Mayor Villar the "Master Debater"? We think naught

Mayor Antonio Villar from his "We Clean Your Toilets" Speech.

Lets credit LA Weekly's Simone "The Snarky One" Wilson for her objective and thoughtful missive on the debating skills of Mayor Antonio Villar, that is, the lack of. Wilson, who like the "Bloggin Commandante", leans towards amnesty towards illegal alien lawbreakers, still had the audacity to blast Mayor Antonio Villar's CNN debate performance on immigration with former President George W. Bush's Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

Mayor Villar has over the years, morphed into a tire cliche machine when it comes to immigration,  "I build bridges, not fences". "A pathway to citizenship" and the most famous, "WE CLEAN YOUR TOILETS!" come to mind when forced to flashback on Mayor Villar's previous pronouncements on immigration. But Gutierrez is right on when exposing both parties shortfalls on immigration. 

Establishment Republicans see illegal aliens as a cheap pool of disposable labor who are left to their own devices in their day to day struggle to survive in a illegal underworld. Democrats see illegals as a ready source of voters to tip a split electorate back into a democratic tilt to the left with another round of amnesty, plain and simple. That is why billions of dollars in services to illegals is an acceptable investment considering if amnesty ever comes, then these voters can be counted upon to support higher taxation to offset their costs.

But for President Obama, the short term question is whether cliche-laden politicos such as Mayor Villar are the right messengers on hot button issues like illegal immigration (for bloggers and talk radio hosts, give us more "WE CLEAN YOUR TOILETS!"). But to do proper justice on the immigration issue, we need a dialog devoid of catch phrases and a renew dedication to common sense policy that predicates enforcement of current laws, with a guest worker program that makes the employer responsible for the health and welfare of their workers and lastly, a path to citizenship for those first who have followed the rules. 

Your thoughts ..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14        

Those Nutty Democrats

Not a good week for Democratic sex-scandals.

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-New York) is accused of sending a photo of his namesake to a co-ed on Twitter.

In Love?

Interestingly, Weiner is married to Huma Abedin, longtime rumored "mistress" of Hillary Clinton.  President Bill Clinton officiated at the wedding last year. Some say the marriage was "arranged" to keep heat off the Clinton-Abedin alleged relationship

Former Democratic golden boy, John Edwards, is indicted in a baby momma scandal, hush money paid might have been from campaign contributors, prosecutors say.

Edwards' defense attorney, tasked with keeping the former Senator and running mate to Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry out of jail, Greg Craig, was also defended President Clinton during his impeachment trial.  Craig later served as a lawyer to President Obama, but later resigned.

While all this was happening, President Obama - not currently in a sex scandal - got some bad news on the unemployment front.  Poor guy.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Thursday

President Obama will visit, but won't speak at Ground Zero today; He plans to just lay a wreath. White House says "the power of that requires no words". George "I could really care less about finding Osama" Bush was invited to attend today's ceremony, but declined to participate.

California Redevelopment Agencies are trying to re-brand themselves in a desperate attempt to stay alive after Gov Brown has called for their termination. First order of business, the heartstrings maneuver; promise more money for school kids!

I had the privilege of spending a good portion of yesterday working with several City & County agencies to clean out numerous homeless camps in the Tujunga Wash. Thanks to the efforts of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and Los Angeles Family Housing (LAFH) we were able to secure alternative housing for 6 individuals. My personal thanks to LAPD Senior Lead Officer Larry Martinez for overseeing and coordinating this effort, with assistance from Senior Lead Officer Rich Wall, and to Councilman Paul Krekorian and his, as always, amazing staff. In this case, CD2 staffers Jackie Keene and Heather O'Conner, for their instrumental efforts in making this project happen. Big thanks to DWP Police, General Services Police, Dept of Mental Health Services, People in Progress, Street Services, and Dept of Sanitation. Wow, great work everyone, thank you so much!
You can read my take on this huge undertaking (so huge, we have to come back in 2 weeks to finish it) and check out some photos from today, over at The Foothills Forum.

KCET has released a comprehensive and fascinating Field Guide to the Los Angeles River. A must read for all LA River aficionados.

It just gets weirder by the day: Tour guide, birthday party clown, homophobe, eternal last place candidate, and a guy that doesn't have a clue about oil supplies or pricing, Phil Jennerjahn, has a new passion; STALKING Paris Hilton.

We salute and say goodbye to Claude Stanley Choules, the last known combat veteran of WW1, who passed away today in Perth, Australia at the age of 110. He was quite a guy!

This just in; France legalizes absinthe. Don't tell you know who!