When windbags like Rush Limabugh call this economic climate “Obama’s economy,” a reminder that George W. Bush was able to avoid accepting responsibility for the declining economic forecast during the initial months of his first term because the declining economy was, in the words of the right wing media, “Clinton’s fault.”

Check out this automated site and take note of the unemployment color code; Be sure to stop it at January 2009 so you have a great idea of the economic climate President Obama inheirited.

I’m still waiting for the invisible hand of the free market to help our country recover.

We received this

Click here to view the embedded video.

Please join us for a screening of “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama”, the hit HBO documentary that premiered on November 3rd. Guest speakers are Beth Krom, candidate for the 48th Congressional District  and Bill Hedrick, candidate for the 44th Congressional District.

• When: Monday, November 23, 6:00pm – 8:30pm
• Where: Saddleback College, Student Services (Center SSC) 212 (map)

Oh, how I miss Molly Ivins.

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

That’s from a 2005 amendment to the Texas state constitution. It was passed by the “lege” as Molly used to refer to the state legislature. The amendment was then ratified by Texas voters.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky says that one needn’t  “have to have a fancy law degree to read this and understand what it plainly says.” Her interpretation is that this clause effectively “eliminates marriage in Texas.”

The intent of the amendment is to ban same-sex marriage and this clause, Section B, is intended to ban same-sex domestic partnerships and civil unions. Radnofsky is a candidate for attorney general in Texas and offered the assessment above. Of course, the entrenched power structure disagrees.

Poorly written legislation proves again that one law is immutable: The law of unintended consequences.

Read all about the story here.

California gets such a bad rap but we’ve never done anything like this, have we?

Texan Molly Ivins would have such fun with this…and enlighten us in the process.

Pat Lynch, editor-in-chief and host of “Speak Up” on womensradio.com recently interviewed Irvine’s Beth Krom, who, as most of you know, is running for Congress in the 48th District which is mostly Irvine.

Have a listen to the broadcast here.

From the article that accompanies the audio interview:

“An advocate for balanced planning, ensuring a sustainable future has been a consistent interest for Democrat Beth Krom.  She is considered to be a global thinker who works directly with her constituents and Beth sees the common threads that bind all people, advocating for the interests of seniors, children and working families.  Krom joins Speak Up! to talk about why she is running for California’s 48th Congressional District and how she believes that having a woman’s perspective will help her become elected and succeed once in office.”

Surf over here to donate, volunteer or learn more about the candidate who really should replace John Campbell in Congress and actually has a good chance of doing just that.

Dan wrote about Art Pedroza and his Orange Juice Blog posting links promoting NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association). He expected that Pedroza would eventually redirect the links somewhere else. It seems that Dan’s post has motivated Art to direct the Domain Names he purchased to new locations, probably prompted by complaints from his blog team.

To make sure we preserved the evidence of his actions, I took the following video. It is a little shakey, but you can clearly see that indeed, he promoted NAMBLA on his website.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why would anyone want to be associated with this promoter of Pederasty? I feel sorry for any candidate or elected official receiving an endorsement from Art Pedroza or Orange Juice Blog. Guilt by Association is Pedroza’s trademark.

I need to start this post with a story to set the stage to match the headline.

I own www.artpedroza.com.

I have since this summer. The site was last used to promote Art’s failed candidacy for Santa Ana City Council where he barely fended off convicted catsup thief Steve Rocco for second place.

Art Pedroza has never owned www.artpedroza.com. Never.

In posts over at the OJ blog, Art has been making fun of Tom Daly, a candidate for 4th District Board of Supervisors, for not locking up domain names related to his candidacy. Tony Bushala, Art’s BFF (at least for now) acquired Daly’s URL at Art’s suggestion, which Art revealed to us in a recent email. When Art started commenting about how dumb Daly’s campaign was, I redirected www.artpedroza.com to a post I wrote about Art last April Fool’s day — the same post that used documents Art filed as part of his council candidacy to prove the value of the OJ blog was between $2,000 and $10,000 and how OJ had only raised about $500 in ad revenue for its first five years.

The intention behind buying his name was simple. Art makes stuff up out of whole cloth and many times, doesn’t tell the truth to this own readers. I thought buying his name and having him discover it would mean he’d lay off of us or at least tell the truth. A sort of insurance policy, if you will.

Last Thursday, Art found out I own his name. And he went ballistic. Then he went on a buying spree at GoDaddy.com.

In this post on OJ, Art doesn’t even have the intellectual honesty to tell his readers the truth about the identity of a “jilted client” and who acquired domain names he crows about.

From his post:

“Trabuco also pals around with members of both political parties. In fact he sold one of his clients’ URLs to Dan Chmielewski, the editor of the failing Liberal OC blog. The move backfired though when Trabuco’s jilted client ended up buying ryangenetrabuco.com, liberalocblog.com, theliberalocblog.com, and madisonalexandrpublicrelations.com. Chmielewski owns Madison Alexander Public Relations, but he no longer owns the URL by that name! The same jilted client also bought supervisorjanetnguyen.com, councilmanandrewdo.com, leessandwichesstanton.com, claudiogallegos.com, and chrisleahprevatt.com.”

What Art fails to tell his readers is that he is the jilted client and that he acquired the domain names in question. There’s an argument to be made that Art was never Ryan’s client and Ryan was only a volunteer for Art’s failed Council campaign; clients pay their consultants and Art never paid Ryan anything. Now, you’ll have to scroll down the GoDaddy WhoIs links here, but see for yourself who exactly owns the domain names Art references in this post. For the owner of www.ryangenetrabuco.com, click here. For the owner of www.theliberalocblog.com, click here. For the owner of www.liberalocblog.com, click here. For the owner of www.madisonalexanderpublicrelations.com, click here. For the owner of www.claudiogallegos.com, click here. For the owner of www.chrisleahprevatt.com, click here. For the owner of www.leessandwichesstanton.com, click here. In an email to me, Art has also admitted to buying several domain names related to “Supervisor Janet Nguyen.” Art also seems to be buying up web properties of his perceived political enemies. The owner of www.mayormiguelpullido.com is hidden (for an extra cost) but the site is redirected to OJ for those who need a “Captain Obvious” check on who owns it.

In an email sent to me last Thursday, entitled “Venganza,” Art demanded I “cede” his URL to him and then buy the domain name associated with my business. He wants $1,000 for it on GoDaddy. He also wants $1,000 each for the domains associated with Ryan Trabuco, Chris Prevatt and Claudio Gallegos. And he wants $2,000 each for the domains associated with The Liberal OC.

Here’s what he wrote in that Thursday email I have bolded some items for emphasis:

Space Commander Pedroza

“I will be sure to tell Ryan’s future clients about how he handles their privacy and their urls. And I bought www.ryangenetrabuco.com. Pointed it to a post by Sean that mentions how Ryan is the Jannie webmaster. May point it to something juicier later.

I also purchased www.liberalocblog.com and it is now pointed to my blog. And I also bought www.theliberalocblog.com. It is amazing that you did not buy them. I could see folks typing either of those, in an attempt to find you. Well, they certainly won’t find your sad little blog now.

I also bought www.claudiogallegos.com and that too is pointing to my blog. I don’t know how much you paid to acquire Claudio but I own his ass now. I also now own www.chrisleahprevatt.com. Both are pointed to their respective OJ tags.

And I bought www.madisonalexanderpublicrelations.com. It is now pointed to our Dan C. tag.

And I bought www.supervisorjanetnguyen.com – and about a half dozen other permutations of that site. All of those are now pointing to our “Jannies” tag, which includes Paul Lucas’ posts about the Jannies.

And why stop there? I also bought www.leessandwichesstanton.com. That is pointing to our stories about their health violations. And I bought www.councilmanandrewdo.com. That is pointing to the story about his carpet-bagging.

Needless to say, Janet and Andrew are going to pay dearly for Ryan’s transgression, as are all of you.”

And there’s this from an email he sent us on Friday night, Novemeber 13th:

“Apparently Tom wasn’t the only dumb one. Or did you forget that I bought a URL with YOUR business name? And two URLs that reference your blog? And URLs with both Prevatt’s and Gallegos’ names?

Unlike Daly, in my case I was betrayed by my web guy. And Ryan is probably going to get fired. Lord knows he won’t be doing any web work for any candidates in town.

As for Daly, it was indeed my idea to buy those URLs. Tony did me the favor of actually buying them.

Fine. Dig in your heels. I am having a lot of fun with my new toys. More fun to come…

I own the URLs in question and have put them up for auction on Go Daddy. If you want to buy them, get in line.”

Art emailed an offer to swap, but in looking at the URLs he bought, no one searches for my business or the individuals by those names with the possible exception of Claudio Gallegos or Supervisor Janet Nguyen.

Sunday night, I came back from coaching a girl’s youth basketball game and decided to check up on www.madisonalexanderpublicrelations.com and discovered Art has redirected it to NAMBLA.org, the North American Man Boy Love Association which advocates sex between adult males and adolescent males. Here’s the partial string on a email between Art and I.

Dan,

I approached you in good faith with an offer to swap url’s and you responded with base threats.

You reap what you sow.

When you are ready to stop wasting my time let me know.

For the record, you had no business buying that url from Ryan and he was way off base in selling it to you. I hope you are all happy with the outcome.

Lastly, you might check to see what liberalocblog.com and theliberalocblog.com are forwarding to.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
________________________________________

From: “Dan Chmielewski”
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:01:50 -0800
To: Art PedrozaCc: Chris Prevatt; ‘Ryan Trabuco’, ‘Supervisor Janet Nguyen’
Subject: RE: Venganza

Well Art — thanks for much for the forward of www.madisonalexanderpublicrelations.com to the NAMBLA.org. I am acknowledging you’ve done this and it’s not appreciated. So much for John Seiler’s defense of you. Considering the company is named for my children, I want you to know I think you’re a pathetic hypocrite.

Art has also redirected the two domains associated with the LiberalOC to the NAMBLA site and redirected Ryan Trabuco’s domain that he owns to a gay porn site that features very young men, barely 18. John Seiler posted this defense of Art about a Red County diary that posed the question: Does Art Pedroza have a job?

Seiler wrote the following: The anonymous “Orange Juice Watch” blogger — why can’t he reveal his name? — attacks Art for Art’s private business, instead of his politics (which is fair game). Then Mr. Anonymous Chicken attacks local businessman Tony Bushala. In comments. Art responded: It is ironic that the Red County publisher, Chip Hanlon, came on here this Sunday to rip us and call us a podunk blog. And now his blog has an entire diary devoted to attacking not our politics but rather our personal lives.

I emailed Seiler a few days ago to ask him what he thought of Art going after my business instead of my politics. Previous emails to Seiler pointing out examples of Art going after people for what they do for a living were met with the same reply from Seiler that says, “I’m retired.” There was no reply from Seiler to my lastest email. Mind you, my business is named for my children which should make what Art did with my business name all the more reprehensible to Seiler. Silence is what I have back from John.

Thanks for staying with me this long.

Now while we have more than proven who owns the domain names listed, we have spent the past few days asking friends to click through the links from their home PCs, since some of these sites are not safe for work, simply to verify that they saw what we saw. I’ll ask them to comment on this post to verify that what I wrote today is true because I’m sure Art will either redirect the URLs somewhere else once he knows this post is up (oh, and we have video of the redirects….). And there’s a strong chance, he’ll redirect them somewhere worse. My redirect on www.artpedroza.com will remain to the April Fool’s Day post I wrote about Art. It sends more hits back to us and it’s harmless enough.

Art’s threats weren’t limited to email; I have copies of multiple text messages he sent that carry the “you’ll be sorry” theme. There’s also been a series of phone calls to Janet Nguyen’s office with the attempt to have Ryan Trabcuo fired. I know the entire Santa Ana city council received an email about the matter of Ryan Trabcuo selling a web domain. So much for not going after what people do for a living instead of just their politics.

So this brings me back to my headline; Art and the OJ crew have been high fiving each other about the acquired domains and the redirects to NAMBLA and Gay Porn. So I have to ask, why is Orange County’s self-proclaimed top political blog promoting pederasty on web domains it owns? Why is the OJ blog promoting a Gay Porn site on domain name owned by Art Pedroza?

The NAMBLA site references concepts that seem to match Art’s new found Libertarianism. Why he and the OJ blog would promote a site in multiple web domains after speaking out about the outing of sex abuse victims of the OC clergy seems hypocritical. So if someone should write in comments on any political blog in Orange County that “Art Pedroza promotes gay porn and sex between men and underage boys on web domains he owns” that would be completely accurate. If Art changes his redirects, the third word in that sentence becomes “promoted.”

Reading the comments from the Orange Juice Blog team regarding this situation reveals the level of integrity of that entire group. They have been having a blast laughing about the “jilted client’s” actions, while knowing full well that they are cheering Art on. What they forget is that by the Art Pedroza standard of “guilt by association,” they are all responsible for promoting Pederasty and Gay Porn.

So that’s what is really going on over at the OrangeJuiceBlog? Please be aware that any link you click over there could take you to a website you may not want to be associated with.

I have to wonder what goes on in the Pedroza household when his wife isn’t home? What sort of websites might his children be exposed to? And I wonder what sort of images one could find on his computer if they looked?

The following video was sent to us by Mike Matsuda, Trustee of the North Orange County Community College District. His son Ethan Matsuda is a pretty smart kid and Mike and his wife Susie have taught Ethan to speak his mind.

Eleven year old Ethan tells the president about the horrific cuts to public education and how going to war in Afghanistan will drain resources away from investing in America’s children. As Ethan says, “There’s nothing left to cut, Mr. President.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Assembly District #72 candidate Democrat John MacMurray gratefully thanked a crowd of supporters gathered at his home last night by acknowledging the importance of their energized get-out-the-vote effort to his extremely strong showing against a host of well-known North Orange County Republicans in yesterday’s special election.

And, indeed, because of Democratic enthusiasm for his candidacy, MacMurray garnered only 3,800 votes less than longtime Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, despite being outspent by Norby by more than a 10-to-1 ratio.

In fact, Supervisor Norby must be privately disappointed this morning that, after spending $197,000 ($14.03 per vote!), the longtime local politico could muster only 37% of the vote, low enough to force Norby to face MacMurray in a January 12, 2010 run-off election. (In contrast, MacMurray spent only $1.86 per vote, an statistic reflective of the strength of his volunteer effort.)

MacMurray has an uphill battle, though, to win the January 12, 2010 contest: Chris Norby has strong name recognition throughout Orange County. And, of course, the district’s registered voter base is heavily Republican.

And Norby has no qualms about sleazy mud-slinging campaigning, as proven by his stunningly trashy tactics against Republican opponent Linda Ackerman.

Republican Norby commented last night that he expects to pick up more Republican votes within the district, presumably from the 7,400 voters who cast their lots for Ackerman yesterday. But given the bad blood between these two candidates and camps, TheLiberalOC.com wonders if Ackerman supporters will go to the polls for Norby on January 12th.

Given the energy and excitement of MacMurray supporters, North Orange County frustrations with Republican leadership in A.D. #72, and the intense bitterness between Republican rivals Norby and Ackerman, TheLiberalOC.com believes John MacMurray has a genuine chance to surprise the pundits, and become North Orange County’s first Democratic state Assemblyman in memory. Mark my words!

Another blog is reporting a rumor that attorney and businessman Al Amezcua, who recently announced his candidacy to unseat Miguel Pulido as mayor of Santa Ana, has engaged the services of political consultant Parke Skelton.

If the rumor turns out to be true, this is indeed good news for Amezcua, his supporters and Santa Ana. Though we’ve not seen one another in a few years, I know Mr. Skelton. I’ve volunteered on several campaigns he’s run earlier in his career.

Maybe he’s mellowed with time but here’s how I remember him. He’s a good leftie. He’s intelligent and capable. He takes no crap from anyone. He’s aggressive. He’s relentless. He hates to lose.

Previous Skelton campaigns include Antonio Villaraigosa, Hilda Solis and Karen Bass. Harold Myerson has called Skelton “possibly the most principled political consultant in the business.”

If indeed Skelton has signed on to Amezcua’s campaign, it signals that Amezcua is totally serious about winning and that the race will, at the least, be very, very interesting.

Stay tuned, at this point, it’s still merely a rumor.

Note to other blogger: Spelling does count. There’s an “E” at the end of Parke Skelton’s first name.

Photo Credit: Lou Delgado