The Buzz

An organization has formed in Orange County to oppose Common Core curriculum. Visit the website to read about the efforts of Orange County Concerned Citizens against Common Core (OCCCCC). From the website, “Common Core – a Trojan Horse for Education Reform. Common Core pretends to be a benign ‘state’ program, state written, and state controlled. It is none of these. It is a world-wide curriculum fitting the goals of the UN’s Agenda 21 – how the federal government will control education and eliminate teacher and parent influence over what is being taught to our children.” http://orangecountycccc.com/

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Two leaders from OCCCCC, Jeanne Goodin and Gloria Pruyne, will present information in Mission Viejo on Wed., Jan. 22. They are meeting with homeschool moms at Coco’s, 27750 Crown Valley Pkwy. Attendees are invited to have dinner at 6:00 p.m., and the presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. For information, visit the website. Speaking engagements in Orange County can be found at http://orangecountycccc.com/speaking-engagements/

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Just because California is at or near the bottom of the academic barrel, no one should conclude it can’t get worse. Common Core, also known as ObamaCore, will have the same impact on education as ObamaCare is having on healthcare.

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Who will run for governor? Mission Viejo watchdog Larry Gilbert writes, “No, I have not been drinking today. With the Primary Election including the governor's race quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to stir the pot. Without taking anything away from announced GOP candidate Assemblyman Tim Donnelly and, unless Kevin McCarthy or Steve Poizner enters the fray, I would like to throw out another name for debate. No, not Jon Fleishman, as he declined responding to my challenge. I am thinking about the man who captured 79.5% of the vote in the 2012 presidential primary while facing 8 challengers (of which 4 were credible). Mitt Romney ended up with 4,839,958 CA votes in the General Election, which surely was negatively impacted by Obama's lies about affordable health care. Mitt Romney owns a home in Solano Beach, CA. He surely has name recognition and would not need to devote time to campaign fundraising. OK. Now it’s your turn to question my sanity or out-of-the-box thinking.”

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According to a spokesperson for the Orange County Superior Court, applicants are urgently needed for the Grand Jury. The deadline to apply is Jan. 24. To complete an application form, go to the jury commissioner’s office, 700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, or visit the website: http://www.ocgrandjury.org/ . For information, call (714) 834-6747.

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Before anyone gets the idea the Orange County Register is collapsing, note that observers who predicted the new owners wouldn’t last a full year were proven wrong. Last week, OCR fired 32 employees, including some of its department heads, columnists and reporters. As it was happening, “Media watcher extraordinaire Jim Romensko reports that one of his sources is describing the layoffs as ‘a blood bath . . . nearly every top manager replaced.’" http://www.ocweekly.com/news/

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Reporters and editors at The Patch.com received news of a similar nature last week. From an article describing a turn of events, a deal between AOL and Patch removes Patch from AOL’s financial books, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/16/business/media/aol-finds-a-partner-to-run-its-troubled-patch-division.html?_r=1 A Mission Viejo watchdog responded to the news, saying the Mission Viejo Patch lost readers by allowing one of its writers an open page to publish vulgar comments and lies.

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A Tea Partier forwarded a link about an Assemblyman’s initiative to end California’s so-called High Speed Rail. “Between this initiative and the challenges HRS has faced in courts, we may finally be seeing the end of this idiotic idea.” http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/01/california-lawmaker-files-initiative-to-scrap-high-speed-rail.html

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Did Councilman Frank Ury change jobs again? Ury-watchers are amazed with the number of companies he’s worked for during his nine years on the Mission Viejo City Council. Word slipped out that he may have had some “personnel issues” at his previous workplace that resulted from a fellow-employee’s complaint against him. Elected officials are supposed to submit Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests, a report mandated by the state) when they change jobs, which would allow the public an opportunity to determine any conflicts of interest. Despite Ury’s many job changes – practically a different job each year – no one can find his Form 700 reports.