It’s a Mall World After All; or, Is That Your Military Intelligence Showing?

Some things make more sense than others.

* Bob Bayer, a copy editor at the San Diego County Edition of The Times, swears he saw this scene at Parkway Plaza in El Cajon:

A young woman (a true denizen of the mall culture) walks up to a male counterpart and asks: “Have you seen a long-haired guy with short hair around here?”

Sure, right next to the tall short guy.

* Great moments in diplomacy.

San Marcos is thinking of forming a sister-city relationship with Nakagawa, Japan. So a troupe of Japanese dignitaries came to a council meeting bearing a a kimono for Mayor Lee Thibadeau.

The Nakagawa mayor spoke to the council in his halting English. Thibadeau responded brightly that the only words he knows in Japanese are “Kawasaki, Yamaha, Toyota and Sony.”

According to the (Escondido) Times-Advocate:

“His remark drew puzzled looks from the Japanese entourage until the mayor and other council members began to laugh.”

* San Diego bumper sticker: “The Devil Is a Flake.”

* After six years, there are still some people who don’t realize the mayor is not one of the boys.

A film crew shooting a TV commercial for a men’s hair-care product called San Diego City Hall to see if the mayor would be interested in doing a cameo.

“Sorry,” came the answer, “ she has no problem with a receding hairline.”

* It’s an old, reheated joke, but now some wise guy is faxing to San Diego offices a missive from the “Bill Clinton Statue Committee.”

The letter, from one “Joel D. Shrin,” president of the statue committee, says a location for the statue has finally been picked:

“We finally decided to place it beside Christopher Columbus, the greatest Democrat of all. He left not knowing where he was going, didn’t know where he was, and returned not knowing where he had been, and did it all on borrowed money.”

The letter also says Clinton is replacing the donkey with the condom as the symbol of the Democratic Party. The reasons are X-rated.

A Case of Mistaken Anonymity

Things of significance.

* Dan Greenblat, special assistant to Sheriff Jim Roache, is frantically calling reporters and others to explain that he is not caught up in a bitter child custody dispute.

A story Sunday in the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) intervened in a custody case in behalf of a former aide who has an 8-year-old daughter.

There are (unproven) allegations in the case that the child was molested by her father. To protect the child, no names were used in the story.

The problem: Lots of people know that Greenblat is a former Lowery aide who is divorced and has an 8-year-old daughter.

Yes, but he is not the former Lowery aide involved in the custody case. For the record: Greenblat and his ex-wife get along fine.

* Soon to enter the race for the 8th District seat on the City Council: attorney Juan Vargas.

Raised on a chicken farm in the South Bay, educated at Harvard law school. Placed fourth in the Democratic primary in the 50th Congressional District but showed surprising strength in some neighborhoods.

* The next stink bomb to hit the City Council may involve Councilman George Stevens and his desire to be chairman of the Public Services and Safety Committee (which oversees the Police Department).

The mayor plans today to nominate Stevens, but a majority on the council appears to favor John Hartley instead. Stevens’ in-your-face attitude toward colleagues doesn’t help.

Continuing in Our Proud Tradition

The latest flap at San Diego State University is that Playboy magazine has named SDSU one of the 10 top party schools in the nation.

For its On the Campus column, the Daily Aztec newspaper gathered student reaction, including this from a guy who said:

“I think it’s a good thing San Diego State is getting the national recognition it needs to attract more young, beautiful and intelligent women from across the USA.”

I could tell you the guy is a journalism major, but that probably goes without saying.