Friday, April 14, 2006
Jabber The Hat
Jabber The Hat
On April 13, 2006 the Daily Pilot, our excellent community
newspaper, published an article by a resident of Fullerton - 30
miles from Costa Mesa as the crow flies - entitled "Cities must
step up to enforce immigration law". The editors permitted the
author to use a half page to provide us with his take on the
current immigration plan proposed by our Mayor, Allan Mansoor,
beginning with a primer on what a good Job Center should be.
It's a curious subject, considering our Job Center, thanks to
the ruling troika on the City Council, is long gone. His
rambling tome ends with the following statement:
"Some may say I am spewing hate, but I will say I am trying the 'truth and tough love' approach first; the 'hate with extreme prejudice' may be needed later, so I'll keep that on the back burner."
In case there is any doubt, the phrase "with extreme prejudice" is a widely acknowledged euphemism for killing someone. Quite honestly, I was surprised the Daily Pilot actually published that portion of his rant.
This is not the first time the writer has attempted to provide us with his alleged wisdom. On March 21, 2006 he was a late speaker during the re-convened Public Comments portion of the Costa Mesa City Council meeting that evening. For those of us watching on television that evening the writer, in full view of the cameras, provided us with an unanticipated visual experience as he leaned forward and rose to approach the podium. If you recall the old Creedence Clearwater Revival tune, "Bad Moon Rising", you get the picture. Images of The Grand Canyon popped into my mind, as did every bad "plumber" caricature I've ever seen.
Following that display, he stood and regaled the council and viewers with much of what he wrote to the Daily Pilot, including his use of the government form I-9 as a visual aid. He waived what he represented to be a copy of the form, which is used by employers to validate a job seeker's legal ability to work in this country, and told the council and those few members of the audience remaining that he had "filled out hundreds of these forms in the last year" as he looked for work. One had the impression that his quest for employment had yet to prove successful, although I might be wrong.
As he stood at the podium looking very much like a reincarnation of Jabba The Hut (perhaps we should refer to him as Jabber The Hat) - baseball cap firmly pulled down over his eyes, shorts at half mast and tee shirt barely sufficient to cover his considerable girth - this fellow made an imposing figure and certainly did command our attention, even though his words did not. Sadly, he's representative of the bizarre mixture of characters that have presented themselves to the council to speak on behalf of the mayor's plan since last December. Ever since our young jailer/mayor was anointed as an Honorary Minuteman by co-founder Jim Gilchrist himself, we've seen a steady parade of characters, not unlike those out of a "Star Wars" bar scene, praising him for his "courage" and "leadership".
I would like to thank Jabber, his Minuteman buddies and all the other outside agitators who have inserted themselves into the discussion of our mayor's plan over the past several months, for continuing to demonstrate that the best, most articulate and most persuasive arguments on both sides of this issue come from those of us who live in Costa Mesa - those with a real vested interest in the outcome of events in our city. I, for one, hope he has success finding employment which coincides with his skills, whatever they might be. But then, I'm an optimist.
11:45 am pdt
"Some may say I am spewing hate, but I will say I am trying the 'truth and tough love' approach first; the 'hate with extreme prejudice' may be needed later, so I'll keep that on the back burner."
In case there is any doubt, the phrase "with extreme prejudice" is a widely acknowledged euphemism for killing someone. Quite honestly, I was surprised the Daily Pilot actually published that portion of his rant.
This is not the first time the writer has attempted to provide us with his alleged wisdom. On March 21, 2006 he was a late speaker during the re-convened Public Comments portion of the Costa Mesa City Council meeting that evening. For those of us watching on television that evening the writer, in full view of the cameras, provided us with an unanticipated visual experience as he leaned forward and rose to approach the podium. If you recall the old Creedence Clearwater Revival tune, "Bad Moon Rising", you get the picture. Images of The Grand Canyon popped into my mind, as did every bad "plumber" caricature I've ever seen.
Following that display, he stood and regaled the council and viewers with much of what he wrote to the Daily Pilot, including his use of the government form I-9 as a visual aid. He waived what he represented to be a copy of the form, which is used by employers to validate a job seeker's legal ability to work in this country, and told the council and those few members of the audience remaining that he had "filled out hundreds of these forms in the last year" as he looked for work. One had the impression that his quest for employment had yet to prove successful, although I might be wrong.
As he stood at the podium looking very much like a reincarnation of Jabba The Hut (perhaps we should refer to him as Jabber The Hat) - baseball cap firmly pulled down over his eyes, shorts at half mast and tee shirt barely sufficient to cover his considerable girth - this fellow made an imposing figure and certainly did command our attention, even though his words did not. Sadly, he's representative of the bizarre mixture of characters that have presented themselves to the council to speak on behalf of the mayor's plan since last December. Ever since our young jailer/mayor was anointed as an Honorary Minuteman by co-founder Jim Gilchrist himself, we've seen a steady parade of characters, not unlike those out of a "Star Wars" bar scene, praising him for his "courage" and "leadership".
I would like to thank Jabber, his Minuteman buddies and all the other outside agitators who have inserted themselves into the discussion of our mayor's plan over the past several months, for continuing to demonstrate that the best, most articulate and most persuasive arguments on both sides of this issue come from those of us who live in Costa Mesa - those with a real vested interest in the outcome of events in our city. I, for one, hope he has success finding employment which coincides with his skills, whatever they might be. But then, I'm an optimist.
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