March with the Democrats at the Surf City Fourth of July Parade!

What do you think of when you think "Fourth of July"? The American flag, perhaps? Fireworks? Independence? Apple pie? Ice cream? The beach? A parade? Well, what if I told you that you can experience all of that AND MORE on Wednesday?!

Yes, my friends, this Wednesday is July 4th. And yes, this means it's time for the Huntington Beach Fourth of July Parade, THE LARGEST INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER! And guess what? The Democratic Party of Orange County will once again have a fantastic float in the parade! Oh yes, and our fabulous Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez will be marching with us! Oh yes, and we need more people to march with us in the parade. Come on now, don't YOU want to be a part of the parade?

So would YOU like to be a part of this world-famous All-American celebration? Follow me after the flip for more...

(Cross-posted at Trash Dirty Gary and Obama OC)

For the past 28 years, OC Democrats have been a part of this VERY OC tradition. We've had local elected officials like Former State Senator Joe Dunn and current State Senator Lou Correa join us in the parade. We always have the Young Democrats dancing on the float. Oh yes, and how about that float? Live music. Festive decorations. The American Spirit. What more could you possibly want?

So why NOT go? Join in on the fun. Just remember to COME EARLY TO FIND PARKING. Here are some details on what will be happening, courtesy of The Liberal OC:

The parade begins at 10:00 A.M. and ends at 12:30 P.M. Democrats begin gathering at 7:30 A.M. to march. We will have shuttle cars to take you to the staging area or to the handicap cheering section.

Shuttle Starts: 7:00 A.M.
Last Shuttle: 9:00 A.M.

Please come early, the traffic gets very busy and we cannot transport everyone at the last minute.

For parking and shuttling, drive to Seacliff Village, located at Goldenwest and Yorktown. Look for the Del Taco fast food restaurant. Then look for the signs saying “Democratic Parking.”

Oh yes, and before I forget, we should all remember that all marchers with the Democratic Party of Orange County entry must wear red T-shirts or polo shirts and blue jean or dark/navy blue shorts or pants. Get it? Got it? Good.

Well, I'm picking out my red shirt and blue jean shorts. How about you? The Fourth of July Parade may only be once a year, but it's something that give us great memories to last us all year long. Why not be a part of these great memories?

To participate, simply show up!

If you have any questions, please contact Caren Bolinger at 310-293-8320 or email her at carenbolinger@yahoo.com

: )

They demand a role call. We demand a recall.

It is easy to tell when someone in Congress wants to make a political statement regarding a particular piece of legislation, or the procedures to enact that legislation. They demand a role call vote so that they can point to their vote in pride and opposing votes in derision.

Such is the point of Rep. Flake's demand for a recorded vote yesterday on his amendment to HR 2771 - a $3.1 billion appropriations bill that funds the legislative branch of government. Congressman Crazy voted "yes" on this amendment, which reduces the amount used to fund the printing of copies of the Congressional Record by $3.2 million. Score one for Republican fiscal responsibility. Score another one for Republican hypocrisy.

According to comments reported in the Congressional Record (H6994) this is or is not about what it purports to concern.

Mr. Flake. Let me point out, just as with any program that is not an entitlement, everything is subject to appropriation. The Government Printing Office is not bound, no pun intended, to print as many copies as they think they need. They can print as many as they have money for. We were very careful in taking $3.2 million, to take only the printing costs for half of the number that are printed already. I think that is reasonable.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Chair, I really believe that we should approach this in the appropriate way. If we want to change the statute and go to electronic production of the Congressional Record, that is what we should do. We should not simply hamstring the GPO by requiring them to print a Congressional Record and not ensuring they have adequate funds to do that, when they are already in a deficit situation.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment.

What a waste of time over a trivial matter. That $3.2 million pales in comparison the to amounts that the Republicans saved by not adequately funding trauma care for Iraq vets. Yes, Rohrabacher voted to save money there also.

Make that score 2 for hypocrisy.

Republicans war on aliens takes a direct hit.

What is Congressman Crazy going to do with all of his Republican supporters? I suggest that they should start vetting their party leadership with Homeland Security.

While Rohrabacher is whipping up a frenzy about the two Border Agents who shoot people in the back, we find that the California Republican Party leadership likes to hire Aliens, those who come to the US to take jobs that no one else would do.

This entire debacle starts with the revelation that California Republican Party could not find a reliable political consultant in the entire State and had to hire a Canadian names Chris Matthews. No, it is not the Hardball guy.

Of course, this was reported by the "biased" liberal San Francisco Chronicle. That is opposed to the "not biased" Orange County Register, whose lack of bias decided that there is no story here. But, wait a minute, the California Republican Party hit back. According to the political blog at the Chronicle the response came quickly.

"The press is trying to portray Republicans as racist (see the "brown menace" quote in the story) when we discuss illegal immigration," Michael Kamburowski, the party's recently hired chief operating officer, said in a letter to the state party's executive board, "yet when we promote individuals who have displayed great skills but who just happen to hail from another country, we are pegged as hypocrites."

That was a big mistake, because Kamburowski is himself, not from the good ol' U S of A. He is in fact, an Australian. He is, in fact, here illegally, having been ordered deported in 2001. He is, in fact another hypocrite. Even Michelle Malkin leads her story with "What a feaking mess." That seems to sum up the California Republican Party right now.

So, what does Congressman Crazy do? He continues his crusade to free Border Agents Ramos and Compean. Lets all ask the Daily Pilot why one is a story and the other is not. Let's ask the OC Register why they don't consider the resignation of the Chief Operating Officer for the California Republican Party to be a story worth covering.

Malkin was right. What a freaking mess.

A new member of the Crazy Dana Fan Club

It is not often that I post an entire segment from somewhere else. There are copyright issues and all of that, but I think that all of our readers would love these admittedly editorial observations from the Long Beach District Weekly. So, here's the full story regarding our favorite congressman and I hope I got all the bold type in the right place.

Sat | Jun 16 I’ve heard that one of the indicators of a serial killer is that they torture small animals as a child. I’ve also heard that you can tell someone is crazy when they become delusional. Torture? Delusions? This must be about Dana Rohrabacher. And yes, this is about Congressman Crazy, who today leads a rally of outraged citizens in Huntington Beach protesting the jail sentence of two immigration officers who shot a guy in the back, then tried to cover it up, and then claimed they did it because he was an illegal alien, which they didn’t know when they shot him. Okay, “rally” is a little bit of a stretch. Basically, it was a sad collection of elderly people who get pissed off listening to talk radio hunched over and holding some homemade signs that made this look like the worst church car wash ever. As for delusions, Rohrabacher says at the rally, “the President of the United States, if they want to be President of the United States, is going to . . . have to get my support,” adding that he would journey far to the land of the paisley, where he would do battle against the forces of the pale wizard and his army of rainbow-flavored minions.

Ok, tell us how you really feel. What do you expect from a guy who thinks that it is OK for the US to kidnap and torture just anyone with the same name as a possible terrorist just so that we make sure that we get the bad guy. It is like the do not fly list has a block for anyone named Robert Johnson. Hope Crazy Dana doesn't want to question all the Robert Johnson's in the world to get to the real one.

Is Crazy Dana Pro-Criminal?

Did you hear? Crazy Dana won't endorse ANY Presidential Candidate who doesn't pardon convicted Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
He feels that an injustice has been committed.

Now maybe there actually was an injustice. After all, they did shoot a guy who was entering the nation illegally. And yes, this guy was smuggling marijuana across the border.

But still, this guy was unarmed. This was a clear violation of Border Patrol policy, as well as federal law. Maybe Dan's right at The Liberal OC.

OK, so we have a tough situation here all around. But the United States is a nation of laws and the Bill of Rights applies to everyone in this country even if you are here illegally. The border agents violated department policy and the law. They committed a crime against a person who also committed a crime by entering the country illegally. But as my mom always said, two wrongs don’t make a right.


So why is Rep. Rohrabacher so pro-criminal? [...] Is Dana’s endorsement that critical?

Good question.

Earmarks again?

We have to give Dana high marks for perseverance and loyalty to friends like Duncan Hunter. Sadly, we once again have to give him low marks for his understanding of science or even for his adherence to the great Republican Virtue of controlling government spending.

The case in point is a sci-fi aircraft from Dupont Aerospace. In the last 19+ years the DP-2, a VTOL jet rumored to be able to fly a squad of soldiers and a humvee some 5000 miles at 700 miles per hours. So far, after burning through some $63 million in earmarked spending for friends of Hunter and Rohrabacher, the plane has yet to be able to get more than a couple of feet off the ground before coming back down "hard".

John Eney is an aerospace engineer who headed up the aircraft conceptual design group at the Naval Air Development Center Naval Air Systems Command. He led an onsite review of the DP-2 program in 1999.

"It's a pipe dream," he said.

In order to have the promised VTOL capabilities, the aircraft directs jet exhaust toward the ground. Eney says this would incinerate troops rappelling out of the aircraft.

Hunter "failed to understand the basic physics of this situation," he said.

So, where is the 46th free thinking Congressman in all of this?

California Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican member of the House Science and Technology Committee, hailed duPont president Tony duPont as "a respected engineer" and "a maverick."

"When we come to the point where we don't (give) mavericks and free thinkers the chance to prove their theories, we're putting a great limitation on what our potential is for the future," said Rohrabacher.

Well, I guess Dana doesn't need to understand physics to be a Congressman. But, he should surely be smart enough to hire some staff who can research a problem and get him the facts. Mission Failed. This is about as bright as his dinosaur flatulence remarks regarding global warming.

If Dana wants to be known as a real free thinking radical standing up for what is right, maybe he should start by insisting the any project he supports has some basis in sound science before spending another $63 Million on a project that the military doesn't even want.

Is this being a good Republican? Is this being a good, don't like government waste Libertarian? Sorry, I forgot. Dana quit being a Libertarian when he got a real job as a speech writer. In any case, it isn't like he is doing what even the Republicans in his district say they want.

The best thing that the Republicans could do to keep this district is to find someone else to run, someone who practices what Republicans preach. Let Dana stay at home and play with the triplets. He can't do as much harm there.

Dana has strange friends

One of the games played in Washington is that of taking every advantage of doing things that get your name mentioned in public. Dana has made an interesting decision in that regard.

Tomorrow, June 12, Dana will be speaking at the unveiling of a new monument in Washington. This one, the Memorial to the Victims of Communism, appears to be motivated by some flash of patriotic fervor. I wonder, though, what political advantages got Dana and Tom Lantos to share the speaking duty.

We all know Lantos. He is the Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Normally, Lantos often keeps his mouth shut unless it is about Israel, where some have considered him the Congressional voice of Mossad.

That must play well with Dana and his Taliban friends.

The second unusual thing is that the only organization that thought this event was newsworthy seemed to be World Net Daily. You may not be familiar with World Net Daily, but it's editor is Joseph Farah, once known as the ghost writer of Richard Pombo's only book and the man who filed the 1990's trumped up ethics charges against John Garamendi.

Actually, knowing Farah's past, I might ask what Lantos is doing in the story. I know that answer to that. He has been called the "best friend that Israel ever had."

Why then, did Dana jump in with the enemies of his friends. Well, it is all about China. Dana is a big supporter of Taiwan and this is a chance to embarrass the Communist China. And Communist China is another frequent target of Farah and his World Net Daily. Dana is also a long time supporter of helping to arm Hmong rebels to topple the Communist regime in Laos.

Oh, yes, it is all about politics and any news event is a good thing for a politician. That is especially true when you can be against something rather than having to be for anything. Maybe, if Dana and Tom can get on first name basis, they might convince Ohlmert and Abbas to try the same thing. However, I doubt that the subject will come up. Both Congressmen are to politically sophisticated to allow doing something to get in the way of a photo op.

If there is one thing you can count on tomorrow, it will be Rohrabacher's propensity to open his mouth and insert his foot. There is enough going on at this event that he will be sure to push someone's hot button. Farah said that Bush had been invited to the event. Even he isn't dumb enough to show up on that stage.

Crazy Dana's Wrong, Even When He's Right

There's something wrong with the immigration bill in the US Senate. We already know that. But what's the problem? Is it this? (From Daily Pilot)

"The president insists on defining amnesty in a way that is contrary to the way everybody else defines that word," he said. "Every time he does, he loses credibility."

Calling himself a strong supporter of Bush throughout his administration, Rohrabacher said that this time he was personally offended by Bush's suggestions that the bill was good for America. He repeatedly referred to it as the "Bush-Kennedy" bill, linking Bush to Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, and he blamed the bill on an "unholy coalition between the big-business element of the Republican Party and the liberal left."

Amnesty? "Bush-Kennedy"? Huh? Maybe Dana Rohrabacher is taking the right position on this bill, but he's doing it for the completely wrong reason. So why is Dana wrong, even when he's right? Follow me down below for more...

(Cross-posted at Calitics)

So why again does Dana Rohrabacher oppose this bill? Oh yes, that's right...

The bill has no teeth in its enforcement provisions and would only embolden people to sneak across borders to get government benefits, Rohrabacher said.

"Wake up America," he said. "Our country is being stolen from us. Our country is being invaded. The Senate legislation will only accelerate this invasion."

Dana then went on to denounce the "Z-visa" provision in this bill, which would charge the undocumented immigrants already here $1,000 for some legal status. He called that "amnesty that would give millions of lawbreakers access to government programs like Social Security", and he just had to condemn the "illegal immigrants cutting the line in front of legal immigrants". And of course, he attacked a proposed guest worker program and a points system as this would give these workers a chance to come here legally.

And you know what? Crazy Dana's actually doing the right thing in opposing this legislation. He's just doing it for the wrong reason.

Dana doesn't want to give these "lawbreakers" access to programs like Social Security, even once they become legal. But doesn't this undermine the whole goal of comprehensive immigration reform? This would take away an incentive for people to come out of the shadows, and get back in line to come here legally. And wait, don't they already pay into Social Security? Why can't they receive the Social Security that they've already paid into, especially once they receive legal status?

And amnesty? How does this bill provide "amnesty"? Where is the "amnesty" in this bill? These immigrant workers would have to pay fines. They would have to be split from their families in many instances. They would have to leave after eight years to their nation of origin, and go through a long and complicated process to try to return. Now I understand that these people should have to go to back into line and pay some fine in order to earn legal status. However, do they really need to be kicked out after eight years? And how the heck is that even enforceable? And do they need to be split from their families, and from their communities? Is this really "amnesty"?

Now Dana's right about the guest worker program being a raw deal. Remember what I said yesterday?

This bill would also create a new underclass of immigrant workers. Under the new guest worker program, immigrant workers can only stay here temporarily, and then just return home. Meanwhile under this new "merit based" system of immigration, people would be admitted into this nation based on how "economically valuable" they would be. This really only serves the American corporations that want continued cheap labor. Under the new law, they can get their "disposable labor force" that can be discarded and replaced every few years.

Now maybe a guest worker program would work. However, the NILC has it right when they say "that temporary workers who establish ties here must have a realistic path to permanent residence and true job portability that allows them to change employers freely if they are mistreated". This proposed guest worker program in the bill does not have this, but only provides for a temporary labor force that American corporations can dispose of and replace at their will. Barbara Boxer was right when she said this would hurt American workers. But you know what? It would hurt these immigrant workers, too.

But anyways, back to Crazy Dana. He's doing the right thing, but it's really for the wrong reason. He's opposing this sham that's supposedly "comprehensive immigration reform", but he's opposing it because he wants a more cumbersome, punitive, and downright impractical like that disastrous HR 4437 that the US House passed in 2005. We don't need that. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We just need comprehensive immigration reform that actually works for these immigrants, and works for American workers. It's just too bad that Dana Rohrabacher isn't interested in real reform that's actually practical.