The OC Disorder

So the other day I was driving around my home town and all of a sudden it hit me…

I REALLY HATE A LOT ABOUT ORANGE COUNTY!!!

Don’t get me wrong. There is a lot of redeeming values to Orange County, which is probably why I haven’t abandoned ship quite yet, but as I was sitting at a four-way-stop and almost witnessed four different accidents because of rude or just plain dumb Orange County drivers I got mad. Real Mad. And I started thinking about of the things like dumb drivers that I hate.

Well I decided to start a sort of “series” where I rant about these things and I will try to remember and update you with the things that have caught my attention.

So without further delay here is the first of many THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (Orange County):

#1 Insane Soccer Moms:

Now maybe this is more of a problem out here where I live in Yorba Linda, but I’m pretty sure we’ve all had the pleasure of witnessing or coming across one of these lovely ladies menacing around in their mini vans, SUVs, or ridiculously lifted trucks wreaking havoc on and off the road just so that they can get little Jimmy and Suzie to soccer practice, tae kwon do, etc.

I’m sure these ladies have a pretty hard life trying to make their children happy, but I’d rather not be disrespected or almost killed on a daily basis by them. I’m also a fond believer of adults acting like adults in situations where there may be a conflict.

You might be reading this thinking “Sean… aren’t you being a little dramatic about these women?”

To which my answer would be…  No. You are stupid and I am of course far superior and right when it comes to this subject matter.

Don’t believe me that these women suck? Well how about these little gems I found:

Lady Calls 911 Over Wrong Burger King Order (Laguna Niguel)

Woman A can’t park her SUV and Woman B confronts her about it. (Google Building, Irvine)

It’s sad to think that these women are raising the future of the world, our country, and this county…

Looks like the Mayans were right… the world is going to end very very soon.

Today, Pres. Obama signed his first piece of legislation, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  Who’s Lily Ledbetter and what happened?

Ledbetter worked over 20 years for Goodyear Tires before finding out she was getting paid less than her male colleagues.  She sued Goodyear.  In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that she did not file her suit within the required statute of limitations, which is 180 days (6 months) after the employer’s first decision to discriminate.  As a result, she lost her case.

Congressional Democrats worked to revise the law, which John McCain opposed in 2008.  Finally, the bill passed and Obama signed it into law.  I enjoyed Obama’s remarks about the bill.  I think he had a message to conservatives when he reminded them that helping women is helping families too.  Democrats=family values!

The City of Anaheim lost another battle in its ongoing war with Arte Moreno and the Angels organization. They failed in their appeal of an earlier jury decision that sided with the Angels with regards to the naming of the team. Long story short, Anaheim doesn’t want a team called Los Angeles in their city while Arte worships at the altar of the almighty dollar. Speaking of which, both sides have spent nearly twelve million dollars on these legal proceedings. Hmmm, I wonder how that money could’ve have been better spent. Budget crisis? Landing a free agent?

But this isn’t about that story, rather the story, or comments, within the story. Once again, several readers of The Orange County Register feel the need to comment on a team they claim to have stopped supporting, although the millions of fans who pour off of the 57 year after year must make Arte beam. What must make him cringe, though, are the ignorant fans who feel the need to bring in his Mexican American heritage, although they conveniently forget the American part, the part of him that was born in Tucson, Arizona and fought in the Vietnam War. For some reason, they feel it necessary to focus on the Mexican part and make outrageous claims such as renaming the team after Tijuana or having Arte deported.

To these so called fans, I say get fucked. Arte’s heritage has no relevance to the argument at hand. All it does is expose your own bigotry. As a fellow perpetual foreigner in your eyes, I think I can say that even if he did change the name back to something you found more acceptable, Arte would not want your hateful dollars.

And finally, where are all the Orange County conservatives/libertarians/free marketers who just might own one or two suites at the Big A? Where’s the outrage over the People’s Republic of Anaheim impeding Arte’s business venture? Are you okay with hiding in your capitalist gated communities while these socialists try to tear down everything you hold dear?

The proposed “Foothill South” extension of the 241 Toll Road was handed a defeat by the U.S. Commerce Department today, which rejected the appeal of the Coastal Commission’s earlier decision denying approval of the road.

“Federal officials could only override the state’s decision if the project had no alternatives or was necessary to national security, and the announcement this morning said neither of those criteria was met.”

This is good news for anybody who wants to preserve state parks and endangered species, and doesn’t care too much about helping private housing developers.

I’m usually all for improvements to relieve congestion, but this project was idiocy at best. Taking a look at the route, it’s pretty clear that few people would take advantage of the road for their daily drive (nobody that I know commutes between the Oceanside area and Mission Viejo/Foothill Ranch). Primarily, the road was needed so developers could pursue a ton of very badly thought-out gated communities in the open space the road would go through.

So, essentially it was meant to relieve congestion that did not yet exist, all the while preventing future upgrades of Interstate 5 because of the non-complete clause that would have been signed by CalTrans. Considering the current financial crisis, those housing projects would have probably been delayed anyway and we would have ended up the proud recipients of a road to nowhere.

Highways that don’t need tax money sure sound great, but when you realize that they’re being built for the super rich in the first place, $4 per trip sounds less and less like a bargain. Chalk a (very) rare win up to the Bush administration for making the right call here.

LA Times: Anaheim officer mistakenly kills innocent man

It’s easy for a lot of people reading about this tragedy, especially young people, to say “Fuck the police.”  But this officer clearly didn’t follow the routine procedures when suspecting a person has a weapon.  Shoot first, ask later?  Yeah, no way.  This isn’t a systemic problem in Anaheim.  So I urge people don’t blame the entire police force.  Blame the single cop, who either 1) had an itchy trigger finger or 2) really, really scared for his life.

I write this because I’ve really respect police officers. I actually look up to them since I was little and I also got a chance to work with one when I was tour director at Pacific Crest.  He was one of our auxiliary drivers and during our long drives to the show site, he would talk about the craziest shit that would go on while working the beat.  Really nice guy, had two sons in the corps, and doesn’t have a bone to pick.  I never got into the whole calling officers “pigs” and crap like that.  Of course, there’s always a few that are assholes and that’s the case for any profession…teachers, doctors (House?).  So yeah, don’t loop all officers into the asshole category.

The good commenters at The OC Register give me some hope. They have no problem calling bullshit on this lady, who left a safe with half a million dollars worth of jewelry in an unlocked Bentley parked in her garage. Oh, and she forgot to close the garage door because she was delirious after returning home from a lovely jaunt to Paris. Guess what happened to all the bling? Gone! Apparently not even the gates of her gated community could keep out the ghetto hoodrats. At least they didn’t murder her kids or something. They just took her ice, which she equates with being raped. I wish Newport’s finest the best of luck in solving this tool’s case.

I haven’t posted a legal related article since the Second Coming of OCD and I thought this topic would be interesting to you guys given most of our positions when it comes to money and debt. As usual, all the relevant disclaimers apply. In particular, this article and its accompanying comments are not legal advice. In no way is it meant to be. It is only meant to be descriptive and educational in nature. Because of that, some of it may be wrong. If you are looking for real legal advice, please consult an attorney in your respective jurisdiction. With all of that out of the way, what do you own?
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