The far left-wing groups that organize illegal immigration protests don't go too far out of their way to hide their radicalism.

A group called Power to the People Collective marched in Oxnard (where else) for "solidarity" with other workers across the world on May Day.

According to the Ventura County Star, May Day was established by the International Socialist Congress in 1889. The Star noted that since then, "most of the world observed May 1 as Labor Day, and it was strongly identified with socialism, communism, anarchism and grim faced old duffers atop Lenin's Tomb reviewing endless columns of Soviet weaponry."

The meaning of the day did not seem to be lost on the protesters, who describe themselves as "members of the collective."

John and Mary Tolian of Oxnard were at the rally and march in support of workers. "I think it's important to come out on May Day," John said. "I wish they did more in the city of Oxnard."

The Power to the People Collective doesn't just have a name that seems sketchy, its mission statement sounds like it was copied and pasted from the New Black Panther Party or the KKK.  The group's mission statement calls for "organizing for the self-defense and empowerment of our community as a response toward the escalation of repressive measures aimed at migrants, families, and workers."

Organizing for self-defense?

There's more--the group's website states that "engagement and communication with those forces that oppress and attack our community are inevitable..."

 What are they going to do when they engage the "attackers?"

The website has a contact email address with the domain riseup.net. Riseup is a self-described revolutionary group that states that its purpose is to "aid the creation of a free society...where power is shared equally. We do this by providing communication and computer resources to allies engaged in struggles against capitalism and other forms of oppression."

Riseup also declares that a society's "means of productions should be placed in the hands of the people," the definition of communism.

The word "liberation" is sprinkled throughout Riseup's website, a theory that is central to the Party of Socialism and Liberation, another revolutionary group that organized on May Day for "workers' rights."

The PSL regularly holds workshops on Marxism and calls itself a "militant" group.

To the casual reader flipping through the newspaper, the Power to the People Collective is merely a coalition of concerned citizens. A few minutes of Googling, however, reveals the group is sympathetic to a revolutionary, militant, Marxist ideology. 

Oxnard has a new police chief, and the city's mayor is among the last to know.

The Star reported that Mayor Tom Holden was "blindsided" by Monday's announcement that City Manager Ed Sotelo hired Jeri Williams, 44, to succeed Chief John Crombach.

Crombach left the department to work with Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean.

"This is a continuation of a very troubling pattern, which is the city manager acting on his own, in secret, and in contradiction of an established city policy, and something needs to be done about it," Holden told the Star.

Holden said that he was repeatedly assured, even as late as Friday, that he would be part of the selection process.

Apparently, other council members and the Oxnard police union expected to be involved but also were kept in the dark about the decision. Councilmen Bryan MacDonald, Dean Maulhardt, and Tim Flynn each expressed concern about Sotelo's unilateral decision.

One councilwoman defended Sotelo's hiring of the second female in the county to lead a department. Irene Pinkard said Sotelo didn't break any rules.

The Oxnard soap opera continues.

Rep. Lois Capps wants to boost enrollment in school lunch programs. Ironically, we might just all end up on food stamps thanks to misguided Democratic economic policy on the recession, which Capps says is "lingering" (wasn't this Recovery Summer?).

Concerned over a possible rollback in food stamp benefits, advocates and dignitaries gathered Thursday to urge that nutrition programs be protected.

"Everybody now has been pushed so hard by the recession that just keeps lingering," Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, told the group of 50 people meeting at FOOD Share, the county's regional food bank in Oxnard. "We have to give everyone the confidence that the basics can be there."

One key issue is legislation authorizing a variety of early childhood and school nutrition programs.

 Ahem, "dignitaries" might be going a little too far, if it refers to this person.

In her remarks Thursday, Capps applauded the goals of the House nutrition bill, saying it would boost enrollment in school lunch programs, plus improve food quality and safety.

So Capps is in Oxnard saying we need more people on school lunch programs. Now that reminds me of something...

Oh yes, I just remembered! The Star just reported that Oxnard fraudulently billed the state for millions dollars worth of school lunches it never served!

Great timing, Lois!

The chief benefit of the press in American society is to keep an eye on the government. While it's nice to know the weather, calendar of events, and crime report, the truly important work that journalists do is keeping public officials honest. The Ventura County Star, in two series of articles, has demonstrated that it is dedicated to the higher purpose of acting as a government watchdog.

Since the Bell public employee compensation scandal erupted, the Star made information requests for salary and benefits information for officials in Ventura County cities, revealing that some individuals cost taxpayers over $300,000 annually, and is doggedly investigating Ojai, which provided a vague response to the request.

The Star made its public records request to each of the 10 cities in the county on Aug. 2. All cities complied for council members, except for Ojai, which provided the $5,700 base pay of the elected officials but just general benefits information with no exact figures. The Star also is reviewing the total compensation packages of the cities' top management.

On Saturday, the Star reported a wide disparity in pay between several cities in the county.

Council members in Thousand Oaks, a city of about 130,000 residents, are paid $21,000 a year but also can receive full health benefits and retirement, pushing their total compensation up to $51,650 annually, city records show.

By contrast, council members in Fillmore, a rural community of about 15,600, can earn up to $2,250 annually in monthly stipends but get no city benefits. And Ventura's City Council members earn less than $10,000 annually for a coastal community of 108,000.

In Oxnard, city leaders are reeling from an FBI raid that closed City Hall ten days ago, having to do with possible misappropriation of funds related to large public works projects. Over the summer, the Star reported on the failure of the public works director, Ken Ortega, to disclose gifts he received from consultants doing business with the city. Two days later, he resigned.

Ortega resigned in June after admitting that he failed to disclose gifts he received from companies doing business with the city, including some working on the water project known as GREAT, the Groundwater Recovery Enhancement and Treatment program. At the time, he said that the disclosure had nothing to do with his resignation, which he attributed to his increasingly difficult relationship with City Manager Ed Sotelo. He argued that he was being singled out for things that other city officials had done or failed to report.

The feds and the DA certainly seem to agree with Ortega's assertion that he's not the only one.

Mirroring the timing of a raid the week before at City Hall, investigators showed up late Friday afternoon with search warrants at Herrera's home and those of City Manager Ed Sotelo and Assistant City Manager Karen Burnham.

There will be plenty more stories on the public employee compensation and city of Oxnard tracks in the weeks and months ahead.

The Star could serve as a model in its role of watchdog that the national media would do well to follow in light of an increasingly out-of-control federal government.

Oxnard's Commission on Community Relations wants the city to take action against Arizona for enacting the controversial 1070 illegal immigration law.

"This law declares an open hunting season on Hispanics," said Rabbi John Sherwood, one of the seven -appointed commissioners. Sherwood compared the law to anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany.

"Racism is blatantly clear in Arizona's 1070 law," he said.

Commissioner Margaret Reyes, a naturalized citizen, said, "I'm afraid I would be stopped because I'm a brown skinned person."

One commissioner, noting that the panel exists to evaluate local community issues--not those of other states--suggested that the matter is a federal issue.

"I don't see why we should be spinning our wheels and wasting our time on this motion."

My Spidey-sense tells me that there's more to these protests of the Arizona immigration law than meets the eye. Most people don't seem to be interested in finding out who is behind the demonstrations--the papers simply name several of the hundreds of groups across the country that are participants without providing context of what the organizations are really about.  Here's an example:

Dozens of people showed up at City Hall in Oxnard Tuesday night to protest the new immigration law in Arizona and urge the City Council to condemn it and boycott the state.

"We're here to put a sense of urgency to the matter," said Francisco Romero, an organizer with El Pueblo Unido....

Romero said his group is one of an array of community groups urging cities across the country to condemn the Arizona legislation, which requires law enforcement to check the immigration status of individuals they suspect might be in the country illegally.

OK, Franciso Romero and El Pueblo Unido don't like the Arizona law. That's all we learn about them and the "array of community groups." But is that all they are?

It seems there is more.

A website called La Verdad identifies a Francisco Romero of Oxnard as a part of the National Chicano Moratorium Committee (NCMC). The NCMC is apparently one of the "array of community groups" that fight on behalf of illegal immigrants. Here's a description of a conference they helped put on:

On August 11, 1996, the National Chicano Moratorium Committee (NCMC) organized the National Raza Unity Conference: A Conference which carried the Revolutionary Spirit of Our Heroes like, Zapata, Che, and Las Soldaderas, that was organized and led by Raza, that was created by the conditions the Republican and Democratic Parties have put on our gente.

The Revolutionary Spirit of our heroes like Che, hmm? Seems it's not just the Arizona law that has them fired up.

A Francisco of Romero of Oxnard also was on the editorial board of the Raza Press Association. The address lists the publication's address as "Oxnard, Califas." According to the Urban Dictionary, "Califas" is "used widely in the militant Chicano movement to designate the state of California or Southern California."

In an exemplary series of articles, the Ventura County Star is focusing on unsolved murders in California. Astonishingly, only about half of our murders are cleared, with random gang violence the driving factor. That's consistent with national trends, as drug-related semi-organized crime replace the more easily solvable crimes of passion.

Compared to years past, when homicides were largely a product of robberies and domestic violence and the suspects were easier to target, police say the increase in gang-related killings has resulted in witnesses reluctant to talk, victims innocently gunned down and killers who walk free for too long. While the overall number of homicides in the county has decreased since the 1990s, the number of gang homicides has increased.

Not surprisingly, many of the homicides occurred in Oxnard (see map below). That's not a reflection of the law enforcement agencies--it's a reflection of the collapse of our borders and rampant illegal immigration.

Fox News superstar Bill O'Reilly featured the Oxnard school sex scandal on his program Thursday afternoon. 

It's been a busy week for police in Oxnard this holiday season. I'll spare you a musical rendition of the crimes committed ("twelve people burglarized, eleven people beaten") and just list the crimes here.

·         On Christmas, two 18-year-old gang members robbed and shot at two juveniles and a 41-year-old man
·         Also on Christmas, a man was cut in the face during an attempted carjacking
·         On Christmas Eve, a 50-year-old man was found shot to death at his home, resulting in the arrest of his 21-year-old neighbor
·         Also on Christmas Eve, a 27-year-old man was arrested for punching a senior citizen in the face and attempting to rob him
·         Also on Christmas Eve, a man was ordered to stand trial in January for the rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman
·         On 12/23, a 55-year-old woman was killed when an unidentified driver crashed into some parked cars before fleeing on foot
·         Also on 12/23, police shot and killed the driver of a propane truck who rammed it into police officers. In 2005 the Oxnard resident had stabbed a cab driver outside of a motel.
·         Also on 12/23, a man plead guilty to a drunk driving crash that killed two local DJ's.
·         On 12/22, a 21-year-old Oxnard man was arrested in connection with a shooting of a 20-year-old victim earlier in the month
·         On 12/20, a 45-year-old man was assaulted with beer bottles and a fence post after he confronted a carful of people who were smoking marijuana and drinking in front of his house
·         On 12/18, an intermediate school was locked down when a man threatened his family with a gun
·         Also on 12/18, an Oxnard man was being held in the county jail for allegedly robbing 15 convenience stores

Oxnard is out of control. You'll recall that earlier this year I reported that Oxnard has a higher murder rate than Los Angeles County.

The police are pushing back and recently arrested 24 people during a series of gang-related probation searches.

Most of the crimes listed above were committed by gang members.  Several years ago, a former Oxnard resident who lived in rough areas in Oxnard wrote this in her blog:

Many are without fathers who are either dead or locked up. Schools do discriminate and make it all but impossible for these kids to learn. Many are the offspring of immigrants or illegals from Mexico and they enter school not knowing how to speak English. There aren't that many teachers willing to go out of their way for them, instilling an early dislike of teachers and education and the white kids who made fun of them.

It seems that rampant, unchecked illegal immigration may have contributed to the violence we are experiencing today. We have both parties to thank for that.

Oxnard is the poster city for the chaos that ensues when laws are not enforced.