But, it seems that everyone is talking about them, and the Republicans behind the Orange Curtain are ground zero for the “movement.” I put that in quotes because I’m not sure a bunch of insane people qualify as a movement of any kind.  More like an epidemic.

Sigh.

It seems that the leaders of the crazies, Orange County lawyer Orly Taitz and Pastor Wiley Drake of Buena Park are based right here, and have a lawsuit that is currently making its way through the court systemin Santa Ana.  However, it is encouraging that some of the judges are prone to giving Ms. Taitz a good smackdown.

So now comes along two more dubious examples of OC crazy.  Judy Ahrens and John  Briscoe want Maya Angelou’s fantastic autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” banned from school libraries.  Seriously?  Way to put OC back in the Dark Ages J & J!  Their objection is to one part of the book in which Ms. Angelou describes being raped as a child.

I’ve read the book many times, and I don’t think that one passage should mean that the entire book is banned.  The work as a whole is moving and powerful, and already the book is restricted to being checked out by 8th graders only.  And listen, with all the stuff kids today watch, the scene is not as traumatizing to the “innocent children” as J & J would like you to believe.

But again, book banning? Seriously?

Please, crazies, you are giving the rest of us a bad name!

I just so happen to LOVE the fire pits.

I don’t know that I’ve used the ones in Newport as often as the ones around Huntington Beach, but my memories of them stretch back to high school, where we would all gather around and, uh, innocently have a good time.

Really, we weren’t all that bad.

But the rings have always been magnets for partygoers, as there is something sort of hypnotizing about a huge flaming pile of wood blazing at sunset and beyond.

Now we use the fire pits as a family.  My son loves nothing more than to hang out, play in the sand, have a picnic, and help his dad build the fire.

I hope that Newport doesn’t ban the use of the rings, but instead beefs up enforcement. 

And let’s hope that Huntington Beach doesn’t get any bright ideas from Newport, either.

This time the honor goes to Huntington Beach councilman Devin Dwyer, who apparently is unable to move his car in time for street sweeping and thinks he should get a pass.

There seems to be no really good reason why Mr. Dwyer can’t move his car in time, he just thinks that because he comes storming out of his home after the street sweeper has already gone by, that the city should simply make the sweeper back  up, sweep the affected area, and not give him a ticket.

He claims that if the city will not rescind his (dozen or so) tickets, he will resign.

By all means, Mr. Dwyer, do the residents of Huntington Beach a favor and do just that.

Because if you were a councilman in my city, the fact that you have a dozen or so street-sweeping tickets would make me dubious as to your capabilities to run your district.  I mean, if you can’t move your own damn car in time, how can I trust you to fix those potholes in a timely manner?

Oh, and he also thinks that the sweepers should go down the street with a loud beeping noise emanating from them.  Because, you know, the signs posted everywhere and the fact you can already hear the sweepers from two steets away isn’t good enough.

Sigh.

Do you think it’s important to maintain the traditional clothing optional status of the beach or do you think it’s time for a change?

Personally, my dream is to submit a design and win. Then I would donate all of the money to NOH8T. Ooh ooh, or I could just blow all five thousand dollars on gay porn, cigarettes, booze, dildos and medical marijuana. I might also use it to send the oh-so-dreamy Mr. Warren a complimentary Bic razor (for that nasty goatee) and a gift certificate to Aveda (to deal with that nasty hair of his). Nah… On second thought, I think I would stick with the porn.

Will you be submitting an entry? Better hurry up they’re due 1 day and 23 hours from the time-stamp on this post.

The event planners encourage you to bring signs and banners supporting the right to have a clothing optional beach. They are hoping for a substantial turnout of protestors who will strip nude and fight for their right to stay that way. They even plan on taking the issue to the Supreme Court.

As you may recall Gina and I have had (conflicting) opinions about this topic. Let’s hear what you have to say?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Will you go to the rally?

Anyway! I am just a wee bit irritated about the complete lack of visibility for the event. Maybe the organizers (listen up boys) should have reached our to their popular queer friendly community blogs (not unlike this one) and let them know it was even happening. Also, lets be real, if we’re gonna have OC Pride shouldn’t we be having it in Laguna Beach? Why Irvine? Oh well, here’s hoping there will be one next year and here’s hoping they actually, you know, tell people about it!

Did you know there was an OC Pride Picnic this year? If so, did you go?

Apparently, the city was cleaning out a sewage pipe outside their home causing 75 gallons of shit to hit the (ceiling) fan. The family is asking the city for ten thousand dollars to help them clean up the mess and restore order to their lives. This seems like a very reasonable request to me and I think the city ought to cough it up. What do you think?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Their suit has already been rejected twice.  You would think they would get the hint.  But no, they see the possible future savings as worth it.

Granted, it would indeed be a large savings.  But the problem with this whole thing is that once you have negotiated a valid contract, you shouldn’t be able to say, oops, never mind, I don’t like the terms anymore.  Which seems to be what they are doing.

I think the Supervisors are trying to capitalize on the extremely high anti-union sentiments that seem to be everywhere these days.

Why all the resentment? 

They aren’t perfect, but unions are why you get breaks, lunches, and a set-hour workday, amongst many other things. 

I see more anger directed at unions than I do at almost all CEOs, Wall Streeters, and banks combined.