England to the Rescue

england_morrison…Judge Morrison England that is.

In a court ruling today, Judge England of Sacramento, dismissed a charge from a plaintiff that Quaker Cereals had blatantly misled consumers by labeling one of its products as “Crunch Berries” when in fact the product contained no real fruit. First of all, how dare someone try to impugn the character of retired naval hero Capt. Horatio Magellan Crunch. Second this person is obviously an attention seeking moron, who will now probably try to sue Kellogg’s for including no real smacks in its Sugar Smacks cereal. Third, and lastly, Judge England is awesome!

I was fortunate enough to sit in a jury in a trial adjudicated by Judge England, and it was truly impressive. First of all, he’s straight out of central casting: a barrel-chested, deep-voiced, African-American man with graying hair and a stern-but-fair disposition that some judges work their whole careers at creating. Besides that, he’s a fair, even-handed judge that runs his courtroom efficiently. But most of all, he seems to take no personal pleasure in the power that he wields as a judge. If there’s one mark against judges, it’s their somewhat transparent love of their own power. Not with Judge England. He seems to be everything the public looks for in a judge: fairness, toughness, and humility. Don’t be surprised to see him on the short-list of Supreme Court nominees one day.

Seriously, who takes Arnie seriously?

KRXQ is under fire again for Sacramento’s #1 morning radio show and their wacky antics. The titular Rob Williams & Arnie States of the Rob, Arnie and Dawn Show have drawn nationwide scorn for their hateful comments towards gender dysphoric children and blaming of the transgendered for America’s descent down a slippery slope of zoophilia and bestiality. Arnie is additionally targeted for comments approving of violence against boys wearing high-heeled shoes, and for his thoughts on beating his theoretical high-heeled wearing gay child, if he were to have one.

In case you have never met the trio on 98 Rock, they star as self-caricatures on a radio/comedy show with three hyper-opinionated friends. Think Seinfeld in Cowtown. Arnie plays the fat, dumb, loser, hick. Rob plays the successful capitalist genius. Dawn plays the crazy, loudmouthed, overly-emotional woman. Each show features voyeuristic details of their lives, which helps keep their loyal audience. Regular listeners get to be in on a lot of jokes, like Dawn’s therapeutic vacations, Arnie’s tiny penis, and Rob’s snobbish tastes.

The show makes jokes and provides commentary on retarded children, fat people, gay men, nerds, people with chronic diseases, single mothers, lesbians, people from every foreign country, liberals, illegal immigrants, women, child molesters, environmentalists, and dumb people. They were fined $55,000 in 2004 for “graphic and detailed discussions of various methods that men may employ to disgrace, degrade and humiliate women before, during and after sexual intercourse,” according to the FCC.
Continue reading “Seriously, who takes Arnie seriously?”

Danny Pommells has left KCRA

Danny PommelsI actually learned this first from the scoreboard at Raley Field yesterday: it appears Danny Pommells’ contract was not renewed at KCRA and he has left the station’s sports department. Del Rogers is going to be a one-man show at KCRA.

UPDATE: I want to be clear that from what I have heard, the reason Pommells’ contract was not picked up is that KCRA is reducing its sports staff. Del Rogers, you may want to hook up with RunnerGirl at some point before your contract is up…

News10 still has Bryan and Ryan, and of course Jim Crandell still handles things at Fox40. But after CBS13 let Arran Anderson go a few weeks ago the sports scene is looking worse than ever here in Sacramento.

An issue that gets no props

A press release from the Elk Grove Police Department came across my desktop today:

ELK GROVE, CA – Earlier today, Elk Grove Police Officer Ali Khalil was arrested by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and served with a complaint alleging several felonies associated with mortgage-related financial transactions. None of the allegations were related to Officer Khalil’s official duties as an Elk Grove police officer. Officer Khalil, age 29, has been a member of the Elk Grove Police Department since 2006. Officer Khalil has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, which is standard practice when an officer has been charged with a crime.

We obviously have no details at this point about the nature of the charges or the crime, but the role of mortgage predators brokers in the housing industry has played a huge factor in our economic meltdown. Some brokers were above board but many others were not. These unscrupulous individuals played a significant role in suckering banks and borrowers into bad mortgages. Many of these old brokers are now setting up shop as refinancing experts and mortgage assistance houses (word of advice: do your own research and deal with your lendor directly). They basically splashed everyone with mud and are now offering to take people to the cleaners.

Eyebrowraisingly, it seems police officers are not immune from felonies arising out of the housing industry (though this not to say that he is charged with crimes that he did while on duty – we don’t know). Also, this officer was charged by the FBI but the EG PD still has to do their own internal investigation, during which time the accused is still on paid leave (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

I, for one, would like to see a more aggressive effort by the state government to ban unscrupulous mortgage broker marriage. We need fewer of those people and the more we can do to stop them from procreating, the happier we’ll all be.

UPDATE 6/2: Further details available at the Bee. Thanks to the SacRag faithful for keeping me on my toes. Vigilance!

In which CoolDMZ praises the government

waterSince I spend so much time on this here log of Web talking about government failure, I thought I’d share a recent government success story: Calling the City of Sacramento Department of Utilities.

The Cool household woke up Friday morning with weird-looking water. A call to the Utilities hotline (311) got an agent dispatched to our home within about an hour to take samples (luckily, the water had normalized by then). It was like an in-home field trip for the kids. And then I just got off the phone with another science-talking-guy from the Department, who went over all the results (no contaminants, trace remnants of iron and manganese which suggested an open fire hydrant around the time of “The Incident”).

All in all it was satisfying to have a quality encounter with the government. U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!

How to find a job, part II

Things are still tough all over for a lot of folks, and I’ve (fortunately) been in hiring mode in recent weeks. Following up on last November’s post, here are some tips from an employer’s perspective. The bottom line is to make yourself stand out in only the good ways, minimize any potential embarrassing or awkward moments, and follow through.

Continue reading “How to find a job, part II”

Bee misleads on marriage

The Sac Bee’s cover story on differences between married couples, domestic partnerships and other types of couples includes a table of info outlining some specific differences regarding children, medical and taxes. Without opening up this debate, several claims in the Bee’s graphic about marriage and other relationships are misleading.

Continue reading “Bee misleads on marriage”

Overheard Hotel Chatter

Mrs. Eats and I ran into the head chef of the Sheraton Grand last night and he couldn’t have been a nicer fellow. (Ok, he could have been nicer but it would have involved full release.) He chatted with us about a number of things, but most importantly all the changes he’s bringing about at the Sheraton. The Mrs. has to go to the Sheraton a lot for banquets and other civic events, so she’s a good barometer in this regard. Apparently, the changes have definitely been for the good.

Everything is being made from scratch (no crappy prebattered frozen nuggets of reconstituted animal chunks), the chef is putting a limit on group size when more complicated dishes are ordered (like souffles and eggs Benedict), and the menu at Morgan’s, the oft-overlooked restaurant at the Sheraton, is slowly adapting to the local/fresh bandwagon that everyone else headed into town on a few years ago. If you haven’t checked out the Sheraton Grand recently, maybe it’s worth a stop. If you’re planning an event, it’s definitely worth a stop.

Also, I’ve discovered a little bar that feels like it’s in Philadelphia or Chicago but happens to be on J Street. It’s Scandal, the bar at Citizen Hotel. No, not the bar at Grange, the overhyped flagship restaurant, but a separate bar on the second story of the hotel. Walk in the front door of the hotel, take a right at the registration desk, walk up the stairs, and find yourself in a relaxed, sophisticated, adult drinking space. They’ve got a great cocktail menu and a neat lineup of California micros. The walls are paneled in dark walnut, the leather chairs look like came out of a East Coast men’s club, and the bookshelves (yes, that’s right, bookshelves) are lined with leather-bound legal tomes. You’ll feel like you’re having a drink with Adam Schiff. Give it a try if you find yourself by CC park; you’ll be surprised.