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Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Morning Briefs on the Los Angelss Political Machine for Tuesday

Sorry Northeast LA (naught), but its all about Downtown.
** Breaking News: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just overturned Prop 8. Next and last stop, the United States Supreme Court.
Great gray Tuesday to all as Mother Nature teases us with hints of rain and staying on that theme, there are those in Highland Park who still believe that Councilman Jose Huizar wants to be their council person. So sad. Meanwhile, many turned out at Occidental College last evening for the traveling Redistricting Committee road show. More on the proceedings later.
** LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy took the unprecedented step to remove all staff from the scandal-scared Miramonte School. But don't expect Deasy's directive to stand the test of time. After all, there is a group called UTLA.
** Miramonte is not the only school facing increase scrutiny. Longtime LA education essayist Scott Folsom has the dire information on the Mayor Antonio Villar's "Partnership Schools" which are train wreaks awaiting a full report and transparency
Your thoughts .............
Scott Johnson in CD 14. 

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

Mitt, I couldn't have done it without you!

Uh-Oh, someone's going to blow a gasket.....Obamneycare is working!

A federal judge has rejected the ridiculous argument by Prop 8 backers that Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling that overturned Prop 8 should be tossed because Walker happens to be gay. The judge's decision means that Walker's ruling stays in effect, even as the Protect Marriage group continues to appeal.

Bad, but not unexpected news out of Wisconsin, as the State Supreme Court has overruled a lower court decision and is allowing Governor Scott Walker's union busting law to go forward. In related news, the recall elections for the state senators that backed the bill have been scheduled for July. Recall leaders anticipate that voter turn-out will sky rocket based on this latest ruling. Ya think?

Would you like to see a stupid/sexist/racist video made by stupid/sexist/racist right wing creeps from Gardena? Of course you would. We're still waiting for a comment from Craig Huey.

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Friday, October 01, 2010

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Friday




What's the most important issue on the ballot this year for Californians?
In my book, it's Proposition 23. Big Texas Oil companies, and America's biggest polluters, the Koch Brothers, have funneled millions into the state in an effort to hijack the implementation of California's historic AB32 environmental law. Prop 23 passage threatens job creation and investment in California's burgeoning green tech industry and allows the Koch Brothers and Texas Oil to continue to meet their yearly polluting quota. Heckel & Jeckel have managed to whip the corporate sheep into a foaming at the mouth rage, but the Prop itself is struggling and needs to be defeated on election day.


SB1070 News (yep-it's still on the radar)
Arizona tourism officials are predicting "the worst is yet to come" as conventions and other events continue to cancel or take new business to states not tagged with such negative branding.

"The numbers are ugly especially for a state renowned for its beauty according to a report from the Arizona Department of Tourism. Direct travel expenditures decreased by more than ten percent to $16.6 billion in 2009. There was also a 10.2 percent decline in overnight domestic business travel, reflecting the hard hit meetings and conventions segment. "



-The Mormons apologize for "the hurtful legacy" of Prop 8.
Nice try, no one's buying it.

-Over the next 5 days, 30,000 distressed LA homeowners are expected to attend a mortgage restructuring clinic at the LA Convention Center. The clinic is sponsored by the non-profit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America(NACA). NACA says that a third of attendees can expect to have their mortgages reduced on the spot with another 80% receiving a reduction within 30 days. Some past participants are saying that NACA can't deliver the goods.

-Happy 86th birthday wishes to President Jimmy Carter. Now reportedly back at work after a gastric viral infection sent him to a Cleveland hospital earlier this week.



And finally, more birthday wishes to the fearless leader of Mayor Sam, a man who puts up with more crap from more people than anyone I have ever seen, a friend that I rarely agree with but deeply respect, Michael Higby, who turned 46 years young on Wednesday.

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Thursday, June 11, 2009

But Sarah, doesn't gay marriage hurt the economy?

Part 5 of 7:

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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Are domestic partnerships the same as civil marriages?


Part 4 of 7:


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Tuesday, June 09, 2009

The problem with Jasmyne Cannick, identity politics, and the culture war

Part 3 of 7:



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Monday, June 08, 2009

Is there another way to overturn Prop 8?


Part 2 of our 7 part series:



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Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Another response to more vitriol from Jasmyne Cannick, formerly of L.A. Times


jasmyne_cannick_2-207x300




In response to this drivel from everyone's favorite self-hating Black lesbian:

I don't even know where to begin. There is so much wrong with your view Miss Panther, so I'll do my best to show you exactly what, but it's safe to say that your conclusions are a chaotic mess at best. Here goes:

'... the fact remains that two people getting married, same-sex or not, has no financial impact whatsoever on the rest of us. None. We may not like it, but at the end of the day, gay marriage doesn’t take food from anyone’s mouth, clothes off of anyone’s back, or a roof from over someone’s head. But judging from the way we acted, you would have thought that it did.'

Oh Jasmyne, you poor dear. Are you ever right about *anything*? Ever? Not only would overturning Prop 8 invite bright, talented gay people to California in droves, but gay marriage has already produced this result in Massachusetts. Furthermore, there is an economic backlash (and rightly so) against those who decided that in a time of economic crisis, their money was best spent on stripping a minority class of its rights.

'At the end of the day, it was a poorly run campaign predicated on the premise that because we’re Black (in my case Black and gay) and benefited from the Civil Rights Movement, that by osmosis we’d oppose the measure'

In fact it was a poorly run campaign, but not because it didn't do enough to reach out to Black people. This is the second time you've made this critique and the second time you have not provided examples of what it could have done better. We're only talking about a vote here - No on Prop 8 didn't guilt the Black community into helping out and certainly didn't ask for its hard-earned money. I also didn't see a pro-African American measure on the ballot for No on 8 to support. Did you? So what did you want exactly? Did you want a gay rights organization to throw an African-American pride parade or something?

Maybe they shouldn't have stopped there. Maybe they should have done the same for Mexicans, Italians, the disabled, children... you get the idea. Your point here, once again, is moot. And once again I will remind you of a time when Blacks and whites could not intermarry. So yeah, I think a lot of gay people safely, but clearly incorrectly assumed a fellow marginalized community would come to its aid.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Black religious leaders seem to have forgotten Dr. King's words in order to focus on Deuteronomy instead. You can't blame No on 8 for that, now can you? It's not their job to remind you, just like your lesbian self claimed it wasn't your job to spend a minute or two talking to people about Prop 8 when you were campaigning for Socialist-In-Chief Obama who so far has done NOTHING for Blacks. Voting No on 8 was just the right thing for the community to do and now you blame the 'gay agenda' for distracting Black Congresspeople when it's more likely said Congresspeople are being motivated by their own guilt in not having done the right thing in the first place.

Indeed the current economic crisis has NOTHING to do with race or equal opportunity so once again your confrontational attitude towards those who are either not black or pandering to the Black community is frightening race-baiting and does nothing to further your causes. Do you REALLY think that Blacks are 'at the bottom of the food chain in California' exclusively or completely? Do you REALLY think it's because they're Black? Have you looked around at all? You don't see an near-exponential increase in the number of poor people of other races - especially whites? Are you living under a ROCK? It's about time you realize that we're all in this together.

I sincerely hope that nobody shares your distorted, overly militant views after reading your articles simply because you write like a self-proclaimed 'expert' on race relations and end your paragraphs with the word 'message.' Word.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Open Thread for Mond... errr, Tuesday

Long weekend comes to a close today with OBama's nomination for the Supreme Court earlier and the announcement of the California Supreme Court's decision on Prop 8 at 10am.

Locally, we have signs signs everywhere signs on the City Clowncil agenda.

Ron Kaye has the details of serious election irregularities in the CD 5 runoff.

And Matt Dowd is still speaking in public comment this morning.


BREAKING: Looks like Prop 8 stands, but existing marriages remain valid. Nothing too surprising, sadly.

From Mayor Sam via Twitter: Prop 8 Rally in Downtown LA Today 6PM. Meet at Pershing Sq. 532 S. Olive St.

Via Twitter: AWESOME via @johncoulthart Prop 8 decision protest blocking traffic in SF: http://bit.ly/15IWWW


Opine away.... dum dums?

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Thursday, November 13, 2008

You want the truth? You can't handle the truth.



... and more polygamists arrested and charged in Texas.

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Saved! By a Cheerleader!



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Sunday, November 09, 2008

Gimme That Old Time Religion!

I dunno, it just seems like a relevant clip. Is this one reason why they came up with that whole separation of church & state concept?



On a side note, I ran into a friend this morning at a local cafe who, in a very brilliant Libertarian moment, said,

" The No on Prop 8 people are fighting the wrong battle. Instead of fighting for the rights of the gay & lesbian community to marry, they should be fighting to have every union between anyone, including a man & a woman, simply function as a legal civil union. Get the government out of the wedding business completely! If the couple wants to take the extra step of labeling their civil union a marriage, then they can go to the church of their choosing and make it so according to the beliefs and traditions of that particular religion. What's so hard about that?"

It seemed like a good idea to me, but I was only on my first cup of coffee, so what do I know?

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Monday, November 03, 2008

An Act Of Grace

I was just sent an email from a friend with this message:

"Here is a video of a news conference given by the Mayor of San Diego, explaining his change of heart on the issue of gay marriage. A Republican mayor of a very Republican town, who campaigned and won office two years ago on a platform that included opposing gay marriage. And yet, when faced with a Moment of Truth, he could not bring himself to do the wrong thing. He looked deep within, found the light of wisdom, and he followed it. By doing so, he compromised his entire political future.

He did the right thing, for the right thing's sake, quite likely at the cost of future re-election.

Wow.

Bravo, sir. Bravo."

I know that there are many Republicans that oppose Prop 8, so that's not the focus of this post. Rather, I encourage you to watch this clip in it's entirety, just to
witness the power of change. This is an act of grace...


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Just A Friendly Reminder- No On Prop 8!

The Mormon Church has spent $20 mil trying to impose their beliefs on the citizens of California over Prop 8. I also can only assume that it is their dollars that are paying for the ads that you are seeing on this blog right now.

So in the interest of equal time, here is an ad produced by netroots activists and brothers Dante Atkins and David Atkins.




On a related note- I also recommend reading the fascinating book "Under The Banner of Heaven" by John Krakauer. Amazon. Mormon history, beliefs, and practices will just blow your mind!

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