Andrew's Legs

A sharp mind. A brilliant writer. A cute accent. An admirable (if pathological) anti-Clinton bias. And nice legs, too.

My crush on Andrew Sullivan gets stronger each day.

View

A beautiful shot of Los Angeles from Curbed LA's flickr pool.

Relections on the Obama Moment

Some thoughts on the significance of this moment:

Matthew Yglesias: The Audacity of Hope

Jed Report: The Opportunity

DarkSyde: History

Andrew Sullivan: Yes, We Did

Andrew Sullivan: This Moment

Obama Veepwatch: Schweitzer

The blog Fivethirtyeight gives us the skinny on dark-horse candidate Tim Schweitzer, governor of Montana.

History: Who Knew?

According to USA Today, the United States had a Native American vice-president -- under Herbert Hoover.

Bump

The coolest political couple ever.

Obama Veepwatch: Sebelius

I am very intrigued by the governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius. Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic tells us a little about her.

Math

I am so sick of Hillary Rove Clinton asserting she has won the popular vote. The truth, here.

The Streets Speak

In the LA Weekly, Daniel Hernandez sends a letter from Mexico City, featuring a traveling gallery of street art: graffiti, stencils, and stickers. I yearn for it to come to LA.

Clinton's Two-Step

Harold Meyerson, who is sorely missed here in Los Angeles by those of who loved his column in the pre-corporate LA Weekly, writes a column for the Washington Post. His latest installment takes on the bullshit being slung by the Hillary Rove Clinton camp, regarding Florida and Michigan:

"Clinton's supporters have every right to demonstrate on Saturday, of course. But their larger cause is neither democracy nor feminism; it's situational ethics. To insist otherwise is to degrade democracy and turn feminism into the last refuge of scoundrels."

The Tide Is Turning

According to the Field Poll - the most respected statewide California poll - the electorate here in the Golden State, which just a few years ago strongly endorsed a statewide ballot initiative against same-sex marriage, is coming around on the issue.

Fifty-one percent of those polls said they oppose a likely November referendum amending the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage. News accounts of the poll are here and here, and you can read the actual Field Poll report here.

The results are encouraging, but close. The battle over this referendum will be long, tough, and costly. You can learn more about the coalition forming to fight the assault on LGBT rights, and donate to the campaign for our rights, by going to the website for Equality for All.

A Window to the Future?

Microsoft is saying its new operating system will have a touch-screen technology instead of a mouse. I can't say I'm wild about the idea of fingerprints on my screen.

Saving the Venice Art Walls

Over 40 artists are donating artwork to raise funds to support the Venice Art Walls program. Faced with potential budget cuts from government sponsors, the organization that curates the walls are in dire straits.

ICU Art and its allies are having this benefit art auction to keep the program alive until they can secure more substantial long-term funding through grants or other sources.

The majority of the artwork will be sold in a silent auction with a few important works being auctioned in the live auction. They will also have a raffle for goods and services that are being donated by businesses and individuals. Tickets will be sold in advance as well as at the door the night of the event. Please come out and support the Venice Art Walls – an important cultural historic landmark and a Venice art resource.

Here is the info:
Venice Art Walls Benefit Art Auction
Tuesday, June 3, 2008 6-9 PM
The G2 Gallery
1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd Venice, CA 90291
$10 Admission
Celebrity Auctioneer: Richard Montoya (Cultural Clash)

www.veniceartwalls.com

How the Media Fails Us

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., gives a talk on why and how the mainstream media is failing America:

Pulver v. Faber

I'm already stoked beyond belief about the Pulver-Faber fight, airing on the Versus cable channel 6 p.m. PST Sunday June 1.

WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber (20-1) says Jens Pulver's (22-8-1) only chance at victory at Sunday's WEC 34 event is via knockout; Pulver doesn't disagree.

Faber is the clear favorite, but my heart is with Jens.

The Orange County Register has audio ciips ofinterviews with both fighters here.

And here is a video clip of both of them talking about the fight during separate training sessions:

Obama Loses KKK Endorsement

Michael Gene Sullivan publishes this hilarious gem over at the Huffington Post:

Racist Rejection Revives Dark Questions of Electability

Dateline - Lynchburg, Virginia

In a surprising move, which some are calling a deathblow to his candidacy, the Ku Klux Klan today decided to not endorse Senator Barack Obama in his bid for the Presidency of the United States. Seeming to validate Hillary Clinton's assertion that Obama cannot win the all-important poor white racist vote which had became the cornerstone of her support, many are now speculating that rejection by the influential domestic terrorist organization could spell the end for the Illinois Democrat's race for the White House.

You can read the whole article here.

Down with Dobbs!

Media Matters Action Network published a report last week aimed at CNN's xenophobic douchebag Lou Dobbs and others, regarding their "vitriolic rhetoric," on the topic of immigration. "On their eponymous programs, Dobbs, O'Reilly, and Beck serve up a steady diet of fear, anger, and resentment on the topic of illegal immigration," says the site.

The Visitor

Go see it.

The story is moving. The cast exceptional.

Our Forgotten Veterans

on Memorial Day, Joel John Roberts over at LA's Homeless Blog reminds us of the forgotten veterans dying slowly on our streets each day.


"During this day of memorializing the war dead, I also think of those veterans who struggle on our streets, battling emotional ghosts that have haunted them since they left the battlefields.

. . .

"But let’s not honor them with speeches and honor guards. Let’s honor homeless veterans with real homes and a caring community of support."

Hands on the Wheel

The LA Times' Steve Hymon has a regular column about traffic and transportation. This week, he publishes a handy Q&A about the new rules, effective July 1, regarding driving and cellphone use.

A Bad Choice, But a Clear One

One of the most consequential elections in Los Angeles County for the next decade will take place in eight days. It is for a little-noticed but enormously influential office. The implications are profound, but the candidates disappointing.

We're talking about the race to succeed Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, the longtime county supervisor for 2 million people, including some of the region's neediest, poorest and most chronically neglected. Burke and her four colleagues oversee and massive and sprawling county government, responsible for criminal justice, health care, welfare, and social services. With over 100,000 employees, the county is also the largest employer in the state of California.

The two top contenders to succeed Burke are Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks, the former police chief, and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, who preceded Parks on the council. The stakes are enormously high. The board sorely needs two things: a progressive and a genuine leader.

Whoever wins will be the likely swing vote between the more conservative Don Knabe-Mike Antonovich wing of the board, and the more liberal Gloria Molina-Zev Yaroslavsky bloc. When it comes to health care, homelessness, overcrowding in the jails, environmental programs, and labor issues, that ideological difference matters - a great deal.

Parks is one of the least labor-friendly members of the L.A. City Council. He has the strong backing of business groups, was adamantly opposed to mandating a living wage for LAX-area hotel workers, and has been a consistent critic of rent control.
While he has softened and warmed considerably since joining the City Council, Parks' tenure as police chief can only be described as autocratic.

Ridley-Thomas, the choice of organized labor and most environmentalists, generally votes progressive and has displayed a fervent desire to forge a much needed black-brown coalition in LA politics. But his accomplishments have been more about process (starting the Days of Dialogue and forming an Empowerment Congress) than in actually getting stuff done.

Ridley-Thomas will likely be a solid progressive vote, but it's hard to feel confident he'll lead the board or the county in a new direction. He is a more a technical wonk than a visionary or a creative thinker. Moreover, he is one of the more annoying public figures in Los Angeles, in love with the sound of his own voice and never satisfied to choose a word with one syllable when a word with eight or more will do.

The problem is that the Board of Supervisors needs a progressive leader, a local legislative equivalent of former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan -- someone who can bring some energy, creativity, and direction to a massive, stagnant and stinking bureaucracy that does too little to serve the poorest people in the region.

We could have had that type of leader in Karen Bass, who instead opted for a two-year stint as speaker of the state assembly. Our next best shot is in a few years when Yaroslavsky finally retires, making room for progressive champion Sheila Kuehl.

In the meantime, in the race between Parks and Ridley-Thomas, the choice is easy, but not very inspiring.

UFC 84: Wrap-up

Man, what a fight night.

As as I had hoped, BJ Penn kicked butt. Although the fight barely went to the ground, where BJ's skills are sublime, Penn relentlessly pounded Sherk with jab after jab, resulting in a TKO at the end of the third round. By the time BJ was done with Sherk, the Muscle Shark looked like Wanderlie Silva.

And speaking of Silva, he dominated. If there was any doubt of Dana White's wisdom in sticking by the former Pride champion, it was erased in this fight. Silva dispatched Jardine in a matter of seconds, demonstrating how he still has the ability to be one of the most entertaining fighters in MMA.

That's a distinction that few few would bestow on Lyoto Machida. While Machida took down Tito Ortiz in the the Huntington Beach Bad Boy's UFC Swan Song, his fighting style -- smart, precise and technical -- struck many as cautious, defensive and downright boring.

Looking forward, Penn said in his post-fight interview that he is eager for a rematch with Georges St. Pierre. Penn would need to go up to 170-lb division for that fight, which could be one of the hottest bouts of the year.

Art Attack

I've somehow missed that there is a new local magazine, Malibu, which is also available online.

In the lastest issue, they feature a profile of and Q&A with Robbie Conal, the irrepressible guerrilla artist whose posters adorn buildings and light posts throughout Southern California. His work has attacked the war, the Supreme Court, politicians of both major parties, and a lot more.

The magazine reviews his work thusly:

"The product of prolonged pressure and heat, each of Conal’s works emerges as yet another priceless diamond, sparkling from all angles with a witty, gritty social consciousness never before seen in the world of artistic expression. Adorning America’s cityscapes with badges of civil disobedience, Conal and his “get-up” army view the streets as their own personal CNN, broadcasting their message under cover of night, town by town, block by block, street by street. People are definitely watching. And more importantly, they are thinking."

Conal's work is as brilliant as it is unsubtle. His website is here.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger

The early buzz is great for the premier film by Venice's Chris Bell. The documentary "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" opened at the Sundance Film Festival, got rave reviews, won a distributor, and opens in limited release Friday, including a showing at the Arclight in Hollywood. I hear it's sort of like Michael Moore on steroids.

I'm dying to see it. The film's website is here.

Here is the trailer:

The Anti-Marriage Initiative

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times poll reported that Californians were close to evenly divided on a likely ballot measure that would amend to state constitution to codify anti-gay discrimination, and explicitly ban same sex marriage.

Patrick Range MacDonald of the LA Weekly has taken a look at the poll, and has some interesting observations at the alternative paper's website. Range, who is emerging as a important journalist on the LGBT beat, has started a blog on the paper's site to cover the initiative battle.

Some of his other recent coverage is here and here.

Ill Will

UFC 84: Ill Will, which airs on Pay-Per-View at 7 pm PST, boasts a helluva card, with a dramatic title fight, and a main card full of exciting bouts with major implications.

The headline fight, for the lightweight belt, is between BJ "The Prodigy" Penn and Sean "The Muscle Shark Sherk." Penn captured the title in January by defeating Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. Sherk used to hold the title, but it was stripped from him when he tested positive for steroids. For Sherk, this is a shot at redemption and an attempt to reclaim the title he feels was stolen for him. For Penn, this an opportunity to claim he holds the title legitimately and to put to rest, perhaps for good, the recurring storyline that he is a lazy fighter. There has been lots of bad blood between these two fighters.

Sherk is a relentless wrestler. Penn is a jiu-jitsu marvel. This will be a fun fight. I'll hoping for a Penn victory.

The second hottest fight of the night is Tito "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz versus Brazilian Lyoto Machida.

This will be Ortiz's last fight in the UFC, whose feud with UFC president (and his former manager) Dana White has all the drama and pettiness of a two soap opera divas. The latest installment in the long-running feud: at yesterday's weigh-in, Ortiz wore a t-shirt that said "Dana is my Bitch!" This came a few days after Dana trashed him on a conference call as the "dumbest human being" he has ever met.

Ortiz has gone all Hollywood, dating a former porn star and appearing on Donald Trump's "The Apprentice. " He has been a great fighter, but he is now more showman and ego than fighter. The contrast could not be sharper with Machida, a disciplined, smart, talenter fighter of both Japanese and Brazilian heritage. I'm rooting for Machida.

The third major fight is Keith Jardine versus Wanderlei Silva. They are both impressive fighters - although Jardine has an odd stance that makes him look a cartoon character. Silva, the former champion in the Pride league, has been on a losing streak lately. Jardine's last fight was a stunning split decison victory last fall against Chuck Liddel.

The Persecution Continues

The New York Times reports today that 270 illegal immigrants have been sentenced to five months in prison as part of "a sharp escalation in the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal workers."

Last year, Congress was thisclose to a comprehensive package of immigration reform -- but it died, largely due to objections from the Right. They refused to compromise, killing the bill, and now they are getting everything they want -- border fences, stiffer penalties, a massive crackdown -- with none of the actual reform.

This sucks. I'm hoping either Obama or McCain will make genuine reform a priority in January -- before more immigrants wind up dead, in jail, in bleak and barren border deserts, or from the coming wave of anti-immigrant hysteria that people like Linbaugh and Lou Dobbs promote.

In Memoriam

In honor of Memorial Day, Arlington West will be up all weekend long by the Santa Monica Pier. A project of Veterans for Peace, Arlington West is an installation in the sand of hundreds of crosses memorializing the military personnel and civilians who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Usually the temporary memorial is installed and open from sunrise to sunset on sundays. This week, it will be open from Saturday morning through late afternoon Monday. From 12:30 to 3:00 pm Sunday, there will be a speaker's program, broadcast live on KPFK 90.7 FM.

An Ode to Barbershops

The cool blog, Art of Manliness, has a post that waxes nostalgic about barbershops.

Only One

This skit from last week's Saturday Night Live is priceless:

I Have No Words

The president of Gambia is saying that gays in his country will be beheaded.

The headline on the story is: "President plans to kill off every single homosexual."

So Much Beauty

One of my favorite cinematic moments:

Jail the Children!

More immigration nonsense.

The federal government is planning on building more "family detention centers" to house not just adults, but also children:

Family detention has been condemned by human rights groups and immigrant rights organizations as punitive and unnecessary. But immigration authorities said it ensures that immigrants show up for their court hearings and leave the country when ordered deported.

The government does not have a great track record with this kind of thing. It has been sued over conditions at one such facility:

When the center opened, children were given hospital scrubs to wear, forbidden to have toys and allowed only one hour of recreation per day, attorneys said. As a result of the settlement, children are allowed to wear pajamas, move freely around the center and bring toys into their rooms.

More immigration Outrages

The newspapers from the past few days have more evidence of the remarkable cruelty and sheer idiocy of the nation's immigration policy.

First, the cruelty: word from the LA Times that border officials are attaching razor wire to the border fence.

And then the idiocy: news from Texas that customs officials are insisting on checking for proof of citizenship during emergency evacuations. Having learned nothing from Katrina, federal officials now want to slow evacuations down with red tape.

Incredible.

FYI - the photo is by the exceptional (and Pultizer Prize-winning) Don Bartletti of the LA Times. He and reporter Sonia Nazarro each won Pulitzers for their artful and moving series on immigration, "Enrique's Journey."

Wet

The Stanford Swim Team. They should make a calendar.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell?

Abercrombie & Fitch couldn't do it better. I'm not sure Falcon video could either.

Every year, plebes at the U.S. Naval Academy engage in a popular and public act of homeroticism. They strip to their shorts, grease each other up, and climb/slid/slide all over each other to mount a large, well-lubed phallic symbol. I kid you not. And it's hit.

Pretty much every gay male feels obligated to post photos on the event. Here is one -- but for a more full gallery, check out Towleroad or OHLALA Mag.

Voices

Some eloquent voices this week worthy of being heard:

The Father of a Transgendered 10 year-old, from Andrew Sullivan's blog.

A gay Peace Corps volunteer on being gay in Mozambique. Thanks to Towleroad for the link.

Thoughts on a Anti-Gay Ballot Initiative from a young gay political staffer - from California Majority Report.

An Ohio University freshman kicked out by roommates because he is gay. Again, thanks to Towleroad.

Will.i.am Campbell's moving essay on his reaction to a photo of a quake victim in China. From Los Angeles Metblogs.

We Shall Not Be Moved

Marriage Equality in California!

The California Supreme Court just issued a ruling saying that the voter-approved ban on gay marriage in the state is unconstitutional. The vote was 4-3.

You can read the 172-page ruling here.

Good Times

It is easy to diss the Los Angeles Times. It does so many things so badly. But when they do something right, it's only fair to point it out. So, kudos to the folks responsible for publishing this photo in the Health section earlier this week. It made quite an impression:)

The hot guy in the photo is Ahmad Saleh, 32. He is doing one-hand push-ups.

Yacht Party

I recall an episode of the West Wing, where Sam Seaborn, Rob Lowe's character, chastised congressional Democrats for suggesting he pepper a presidential speech with what he considered cheap, caricatured attacks on Republicans as favoring tax breaks for yachts and swimming pools for the wealthy.

Well, not so fast, Mr. Seaborn. Apparently, here in California, the increasingly hard-line, ideological and flaky Republican caucus in Sacramento is refusing to address the yawning state budget deficit by closing a tax loophole for yacht purchasers.

The Courage Campaign, a network of progressive activists, wants to call the GOP out on this and is trying to rebrand the state GOP as the "Yacht Party." The organization is raising funds to help the following ad to get the message out:

Breaking: Marcus Allen Withdraws

Breaking News from LA City Hall: we've just been told by City Hall sources that Marcus Allen has withdrawn his name as the mayor's nominee for the city's top fiscal post.

In March, Villaraigosa nominated Allen, his former deputy chief of staff, to succeed Karen Sisson as Chief Administrative Officer. Widely respected in many circles for his work in the city for more than a decade -- including work for Villaraigosa, City Controller Laura Chick, and the office of the Chief Legislative Analyst -- Allen's nomination still ran into trouble.

The CAO is responsible for the city's multi-billion dollar budget, labor relations, and debt management. It is considered the highest non-elected position in city government.

Allen's nomination was vigorously opposed by the Los Angeles Daily News, which warned of a revolving door between government and lobbying. (He went to work for a lobbying firm when he left Villaraigosa's office.) He was also opposed by a few councilmembers often opposed to Villaraigosa, including Councilwoman Jan Perry.

Word at City Hall is Allen withdrew his name over money. Sisson makes about $220,000. Allen demanded $290,000. Those who opposed Allen used the salary issue as political cover to scuttle the nomination.

Winter Soldiers

The Congressional Progressive Caucus will hear testimony tomorrow from nine members of Iraq Veterans Against the War as part of "Winter Soldier" hearings examining the ongoing problems with the U.S. war in Iraq.

According to the veterans group, "Winter Soldier on the Hill will allow the US Congress to be more fully informed about the situation in Iraq through soldiers’ eyewitness accounts of the on-going military occupation, while they debate (more than likely for the last time during the Bush-Cheney administration) the funding for U.S. military operations in Iraq."

The hearings start at 6 a.m. PST. CSPAN3 will broadcast the hearing live. If you don't get CSPAN3, you can watch it on the CSPAN website. Or you can listen on Pacifica Radio 90.7 FM, KPFK.

On Pins and Needles

Tomorrow at 10 a.m., the California Supreme Court is scheduled to announce its ruling on the issue of gay marriage here in the Golden State.

Will California follow in the footsteps of Massachusetts and become the second state to legalize same sex marriage? According to this post at Towleroad, many observers think so.

Regardless of what the court decides, the City and Lambda Legal–among others–will be staging an event in West Hollywood at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente at 7:00 PM.

On his blog, Andrew Sullivan waxes typically eloquent on the import of the moment:

"Those in favor of civil equality better get ready. The gay civil rights movement will never have waged a battle this big, this expensive or this important. We can win at the ballot box as well as in the courts and legislatures. And the good news is that the Republican governor has said he will oppose any initiative to take marriage rights away, if they are granted. Hold on tight."

America's Shame, Continued

The Washington Post continues its week-long series on the U.S. government's disgraceful treatment of immigrants being held in detention. I mentioned the first part of the series earlier this week. Today's installment reveals that many detainees are given psychotropic drugs against their will:

"The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

"The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane."

and . . .

"Such episodes are among more than 250 cases The Washington Post has identified in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003 -- the year the Bush administration handed the job of deportation to the Department of Homeland Security's new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE.

"Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees, unless there is a medical justification, is a violation of some international human rights codes. The practice is banned by several countries where, confidential documents make clear, U.S. escorts have been unable to inject deportees with extra doses of drugs during layovers en route to faraway places."

Renters, Revolt!

The website www.angryrenter.com gives appropriately angry voice to the plight of those of us who rent, and can't fathom why elected officials keep chipping away at renters' rights while rushing to bail out homeowners who gambled on risky loans.

Renters make up 32% of the national population and a whopping 60% of the people who live here in Los Angeles. But we have a disproportionately small voice in government, especially here in Los Angeles, where elected officials tend to take their marching orders from either developers or homeowners.

I'll have more on the plight of LA renters -- and the statewide assault on rent control -- in future posts, but right now I want to draw attention to Angry Renter, which has collected 46,000 signatures urging Congress to stop the bailout of homeowners and house flippers.

Madame Speaker

Today California made history. Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, took the oath of office as Speaker of the Assembly -- the first African-American woman to lead a state legislative chamber in U.S. History.

Karen Bass rocks -- in every way. She is progressive, smart, eloquent, passionate, creative, hard-working, focused, and a lot more. The fact that Karen can serve only one more term is a proof of the stupidity of term limits. Given a choice, voters would surely elect Karen again and again and again.

Karen, 54, is no lifetime pol. She was elected to the Assembly in 2004 after years as a community organizer in South Los Angeles. A physician's assistant raised in the Venice-Fairfax area, left the medical field in the early 1990s to try to find solutions for drug addiction, gun violence and other social ills she witnessed in treating emergency room patients. The nonprofit group she founded, the Community Coalition, helped limit the number of liquor stores that reopened in South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots.

Karen is also a state co-chair for the Barack Obama campaign.

More coverage at the LATimes and LAist. The text of her acceptance speech is here.

Not Your Father's Graffiti

Thanks to LAist for the news that an international exchange called LA Goldrush brought graffiti artists from Italy to Los Angeles. On Sunday, they visited the Venice Art Walls. LAist photographer Tom Andrews spent some time with the visiting artists in both locations and documented what happened.

Stroll down to the beach and check out the walls. The artists rotate every week, so it is a living, ever-evolving canvas for a beautiful and under-appreciated form of art.

Man Candy

One of my favorite blogs is Towleroad, a daily collection of LGBT news and information, with a sprinkling of photos of hot guys. So, many, many, many thanks to Andy Towle for bringing to my attention rugby stud Danny Cipriani.

Justice for Janitors

In a major victory for organized labor in Los Angeles, a potentially disruptive and high-profile strike by the janitors union has been averted, with custodial workers in Los Angeles County winning higher wages and better benefits.

Joined by janitors, leaders of SEIU Local 1877, business owners and members of the City Council, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced today that management and labor reached a broad agreement for workers in Los Angeles County, and are making progress on negotiations for workers in Orange County.

Los Angeles County janitors won a tentative agreement that would boost total compensation nearly 25 percent over the life of the contract. Janitors won wage increases of more than $1,000 a year every year over the life of the four-year pact for a compounded total of $10,000 per janitor. Janitors will continue to receive full employer-paid family healthcare, a pension, and, for the first time, will receive vision coverage. Janitors working on the outskirts of the county will be able to move into higher-paying buildings and earn better benefits based on seniority, once the contract is ratified.

Today’s announcement comes just days after the janitors voted overwhelmingly to approve an unfair labor practice strike. The janitors began staging walkouts May 7 after round-the-clock contract negotiations broke down. After a day of walk-outs Villaraigosa intervened, asked for a cooling off period, and brought both sides back to the negotiating table.

When negotiations broke down last week, the cleaning companies and their corporate clients had refused to adequately raise wages for janitors who clean some of the most expensive office buildings in the entire country. The contractor’s proposal would have forced the majority of union janitors into second-class status, which was unacceptable to the janitors’ union.
The tentative agreement for Los Angeles county will begin to bring those janitors out of second-class status and raise wages from $22,256 to $26,728 a year by the end of the four-year pact. Janitors that work in downtown and Century City will see their wages jump from $24,960 to $29,328 a year when the contract expires, April 30, 2012.

SEIU Local 1877 represents 20,000 janitors statewide. The union won national recognition in 2000, when they staged a three-week work stoppage that drew national political figures, including former Vice President Al Gore and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. That strike helped galvanize immigrant workers across the nation and was considered a watershed moment for Los Angeles labor.

Who is a Gang Member?

Just who is a gang member? What is a gang affiliation? How does a child go to public school in many parts of Los Angeles without knowing a gang member? Does that constitute "gang ties"?

Witness LA, an excellent blog about crime and social justice issues, examines those questions by looking at the case of Jamiel Shaw, Jr., the 17-year old high school football star who was gunned down by a gang member outside his home in March.

The local media has jumped all over this murder, advancing the storyline that the young victim was the ultimate Good Kid, victimized by a gang member. Over the past few days, news has leaked that Shaw made some gang references on his myspace page, prompting some to question whether he was really was the Good Kid, and subtly suggesting that gang ties would have made his murder slightly less tragic. (Surely, it would have caused the media to give it less attention.)

The truth is this: for most kids in LA, life ain't that black and white. As the Witness LA blog post illustrates, it is murky, gray, and all too dangerous. There is no straight and narrow; just a windy, bumpy, hazardous road.

Little Evil vs. The California Kid

MMA Junkie previews what will be one helluva fight: Jens "Little Evil" Pulver versus Urijah "The California Kid" Faber -- a June 1 bout that will be the most significant fight ever under the WEC banner.

Pulver, 33, the first guy to hold a lightweight belt in the UFC, dropped down to 145 lbs, and joined the WEC after losing round two of his grudge match with B.J. Penn in the finale of season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter. He will face Faber, 29, at the Arco Arena in Sacramento in fight to be aired free on Versus cable.

These are two tremendous warriors. Faber, not as well known since he fights in a lower-profile organization, may be one of the most talented mixed martial artists in the world. He is currently the WEV's featherweight champion. He has excellent takedown and submission skills, is freakishly fast, and is a joy to watch (as is, generally, the whole featherweight division.)

Pulver has a great and heavy left hand, is a skilled grappler, and is an intelligent, dogged, csrappy well-conditioned fighter. But while he is an MMA legend, he never seems to get as much respect as his opponents, whether it is Faber or Penn. He is the underdog in this fight.

But I'm rooting for Pulver. The guy has more heart than almost any other fighter I have seen. He has overcome a harrowing biography that included unspeakable abuse at the hands of his father. (His life story is detailed in Little Evil: One Ultimate Fighter's Rise to the Top).

He is a good soul, and when you root for Pulver, you root for the underdog, for humanity, for the guy who gets knocked down in life, but always insists on getting back up. Jens Pulver is why I love mixed martial arts. He is the the best of the sport.

You can catch some video clips of interviews with both fighters here.

President Gore

Over at the Huffington Post, Norman MacAfee dreams about what America and the world would be like if the U.S. Supreme Court had not voted in George W. Bush as president.

The Coming Civil War

Blogger Chris Crain (aka Citizen Crain) posts about the coming battle over gay marriage here in California -- a battle the ACLU calls "the single most important battle we have ever seen in the LGBT rights movement."

Chris is right. Within weeks, the state Supreme Court could legalize gay marriage -- and voters may face a referendum changing the state constitution to officially and categorically ban it.

Given California's size, this will be a political earthquake, a battle that will draw the attention of the nation, especially since it will coincide with the presidential election.

America's Shame

The Washington Post runs a story this morning that provokes justifiable anger and shame at the U.S. government's failure to overhaul immigration laws, chronic inability to manage its bureaucracies, and continued neglect of civil liberties.

The Post conducted an investigation that showed people are literally dying of neglect in the nation's immigration facilities.

Here are some relevant excerpts:

"Some 83 detainees have died in, or soon after, custody during the past five years. The deaths are the loudest alarms about a system teetering on collapse. Actions taken -- or not taken -- by medical staff members may have contributed to 30 of those deaths, according to confidential internal reviews and the opinions of medical experts who reviewed some death files for The Post.

"According to an analysis by The Post, most of the people who died were young. Thirty-two of the detainees were younger than 40, and only six were 70 or older. The deaths took place at dozens of sites across the country. The most at one location was six at the San Pedro compound near Los Angeles."

And we're not talking about accused terrorists:

"The detainees have less access to lawyers than convicted murderers in maximum-security prisons and some have fewer comforts than al-Qaeda terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"But they are not terrorists. Most are working-class men and women or indigent laborers who made mistakes that seem to pose no threat to national security: a Salvadoran who bought drugs in his 20th year of poverty in Los Angeles; a U.S. legal U.S. resident from Mexico who took $50 for driving two undocumented day laborers into a border city. Or they are waiting for political asylum from danger in their own countries: a Somali without a valid visa trying to prove she would be killed had she remained in her village; a journalist who fled Congo out of fear for his life, worked as a limousine driver and fathered six American children, but never was able to get the asylum he sought."

These victims are kept in the shadows, barely receiving even bureaucratic lip service toward the concept of due process:

"These way stations between life in and outside the United States are mostly out of sight: in deserts and industrial warehouse districts, in sequestered valleys next to other prisons, or near noisy airports. Some compounds never allow detainees outdoor recreation; others let them out onto tiny dirt patches once or twice a week.

Detainees are not guaranteed free legal representation, and only about one in 10 has an attorney. When lawyers get involved, they often have difficulty prying medical information out of the bureaucracy -- or even finding clients, who are routinely moved without notice."

The tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe are dying from willful neglect on our watch.

The article I link to is part of a series running in the Post this week.

Sore Loser

SNL gets it exactly right:

Mighty Cool

Thanks to LA metblogs for linking to the coolest pic I have seen in a while. This shot is taken by local photographer Dave Malkoff, who took this pic on a 300-foot construction crane at the corner of Hollywood & Vine.

Malkoff's flickr photo stream is here.

A Happy Birthday

LA's Homeless Blog this week linked to a story in the San Jose Mercury News about a unique guy who decided to celebrate his 29th birthday by throwing a party -- for others.

According to the paper, Taj Chahal "decided to do something a bit different: He hosted a surprise party for 300 total strangers - complete with birthday cake and party favors for everyone - at Martha's Kitchen, a San Jose charity that serves meals to the homeless and working poor."

The article is here.

The Hottest Man Kiss on Network TV

This past week, ABC's Grey's Anatomy - whose executives did such a ham-handed job dealing with one cast members homophobic slurs against another last season - presented a sad and powerful story of a patient dealing with a brain tumor and the cruelty of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The entire episode can be watched online, or you can check out a youtube clip of what is - to my mind - indisputably the hottest man-on-man kiss ever shown on network television.

FYI - the two very cute soldiers soldiers played by Benny Ciaramello (Friday Night Lights' Santiago) and MTV Road Rules grad David Giuntoli.

The Pastor Double Standard

Finally, someone from the mainstream media is calling McCain out for his ties to a preacher far more offensive than Rev. Wright.

Thanks to Keith Olbermann for speaking out.

Finally

LA Citybeat, the real alternative newsweekly here in Los Angeles, this week profiles U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson (D- Long Beach), who may be the only member of the Southern California congressional delegation who really gives a shit about fighting traffic and building mass transit.

Richardson was elected to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald. I supported her primary opponent, state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, but it seems we have a real winner in Richardson, who has a genuine concern for transportation issues and a perch on a key congressional committee.

The Q&A is here. She talks about connecting mass transit to LAX (finally!), and building the Subway to the Sea.

Most of the Los Angeles congressional delegation does nothing about our traffic problem and our chronic lack of mass transit. Sure, some will give a lip service here and there. But no one in at least a decade has done any heavy lifting. The Westside's great liberal icon, Henry Waxman, has even made a point of standing in the way of the Wilshire subway. Of course, Waxman, like most of the local delegation, is in LA so rarely he probably needs google maps to find his Los Angeles office.

Mojo

I have been away for a few weeks -- first with some family stuff, and then not feeling the bloggin' urge. But this clip re-sparked the mojo:

Tear Down That Wall

Mr. Bush, tear down that wall!

A video and song by Mexican MC Boca Floja about one element of the tragedy of our failed and cruel immigration policy.



Thanks to the Unapologetic Mexican, who is (by his own description) "prettier than Lou Dobbs and smarter than ten Aryans."

Venice's Criminal Element

Every now and then, Venice Beach is cursed with an overzealous cop who thinks it is his duty to root out the special spirit of the eclectic and tolerant beach community. Someone who equates individuality with deviancy, someone who equates freedom with anarchy, someone who feels it is duty to save us from ourselves and remove the dirtbags from out midst.

One such character is Mark Arnesen, who served as the sergeant overseeing the LAPD's Venice beach detail in the late 1990s. Known derisively as "the Cowboy," Arnesen tried to impose his will on disorderly Venice, treating denizens with disdain, and famously overreacting one day to a crowd at a concert, ordering in helicopters and a riot squad.

So what ever happened to Sgt. Law and Order? He is currently a criminal defendant in the celebrated Pellicano case, accused of racketeeringand running hundreds of unauthorized background checks for Pellicano.

Arnesen had a particularly tough day on the stand this week.

I don't take any delight in Arnesen's downfall, but having seen him at work here in Venice, it is hard not to believe in Karma.

Common Sense

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has finally spoken about the controversy swirling hysterically in local political circles over Special Order 40, a decades-old LAPD policy that prevents officers from scaring undocumented immigrants shitless and preventing them from reporting crimes or serving as witnesses.

Bratton, as the LA Times reported this morning, said that pretty much everyone in Los Angeles misunderstands the policy, which does not prohibit officers from helping deport criminals who are in this country illegally.

The issue, a long-simmering issue for right-wing talk show hosts, racists, and anti-immigration crazies, came to a boil a few weeks ago, after fringe mayoral candidate Walter Moore sucked the family of Jamiel Shaw into his crusade. Shaw, a promising youth athlete, was tragically killed last month. His accused killer is an undocumented immigrant with a long criminal record.

Moore and his supporters tried to link the killing to Special Order 40 -- although, as has been reported, there is no connection.

In today's paper, Bratton promised to clarify the LAPD policy, which he said even some cops don't understand or enforce properly:


Bratton said the recent criticism is based on a faulty understanding of the rule.

"There is a misrepresentation, misinterpretation, misunderstanding on the part of all the concerned parties here -- whether it is immigrant advocates, immigrant haters, the talk shows, drive-time radio talk-show hosts," Bratton said. "When it comes to our situation in L.A ., . . . the vast majority of them don't know what . . . they are talking about."

Bratton acknowledged some of his own officers were also confused about the policy. For example, he said, he has heard accounts of officers who believe they are prohibited from calling federal immigration officials to report known gang members who have committed crimes and reentered the country illegally."

Bratton continued:

"If you are an illegal immigrant out there and basically you are obeying the law and you are not preying on others, you don't have anything to fear from the Los Angeles police in terms of us approaching you solely on the belief you are here illegally," Bratton said.

Bratton acknowledged that his position was likely to infuriate both sides of the immigration debate, but he said he was confident he was acting in the best interest of the community.

"It is a tempest in a teapot," he said of the controversy over the policy. "It is so hopelessly, totally misunderstood by just about everyone."

The Quality of Mercy

A coalition of gay groups is urging that teenager killer of Lawrence King, who was shot at his Ventury County high school for being gay, not be tried as an adult.

This an admirable position, one is search of justice rather than vengeance, mercy rather than rage.

The alleged killer, 14 year-old Brandon McInerney, deserves to be punished. But he is clearly a messed up child -- and a civilized society meets out justice toward children in a different way than it does adults.

The coalition of groups includes Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Equality California, Gay Straight Alliance Network, Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

The full report comes from the exceptional and always informative Towleroad blog.

ABC News?

I won't even rant. The debate last night was disgusting.

It's the Infrastructure, Stupid!

Yesterday's Los Angeles Times "Opinion" section featured an essay from St. Zev the Panderer about the coming populist revolution against density in Los Angeles.

Puh-leeeze.

Yes, people in Los Angeles are angry about density. Yes, people in Los Angeles feel like developers own the government. And yes, people feel that elected officials who keep approving development after development are clueless. But the sentiment rings hollow and shallow coming from Yaroslavsky -- despite the unquestioning affection the media has been giving his recent pronouncements on the subject.

The problem is not density; it is infrastructure.

We know the population of Los Angeles is going to increase. We can't stop time. We can't prevent people from having children. We can't forbid people from moving here. And unless we build more housing, the existing housing stock will become even more unaffordable.

The real issue is not whether to build more housing, but how to accommodate it. It is about infrastructure. The quality of the infrastructure largely determines whether additional population blends in seemlessly or results in gridlock. How do we move all these people around? Do we have mass transit to get them to and from work? Do we have enough schools and parks for their children? Do we have enough capacity in our sewage lines or on our electrical grid?

These are the questions our elected officials need to be answering. It is not enough to approve housing developments because we need more housing. It is absolutely essential that we concurrently build the infrastructure that we know the additional population will require.

Zev has been one of the top ten most influential Los Angeles political figures for a couple decades, so it is fair to hold him accountable. He has been on the City Council, the Board of Supervisors, and the MTA. So where's our mass transit? While he has been a force behind the Orange Line in recent years, let's remember that Zev made a career for himself fighting the Expo Line and the Wilshire Subway.

It's time Zev got off his high horse about development and got into the trenches to build some infrastructure.

What's Left Unsaid

The Los Angeles Times did a remarkably pathetic job this morning of covering a nasty, racially-charged dust-up between a prominent African-American leader and an influential Jewish philanthropist.

Earlier this week, Daphna Ziman, a major force in wealthy Los Angeles Jewish and entertainment circles, circulated an email alleging that Rev. Eric Lee, head of the Los Angeles branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, had launched an anti-Semitic diatribe during his keynote speech at a King Day event where a major African-American fraternity was honoring several people, including Ziman.

The Times reports that Ziman's email - which has circulated by now to tens of thousands of people - claimed that Lee said "The Jews have made money on us in the music business, and we are the entertainers, and they are economically enslaving us."

The Times story goes on to quote Jewish leaders who are outraged by the allegations in the email. The story mentions that Lee flatly denies making the remarks, and also apologized to Ziman for whatever it is she thinks she heard. That Times also manages to make mention of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Nice.

What the Times fails to mention is critical:

1) According to Ziman, Mayor Antontio Villaraigosa, Councilman Bernard Parks, State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and other prominent officials were there. Why did the Times leave the allegations as a "she said/he said" matter? Why not interview some of the other attendees?
The Jewish Journal published an online story a few days ago, quoting a few people who say they never heard the comments Ziman talks about. It also mentions that the people corroborating her story are two of her employees and a friend of hers.

2) Ziman is a MAJOR supporter of and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. In interviews following her hysterical email, she has used the controversy to attack Obama, going so far as to hold him partially responsible for tensions between blacks and Jews.

3) This is at the very least Ziman's third email broadside maligning Obama. Last month, Ted Johnson reported on his Wilshire & Washington blog that Ziman had sent out a mass email questioning whether Obama had changed his name, and whether there had been a "naming ceremony." A month prior, she forwarded an email from the Republican Jewish Coalition questioning Obama's support of Israel.

Why didn't the Times report any of this?

Bitter Aftertaste

The blogger known as Iowa Liberal has the right take on this silly flap over Obama's comments about some voters being bitter over generations of failed politics:

"This is about the sickness of our modern political culture and its inability to be intellectually honest. Neither Clinton, McCain, nor-Quist believe what they’re saying. Three intelligent Washington veterans? Please. They simply recognize Obama’s words as something that can be easily misconstrued, so they leap to be the loudest one to do so. Via said action, they reveal their own contempt for the intelligence of the electorate, trying to punish Obama for, once again, talking to the public like they’re adults. And, in another indefensible move that should surprise nobody at this point, Hillary Clinton is actually sending out e-mails with soundbites from Republicans attacking Obama."

Walking the Walk

This coming week, April 15-17, the diverse face of organized labor in Los Angeles will take to the streets of Los Angeles as part of a "The March from Hollywood to the Docks."

Actors, janitors, longshore workers, and many other workers along with members of the community will march 28 miles from Hollywood to the docks of San Pedro. For three days straight, these workers and community supporters will walk and camp overnight along the route.

These individuals will symbolize over 350,000 workers who, this year, will be fighting to stay in the middle class or move themselves out of poverty. The march will conclude on April 17th with a massive rally at the Port of Los Angeles at 6:00 pm.

All along the route marchers will be talking the talk by walking the walk, talking to all of L.A. about the fight for middle class jobs, the battle to organize workers and the importance of voting in order to win the 2008 Fight for Good Jobs.

Here is Tommy Munoz, one of the many walkers:

Here is a calendar for the three-day march.

The event is being sponsored by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Damn, He's Good

The War on Art

I'll have much more on this in an eventual later post, but it is quite clear government officials in LA City and LA County don't know shit about art. If it isn't 400 years old, framed, and hanging in a gallery heavily subsidized by Eli Broad, it can't be art, can it?

It sure as hell can. Los Angeles used to be a world capital for murals, and this city is home to some of the most talented graffiti artists on the planet. Unfortunately, the distinction between tagging and spray can art is more than bureaucrats can handle.

The Associated Press has details today on the latest travesty.

I'll write more again soon about LA's war on art. In the meantime, here are a couple links to organizations that know a thing or two about art that is indigenous to our city:

In Creative Unit (ICU)

Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)

Talking Back

For the past few years, officials with the City of Los Angeles have been talking about waging a war on homelessness -- while effectively waging war on the homeless themselves.

There is no real policy in Los Angeles to address the problem of homelessness, so we get treated to lots of press conferences, lots of lofty policy debates, and precious little action. Into that void, however, jump the forces of NIMBYism, which manage to convince politicians to take punitive actions against the homeless in the lull between the policy debates.

Well, today, some homeless advocates decided to talk back.

When Mayor Villariagosa and a couple councilmembers showed up on skid row to promote the latest phase of the Safer Cities Initiative -- which some homeless advocates claim locks scores of homeless people for frivolous violations -- a handful of volunteers at a local soup kitchen booed and heckled.

The video is at the LA Times local news blog.

The Times Dave Zahniser typically goes the extra mile for a more nuanced account.

The problem with LA's effort to clean up Skid Row is typical of how city government operates: officials proclaims the need for a multi-pronged solution to a complex problem -- and then inevitably deliver on only a fraction of the promise. When it comes to homelessness, they deliver on the crime crackdown, but fail to produce the affordable housing and social services. When it comes to gangs, there are injunctions and drug raids, but too few job training programs and even fewer jobs.

DIth Pran, R.I.P.

Dith Pran, the courageous and inspirational photojournalist whose story of endurance and escape from the murderous Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia was brought to the big screen in the 1984 film "The Killing Fields" has died.

Pran was a remarkable man. His story is too seldom told. It must be remembered as a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit, and of the power of quiet dignity.

The Associated Press obit is here.

The powerful final scene of the movie, which dramatizes Pran's reunion with friend and colleague Sydney Shanberg (played by Sam Waterson) is here:

Del Rey Steps Up

NIMBYism is a brutal force in Los Angeles, particularly on the Westside. The "not in my backyard" crowd routinely stands in the way of all sorts of positive things such as affordable housing, homeless services, and sober living homes.

So it is gratifying to see most people in the Los Angeles community of Del Rey stand up and loudly shout "Yes!" in their backyards. Led by the Del Rey Neighborhood Council, local residents are welcoming news that New Directions, an esteemed veterans service agency has purchased a home that will provide transitional housing and services for veterans of the war in Iraq.

The local Argonaut newspaper has some details.

What the Argonaut did not get into is that some of the immediate neighbors were making noises of protest, warning that mentally deranged veterans would be a hazard to their quiet family neighborhood. That selfishness attitude really gives a face and voice to the banality of evil.

I thought the war in Iraq was a bad idea. I think Bushg has mismanaged it horribly. I would like to see our brave men and women in uniform brought home quickly and safely. And when they get here, I want them greeted warmly, with gratitude and every single service and amenity they have risked their lives to earn.