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: