENSIVE P.U. TRUCK--A/T, 4cyl, extracab nice but not required--Toyota, Nissan, etc.

OR A SMALL SUV--A/T, 4 cyl.

Years wanted 1994--200?

Leave message w/email and/or tel number in comments if you have something. We won't post this info and will get back to you. Thanks.
#                #                #
LATEST FROM THE A3P
Link
Small political party seems to be expanding.
#                #               #
SIXTH GREAT EXTINCTION UPON US?
Link
Organisms with general adaptations rather than specific adaptations and which breed to their maximum don't usually go extinct.

In other words, those organisms that will eat just about anything and which can live just about anyplace usually survive.

Consider the cockroach as a well engineered survival organism and the bald eagle as a poorly engineered survival organism.

Maybe the U.S. has picked the wrong organism as our national symbol.
#                 #                                #

CHOCOLATE CITY BECOMING MORE VANILLA
Link to article about Washington, D.C.
#                      #                      #
H.B. FAMILY SUES THAT CITY FOR $40 MILLION IN DEATH OF BABY
Link
Family says H.B. negligent in design of crosswalk.

Hey, Costa Mesa City Government, please take notice. 

The crosswalk at Mendoza and Baker needs to be upgraded.  It's dangerous.  Cars are travelling too fast on Baker and the crosswalk should have lights in the pavement similar to the ones the city installed near Paularino School.

Also, cars are still turning left from the 7-11 Center near Coolidge on to Baker and are posing a danger to pedestrians and other vehicles.  The signage prohibiting this doesn't appear adequate.

Lastly, cars are constantly running the red light at Baker and Coolidge.  Often  there are several cars running the red light at the same time.  Something needs to be done to stop this.
#                  #                     #
GARCIA RECYCLING GONE FROM W. 19TH STREET
Link to Daily Pilot article

The only constant in the universe is change.  Change has long been needed on W. 19th Street.  The new City Council seems to be serious about bringing in that needed change.

A retail street such as W. 19th Street must be treated much like a retail shopping center.

A correct tenant mix in a retail shopping center and on a retail shopping street helps all retailers there prosper.  A poor tenant mix leads to a downward spiral.

We've said it many times before, West 19th Street has the potential to be a tax cow for Costa Mesa if it transforms into a destination street similar to 2nd Street in Belmont Shore.

And, if W. 19th Street is transformed, all the adjacent residential neighborhoods will also be transformed as upwardly mobile young people buy up the homes to be near the street.
#                  #                       #
Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 411

GOV. CHRISTIE--A RISING STAR IN THE GOP, AND FOR GOOD REASON
Link
The GOP needs many more like this guy.
#                 #                      #
GOOD COLUMN BY TOM HARMAN ON PENSIONS
Link to Daily Pilot
#                  #                        #
BLACK DALLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONER YELLS AT WHITE CITIZENS: "ALL OF YOU ARE WHITE. GO TO HELL!"
Link
Welcome to Third World America.
#                   #                         #
MOSTLY OUT OF TOWN COPS STILL TRYING TO INFLUENCE THE CITY COUNCIL?

At last night's City Council meeting, CMPD officer Jason Chamness announced that he's the new president of the Costa Mesa Police Association.  He succeeds Officer Allen Rieckhoff in that position.

Chamness then had four relatively new hire police officers stand up in the audience. Chamness told the Council a little about each officer and then said that if the Council cancels the helicopter program (which they later did), these officers would be the ones to be laid off.

You will recall that Chamness and Rieckhoff  were  active in the attempt to defeat Jim Righeimer in the last election. 

The photo above is the lighted A-Frame anti-Righeimer sign that we saw parked in front of one of the candidate forums in the last election. Chamness was with the sign.

Many citizens we've spoken to believe that the CMPD would better serve the citizens of Costa Mesa if some members of the department (who don't live in Costa Mesa and who can't vote here) were less involved in our local politics and if candidates for the City Council would stop seeking endorsements and money from the police union and the firefighters union.

Maybe the reorganization that is apparently going to be done in the CMPD will  help accomplish this.
#                      #                           #
THE COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK BUT WE THINK THEY CAN DO EVEN BETTER WITH OUR SPORTS FIELD RENTALS

Although the City Council last night moved to take in more money from the rental of our fields to sports teams, we think the Council should be more aggressive with the so-called non-profit teams.

Remember, "non-profit" just means that the organization, as an organization, doesn't make a profit.

Those who work for and lead those organizations essentially take most of the money the organization receives from the players as salaries.

If they receive more money than their present salaries call for, they simply have to give themselves higher salaries so the organization doesn't show a profit.

Meanwhile, these so-called non-profits are getting free or nearly free rent on fields in Costa Mesa while we taxpayers must pay the rent to the NMUSD.

Here's what we suggest:

The Council should consider all the costs of the City's Recreation Division. This means look at the salaries, benefits, etc.  And, it also means looking at the space and utilities the Division uses in City Hall as though the Division were a renter. 

Add those costs to the costs of the fields and then come up with a formula that will make the Recreation Division a profit center generating income to be used to buy or improve fields.

As it is now, the Recreation Division is losing money and is being propped up by taxpayers.  The new things the Council did last night will reduce the losses, but they're still not the best practices in this down economy.

THINK LIKE SUPERMARKET EXECUTIVES

Supermarket executives often think in terms of renting shelf space to products.  Everything must pay its own way.

The products that sell, earn their keep and are kept in the market.  Those products that don't sell are soon eliminated because they're not paying the rent on the shelves where they sit.

That's right, every can of peas and every jar of mustard and everything else that is in a supermarket is thought of as renting space on the shelves.  They pay for their space by being bought by customers.

We believe the Costa Mesa City Council might want to think a little along those lines as they look at right sizing government.
#                    #                            #
PETER BRIMELOW ON THE SPLC
Link
Meeting was cancelled not by SPLC but by snow (which was all white and thus obviously racist and not diverse).
#             #                    #
WHITES NOT WANTED AT TWO OHIO UNIVERSITIES

Link to A3P column

#              #                    #

COUNCIL TO HIRE CONSULTANTS FOR $ 200,000 TO HELP CITY SAVE MONEY

On a 4-1 vote, with Wendy Leece voting against the item, the City Council last night gave the new City Manager  CEO, Tom Hatch, the authority to spend up to $ 200,000 on consultants to help the city save money.

It was clear from many comments from the public that most folks who spoke didn't understand what was going on.

Let us explain: Base Realignment and Closure Commission (aka BRAC). 

When Congress wanted to close some military bases, the politicians knew that if they left it up to themselves that they'd have a difficult time closing bases that needed to be closed. No politicians would vote to close bases in their own states and they'd work  back room deals with other politicians to stop most bases from closing.

So, Congress formed  BRAC that would make the decisions and whose decisions couldn't be overruled by the politicians.  Then, when the bases were closed in various states the politicians from those states could show great outrage for the folks back home but be able to say it was the stupid BRAC that did the dirty deed.

CEO Hatch gave some vague explanations of where the $ 200,000 would go. Some would go to a look at reorganizing the CMPD, some to doing the same thing in City Hall.  The largest single amount of $ 50,000 was earmarked for updating the City's website.

Again, many people in the audience didn't seem to get it even when hints were dropped from some of the Councilmembers about having a website that was interactive so that people could do most of their business with City Hall right from their own computers instead of going to City Hall.

Clearly, such a website would allow for the elimination of jobs at City Hall. 

Thinking citizens of Costa Mesa know the Council is going in the right direction to right size our government, and they know that these decisions have to be depersonalized and treated as cold business decisions.

Most of us who have ever owned or run businesses will tell you that the hardest part of the job is laying off or firing people. 

I can tell you from my personal experience that I'm still haunted by the faces of people I had to lay off 35 years ago.  But, business is business and if you don't have the money to pay the employees, there have to be layoffs.  That's where Costa Mesa is right now.

Just be glad that you're not on the City Council and that you won't be haunted by the faces of those who you must lay off  and who may also be your friends.

When money was rolling in, previous Councils just let things get out of hand and grew government too large.

Now it's up to this new Council to set things right. And, we think the four serious Councilmembers are up to the task.   Wendy Leece, on the other hand, well...enough said.

#            #              #

Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 410

BREAKING NEWS--10:19 PM--The Costa Mesa City Council just voted to eliminate two sworn police officer positions. The vote was 4-1 with Wendy Leece (again) voting against this cost saving measure.
---------------------------------------
BREAKING NEWS---10:10 PM--The Costa Mesa City Council just voted to scrap the expensive helicopter program in Costa Mesa.  The vote was 4-1 with Wendy Leece (as we predicted), voting to keep the program.  Leece was supported by the police in the last election.
#                 #                    #
WHY THE WEST--AS IT IS NOW--CAN'T DEFEAT ISLAMISM
[Photo of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]

Too many politicians in the West put most of their emphasis on material wealth. 

 It is an ingrained belief in Washington that the U.S. can simply buy friends around the world.

This works for a while so long as we can find puppets such as the Shah of Iran and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt who will do our bidding so long as we keep paying them and who can stay in power with our behind the scenes work to keep them there.

Unfortunately, for those who think this way, there are those who don't value material wealth and who can't be bought. Islam seems to have a lot of leaders in this category.

The late Grand Ayatollah  Ruhollah Khomeini (now deceased) was one of those people. 

Remember during the Iranian revolution how American politicians called him crazy?  In fact, that's the usual way our politicians portray any leader who won't take their money. Khomeini was happy to sit on a carpet in a humble,sparsely furnished apartment after returning to Iran.

We're now seeing in Egypt and in the rest of the Middle East the emergence of even more leaders who can't be bought.

Get ready for the overuse of the terms "crazy," "nuts," "insane," as these leaders emerge and are content to live just like the common people without great wealth.
#               #                           #
DAVID HAYE RUNNING AWAY FROM THE BROTHERS KLITSCHKO
Link
Both Klitschko's want to fight Haye.
#                    #                 #
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION URGES CABLE PROVIDERS TO CARRY AL-JAZEEZRA
Link
The CM PRESS has linked to Al-Jazeera for several years.  We found that we could get a better idea of what was really going on in the Middle East from it than from most U.S. news sources.
#                #                     #
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD PLANS POLITICAL PARTY
Link
U.S. and neo-Con puppet Mubarak had held on to power by not letting any real opposition parties emerge.
#                #                       #
BIG DOINGS AT THE COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL MEETING TONIGHT
Link to agenda

Helicopter is likely to be grounded. Tom Hatch gets a contract with the City. City Manager title changes to CEO. Field use fees may change. Two cop positions to be eliminated.

Get ready for packed City Council chambers as the usual out of town employees show up with the uniform groupies to try to intimidate the Council into voting in ways that are not best for citizens who actually live here in Costa Mesa and who care about this city.

Expect Wendy Leece to vote to keep the helicopter (remember, she was supported in the last election by the out of town employees).

One note about the change of "City Manager" to "CEO."  The former title is so often used, that Mr. Hatch may spend a lot of time explaining to people that although his title is now CEO he is really a City Manager. "Really. Honest.  See, that's what it says on my business card."

We are reminded that once, so we heard, a college wanted a special degree designation instead of Phd. for those who got their doctorates in psychology and thus came up with the new title of Doctor of Psychology or Dpsy. 

Rumour has it that after they awarded just one degree with this new title they discovered that people were making fun of the one guy with the degree by calling him a Dipsy. They then changed the title back to Phd.
#               #                    #

CM PRESS # 409

AMERICAN HYPOCRISY ON DISPLAY
Link
#                   #                     #
DUI CHECKPOINT THIS WEDNESDAY ON PLACENTIA

The CMPD will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Wednesday, February 16, 2011, in the 2300 block of Placentia Avenue between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.

This is near Estancia High School.
#                #                 #
LATEST FROM THE A3P
Link
#                #                #

DO IT IN HOUSE OR FARM IT OUT ANALYSIS GOING ON NOW BY THE COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL

It is common in private industry--say in the automotive industry--to do buy it or make it charts of parts used to assemble the finished product.

We think the Costa Mesa City Council is now doing a similar thing as it looks at outsourcing some functions of government.

In the automotive industry, the car company will chart how much it will cost to make every part going into a new car versus what it would cost to have an independent contractor make the part.

Often, it is cheaper and makes more sense to have independent contractors make the parts. The car company then assembles all the parts into the finished product--a new automobile.

It seems to us that the Costa Mesa City Council is doing a similar analysis now about the services that the Costa Mesa municipal government supplies to residents.

The question to be asked in Costa Mesa is a simple one:  Is it cheaper, and will the same or better level of service be provided, if this (whatever "this" is) function is done by an outside contractor?

If the answer to that question is an unemotional and businesslike "yes," then the service should be outsourced.

Remember, the citizens of Costa Mesa don't live here to serve city employees. 

Apparently, however, some employees seem to think that we do live here to serve them.

Remember the last election when Jim Righeimer was smeared by employees who don't even live in Costa Mesa and who can't vote here? 

Some of these arrogant employees acted like they were doing us a favor by working here and getting great salaries and super benefits and they wanted us to vote for puppets who would give them  more money and more benefits even if we have to tax ourselves into the poor house.

You see, in their minds, we owe them. They think they're doing us a big favor by driving in from their homes in nicer cities to punch the time clock here in Costa Mesa.

In your personal experience have you generally found that when the government provides a service that the service is better than what could be provided by the private sector? 

Before you answer the above question, remember back to your last visit to the DMV on 19th Street. We'll guess your visit was much like ours.

Do you think if the DMV were outsourced you'd have waited in long lines just to have a bored or even rude government employee "help" you? 

By the way, and as an aside, on our last visit to the DMV, we had to circle around several times to find a parking space and then we had to stand in a long line snaking around the outside of the building and then another line when we got inside. Oh, and the government employees were wearing SEIU t-shirts.

Our trip to the DMV took more than an hour, but the business we had to conduct only took about 2 minutes.

#             #              #
Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms

BELIEVE me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose!

Thomas Moore
#                 #                        #

CM PRESS # 408

RESULTS OF LAST NIGHT'S DUI CHECKPOINT NEXT TO MOTHER'S MARKET

The Costa Mesa Police Department conducted a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Saturday, February 12, 2011,  on Newport Boulevard at Flower Street. 

3386 Vehicles through the checkpoint
429 Vehicles Screened
20 Drivers given field sobriety tests
4 DUI Suspects Arrested
17 Driver’s license investigations
18 Citations issued
11 Vehicles towed
#                   #                   #
EGYPT'S MILITARY DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT, SUSPENDS CONSTITUTION
Link
Says it will run country for six months or until elections are held.
#              #                   #

CM PRESS # 407

RON PAUL WINS CPAC PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE STRAW POLL
Link
Conservatives mostly agree that Paul is usually right on his positions.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have the looks or the mannerisms to get elected to the Oval Office. One wonders if Paul's metabolism runs a little too fast. He flits around like a Hummingbird, and this makes people nervous.
#             #                      #