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The CotoBuzz Journal, October 2011

NBC Says Americans like Obama's Jobs Bill. It argues that 10,000 flies cannot be wrong!

Public Safety..  

Testing, Testing, Testing: The 2 Million OC Alerts
Rancho Santa Margarita – According to the Orange County Sheriff’s (OCSD) department, more than two million Orange County residents will receive a call on Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. to test the County’s regional mass notification system known as AlertOC.This second annual regional test of the system will include 29 participating cities and thecounty’s unincorporated areas.

No Sharia Law In the OC for the UCI-Ten
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - An Orange County jury convicted 10 defendants today with conspiracy to disrupt a meeting and speech by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The defendants were sentenced to three years of informal probation and 56 hours of court-approved community service. Each defendant was found guilty of one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to disturb a meeting and one misdemeanor count of the disturbance of a meeting.

Tustin’s Helsing pleads guilty to 55 felony counts of grand theft
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Mark Alan Helsing was convicted yesterday of stealing $6.9 million from investors in a Ponzi and real estate fraud scheme. Helsing, 53, Tustin, pleaded guilty to 55 felony counts of grand theft, seven felony counts of filing false recorded documents, six felony counts of elder financial exploitation, and sentencing enhancements for white collar crime over $500,000 and excessive taking over $1 million and $1.3 million.

Coto de Caza’s Financial planner convicted of stealing $2.8 Million from elderly
Coto de Caza, CA - Hitomi Tsuyuki, a financial planner was convicted today of stealing approximately $2.8 million from vulnerable, elderly people, many of whom he met through his father's church. Tsuyuki, 57, pleaded guilty to 17 felony counts of the use of untrue statements in the sale of a security, 10 felony counts of theft from an elder, one felony count of grand theft, one felony count of the use of a scheme to defraud, and a sentencing enhancement for causing property damage over $2,500,000. He is expected to be sentenced to 18 years in state prison at his sentencing Oct. 28, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-35, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Some of the victims are expected to make victim impact statements at that time.

Community/Art

Glamour is Back at Saddleback with The Importance of Being Earnest
Mission Viejo, CA – The Department of Theatre Arts at Saddleback College is schedule to present Oscar Wilde’sThe Importance of Being Earnest in the McKinney Theatre on November 4-13. In an effort to forego social obligations, two friends unwittingly take on the same alias. With two Earnests causing problems, this social comedy by Oscar Wilde hilariously uses farce to satirize the shallowness of society. Referred to by Wilde as, “a trivial comedy for serious people,” The Importance of Being Earnest will leave you laughing at the comedy of mistaken identities and the unexpected turn of events.

Saddleback Celebrates Beethoven

Mission Viejo, CA – The Saddleback College Music Department is presenting a  Beethoven Celebration performed by the Saddleback College Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Branden Muresan, on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 8:00 pm in the McKinney Theatre

Bavaria Meets Vienna in Leavenworth, WA – thanks to ICCA
Leavenworth, WA – What do you get when you combine, breath-taking scenery, an outdoor musical performance to suit your taste and natural fireworks brought o you by fireflies, with a taste of Bavaria? Answer: Leavenworth, Washington!

Adult Piano Retreats - September 21 - 25th As Seattle Met writes, "Take a Piano Vacation in Leavenworth." If you would like to share your love for the piano - whether novice or intermediate, join us for this "Fitness" retreat where you will have the opportunity to work on your piano skills on a wonderful getway from the crazy world and participate in an adult-friendly, non-

AMERICAN CULTURAL DIVIDE

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 Read more on American Cultural Divide --> Click here

Public Education

Are NCLB waivers legal?
Congress is way behind on reauthorizing the basic federal aid to K-12 education law. This law, now known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), should have been dealt with in 2007, but Congress has kept funding it, without reauthorizing it. If Republicans take the White House and the U.S. Senate, what is or is not the law may be changed in a way that moves the federal role in education in a direction that is conservative or libertarian. With an alternative election outcome, the law may move in a more liberal direction. But right now the law is what it is.

The Class Size Myth- It’s time to expose the “smaller-is-better” myth
Summer is in full swing, and teachers’ unions are going on the offensive. Perhaps hoping to build on the public-relations bonanza that was California’s “State of Emergency,” union activists and their progressive allies plan to rally in Washington, D.C. and around the country later this month as part of the “Save Our Schools March and Call to Action.” The public will hear from writers like Jonathan Kozol and Diane Ravitch about the indignities schools have purportedly been forced to endure in the wake of the economic downturn. One of their key themes will be the “class-size crisis.”

In Public Education, It's Not the Money, Stupid! Its the CTA
In 2007, the Pacific Research Institute studied some of California's wealthiest districts, including Newport Beach and Capistrano, and found more than a dozen schools where 50% to 80& of students were not proficient in math at grade level

Grading the Teachers-
Ignore the union gripes - value-added teacher evaluations are a useful accountability tool and should be available for public scrutiny

Los Angeles Teachers Get Failing Grade
Report on L.A. school district urges changes in teacher hiringShare By HOWARD BLUMELos Angeles TimesPublished: Tuesday, Jun. 7, 2011 - 1:00 amLast Modified: Tuesday, Jun. 7, 2011 - 5:12 amLOS ANGELES -- School principals should be able to hire any teacher of their choosing, and displaced tenured teachers who aren't rehired elsewhere within the system should be permanently dismissed, according to a controversial new report on the Los Angeles Unified School District. The report will be presented Tuesday to the Board of Education.Read more:

You think?
Report says L.A. principals should have more authority in hiring teachersMayor Antonio Villaraigosa strongly backs suggestions in the report, whose research was paid for largely with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Who knew this was going to happen?
Who knew this was going to happen?
Los Angeles school district's health benefits help push cafeteria fund into the redHealthcare assistance for part-time cafeteria workers, approved in 2007, has absorbed a reserve fund and contributes to increased costs, district office

Los Angeles Teachers Get Failing Grade
Report on L.A. school district urges changes in teacher hiringShare By HOWARD BLUMELos Angeles TimesPublished: Tuesday, Jun. 7, 2011 - 1:00 amLast Modified: Tuesday, Jun. 7, 2011 - 5:12 amLOS ANGELES -- School principals should be able to hire any teacher of their choosing, and displaced tenured teachers who aren't rehired elsewhere within the system should be permanently dismissed, according to a controversial new report on the Los Angeles Unified School District. The report will be presented Tuesday to the Board of Education.Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/07/3682122/report-on-la-school-district-urges.html#ixzz1OiArFxlT

You think?
Report says L.A. principals should have more authority in hiring teachers Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa strongly backs suggestions in the report, whose research was paid for largely with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Who knew this was going to happen?
Who knew this was going to happen?
Los Angeles school district's health benefits help push cafeteria fund into the redHealthcare assistance for part-time cafeteria workers, approved in 2007, has absorbed a reserve fund and contributes to increased costs, district office

KPCC’s HotAir Ironic or Delusional?
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Today’s topic at KPCC’s AirTalk rhetorically asks if media outlets should strive to achieve the standard of objective journalism, then it proceeds to position Public Radio Broadcasting (NPR) AKA Parasitic Radio Broadcasting as that standard with MSNC on the left and Fox Network on the right.

Less Testing, More Entitlements - Teachers Union
L.A. teachers union seeks to halt school district initiativesUnion opposes testing of a new teacher evaluation system and wants to thwart plans to hand over South Los Angeles campuses to a charter organization.

Your Kids do not go to school, YOU go to Jail
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Today, in a first-of-its-kind in the county, law enforcement arrested five parents for allowing their children to be chronically truant despite repeated warnings from the schools and police, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s (OCDA) office

Just say NO to socialized education
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – Some six months ago we presented an argument for the privatizing of public education, in large part due to the teacher’s union leadership who has been more concerned with its self-preservation than public education. Consider that the California Teachers Association, (CTA) the most power union in California and arguably the country, own the lawmakers in Sacramento and in conjunction with the SEIU, have spent more than $500 billion over the last then years lobbying Sacramento. One reason why we have characterized the union as on of the stools in California's Triple Threat: 1) Unions, Lobbyists, Parasitic Bureaucracies.

Read more -->  Education Central

Traditional Marriage

DOMA and The Three Branches of Government According to AG Holder

Today, March 06, 2011, 10 hours ago

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Last week US Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will no longer be defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the lawsuits currently pending against it. - DOMA defines marriage in all federal laws as the union of a man and a woman, and protects the ability of states to not recognize same-sex marriages from other states, but now is under legal challenge.

Politics 

CA State Assemblyman DeVore Quits OCBOS race – goes Texan
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – The CotoBuzz Journal uncharacteristically endorsed Todd Spitzer over Chuck DeVore for a Third District Orange County Board of Supervisors seat in 2012, previously noted that the county could not lose.We expected to see Mr. DeVore battle to the last possible second with Mr. Spitzer coming on top. We were 50% right. Mr. DeVore is calling it quits and moving to join the Texas Public Policy Foundation, as Senior Visiting Scholar for Fiscal Policy.

NBC Says Americans like Obama's Jobs Bill. It argues that 10,000 flies cannot be wrong!
NBC Says Americans like Obama's Jobs Bill. It argues that 10,000 flies cannot be wrong!

Peanuts, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Democrats & Obama
President Obama in his typical Do as I say, Not as I Whine, Blamed the GOP for lack of leadership to put comprehensive immigration reform back to the table. Harry Reid and other radical left dems, including LA Mayor Villaraigoza, promised Hispanics to pass the Deam Act during the 2010 elections. Sort of like Lucy promising Charlie Brow to try and kick the ball - this time, she say, she will not pull it at the last second.What happened when the Dems controlled the White House, the House and the Senate They rammed ObamaCare and comprehensive immigration reform fell to the bottom of the list. But this time, Mr. Obama says, he will not pull the ball at the last second. And the apathetic, uninformed and or cognitive challenged Hispanics electorate, including the Mostly Left Wing and Hyphenated Media are buying it. They will also buy the bridge the President is selling in NYC!

CCSR SOBs
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Recently Hector Barajas, director of strategic communications at Revolvis, consultant for Univision and former spokesman for California gubernatorial hopeful for Meg Whitman in 2010 and Spanish media spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008 argued that the GOP should launch a Hispanic outreach, pronto!

GOP Debate and parallel Universe
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - While listening to the GOP Debate on mainstream media including NPR, I got the sense that the substantive debate was all about a GOP internal battle.Listening to the substance of the debate, it appeared to me the panel's consensus was a repudiation of Keynesian Economics, ObamaCare and Obama Foreing Policy - or perhaps this just happen to be a parallel universe.

Lt. Governor Newsom’s - an Illustration of Self-Bounded Rationality
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – Today, KNX1070’s FrankMottek interviewed California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsome starting off withthe bad job numbers in general. The Lt.Governor was not surprised saying that surprising would be for anyone to besurprised.

Parasitic Bureaucracies

Read More -->  Parasitic Bureaucracies Central

General Interest

Testing, Testing, Testing: The 2 Million OC Alerts
Rancho Santa Margarita – According to the Orange County Sheriff’s (OCSD) department, more than two million Orange County residents will receive a call on Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. to test the County’s regional mass notification system known as AlertOC.This second annual regional test of the system will include 29 participating cities and thecounty’s unincorporated areas.

NBC Says Americans like Obama's Jobs Bill. It argues that 10,000 flies cannot be wrong!
NBC Says Americans like Obama's Jobs Bill. It argues that 10,000 flies cannot be wrong!

Forbes' List of Business-Friendly countries, mirrors
Forbes' List of Business-Friendly countries, mirrors what we write about in the US Economic Freedom's Triple Constraint: ObamaCare, Cap&Trade and Crad Check:

Peanuts, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Democrats & Obama
President Obama in his typical Do as I say, Not as I Whine, Blamed the GOP for lack of leadership to put comprehensive immigration reform back to the table. Harry Reid and other radical left dems, including LA Mayor Villaraigoza, promised Hispanics to pass the Deam Act during the 2010 elections. Sort of like Lucy promising Charlie Brow to try and kick the ball - this time, she say, she will not pull it at the last second.What happened when the Dems controlled the White House, the House and the Senate They rammed ObamaCare and comprehensive immigration reform fell to the bottom of the list. But this time, Mr. Obama says, he will not pull the ball at the last second. And the apathetic, uninformed and or cognitive challenged Hispanics electorate, including the Mostly Left Wing and Hyphenated Media are buying it. They will also buy the bridge the President is selling in NYC!

ELDER ABUSE

Elder Abuse Aided and Abetted by Parasitic Bureaucracies
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – If you want to get back at your elder parents for your own shortcoming, this is your day. According to Kathleen Wilber, USC's. Mary Pickford Professor of Gerontology, recent studies suggest that more than one in seven older adults is victimized each year. Unfortunately, such studies rarely take into account what we refer to as the parasitic bureaucracy effect – this is where a bureaucracy either to cover up its own incompetence and or to increase its sphere of influence, delays, denies and ore ignores reporters requests for transparency, as described in some of the pieces summarized below.

Around  HOAs

Is CAI Feeling the Heat? Will it get out of the HOA's kitchen?
I am responding to Mr. Berding’s undated blog entry, First Thing We Do, Let’s Ban All the Bloggers! , a no-name identification of the author of the blog, namely yours-truly. Why is Mr. Berding afraid of mentioning my name? After all, I’m not an attorney. He chose to copy myCommentary rather than to provide a link to my blog, with all those other commentaries.Ok, it does appear that Mr. Berding is quite perturbed about my statements and quotes from a D & O insurance article that uses the phrases “bad faith,” “criminal intent,” and “fraudulent acts.” He’s upset that I emphasized these words in my Commentary (WordPress Blog). Yet, Berding misleads the readers of his own blog by referring to my Commentary as, “suppose this is a blog.”

Woman Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Fraudulently Control Homeowners' Associations
Las Vegas, Nevada – Angela Esparza, a Las Vegas woman pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to fraudulently gain control of a homeowners’ associations (HOA) in the Las Vegas area so that the HOAs would direct business to a certain law firm and construction company, according to Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Kevin Favreau of the FBI Las Vegas Field Office, Sheriff Doug Gillespie of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Special Agent in Charge Paul Camacho of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

Leisure World HOAs, Arrogance, Incompetence, Stupidity or Senility? What part of You Must Fork Over the Documents is not clear?
We have referred to David Lyon as the original David battling the HOA Goliath. Further, Mr. Lyon was the inspiration for the CotoBuzz Journals’ the Davy HOA Awards: Mr. Lyon’s quest for Leisure World homeowner association transparency began in January 2004 when a group of seven owners, including Carol Franz, Edmund Loritz & Co. filed some 16 suits in Small Claims Court after they were refused access to financial records. They soon were involved in an owner’s worst nightmare, indeed a David vs. Goliath battle, until the California Supreme Court Decision’s on Golden Rain Foundation vs Franz and Golden Rain Foundation vs Lyon. Or so we thought.

From $299 month  Call 949-NEW-WEBO

PCM Wins Big in Laguna Woods - Congratulations Opacity!
Laguna Woods Village, CA - According to Noni and Corkey's letter, Seems like PCM Wins - Congratulations Opacity!The ballot count for Third shows the following as the newly elected board members:

Homeowner associations are not required to create reserve accounts
QUESTION: Is there anything in the Davis-Stirling statute that requires minimum reserve funding and a professional reserve study?ANSWER: There is no requirement in the Davis-Stirling Act (DSA) (Civil Code sections 1350 to 1378) that associations create or maintain reserve accounts in any amount. The DSA does require that associations with existing reserve accounts, regardless of the amount, provide titleholders with all of the information detailed in Civil Code section 1365.The DSA also does not require a professional reserve study. Many so-called reserve study businesses work to persuade associations that they must maintain a specified dollar amount in their existing reserve accounts, but unless an association has them or wants to create them, they are not required.

How to stop board directors from acting beyond their authority
Mission Viejo, CA – The Saddleback College Music Department is presenting a Beethoven Celebration performed by the Saddleback College Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Branden Muresan, on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 8:00 pm in the McKinney Theatre.

HOA Law Firm Adams-Kessler Declares War on LA Times HOA Columnists
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - While we do not know what motivates Adams-Kessler to launch a major offensive with the obvious intent to discredit the LA Times Column written by by Stephen Glassman and Donie Vanitzian, keep in mind that Adams-Kessler almost exclusively represents the status quo, whereas the columnists make an effort to comfort the afflicted. Glassman and Vanitzian are the authors of Villa Appalling!: Destroying the Myth of Affordable Community Living (2002). Vanitzian is the author of the Thomson-West legal treatise, California Common Interest Development — Homeowner’s Guide (2006-2007) and a HOA advocate.

Grappling with rental restrictions

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LETTERS

To cheat or not to cheat, that is the question in Laguna Woods

Worshiping At The Altar of Laguna's Gail McNulty

Laguna Woods, CA - Hey Gail, I was going to write you a formal letter, but I decided to save it for a real professional instead. I want to thank you for providing me with raucous laughter and hilarious entertainment during your "Chair's Remark's" at Tuesday's United Board Meeting. Your "Act" was jam packed with so many lies , falsehoods and delusional statements, it was just incredible! Who writes your material?

Lie Detector Test for HOAs - brought to you by the IRS

Laguna Wood California- Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) added new frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Part VI of Form 990, Governance, Management, and Disclosure. This section of the Form 990 pertains to information about an organization’s governance, management, and disclosure policies. The IRS has clarified and added explanations to a number of issues that have come up the process of completing Part VI. There are twelve specific questions with explanations on the IRS' website including

Business

Forbes' List of Business-Friendly countries, mirrors
Forbes' List of Business-Friendly countries, mirrors what we write about in the US Economic Freedom's Triple Constraint: ObamaCare, Cap&Trade and Crad Check:

If your business can make it in New York, can it make it anywhere? Find out!
NEW YORK – To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the Latin Media and Entertainment Commission (LMEC) announced the Second Annual Latin Media & Entertainment Week (LMEW) will take place from Monday, October 3rd through Sunday, October 9th. Because New York City has the greatest number of Hispanic-owned business and sales than any other city in the U.S. and with buying power increasing in the Latino population, New York is playing a greater role in investment and business opportunities.