Society of Spectacle: Demmies Do Hollywood

JM, Sawing Logs, Forest Lawn Glendale, 1.29.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

What promised to be a decent debate is written of as though it were a SuperBowl. There are ceaseless notes about the crowd, the venue, the seating, the bright happy shininess of it all. Everyone is There.

Mostly missing are sincere attempts to use what is transpiring to inform.

I know you're not likely big on French situationists, but Guy Debord said over forty years ago:

The spectacle is the bad dream of a modern society in chains and ultimately expresses nothing more than its wish for sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of that sleep.

That said, there was a pretty good book written last year by NYU prof Stephen Duncome: "Dream: Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy." Duncome argued in some ways even more violently than Debord about spectacle; it is to him "the property of fascism." To wish for sleep, however, is ultimately to dream, and dreams are from whence ideas come.

Ideas? There will be none tonight. None by the primary either. But maybe someone will go to sleep long enough to have one.

BTW: what I like about this blog: the way people are fantasists, the way they are characters here, especially Zuma, Sam, Red Spot, Valley Doll, Antonio Watch and also commenters like, DQ, Captain Jack, Jack Hoff: they're all dreamers, they're all re-imaginers, and none are asleep. Politics is best when it's a carnival; and this blog is one every day. It's more fun Here than There.

Barack vs Hillary: CNN Presidential Debate Gives The People What They Want -- A DEBATE!

2/01/08 7PM UPDATE: Why did the U.S. dollar get stronger today (driving gold down), after a massive 1.25% Fed funds rate cut, which is supposed to drive it down.?
Click here

Tonight the people get what they want out of the Democratic Presidential debate: Just Hillary and Barack with the other deadwood candidates out of the way.

And CNN, Wolf Blitzer, the Democratic Party and both candidates did a great job in the first hour, delivering the proper tone (real debate, not attacks) and actually discussed issues, with answers that actually provided insight as to each candidate's position -- highlighting the differences between each other's policy, not personality.

And for the first time, I am learning a lot more about each candidate's policy and direction on at least health care and a little bit of immigration. (The two topics covered in the first hour.)

And after watching the two candidates articulate their positions, I think it is so clearly obvious who came off as the winner, I don't even feel the need to mention who.

Is there anyone out there reading this who doesn't feel there was an obvious "leader" emerge between the two? Do I even have to say who? I think it's that obvious.

CLINTON ON HEALTH CARE: O.K., did you hear Clinton describe her health care policy? Not only does she want to force/mandate people sign up for health care, but she wants to mandate that health care providers cannot reject applicants, no matter what their health condition -- and if they cannot afford it -- the providers must provide a discount. Then she better open up a government health care provider, because that sound like flat-out libertarian socialism to me. How about if people can't afford a new car, and have their credit application rejected, Shillary mandates that all car companies must approve all applicants who want a new car, and if they cannot afford the price, the dealer must offer extra discounts. If you are an enemy of the United States, and would like to see America go bankrupt -- VOTE FOR SHILLARY. (Or is it Schillary?)

And if you had a business that was in trouble, and you needed to help jump start it; who would you turn to for help?:

a) Low income citizens (and non-citizens) who cannot grow an industry/business and therefore hire a lot of people in the community.

b) Big industry businesses who are responsible for actual growth/stimulus and does all the hiring in the community?

You've heard the expression about teaching someone to fish and they can feed themselves for life...well Schillary must hate that example and must feel it is better to just hand out a one time piece of fish to people and that will solve the problem.)


VOTER FRAUD ALERT: With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Fabian "The Glamourous Life - Nucklehead" Nunez (aka: "Mr. Glamorous Life") as Hillary Clinton's Campaign Co-Chairs, I hope there are people watching the polls. And if you see some big buses pull up to the polls -- or see a Sojourners car caravan pull up...that might be a tip off!

MORE TO COME...

[NOTE: Hello and thanks to everyone who I have spoken with, and received emails from, this past week, or so, regarding all the fraud, waste and abuse at the grubby, corrupt hands of our shady mayor, who for some reason is only able to speak in three word sentences, these days, for some (unknown?) reason -- Antonio "I'm still really hot for that fashion designing planning deputy who I took to Asia" Villar-Viagra-osa.
I have a lot of catching up to do on the bloggging. Hope Prop 215 will be able to help me catch up! bzd]

Revenge of the "RINOS"

Another Kennedy endorsement announced today.

This time it was California's own "KENNEDY REPUBLICAN", Governor Arnold Scharzenegger (RINO) who gave his "RINO BLESSINGS" to Senator John McCain.

McCain was all smiles in the company of Liberal Republicans such as Rudy Giuliani and Scharzenegger, this comes after his tempermental and mis-leading performance in last night's GOP Debate at the Reagan Library.

Unless a drastic turnaround by Mitt Romney or more likely a "temper outburst" by McCain, the liberal, blue blood, country club, liberal wing of the Republican Party is on path to reclaiming dominance in the GOP.

The likes of Nelson Rockefeller, Dwight Eisenhower, and Gerald Ford must be smiling from heaven. While Reagan and Goldwater shake their heads and ponder what happen to the conservative revolution that they were so instrumental in leading to reality.

Back in Purgatory, the likes of "BIG COYOTES", "BIG CHICKEN", "MEXICO", "BIG GOVERNMENT, RINO VERSION (PAPA BUSH)", "ECO FASCISTS" and "MRS. BILL CLINTON are dreaming of what a "STRAIGHT TALK" win in the GOP prelims would do for their aspirations of a bigger bottom line, monetary and political.

Simply, a McCain nomination will bring an end to the Conservative Revolution that put "SELF ENPOWERMENT" before "GOVERNMENT DEPENDENCY". McCain prides himself on reaching out to the likes of Senator Teddy Kennedy on their joint amnesty/immigration reform package, or with the other thirteen Senators that comprised the "GANG OF FOURTEEN" in approving new judges. But in the end, it is this reaching out to a political party who's principles are base upon the sole pursuit of power, that will doom any attempts to reform government.

After all, one needs only to look at the accomplishments of the "KENNEDY REPUBLICAN".

Carter Supports Obama?

Former President Jimmy Carter - the man who had "committed adultrey in his heart" and was once attacked by a giant rabbit - stops short of endorsing Barack Obama for President. In this piece Jimmah also suggests that he had to take fellow Former President Bill Clinton to the woodshed for his and Hillary's racist antics in South Carolina.

Jimmah and his wife Roslyn have made it a practice not endorse primary candidates but the toothy ex-leader, now 83 years old, did let it slip that all but one of his eleven children and grandchildren have endorsed the Illinois Senator.

Top Ten Reasons To Vote No on Proposition S

From the home office in North Hollywood, California...

The Top Ten reasons to vote No on Proposition S...

10 - City Hall wastes our money on things like $500,000 for calligraphy and $18,000 for sphincter control classes. And that's just the start...

9 - Business, homeowner, consumer and neighborhood organizations oppose it.

8 - The ballot language is intentionally deceptive, untrue and a shady effort by the Mayor to bamboozle you.

7 - Nobody cooler than Joseph Mailander opposes this crooked proposition and he'll be on the radio Thursday (KPCC FM 89.3, 10:30 a.m.) to let the people know about it.

6 - The Mayor's airing deceptive TV commercials starring Chief Bratton that misleads the people on the Proposition.

5 - Both unions and developers support Proposition S. That's enough of a reason itself to say no.

4 - Proposition S would tax internet service.

3 - The LA Times supports the measure; but doesn't tell you they don't have to pay the tax.

2 - Those pesky telemarketers who call you during dinner only have to pay half as much tax as you.

And the number one reason to vote no on Proposition S

1 - Every time you get a text message for a booty call, you'll have to pay Antonio Villaraigosa.

Mexican American Political Association Endorses Obama

In a stunning blow to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton - and her surrogate in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - the Mexican American Political Association has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President.

On the heels of the endorsement of the Illinois Senator by labor leader Maria Elena Durazo Clinton's prospects of gaining significant support amongst California's Latinos appear to be fading.

Motivating the decision has been the campaign tactics of the Clintons in South Carolina and elsewhere that some have criticized as race baiting.

MAPA's National President Nativo Lopez issued the following statement:

“Something nasty in the national campaigns reared its head over the past two weeks, which motivated us to consider another endorsement for a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party primary elections. We have observed with utter disgust the use of racially divisive and polarizing tactics employed by the Clintons, both Hillary and Bill, against Senator Barack Obama, not the first presidential candidate of African American origin. This is something that we would have expected from Republican candidates, but instead it surfaced from the bowels of the center-right institutional currents of the Democratic Party. The tactics are absolutely deplorable and clearly demonstrate what the Clintons think of all people of color."

Lopez' full statement can be viewed here.

Losing support of both the African American and Latino communities in Los Angeles could have a chilling effect on Clinton's prospects in California. It would have a greater impact and reflect poorly on politicians in the state such as Mayor Villaraigosa, Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who've been working hard on behalf of the Clintons.

Clintons Not Welcome in South Central

As President, Bill Clinton made many a stop to predominantly African American churches such as First AME. Parishoners found him to be as nearly proficient at sermonizing as the best of the preachers. Indeed, some have declared Bill Clinton to be the "first Black President."

However the welcome mat has been withdrawn as Capitol Weekly reports that the Clintons were told they could not appear before the congregation at First AME last weekend. Pastor Dr. John J. Hunter told his members that he had not allowed the visit which drew applause from several hundred in the church.

African Americans nationally are not comfortable with the tone of the attack Hillary Clinton took towards Senator Barack Obama in the South Carolina Primary and it appears that mood has expanded to Los Angeles. Representative Diane Watson, a Clinton supporter, stated that she had warned the New York Senator the South Carolina campaign could hurt her in South Central Los Angeles. "I've had people tell me they would support Hillary until the attack," Watson said. "I told her, ‘Don't take South Central for granted."

Though African Americans are a shrinking part of Los Angeles' population they still make for a significant part of the local Democratic electorate. Their support for Obama will have a chilling effect on the Clinton campaign.

Ironically, the person who originally declared Clinton "the first Black President," author Toni Morrison, has endorsed Obama.

Hey Kevin James...Did you hear that illegal immigrants would get checks in the stimulus package?

I hope the local and national talk show hosts are sitting down: Illegal immigarants would be eligible for U.S. stimulus package, if passed "as is".

Tom Tancredo has just mentioned that he fears non-citizens will get the check, then send the money to their families outside the U.S., which would stimulate another economy, besides U.S.

DEMOCRATS TO END POVERTY -- #1 ISSUE: John Edwards just announced that he spoke with both Barack and Hillary and through them is delivering the message that they are committed to (I thought he was going to say a "clean campaign"); but he continued, to end poverty in the U.S. That gets kinda expensive. The Republicans are probably making the inaugural plans as we speak.

BOND INSURANCE CRISIS TO BRING DOWN THE STOCK MARKET: I've been crying that the sky is gonna be falling when the calendar turns to February over the bond insurance pending crisis. Well word is leaking out to the media, and although the market was up 125 points, after the Fed announced a Wall Street pleasing half a point rate cut (the interest rate banks have to pay to borrow money) -- at 3:15 PM, it started a downward turn, and went south 200 points to close down 37 points for the day. And the downward trend was only "saved by the bell". Reason? News of bond insurer downgrades starting to fly, and word is starting to leak that this could be much worse than anyone has accounted for (publicly). I'm not sure if the newspapers are covering this stuff, but if you are interested in further analysis, it is at StrategyUpdate.com (daily blog link)

Story on CNBC website Wow, did my Batcomputer and Los Angeles street sources call this one!!! I have NO idea how they know these things, when they do...I don't have to, as long as I keep listening -- and keep blogging the news -- without second guessing whether this is going to be the time they are finally wrong.

Mayor's Office Chickens Out from Walter Moore Phone Tax Radio Debate

Walter Moore reports that he was "un-invited" from a scheduled public radio debate on the phone tax mesaure, Proposition S, at the request of the Mayor's office.

According to Moore radio station KPCC was told representatives of the Mayor's office would not appear on a debate over the measure if Moore were to appear presenting the con side of the argument - even though Walter is the designated opponent in the official City sample ballot!

Their alternate choice? Our own Joseph Mailander, who recently published his own anti-Prop S take in the local fishwrap of record.

What is the Mayor's team afraid of? That Walter would clean their clock? Indeed he would. But so will Joe.

Its also interesting to note that a number of Neighborhood Councils have invited Walter to present his views on Proposition S had recently canceled his appearance at the last minute. Did they receive back room pressure from the Mayor's office? Correction: It was scheduled proponents of Proposition S who cancelled THEIR appearances ostensibly upon hearing of Moore's scheduled appearance. Moore was however allowed to make his presenation and in the cases where the Council in question took a vote on Proposition S, they all voted to oppose the tax measure. Still a number of Neighborhood Councils have endorsed a NO vote on Proposition S including the Northridge West Neighborhood Council, the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, the Reseda Neighborhood Council and the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council. During many of Walter's appearances at such meetings, City staffers would stand up and speak and say "I'm not allowed to campaign for or against Proposition S," following which they would begin to campaign for Measure S.

I saw exactly this myself at the Mid Town North Hollywood Neighborhood Council when a representative of the Mayor's office did the very same thing.

Update: I had requested my own Neighborhood Council agendize discussion of Proposition S at it's last meeting and was essentially denied such without securing participation of someone from the Mayor's office to speak in favor of it. Still, a number of Council board members did express their personal opposition to Proposition S and this came from several people who rarely agree with one another on anything.

When you have a Mayor who puts a mis-leading tax increase measure on the ballot, one that will tax your landline, text messages, internet service, etc., runs dishonest television commercials featuring the Chief of Police, illegally uses city staffers to campaign for the measure and then chickens out on a debate, you realize how sad things have become in Los Angeles.

Vote No on Proposition S!

Don't Let Them Tax Your Text Messages!

The local fishwrap of record comes out in favor of Proposition S, what they don't tell you is they're exempt from it.

Proposition S is an anti-consumer, regressive tax that has people from all parts of the political spectrum opposing it (except elected officials, public employee unions and downtown developers) including an 87 year old advocate for equal access to the Internet.

Proposition S has a bastard cousin of it's own in Pasadena in Measure D, a very similar measure. FreedomWorks is an organization working to defeat the Pasadena proposal; stay tuned for more.

In calling for spending cuts, the Mayor didn't miss a chance to serve up more scare tactics to get you to pay more on your landline, cell phone and internet bills. Mayor Villaraigosa told reporters "If Prop S were to fail, we'd have to cut public safety,'' Villaraigosa said. "There's no way around it. It's two-thirds of (the city's) budget. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.'' Yet, WalterMoore - who's not a rocket scientist but actually went to an accredited law school and passed the bar unlike the Mayor - has spelled out where the City has and wastes the money we need for public safety.

Boi from Troy details how some business groups had the balls to come out against Proposition S but others have wimped out and taken a neutral stand.

Super Tuesday Bloggy Bits

While the city is in the midst of a deep fiscal emergency Wednesday the Mayor will be off traveling the Bay Area campaigning for Hillary Clinton, joined by fellow Mayors Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and Ron Dellums of Oakland. Take all the time you need Antonio.

In the meantime, another City Council member has joined the Obama parade. Councilman Bill Rosendahl - who originally supported also ran Dennis Kucinich - has switched his allegiance to the Illinois Senator. "My heart and my soul summoned me to answer the inspiring, hopeful and
positive call for Barack Obama,'' Rosendahl said in a statement.

If you agree that its important to do what you can to deny Hillary Clinton a victory in California on Tuesday, you can join Council President Eric Garcetti for a "Bike Ride for Obama" this Saturday.

We may have started a trend. LAist is having its first event ever, its own election night party. But not at a working class Valley watering hole, but a trendy downtown nightspot. Perhaps Matt Dowd could join them and all of the other Pro-Prop S hoi polloi there.

Tell Ron Kaye of Daily News To Please Stop Showing Up At Neighborhood Meetings To Complain About His Low Circulation Because of Blog Competition

1/30 2:30 PM UPDATE: FED CUTS HALF A POINT -- GOLD IS SHOOTING STRAIGHT UP -- DOW ON THE RISE! DOOMSDAY PREVENTED, FOR NOW!!! ENJOY THE RALLY WHILE IT LASTS! THIS WILL BUY SOME TIME UNTIL CREDIT DERIVATIVES/SUBPRIME EXPOSURE PROBLEMS SURFACE!

UPDATE: CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW HAS SOME PRESIDENTIAL PREDICTIONS FOR THIS SUPERBOWL WEEKEND. BREAK OUT YOUR DECODER...IT'S JUICY! (See comment section of this thread. Maybe Daily News or LAzy Times will have this info next month and they can sit on it!)

Can someone please tell Ron Kaye, frustrated editor of Daily News, to please stop showing up at neighborhood meetings, only to complain to people how his newspaper is in such trouble due to declining circulation due to blog competition. Perhaps he should look to within and ask himself why he has failed to innovate and allowed his market to be taken from him. Maybe you should look at your editorial. You can blame it on young people not reading newspapers anymore, but that's just an excuse a loser will use to deflect the blame on lack of innovative thoughts. Meanwhile, Ron, keep reading this blog so you will know what issues are actually important to readers and you can jump on the bandwagon after the fact.

This whole blog was built on stories that people contacted you about, first...but you passed...then they end up here -- and you end up complaining to the community, in public, that you don't know what the hell to do. (Duh!) Try being a leader instead of a follower and figure out how to be innovative.

If you worked at an AM radio station, you would still be playing music, once FM stole the music audience. (AM had to innovate and go "talk". Figure it out Ron before you kill the medium.)

Think about what business you are actually in, then be in that business. But first you would have to be a community leader, instead of a community crybaby.

Featured Comment: Daily News reporting is so much better then LA Slimes. However, blogs are the way of the future and so is cable news. No one looks at the local idiots anymore. They have all become lapdogs to the Mayor so you don't get a true picture of the truth.

Proposition S Shady Update for Tuesday

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reports an asteroid between 500 to 2000 feet wide will pass within 334, 0000 miles of Earth Tuesday morning. Expect shortly thereafter that the Mayor will declare without the passage of Proposition S, the big rock will turn around and slam into our planet.

In the meantime, a cash strapped city has plans for a $36 million city funded gentrification of Broadway even though the Latino business owners, workers and shoppers who've kept the famous district afloat for years aren't taking to the idea of their tax dollars being spent to bring in yuppies to put them out of business. Broadway has potential, but its pretty vibrant at present. Anyone who wants to develop it should put their own money into it. In the meantime, Walter Moore points out the disconnect between bureaucrats crying city poverty on one hand and others passing out the tax money on the other.

The next part is almost too good to be true. Yet again the Mayor has provided us with our daily laugh. In an effort to do his part about the City's sagging finances, the Mayor is "asking employees to take unpaid vacation days, return city cars and issuing fewer cellphones and Blackberries." It is however not clear whether this directive applies to the Mayor and his staff.

If you didn't catch Joe Mailander's excellent op-ed piece in the Fishwrap of Record, be sure to check it out.

When you tell your friends about Proposition S and the increase in taxes on their cell phone, text messages and internet service make sure they know all about the 27% employee salary increases, the tax breaks given to the owners of the Staples Center that matches dollar for dollar the estimated tax revenues from Proposition S and all the shady ways the Mayor has bamboozled you. But its okay - he's cutting back on BlackBerrys. Of course he is - he doesn't want the City to have to pay the extra tax!

Business to Fight Back

After taking it lying down from unions, NIMBYs and liberal politicians for some time, local business may fight back.

Tuesday, with politicians such as Bitter Bernie, Sleeping Smith and Leather Denny tagging along, a coalition of business organizations will announce the formation of the Los Angeles County Business Federation. They already have a cutesy name for it, "Biz Fed."

The idea is to coalesce many local and regional Chambers of Commerce, business organizations and other groups under one umbrella along the same model as the LA County Federation of Labor. Indeed, the plan has caused Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the County Fed to get her panties in a bunch. Durazo fears the organization could be a "another tool to defeat reasonable proposals made on behalf of workers in Los Angeles."

The organization could be an effective resource for business to fight back against job and business killing proposals here in Los Angeles. For too long, business has rolled over and played dead as unions and other special interests took control of City Hall.

The fear I have is that the organization - though having some 40,000 businesses under its umbrella - is too close to a number of the "usual suspects" such as the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce who have often times put their desire for a cozy interest with the Downtown power payers ahead of their members as a whole citywide. Indeed, politically connected attorney and outgoing LA Chamber Chairman David Fleming will be Chairman of the new group.

However "BizFed" for now is worth a shot. Only time will tell if the organization will be a true advocate for business or a lapdog for the hoi paloi.

Join Us for Our Election Night Shindig

Come meet Mayor Sam, Valley Doll and who knows who else at our first ever Election Night Results Watching and Proposition S Defeat Party.

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
8:30 p.m.
Presidente Mexican Restaurant
11451 Sepulveda Blvd, Mission Hills, CA
Tel: (818) 365-7153

See you there!

Smith, Trujillo blindsided by Obama ops email

Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

Onwards...

Cam Kerry, the former nominee's brother and an Obama supporter, sent the following direct email plea to John Kerry's 2004 California email list today:

Hello Joseph,

If the last two elections taught us anything, it taught us that you have to be ready to fight irregularities and confusion in our voting system. I’m writing to you and other attorneys because I saw first hand the important work lawyers did for my brother’s campaign on election day, and Barack Obama can use the same effort.

We’ve now had four contested contests for the nomination, and all of them had at least some reports of voter confusion or even irregularities in the voting process. The Obama campaign could use the professional help of capable attorneys to make sure our democratic process runs smoothly and accurately reflects the will of the people.

If you’re interested in helping out, please email Nancy McCullough at [edit] and let her know of your interest. They need plenty of help next Tuesday, February 5th, in California, so time is of the essence. And when you email Nancy, please let her know in what part of the state you are interested in helping.

Our voting system is losing the confidence of the American people. We need to do all we can to ensure a fair and clean election process, and, as attorneys, we have a special role we can play.

I hope you can help with this important effort.

Sincerely,

Cam Kerry

I don't know if you're impressed by that or not, but it does impress me in these ways:

• Allegations of voter "irregularities" is the nastiest ground of all. A very dirty week in California ahead.
• Perfect pitch, playing to California Democratic paranoia. Cam, not John, as the signator provides adequate cover.
• Obama campaign will be soon obliged to answer to charges of voting irregularities favoring Clinton, a subject they'll love to let the many Dem Senators the Clintons burned in the 1990's talk about. They wouldn't release this kind of an email if they weren't ready.
  
• Real message is to slime Clinton in eyes of State Dem stakeholders.

Is Clinton's California team ready to call it a desperate tactic?

Monday Hotsheet at 3 a.m.

JM, Nice Weather, 1.26.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

There will also be an election in June, and the big issue in that one will be a State rent control proposition. Here's an early backgrounder by Patrick McGreevy. Because LA has so many rent-controlled units, impact here could be higher than anywhere else in the State. The Times' publisher Sam Zell, who owns trailer parks, donated heavily to the cause of rolling it back.

Add the voice of your truly to those finding that "S is for Sham." My op-ed in this morning's fishwrap does not so much tell you how to vote as tell you how much bad faith has been flung the voter's way in creating this proposition, which is horrifying enough.

Here we go again: every time there is weather of any kind, parts of the City's power grid shut off.

Bratton Prop S Commercial: The Big Lie

It began with Mayor Villaraigosa calling it a "tax reduction." Remember however - you can not reduce a tax that doesn't exist.

The shady ballot designation. The scare tactics about not having money for police officers. All of which has been disproved by folks like Walter Moore and Daily News Editor Ron Kaye.

"Every year, LA's general fund revenues grow at an average rate of 5.7%. The problem is that since 2000 Los Angeles' employee costs have risen 7.5% a year, a 53% increase."
Ron Kaye, Editor, Daily News

The latest and most eggregious of the lies comes from a commercial featuring LAPD Chief Bill Bratton. The pro-Prop S TV spot says that the measure closes "a corporate tax loophole." Absolutely no mention of the fact that the measure IMPOSES A TAX ON LANDLINES, CELLPHONES and INTERNET SERVICE. No mention either that the tax will be on EVERY PHONE LINE YOU HAVE. Most people have a landline, a cell phone and maybe a DSL line. That's three lines at 9% a pop.

As the Daily News reported Sunday, "the measure would allow the city to tax voice mail service, pagers, text or instant messages sent by cell phone or PDA."

The pro-Prop S website - PropSFacts.com - is almost as bad. They at least mention the phone task but they frame Proposition S as "closing a loophole so that corporations and others that are not currently paying the tax pay their fair share."

Those "others" are you.

But you and others like you can fight back. We don't have the big bucks from the developers, public employee unions, etc. but we have the power of the people and the internet. Here's one way to get the word out to your friends.

The No On S Anti Shady Phone Tax Cut and Paste Campaign Message

If you're a regular reader of this blog you know how shady Proposition S is. You know how its going to tax cell phones, landlines and internet service. You know how politicians are lying to the people to get this measure passed. Therefore as a public service, we're providing the below for you to get the word out to as many of your friends who live in the City of LA.

Email Message:

Dear Friend,

In the election Tuesday, February 5th, the City of Los Angeles will ask you to vote on Proposition S which will add at least a 9% increase to your telephone and internet services. Unfortunately, they Mayor and the politicians are selling this tax as a "tax reduction" and using scare tactics that the City will run out of funds for police and fire if this measure is not passed.

Do not be fooled. A court ruled this tax illegal (because the City didn't ask you first) and City revenues are up more than ever. The City needs the money to give to downtown developers of condos and sports arenas and to give 27% annual increases to City employees. When was the last time you got a 27% tax increase?

Be sure to vote no on Propotision S.

Text Message:

Your cell phone bill could go up. Be sure to vote NO on LA's Proposition S on Feb 5.

EQUAL TIME: Reasons Why People SHOULD NOT Vote For Hillary Clinton, Zuma Dogg Calls C-Span & Dowd Sings About "S"

Some readers are wondering if paid political operatives have returned to Mayor Sam's Sister City - Home of Los Angeles Politics blog, now that the Clinton campaign is heading to California to get those house parties and bus caravans organized.

I know everyone is aware of all the good reasons to vote for Hillary. But how about posting some of the reasons to vote for ANYONE BUT HILLARY. In other words, what are some reasons you don't think people should vote for Hillary as the nominee, or as President.

I know the one reason I hope you don't vote for her: Can you imagine having to listen to Shillary shout through her nose for four years?

Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign has millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars to spend on advertising. So I'm sure they wouldn't be wasting their time here. ;)

NOTE: Comments posted here may be copy and pasted on over 100 other election blogs operated by ZD...so make 'em juicy!

ZUMA DOGG on C-SPAN Weighing In on Presidential Elections
(Because the nation was waiting!)


PROP S - EQUAL TIME: Matt "Guitar" Dowd "Yes on S" Video
LA City finally has the endorsement they were waiting for!


Clinton Campaign Co-Chair Fabian Nunez Corruption Scandal, Y'all!

(This is why vote no on "S", Hillary and Prop 93)

12/28 Pre-bell UPDATE: Gold trading at record high levels in overnight markets as dollar weakens on expectation of further Fed rate cuts this week: strategyupdate.com

http://clintonforpresident.blogspot.com

Sweet Caroline ...

Dem Princess, author, lawyer, song inspiration, and mom Caroline Kennedy officially endorsed Senator Barack Obama today in an opinion piece in the New York Times. Ms. Kennedy compared Senator Obama to her father, John F. Kennedy:

“I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans”.

Uncle Ted is expected to announce his endorsement for the Obama campaign on Monday.

Sunday Morning Mimosa

JM, Guess? 1.26.08

FIDM downtown put on an enormous opening last night for its Hollywood costume exhibit from recent movies, some even in current theatrical release. It's good to see someone downtown still supporting Hollywood's workers. The show runs January 28-April 12.

Forget golf and tennis for a while. There are a few mudslides in Griffith Park, none notable, but everything is very, very, soggy. The local course in worst shape, according to the Weather Channel's service, is Studio City.

Nine days before the primary, I guess it's hard to find good local editorial topics...The LA Times thinks you should increase your financial literacy---it even editorializes that you should. A financial literacy reminder: the paper is now owned by a man who made a fortune in the mobile home business.

The Daily News's Rick Orlov has a small item on the costs of Measure S at the DN's blog. (It's listed on the ballot as a Proposition, by the way, and no, I don't know why some are called propositions while others are called measures). He says it could cost Angelenos up to $120 a year in taxes. But you might be able to duck that if you have a PO box in Glendale and can convince your carrier that it's your "suite."

Saturday Hotsheet at 8 a.m.

JM, Fallen Bark, UCLA Botannical Garden, 1.25.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

Downtown News doesn't like the way the Grand Avenue groundbreaking has been delayed three times, and they say so in an editorial. "Is it that Related is not strong enough to attract financing for the project? Or is it that such a vast development, with giant plazas instead of intimate streetscapes, is no longer what the market wants? Has the Grand Avenue plan become a bad or unworkable idea?"

I don't know about you, but I'm not seeing too many "homemade helicopters" hopping about LA, yet there's one at the middle of this far-too-short Daily Breeze item about a crash on the Harbor Freeway. The Times item, equally brief, doesn't mention the homemade angle.

In that same column, the Board of Airport Commissioners became the second noted Southland body to fail to form a quorum last week. The Commission was supposed to settle an important terminal rent rate matter. Alan Rothenberg, Valeria Velasco, Sylvia Reyes-Patsaouras and Fernando Torres-Gil were the no-shows.

Fishwrap columnist Meghan Daum says that "smug renters" are a new elite. So if you are among the ninety-five percent of the renting population who didn't go for an ARM in 2003 and 2004, you're in the new "elite." Later she confesses she bought at the "wrong" time, and the quotation marks are hers. "I'm getting a little tired of people insinuating that I was stupid to buy it." She'll work it out eventually.

The New Westside

JM, At CSI Architects, Leconte Avenue, Westwood Village, 1.25.08

click image to enlarge

Friday Hotsheet at 3 a.m.

JM, Tujunga snowstorm, 1.24.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

Yesterday, Citybeat went strongly against Prop 13, after 30 years. The pub blamed most everything wrong with the State on Howard Jarvis's crowning moment. You may have noted how Citybeat has leaned moderately libertarian through its history; this was a departure. Prop 13 was a pure libertarian revolt, and Citybeat threw many scribes against it to villify it beyond redemption. The plight of County libraries is perhaps a yawner for the general public, and education is overdone, but the best piece, for my money, was Andy Klein's Prop 13 tie-in to the film Network.

It was a surprising day for the weeklies, in fact. After a long disappearance, the LA Weekly returned to the daring practice of looking at the City with a modicum of scrutiny. This time, throwing shade on liberals like Jackie Goldberg, they turned their sights on the LAFD's women firefighters' recruiting program. They called it a boondoggle and a waste of millions.

"Just 27 women are actually fighting Los Angeles fires. The number is staggering in its shock value." We'll hopefully see how PR superstar Brian Humphries deals with the story first-hand.

LACMA raided by G-Men! The Pacific Asia Museum too. You can bet most people in the trade are thinking, "It's too bad the Getty wasn't involved..."

Skid Row is so sufficiently gentrified that transients are no longer the main tenants of the transient hotels, which are themselves no longer transient, the Times says. You'll know it as Central City East yet. What happened to that conversion moratorium? My guess is that it was enforced highly selectively, even floor-by-floor, before it expired peacefully.

There was tough talk from the Daily News's editorial column on Wednesday: "City Hall's record is clear: Our officials are only interested in filling the city's treasury with more money so they can reward the unions, developers, contractors and other special interests that keep them in their privileged positions." The editorial was on the potential power of neighborhood councils.

… and the Number One Reason to Watch “The Late Show with David Letterman” tonight

barack and dave back in April '07

If you're up later, be sure to catch Barack Obama reading tonight's Top Ten List on "The Late Show with David Letterman". Senator Obama is the third presidential candidate to appear on the show this month. Hillary Clinton was first when she visited Jan. 2, the night the show returned on the air after settling with striking writers. The ever stylishly coiffed John Edwards and Dave ran their fingers through each other’s hair this past Tuesday.

Oh … all right, all right. I was going to wait until tomorrow to post the whole Top Ten List, but if you’re too impatient to wait and/or too narcoleptic to stay up, don’t worry ... V-Doll’s gonna hook you up.

Lawmakers Reach a Deal on Stimulus Plan

Friday 12/25 Update:

No on S (for Shady) hits AM drive radio today: Bill Handle/KFI will be dissing "Yes on S", otherwise known as "No on S" (for shady). Maybe Antonio should call his next phony proposition "B" for "bamboozle".

BREAKING NEWS?: The New York Times on Thursday endorsed Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. John McCain for their party's nominations to contest the U.S. presidential in November.
full story

StrategyUpdate.com Pre-Opening Bell report (Click "daily blog" link. Updates throughout the day.)

"Yes on S" Gets Endorsement of Matt "Guitar" Dowd!: The City of Los Angeles will be glad to know, that they have won the endorsement of Matt "Guitar" Dowd with his, "Yes on S" position . Here's his response video to ZD's "No on S" videos. click here (Matt knows the City needs the money for lawsuits they have to settle and he wants to make sure the money is there for the recipients.)

Lawmakers Reach a Deal on Stimulus Plan

By AP | 24 Jan 2008 | 09:12 AM ET

Excerpts:

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders reached a tentative deal Thursday on tax rebates of $300 to $1,200 per household and business tax cuts to jolt the slumping economy.

The development came as the Bush administration, which also has been pushing for a deal, said agreement seemed imminent. "Our understanding is there is no final deal yet but they are making progress," presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said early Thursday.

In the talks, Pelosi pressed to make sure tax relief would find its way into the hands of lower-income earners while Boehner pushed to include upper middle-class couples, according to congressional aides.

Pelosi's decision to drop expanding unemployment payments and more money for food stamps -- which many lawmakers had assumed would be included in the package -- could prove very controversial with Democratic constituencies, who were already stung by a decision to deny states more money for their Medicaid programs.

Pelosi, D-Calif., agreed to drop increases in food stamp and unemployment benefits during a Wednesday meeting in exchange for gaining rebates of at least $300 for almost everyone earning a paycheck, including low-income earners who make too little to pay income taxes.

Under the tentative plan, families with children would receive an additional $300 per child, subject to an overall cap of perhaps $1,200, according to a senior House aide who outlined the deal on condition of anonymity in advance of formal adoption of the whole package. Rebates would go to people earning below a certain income cap, likely individuals earning $75,000 or less and couples with incomes of $150,000 or less.

Workers would have to have earned at least $3,000 in 2007 to receive the rebates, the officials said.

Breaks for Business

Another element of the plan is a package of tax breaks for businesses that could cost $70 billion, far more than had been expected, said a senior House aide and a Democratic lobbyist said.

Bush has supported larger rebates of $800-$1,600, but his plan would have left out 30 million working households who earn paychecks but don't make enough to pay income tax, according to calculations by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. An additional 19 million households would receive only partial rebates under Bush's initial proposal.

To Address Home Lending Caps

To address the mortgage crisis, the package also allows Fannie Mae
Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae)
FNM -- government-sponsored companies that are the two biggest U.S. financers and guarantors of home loans -- to buy home mortgages much larger than the current $417,000 limit. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that lending cap might reach as high as $700,000 in areas with the highest home prices.

Full Story

12 PM INVESTOR UPDATE: I have blogged tons of update on my stock market blog, so it doesn't overpower this political blog -- but here is something that I feel qualifies for a Mayor Sam update. You see, if you remember two days ago, when Council missed a quorum because all hell was breaking lose on Wall STemplatetreet. What saved it? George Bush stepped in and said he was going to get to work on a bond insurers financial bail-out. (That is the single biggest reason I am begging everyone to be very cautious, if not pull out of the market entirely before Feb 1 '08.)

So on the good news of the bail out...the market rallied back and the coast appeared to be clear. Except ZD was not buying the smoke and mirrors -- and even if it was true, it wouldn't be able to prevent the inevitable.

But here's what just hit the ZD Batcomputer chatter alert: Word on the street is that there was zero (0.00%), none/nada consensus on any kind of package. That's not to say there will not eventually be one (because there sure as hell will need to be for the sake of global humanity) -- but if the news prevented the market from dropping a possible 1000 points as they were talking about on Tuesday -- the consider that news just smoke...not even mirrors. So what do you think will happen next? I may be crying wolf on this one. Gotta research it more and take it all in...but now I know why they call it a "gut" reaction. I just got a nervous-butterfly, icky feeling just thinking about it. (Investors trying to get rich in the stock market: HOLD. Investors worried about losing it all: SELL and don't worry about it. Does it really look like it's gonna be a good first quarter for the stock market. That's up for you to decide. I'm just trying to help you make these decisions.

Massive stock market updates at strategyupdate.com. Click daily blog link. I set up the blog so I don't have to post it here, so don't start crying that I posted the link.

Thursday Hotsheet at 3 a.m.

JM, Wilshire Vermont: Ice Cold Urbanism, 1.23.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

The De La Hoya / Sears Building deal back on again? That's what we hear, and that's what the LA Biz Journal says, without reporting the real part of the deal. Civic seed money could approach $200 million---way more than for even Grand Avenue. The people in Oscar's corner played a little poker after the City balked on the other enormous project slated for the east side, the stem cell center.

Despite the efforts of the gents below, the former fishwrap of record puts out an editorial this morning in support of Proposition S. Basically, their editorial says, yes, there's been nothing but duplicity, but vote for it anyway. We have been saying for a long time now that the biggest problem at the paper is the way it snuggles up to elites while pissing off the City's ordinary citizens, and that the formula for running a beloved newspaper is precisely the opposite of that. Here's one more example: nobody wants Prop S once it's explained to them, but the paper stands on the side of the elites and their trickery.

Children left behind: the Bush administration would make cuts that would close the LAUSD's health centers, the Daily News says.

Red Tape Busters? The Valley now has its own 311 for the City, and it's not run by the City at all---it's run by VICA. Hey, whatever works. It took us about six years to get a street sign that was leaning like the flag in the Iwo Jima picture fixed. Somehow it was fixed the very day of the election in November 2006 in which Tom LaBonge became our Councilman again. Admittedly, I thought the angle was fairly jaunty. Maybe they should bring VICA across the hill.

Above is a photo of the ice cold faux urbanism going for $2000 a month in the faux-urban fun zone at Wilshire and Vermont. People who live in the neighborhood complain that nothing being built in the neighborhood is being built for them, that the new developments just reinforce rather than ease the City's missing rung on the housing ladder. Scroll below to see a photo of lux condos in the same neighborhood. Does it look like of the developments are going to be marketed to people who already live in LA?


Below, JM, Cell Phone ad / "Luxury" Condos, 1.23.08

"The Hustle" No on Measure S Commercial

Walter Moore No On Measure S Commercial

BREAKING NEWS: Al Rantel Has Lymphoma

Following a lengthy absence from the airwaves KABC talkradio host Al Rantel announced Wednesday through a statement read on air by fellow talker Larry Elder (who has been substituting for Rantel along with KABC weekend host Tammy Bruce) that he has a highly treatable form of lymphoma. Rantel will be off the air for some time for treatment.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

The Most Unsurprising Story In California Political History: Nuckhelhead Nunez Earns His Name With Accusation of Misusing NON-PROFIT MONEY

Thursday Morning 1/24/08 Update: Batcomputer says gold to shoot up and stock market to rally today! Still have to research the alert...(strategyupdate.com -- click daily blog link)

Alright, I think we've had enough of this "too greedy and stupid for his own good", Fabian "Nucklehead" Nunez. The pompous, shady a-hole thinks he has a shot in hell of being re-elected if Prop 93 passes? He'll be lucky if he doesn't end up landing himself in prison the way this cocky son of a bitch spends. I think he's a f*cking sociopath. Hey Nucklehead...what the f*ck is wrong with you? You need to be taught a lesson in civics, bitch...and you're about to learn it!

Buh-bye!

(I bet Deleon can't wait for your stupid ass to fall.)
Complaint accuses Nuñez of misusing charity
[WHAT!?!?! Oh my goodness...I'm SHOCKED!]

In a filing with the ethics panel, a foundation says the Assembly speaker used funds given to a nonprofit for political purposes. He denies the claim.

By Nancy Vogel and Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
January 23, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- A complaint filed with state ethics officials Tuesday accused Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez of using a charity to illegally funnel donations into political activities.

The complaint cites more than $270,000 that Nuñez solicited in 2005 and 2006 from corporations, utilities and other interests with a stake in legislation to pay for toy giveaways, scholarships, youth summits and other events that featured Nuñez and were arranged by his staff.

Graphic

Living large

click to enlarge

The donations were the subject of a Times investigation in November, which showed how a small charity -- Collective Space -- in Nuñez's downtown Los Angeles district wrote checks at the direction of the speaker's staff for events that benefited his constituents.

In a complaint filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights accused Nuñez of dodging state restrictions on campaign donations by asking donors to give to the nonprofit, then using the money for his political benefit.

[Hey Nunez, go get a job as a wine and cheese taster you pueblo seller-outer. Hey FABIAN...There are some kids on the school playground with some candy in your district. Why don't you go grab it out of their hands you corrupt asshole!]

Full article

See also: Hillary Clinton Campaign Co-Chair Fabian "Nucklehead" Nunez (Way to pick 'em Hillary!)

LA Chamber Wimps Out on Measure S

Proving itself yet again to be less of a business advocacy organziation and more of a "we like playing with the big boys and getting free drinks/eats club," the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has broken ranks with other business minded organizations who are opposing Mayor Villaraigosa's fradulent phone tax measure on the February 5th ballot.

The Chamber - which wants so bad to hobnod with the Mayor, other elected officials and the developers and unions who feed them - probably knew it also could no longer remain to be seen as a legitimate protector of it's members' interests if it were to go all the way with the Mayor on this patently deceptive measure. Therefore, they have declared themselves:

NEUTRAL on Measure S
Measure S is the city of Los Angeles’ proposed 9 percent communications user tax which will apply to landline and cell phones as well as Voice over Internet Protocol communications. The city currently has a 10 percent communications user tax on telephone services, which generates $270 million per year and has been challenged in court because it was enacted administratively rather than through a vote of the people.

City Hall declared a “state of fiscal emergency” to lower the voter approval threshold
from two-thirds to 55 percent. The tax rate was reduced from 10 percent to 9
percent but the new tax would apply to a broader range of communications than
the current tax.

City Hall is correct to be concerned about the potential loss of $270 million. And taxpayers are correct to be concerned about the lack of public discussion about the current state of fiscal affairs and options moving forward.

The Chamber would also be correct if they were concerned about the tremendous waste of public funds and that - as noted by Daily News Editor Ron Kaye - "Every year, LA's general fund revenues grow at an average rate of 5.7%. The problem is that since 2000 Los Angeles' employee costs have risen 7.5% a year, a 53% increase."

Therefore there is no need to be concerned about taxpayers keeping an extra $270 million in their pocket, that is unless you're an elected official who needs to keep feeding the beast.

Wednesday Hotsheet at 3 a.m.

JM, Two ex-Payphones on Mariposa., 1.22.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

Those poor phone companies just haven't been as interested in servicing the City since it started collecting that cell phone tax...

The alternative reality of Prop S is that it pits one unsympathetic monolith (phone companies) against another (the City). The true reality is that it pits cell phone users against a kleptocratic City Government that doesn't even have the ethics to call a tax a tax on your ballot.

Hey, here's some fun with numbers: if you check the interactive feature in the right column of this Times article, you'll confirm what you knew: that the middle of the Valley has been hit hardest by Adjustable Rate Foreclosure Syndrome. There are as many as sixty foreclosures a quarter in some zips. But sections of Riverside "Drive Til You Qualify" County have been hit even harder.

If you don't know your local zips, try ones like 91331 (Pacoima), 91343 (North Hills), 91402 (Panorama City) against your own.

With the Fed lowering, a recession brewing, and liar loans defaulting, it seems like a weird time to shut down a fishwrap's biz section, but that's what the Orange County Register has done. And when they did it, they cited Internet competition. See? Zuma's having a bigger impact out there than you thought.

Supermarket lobbyists succeeded in bagging the County's would-be plastic bag ban, the LA Times reports. The County implements a vastly watered down voluntary version.

Porter Ranch---in the news for the notorious once again. This time it's where a bank robber was nabbed. Three days ago it was where a body was dumped. I'm not sure that that real estate reset name is working out the way they wanted it to.

At last, a shred of sanity comes to the LAUSD. While the Mayor fiddles with expansion and private donors, the District pares back for the sake of prudence. The LA Times story reports what we have been saying at MayorSam for over two years: declining enrollments should translate into a paring back of the outrageous building campaign left over from previous Boards. Why didn't Huizar's Board think of that?

Another question: why haven't the fishwraps previously called for something even the Board could see? They all just keep giving brownie points to anyone who donates to the District.

No On Measure S

LAUSD Scales Back On School Construction Plans, But Spent All The Money, Anyway

Falling enrollment projections mean fewer and smaller schools are needed, district says.

By Evelyn Larrubia, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
8:24 PM PST, January 22, 2008

[ZD's subliminal thoughts in brackets.]

EXCERPT:

Declining enrollment has prompted the Los Angeles Unified School District to scale back its $20-billion school construction and remodeling program sought to relieve overcrowding and end involuntary busing.

[Oh no, The Mayor's office (Villarosa AND Riordan), Broad/Kramer, and "The Charter school Takeover Cronies"(see Clinton Library donors) have been trying to spend their way through the $20 billion plus in construction and repair budget!!! NOW WHAT??? Did they just drill for oil and come up with dust after all that spending to take over the school board. Now only to be left with the mess of trying to show some kind of improvement? LOL!]

The building program, which is paid for by four bond issues approved by local voters and state funds, is believed to be the largest public works projects in the nation. But since the fall, the school system has canceled plans for 19 new schools and additions to existing campuses in South Gate, Bell, Van Nuys, San Fernando, Sun Valley and central Los Angeles, among other areas, citing new enrollment projections. On Tuesday, the Board of Education downsized five new schools, eliminating more than 1,000 seats, and last year, the district decided against building seven others, also largely because of decreased enrollment.

[ZD says (On the Charter takeover posses' behalf), "Let's just give the money to Antonio and his Charter reformers! Even though Charters are non-profits, meaning no transparency of spending, no accountability of spending...and HEY GREIG SMITH...NO FORM 700 REQUIRED!!! Holla!"]

Overall, the nation's second-largest school system now serves 694,288 students, down 7% from its peak in 2003 of 747,009 students. The drop stems from years of declining birth rates and increasing housing prices that have pushed poor and working-class families out of many gentrified urban Los Angeles neighborhoods.

[What a crock of 3rd floor spin bullsh*t. Shame on you LAzy Times. No wonder you are going out of business because of blogs, typo errors, bad punctuation, and all. How about because half the enrollment dropped out, and the other half were pulled out by parents and put into Charters or private schools. AND YOU CAN MARK THE DATE OF THIS PREDICTION DOWN: This PR spin piece for the mayor is to set up a call to reduce LAUSD budget and transfer it over to Charters. (Wouldn't be surprised if it already happened and I missed it. If not...it's coming. ON THE MOST F-ING REALEST OF EVER, DOUGHS.]

In Los Angeles, reducing the number of new classrooms will not, however, mean that the district will have a surplus of bond money, officials said. Construction costs have nearly tripled to $500 per square foot or higher since 2001, causing a shortfall. The district has cut more than $1 billion from school repair, technology and early education programs to make up the difference.

[Ooops, looks like they still managed to spend all the money and blame everything else but their own inefficiency. Although, of course construction costs have risen to. I'm just saying, you're not gonna hear 'em say, "Because of rising costs, massive inefficiency (remember credit card scandal and the payroll mess), plus Larry, Curly and Moe like execution. Not to mention whatever flat out purposeful shadiness may be corrupting/skimming off the system.]

Guy Mehula, the district's chief facilities executive, has assured the board that the 80,000 seats left to be built still appear necessary. He has repeatedly pointed out that 200,000 children will be learning in portable classrooms even after the construction program is completed. The district expects enrollment numbers to begin to rise again in about five years.

[Off to a good start in providing a winning environment. How about setting up some classrooms in all the vacant foreclosed homes due to subprime (predatory) lending?]

Perhaps the costliest fight over declining enrollment is being waged over what the district calls Central Region Elementary School No. 14, in Echo Park, which has been tied up in court for more than two years. The proposed school was promised to voters in 2005, principally to remove chronically jammed Rosemont Elementary School from a four-track year-round schedule.

[Promise first, yank later.]

It gets better from here, LAzy Times, take it away!

zumadogg@gmail.com

(DISCLAIMER: I typed my subliminal thoughts as I read through the article for the first time. I'm sleep deprived, and I'll probably wake up tomorrow and realize I read something completely backwards or something. So have fun bringing any of that to my attention. Consider a rough draft of my of my thoughts before I actually think it through. Oh wait, that's what I always do...my bad!)

WEDNESDAY 1/23/08 12 pm STOCK UPDATE: This is creepy. Last night, ZD's Batcomputer said "Apple would be at $129 today." (Check the 6am pre-market comment on this thread.) It's at $129 as I am typing this update.

And, to the three people I personally called, myself on Friday and Monday telling you to make sure you sell (in the 170's and even 160's) -- YOU CAN'T SAY I DIDN'T TRY AND DO EVERYTHING I COULD, my sistas and brothas.) Love, Zuma Dogg

zumatimes.com

Special "No on S" Meeting Tonight at 7:30

Mayor Sam, Valley Doll, the Beckford PTA and Northridge West Neighborhood Council would like to invite all MayorSam readers to a special presentation tonight by Walter Moore in opposition of Measure S.

The community-at-large is welcome to join us, as well as anyone else interested in finding out the truth about Measure S.

Tonight, 7:30 p.m.

Beckford Auditorium
19130 Tulsa St.
Northridge, 91326

See you there!

xoxo

Tuesday Hotsheet at 3 a.m.

JM, La Sauz, Mariscos, San Fernando Blvd., 1.21.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

No problemos at La Opinion, where the pueblo's mariscos wrap of record fires up an exclusive interview with Police Chief Bratton. He says of the incident at parque MacArthur "Fue una aberración, fue enorme, pero ésa no es la forma en que operamos."

He also says that the undocumented don't need to fear the LAPD unless they're also criminals, a statement which should drive some of the lads here loco. "La comunidad latina e inmigrante, legal o ilegal, no tiene nada que temer del LAPD, excepto los criminales."

~~~

Mitt Romney has an ad in Spanish, Mi Padre, spoken by Romney's son, who was a Mormon missionary in Chile. Currently playing in Miami. Rudy Giuliani has an ad there in Spanish too. The Times warns that photo-ops alone won't work with Latinos in California. "I guess they have to do these desperate things in an election, but I'm not going to vote for someone just because they go to King Taco," Latina mom Denise Mendoza tells the Times.

Dennis Zine turns a deaf ear to a Neighborhood Council and would-be neighbors to a 160-unit multiuse complex in West Hills. The developer has paid to play with a scant $1,500, and the development will require a zone change from Gail "GPS" Goldberg's Planning Department. It's great to see a newspaper covering these kinds of issues; people might yet learn a few things about their public "servants."

Robert Culp believes the one-elephant elephant exhibit at the LA Zoo should be shut down. He filed a lawsuit in an attempt to get his way, the Daily News reported late yesterday. The Zoo says it is well within animal reg standards.

A credible research org said last week that the Writer's strike is impacting television viewing habits. "About 35 percent of Americans have changed their media consumption habits as a result of the Hollywood writers strike, according to a report by the consultancy firm Interpret, and 27 percent are watching less network TV." So what are the feelings on the matter of the allegedly pro-Union Mayor of Los Angeles? Or, for that matter, the allegedly pro-Union Barack or pro-Union Hillary?

On one end of town, downtown blogger Dave Bullock was rocking Wired with photos of spy gadgets at the Homeland Security conference downtown, and at another end, 24's homeland security stalwart Kiefer Sutherland was released from a Glendale jail after 48 days dry.

Yesterday, the sacking of James O'Shea at the Times was a national and even an international story. Even so, some readers don't think the news is newsworthy for MayorSam. I disagree---no organization in town has the potential to influence City politics the way the Los Angeles Times does; but I read all the comments here and respect all commenters.

But for today anyway, if anyone is Jonesing for new developments re the Times, look to Ed Padgett's blog.