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The Orange Juice Blog wishes all its readers a THOUGHTFUL Memorial Day, and drive safely out there! This is your three-day Weekend Open Thread, in which you’re invited to chime in on whatever the heck you want, within “broad bounds of decency and decorum.” This weekend our beloved Chilean-American blogger Ricardo Toro had a couple of ideas of things we could talk about, and I’m adding a couple more at the end – Vern
Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration started this weekend, and it is being noted all over the world. In the stirring words of current Disney CEO Thomas Staggs, this anniversary “is not just a celebration of the past, but of all yet to come.” We Orange County residents, and Anaheim residents especially, are in the center of the universe for a few days! (Although most foreign tourists don’t know or care – to them it’s all just the “LA area.”)
Of course we aren’t really the center of the universe, but some connected to Disney think and behave as though they were, increasingly clouding Disneyland’s image. We residents appreciate Disney’s contribution to our economy, but many of us feel that it is time for Disney to play a more positive role – for one thing, what would be so terrible about a $1 or $2 gate tax to help the local communities? The Voice of OC recently provided a handy chart detailing how Disney now meddles in local elections to prevent such reforms, and get itself other gigantic goodies as we here at the Orange Juice Blog have documented at length:
![[Click for larger, easier-to-read image]](http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/disney-election-money-chart.png)
[Click for larger, easier-to-read image]
- Cynthia Ward’s “Follow the Dark Money, part one“
- Cynthia Ward’s “Follow the Dark Money, part two“
- Greg Diamond’s “Theories of Anaheim, part one: Theories of Cause“
- Greg Diamond’s “Theories of Anaheim, part two: Theories of Solutions“
Here is a fascinating article of the innovative role played by Disney, especially in the realm of transportation. And here is a critical view of theme parks in general, including Disneyland: How America’s Theme Parks Kill Our Souls.
Meanwhile…
Saint Oscar Romero?
Intro to “Romero” from Lasallian on Vimeo.
Another celebration taking place this weekend is the beatification of El Salvador’s Monseñor Oscar Romero as a saint, the final step to being “canonized” as a saint in the Catholic Church. Traditionally saints are credited with miracles, but they can also include those who became martyrs as a result of practicing their faith. Romero was assassinated on March 24, 1980 while conducting a mass, a day after he had given a sermon in El Salvador’s Cathedral calling the soldiers to stop carrying out the government’s repression (as memorialized by the late great Raul Julia in the 1989 film Romero.)
The possible canonization of Monseñor Romero has not unanimously been accepted by the Catholic establishment, due to the controversy regarding his perceived adoption of Liberation Theology, summarized as “God’s option for the poor.” This controversy, including the role played by the USA in the Salvadoran conflict, is explored in this article.
The consequences of El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980’s spilled over other countries, and one of those consequences was massive immigration. In Orange County we have a significant presence of Salvadorans who came as refugees, and some of them were received in a sanctuary set up at the old Anaheim Unitarian Church, when it was located near the 5 freeway.
As we join our Salvadoran friends in this joyful moment of healing, let’s keep in our memories the Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and lay missioner Jean Donovan, who were raped and killed by government forces just months after the assassination of Romero. (Vern adds – A government armed and funded by OUR government, under the Reagan administration, until CISPES and other groups raised public outrage to the point of forcing the Bush administration to stop aid in – I think – 1990 or so. I did a benefit concert for them in Texas, 1989.)
And meanwhile…
(Vern here) we’ve just heard the remarkable and gladdening news that the very first nation to VOTE to LEGALIZE MARRIAGE EQUALITY … is … Catholic Ireland! Take THAT, Catholic Church with its centuries of intolerance and hypocrisy! Greg comments on Facebook: “Good show, Eire! Doubly good, in fact, as this will confuse the hell out of many American groups running their exclusionary St. Patrick’s Day parades.” And Vern is proud as a half-Irish-American, that his ancestors, old-school religious drunks as they may be, have also just become the hippest race. Erin Go Bragh!
OH. PS….
Congratulations to our friend, Dream Team activist Ricardo Muñiz, for graduating from Fullerton College last night after years of police harassment and near-deportations. And sorry you had to sit through (from what I’ve heard) such a long and shrill Loretta Sanchez commencement address! Ah, how I remember how me, Gustavo, Pedroza, and the Dream Teamers had to pressure her into sponsoring the Dream Act several years ago. (To be fair, she thought it would slow down comprehensive immigration reform, take the air out of it, and we did convince her otherwise…) ANYWAYS, congratulations, Ricardo!
Now. Open Threaders. On your mark … get set … GO!
It’s getting harder to tell if we still have any shred of representative government that follows its own rules (or else WHOSE rules?) or if what actually occurs unknown to us more resembles a trial wiretap transcript of Frat House dialogue between rogue Wall Street Traders
Since I never have too many things to do that keep me from doing other things, I decided to pursue a few nagging questions about the Trans Pacific Partnership that I think the public, or at least the members I see in the mirror while shaving, should know, excuse me, DESERVE to know, regarding the recent TPP “Fast Track” vote.
With everything “secret” about access to the details of TPP, WHO DECIDED on the “secrecy”? The White House Trade Office? The Senate ? “We Can’t tell you because it’s “secret” ? Back, again to the “Frat House” rules? (“Who DECIDED I have to shove a frozen hot dog up there?” “Look, DO you want to be IN or NOT???”) Before deciding TO start a FOI request, I have to know WHERE to start a FOI request !
There were 62(?) YES votes to grant the “Fast Track” authority. Supposedly for access to even LOOK AT the TPP, you have to sign in. Well, the question is then, from 100 Senators (and their staff?) HOW MANY SIGNATURES are on the “logbook” for dates BEFORE the vote? (For both YES and NO voters) Since no notes are allowed to be removed post -“visit”, are any of these REPEAT visits, indicating the attempt at some understanding, vs “slap the porch” tourist trips of those who could then claim to have “been there”? How LONG were the visits? Is the logbook itself “secret”?? (AND WHY??AND Upon WHOSE authority?) OR has the “Pelosi ACA rule” (Pass it to know…) been enshrined in Senate procedure?
If anyone has come across investigative articles that have already cut this path, or if you know anybody that can find this out in ten mouse clicks or three phone calls, please forward them (or this to them, respectively). I will attempt to update any (IF any) progress here. Cheers!
All I have is this medley…
This is a really, really good story on police violence:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/if-you-run-youre-done-why-cops-go-berserk-when-people-run-them
*Happy Birthday Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. It has been 60 years since you opened your doors. We got to see Walt D himself and go to dinner at Club 33 many times. We got to go to Datenight at Disneyland and spent a bunch of time dancing at the Golden Horseshoe Theater in Frontierland to the sounds of Dixieland Jazz and the sounds of greats like Art Pepper. We ate lots of Ice Cream sundaes, sodas and Root Beer Floats at Carnation on Main Street. Congratulations to all the city council of Anaheim and the OC Board of Suprevisors for not shutting it down because of noise or other dangers and deaths that have occurred throughout the years. All in all, Disneyland has done pretty good exempt for charging some military for lending their Annual Passes. At any rate, “It’s a small world after all…..It’s a small world after all…..and the first three rides we ever road on we went on were: The Autopia, The Tea Cups and Mr. Toads Wild Ride! We still miss the GE House of the future.
*Happy Memorial Day! Anyone still alive from World War I?
Winnies, we don’t say “Happy Memorial Day” any more, as you would know if you read the links above.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/military-life-issues/1873537-vets-how-do-you-feel-react.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/05/30/871328/-I-am-not-wishing-Troops-or-Veterans-a-Happy-Memorial-Day#
What do we say instead? I don’t know.
The last person “still alive” from World War 1 died in 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_last_surviving_World_War_I_veterans_by_country
But we do know nearly 10 million people DIED from “the war to end all wars.”
*As usual Chairman Vern, you are right on the mark. We love standing corrected…by the best! Meanwhile, how about this: “Say a prayer for the memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, for their families, friends and neighbors who grew to know them and love them and relish each warm genuine memory.” Made a plastic model of the SPAD that Eddie Richenbacher won his many medals with….back in 1956. Never did make a model of the Baron Von Richtophen …..three wing …..but those Iron Crosses on the wings ……were cool. Just settled for the Top Hat with the Oval Ring around it…..for Eddie’s plane. “How you gonna keep ’em down on the farm….after they’ve seen Par-reee!”?
Today, in most Christian churches, is Pentecost – memorializing when the Holy Ghost came down and gave us the courage and inspiration to speak extemporaneously, and presumably to play jazz. It’s supposed to be one of the three great Christian feast days, along with Christmas and Easter, which is maybe why it was always my favorite – it gets short shrift. Sometimes I’ve thought it should have a mascot like Santa or the Easter Bunny – but what?
As a kid I was always amused or bemused by the passage in Acts 2 that tells the story, and contains two of the bible’s greatest non sequiturs (no disrespect) : The disciples were hiding out scared in an upper room while Jews from all over the world were congregated outside; when suddenly the spirit gave them the courage to go out on the balcony and proclaim the gospel to all these crowds of people who all spoke different languages. But curiously they spoke “in tongues” in a way that everybody could understand.
Trying to explain this supernatural phenomenon, some of the crowd theorized, “Ah, those people up there are just DRUNK!” This reasonable explanation was shattered however by St Peter, who responded, “No, they COULDN’T be drunk, it’s only nine in the mornng!” So everybody believed. (It’s all here if you don’t believe me https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2) Still even as a kid I figured that being drunk does not give you the ability to speak in a language that everybody in the world can understand, nor is it impossible to be drunk at 9 in the morning!
In any case, Happy Pentecost everyone! The Holy Ghost rocks and does not discriminate!
Saw this written on a bus bench today in Fountain Valley. YEAH I KNOW… people aren’t supposed to write on bus benches – but it wasn’t obscene or gang-related, it was happy: “Prop 47 saved my life.”
And it made me glad that I supported Prop 47 so strongly (http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2014/10/liberty-and-justice-for-all-vote-yes-on-47/) and that a pretty decent majority of Californians were willing to FINALLY take a big step back from the War on Drugs and the growing Prison-Industrial Complex last year.
What were the scare stories again – our streets would be crawling with dangerous criminals? Not so much it looks like. Some reports:
http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20150508/prop-47-giving-future-back-to-low-level-felons-guest-commentary
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/05/05/lawmakers-back-away-from-major-changes-to-prop-47-criminal-justice-reforms
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-ff-pol-prop-47-20150425-story.html#page=1
We are saving hell of money, and giving a lot of harmless and good people a second chance.
HEY, REDEVELOPMENT FANS !!!
Look at this from CA Political Review, just in. (For extra credit, search on the letters
Y-O-U-N-G–K-I-M.)
http://www.capoliticalreview.com/top-stories/redevelopment-agencies-poised-for-a-comeback/?utm_source=CAPoliticalReview.com&utm_campaign=3d10dcf990-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b855a22bd3-3d10dcf990-302742077
AND, with turf removal REBATES from water Agencies ubiquitous, HOW LONG before THE OTHER SHOE DROPS ? Oh, wait, HERE it is !
http://www.capoliticalreview.com/capoliticalnewsandviews/water-agency-350-million-for-rebates-paid-for-with-a-21-rate-increase/?utm_source=CAPoliticalReview.com&utm_campaign=3d10dcf990-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b855a22bd3-3d10dcf990-302742077