Patterico's Pontifications

6/20/2007

Your Federal Government Hard at Work, Protecting Us All

Filed under: Air Security,Buffoons,General,Terrorism — Patterico @ 10:21 pm



How does the TSA handle Sensitive Security Information? With extraordinary sensitivity! They throw it away, unshredded, in public trash cans — so that any schmoe can come along and gather it up.

How reassuring.

It Gets Worse and Worse for Delgadillo

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:54 pm



Man, it just keeps getting worse and worse for L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo:

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo has enlisted members of his office staff to run personal errands and baby-sit his two young children, including taking them to museums and other local attractions.

In response to inquiries from The Times, Delgadillo confirmed through a spokesman Wednesday that he relied on his staff to attend to some family and personal needs, but he declined to give many details.

“On occasion, city staff members — some of whom the city attorney has known for many years — have watched the Delgadillos’ children on their own personal time,” according to a statement released by Delgadillo’s office. “They were personally paid by the Delgadillos, but sometimes declined payment.

I’m sure they felt no pressure.

Sources with firsthand knowledge of the arrangement . . . said staffers often attended to the city attorney’s personal needs and children during normal business hours.

I suppose they could simply be doing him a favor, but that’s not really how it sounds:

One former employee said Delgadillo and his wife would call upon secretaries and other support staff to watch his children at City Hall.

“They would sit in an office and read to them or watch them watch TV,” the ex-employee said.

Two sources said a male employee, Robbie Britton, had been called upon to do handyman chores at the Delgadillos’ house such as put together a trampoline or move weights. Britton also has picked up Delgadillo’s dry-cleaning, the sources said. Britton could not be reached for comment.

In response to those allegations, Velasquez said the weights were a birthday gift from the city attorney’s staff and “Mr. Britton delivered this staff gift to his house. Any other errands performed by Mr. Britton were on his personal time.”

What will Steve Lopez say? I can’t wait.

Those Layers of Editorial Scrutiny Come in Handy Yet Again at the L.A. Times

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 8:16 pm



The L.A. Times reports:

At least 30 suspected insurgents have been killed in two days of operations being conducted in Diyala province as part of a major thrust by U.S. and Iraqi forces to clear Al Qaeda operatives from the region, the military said today.

Soldiers conducting Operation Arrowhead Thunder also have uncovered more than 1,000 roadside bombs around the provincial capital, Baqubah, where the offensive is being conducted, Iraqi security officials said.

Operation Arrowhead what now?

I thought it was called “Operation Arrowhead Ripper” — but that’s what I get for consulting the MNF-Iraq website. (And the Washington Post, and Reuters, and just about every other news organization on the planet.)

The L.A. Times . . . where the motto is: “Close Enough!”

Thanks to Bob Owens.

Amnesty for the Gang Members!

Filed under: Crime,Immigration — Patterico @ 7:56 pm



Allah runs a picture of a banner in Santa Monica reading:

“Amnesty for MS-13” — Sen. Boxer

Click here to see it.

Hey: if the government will give illegal aliens asylum for being gang members, why not amnesty too?

Big-Time Celebrities I Never Heard Of

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 5:40 am



Ilya Somin:

Looking at Forbes’ list of the top 100 celebrities (as measured by pay and media exposure), it turns out that there are 26 of these people that I’ve never heard of, and another 10-15 whom I vaguely recollect but don’t really know what they do. If you take out the 20-30 athletes (I am a big sports fan), my ignorance of the actors and pop stars would really be evident. I suspect that the average American could identify a significantly higher percentage of the nonathlete celebrities on the list than I could.

Check out the list at the link and tell me how many of these top celebrities you have never heard of.

As for me, I had never heard of 23 people on the list. [UPDATE: Make that 24. See UPDATE below.] There was another handful whose names sounded familiar, but whose reason for fame I couldn’t specify. There were many, many more whom I’d heard of — but barely.

I list the names of the people I never heard of in the extended entry. I recognize that I’m particularly ignorant in this area, but I’m still willing to bet that you’ve never heard of some of these “celebrities” yourself.

(more…)

Talking Points Ignored by Spouse

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:17 am



In 2006, when City Attorney Rockard Delgadillo discovered that his wife was driving uninsured and unlicensed, he urged her to remedy the situation. Columnist Steve Lopez asked Delgadillo:

After discovering in 2006 that his wife had no insurance and no license, did Rocky prohibit her from driving, and if so, how did she and the kids get around?

Lopez reports the answer:

Delgadillo spokesman Nick Velasquez gave me this answer, if you can call it one: “When the city attorney learned of this, he strongly urged her to remedy the situation as soon as possible.”

And just yesterday, when City Attorney Rockard Delgadillo discovered that his wife had a nine-year-old outstanding bench warrant, what did he do? You guessed it — he urged her to remedy the situation:

Delgadillo also released a statement about the bench warrant still pending from his wife’s traffic violations, which occurred in Santa Monica.

“I was unaware that there was any outstanding warrant,” he said. “As soon as I learned about this today, I immediately urged my wife to remedy the situation, and she is working to resolve this.”

Heh.

Mr. Delgadillo, it appears that your wife is not necessarily paying your urgings too much attention.

I urge you to remedy the situation.

“Deport the Criminals First” — Part Eleven of an Ongoing Series: An Illegal Alien Drunk Driver Snuffs Out Three Human Lives in Texas

Filed under: Crime,Deport the Criminals First,General,Immigration — Patterico @ 12:03 am



[“Deport the Criminals First” is a recurring feature on this blog, highlighting crimes committed by illegal immigrants — with a special focus on repeat offenders. I argue that, instead of arresting illegal immigrants who work hard for a living, we should use our limited immigration enforcement resources to target illegal immigrants who commit crimes in this country — especially violent crimes.]

Today’s edition of “Deport the Criminals First” is posted at Hot Air, at this link. It is about three lives snuffed out by a drunk driver illegal alien with three previous DWIs on his record — but no deportations.


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