Get It Straight

My first blog! Yay!

I decided to make a blog for one reason - to provide people with information that is ACCURATE! Recently, I was forwarded an article written by another blogger that, quite frankly, made me furious. http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com/2009/10/does-bob-huff-love-ed-roski-too-much.html and http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com/2009/10/huffing-puffing.html. Apparently to him LA Times, OC Register, and SGV Tribune are reliable sources of information, especially information pertaining to politics. But there are those of us, myself included, that know news media cannot be trusted for information because it is often biased, it does not lay down all the facts or is just flat out WRONG. What really pisses me off is that he posts these articles that he writes for others to read, injects his mundane opinions, and this misinformation spreads like a disease.

So here we go - I'm going to pick apart his articles (actually there isn't much to his articles - he just copy and pastes from online news articles then writes 5 words about what he thinks - I figure this is because he doesn't have enough brain power to come up with something substantial to write himself) and give YOU the facts!

"And we certainly can't see any conflict of interest whatsoever in the Huffster voting to further the empire of Ed Roski now, right? Naw, not one little bit."

Here's a little run down of this guys beef with Huff and Roski.
-Huff is a CA State Senator and his wife Mei Mei works for Majestic Realty.
-The owner of Majestic Realty, Ed Roski, has an interest in building an NFL stadium in the City of Industry which is located in Huff's senate district.
-Ed Roski has contributed money to Huff's campaign fund.

In conclusion, he thinks that there is a conflict of interest because Huff has received contributions from Roski and because his wife works for Majestic which Roski owns. The only problem is, and one that he hasn't figured out yet, is that THERE IS NO CONFLICT OF INTEREST BECAUSE HUFF HAS NOT MADE ANY VOTES PERTAINING TO THE NFL STADIUM. Huff even refrained from voting on the Senate bill that would exempt Majestic from environmental laws. I think where this guy is getting confused is that Huff voted to move the bill to the Senate floor for vote - but this does not pose a conflict of interest because it is a PROCEDURAL vote. "Section 87102.5 of the Political Reform Act of 1974, an elected official cannot vote on an item where there is a conflict of interest except "on a vote on the budget bill as a whole, or to vote on a consent calendar, a motion for reconsideration, a waiver of any legislative rule, or any purely procedural matter.""

"My my (or should that be Mei Mei)... Like perhaps a direct financial tie with a stake in future profits?"

Um, What? First of all, her name is pronounced MAY MAY, not "my my"... you can't be clever when you can't pronounce words correctly. The rest of the statement is purely speculation and does not contain any accuracy whatsoever.

"State Legislators have spent over $3 million on luxury cars since 2007: Our state is broke, but we have spent over three million dollars over the past three years providing luxury cars to our state legislators ... Republican State Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, who represents Chino Hills and part of Chino on the western end of our county, drives a Cadillac CTS that cost the state $41,300, including $4,226 for upgraded wheels and Bluetooth, according to an L.A.Times report." - this excerpt was taken from the LA Times & OC Register, I believe.

"Sacramento issued IOUs to school teachers because there wasn't any dough to be found there, but they still managed to secure a few bucks to keep Fightin' Bob stylin' around the Valley in a top of the line convertible Cadillac with tricked out wheels and a really cool state of the art remote dial cellphone." - And this is what he had to say about it.

This is the problem I have with a lot of people these days - they nit-pick small and seemingly insignificant things and refuse to look at the big picture. All state legislators recieve a $350 a month allowance to purchase a vehicle that they can conduct government related business in - this car is not used for personal reasons - the article is wrong, the state did not spend $41k on the car, it is paid on a month-to-month lease. You tell me - if your employer required you to use your personal vehicle to conduct business related matters in, you would expect to be reimbursed for your expenses, right? Kinda like the came concept, but in this case, the employer provides the vehicle for you, therefore they don't have to reimburse your mileage - this, I believe, is around 45-50 cents per mile driven... if you want to think in terms of which is cheaper for the state, each legislature would only be able to drive 700 miles per month before it begins to get more expensive for the state to reimburse for mileage.

Now here's the big picture - this state spends upwards of $9 BILLION a year on illegal immigrants - on their health, their education, their imprisonment, and whatever else - I DONT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT A CAR!!! If you want to complain about how our state is wasting our money, there is a GREAT place to start.

This was the bulk of his first article. He actually didn't have much to say himself, however, I did find one of his comments rather amusing - "Sacramento is just so disgraceful." I wonder how long it took him to come up with an opinion this original, insightful and articulate?

Well I had quite a few things to say to this person in the comments section of his blog - a few of them even contained profanities and were deleted. But I guess I got under his skin SO much that he made a separate blog about my comments - I FEEL SO ACCOMPLISHED! Here's some of his second artcle...

"Somebody is VERY upset with The Tattler."

You're damn right I'm upset - it's because you spread this information as truth, when it is actually very inaccurate.

"Last Saturday we posted an article about some ethical questions being raised in the press regarding our illustrious State Senator, Bob Huff. In particular his vote that helped developer Ed Roski of Majestic Realty fame gain approval for his football stadium and shopping mall through the gratuitous waiving any possible Sacramento mandated environmental reviews."

This guy never mentions what Huff voted on... thats because he never voted on anything pertaining to the NFL stadium in the first place!

"Something that also put an end to a lawsuit initiated by concerned citizens from the City of Walnut. The possible ethical concerns stemming from the deep financial ties the Huff family has with Mr. Roski."

Want to know what this "lawsuit" was about? It's about 8 people... yes, 8 people, in the city of Walnut who oppose the stadium and are trying to EXTORT Roski - mitigating $800 million in settlements that have nothing to do with the impact of the stadium is a HUGE ethical concern, ESPECIALLY when it is headed by people who are currently on and running for Walnut city council. "Concerned citizens"? I think there are more people concerned about the stadium NOT being built than being built. Once again, what are the "ethical concerns"? Theres no conflict of interest.

"Two of these comments had to be deleted due to obscenity, but the others are kind of amusing. You see, what is bothering this individual isn't the questions of serious ethical retardation on Bob's part, rather it's all about that Cadillac."

Obviously it was bothering him first, why else would he mention it in his article? But when I make comments to SET HIM STRAIGHT, he starts to think I'm crazy...

"Obviously this guy has doubts about my intellectual abilities"

First of all, I'm not a guy. This dude loves to assume. I don't doubt your intellectual abilities, I just don't think you have any clue about what you're saying.

"We're not supposed to worry about having to foot the bill for Bob's $41,000 Cadillac CTS because the State Legislature, which Bob is a member of, is shelling out $9 billion a year to people living in this country illegally?"

This is his reply to my statement that we hand over $9 billion a year to illegal immigrants. He's obviously had his head up his ass when it comes to some of the more positive things Huff has tried to do for our state - like penning out a comprehensive package of bills while in the State Assembly which would have at least helped deter illegals from entering the state. These bills did not pass. (AB 2418, 2420, 2421, 2422). So yes, Bob is a member of the state legislature that shells out $9billion a year to illegal immigrants, but he doesn't support it - comprehend?

"Somebody has got to explain to this guy that a legislature is a body of elected officials who deliberate upon the peoples' business. Individual members of a legislature are called legislators. You'd think that someone this uncomfortable with immigrants would be a tad more conversant in the English language."

I guess I was spelling "legislator" wrong in a couple of my comments and it looks like Mr. Maundry is not only a blogger, but an English teacher as well. Well, if my one spelling mistake bothers you THAT much, imagine how much it bothers me when you blog about things you don't even know about. I would think that someone this uncomfortable with the dealings of the government would have MUCH bigger gripes, and if not, at least know all of the facts about the little petty ones.

"Anyway, I'm willing to make a deal with our friend here. I'll drop the Cadillac talk if he agrees to discuss Bob Huff's ethical shortcomings. Particularly in regards to the vote cast in favor of the financial interests of a fellow who is paying the salary of Senator Huff's wife."

Wait... You're the one that brought up the whole Cadillac thing and I rebutted you. If you're willing to drop arguments about what you believe in that easily, you're just a sorry pushover... that or you know I'm right on that issue and would rather make a compromise to not mention it again rather than to just come out and say you're wrong. Which one is it?



On a final note, I would like to point out the title of this dudes blog - "ALL THE NEWS THE OTHER FELLOWS WON'T PRINT". Want to know why? Because it has already been printed as evidenced by your heavy use of the copy & paste function. Quite frankly, no one gives a rats assss about your opinions.