Orange Juice Blog Implosion. Karma?

This is one of those moments where you pinch yourself to see if you are awake. I did, and I am.

I saw this headline in the OrangeJuiceBlog feed and I couldn’t resist taking a look.

Welcome to the world’s first blog coup.   

Blog Coup

To our readers:

I hereby resign as webmistress and editor of Orange Juice Blog. In fact, I’m taking Thomas Gordon and Carl Overmyer with me over to The Centrist OC and resetting the layout of this site. I am inviting all of the OJ bloggers as well as our readers to join us in contributing to our new site. Please note: as each blogger owns the intellectual property of their work they are free to do with it as they please. As the site designer, I personally own the rights to that. Accordingly, the actions taken here today are not actionable legally or in any other way.

We’re tired of Art’s constant censorship, arbitrary rule, lack of leadership, flip-flopping, and personal insults behind the backs of those he calls friends. Also, people are not happy about Sean Mill coming back (I only wanted him here for professional reasons) or Art’s off-the-wall stories (i.e. ‘Bustamante may have been drunk when he hit a police car’), so we’re choosing new teams. We’d love to have you all on ours.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in the future.

Sarah Michelle Spinosa
Managing Editor
TheCentristOc.com

While I’m not one to kick a guy when he’s down, Art is a different case. He should have seen this coming. Of course, he didn’t because his ego wouldn’t let him. For a while now I have ceased posting or even reading OrangeJuiceBlog much any more. It is too depressing to watch a once respectable blog collapse in upon itself like a black-hole.

Art has managed to establish himself as the village idiot, only rivaled by Stanley Fiala and Steve Rocco. While I will keep Art’s train wreck on our blog roll (on the left) for the benefit of our few readers who may want to rubberneck, I am dumping the garbage that has been cluttering up our rss feeds in our Liberal Launching Pad.

60 Comments

  1. You bloggers all take yourselves WAY too seriously! On a scale of one to a million in importance to the world, you are all about 999,999th. Go get a real life and a real job!

  2. Pretty interesting given the spirited defense Sarah put on to defend Art’s “Bustamante” story; $10 says they will all kiss and make up by Xmas.

  3. I totally agree with Eric Cooper. To a very large degree, this blog, Orange Juice, and Red County OC are managed by a bunch of political insiders that spend lots of time sniping at other like petulant children while proclaiming their moral superiority. Serious debate about serious issues tends to get lost in the din.

    Although I do realize most of you have real jobs. I hope.

  4. Anon,

    Spirited debate is what we want. To a certain extent the sniping will be diminished by actual debate. We write about a topic, share our perspectives, and then hope others will comment. If others don’t comment, then there is no debate and only the author’s position remains.

    If you want a debate, START ONE!

  5. The departure of Sarah and Thomas Gordon cause us to fall off the Liberal Launching Pad? hey, me and Red Vixen write lots of good stuff I think qualifies us to stay there! No fair…

  6. Eric & anon 12:03-

    Puh-leese. If you want to debate issues, then why not stop at my diaries on the Repeal 8 movement? Why not stop at the other diaries posted here on the local races still up in the air?

    You know, you have choices at this blog.

    Vern-

    I’m sorry. I don’t think it’s fair that you & the others have to suffer because of Art’s antics. Perhaps the rest of you should break free & start a new blog?

  7. Is anyone truly surprised by this mutiny?
    This is that happens when two toxic narcissistic individuals work together.
    I’m only shocked that this unholy axis lasted so long.

  8. So I wonder if this means Art will lift the bans on Paul Lucas and Matt Cunningham? Or will he instead ban Sarah so she can martyr herself as the only person banned from the big 3 blogs in OC?

  9. LOL, I wish I was a political insider, perhaps that way the democratic party would have endorsed my campaign/ or perhaps that way I would have won. Also, I don’t see anyone sniping at each other here on the Liberal OC. Which is why I really wanted to blog here.

  10. “Also, I don’t see anyone sniping at each other here on the Liberal OC”

    That probably because you think a like. Or perhaps it is even if your guys disagreed with another you decided not to comment.

  11. Our sniping is usually done in person or via phone; we’re kinda direct with each other in that way.

    Chris and I disagree all the time. But usually on the small stuff. No one here is obsessed with who gets the credit for what. And we recognize every day we need to earn our reader’s trust.

  12. oh this is classic! funny how sms bitches about censorship and she’s the first to call for the censorship of commenters who she doesnt agree with or who stick up for themselves or try to set her straight when the paranoid voices in her crazy skull leak out and spill all over the rest of us.or when she accuses people of being people who they arent and conspiring aganst her in her paranoid mind. understand something sweetiecakes, we all know you need to be put in a rubber room and fitted with a straightjacket so that you dont hurt yourself and others and as far as the blog i’m sure you’ll censor people just like you have in the past because you do those types of un-american things you accuse others of. and do you know what the difference between you and mill are? you’re crazy and he’s not. so good luck to you and remember one thing….you are not as important as you think you are.

  13. I have found Orange Juice to be much more informative about OC politics this year. While I like you all at Liberal OC your censoring of posts is a bit school marmish and if you were truely liberal, that is liberal in the sense of allowing true debate then your disagreements would be aired in public and you would allow more dissenting views to be brought forth. There are some problems in the OC that are not being discussed and your blog does not often discuss problems in the Labor and Democratic Party that ought to be discussed. Not liberal, more like schoolmarm.com. Also, crowing while someon is down is rather childlike.

  14. Ed — Posts are not edited or censored; some comments that do not adhere to of terms of service are deleted. Some of the comments are anonymously posted and libelous against another party. Deleting those comments is not censorship. If you feel you are better informed by reading OJ, read it. You would have read that Art was leadig in the polls and that the whole Pulido cabal was going to lose. You would have read about a lot of other things that didn’t come to pass.

    This blog was at odds with DPOC over the endorsment of Hoa Van Tran, a serious debate amongst ourselves over Obama/Hillary, and all other sorts of debate.

    We’re not officially tied to teh Democratic Party and we’re all unpaid volunteers over here. Read what you want to.

  15. dan, recently chris prevatt posted a picture of a homeless woman holding that sign i’m sure you know that pic. when people turned on him and there were 5 times as many comments to that posting than the previous 4 postings combined you closed the comments because he was getting a well deserved thrashing from the commenters. if one of your bloggers posts something tasteless or cruel as in that case you shouldnt shut people down because one of your own is being taken to task. let him take his lumps for being an a-hole.

  16. Ah, Hoa-gate – those were exciting times over here.

    Barack vs. Hillary, not so much – you just heard the same old talking points from each side that you were hearing on TV every day.

  17. “recently chris prevatt posted a picture of a homeless woman holding that sign”

    Ironically it was Thomas Gordon that took that picture. He showed it to me himself. Now he and his pal Carl Overmyer along with SMS are leaving over tasteless postings that are out of bounds.

    Kinda the pot calling the kettle black if you ask me.

    Once both faces of Gordon are shown to the light perhaps people will rethink that status of “martyr” that they have given him.

  18. Vern — I’m sorry that you missed out on lots of impassioned debate about Hillary/Obama. A lot of it was done on the phone. But back to the concept of censorship here; I deleted a couple of comments tonight for uncalled for profanity and borderline libel. If someone makes a charge her that someone is sleeping with someone else (not their spouse) in a comment, it’s gone (unlike the posts found at OJ from time to time).

    And yes, Chris, Bill, Gila, myself and Andrew will all make a mistake from time to time. As far as us shutting off comments to a post, well how much “did not” “did too” can one take?

    Sean — congrats on rejoining the local blog scene; I wish you well my friend.

  19. sean, i have never thought of gordon as a martyr and never will. i heard he took the picture but as tasteless as it was he never posted it like prevatt did. the thing that bothered me most about that post was how dan defended prevatt by shutting down the comments to take the heat off him. if i remember correctly prevatt said it was being passed around by “everybody” but he was the baboso who actually posted it. it’s like saying “hey, everyboy’s doing it” it was a sorry excuse by a cowardly man. and by the way, it’s cool to see you writing again.

  20. Jose,

    Thomas likes to operate in the shadows and pretend that he is above the fray. He had one of his pals pass the picture on to Chris and encourage him to post it. Chris did that and took the heat for it.

    Thomas on the other hand sat back quietly and watched Chris get his ass kicked and never spoke up and took responsibility for staging and taking the photo. That is pretty cowardly if you ask me. He should have stepped up and let folks know that he was behind the photo and Chris simply posted it. That isn’t how he operates though.

    I am happy to be back blogging from time to time. Hope to see you here and at the OJ. I am attempting to free most of those, like yourself, that were banned under the past regime.

    I look forward to seeing spirited debate from Dan, Chris, Andrew, Jubal and others over there, here and on Red County.

  21. Yes, I did take that picture. Whats your point? Did I ever deny it?

    \”Now he and his pal Carl Overmyer along with SMS are leaving over tasteless postings that are out of bounds.\”

    Leaving? I was tossed off…….. Go ahead and restore all my posting powers to as they were on Thursday evening if you all have no problem with my different point of view.

    I was tossed off because one of the new returned bloggers was leaving anonymous comments accusing myself and others of racism and of being racist, yet this persons mother alledgedly used a racial slur to an african american woman and THOSE comments were erased.

    When I questioned this, I was told if I don\’t like it to bad. When I pressed the issue I was removed.

  22. Thomas — I thought you’d have high standards to leave OJ for Red County; but to a blog no one reads? tsk tsk

  23. So, rather than deny the accusations, offer proof that you’re not a racist and ask for evidence otherwise, you chose to attack the accuser’s family member?
    Way to be a grownup, TAG!!
    I’m starting to believe you do belong over there with SMS.

  24. LC — Thomas doesn’t need tro prove he’s not a racist here. Chris and I know him well and he’s not; while we disagree with Thomas on many things political, on things that matter most, we do agree.

  25. I agree Thomas is a good man and doesn’t need to prove he isn’t racist. Just because someone tries to drag your name through the mud doesn’t mean that any of their allegations which are posted (under the famous anon moniker) are at all true. If this person really thinks this about Thomas why don’t they use their real name.

  26. “offer proof that you’re not a racist”

    That’s one of those when did you stop beating your wife kind of things….

  27. “Leaving? I was tossed off…….. Go ahead and restore all my posting powers to as they were on Thursday evening if you all have no problem with my different point of view.”

    Thomas,

    You can try and portray yourself as a martyr if you’d like but the lies must stop. You quit and Sarah announced that in her post. Your powers were not removed, Art set rules for all of our bloggers not just you.

    I never called you a “racist” as you claim, nor has Art. You continue to repeat this lie to as many people as you can. The fact of the matter is that you chose to censor all comments that portrayed you and your friends in a negative light.

    In private emails both you and Carl expressed anger over my presence on the blog because you did not want an ally of Sal Tinajero on there to defend him from your slanderous lies.

    You have the last several days, along with your pal Phil Bacerra, trying to have me removed from the Planning Commission. You and Phil have worked dilegently in this effort. The Stroud’s realized that they were never gonna be successful so they had their minions carry their water.

    Dan before you grant Thomas total immunity why don’t you ask him to publicly state where he stands on the issue of immigration. He steadfastly refuses to publicly state his position. Does he support building a border fence? Is he for or against amnesty?

    On issues in the city of Santa Ana that his friends hold near and dear to their heart perhaps he can give us his stance on say vendor trucks and other issues like that.

    Bottom line here is that Thomas, Bacerra and the Stroud’s have chosen to attack me in attempt to create a diversion from the real issues at hand.

  28. I’m just saying that if someone accused me of being something I’m not. I would state that I’m not, and offer proof of that if possible. I would ask the accuser to pony up some evidence of his accusation.
    Defending yourself by attacking the accuser’s family member is pretty juvenile.
    The “your mom” argument belongs on the playground.
    PS Dan – For me, it isn’t enough that you and Chris vouch for the guy. Anybody who willingly aligns himself with Sarah is suspect in my book.

  29. LC,

    First of neither Art nor I ever called Thomas a “racist” as he claims. Some anonymous comments inferred that and Thomas is claiming that he has definitive proof that it is Art and I doing this.

    He associates and defends those that have a track record of being very vocal in their disdain for the immigrant community. Art and I have pointed that out. Perhaps birds of a feather flock together, perhaps not.

    What this comes down to is that Thomas plans to run against Sal in two years and I have the emails to verify this. He plans on smearing Sal’s good name, I have the emails from Thomas to prove that as well. He wanted to use the Orange Juice as ground zero for these attacks. With me there it was going to be much harder.

    He and his allies did not like that I was their and Thomas went off the reservation and attacked Art, Sal, my Mom and myself. When that did not gain any traction he quit the blog and convinced SMS to hijack the OJ and try and destroy it.

    Thomas now would have you all believe that he is some sort of victim. He is not. He is cunning and deceitful. Sadly this has to play out publicly.

    You notice he finally admitted that he took the photo of the homeless woman. Yet when Chris was getting his ass kicked he remained silent. That shows his true character. I wonder if he shared with Bustamante that he was the one behind that photo when he and his pals were trashing me to Carlos?

  30. “Dan before you grant Thomas total immunity why don’t you ask him to publicly state where he stands on the issue of immigration”

    Why, I wouldn’t ask the same of you.

    “Dan – For me, it isn’t enough that you and Chris vouch for the guy. Anybody who willingly aligns himself with Sarah is suspect in my book.”

    Careful, you might get banned from the CentristOC for saying such malarky. I can’t believe Thomas will be there all that long. Matt Cunningham should scoop him up for Red County.

  31. I have hovered around these things recreationally for a couple of years.

    I have SMS to be engaging but, quite frankly elementary in her posts, dropping down to the level of the BIG red county blog.

    Uneducated, unconnected gladfly’s.

    Say what you will, but it would be hard to question Art pedroza’s or Sean Mill’s passion for their community.

    The others are loud talkers in a quiet room.

  32. Sean:

    Several months ago, you were making even worse accusations about Art.

    Now you once again think Art is a fine upstanding citizen.

    Do you see why I’m having a difficult time accepting your claims at face value.

    I do know that Thomas (and Carl, but he hardly posts) is the only contributor over at OJ who has declined to use that perch to personally attack those who he disagrees with. That says more than anything.

  33. “I do know that Thomas (and Carl, but he hardly posts) is the only contributor over at OJ who has declined to use that perch to personally attack those who he disagrees with.”

    Jubal,

    Thomas and his crew generally choose to do their attacking under the radar. He and Phil Bacerra have spent the last several days attacking me via the phone and email to anyone they can get a hold of.

    His having Chris post the picture of the homeless woman rather than doing it himself is a prime example of how he operates. He likes to stir it up, just doesn’t like putting his name to it.

  34. Thank you Matt!
    That was a very stand up thing of you and I appreciate it. While I may not agree with anyone all the time I believe in mutual respect as a basis for discussion of issues, always have.

    Sean, I don’t believe I ever said anything about your return to OJ good or bad I might be wrong at that, but I don’t think so. So you might want to fact check that and get back to me. My issues have been aired privately and not publicly and will remain that way as long as nobody accuses me of things that did not occur.

    One point I would like to make in all of this. I decreased my participation when I was not proud of the overall “product” that was being produced and was embarrassed to spread my links to others because of what I viewed.

    That said, my future is open at this time. But I will continue to blog. Infrequent, but factual and with documented research that I can back up.

    and repsectful to everyone rights, at least I will try…

  35. What this comes down to is that Thomas plans to run against Sal in two years and I have the emails to verify this. He plans on smearing Sal’s good name, I have the emails from Thomas to prove that as well. He wanted to use the Orange Juice as ground zero for these attacks. With me there it was going to be much harder.

    Sean,

    This is laughable. Smearing someone’s good name on the OrangeJuice Blog for the purpose of promoting their campaign for elected office. Using the Orange Juice as groung zero for “baseless” attacks? Sounds like Art to me. Sure you aren’t confused?

  36. Sean said: “You notice he finally admitted that he took the photo of the homeless woman. Yet when Chris was getting his ass kicked he remained silent. ”

    Chris Prevatt got his ass justifiably kicked for posting the picture in a blog article available to the public.

    He posted the photo publicly – why should anyone else accept blame for Chris’s stupidity?

  37. Since you all keep bringing up that homeless-woman photo, I’ll repeat my minority opinion: We shouldn’t assume the woman was some ignorant victim of Tom and Chris just because she was homeless; in fact, Cook (Robin Cook) who knows her personally, claimed here that she has very strong personal opinions and probably agreed to and enjoyed saying “Will Kick Bustamante’s Ass For Food.”

    Only limited relevance to the current controversies, I know, but remember the “soft bigotry of low expectations.”

  38. “Cook (Robin Cook) who knows her personally, claimed here that she has very strong personal opinions and probably agreed to and enjoyed saying ‘Will Kick Bustamante’s Ass For Food.'”

    Vern,

    Those homeless fellas involved in “Bum Fights” agreed to participate, did that make it any less distasteful?

    Thomas used this woman as a prop. I doubt it was her idea to be used in this way.

    I wonder if he paid her to hold the sign. Remember the scumbags that made “Bum Fights” compensated the folks they filmed.

  39. “He posted the photo publicly – why should anyone else accept blame for Chris’s stupidity?”

    Junior,

    Just so I have this straight, despite the fact that Thomas Gordon staged, took and distributed the picture he in your mind is absolved of any blame?

  40. A few months ago I was rear-ended in a parking lot. The car was a mess and, as often happens when one experiences something out of the ordinary, I had some temporary difficulty thinking straight and figuring out what to do.

    A very kind man came up and helped out. He told me I needed to check my brake and turn lights, and he helped me do it. The trunk was sprung and he found some rope and tied it securely shut. He advised me about what information I needed to collect from the other driver, and suggested I take pictures of the scene.

    After everything was resolved, he modestly stated he was homeless and asked whether I might give him some money. I did so.

    This homeless man was clear-thinking, organized, intelligent, and polite. I have no idea what caused him to end up homeless, but it was apparent to me he could probably run General Motors better than the current crew.

    I talk to other homeless people from time to time and can state without equivocation that they’re just like everyone else. Some are tall, some are short. Some are smart and some are dumb. Some are industrious and some are lazy. Some are withdrawn and some are gregarious. Some are easily victimized and some are cagey and savvy.

    It’s no more acceptable to generalize about homeless people than it is to generalize about any other group. I personally am pretty offended by the generalizations being made here about one homeless person.

  41. Sean said: “… despite the fact that Thomas Gordon staged, took and distributed the picture he in your mind is absolved of any blame?”

    I think that the picture is in poor taste. As far as comparative blame between Chris & Thomas – judge for yourself.

    I recall that you got a chuckle out of the picture when you first saw it Sean. Do you share in the blame?

  42. i dont know if any of you have ever been homeless but i have and i can tell you from experience it sucks. being homeless isnt funny in the least and the exploitation of this woman by thomas is truly shameful. my guess is this woman has been homeless for a long time which makes this more shameful. sure, it was a horrible thing to do and that picture should have never existed but prevatt was the only idiot who actually posted it and then acted like people were overeacting to it and had this arrogant little attitude like he didnt do anything wrong. the thing is your missing the point about why i even brought it up, my point is if one of the bloggers on here says something stupid or posts a tasteless picture and people call him or her out on it the last thing dan or anybody should do is close the comments to save his weenie little ass. let him man up and accept his well deserved ass kicking for being the only a-hole who actually posted it.

  43. Jose —
    People did call Chris out on the photo and he was broadly criticized multiple times. At some point, you’re beating a dead horse. He manned up and accepted his criticism for it. It’s over. Done. Finished. Can’t say we won’t make a similar mistake again.

    You are free, Jose, to read other blogs if you don’t like the content on this one.

  44. Thomas and his crew generally choose to do their attacking under the radar. He and Phil Bacerra have spent the last several days attacking me via the phone and email to anyone they can get a hold of.

    1) I talk to Phil fairly regularly. He does not engage, even in the privacy of our conversations, in the kind of character assassination that is routine fare on Orange Juice (with the notable exceptions of Thomas and Carl).

    2) in responding to my comment, you avoided the thrust of it: several months ago, on this very blog, you repeatedly attacked Art Pedroza as a liar and paranoid. Now you’re allied with him once again.

    Were you wrong then? Were the things you were saying about Art untrue? A simple yes or no will do.

  45. BTW, Thomas and Phil must have hit a nerve, because in the last few days, Orange Juice has most closely resembled a teenager’s MySpace page used to rag on social rivals at high school.

    The posts remind me of the “Two Minute Hate” in the novel 1984, with which the residents of Oceania began their work day.

  46. The young man who took my picture was very nice and polite with me. I have had more young people from the local colleges take my picture. I think there are more important things to discuss.

    (I printed a copy of this post for her to read and comment on.) (She wrote on the back and gave it me to post for her)
    *************************************
    cook

  47. Matt — you’re still reading that site? It’s like the election never took place and all th same faux outrage.

  48. dan, i come here because this is my favorite blog site it means something to me. so when one of my own acts like a moron i have to call him out on it. as it urns out many others did as well. i mean i have never seen people turn on somebody like this until i saw prevatts post. it really does say a lot about him besides the obvious. and once again, quit protecting him! you only make him look more like a coward.

  49. Jose,

    I did not apologize because I do not feel it was or is necessary. I recieved a photo which was funny in the context in which it was presented. The photo was not of a bum fight, it was of Aloha, a real human being who seems to have gotten a kick out of it.

    I understand that some people see the posting of the photo as being in bad taste. I disagree.

    But i’ve got to ask, what exactly does the photo of Aloha, from months ago, recently reposted by Sean Mill over on Orange Juice, have to do with the topic of this post? If you want to feign outrage, go over to OJ and proclaim it over there. Over here, we’re moving on.

  50. “i did not apologize because i do not feel it was or is necessary” of course you dont prevatt and that right there speaks volumes about the type of man you are. why do you think the comments were shut down so quickly? i cant ever say ive seen one shut down that quick simply to protect the poster. earlier in this very post you say “spirited debate is what we want” unless of course it means that you are taken to task by the commenters then it’s a different story. i brought this up because of what dan told that ed guy about comments being censored on this blog. you did also say “if you want a debate START ONE!!” in this very post. i had to remind you that yes, sometimes censorship does happen on this blog but when it’s done to protect a little man when he does something really cruel thats just wrong. the homeless woman needed the protection not you prevatt.

  51. Jose S.

    I am willing to stake my character in comparison to anyones, at any time. You are entitled to your opinion about my character. But since I have no idea who you are, I can only say that I am willing to take the heat for my comments and actions as is demonsterated by my posting under my name. I would say that demonstrates a level of character missing from your own commentary.

  52. uhhh…..but you didnt take the heat remember? you were spared the ass kicking you so deserved. somebody came in and saved you by blocking the comments. and as far as character, you showed none by not apologizing. go ahead and say you have character by posting under your name i also post under my own name and i am a loyal reader of this blog and if i see a case of abuse i will call anybody out on it. even you.

  53. Jose —
    Thanks for being a poster child example of why I shut the comments off on that string a long time ago. You repeatedly call for an apology that’s not going to come. And you can post a call for it 100 more times, and its not going to come.

    The subject of the photo posed for the picture and was tipped/paid for it. She did not find it offensive even if you do. Again, if you don’t like the content here, feel free to read other blogs. But you’re in no position to dictate the content we put up here. You’ve made your position as clear as day. We disagree. Time to move on.

    This matter is closed. Move on to other things that are current and relevent. If you want to try to comment more on it, your posts will be deleted.

Comments are closed.