John McCain Hates Stuff

Wonkette provides us with a fun YouTube video of John Mc"Crypt Keeper"Cain (a.k.a. Old Man Grumpus) in all his Luddite glory as he laments the newfangled sources of information. First, we got those damn "cables", and then there's those pesky talk radio shows and most heinous of all, of course... the dreaded BLOGGERS! OH MY GAWD THE EVIL BLOGGERS! He hates bloggers the most.

Damn you Al Gore, for inventing the intarnet! Damn youuuuuu!

Open Thread: Is It Over for Hillary?

NY Times: Short of Cash, Clinton Is Forced to Cut Spending

The once-formidable fund-raising machine of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun to sputter at the worst possible moment for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign, Clinton advisers and donors said Thursday, with spending curtailed on political events and advertising as Mrs. Clinton seeks to compete in the last six nominating contests.

UPDATES:

AOL News reports that Barack Obama now leads Hillary Clinton in Superdelegates. Blogger David Knowles says that "many supers were waiting to see if Clinton was going to make a graceful exit from the race. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. Therefore, she has put many reluctant superdelegates in the position of having to do the dirty work."

An anonymous blogger has come out of the closet, something we here at the Sister City know a lot about. Former Bill Richardson staffer Ed Espinosa has come out as "Mr. Super," the blogging superdelegate who's been providing anonymous observations and commentary to the world from the perspective of a superdelegate for the past month.

So You Want to Be a Blogger?

The New York Times has a piece today on the health effects of blogging. Hopefully some of our frequent posters/contributors work in a little stretching, exercise and healthy food. Then again, I know there's a few of you Schadenfreude types out there. '-)

All joking aside, there's a seminar with the Asian American Journalists Association this Saturday morning at KTLA (more details to follow in a media hotsheet) with Carol Lin (former CNN anchor and former Fox 11ancho; USC professor/blogger), Kate Coe (veteran newspaper freelancer and an editor of Fishbowl LA; part of Mediabistro' s network of blogs) and Michael Schneider (TV writer for Variety and a weekly deejay at KCSN Radio at Cal State Northridge; keeps a variety of blogs). FYI - The Greater Los Angeles chapter of Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ-LA) also did a seminar on blogging last October with Matt Welch, Eric Spillman and Greg Hernandez (Here's the link; there are 7 videos in total)

In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop

Matt Richtel
Staff Writer - New York Times
April 6, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

Read the full story.

Busblog to Spring Street

The folks at MayorSam want to congratulate Tony Pierce of busblog and LAist on joining the Times.

We read Tony at busblog, and noted Tony took LAist at a time when it was listless and turned it into a pop-culture blast furnace and the crown jewel of the -ist colonies. (Believe it or not, we were worried then that LAist might be too corporate and confining for him---but he simply remade it into something that better fit inside his own head.) He's been great at building traffic to the site and especially at aggregating many different kinds of topics and stories in a way that's relevant to a daily reader.

He's also been great at getting up late and going to bed later and getting paid for it. He has a very shrewd side, and that will, we predict, work well for him at the former fishwrap of record.

All the best to Tony.

Lazy Monday: blogbits and open thread

Seems my bloggin’ brethren are enjoying a long weekend (not alone I might add). So, here are a couple of blogbits to chew on this evening.

Can’t We All Just: Kemp Powers over at LAist wonders if the black and brown will ever get down in this town. As one commenter notes, probably not anytime soon—or, at least, not so long as this goes on in Mexico and our borders remain wide open.

Who Cares? Speaking of open borders, Karl Rove’s political career died today, and Wonkette delivered the perfect eulogy:

Karl Rove isn’t a genius, unless Lee Atwater and Chuck Colson were geniuses. He’s really goddamn good at winning elections for George W. Bush, and then once that’s done, he just hangs around fucking things up until the next election needs to be won. Hell, he could probably net Bush a third term if he started working at it now.

Material World: Photojournalism may be done for at Reuters, but it’s alive and well at TMZ, and now you can find out how the gossip site obtained the Valley shoe shopping footage.

Speaking of Mirthi, Eric Longabardi says she’s spending a significant chunk of her vacation at the Getty House—to the point of cohabitation. Were Mayor Villaraigosa really a follower of his own faith, he would move in to her Studio City condo (it would be a brilliant political move to boot).

Serious Business: The owner of the Chinese toy factory involved in the massive Mattel recall has hung himself. Meanwhile, more than 1,300 people have been freed from forced labor in Chinese kilns, mines, and workshops since June.

You shake your head, but could this be our future? Fifty years from now, might Shanghai become a playground for the rich and famous, while L.A. becomes chief exporter of cheap tchotchkies assembled by mentally disabled child slaves?

A little late, but…

...very cool: Los Angeles’ original blogger interviews Los Angeles’ original dystopian writer.

In the debut issue of New Angeles (a downtown/eastside monthly), Ken Layne interviews Mike Davis—author of some of my faves, including City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear—on the eastside renaissance, smart growth, and the Grand Avenue project. Take a moment and check it out. Still cynical, still Mike Davis.

On The Shelf

In case you missed it, Tony Rafael’s debut book, The Mexican Mafia, went on sale last Wednesday. Many Mayor Sam readers already know Rafael as Wally Fay, editor of In The Hat, a popular, long-running expert narrative on Los Angeles gangs, crime, cops, and politics.

Described as the first book ever published on the subject, The Mexican Mafia documents the inner workings of the largely mysterious prison gang that controls a “40,000-strong street army” responsible for 100 homicides each year in Los Angeles alone.

In a radio appearance Saturday, Rafael described how La Eme is now expanding its system of “protection” levying beyond street corner drug dealers. Suffices to say, you’ll never see the weathered face of the lady selling churros at the corner of Beverly and Vermont the same again.

Rafael’s nonpartisan tone at In The Hat regularly evokes dozens of interesting and insightful comments. If his blog is any indicator, The Mexican Mafia promises to be a fascinating read that hits very close to home.

Available at Powells, Borders, and Amazon.

Latest Westside Whine

He likes to fill his blog with manic attacks on the LA Times, enthralling news such as the latest Lindsay Lohan (or other substance challenged starlet d'jour) arrest and lots of girly pictures. And when stories of local politicial shenanigans reach critical mass he will then go all out to ape the local blogs and even try to assume credit for the scoops - or at least not correct it when others give him the credit.

But got forbid another blog get attention and Kevin Roderick - AKA The Westside White Guy or the only blogger Sherry (Shirley) Bebitch Jeffe knows from Adam - goes apoplectic. God forbid anyone stand in his spotlight when it comes to "mainstream media" coverage of blogs.

The editor of (Anglo)LAObserved once again has his panties in a bunch over some recent coverage of the very excellent but anonymous Foothill Cities blog. You can read his posts as well as the response at Foothill Cities to learn more.

I'm not surprised, this is standard operating procedure for old Kev.

A Guy in LA

IF YOU CAUGHT this Connie Bruck profiler of Hizzoner in the New Yorker, you'd think that the LA blogosphere had no political importance in town. Worse, you'd think that the LATimes editorial page had some.

Well, don't look now, but even if the New Yorker doesn't know it yet, the local blogosphere figures are crashing other local media political gates.

Here are but a few recent examples: a guy well-known to the LA blogosphere, Daniel Guss, who sometimes comes off too passionate even for bloggers, nonetheless had a great op-ed in the Daily News last week on why the Zoo shouldn't keep elephants. The LATimes increasingly turns to bloggers for local issue opinions---just last Saturday, it was blogger/cyclist Will Campbell's bromide about the fauxness and fakery of LA's fickle commitment to bicycle lanes that tapped the local juices. Zuma here is always working some print piece. Sotto voce yours truly is on 35 this Friday and some other upcoming days, going toe to toe with Con Howe and illustrious others on affordable housing. Even K-Rod sipped power chardonnay with Ruth Seymour, and appears to have secured a slot Fridays that could enable him to teach those Friday SaMo winebibbers all about how important his blog is.

All this is, for bloggers of local issues, the third wave, not the first, not even the second. The first wave was from the local pols, especially City Councilpeople, who came around flattering bloggers and hoping for eternal buy-in. (They may get it from the voters, but they didn't get it from bloggers.) The next wave were the more savvy PR types, hip to the "long-tail" marketing concept and anxious to push product, especially if it involved entertainment.

~~~

How the blogosphere shapes our politics is a question bloggers don't talk about much publically but do quite a bit of speculating about in email. A couple of years ago, I guessed that the blogosphere in aggregate could make a difference of between 2-5% whenever they mostly line up on one side of a given issue---not enough to make a king or queen, but just enough to be decisive in a close election. Now, of course, the influence is much larger, in part because the electorate itself is smaller and smaller. It appeared to many that bloggers defeated the last Measure H (Affordable Housing Bond) and the coming next one promises to be a bigger fight than the last.

But with the crossover into other media, when a blogger talks to a politician or media relations, it's now more important for the respondant to think about what else the blogger might be up to. And the fact that there is generally no editor to call when things are mis-stated or mis-interpreted, along with the fact that bloggers are generally writing neither straight news nor straight opinions but improvised fusions of both, make relationship and rapport with bloggers increasingly important for pols and their staff to master.

As bloggers learn as well. The No2HomeDepot effort in Sunland Tujunga has been mostly blog/email mobilized---it's been so effective that it appears HD itself is fighting back with a suspicious web presence of its own. CitywatchLA just gets better all the time; check these PLUM notes; very meaty, very important. I know I used to keep a special email list of LA citizens---now it's broken down by Council District.

~~~

If the first wave of interest in bloggers were pols, the second PR, and the third other media, the fourth wave will be...moderate wampum. At LAist--where the blogosphere seems not a conduit to other media but an end unto itself--Tony Pierce has been quietly making hay. I know you don't read that blog much for local politics, but check LAist's ads: they're from real, honest to god, big-time corporations: AT&T, public television, Diageo. Ad-wise, the -ist group is putting lots of other blog groups to shame, and that includes the Defamer/Wonkette Dentonsphere.

Successful blogging: what a concept. The New Yorker doesn't know about it yet. But blogging hasn't come close to cresting. It's something for City Hall and City lobbyists and City stakeholders to think about, even while they're courting flacks and hacks who put them in publications that only are known for their disappointing profilers these days.

Memo to Shelly Sloan: Time for Reform of Small Town City Attorneys

We saw the City Attorney of Pomona threaten a blogger with what will likely turn out to be baseless threats.

In California, most city attorneys of small cities are law firms that are contracted out as opposed to an elected or appointed official.

This practice should come to an end because it opens up the possibility of all kinds of fraud, waste and abuse or at least general shadiness. These law firms get cozy with the very elected officials and city employees who hire them. How objective can they be when they are supposed to represent the entire city; yet they are vulnerable to the city council's every whim. At the same time, how objective can the council be in selecting these attorneys when they or their firms donate thousands of dollars to council candidates?

Cities should be forced to have elected city attorneys like Los Angeles or if not that is not possible they should be required to pay the County District Attorney for the services of a county appointed city attorney.

Shelly Sloan - President of the California State Bar - what say you?

Mayor Sam's Hot Sheet for Wednesday

A tragic event occurred Monday at what is supposed to be a happy place for young and old alike. During a performance of the Circo Hermanos Vasquez in Whittier Narrows, a 35 year old trapeze artist fell to his death. OSHA investigators are reviewing the accident as they should; however a gasbag local politician is trying to use the tragedy to get press: County Supervisor Gloria Molina has arranged free county "counseling" for anyone who saw the event. Folks, this is not a function of government, people have endured tragedies long before county crisis counselors were on the scene.

Click Read More to Continue...

If you haven't had a chance to check out Joe Mailander's excellent "A Guy in LA" series now carried here exclusively on Mayor Sam, please do so. Joe has a unique take on many local issues and I'm grateful to have him here. For fun, we have the usual blogging dust-up Joe is so good at it, however this time it's not with the Westside White Guy but with our buddy Don Garza the Central City East Blogger. Joe and Don are sparring over a plan by LA Clippers owner Donald Stirling to build a massive homeless services center in Skid Row. Don's passion is understandable given his situation, however Joe makes a good point. And I'm all for yurts!

Want to run for Congress? Due to the sad passing of Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald there will be a special election for her seat in June. We dished up some speculation as to who might run for the seat but there's always room for you!

California Progress Report takes another look at the coming Fran Pavley-Lloyd Levine race to take over Zelda's State Senate seat. Pavley is doing quite well in polls, especially among folks who are dedicated voters, Jews, 2-1. The Bachelor has some catch up to do.