Ole!

The Stockton School Board once again pitches a winner.  Because, of course, when it comes to school boards and children's education, what matters is a $650 a month car and racism.  

My obvious question is why?  What makes the school board so enticing that the director of the Stockton Boys and Girls club was on the board?  And gave him enough motivation to pay for a re-count?

I think the major story here is how everyone is in it for themselves, instead of making the best choices for a school.  Oh wait, schools are meant for education?  I was unaware of that.

This education battle has got to stop.  Amato, Bill Ross, Dan Castillo, Sal Ramirez, Jose Morales, Colleen Boardman, Beverly Fitch McCarthy and Gloria Allen, please do listen.  Racist or not, muck raking or not, constant in-fighting or not, I think race is the least of the issues.  I think the biggest issue is that the school board and Super are rapists.  

Yes, I just said you all have decided to take the well being and education of the local children and destroy their hopes and dreams Deliverance  style.    

Especially now, Mexican, white, black, asian, Punjabi, there are bigger issues to take into account.  If special election budget issues don't get passed, there is a possibility you will have to lay off more teachers, more janitors and more support staff.  Of course, as people lose their jobs, its nice for them to know that the Super is still driving an $80k car.  Because while everyone is tightening belts, Stockton overall has no clue how to do it.  

You pull the race card when you have nothing to stand on.  If you represent the districts you stand for, you will realize Stockton is one of the most diverse cities around.  If you want it, Stockton's got it.  And even though Don Blount believes that Stockton is littered with KKK activists, its not.  

What should be on school board agenda:  improve education for students, pay teachers, offer and create programs that enhance students education.

What is on the school boards agenda:  $650 a month SUV, racism, and an incompetent board president.  

Look, when you don't do your job, the public has a tendency to let you know. Yes, even Stocktonians managed to realize the last board was full of shit and got rid of people, so using this as a chance to jump up and further whatever the hell you are doing might not work too well.

Look rapists, put the kids first.  As your sitting there, making a decision, sit there and think, how does this benefit the kids?  If you cant think of how, then drop it and move on.  

Is that you Clyde? Seriously, this isn't cool! I'm the symbol this town needs! Not you!

Yesterday in the Quick Links I relayed the story of a proposed group of vigilantes that would "activate" (their words, not mine) if the city were to lay off 43 police officers this summer. Everybody and their mothers agreed that it was a horrible idea... ok, well everybody with a brain did (oh, and Mike Fitzgerald). Others called in to say "I have a death wish! Sign me up!" Which really wasn't that surprising.

What was surprising was that somebody called up to say they had that idea already. No really, they even have uniforms. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Angels of Christ (Ok, technically it's given by David Siders). They are by far the most depressing militia of all time.

They're run by (or at least represented by) Martin Hernandez of Stockton who decided to protest the proposed layoffs of at least 43 of Stockton's finest. Because, you know, the city wants to lay those officers off.

As if that uniform (which if our knowledge of all things Olden Polynice is correct, can't be legal) wasn't depressing enough, this group comes complete with delusions of grandeur!

From Siders' blog:

"Hernandez said there are 16 people in his group and that he has detained perhaps 20 people in three months for the Stockton Police Department to arrest."

Oh, so their working with Stockton PD. I wonder what they have to say about this uptick in vigilantism.

"Officer Pete Smith, a department spokesman, said, 'I’ve never heard of Angels of Christ.'"

Hmmm, that seems to directly contradict Hernandez's comment. Do they just drop criminals off on the Police Department's stoop? Surely they have more training than the Stockton Armed Militia.

"Hernandez said he learned in Sacramento 10 years ago how to arrest people and use weapons"

Oh, well that's in no way comforting. Nothing says "safety" like 10 year old detainment tactics. At the very least they're a bunch of big guys. You know, like bouncers or something. Somebody imposing looking and this disheveled, unemployed man is just their spokesperson.

"Hernandez, of Angels of Christ, is at the podium... He is introducing Sandra, who he said is also an Angel of Christ."

Aww, isn't that adorable. They let women into their group. Sandra must be some sort of Amazon woman if she can hang with the AoC.

"Sandra said she is a teenager."

What. The. Fuck. Fucking teenagers!?

So let me get this straight. Stockton's proposing laying off upwards of 90 police officers and the residents of our fair city come back with multiple vigilante groups patrolling the streets with one involving teenage girls? Seriously!? This is the best fucking idea we can come up with?

I hate to sound like an elitist (that's Fitzy's schtick) but this is why we have our current government structure. The residents of Stockton can never eeeeeeeeever bitch about the horrible ideas presented by the City Council again. Sure, some of them may present silly ideas like declaring bankruptcy. But that idea pales in comparison to having an armed, overmatched group of vigilantes roaming the most dangerous areas of Stockton or replacing sworn officers with sad-looking dudes and teenagers. Hell, compared to impending vigilante warfare declaring bankruptcy looks like as good an idea as a Scarlett Johannsen topless scene.

Sadly, the national media is picking up on these stories. They love to exploit crazy people apparently. In the previously linked Fitzy article the World's dumbest attorney Ron Stein said he had an appointment his morning to talk to the Associated Press. Great, because if there's one thing Stockton needs it's more negative press. Is it too early to start drinking bourbon?

What good has PD done for you?

Since we've lit up local law enforcement for their work (Or lack thereof) I saw this with Ryan Moats, running back for the NFL's Texans, and couldn't help but be amazed at what kids of jackasses PD can be, even to people in distress.  Lest we forget, the Stockton Police department has its own gag order on Melecio Arquines.  

And yes, I'm tying the two together.  Because the officers were more than willing to talk about Arquines when the shooting first happened, then questions arose as to why the man had bullet-holes in his screen door.  They obviously felt justified.  Just as this cop who lectured Moats on running a red light.  Lectured him long enough his mother in law died while the cop was still giving him the business.  When asked about it by his chief, the officer said he was just doing his job.  Wow.  

As for the Moats, I hate to run to the race card so quick.  Obviously this cop felt some sort of disgusting pride/arrogance that he felt the need to not only take almost 15 minutes in giving him a ticket for running a red light, be proceeded to continue an ongoing lecture of his attitude.  But that is cops.  Talk to any of them.  Shit, talk to the cops here in Stockton where we rank nationally high in all crime stats, yet they feel justified and entitled to a raise.  

I still turn to the argument that cops are only in it for the check, so they act accordingly.  Shooting a guy or holding a guy up from seeing a family member doesn't register to them any worse than forgetting a cover letter on a TPS report.  Or at least, in looking at these two events, thats how they see it.  

Three-peat?

If it works once, try it again.  Twice? Why stop now, you know it works, so lets see if these guys go for the three-peat.  

I find this gold because these guys ripped this bank twice in the same parking lot as the popular underpaid civil servant/PD favorite hangout Da Vinci's.  

Folks, this is the kind of forward thinking that gets Stockton its title back.  You would expect that a bank, after being ripped off, would heighten security.  Normal people think like that.  But I'm assuming the fact that this happened again, the Bank Manager probably said to himself, "You know, these guys are not dumb enough to hit this place twice in a row.  We're in the safest place in Stockton."  Wrong.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Well, two days, two robberies, same bank, same getaway.  

Im really hoping these guys have rocks the size of small asteroids and make it a three-peat.

Even Manteca recognizes the drawing power of Oscar nominated movies!

Today's LENS section features a review of The Wrestler. Why would the Record print a review for a movie we can't see...holy shit! Manteca's playing it! (Modesto's Brenden Theater is playing it too.) And with the added hilarity of a 4:20 start time! Sure, it's not in Stockton, but it's a start. Arthouse flicks are slowly making their way to SJ County. (Quick Sidenote: Film Festivals do not count. We want the normal movie theaters to play shit. Mostly because we don't want to have to sit through 4 other shitty passion projects. We just want to see the Oscar nominated movies that Stockton doesn't see fit to play. Go peddle your pet project to myRecord. That's what it's there for.)

As far as the review goes, mine was better. Mostly because I understood Darren Aronofsky told a truthful story. One of my fears when watching the movie was that non-wrestling fans would think Aronofsky over-dramatized shit to make for a good movie. He did not. Necrobutcher (The Ram's staple gun wielding opponent in a hardcore match) does that shit every night. That movie was an accurate slice of a washed up pro wrestler's life. And now we can watch it just 20 mins away. Fucking sweet. Who wants to go see Marissa Tomei's tits with me? It's better than your options in Stockton. Unless you really want to see He's Just Not That Into You or Paul Blart: Mall Cop.