Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

With this being Thanksgiving week and the biggest travel holiday weekend of the year, both TSA agents and airline passengers can look forward to what we are calling "Gropefest 2010".  Millions of traveling crotches just waiting to be inspected!

Uh-oh, California Republicans may be on the sidelines for the foreseeable future as far as state politics go. Blame it on Pete Wilson and what's her name. Speaking of what's her name, where there's money, there's always the possibility of blowing more of it.

Why is it that every time it rains in Los Angeles, somebody winds up being swept away in the LA River?

In the "That's Just Crazy Talk/Throw Him Under The Bus" department,  Warren Buffet says, ""I think people at the high end, people like myself, should be paying a lot more in taxes," the billionaire investor and founder of Berkshire Hathaway said. "We have it better than we've ever had it."

Meanwhile, back at the 9.6% national unemployment rate ranch; the Republicans have successfully blocked an extension of unemployment benefits. This will affect almost a million of the unemployed by next week and an additional million by the end of December. Ah, good thinking GOP, and just in time for the holidays!

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday

Monday Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will unveil a $5 billion "affordable" housing plan intended to build homes for the homeless and low income.  However no one other than the Mayor himself seems to be excited over the massive boondoggle whose details are sketchy at best.  And even the Mayor says that he's not sure where all the money will come from. 

He's part Zuma Dogg, part Walter Moore and even a little bit of 1970s era Jerry Brown thrown in - and he's running for Mayor.  Marijuana activist and enthusiast Craig X Rubin will announce his campaign, joining Mayor Villaraigosa and Moore in the 2009 campaign.  In addition to creating a church around pot use Rubin served as a technical advisor on the Showtime original series Weeds and claims to have sold a bong to actor Brad Pitt.

Governor Schwarzenegger is not very popular these days with conservative Republicans and California's prison guards' union - in fact the union is spearheading a recall of the Governor.  That being said, former Governor Pete Wilson spoke to state Republicans over the weekend at their fall convention urging them to get behind Schwarzenegger as well the redistricting measure, Proposition 11, on the November ballot.

One blogger has an intriguing idea about what to do with the Wall Street bailout funds, particularly the $85 million slated to rescue insurer AIG - give it to the taxpayers.  The writer calculates that could be a windfall of $400,000 for every man and woman over 18 years of age.  The idea being rather than giving it back to the investors those funds could stimulate the economy like no tomorrow in the hands of the people.  Sounds good to me.

And finally the latest conspiracy theory raging these days is that President Bush will declare a state of national emergency over the current economic mess, declare martial law and indefinitely postpone Novemember's elections. Whoever is passing this idea around must have been smoking some of Craig X Rubin's weed.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Friday

We told you this was coming back during the Summer of Love. AnVil not only wants to clean your toilets, he wants you to drink from them. Toilet to Tap is back! And Ron Kaye reminds us how it fired up the secession movement back in the 90s and how the Daily News under his leadership led the charge.

Couple of interesting items in light of the State Supreme Court's ruling that allows gays to marry in California. Joseph Mailander observes that the lone Schwarzenegger appointee to the Court joined the minority who ruled against overturning the state's laws banning gay marriage while three of the four Justices who voted to overturn the ban were either George Deukmejian or Pete Wilson appointees. A fact of course that blows out of the water conservatives claims that the Governor's less than right wing stance is responsible for this. In a related, stunning development, Zuma Dogg has proposed marriage to openly gay Councilman Bill Rosendahl. Big loser in the whole thing? AnVil since San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will get all the credit and all the gay Democratic political support and money come the 2010 Democratic Gubenatorial primary.

We've talked about the Rocky Delgadillo obsessed billboard NIMBYs and the MTA's new videos on the wall of it's subway tunnels. CurbedLA has a piece where one billboard NIMBY says he'll leave town if Angelenos decide they are in favor of billboards. Check out the comments section of the post; many great contributions.

Ever tried to hail a cab in LA? Unless you're at an airport or a few select hotels or other locations it's illegal. But that is changing.