and his newsblog, LAObserved.com. In The Man Who Watches Over L.A., the former LATimesman is called "possibly the most respected journalist in town." LAObserved, writes the Independent, "is a forum on local politics, the media and Los Angeles that has become an online salon for journalists and political junkies, especially early in the day when the Web site often offers a condensed compilation of the best stories in the Times, The Daily News and other newspapers or weeklies that morning."
LAObserved observed
The Los Angeles Independent has a nice profile of Kevin Broderick and his newsblog, LAObserved.com. In The Man Who Watches Over L.A., the former LATimesman is called "possibly the most respected journalist in town." LAObserved, writes the Independent, "is a forum on local politics, the media and Los Angeles that has become an online salon for journalists and political junkies, especially early in the day when the Web site often offers a condensed compilation of the best stories in the Times, The Daily News and other newspapers or weeklies that morning."
and his newsblog, LAObserved.com. In The Man Who Watches Over L.A., the former LATimesman is called "possibly the most respected journalist in town." LAObserved, writes the Independent, "is a forum on local politics, the media and Los Angeles that has become an online salon for journalists and political junkies, especially early in the day when the Web site often offers a condensed compilation of the best stories in the Times, The Daily News and other newspapers or weeklies that morning."
Crosswalks, again
I'd never advocate this, of course, because, as Richard Nixon said in another context, 
it would be wrong, but I'm amazed that by now some good souls have not chosen to sneak down to Main Street in the middle of the night to paint mid-block crosswalks between Ashland and Hill and between Hill and Ocean Park. With the staff preoccupied with redeveloping downtown, it could be months or years before anyone in City Hall notices they're there, and even then it would only be fair if it took a staff report and the hiring of consultants before they could be painted out again. In the meantime, walkers will be crossing the street more safely, especially if the midnight safety commandos also happen to install a couple of those mid-street traffic markers you see in other towns (I like the ones that depict a policeman holding up his hand, especially if it's full-sized). As I've said before, the cemeteries are full of people who were alive and kicking when the Ashland-Hill crosswalk was first promised. How long does this neighborhood have to wait for an improvement even this minuscule?
it would be wrong, but I'm amazed that by now some good souls have not chosen to sneak down to Main Street in the middle of the night to paint mid-block crosswalks between Ashland and Hill and between Hill and Ocean Park. With the staff preoccupied with redeveloping downtown, it could be months or years before anyone in City Hall notices they're there, and even then it would only be fair if it took a staff report and the hiring of consultants before they could be painted out again. In the meantime, walkers will be crossing the street more safely, especially if the midnight safety commandos also happen to install a couple of those mid-street traffic markers you see in other towns (I like the ones that depict a policeman holding up his hand, especially if it's full-sized). As I've said before, the cemeteries are full of people who were alive and kicking when the Ashland-Hill crosswalk was first promised. How long does this neighborhood have to wait for an improvement even this minuscule?
The Left Coaster: "We're Right"
For some time, I've been meaning to add The Left Coaster to the links on this page, but their current discussion of the Republican damage-control memo, "Talking Points For Treason: Joseph Wilson and Dick Cheney," inspired me to get the job done. The Left Coast's considered answer to the question, "Does the GOP's Talking Points For Treason(TM) document offer evidence for their claim against Joseph Wilson?" is no.
(The Left Coaster, "An outside-the-Beltway perspective on current events, politics, media, and the arts. We are proud to be part of the Reality-Based Community.")
(The Left Coaster, "An outside-the-Beltway perspective on current events, politics, media, and the arts. We are proud to be part of the Reality-Based Community.")
"Outing Mrs. Wilson…Was Treacherous, if not Treasonous"
Such was the headline on a letter Rep. Henry Waxman sent to his colleagues in the House of Representatives:
"Outing Mrs. Wilson…Was Treacherous, if not Treasonous."
Retired CIA Agents Larry Johnson, Michael Grimaldi, and Brent Cavan (Oct. 24, 2003)
Dear Colleague:
Many Republicans are trying hard to minimize Karl Rove’s disgraceful conduct in outing the identity of a covert CIA agent. The fact is that Mr. Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the President’s closest advisor, and perhaps others in the White House, put politics ahead of protecting our national security.
Much has been written about this issue, but I want to make sure you have the following quotes as you think about this shameful breach. These comments, more than anything else I have read, explain why Karl Rove’s actions matter to every American. They are the views of former President and CIA Director George H.W. Bush and ten former CIA officials:
* "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors." Former President and CIA Director George H.W. Bush, Washington Times (Apr. 27, 1999).
* "We also want to send a clear message to the political 'operatives' responsible for ‘outing’ Mrs. Wilson. Such action was treacherous, if not treasonous. ... This has set a sickening precedent. The "senior Administration officials" who did this have warned all U.S. intelligence officers and the Intelligence Community that any one individual may be compromised if providing information or factual analysis the White House does not like." Testimony of Former CIA Officials Larry Johnson, Michael Grimaldi, and Brent Cavan (Oct. 24, 2003).
* "The disclosure of Ms. Plame’s name was an unprecedented and shameful event in American history and, in our professional judgment, has damaged U.S. national security, specifically the effectiveness of U.S. intelligence gathering using human sources. Any breach of the code of confidentiality and cover weakens the overall fabric of intelligence, and, directly or indirectly, jeopardizes the work and safety of intelligence workers and their sources." Letter to House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert from Former CIA Officials Larry C. Johnson, James Marcinkowski, Michael Grimaldi, Brent Cavan, Marc Sageman, MD, Ph.D., James A. Smith, John McCavitt, Ray McGovern, Ray Close, and William Wagner (Jan. 20. 2004).
As an independent branch of government, we shirk our constitutional responsibilities if we continue to ignore this serious violation of our national security interests.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Ranking Minority Member
"Outing Mrs. Wilson…Was Treacherous, if not Treasonous."
Retired CIA Agents Larry Johnson, Michael Grimaldi, and Brent Cavan (Oct. 24, 2003)
Dear Colleague:
Many Republicans are trying hard to minimize Karl Rove’s disgraceful conduct in outing the identity of a covert CIA agent. The fact is that Mr. Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the President’s closest advisor, and perhaps others in the White House, put politics ahead of protecting our national security.
Much has been written about this issue, but I want to make sure you have the following quotes as you think about this shameful breach. These comments, more than anything else I have read, explain why Karl Rove’s actions matter to every American. They are the views of former President and CIA Director George H.W. Bush and ten former CIA officials:
* "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors." Former President and CIA Director George H.W. Bush, Washington Times (Apr. 27, 1999).
* "We also want to send a clear message to the political 'operatives' responsible for ‘outing’ Mrs. Wilson. Such action was treacherous, if not treasonous. ... This has set a sickening precedent. The "senior Administration officials" who did this have warned all U.S. intelligence officers and the Intelligence Community that any one individual may be compromised if providing information or factual analysis the White House does not like." Testimony of Former CIA Officials Larry Johnson, Michael Grimaldi, and Brent Cavan (Oct. 24, 2003).
* "The disclosure of Ms. Plame’s name was an unprecedented and shameful event in American history and, in our professional judgment, has damaged U.S. national security, specifically the effectiveness of U.S. intelligence gathering using human sources. Any breach of the code of confidentiality and cover weakens the overall fabric of intelligence, and, directly or indirectly, jeopardizes the work and safety of intelligence workers and their sources." Letter to House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert from Former CIA Officials Larry C. Johnson, James Marcinkowski, Michael Grimaldi, Brent Cavan, Marc Sageman, MD, Ph.D., James A. Smith, John McCavitt, Ray McGovern, Ray Close, and William Wagner (Jan. 20. 2004).
As an independent branch of government, we shirk our constitutional responsibilities if we continue to ignore this serious violation of our national security interests.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Ranking Minority Member
Segways dangerous on the bike path
Used as we are to having the safety rules on the Santa Monica Bike Path honored mostly in the breach, it was still dismaying to see the photograph in Friday's Santa Monica Daily Press of the gaggle of Segways blocking the route.
The rule against motorized vechicles on the bike path is clear and unambiguous. It's also one of the few regulations that is routinely enforced, and for good reason: the margin of safety on the path is already dangerously compromised without the addition of heavier, self-propelled vehicles piloted by unskilled, often juvenile drivers.
Segway probably figures that as a national corporation with a showroom in Santa Monica, they can get away with ignoring laws that, if you are a young weekend visitor to Venice, can get you a moving violation if you dare to venture north of Navy on your rented scooter. If Segway wants to hold sales pitches by the beach for buyers of its pricey gadget, there is a huge, nearly empty parking lot south of Pico that the city is always happy to rent.
As admirable as these vehicles may or may not be (and, personally, I'd be happy see them clogging our streets; but, remember, there are enough questions about their safety for bans to have been considered or imposed in locales as divergent as Toronto, San Francisco and Disneyland), whether or not they are a solution to our commuting woes, they don't belong on the bike path.
The rule against motorized vechicles on the bike path is clear and unambiguous. It's also one of the few regulations that is routinely enforced, and for good reason: the margin of safety on the path is already dangerously compromised without the addition of heavier, self-propelled vehicles piloted by unskilled, often juvenile drivers.
Segway probably figures that as a national corporation with a showroom in Santa Monica, they can get away with ignoring laws that, if you are a young weekend visitor to Venice, can get you a moving violation if you dare to venture north of Navy on your rented scooter. If Segway wants to hold sales pitches by the beach for buyers of its pricey gadget, there is a huge, nearly empty parking lot south of Pico that the city is always happy to rent.
As admirable as these vehicles may or may not be (and, personally, I'd be happy see them clogging our streets; but, remember, there are enough questions about their safety for bans to have been considered or imposed in locales as divergent as Toronto, San Francisco and Disneyland), whether or not they are a solution to our commuting woes, they don't belong on the bike path.
Do we come in lower than Old Sturbridge Village?
"Intel's 3rd Annual Most Unwired Cities survey ranks the top 100 U.S. cities and regions for the greatest wireless Internet accessibility. This year's survey reveals a growing number of diverse locations - both indoors and outdoors - where people can log on and connect to the Internet without wires. Today, wireless hotspots can be found at coffee shops, colleges and hotels, but they're also popping up at skate parks, pipe shops, gas stations, bowling alleys and golf courses." Here's a link to Intel's top 100 unwired cities and regions. Orange County is #10 and San Diego is #11, Sacramento is #18, Los Angeles-Long Beach are at #24, Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa are #40, Ventura is 51#, Fresno is 54#, Riverside-San Bernardino come in at #74, the Stockton-Lodi area is #81 and Bakersfield is #98. Guess who's not on the list.
Municipal broadband is coming...But is it coming here?
Governments as diverse as West Virginia's and Culver City's are sensibly treating wireless access as a public utility. Culver's redevelopment agency, for example, spent around $20,000 putting a network together to provide about a square mile of downtown with free wi-fi access.
The internet itself was developed using the public's money and, right wing propaganda notwithstanding, the US has a long and successful history of municipal ownership of utilities supplying water, electricity, buses, trains,and other services, continuing down to present-day L.A. Companies like SBC, Verizon and T-Mobile will do their best to undermine these efforts -- SBC recently got monoply control of fee-based wireless access in California's parks and beaches, but they may have a harder time if Arizona Senator John McCain, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg and some of their cohorts succeed in passing legislation they've introduced with the goal of ensuring that cities and counties can provide community-wide broadband should they choose to. The solons want to amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in order to prevent state and federal legislative actions, backed by the telecommunications giants, that are aimed at keeping local governments out of the broadband business (just as the big real estate owners were able to get the California state legislature to put an end to local rent control). As many as 14 states have passed laws limiting municipal broadband services, mostly in response to lobbying by the large internet providers.
The internet itself was developed using the public's money and, right wing propaganda notwithstanding, the US has a long and successful history of municipal ownership of utilities supplying water, electricity, buses, trains,and other services, continuing down to present-day L.A. Companies like SBC, Verizon and T-Mobile will do their best to undermine these efforts -- SBC recently got monoply control of fee-based wireless access in California's parks and beaches, but they may have a harder time if Arizona Senator John McCain, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg and some of their cohorts succeed in passing legislation they've introduced with the goal of ensuring that cities and counties can provide community-wide broadband should they choose to. The solons want to amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in order to prevent state and federal legislative actions, backed by the telecommunications giants, that are aimed at keeping local governments out of the broadband business (just as the big real estate owners were able to get the California state legislature to put an end to local rent control). As many as 14 states have passed laws limiting municipal broadband services, mostly in response to lobbying by the large internet providers.
Why is the City of Santa Monica afraid of an open and democratically accountable development process?
Here is the concluding paragraph of an open letter delivered today by a number of community leaders to assistant Santa Monica city manager Gordon Anderson regarding the public review process for any future proposal for the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place.
"...We urge the City to adopt a public process that is meaningful and fair and designed to have residents' voices and choices be heard. A meaningful public process is one preceded by a development proposal for Santa Monica Place that clearly shows the height and density of the actual proposed buildings, includes a comprehensive environmental report that accurately assesses the traffic impacts, and includes an accurate financial analysis of the City’s direct and indirect costs and contributions to the proposed development."For more information about the proposal by the Macerich Corporation to vastly enlarge Santa Monica Place and about the activities of the SM Coalition for a Livable City, please got to this website: smclc.net
The only solution traffic congestion in Santa Monica is...
...More traffic!
Let's face it. Only if the traffic tangle gets immeasurably worse than it is already
will we get light rail. And only when we Santa Monicans cease going to our own downtown altogether, because it's just too damn hard, will we be offered other ameliorations like minicabs, pedaltaxis, and Tide-sized buses to all parts of town.
If you favor the development of a rational public transportation system, you've got to look on gridlock as your ally and friend.
Planning and development and even growth are not the enemy, by the way. The enemies of the good life in Santa Monica are bad and wasteful planning, mediocre development, and growth that is unaccompanied by the planned and managed creation of a workable infrastructure.
Growth is going to come. The only question is how we will manage it for the better.
If you are a progressive, you probably favor development: development means jobs, it means housing, it means improved infrastructure, it means public transportation.
And if you are concerned about the environment, then you must have realized that the on
ly solution to urban sprawl, to the loss of farmland, recreational opportunities, plant and animal diversity, water resources, and so on, resides in encouraging the creation of much denser urban environments. And you have to ask yourself where in Southern California the concentration of development should occur if not in the zone that puts the least drain on the infrastructure and the environment by needing neither air-conditioning in the summer nor much in the way of heating in the winter. There is also a huge benefit to having a large population within a short hop to the beach.
In Santa Monica, a successful future can be expressed in a simple two-part formula: Develop the commercial areas! Protect the neighborhoods!
This means allowing new construction of mixed-use housing and commercial developments along the commercial streets, while doing everything possible to protect the character and density of the purely residential neighborhoods.
In the meantime, while we wait for the traffic grind to a halt, there are many
alternatives to automobiles for getting around our little (3 mile x 3 mile) town. Those who are are neither lame nor lazy can easily walk from our neighborhoods to downtown or to other parts of the city. Although City Hall has pursued traffic policies over the past decade that have made it increasingly dangerous to ride, the climate and the basically flat topography make Santa Monica almost ideal for commuting by bicycle (and, while it is true that riding safely here requires great alertness, it is equally true that as more of us do it, the safer it will become). Why is it left to a city like Long Beach to pioneer a downtown bicycle valet service while Santa Monica relies on bike lanes to nowhere and ridiculous "Share the Road" signs?
Finally, we are lucky in having a relatively efficient and inexpensive bus system. The Big Blue Bus is cheap, clean, and safe (at least for people on the bus), and with innovations like the Tide shuttle linking the major hotels to downtown and Ocean Park and the new express bus to LAX, Santa Monica's bus company has demonstrated a willingness to think outside the lane. And Metro's red express buses connect Santa Monicans to a growing county-wide transportation system.
See Travel: ExperienceLA.com
Let's face it. Only if the traffic tangle gets immeasurably worse than it is already
will we get light rail. And only when we Santa Monicans cease going to our own downtown altogether, because it's just too damn hard, will we be offered other ameliorations like minicabs, pedaltaxis, and Tide-sized buses to all parts of town. If you favor the development of a rational public transportation system, you've got to look on gridlock as your ally and friend.
Planning and development and even growth are not the enemy, by the way. The enemies of the good life in Santa Monica are bad and wasteful planning, mediocre development, and growth that is unaccompanied by the planned and managed creation of a workable infrastructure.
Growth is going to come. The only question is how we will manage it for the better.
If you are a progressive, you probably favor development: development means jobs, it means housing, it means improved infrastructure, it means public transportation.
And if you are concerned about the environment, then you must have realized that the on
ly solution to urban sprawl, to the loss of farmland, recreational opportunities, plant and animal diversity, water resources, and so on, resides in encouraging the creation of much denser urban environments. And you have to ask yourself where in Southern California the concentration of development should occur if not in the zone that puts the least drain on the infrastructure and the environment by needing neither air-conditioning in the summer nor much in the way of heating in the winter. There is also a huge benefit to having a large population within a short hop to the beach.In Santa Monica, a successful future can be expressed in a simple two-part formula: Develop the commercial areas! Protect the neighborhoods!
This means allowing new construction of mixed-use housing and commercial developments along the commercial streets, while doing everything possible to protect the character and density of the purely residential neighborhoods.
In the meantime, while we wait for the traffic grind to a halt, there are many
alternatives to automobiles for getting around our little (3 mile x 3 mile) town. Those who are are neither lame nor lazy can easily walk from our neighborhoods to downtown or to other parts of the city. Although City Hall has pursued traffic policies over the past decade that have made it increasingly dangerous to ride, the climate and the basically flat topography make Santa Monica almost ideal for commuting by bicycle (and, while it is true that riding safely here requires great alertness, it is equally true that as more of us do it, the safer it will become). Why is it left to a city like Long Beach to pioneer a downtown bicycle valet service while Santa Monica relies on bike lanes to nowhere and ridiculous "Share the Road" signs?Finally, we are lucky in having a relatively efficient and inexpensive bus system. The Big Blue Bus is cheap, clean, and safe (at least for people on the bus), and with innovations like the Tide shuttle linking the major hotels to downtown and Ocean Park and the new express bus to LAX, Santa Monica's bus company has demonstrated a willingness to think outside the lane. And Metro's red express buses connect Santa Monicans to a growing county-wide transportation system.
See Travel: ExperienceLA.com
ACLU Report: Restrictions on Scientific Research and Publication
Science Under Siege: The Bush Administration's Assault on Academic Freedom and Scientific Inquiry (42 pages, pdf): <http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=18533>
Science Under Siege Executive Summary (pdf): <http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=18535>
"The American Civil Liberties Union released a report today examining government policies and practices that have hampered academic freedom and scientific inquiry since September 11, 2001" (press release): <http://www.aclu.org/>
Science Under Siege Executive Summary (pdf): <http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=18535>
"The American Civil Liberties Union released a report today examining government policies and practices that have hampered academic freedom and scientific inquiry since September 11, 2001" (press release): <http://www.aclu.org/>
The Ties That Bind China, Russia and Iran (Asia Times)
I never expected to one day miss Henry Kissinger. Though a misguided architect of empire, Kissinger at least knew how to protect his creation. While the current administration squanders lives and wealth in Iraq and fixates on sideshows like North Korea and Venezuela, consider the growing axis of power discussed in this article from The Asia Times of June 4, 2005 (posted at Japan Focus on June 6).
--------------------------------------
By Jephraim P. Gundzik
The military implementation of the George W Bush administration's unilateralist foreign policy is creating monumental changes in the world's geostrategic alliances. The most significant of these changes is the formation of a new triangle comprised of China, Iran and Russia.
Growing ties between Moscow and Beijing in the past 18 months is an important geopolitical event that has gone practically unnoticed. China's premier, Wen Jiabao, visited Russia in September 2004. In October 2004, President Vladimir Putin visited China. During the October meeting, both China and Russia declared that Sino-Russian relations had reached "unparalleled heights". In addition to settling long-standing border issues, Moscow and Beijing agreed to hold joint military exercises in 2005. This marks the first large-scale military exercises between Russia and China since 1958.
The rest of the story: <http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=303>
--------------------------------------
By Jephraim P. Gundzik
The military implementation of the George W Bush administration's unilateralist foreign policy is creating monumental changes in the world's geostrategic alliances. The most significant of these changes is the formation of a new triangle comprised of China, Iran and Russia.
Growing ties between Moscow and Beijing in the past 18 months is an important geopolitical event that has gone practically unnoticed. China's premier, Wen Jiabao, visited Russia in September 2004. In October 2004, President Vladimir Putin visited China. During the October meeting, both China and Russia declared that Sino-Russian relations had reached "unparalleled heights". In addition to settling long-standing border issues, Moscow and Beijing agreed to hold joint military exercises in 2005. This marks the first large-scale military exercises between Russia and China since 1958.
The rest of the story: <http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=303>
Congressman Conyers Hammers the Post
By Congressman John Conyers | Letter
Mr. Michael Abramowitz, National Editor; Mr. Michael Getler, Ombudsman; Mr. Dana Milbank
The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20071
Dear Sirs:
I write to express my profound disappointment with Dana Milbank's June 17 report, "Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War," which purports to describe a Democratic hearing I chaired in the Capitol yesterday. In sum, the piece cherry-picks some facts, manufactures others out of whole cloth, and does a disservice to some 30 members of Congress who persevered under difficult circumstances, not of our own making, to examine a very serious subject: whether the American people were deliberately misled in the lead up to war. The fact that this was the Post's only coverage of this event makes the journalistic shortcomings in this piece even more egregious.
In an inaccurate piece of reporting that typifies the article, Milbank implies that one of the obstacles the Members in the meeting have is that "only one" member has mentioned the Downing Street Minutes on the floor of either the House or Senate. This is not only incorrect but misleading. In fact, just yesterday, the Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid, mentioned it on the Senate floor. Senator Boxer talked at some length about it at the recent confirmation hearing for the Ambassador to Iraq. The House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently signed on to my letter, along with 121 other Democrats asking for answers about the memo. This information is not difficult to find either. For example, the Reid speech was the subject of an AP wire service report posted on the Washington Post website with the headline "Democrats Cite Downing Street Memo in Bolton Fight". Other similar mistakes, mischaracterizations and cheap shots are littered throughout the article.
The article begins with an especially mean and nasty tone, claiming that House Democrats "pretended" a small conference was the Judiciary Committee hearing room and deriding the decor of the room. Milbank fails to share with his readers one essential fact: the reason the hearing was held in that room, an important piece of context. Despite the fact that a number of other suitable rooms were available in the Capitol and House office buildings, Republicans declined my request for each and every one of them. Milbank could have written about the perseverance of many of my colleagues in the face of such adverse circumstances, but declined to do so. Milbank also ignores the critical fact picked up by the AP, CNN and other newsletters that at the very moment the hearing was scheduled to begin, the Republican Leadership scheduled an almost unprecedented number of 11 consecutive floor votes, making it next to impossible for most Members to participate in the first hour and one half of the hearing.
In what can only be described as a deliberate effort to discredit the entire hearing, Milbank quotes one of the witnesses as making an anti-semitic assertion and further describes anti-semitic literature that was being handed out in the overflow room for the event. First, let me be clear: I consider myself to be friend and supporter of Israel and there were a number of other staunchly pro-Israel members who were in attendance at the hearing. I do not agree with, support, or condone any comments asserting Israeli control over U.S. policy, and I find any allegation that Israel is trying to dominate the world or had anything to do with the September 11 tragedy disgusting and offensive.
That said, to give such emphasis to 100 seconds of a 3 hour and five minute hearing that included the powerful and sad testimony (hardly mentioned by Milbank) of a woman who lost her son in the Iraq war and now feels lied to as a result of the Downing Street Minutes, is incredibly misleading. Many, many different pamphlets were being passed out at the overflow room, including pamphlets about getting out of the Iraq war and anti-Central American Free Trade Agreement, and it is puzzling why Milbank saw fit to only mention the one he did.
In a typically derisive and uninformed passage, Milbank makes much of other lawmakers calling me "Mr. Chairman" and says I liked it so much that I used "chairmanly phrases." Milbank may not know that I was the Chairman of the House Government Operations Committee from 1988 to 1994. By protocol and tradition in the House, once you have been a Chairman you are always referred to as such. Thus, there was nothing unusual about my being referred to as Mr. Chairman.
To administer his coup-de-grace, Milbank literally makes up another cheap shot that I "was having so much fun that [I] ignored aides' entreaties to end the session." This did not occur. None of my aides offered entreaties to end the session and I have no idea where Milbank gets that information. The hearing certainly ran longer than expected, but that was because so many Members of Congress persevered under very difficult circumstances to attend, and I thought - given that - the least I could do was allow them to say their piece. That is called courtesy, not "fun."
By the way, the "Downing Street Memo" is actually the minutes of a British cabinet meeting. In the meeting, British officials - having just met with their American counterparts - describe their discussions with such counterparts. I mention this because that basic piece of context, a simple description of the memo, is found nowhere in Milbank's article.
The fact that I and my fellow Democrats had to stuff a hearing into a room the size of a large closet to hold a hearing on an important issue shouldn't make us the object of ridicule. In my opinion, the ridicule should be placed in two places: first, at the feet of Republicans who are so afraid to discuss ideas and facts that they try to sabotage our efforts to do so; and second, on Dana Milbank and the Washington Post, who do not feel the need to give serious coverage on a serious hearing about a serious matter - whether more than 1700 Americans have died because of a deliberate lie. Milbank may disagree, but the Post certainly owed its readers some coverage of that viewpoint.
Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr.
------------------------------------------------------
For background on the development if the Downing Street memos and the other sources of information about official lies in the buildup to the attack on Iraq, please visit Greg Palast's website at <http://www.gregpalast.com/index.cfm>.
Mr. Michael Abramowitz, National Editor; Mr. Michael Getler, Ombudsman; Mr. Dana Milbank
The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20071
Dear Sirs:
I write to express my profound disappointment with Dana Milbank's June 17 report, "Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War," which purports to describe a Democratic hearing I chaired in the Capitol yesterday. In sum, the piece cherry-picks some facts, manufactures others out of whole cloth, and does a disservice to some 30 members of Congress who persevered under difficult circumstances, not of our own making, to examine a very serious subject: whether the American people were deliberately misled in the lead up to war. The fact that this was the Post's only coverage of this event makes the journalistic shortcomings in this piece even more egregious.
In an inaccurate piece of reporting that typifies the article, Milbank implies that one of the obstacles the Members in the meeting have is that "only one" member has mentioned the Downing Street Minutes on the floor of either the House or Senate. This is not only incorrect but misleading. In fact, just yesterday, the Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid, mentioned it on the Senate floor. Senator Boxer talked at some length about it at the recent confirmation hearing for the Ambassador to Iraq. The House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently signed on to my letter, along with 121 other Democrats asking for answers about the memo. This information is not difficult to find either. For example, the Reid speech was the subject of an AP wire service report posted on the Washington Post website with the headline "Democrats Cite Downing Street Memo in Bolton Fight". Other similar mistakes, mischaracterizations and cheap shots are littered throughout the article.
The article begins with an especially mean and nasty tone, claiming that House Democrats "pretended" a small conference was the Judiciary Committee hearing room and deriding the decor of the room. Milbank fails to share with his readers one essential fact: the reason the hearing was held in that room, an important piece of context. Despite the fact that a number of other suitable rooms were available in the Capitol and House office buildings, Republicans declined my request for each and every one of them. Milbank could have written about the perseverance of many of my colleagues in the face of such adverse circumstances, but declined to do so. Milbank also ignores the critical fact picked up by the AP, CNN and other newsletters that at the very moment the hearing was scheduled to begin, the Republican Leadership scheduled an almost unprecedented number of 11 consecutive floor votes, making it next to impossible for most Members to participate in the first hour and one half of the hearing.
In what can only be described as a deliberate effort to discredit the entire hearing, Milbank quotes one of the witnesses as making an anti-semitic assertion and further describes anti-semitic literature that was being handed out in the overflow room for the event. First, let me be clear: I consider myself to be friend and supporter of Israel and there were a number of other staunchly pro-Israel members who were in attendance at the hearing. I do not agree with, support, or condone any comments asserting Israeli control over U.S. policy, and I find any allegation that Israel is trying to dominate the world or had anything to do with the September 11 tragedy disgusting and offensive.
That said, to give such emphasis to 100 seconds of a 3 hour and five minute hearing that included the powerful and sad testimony (hardly mentioned by Milbank) of a woman who lost her son in the Iraq war and now feels lied to as a result of the Downing Street Minutes, is incredibly misleading. Many, many different pamphlets were being passed out at the overflow room, including pamphlets about getting out of the Iraq war and anti-Central American Free Trade Agreement, and it is puzzling why Milbank saw fit to only mention the one he did.
In a typically derisive and uninformed passage, Milbank makes much of other lawmakers calling me "Mr. Chairman" and says I liked it so much that I used "chairmanly phrases." Milbank may not know that I was the Chairman of the House Government Operations Committee from 1988 to 1994. By protocol and tradition in the House, once you have been a Chairman you are always referred to as such. Thus, there was nothing unusual about my being referred to as Mr. Chairman.
To administer his coup-de-grace, Milbank literally makes up another cheap shot that I "was having so much fun that [I] ignored aides' entreaties to end the session." This did not occur. None of my aides offered entreaties to end the session and I have no idea where Milbank gets that information. The hearing certainly ran longer than expected, but that was because so many Members of Congress persevered under very difficult circumstances to attend, and I thought - given that - the least I could do was allow them to say their piece. That is called courtesy, not "fun."
By the way, the "Downing Street Memo" is actually the minutes of a British cabinet meeting. In the meeting, British officials - having just met with their American counterparts - describe their discussions with such counterparts. I mention this because that basic piece of context, a simple description of the memo, is found nowhere in Milbank's article.
The fact that I and my fellow Democrats had to stuff a hearing into a room the size of a large closet to hold a hearing on an important issue shouldn't make us the object of ridicule. In my opinion, the ridicule should be placed in two places: first, at the feet of Republicans who are so afraid to discuss ideas and facts that they try to sabotage our efforts to do so; and second, on Dana Milbank and the Washington Post, who do not feel the need to give serious coverage on a serious hearing about a serious matter - whether more than 1700 Americans have died because of a deliberate lie. Milbank may disagree, but the Post certainly owed its readers some coverage of that viewpoint.
Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr.
------------------------------------------------------
For background on the development if the Downing Street memos and the other sources of information about official lies in the buildup to the attack on Iraq, please visit Greg Palast's website at <http://www.gregpalast.com/index.cfm>.
Baggage, Indeed
One of the truly pleasurable SoCal travel experiences is flying in to and out of Long Beach Airport. With it's WPA-ish terminal -- actually, it predates the New Deal by a decade -- and lack of such refinements as miles-long passageways and cramped loading funnels, boarding and deplaning are swift and enjoyable.
On foggy nights, climbing up the back stairs to steerage on JetBlue's red-eye to New York or Florida, you feel like Louie and Rick on the tarmac in Casablanca.
So it's dismaying to learn from a report in the Times that "[b]usiness leaders, led by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and JetBlue, want a modernized airport terminal of up to 133,000 square feet that offers more amenities." <The Los Angeles Times>
This is about money, natch. The business leaders in question argue that the city has failed to take advantage of business opportunities, such as concessions -- there is a restaurant, a fast-food outlet, a gourmet coffee kiosk, and a gift shop, and is thus missing out on tax revenue. They also are trying to make an argument for the project out of the fact that fewer than 1% of the facility's 3 million annual passengers stayed overnight last year, though its hard to see why more flights would make anyone look with greater favor on the prospect of hanging around Long Beach.
According to the Times' Nancy Wride, foes of a proposed expansion of the "cozy" terminal worry it will lead to pressure to lift the city's limit on flights, currently maxed out at 41 (compared to the OC's 130 and LAX's 900), and lead to violations of legal noise limits. It's not hard to sympathize with people who hope their neighborhood won't turn into Inglewood.
Proponents of the project want to increase the capacity of the Art Deco facility by adding an annex of up to 133,000 square feet. According to Wride, the existing building, which provides about 58,000 square feet of passenger area including 23,750 square feet of temporary wooden space that resembles a ferry terminal, is a historic landmark, which means even its color can't be changed without the approval of several commissions. And architectural review boards and landmark commissions almost never say yes to anything.
Facing a city council that seems disinclined to support the full extent of the Chamber/JetBlue proposal, the developers are threatening a referendum, an end run around representative government that will not only cut elected officials out of the process but also eliminate the unpleasantness of an environmental review to determine how much the project will degrade the quality of life in Long Beach and vicinity by adding to the noise, traffic congestion, and dirty air.
Even though it is off the beaten track for most Los Angeles and Orange Country travelers, the airport has boosted JetBlue by providing cheap and easy parking, short lines, painless baggage handling, and quick boarding and deplaning. Will people from Beverly Hills and Irvine continue to make the trek to Long Beach to get the same endless corridors, parking sharking and other niceties already much closer to hand at LAX and John Wayne? Compare your recent two-a-half hour ordeal in Southwest's LAX abattoir with the comfort of being dropped at the door in Long Beach.
If you ask me, Long Beach would be better off leaving the airport more or less as is. Some revenue could be generated by improving the ground floor amenities -- the gift shop and fast food outlets -- and by inviting a world-class restauranteur to turn the beautifully situated, three-tiered eatery on the second level into a regional dining destination. With its excellent view of one of the busiest fields in the country for private aircraft and its almost unlimited parking, the Long Beach Airport restaurant would be hard to beat for a romantic evening out.
If you like the airport in Long Beach the way it is, you should let city officials and JetBlue know. Not only would keeping the airport intact benefit residents and travelers, but JetBlue may find that unintended consequences -- like increased competition: the city will be hard-pressed to keep other airlines out of an expanded airport -- and the loss of frequent fliers like me, who may not see low fares alone as sufficient to justify the long haul to what in New York would be one of the outer boroughs, for no other reason than to save a couple of bucks on a plane ticket -- aren't worth the trouble.
On foggy nights, climbing up the back stairs to steerage on JetBlue's red-eye to New York or Florida, you feel like Louie and Rick on the tarmac in Casablanca.
So it's dismaying to learn from a report in the Times that "[b]usiness leaders, led by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and JetBlue, want a modernized airport terminal of up to 133,000 square feet that offers more amenities." <The Los Angeles Times>
This is about money, natch. The business leaders in question argue that the city has failed to take advantage of business opportunities, such as concessions -- there is a restaurant, a fast-food outlet, a gourmet coffee kiosk, and a gift shop, and is thus missing out on tax revenue. They also are trying to make an argument for the project out of the fact that fewer than 1% of the facility's 3 million annual passengers stayed overnight last year, though its hard to see why more flights would make anyone look with greater favor on the prospect of hanging around Long Beach.
According to the Times' Nancy Wride, foes of a proposed expansion of the "cozy" terminal worry it will lead to pressure to lift the city's limit on flights, currently maxed out at 41 (compared to the OC's 130 and LAX's 900), and lead to violations of legal noise limits. It's not hard to sympathize with people who hope their neighborhood won't turn into Inglewood.
Proponents of the project want to increase the capacity of the Art Deco facility by adding an annex of up to 133,000 square feet. According to Wride, the existing building, which provides about 58,000 square feet of passenger area including 23,750 square feet of temporary wooden space that resembles a ferry terminal, is a historic landmark, which means even its color can't be changed without the approval of several commissions. And architectural review boards and landmark commissions almost never say yes to anything.
Facing a city council that seems disinclined to support the full extent of the Chamber/JetBlue proposal, the developers are threatening a referendum, an end run around representative government that will not only cut elected officials out of the process but also eliminate the unpleasantness of an environmental review to determine how much the project will degrade the quality of life in Long Beach and vicinity by adding to the noise, traffic congestion, and dirty air.
Even though it is off the beaten track for most Los Angeles and Orange Country travelers, the airport has boosted JetBlue by providing cheap and easy parking, short lines, painless baggage handling, and quick boarding and deplaning. Will people from Beverly Hills and Irvine continue to make the trek to Long Beach to get the same endless corridors, parking sharking and other niceties already much closer to hand at LAX and John Wayne? Compare your recent two-a-half hour ordeal in Southwest's LAX abattoir with the comfort of being dropped at the door in Long Beach.
If you ask me, Long Beach would be better off leaving the airport more or less as is. Some revenue could be generated by improving the ground floor amenities -- the gift shop and fast food outlets -- and by inviting a world-class restauranteur to turn the beautifully situated, three-tiered eatery on the second level into a regional dining destination. With its excellent view of one of the busiest fields in the country for private aircraft and its almost unlimited parking, the Long Beach Airport restaurant would be hard to beat for a romantic evening out.
If you like the airport in Long Beach the way it is, you should let city officials and JetBlue know. Not only would keeping the airport intact benefit residents and travelers, but JetBlue may find that unintended consequences -- like increased competition: the city will be hard-pressed to keep other airlines out of an expanded airport -- and the loss of frequent fliers like me, who may not see low fares alone as sufficient to justify the long haul to what in New York would be one of the outer boroughs, for no other reason than to save a couple of bucks on a plane ticket -- aren't worth the trouble.
Brain Dead
They can have everything going for them, as they did in the debate over whether the federal courts should intervene in the Schiavo family tragedy, and still the Democrats can't find the nerve or the energy to counter right wing hypocrisy, inconsistency, malversation and blatant opportunism.
The party that aggressively seeks to limit judicial authority over such issues as the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage and public displays of religious bric-a-brac should be a sitting duck for its pharisaical effort to force judges to step between families and doctors in what are difficult, painful, emotionally-charged personal decisions. You'd think that the opposition would have an easy time unmasking the party of states' rights and judicial restraint when it tries to strong-arm the federal courts into contravening state courts in a particular case that has already been litigated to death.
But, just as it took moderate Republicans to drive a stake into the heart of the neocon plan to put the Social Security Administration out of business, it was conservatives like Harvard law professor and former Reagan solicitor general Charles Fried who were left to call the president and congressional Republicans to task for reneging on their professed commitment to states' rights. Has the Democrats' embarrassment over their own many compromises -- on the death penalty and militarism and corporate welfare and health care and trade policy and a hundred other issues -- shamed them finally into silence?
"In their intervention in the Terri Schiavo matter," Fried wrote in the New York Times, "Republicans in Congress and President Bush have, in a few brief legislative clauses, embraced the kind of free-floating judicial activism, disregard for orderly procedure and contempt for the integrity of state processes that they quite rightly have denounced and sought to discipline for decades." Fried concluded the congressional action was an "absurd departure from principles of federalism and respect for sound and orderly judicial administration."
It was depressing to watch the Democrats enter another battle in command of the moral and political high ground and proceed to lose the fight, especially a skirmish they should have been ready for. Already looking to the states to market-test solutions to such problems as health insurance, economic equity, corporate responsibility and environmental degradation, they wouldn't have to do much more than find-and-replace their way through old speeches on states rights to light upon sound arguments for not changing what until last Sunday was settled law.
Whether or not the Republicans' perpetual vegetable bill could or should have been voted down, the debate was a missed opportunity to drive home arguments about the need to change national priorities in the area of health care. Instead of accepting the brannigan as a disagreement over the fate of Terri Schiavo, the Democracts might have propelled the discussion toward more burning questions about health care policy. Politicians willing to expend unconscionable quantities of time, effort and emotional and political capital to prolong a single life should be required to devote at least a fraction of as much energy and zeal to considering what they are going to do about the desperate need for national health.
That, in the long run, would extend and save the lives of millions.
If the brain dead are entitled to have Congress go into special session on their behalf, how much less deserving are the living?
The party that aggressively seeks to limit judicial authority over such issues as the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage and public displays of religious bric-a-brac should be a sitting duck for its pharisaical effort to force judges to step between families and doctors in what are difficult, painful, emotionally-charged personal decisions. You'd think that the opposition would have an easy time unmasking the party of states' rights and judicial restraint when it tries to strong-arm the federal courts into contravening state courts in a particular case that has already been litigated to death.
But, just as it took moderate Republicans to drive a stake into the heart of the neocon plan to put the Social Security Administration out of business, it was conservatives like Harvard law professor and former Reagan solicitor general Charles Fried who were left to call the president and congressional Republicans to task for reneging on their professed commitment to states' rights. Has the Democrats' embarrassment over their own many compromises -- on the death penalty and militarism and corporate welfare and health care and trade policy and a hundred other issues -- shamed them finally into silence?
"In their intervention in the Terri Schiavo matter," Fried wrote in the New York Times, "Republicans in Congress and President Bush have, in a few brief legislative clauses, embraced the kind of free-floating judicial activism, disregard for orderly procedure and contempt for the integrity of state processes that they quite rightly have denounced and sought to discipline for decades." Fried concluded the congressional action was an "absurd departure from principles of federalism and respect for sound and orderly judicial administration."
It was depressing to watch the Democrats enter another battle in command of the moral and political high ground and proceed to lose the fight, especially a skirmish they should have been ready for. Already looking to the states to market-test solutions to such problems as health insurance, economic equity, corporate responsibility and environmental degradation, they wouldn't have to do much more than find-and-replace their way through old speeches on states rights to light upon sound arguments for not changing what until last Sunday was settled law.
Whether or not the Republicans' perpetual vegetable bill could or should have been voted down, the debate was a missed opportunity to drive home arguments about the need to change national priorities in the area of health care. Instead of accepting the brannigan as a disagreement over the fate of Terri Schiavo, the Democracts might have propelled the discussion toward more burning questions about health care policy. Politicians willing to expend unconscionable quantities of time, effort and emotional and political capital to prolong a single life should be required to devote at least a fraction of as much energy and zeal to considering what they are going to do about the desperate need for national health.
That, in the long run, would extend and save the lives of millions.
If the brain dead are entitled to have Congress go into special session on their behalf, how much less deserving are the living?
NWO: More on the PATRIOT Act
-> The Proposal to Reauthorize and Expand Parts of the USA PATRIOT Act: Why It's Unnecessary and, In Some Respects, Dangerous, By Anita Ramastry.
-> Patriot Act Extension Debated at Closed Congressional Meeting
(ALA).
-> American Civil Liberties Union Testimony at an Oversight Hearing on the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001: Section 505 (National Security Letters) and Section 804 (Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction) and the Material Witness Statute Before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security of the House Judiciary Committee, Submitted by Gregory T. Nojeim Acting Director, Washington Legislative Office and Timothy H. Edgar, National Security Policy Counsel.
-> "The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is writing today [May 23, 2005] to urge the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to give careful consideration to whether provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act should be renewed as written. We also urge you to oppose the broadening of the FBI's investigative powers in the absence of evidence that such expansion is necessary."
- > Little Progress in Bid to Extend Patriot Act (NYTimes).
-> Patriot Act Extension Debated at Closed Congressional Meeting
(ALA).
-> American Civil Liberties Union Testimony at an Oversight Hearing on the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001: Section 505 (National Security Letters) and Section 804 (Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction) and the Material Witness Statute Before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security of the House Judiciary Committee, Submitted by Gregory T. Nojeim Acting Director, Washington Legislative Office and Timothy H. Edgar, National Security Policy Counsel.
-> "The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is writing today [May 23, 2005] to urge the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to give careful consideration to whether provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act should be renewed as written. We also urge you to oppose the broadening of the FBI's investigative powers in the absence of evidence that such expansion is necessary."
- > Little Progress in Bid to Extend Patriot Act (NYTimes).
U.S. Tour of Duty Presents SUNDAY SANCTUARY
LA Supports Military Resisters
Sunday, June 12 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
The Palmer Room
3387 Motor Avenue (1 block south of National Blvd.)
310.839.2500
Comedian GREG PROOPS
co-star of ABC's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
Music by I SEE HAWKS IN L.A.
Plus Iraq war veteran SERGE LOUCHNIKOV
FREE ADMISSION
"Greg Proops went off on a brilliantly sustained, free-associated riff...A cheering audience gratefully lapped it all up." - San Francisco Chronicle
"I See Hawks In L.A. play the finest cosmic cowboy music since the Burrito Brothers." - LA Weekly
U.S. Tour of Duty (www.ustourofduty.org) is a non-profit project of SEE (www.saveourplanet.org).
Iraq veterans and military families demand the truth!
Please visit www.gregproops.com and www.iseehawks.com.
Sunday, June 12 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
The Palmer Room
3387 Motor Avenue (1 block south of National Blvd.)
310.839.2500
Comedian GREG PROOPS
co-star of ABC's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
Music by I SEE HAWKS IN L.A.
Plus Iraq war veteran SERGE LOUCHNIKOV
FREE ADMISSION
FREE LOT AND STREET PARKING
"Greg Proops went off on a brilliantly sustained, free-associated riff...A cheering audience gratefully lapped it all up." - San Francisco Chronicle"I See Hawks In L.A. play the finest cosmic cowboy music since the Burrito Brothers." - LA Weekly
U.S. Tour of Duty (www.ustourofduty.org) is a non-profit project of SEE (www.saveourplanet.org).
Iraq veterans and military families demand the truth!
Please visit www.gregproops.com and www.iseehawks.com.
Needed: Universal Wi-Fi Access
Santa Monica needs to move quickly if it is not to be left hopelessly behind by the wireless revolution.
It's not as though providing a wi-fi network is a major capital expense requiring a big investment by the city. In fact, it may not require public funds at all.
What's needed, more than anything, is leadership.
In Turku, Finland, according to MasterNewMedia.Org, a city-wide network of wi-fi hotspots was installed in one month time with absolutely no centralized investment or public funding. Using the cooperative model, community members agreed to share surplus broadband connection capacity on a municipal-wide basis.
But, although the software is free and the hardware very inexpensive, it will take a commitment of someone's time to get this project organized. What company, institution or agency is willing to take the lead in bringing universal wi-fi access to Santa Monica by freeing up one of its employees for a month or so to put together the necessary resources? The neighborhood associations? The business districts? Santa Monica College? City Hall? The Chamber of Commerce? An internet company like Yahoo or Google? Someone needs to step forward now.
Let's do it.
Source: <http://www.masternewmedia.org/>
It's not as though providing a wi-fi network is a major capital expense requiring a big investment by the city. In fact, it may not require public funds at all.
What's needed, more than anything, is leadership.
In Turku, Finland, according to MasterNewMedia.Org, a city-wide network of wi-fi hotspots was installed in one month time with absolutely no centralized investment or public funding. Using the cooperative model, community members agreed to share surplus broadband connection capacity on a municipal-wide basis.
SparkNet and OpenSpark are two similar projects in Turku that use a specific combination of low-cost/free software/hardware tools to leverage community members' extra internet capacity.
SparkNet, a partnership between public sector organizations and private companies, including University of Turku, Åba Akademi University, Turku School of Economics and Business Administration, Turku Polytechnic, ICT Turku Ltd and MP-MasterPlanet Ltd., has created a network outside of any of the participating institutions' firewalls. Using a shared open source operating system that allows each partner to use its own internet gateway (e.g., wherever a student uses this network, the connection goes through the college's internet gateway), each institution has acquired a number of inexpensive access points. With the participation of private companies, municipalities, etc., every student in Turku (over 50,000) can use the SparkNet wi-fi network all over the city free of charge. SparkNet has now over 100,000 user accounts, more than 5,000 active users and over 500 access points. It is the most used wi-fi network in Finland.
Private companies or even individual home users can also easily and inexpensively create a voluntary co-op network. Using one version, OpenSpark, anyone can share his broadband connection with others wirelessly. Both OpenSpark and SparkNet can be installed and operated in any home or office with a broadband connection. Any ADSL or better type of connection will do. Participants can connect to the internet wherever there is an OpenSpark access point. In Turku, using OpenSpark, 600 access points have been acquired with more in the pipeline.
Either SparkNet and OpenSpark can be deployed anywhere. There is already one OpenSpark access point in New York City and more are expected to pop up in other locations. Many municipalities -- from Philadelphia to Culver City -- are installing citywide public networks. All that is needed is a broadband connection, free software, and an access-point hardware device costing $130 or so. In a city as small as Santa Monica, the expense of covering the commercial and retail areas -- Santa Monica, Wilshire, Pico and Ocean Park boulevards, downtown, the Pier, Main Street, Montana, Broadway, Colorado, SMCC and the airport -- would be a phenomenal value.But, although the software is free and the hardware very inexpensive, it will take a commitment of someone's time to get this project organized. What company, institution or agency is willing to take the lead in bringing universal wi-fi access to Santa Monica by freeing up one of its employees for a month or so to put together the necessary resources? The neighborhood associations? The business districts? Santa Monica College? City Hall? The Chamber of Commerce? An internet company like Yahoo or Google? Someone needs to step forward now.
Let's do it.
Source: <http://www.masternewmedia.org/>
To learn more about OpenSpark: <http://open.sparknet.fi>
Political Action (but fun): Westside Bike Ride
Santa Monica Critical Mass is a monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists' right to the road. The Critical Mass concept started in San Franciscoin September 1992 and has spread to cities all over the world.
1st Friday of every month
Next ride: Friday, July 1, 2005
We have three starting points to choose from:
6:30 pm, Santa Monica Pier, Colorado Blvd. & Ocean Ave. (at top of pier ramp)
map | satellite | live webcam
6:00 pm, UCLA*, Westwood Blvd. & Le Conte
6:00 pm, Venice Beach*, 1401 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA
map | satellite | live webcam
* Early "satellite" groups that merge into main group group at Santa Monica Pier.
For more info: <http://www.CriticalMassRides.info>
<http://www.critical-mass.org/>
The next time you want a light beer…
…consider wheat beers, aka "white" beers:
During fermentation so-called white beers develop a pale head of foam, and, since they're often unfiltered, suspended sediment can give these concoctions a milky mien. And like many traditional beers, white beers pursue a secondary fermentation in the bottle that can also make them hazy with yeast.
While some of these beverages take their appelations from wheat – German Weizen; tarwe in Flemish; froment in French – others, like the one we're going to consider today, are named for their cloudy, pale-yellow-verging-on-white color: Weisse, wit, blanche. They might more accurately be called gelbes Biers, but who wants to drink something called yellow beer.
Anyway, to press on with today's lesson, beers made using wheat are usually fermented with ale yeasts, making them lighter than those employing lager cultures. Since white beers aren't usually very high octane, they make great hot weather refreshments, perfect for the deck of your yacht. Only a shade more mundanely, they also make a great companion for fruity desserts, like Library Alehouse's superb Mocha Torte with Raspberry Sauce. Back home in Belgium, they're typically served in chunky, bevelled tumblers that look like French pastis. Very classy.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, in the days before barley came to dominate brewing, wheat beers were produced all over the place. In Germany and Belgium, wheat beers never entirely went away, and they've made a big comeback with the growing market for "light" beer. The traditional use of fruits, spices and herbs as seasoning began to recede as hops gained the upper hand in the middle of last millennium. In Germany, only hops are now permitted, though a barkeep or patron has been known to add fruit, raspberry syrup or essence of woodruff, whatever that is,* to some styles of beer.
The best-known Belgian Witbier or Bière Blanche is the principal justification for the existence of Hoegaarden, a pretty but otherwise insignificant town in the wheat-growing Brabant farmlands east of Brussels and Leuven.
In the 1960s, a local milkman named Pieter Celis, about whom more in a moment, revived a traditional brewing style of the region that ordinarily combined equal portions of raw wheat and malted barley (sometimes with an admixture of oats), spiced it up with dried Curaçao orange peels and ground coriander seeds and -- something else…what? cumin, maybe -- and then fermented the lot with a conventional yeast.
The resulting drink, named Hoegaarden after its hometown, is a lovely and enticing elixir, pouring a very pale yellow color that intensifies to a hazy gold when the yeast sediment is aroused. If held up to the light, the liquid appears almost off-white, true to its witbier ycleption. The creamy head sustains with a moussy feel.
As far as taste goes, there's enough complexity here to incite the verbal excesses of a wine connoisseur: a sugary wheat flavor
dominates, but the coriander and citrus, often pursued by a mild phenolic aroma, contribute to a complex, elegant, nearly winy disposition. Heady, virtually Bazooka-level sweetness, bestowed by the cereal grass, frequently with plum, apple or banana appoggiaturas, is nicely undercut by the piquant orange and herb colorations – you'll think you're catching intimations of cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg -- and by a faintly astringent dryness. That trailing nose is bright and highly fruity, with a pleasing hint of muskiness. Behind it all, a muted and nectarious bitterness, reminiscent of the absent hops, is probably contributed by the amaroidal orange peel.
Despite its lightness and freshness, this is a beverage that weighs on the tongue, graceful, bracing, yes, but because of the wheaty twang and slight acidity, surprisingly firm and grainy, with more heft than you'll ever encounter in German Weizen beers.
If it were a movie actress, Hoegaarden would be Anne Heche.
Lastly, an aside: Pieter Celis, who had reincarnated Belgian white beer, sold Hoegaarden but was subsequently unhappy with the bier as produced by its new owners (he was a purist, after all). Entrepreneurial Pieter (now Peter) relocated to Austin where he microbrewed a similar drink, Celis White (the real Hoegaarden, I guess) that was very popular in Texas in the 90s. A familiar story followed: In 1995, Miller Brewing bought majority interest in Celis' brewery, took complete control early in 2000, by December 2000 announced the brewery would be closed and sold, and ceased production before the beginning of 2001 (apparently, neither Starbucks nor Walmart was involved). At the time, the equipment and brands were sold to Michigan Brewing Co., but it now appears Celis White is under license by the De Smedt in Opwijk, a two-hundred-years-old family-run brewery north-west of Brussels that makes Abbey beers (Affligem, Aulne and Postel).
As this saga demonstrates, beer ain't just beer.
_________________________________________________________________________
*Looked it up, of course:
wood·ruff
P Pronunciation Key (w
d
r
f, -r
f
)
n.
During fermentation so-called white beers develop a pale head of foam, and, since they're often unfiltered, suspended sediment can give these concoctions a milky mien. And like many traditional beers, white beers pursue a secondary fermentation in the bottle that can also make them hazy with yeast.
While some of these beverages take their appelations from wheat – German Weizen; tarwe in Flemish; froment in French – others, like the one we're going to consider today, are named for their cloudy, pale-yellow-verging-on-white color: Weisse, wit, blanche. They might more accurately be called gelbes Biers, but who wants to drink something called yellow beer.
Anyway, to press on with today's lesson, beers made using wheat are usually fermented with ale yeasts, making them lighter than those employing lager cultures. Since white beers aren't usually very high octane, they make great hot weather refreshments, perfect for the deck of your yacht. Only a shade more mundanely, they also make a great companion for fruity desserts, like Library Alehouse's superb Mocha Torte with Raspberry Sauce. Back home in Belgium, they're typically served in chunky, bevelled tumblers that look like French pastis. Very classy.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, in the days before barley came to dominate brewing, wheat beers were produced all over the place. In Germany and Belgium, wheat beers never entirely went away, and they've made a big comeback with the growing market for "light" beer. The traditional use of fruits, spices and herbs as seasoning began to recede as hops gained the upper hand in the middle of last millennium. In Germany, only hops are now permitted, though a barkeep or patron has been known to add fruit, raspberry syrup or essence of woodruff, whatever that is,* to some styles of beer.
The best-known Belgian Witbier or Bière Blanche is the principal justification for the existence of Hoegaarden, a pretty but otherwise insignificant town in the wheat-growing Brabant farmlands east of Brussels and Leuven.
In the 1960s, a local milkman named Pieter Celis, about whom more in a moment, revived a traditional brewing style of the region that ordinarily combined equal portions of raw wheat and malted barley (sometimes with an admixture of oats), spiced it up with dried Curaçao orange peels and ground coriander seeds and -- something else…what? cumin, maybe -- and then fermented the lot with a conventional yeast.The resulting drink, named Hoegaarden after its hometown, is a lovely and enticing elixir, pouring a very pale yellow color that intensifies to a hazy gold when the yeast sediment is aroused. If held up to the light, the liquid appears almost off-white, true to its witbier ycleption. The creamy head sustains with a moussy feel.
As far as taste goes, there's enough complexity here to incite the verbal excesses of a wine connoisseur: a sugary wheat flavor
dominates, but the coriander and citrus, often pursued by a mild phenolic aroma, contribute to a complex, elegant, nearly winy disposition. Heady, virtually Bazooka-level sweetness, bestowed by the cereal grass, frequently with plum, apple or banana appoggiaturas, is nicely undercut by the piquant orange and herb colorations – you'll think you're catching intimations of cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg -- and by a faintly astringent dryness. That trailing nose is bright and highly fruity, with a pleasing hint of muskiness. Behind it all, a muted and nectarious bitterness, reminiscent of the absent hops, is probably contributed by the amaroidal orange peel.Despite its lightness and freshness, this is a beverage that weighs on the tongue, graceful, bracing, yes, but because of the wheaty twang and slight acidity, surprisingly firm and grainy, with more heft than you'll ever encounter in German Weizen beers.
If it were a movie actress, Hoegaarden would be Anne Heche.
Lastly, an aside: Pieter Celis, who had reincarnated Belgian white beer, sold Hoegaarden but was subsequently unhappy with the bier as produced by its new owners (he was a purist, after all). Entrepreneurial Pieter (now Peter) relocated to Austin where he microbrewed a similar drink, Celis White (the real Hoegaarden, I guess) that was very popular in Texas in the 90s. A familiar story followed: In 1995, Miller Brewing bought majority interest in Celis' brewery, took complete control early in 2000, by December 2000 announced the brewery would be closed and sold, and ceased production before the beginning of 2001 (apparently, neither Starbucks nor Walmart was involved). At the time, the equipment and brands were sold to Michigan Brewing Co., but it now appears Celis White is under license by the De Smedt in Opwijk, a two-hundred-years-old family-run brewery north-west of Brussels that makes Abbey beers (Affligem, Aulne and Postel).
As this saga demonstrates, beer ain't just beer.
_________________________________________________________________________
*Looked it up, of course:
wood·ruff
P Pronunciation Key (wdrf, -rf)n.
- A fragrant perennial herb (Galium odoratum) native to Eurasia and North Africa and widely cultivated as a shade ground cover, having small white flowers and narrow leaves used for flavoring wine and in sachets. Also called sweet woodruff.
- Any of various plants of the genus Asperula, having whorled leaves and small funnel-shaped flowers.
The Disposable City: Preserve LA
"PreserveLA.com is a forum and clearinghouse for the latest news, information, and techniques concerning historic preservation and the history of Los Angeles and Southern California." -- from the website. <http://www.PreserveLA.com/>
NWO: Expanding Patriot Act
"On Thursday, May 26, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will consider in closed session a draft bill that would both renew and expand various USA PATRIOT Act powers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has obtained a copy of the draft bill, along with the committee's summary of it..." [EFF News]
Draft of new PATRIOT Act powers (31 pages, PDF)
Senate Select Committee summary (4 pages, PDF)
Draft of new PATRIOT Act powers (31 pages, PDF)
Senate Select Committee summary (4 pages, PDF)
Antonio Villaraigosa for Mayor redux
You hardly need me to tell you who to vote for Tuesday. Antonio Villaraigosa is so clearly the better candidate even the Times endorsed him unequivocally. But after two months of negative campaigning, you might need to be encouraged to vote at all.
The Times put it this way: "...the two candidates differ significantly in style, which means voters do have a choice. Villaraigosa's drive, people skills and knack for coalition-building earned our endorsement in 2001....It was Villaraigosa, not Hahn, who stepped in to settle the 2003 transit strike, and who rallied the state's congressional delegation to clear funding for an Eastside light-rail line. Villaraigosa energizes others. He is intuitive, quick at sizing up situations and recognizing talented people with good ideas....Villaraigosa's record, particularly as Assembly speaker in Sacramento, is of pulling together the right people to get things done. The city's needs keep growing. Villaraigosa as mayor would offer the promise that they would be attacked with relish and intensity. He is the best choice to lead Los Angeles."
So forget about how crappy the campaign's been. Go, vote, and then let's get busy laying that light rail line out to Culver City and Santa Monica.
-> L.A.Daily News endorsement: <http://ga4.org/ct/61aMhP41BX3F/dailynews>
-> L.A.Times endorsement: <http://www.latimes.com/>
-> Antonio 2005: <http://www.antonio2005.com/>
-> Scroll down this page for my comments on Villaraigosa's candidacy during the primary.
The Times put it this way: "...the two candidates differ significantly in style, which means voters do have a choice. Villaraigosa's drive, people skills and knack for coalition-building earned our endorsement in 2001....It was Villaraigosa, not Hahn, who stepped in to settle the 2003 transit strike, and who rallied the state's congressional delegation to clear funding for an Eastside light-rail line. Villaraigosa energizes others. He is intuitive, quick at sizing up situations and recognizing talented people with good ideas....Villaraigosa's record, particularly as Assembly speaker in Sacramento, is of pulling together the right people to get things done. The city's needs keep growing. Villaraigosa as mayor would offer the promise that they would be attacked with relish and intensity. He is the best choice to lead Los Angeles."
So forget about how crappy the campaign's been. Go, vote, and then let's get busy laying that light rail line out to Culver City and Santa Monica.
-> L.A.Daily News endorsement: <http://ga4.org/ct/61aMhP41BX3F/dailynews>
-> L.A.Times endorsement: <http://www.latimes.com/>
-> Antonio 2005: <http://www.antonio2005.com/>
-> Scroll down this page for my comments on Villaraigosa's candidacy during the primary.
Press Release: Playa Vista Tries to Buy Election for Krisiloff
This alert / press release immediately below is from the campaign of the excellent candidate (who was endorsed by the Sierra Club, LA League of Conservation Voters, and the Ballona Wetlands Committee to Stop Playa Vista) for the 11th Council District -- Bill Rosendahl.
************************************
May 16, 2005
Dear Friends & Supporters,
In a desperate, last-ditch attempt to buy the election, principals in and supporters of the controversial Playa Vista mega-development have just pumped a ton of money into our opponent’s campaign.
If anyone had any doubts that Playa Vista has a candidate in this race, it should be erased now: Flora Gil Krisiloff is the clear choice of Playa Vista.
Just a few minutes ago, the City Ethics Commission website (http://ethics.lacity.org) reported that several major players in the project choking our streets with traffic had spent large chunks of money in “independentexpenditures” on behalf of Mrs. Krisiloff. They wanted until the last minute because they did not want you to know.
Here are a few of the highlights:
Robert Maguire, part owner of the Playa Vista project, $25,000.
Randy Johnson, Playa Vista’s Chief Financial Officer; $10,000.
Douglas Moreland, Playa Vista’s Senior Vice President; $10,000.
There is a lot more. Last week, Mrs. Krisiloff’s financial disclosure reports demonstrated she received money from a veritable truckload of people associated with Playa Vista: employees, lawyers, lobbyists, consultants, and the like.
Yes, you got it. Flora Gil Krisiloff: The candidate of Playa Vista. The candidate of traffic gridlock. The candidate of over-development. The candidate of paving of over the wetlands.
This is just the latest in a series of unsavory developments in her relationship with the projects and its developers. Here is some more history.
Mrs. Krisiloff and the Playa Vista cheerleaders keep saying the project is a done deal. If that’s the case, why are they so worried about Bill Rosendahl? Why are they so worried about a candidate who demands the people have a say in development in their neighborhoods?
Clearly, the mega-developers and the entrenched interests are afraid of Bill’s grassroots campaign for our neighborhoods. They apparently will spend any amount of money to make sure the pro-development, anti-neighborhood candidate wins.
We can stop that. Email all your friends and let them know about Bill and what he stands for. Join us in our Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort. Call the office now at 310-398-4890 to get involved.
Together we will get Bill elected. Together we will take back our neighborhoods. Together we will win.
Thanks.
Mike Bonin
Campaign Manager
This message was sent to by:
Bill Rosendahl for LA City Council
12023 Venice Blvd.
Mar Vista, CA 90066
(310) 398-4890
************************************
May 16, 2005
Dear Friends & Supporters,
In a desperate, last-ditch attempt to buy the election, principals in and supporters of the controversial Playa Vista mega-development have just pumped a ton of money into our opponent’s campaign.
If anyone had any doubts that Playa Vista has a candidate in this race, it should be erased now: Flora Gil Krisiloff is the clear choice of Playa Vista.
Just a few minutes ago, the City Ethics Commission website (http://ethics.lacity.org) reported that several major players in the project choking our streets with traffic had spent large chunks of money in “independentexpenditures” on behalf of Mrs. Krisiloff. They wanted until the last minute because they did not want you to know.
Here are a few of the highlights:
Robert Maguire, part owner of the Playa Vista project, $25,000.
Randy Johnson, Playa Vista’s Chief Financial Officer; $10,000.
Douglas Moreland, Playa Vista’s Senior Vice President; $10,000.
There is a lot more. Last week, Mrs. Krisiloff’s financial disclosure reports demonstrated she received money from a veritable truckload of people associated with Playa Vista: employees, lawyers, lobbyists, consultants, and the like.
Yes, you got it. Flora Gil Krisiloff: The candidate of Playa Vista. The candidate of traffic gridlock. The candidate of over-development. The candidate of paving of over the wetlands.
This is just the latest in a series of unsavory developments in her relationship with the projects and its developers. Here is some more history.
Mrs. Krisiloff and the Playa Vista cheerleaders keep saying the project is a done deal. If that’s the case, why are they so worried about Bill Rosendahl? Why are they so worried about a candidate who demands the people have a say in development in their neighborhoods?
Clearly, the mega-developers and the entrenched interests are afraid of Bill’s grassroots campaign for our neighborhoods. They apparently will spend any amount of money to make sure the pro-development, anti-neighborhood candidate wins.
We can stop that. Email all your friends and let them know about Bill and what he stands for. Join us in our Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort. Call the office now at 310-398-4890 to get involved.
Together we will get Bill elected. Together we will take back our neighborhoods. Together we will win.
Thanks.
Mike Bonin
Campaign Manager
This message was sent to by:
Bill Rosendahl for LA City Council
12023 Venice Blvd.
Mar Vista, CA 90066
(310) 398-4890
Falling Behind
T-mobile. SBC. The laughingly named FreedomLink. Et cetera.
Downtown Santa Monica is a jumble of paid wi-fi opportunities, most of them requiring expensive daily or monthly fees.
Philadelphia. Minneapolis. Culver City, for pete's sake. Cities all over the country are installing wireless as a matter of equity and to support their business communities.
Even if the political bosses of the Smug Little City by the Sea can't find the coffee money it would take to link up all of the tiny 3-mile x 3-mile expanse, no doubt someone among the army of consultants housed and fed by the town has explained the benefits of installing free universal wireless downtown and in the Main Street and Montana business districts.
It appears that, when it comes to wireless access, Santa Monica is leaving it to others to "Shape the Future."
Downtown Santa Monica is a jumble of paid wi-fi opportunities, most of them requiring expensive daily or monthly fees.Philadelphia. Minneapolis. Culver City, for pete's sake. Cities all over the country are installing wireless as a matter of equity and to support their business communities.
Even if the political bosses of the Smug Little City by the Sea can't find the coffee money it would take to link up all of the tiny 3-mile x 3-mile expanse, no doubt someone among the army of consultants housed and fed by the town has explained the benefits of installing free universal wireless downtown and in the Main Street and Montana business districts.
It appears that, when it comes to wireless access, Santa Monica is leaving it to others to "Shape the Future."
Media: Watch a California "C-Span"on cable and the internet
"A popular government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.
"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." -James Madison
"The California Channel is an independent, non-profit public affairs cable network governed by California's cable television industry, and modeled after the national C-SPAN service. Our primary mission is to provide Californians direct access to "gavel-to-gavel" proceedings of the California Legislature, and other forums where public policy is discussed, debated, and decided - all without editing, commentary, or analysis and with a balanced presentation of viewpoints. While we strive to transmit as much live coverage as we can, every televised Legislative event is videotaped for future playback over the network." -- from the website. <http://www.calchannel.com/webcast.htm>
"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." -James Madison
"The California Channel is an independent, non-profit public affairs cable network governed by California's cable television industry, and modeled after the national C-SPAN service. Our primary mission is to provide Californians direct access to "gavel-to-gavel" proceedings of the California Legislature, and other forums where public policy is discussed, debated, and decided - all without editing, commentary, or analysis and with a balanced presentation of viewpoints. While we strive to transmit as much live coverage as we can, every televised Legislative event is videotaped for future playback over the network." -- from the website. <http://www.calchannel.com/webcast.htm>
Chess Program at SMPL
The Santa Monica Public Library offers an opportunity to Play, Teach and Learn chess Thursdays, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Fairview Branch, 2101 Ocean Park Boulevard.
Blog: Los Angeles 1947
"Los Angeles in 1947 was a social powderkeg. War-damaged returning soldiers were threatened by a new kind of independant female, 
who in turn found her freedoms disappearing as male workers returned to the factories. These conflicts worked themselves out in dark ways. The Black Dahlia is the most famous victim of 1947's sex wars, but hardly the only one. The 1947project seeks to document this pivotal year in L.A., through period reporting and visits to the scenes as they are today." -- from the website. <http://1947project.blogspot.com/>
who in turn found her freedoms disappearing as male workers returned to the factories. These conflicts worked themselves out in dark ways. The Black Dahlia is the most famous victim of 1947's sex wars, but hardly the only one. The 1947project seeks to document this pivotal year in L.A., through period reporting and visits to the scenes as they are today." -- from the website. <http://1947project.blogspot.com/>
Local Political Events: Amy Goodman, Rep. Henry Waxman, Ralph Nader
Amy Goodman:
KPFK 90.7 FM Benefit
Thursday, March 31
Dinner 5:30 PM - Main Event 7 PM
Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Dinner $50 donation (attendees receive a free copy of "Exception to the Rulers")
Reservation: 818.985.2711 ext. 503
Main Speaking Event: $10
For general information, call 818.985.2711 ext. 214
<http://www.kpfk.org/>
Rep. Henry Waxman:
Friday, April 1st, 2-4 PM
Santa Monica Place, Community Room, 3rd floor
Rep. Waxman is meeting with all constituents, particularly seniors. Everyone is welcome, especially those who'd like to remind him to vote against H-Res 35 "Troops Home Now." He supports spending $ billions more on the Iraq War. If you can't tell him yourself, call the congressman's office to oppose his vote for $82 billion in additional spending on killing and torture. His staff is dying to hear from you. 323.651.1040 or 323.652.3095.
Ralph Nader:
and special guests
Sunday, April 3
2 p.m.: UCLA Grand Horizon Ballroom
330 De Neve Drive, Los Angeles
Contact Dennis at 310-378-0090
Admission $10 for general public, $5 for students
4:30pm: “Anti War Discussion with Ralph”
Location TBA, Beverly Hills, CA
Contact Marcia at Nader Camejo Headquarters in Washington DC at 202-265-4000 to RSVP
$100 dollar a person buffet reception fundraiser for DemocracyRising.Org, whatever that is.
6:30pm:
with Sonali Kolhatkar of KPFK's "Uprising", Pablo Paredes
Patriotic Hall, Los Angeles
1816 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles
Contact Lynda 714-803-9676 or Katie 323-691-5283
Admission $10 for general public, $5 for students
KPFK 90.7 FM Benefit
Thursday, March 31
Dinner 5:30 PM - Main Event 7 PM
Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Dinner $50 donation (attendees receive a free copy of "Exception to the Rulers")
Reservation: 818.985.2711 ext. 503
Main Speaking Event: $10
For general information, call 818.985.2711 ext. 214
<http://www.kpfk.org/>
Rep. Henry Waxman:
Friday, April 1st, 2-4 PM
Santa Monica Place, Community Room, 3rd floor
Rep. Waxman is meeting with all constituents, particularly seniors. Everyone is welcome, especially those who'd like to remind him to vote against H-Res 35 "Troops Home Now." He supports spending $ billions more on the Iraq War. If you can't tell him yourself, call the congressman's office to oppose his vote for $82 billion in additional spending on killing and torture. His staff is dying to hear from you. 323.651.1040 or 323.652.3095.
Ralph Nader:
and special guests
Sunday, April 3
2 p.m.: UCLA Grand Horizon Ballroom
330 De Neve Drive, Los Angeles
Contact Dennis at 310-378-0090
Admission $10 for general public, $5 for students
4:30pm: “Anti War Discussion with Ralph”
Location TBA, Beverly Hills, CA
Contact Marcia at Nader Camejo Headquarters in Washington DC at 202-265-4000 to RSVP
$100 dollar a person buffet reception fundraiser for DemocracyRising.Org, whatever that is.
6:30pm:
with Sonali Kolhatkar of KPFK's "Uprising", Pablo Paredes
Patriotic Hall, Los Angeles
1816 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles
Contact Lynda 714-803-9676 or Katie 323-691-5283
Admission $10 for general public, $5 for students
Nightlife: New Jazz Venue
Em Bistro & Corky' Jazz Club
8256 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90048
323.658.6004
7:30 to 11:00 pm
8256 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90048
323.658.6004
7:30 to 11:00 pm
Man Bites Dog: The Democrats are not caving to GOP bullying on judicial appointments
After Republican leader Bill Frist threatened to employ the so-called nuclear option to get reactionary Bush nominees seated on the federal bench, the leader of the minority, Nevada Senator Harry Reid, showed spine uncharacteristic of a national Democrat by threatening to shut down the Senate.
Go, Harry.
Nothing currently before the upper chamber comes close to matching the importance of its role in advising on and consenting to the appointment of judges-for-life. Frist's intention to use the nuclear option -- in practice this would amount to asking Senate president Dick Cheney for a parliamentary ruling declaring filibusters unconstitutional -- left the Democrats no choice but to fight back.
As things stand now, it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster and call a question. Filibusters aren't easy -- you try speechifying for 18 hours -- and the potential political damage it can cause the perpetrators is enormous; a senator or group of senators must feel very strongly about an issue to attempt it, but it is an important defence against the tyranny of the majority.
The irony of the GOP position is that more judges were approved during Bush's first term than Clinton's. But whiners and crybabies that they are, the president and his right wing cohorts in the Senate are leading off the second inning with the same handful of hacks and idealogues they failed to get appointed in the first term. Radicalizing the courts is an important part of the neocon agenda; since in the darkest hours of night the Republican radicals have to know their days are numbered, they are pushing hard to get even the most extreme nominees approved now, while they can.
The Democrats, on the other hand, have to be prepared to go to any lengths, including shutting down the legislature, to protect the nation by preventing hack fanatics like William G. Myers -- he is openly hostile to your right to privacy and opposed to all legislation designed to protect civil liberties -- from spending the next 30 or 40 years wreaking havoc from the bench. The fact that Myers is probably also unqualified professionally for the job only makes his appointment nearly as ridiculous as it is dangerous.
The Senate does most of its work by consent; it only takes the withholding of consent by one member to throw sand in the wheels. "The majority," Reid warned Frist, "should not expect to receive cooperation from the minority in the conduct of Senate business." He promised the Democrats will help to move legislation "supporting our troops" and to keep the government running, but otherwise will refuse to facilitate actions "even on routine matters." In other words, unleash the nuclear option and there will be political devastation, indeed.
This is unusually tough talk coming from a Democractic leader, and all citizens, not just liberals, should be glad for it. It is just in moments such as these -- with one party dominating all branches of government -- that brakes on excesses by the majority are most needed. Republicans may not recall that for most of the last half of the 20th century they were in the same position the Democrats are now, but they must know that, probably sooner than later, the extremism and corruption that characterize this administration will bring its downfall. They may spend many decades ruing the day they stripped the minority of its limited defences.
Go, Harry.
Nothing currently before the upper chamber comes close to matching the importance of its role in advising on and consenting to the appointment of judges-for-life. Frist's intention to use the nuclear option -- in practice this would amount to asking Senate president Dick Cheney for a parliamentary ruling declaring filibusters unconstitutional -- left the Democrats no choice but to fight back.
As things stand now, it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster and call a question. Filibusters aren't easy -- you try speechifying for 18 hours -- and the potential political damage it can cause the perpetrators is enormous; a senator or group of senators must feel very strongly about an issue to attempt it, but it is an important defence against the tyranny of the majority.
The irony of the GOP position is that more judges were approved during Bush's first term than Clinton's. But whiners and crybabies that they are, the president and his right wing cohorts in the Senate are leading off the second inning with the same handful of hacks and idealogues they failed to get appointed in the first term. Radicalizing the courts is an important part of the neocon agenda; since in the darkest hours of night the Republican radicals have to know their days are numbered, they are pushing hard to get even the most extreme nominees approved now, while they can.
The Democrats, on the other hand, have to be prepared to go to any lengths, including shutting down the legislature, to protect the nation by preventing hack fanatics like William G. Myers -- he is openly hostile to your right to privacy and opposed to all legislation designed to protect civil liberties -- from spending the next 30 or 40 years wreaking havoc from the bench. The fact that Myers is probably also unqualified professionally for the job only makes his appointment nearly as ridiculous as it is dangerous.
The Senate does most of its work by consent; it only takes the withholding of consent by one member to throw sand in the wheels. "The majority," Reid warned Frist, "should not expect to receive cooperation from the minority in the conduct of Senate business." He promised the Democrats will help to move legislation "supporting our troops" and to keep the government running, but otherwise will refuse to facilitate actions "even on routine matters." In other words, unleash the nuclear option and there will be political devastation, indeed.
This is unusually tough talk coming from a Democractic leader, and all citizens, not just liberals, should be glad for it. It is just in moments such as these -- with one party dominating all branches of government -- that brakes on excesses by the majority are most needed. Republicans may not recall that for most of the last half of the 20th century they were in the same position the Democrats are now, but they must know that, probably sooner than later, the extremism and corruption that characterize this administration will bring its downfall. They may spend many decades ruing the day they stripped the minority of its limited defences.
Protests this weekend
"This weekend, a global protest will be taking place. Here in America, there will be demonstrations in 574 cities and towns in all 50 states. Ostensibly, this protest is to be aimed at the anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It needs to be about more than that now. It needs to be about public, vocal citizen action in and of itself. It needs to be about We The People reaching out to the one recourse we have left while we still have it: The streets, our numbers and our voices." -- Will Pitt. (More at: http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/3/17/94845/3273/)
Activism: Emotional Support
The newly formed Activist Support Circle, created to "provide emotional support, nurturing, positive energy and peer reinforcement to longtime and just-beginning activists of all ages and progressive causes," will hold its first gathering Wednesday, March 30 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Friends Meeting Hall, 1440 Harvard St., Santa Monica. Info: 310-399-1000 (L.A. Alliance for Survival).
I-10 foot/bike overpasses
If we are serious about making Santa Monica a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly community, an important step will be to restore or construct limited-access bridges 
over the 10 Freeway. At about Seventh Street, where the footbridge used to connect SaMoHi with downtown, and about halfway between each of the other vehicular bridges, Caltrans and/or the City of Santa Monica should build new supplementary links for walkers, bikers and skaters. Such overpasses would help to suture divisions unhealed since the road sliced through the town in the 1960s.
over the 10 Freeway. At about Seventh Street, where the footbridge used to connect SaMoHi with downtown, and about halfway between each of the other vehicular bridges, Caltrans and/or the City of Santa Monica should build new supplementary links for walkers, bikers and skaters. Such overpasses would help to suture divisions unhealed since the road sliced through the town in the 1960s.
Surf City: Wireless access at the beach
There's going to be a lot more surfing at San Elijo State Beach now that the California state parks system has made a deal to give SBC Communications a monopoly on wireless internet access at a group of state-run recreational facilities.
Offering evidence that internet access may soon be as ubiquitous and as essential as the pay phone once was, the 278-park system plans to make wifi access available -- for a fee -- to visitors who have wireless-enabled laptops or personal digital assistants, beginning with 85 venues to be outfitted by SBC.
SBC is installing the hardware and providing the service as a two-year pilot program at the 85 parks. If the program is successful, the parks department will open the system up to bids from companies that want to compete for the opportunity to sell the service, but in the meantime the phone company will have locked up nearly a third of the state's parks.
No doubt this move is being orchestrated by SBC, since only subscribers to its wireless service, FreedomLink, will have unlimited internet access at the public parks. Other taxpayers will be able to get to the state's websites for free, but will be charged $7.95 for 24-hour access or $19.95 for unlimited monthly service if they want to check their email or go to weather.com while at the beach.
It hardly needs to be said that from the consumer's point of view this is a bad idea (the state will get 10 percent of the fee, which doesn't seem like much of a deal for the state, either). Wifi technology is cheap and getting cheaper, and there is no reason to limit access in public spaces to subscribers of expensive services.
Other Southland state parks and beaches that are expected to be connected by summer include Anza Borrego, Cardiff, Carlsbad, South Carlsbad, Old Town San Diego, Silver Strand, and San Onofre.
Although they are not among the first 85, sooner or later the state will bring wifi to the Santa Monica and L.A. beaches, where it is to be hoped that local officials can make a more sensible arrangement on behalf of their constituents. Santa Monica, especially, has direct control over its beach under a contract with the state and is in a strong position to insist on public access there. They have two years to demonstrate to the parks department that there is a better and cheaper way to connect the public and virtual realms.
Maybe the Convention & Visitors Bureaus in Santa Monica and Los Angeles will see the wisdom in making the phrase "public access" mean what it says.
Here's the pdf of the press release: <http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/011905.pdf>
Offering evidence that internet access may soon be as ubiquitous and as essential as the pay phone once was, the 278-park system plans to make wifi access available -- for a fee -- to visitors who have wireless-enabled laptops or personal digital assistants, beginning with 85 venues to be outfitted by SBC.SBC is installing the hardware and providing the service as a two-year pilot program at the 85 parks. If the program is successful, the parks department will open the system up to bids from companies that want to compete for the opportunity to sell the service, but in the meantime the phone company will have locked up nearly a third of the state's parks.
No doubt this move is being orchestrated by SBC, since only subscribers to its wireless service, FreedomLink, will have unlimited internet access at the public parks. Other taxpayers will be able to get to the state's websites for free, but will be charged $7.95 for 24-hour access or $19.95 for unlimited monthly service if they want to check their email or go to weather.com while at the beach.
It hardly needs to be said that from the consumer's point of view this is a bad idea (the state will get 10 percent of the fee, which doesn't seem like much of a deal for the state, either). Wifi technology is cheap and getting cheaper, and there is no reason to limit access in public spaces to subscribers of expensive services.
Other Southland state parks and beaches that are expected to be connected by summer include Anza Borrego, Cardiff, Carlsbad, South Carlsbad, Old Town San Diego, Silver Strand, and San Onofre.
Although they are not among the first 85, sooner or later the state will bring wifi to the Santa Monica and L.A. beaches, where it is to be hoped that local officials can make a more sensible arrangement on behalf of their constituents. Santa Monica, especially, has direct control over its beach under a contract with the state and is in a strong position to insist on public access there. They have two years to demonstrate to the parks department that there is a better and cheaper way to connect the public and virtual realms.
Maybe the Convention & Visitors Bureaus in Santa Monica and Los Angeles will see the wisdom in making the phrase "public access" mean what it says.
Here's the pdf of the press release: <http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/011905.pdf>
The Arts: The Distillery LA studio in Venice
Check out The Distillery LA (aka, Institute for the Pursuit of Absolutes and Nothingness) to see some of the works of Venice-based artists Gary Palmer (whose Zanzibar Fish Dance is at left), Masami Tsuchikawa and Robert Yeager. <http://thedistilleryla.com/>
Lecture Series: Imagining Venice
Imagining Venice
Sundays 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Venice Center For Peace With Justice & The Arts
2210 Lincoln Bl (at Victoria Ave), Venice
310.391.8183
(enter first gate on Victoria and proceed thru courtyard to The Parlour)
A University of Venice Production
***********
Hosted by Eric Vollmer
Future (Invited) Guest Speakers Include:
Joel Shapiro, Artistic Director, Electric Lodge
Judy Baca, Artistic Director, Sparc
Fred Dewey, Managing Director, Beyond Baroque
Marilyn Fox, Artistic Director, Pacific Residents Ensemble
Elayne Alexander, Venice Historical Society
Todd Von Hoffmann, Author, Venice Centennial Committee
Watch for: In collaboration with the Venice Center, the Electric Lodge and local artists, Eric Vollmer and the Voice in the Well Ensemble are planning a Chautauqua Performing Arts Festival in the Summer of 2005 to celebrate the Venice Centenary and pay homage to its Founder, Abbot Kinney, who launched a cultural Renaissance in Southern California on July 4, 1905.
Sundays 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Venice Center For Peace With Justice & The Arts
2210 Lincoln Bl (at Victoria Ave), Venice
310.391.8183
(enter first gate on Victoria and proceed thru courtyard to The Parlour)
A University of Venice Production
***********
Hosted by Eric Vollmer
Future (Invited) Guest Speakers Include:
Joel Shapiro, Artistic Director, Electric Lodge
Judy Baca, Artistic Director, Sparc
Fred Dewey, Managing Director, Beyond Baroque
Marilyn Fox, Artistic Director, Pacific Residents Ensemble
Elayne Alexander, Venice Historical Society
Todd Von Hoffmann, Author, Venice Centennial Committee
Watch for: In collaboration with the Venice Center, the Electric Lodge and local artists, Eric Vollmer and the Voice in the Well Ensemble are planning a Chautauqua Performing Arts Festival in the Summer of 2005 to celebrate the Venice Centenary and pay homage to its Founder, Abbot Kinney, who launched a cultural Renaissance in Southern California on July 4, 1905.
Antonio Villaraigosa for Mayor
Jim Hahn's tv ads this week dirtying up both Antonio Villaraigosa and Bob Hertzberg in the same 30 second commercial demonstrate an estimable eagerness to get the most bang for the buck. Too bad he hasn't shown the same moxie in running the city.
The only item on tonight's agenda is who should replace him.
Although it might be gratifying to watch Hahn lose to both Villaraigosa and Hertzberg, it is important to remember that there is little equivalence between the challengers beyond their tenures as assembly speaker. You might be able to argue that Hertzberg had the best commercials of the campaign, but you'd be hard pressed to make a case otherwise for his selection. In the ads, he looked like he was auditioning to succeed Schwartzenegger as an action figure; if what he said during this campaign is to be taken seriously, he would follow up his impersonation of Arnold the actor with a similarly slavish imitation of Arnold the politician.
Nominally a Democrat, Hertzberg sought to distinguish himself from his rivals in this race by running on a Republican platform that included breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, a decision over which the mayor has no say, and opposing a tax hike to pay for more police. He is strongly in favor of relieving traffic congestion -- if there is a politician anywhere in the world calling for more traffic congestion I want to meet him -- and he has punctuated his campaign with brave calls for new leadership. Nancy Daly Riordan, wife of former Republican mayor Richard Riordan, is a co-chair of Hertzberg's campaign.
Hertzberg's proposal to break up the school district reveals an unusual capacity for growth. Only four years ago, he opposed a bill that would have established a commission to study the idea. Now, allied with Riordan and the governor, he is its chief proponent.
The ads in which a giant Hertzberg towers over the city and its problems combined with the candidate's natural gregariousness to propel him from nowhere into second place in what is a very tight contest (with nearly a fifth of the electorate undecided, anyone can win). While you can understand why Valley voters might see Hertzberg as their champion, it is a little disheartening that so many westsiders seem to be beguiled by his reputation as a hugger. I have had people tell me they plan to vote for the bearish politician on the preposterous notion that he is the warmest and most "cuddly" candidate in the race.
Watching Hertzberg's commercials, it doesn't take much leap of imagination to see him less as Gulliver and more as Godzilla.
Antonio Villaraigosa was the right choice the last time he and Hahn faced off, and he is the right choice again. This would be true if all we knew of was his commitment to minority rights and his record as a coalition-builder in the assembly. But Villaraigosa is not only one of the few politicians in California who is willing to address issues of class, race and gender, he has also stood by labor, and he is a strong advocate for clean air and clean water, a crucial stand to take at a moment when GOP-controlled state and national governments are undoing environmental laws it took a century to set in place.
"A clean environment is the foundation of a livable community," Villaraigosa said during the campaign. "It is not a luxury, it is a necessity. I will dedicate myself to transforming Los Angeles into the cleanest, greenest big city in America....Los Angeles must be a part of the emerging green economy," the councilmember added, showing he understands that the issues can't be isolated. "We can be the leader in clean energy technology and create new jobs by leveraging investments by Department of Water and Power and the Port, but we need the right leadership in the Mayor's office."
The Times, courageously braving ridicule, endorsed both Hertzberg and Villaraigosa: "Either would be a more dynamic leader than incumbent James K. Hahn, whose leadership has been lackluster and whose flawed appointments and lax oversight of City Hall contracts have fueled impressions of favoritism. Hertzberg is the enlightened businessman's candidate, a high-velocity wonk who loves big ideas and is bursting with plans (some of them even doable) for hiring more police, improving public transit and reforming the L.A. Unified School District. Villaraigosa is the intuitive anti-wonk who operates from the gut. A gifted coalition builder, he is skilled at reading situations and people. Best outcome: a Hertzberg-Villaraigosa runoff."
Even though it would be satisfying to see Hahn's cynicism repudiated in this round, progressives will do the city a disservice if they try to engineer his humiliation by voting for Hertzberg. While a run-off between Villaraigosa and Hertzberg would be a better outcome -- mostly because it would mean the stake had already been driven through the heart of the Hahn candidacy, no outcome this time around that doesn't result in the eventual election of Mayor Villaraigosa will be good for Los Angeles. It is vital that he be among the final two. Vote for him Tuesday.
Antonio Villaraigosa for Los Angeles Mayor 2005: <http://www.antonio2005.com/>
Villaraigosa's "Mayor in a Minute" video: <http://www.antonio2005.com/images/ads/mayorinaminute.wmv>
L.A.Weekly endorsement of Villaraigosa: <http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/14/news-endorsements.php>
The California League of Conservation Voters endorsement of Villaraigosa's environmental record: <http://www.ecovote.org/>
African-American leaders endorse Parks and Villaraigosa: <http://www.latimes.com/>
The only item on tonight's agenda is who should replace him.
Although it might be gratifying to watch Hahn lose to both Villaraigosa and Hertzberg, it is important to remember that there is little equivalence between the challengers beyond their tenures as assembly speaker. You might be able to argue that Hertzberg had the best commercials of the campaign, but you'd be hard pressed to make a case otherwise for his selection. In the ads, he looked like he was auditioning to succeed Schwartzenegger as an action figure; if what he said during this campaign is to be taken seriously, he would follow up his impersonation of Arnold the actor with a similarly slavish imitation of Arnold the politician.
Nominally a Democrat, Hertzberg sought to distinguish himself from his rivals in this race by running on a Republican platform that included breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, a decision over which the mayor has no say, and opposing a tax hike to pay for more police. He is strongly in favor of relieving traffic congestion -- if there is a politician anywhere in the world calling for more traffic congestion I want to meet him -- and he has punctuated his campaign with brave calls for new leadership. Nancy Daly Riordan, wife of former Republican mayor Richard Riordan, is a co-chair of Hertzberg's campaign.
Hertzberg's proposal to break up the school district reveals an unusual capacity for growth. Only four years ago, he opposed a bill that would have established a commission to study the idea. Now, allied with Riordan and the governor, he is its chief proponent.
The ads in which a giant Hertzberg towers over the city and its problems combined with the candidate's natural gregariousness to propel him from nowhere into second place in what is a very tight contest (with nearly a fifth of the electorate undecided, anyone can win). While you can understand why Valley voters might see Hertzberg as their champion, it is a little disheartening that so many westsiders seem to be beguiled by his reputation as a hugger. I have had people tell me they plan to vote for the bearish politician on the preposterous notion that he is the warmest and most "cuddly" candidate in the race.
Watching Hertzberg's commercials, it doesn't take much leap of imagination to see him less as Gulliver and more as Godzilla.
Antonio Villaraigosa was the right choice the last time he and Hahn faced off, and he is the right choice again. This would be true if all we knew of was his commitment to minority rights and his record as a coalition-builder in the assembly. But Villaraigosa is not only one of the few politicians in California who is willing to address issues of class, race and gender, he has also stood by labor, and he is a strong advocate for clean air and clean water, a crucial stand to take at a moment when GOP-controlled state and national governments are undoing environmental laws it took a century to set in place. "A clean environment is the foundation of a livable community," Villaraigosa said during the campaign. "It is not a luxury, it is a necessity. I will dedicate myself to transforming Los Angeles into the cleanest, greenest big city in America....Los Angeles must be a part of the emerging green economy," the councilmember added, showing he understands that the issues can't be isolated. "We can be the leader in clean energy technology and create new jobs by leveraging investments by Department of Water and Power and the Port, but we need the right leadership in the Mayor's office."
The Times, courageously braving ridicule, endorsed both Hertzberg and Villaraigosa: "Either would be a more dynamic leader than incumbent James K. Hahn, whose leadership has been lackluster and whose flawed appointments and lax oversight of City Hall contracts have fueled impressions of favoritism. Hertzberg is the enlightened businessman's candidate, a high-velocity wonk who loves big ideas and is bursting with plans (some of them even doable) for hiring more police, improving public transit and reforming the L.A. Unified School District. Villaraigosa is the intuitive anti-wonk who operates from the gut. A gifted coalition builder, he is skilled at reading situations and people. Best outcome: a Hertzberg-Villaraigosa runoff."
Even though it would be satisfying to see Hahn's cynicism repudiated in this round, progressives will do the city a disservice if they try to engineer his humiliation by voting for Hertzberg. While a run-off between Villaraigosa and Hertzberg would be a better outcome -- mostly because it would mean the stake had already been driven through the heart of the Hahn candidacy, no outcome this time around that doesn't result in the eventual election of Mayor Villaraigosa will be good for Los Angeles. It is vital that he be among the final two. Vote for him Tuesday.
Antonio Villaraigosa for Los Angeles Mayor 2005: <http://www.antonio2005.com/>
Villaraigosa's "Mayor in a Minute" video: <http://www.antonio2005.com/images/ads/mayorinaminute.wmv>
L.A.Weekly endorsement of Villaraigosa: <http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/14/news-endorsements.php>
The California League of Conservation Voters endorsement of Villaraigosa's environmental record: <http://www.ecovote.org/>
African-American leaders endorse Parks and Villaraigosa: <http://www.latimes.com/>
Politics: Finding Think Tanks
No matter what your issue, some research group is studying it, bloviating about it, and attempting to influence policy-makers and the public. Allow for the biases -- there's always a bias -- and these organizations can provide useful sources of information -- newsletters, backgrounders, policy briefs, surveys, op-ed pieces, etc. -- and sometimes even be a source of money for your own projects. Here are some listings:
-> Directory of Think Tanks (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard)
-> Political Resources: Think Tanks (University of Michigan Documents Center)
-> Think Tanks (Hillwatch.com: "A directory of Canadian and International Think Tanks")
-> Think Tanks and N.G.O.s (Worldpress.Org)
-> World Directory of Think Tanks (National Institute for Research Advancement, Japan)
-> Directory of Think Tanks (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard)
-> Political Resources: Think Tanks (University of Michigan Documents Center)
-> Think Tanks (Hillwatch.com: "A directory of Canadian and International Think Tanks")
-> Think Tanks and N.G.O.s (Worldpress.Org)
-> World Directory of Think Tanks (National Institute for Research Advancement, Japan)
The Next Los Angeles: Struggle for a Livable City
Robert Gottlieb, speaker
Thursday, March 3, 11:15am
SMC Concert Hall 1900 Pico Blvd.
Free
Given Santa Monica's focus on updating its General Plan, this SMC Associates Lecture by Robert Gottlieb is extremely timely. Dr. Gottlieb is the Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and an expert on the urban environment. His talk will provide an "overview of alternative visions for achieving social and economic justice in LA and observations on key trends reshaping LA at the beginning of the 21st century." For more information, please call 434-4003.
Thursday, March 3, 11:15am
SMC Concert Hall 1900 Pico Blvd.
Free
Given Santa Monica's focus on updating its General Plan, this SMC Associates Lecture by Robert Gottlieb is extremely timely. Dr. Gottlieb is the Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and an expert on the urban environment. His talk will provide an "overview of alternative visions for achieving social and economic justice in LA and observations on key trends reshaping LA at the beginning of the 21st century." For more information, please call 434-4003.
Performance: Sunday Jazz Guitar Brunch at La Vecchia Cucina
La Vecchia Cucina has a Sunday Jazz Guitar Brunch series, with special guest guitarists each week, hosted by jazz picker extraordinaire Thom Rotella.Sundays 11am-2:30pm (no cover charge) at
La Vecchia Cucina
2654 Main Street
Santa Monica
310.399.7979
<http://www.lavecchiacucina.com/>
<http://www.thomrotella.com/>
Politics: Contact your representatives
For a quick and easy way to reach your representatives in the House and Senate, go to <The Peace Table> and enter your ZIP code in the appropriate space on the "Write to Congress" button.
Alarcon and Villaraigosa support Ballona Wetlands protection
In the election on March 8th, Westside voters will be asked to choose a new mayor for Los Angeles and a Council District 11 representative (Pacific Palisades, West L.A., Mar Vista, Venice, Westchester, Playa del Rey).
I'd never advocate choosing a candidate on the basis of one issue. But sometimes local matters say something about the bigger picture. The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust asked the candidates if they support the protection of the Ballona Wetlands and oppose the Playa Vista development expansion.
The ones who said yes are Richard Alarcon and Antonio Villaraigosa, a fact that those considering voting for Bob Hertzberg 'cause he is cuddly might want to keep in mind. Council candidates Bill Rosendahl and Angela Reddock also support protecting Ballona.
I'll have some more thoughts on the choice for mayor before election day. In the meantime, voters who are concerned about Los Angeles' development priorities, especially as they impact the environment, may want to take a closer look at Alarcon and Villaraigosa. Ballona Wetlands Land Trust; Alarcon for Mayor; Villaraigosa for Mayor.
I'd never advocate choosing a candidate on the basis of one issue. But sometimes local matters say something about the bigger picture. The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust asked the candidates if they support the protection of the Ballona Wetlands and oppose the Playa Vista development expansion.The ones who said yes are Richard Alarcon and Antonio Villaraigosa, a fact that those considering voting for Bob Hertzberg 'cause he is cuddly might want to keep in mind. Council candidates Bill Rosendahl and Angela Reddock also support protecting Ballona.
I'll have some more thoughts on the choice for mayor before election day. In the meantime, voters who are concerned about Los Angeles' development priorities, especially as they impact the environment, may want to take a closer look at Alarcon and Villaraigosa. Ballona Wetlands Land Trust; Alarcon for Mayor; Villaraigosa for Mayor.
SM Public Library On Line
The newly upgraded Santa Monica Public Library website is a terrific 24/7 resource for readers, writers, and researchers. The site has easy access to a world of online databases, including thousands of periodicals, books, indices and directories. Sign up for a library card, renew your checked-out items, get a question answered by a librarian using "Ask Now," or watch the new library building being constructed on the webcam. <http://www.smpl.org/>
See also: SMPL offers free internet access
See also: Edifice Wrecks: Building the New Santa Monica Library
See also: SMPL offers free internet access
See also: Edifice Wrecks: Building the New Santa Monica Library
Travel: ExperienceLA.com
Although the L.A. Convention & Visitors Bureau seems uncharacteristically shy about taking credit, the website guide to the Los Angeles region it has created is very useful, especially for its emphasis on public transporation (did you know, for instance, that with a Metro Day Pass you can experience LA for only $3 a day?). <http://www.experiencela.com/>
The Dems' New Dean
Democratic activists have a right to feel optimistic about Howard Dean's election as party boss (I know, he's not supposed to influence policy, but we can wish).
Typically, the Democratic National Committee's chair is supposed to be seen fund raising and not heard. Business-as-usual would demand that the head of the DNC be a technocrat in service to the conservative Democratic Leadership Council. At least half the pleasure of the governor's victory came from watching the corporatist Dems squirm.
With the out-of-power party being led by back-benchers like the inestimably wily Harry Reid and the stolid Nancy Pelosi, and with the Night of the Living Dead-visage of John Kerry lurking in the political shadows, it is left to Governor Dean to try to make elected Democrats live up to expectations.
Unlike his accommodationist partymates in D.C., Dean agrees with the rank and file that, to beat the Republicans, the Democratic Party must be both tough and right. The uncompromising Liberalism of Roosevelt and Truman won the Democrats four decades of dominance in Washington. Compare that with GOP-lite Clintonism which surrendered the keys to the kingdom in 24 months. Bill Clinton may have been the greatest Republican president since Lincoln, but his political charisma wasn't used to advance a liberal agenda and it never rubbed off on his nominal party.
As Dean put it during the campaign, we need to be proud again to be Democrats. That will happen only if we are prepared to fight for economic justice and to protect our basic political rights. It won't happen by meeting Bush halfway down the road to hell.
Here is Howard Dean's DNC Plan, as posted on the party's website:
1. Show up! Democrats should never concede a single state, a single district, or a single voter to the Republicans. We must be active and compete in all 50 states and work with the state parties to build a true national party.
This is a big change, of course, from the leadership's emphasis on winning a few closely contested seats and battleground states in the hopes of eking out a narrow majority. Electing a Southern moderate or two begs the question of why the Democrats should be given control of Congress. When the conservative radicals seized the federal government, first with Gingrich and then with Bush-Cheney, they already knew what they wanted to do to it.
2. The success of the national party depends directly on the success of the state parties — we must better integrate our operations by:
* Having the DNC pay the salary of each state party executive director to help ensure that the state parties have adequate funds.
* Collectively building and sharing supporter lists between the national and state parties.
* Recruiting, training, and encouraging candidates to run for office at every level — building tomorrow's farm team from the ground up.
* Actively grow local Democratic committees and communities by working with neighborhood activists who can reach out in their communities and enable the grassroots to support state and local candidates.
* Maintaining a permanent campaign in every state. We need to establish an ongoing, active presence, which does not have to be recreated every four years for four months.
You won't find anyone arguing against the idea of a people's democracy; it is an article of faith among Americans, often honored in the breach, it's true, but a core belief nonetheless, that the democratic process provides the best mechanism by which a society's members can decide how to conduct themselves. If Dean is sincere, this emphasis on the grass roots will shake the Democratic Party to its foundations and by its nature end the domination of the party by corporate interests. Already, grass roots organizing is happening in California, among other places. Again, the enemy must be the inspiration: conservatives have done a bang-up job of energizing their base at the school board/city council level. Now progressives need to get back in the game, and the Democratic Party, barring some serious and unlikely electoral reform, is the best potential vehicle for doing so.
3. Set core principles that define the Democratic Party and what we stand for and take a bottom-up approach to the development of the Party's message;
I remain convinced that the party's -- and the country's -- interests would be served best by making economic justice the heart of Democratic Party program. By concentrating on three issues -- national health insurance, social security and the minimum wage -- the Democrats could remake the political debate. Putting people first would remind the party's office holders that corporations are not people, but legal entities chartered to perform certain needed economic functions and serve the public good, and entitled only to those rights and privileges we-the-people give them. By adopting a bottom-up approach to development of its message, the party would serve notice on the corporations that they will no longer be able to tell us how to live our lives or run our communities.
A party committed to restoring democracy would be incapable of doing the bidding of big business or the moneyed elite. A party democratically reflecting the values of its members will be driven to fight to improve the lives of all citizens, to enhance the interests of the community, to resist not exalt unfettered exploitation and greed. Good for Senator Clinton for attempting to neutralize the thorny and divisive abortion issue. The same should be done to minimize other lifestyle concerns that distract from the core issue of economic justice.
4. Use cutting-edge Internet and other technologies to fundraise, organize, and communicate with our supporters;
Sure, why not, always remembering than an unending plebiscite may be great for raising money, but may not be the most elegant instrument for forging policy.
5. Strengthen our political institutions and leadership institutes to promote our leaders and our ideas — these organizations must work together in a coordinated and integrated fashion to elect Democrats at every level, so that we can take this country back.
The right wing success this week in all but destroying class actions as devices of redressal, punishment and reform can be traced directly back to work that went on in the netherworld of incestuous corporate-funded think-tanks, foundations and lobbying organizations fabricated to advance and rationalize the neo-conservative agenda. Our own institutes and foundations need to be expanded and deployed just as aggressively.
But we need to keep in mind that the Right did not merely organize to elect Republicans at every level; it is crucial to neocon dominance that they closely monitored whom they elected to office and whom they elevated to leadership. The arrival of Governor Dean, partisan by instinct, is a move the neocons would applaud if he was of their ilk. It is heartening evidence that the Democratic Party is beginning to think and act more idealogically.
Typically, the Democratic National Committee's chair is supposed to be seen fund raising and not heard. Business-as-usual would demand that the head of the DNC be a technocrat in service to the conservative Democratic Leadership Council. At least half the pleasure of the governor's victory came from watching the corporatist Dems squirm.
With the out-of-power party being led by back-benchers like the inestimably wily Harry Reid and the stolid Nancy Pelosi, and with the Night of the Living Dead-visage of John Kerry lurking in the political shadows, it is left to Governor Dean to try to make elected Democrats live up to expectations.
Unlike his accommodationist partymates in D.C., Dean agrees with the rank and file that, to beat the Republicans, the Democratic Party must be both tough and right. The uncompromising Liberalism of Roosevelt and Truman won the Democrats four decades of dominance in Washington. Compare that with GOP-lite Clintonism which surrendered the keys to the kingdom in 24 months. Bill Clinton may have been the greatest Republican president since Lincoln, but his political charisma wasn't used to advance a liberal agenda and it never rubbed off on his nominal party.
As Dean put it during the campaign, we need to be proud again to be Democrats. That will happen only if we are prepared to fight for economic justice and to protect our basic political rights. It won't happen by meeting Bush halfway down the road to hell.
Here is Howard Dean's DNC Plan, as posted on the party's website:
1. Show up! Democrats should never concede a single state, a single district, or a single voter to the Republicans. We must be active and compete in all 50 states and work with the state parties to build a true national party.
This is a big change, of course, from the leadership's emphasis on winning a few closely contested seats and battleground states in the hopes of eking out a narrow majority. Electing a Southern moderate or two begs the question of why the Democrats should be given control of Congress. When the conservative radicals seized the federal government, first with Gingrich and then with Bush-Cheney, they already knew what they wanted to do to it.
2. The success of the national party depends directly on the success of the state parties — we must better integrate our operations by:
* Having the DNC pay the salary of each state party executive director to help ensure that the state parties have adequate funds.
* Collectively building and sharing supporter lists between the national and state parties.
* Recruiting, training, and encouraging candidates to run for office at every level — building tomorrow's farm team from the ground up.
* Actively grow local Democratic committees and communities by working with neighborhood activists who can reach out in their communities and enable the grassroots to support state and local candidates.
* Maintaining a permanent campaign in every state. We need to establish an ongoing, active presence, which does not have to be recreated every four years for four months.
You won't find anyone arguing against the idea of a people's democracy; it is an article of faith among Americans, often honored in the breach, it's true, but a core belief nonetheless, that the democratic process provides the best mechanism by which a society's members can decide how to conduct themselves. If Dean is sincere, this emphasis on the grass roots will shake the Democratic Party to its foundations and by its nature end the domination of the party by corporate interests. Already, grass roots organizing is happening in California, among other places. Again, the enemy must be the inspiration: conservatives have done a bang-up job of energizing their base at the school board/city council level. Now progressives need to get back in the game, and the Democratic Party, barring some serious and unlikely electoral reform, is the best potential vehicle for doing so.
3. Set core principles that define the Democratic Party and what we stand for and take a bottom-up approach to the development of the Party's message;
I remain convinced that the party's -- and the country's -- interests would be served best by making economic justice the heart of Democratic Party program. By concentrating on three issues -- national health insurance, social security and the minimum wage -- the Democrats could remake the political debate. Putting people first would remind the party's office holders that corporations are not people, but legal entities chartered to perform certain needed economic functions and serve the public good, and entitled only to those rights and privileges we-the-people give them. By adopting a bottom-up approach to development of its message, the party would serve notice on the corporations that they will no longer be able to tell us how to live our lives or run our communities.
A party committed to restoring democracy would be incapable of doing the bidding of big business or the moneyed elite. A party democratically reflecting the values of its members will be driven to fight to improve the lives of all citizens, to enhance the interests of the community, to resist not exalt unfettered exploitation and greed. Good for Senator Clinton for attempting to neutralize the thorny and divisive abortion issue. The same should be done to minimize other lifestyle concerns that distract from the core issue of economic justice.
4. Use cutting-edge Internet and other technologies to fundraise, organize, and communicate with our supporters;
Sure, why not, always remembering than an unending plebiscite may be great for raising money, but may not be the most elegant instrument for forging policy.
5. Strengthen our political institutions and leadership institutes to promote our leaders and our ideas — these organizations must work together in a coordinated and integrated fashion to elect Democrats at every level, so that we can take this country back.
The right wing success this week in all but destroying class actions as devices of redressal, punishment and reform can be traced directly back to work that went on in the netherworld of incestuous corporate-funded think-tanks, foundations and lobbying organizations fabricated to advance and rationalize the neo-conservative agenda. Our own institutes and foundations need to be expanded and deployed just as aggressively.
But we need to keep in mind that the Right did not merely organize to elect Republicans at every level; it is crucial to neocon dominance that they closely monitored whom they elected to office and whom they elevated to leadership. The arrival of Governor Dean, partisan by instinct, is a move the neocons would applaud if he was of their ilk. It is heartening evidence that the Democratic Party is beginning to think and act more idealogically.
NewMedia: "Vectors" launch party at MoCAJournal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular
On March 3, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is hosting the launch event for Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular, a new online multimedia journal that works with leading scholars to realize their work using interactive media in ways that go beyond simple illustration. Using dynamic display, animation, and an inventive approach to interface, the site seeks to open up academic publishing to make use of the broad potential of new media to shape ideas and experience.
Where: Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA)
When: 7 - 10 p.m., Thursday, March 3, 2005
Admission: Free and open to all.
RSVP: <http://www.annenberg.edu/calendar/invite/vectors.php>
More info: <http://www.annenberg.edu/vectors>
Where: Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA)
When: 7 - 10 p.m., Thursday, March 3, 2005
Admission: Free and open to all.
RSVP: <http://www.annenberg.edu/calendar/invite/vectors.php>
More info: <http://www.annenberg.edu/vectors>
Republican Congressman Proposes Bill that Would Permit Suspension of All Laws
[Note 2005/02/11: REAL ID passed the House, largely on party lines. <http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021105X.shtml>]
Section 102 of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (H.R. 418), submitted by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner on January 26, 2005, ostensibly to deal with immigration regulations, driver's licenses, and other matters having to do with using identity to control people, would empower the Secretary of Homeland Security, as part of the effort to keep illegal aliens out of the country, to suspend any laws that prevent or delay the "expeditious" construction of a set of barriers and roads south of San Diego.
The bill also would prohibit judicial review of the secretary's decisions to suspend laws. While the legislation refers to barriers and roads "near" San Diego," (is L.A. "near" San Diego?), it does not appear to be limited, technically speaking, to that area -- but to any barriers or roads "in the vicinity of the United States border" (33 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico, are on the border of the United States).
It could be called to the floor as early as next week. -- reported on Daily Kos <http://dailykos.com/story/2005/2/5/15448/41910>
Section 102 of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (H.R. 418), submitted by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner on January 26, 2005, ostensibly to deal with immigration regulations, driver's licenses, and other matters having to do with using identity to control people, would empower the Secretary of Homeland Security, as part of the effort to keep illegal aliens out of the country, to suspend any laws that prevent or delay the "expeditious" construction of a set of barriers and roads south of San Diego.
The bill also would prohibit judicial review of the secretary's decisions to suspend laws. While the legislation refers to barriers and roads "near" San Diego," (is L.A. "near" San Diego?), it does not appear to be limited, technically speaking, to that area -- but to any barriers or roads "in the vicinity of the United States border" (33 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico, are on the border of the United States).
It could be called to the floor as early as next week. -- reported on Daily Kos <http://dailykos.com/story/2005/2/5/15448/41910>
Politics: All-Celeb Dem Dream Team
The following GoogleAd for the magazine Maison Neuve was delivered to Impractical Proposals this morning:
"Jon Stewart for President
Forget Schwarzenegger.
Jon Stewart is the real celebrity candidate.
www.maisonneuve.org"
Makes sense to me. Let's get away from politicians altogether.
John Stewart for President. John Cusack for Vice President.
That's the ticket.
"Jon Stewart for President
Forget Schwarzenegger.
Jon Stewart is the real celebrity candidate.
www.maisonneuve.org"
Makes sense to me. Let's get away from politicians altogether.
John Stewart for President. John Cusack for Vice President.
That's the ticket.
Resource: Iraq Coalition Casualties
Iraq Coalition Casualties website <http://www.icasualties.org/oif/> tallies daily and monthly the numbers of killed and wounded American soldiers. According to the site, "Whenever a death occurs, CENTCOM (the United States Central Command in Tampa, FL) issues a brief news release that gives the bare facts about the incident: when it happened, how it happened, and the soldier’s regiment, if known. The only information not provided at this point is the soldier’s name. These releases are published regularly on the Internet at: <http://www.centcom.mil/>. After the soldier’s relatives are notified of the death, the U.S. Department of Defense then issues its own news release that gives the soldier’s name, age, unit and hometown. Again, these can be found on the Internet here: <http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/>. The trouble with this system of notification, however, is that the government provides no tally of those releases," so this page has shouldered the responsibility.
As of this morning, the number of American fatalities is 1,449 (86 Brits have died and 86 "others," for a grand total of 1621). The number of wounded in action, according to the DoD, stands at 10,740. The numbers are broken down in various ways, some heartbreaking (US Fatalities State Map -- deaths are heavily concentrated in the blue states, by the way), some infuriating (1242: US deaths since July 2, 2003 [when] Pres. Bush announces, "Bring Them On"). The site also has an up-to-date list of news stories, many from foreign media, related to the war. <http://www.icasualties.org/oif/>
As of this morning, the number of American fatalities is 1,449 (86 Brits have died and 86 "others," for a grand total of 1621). The number of wounded in action, according to the DoD, stands at 10,740. The numbers are broken down in various ways, some heartbreaking (US Fatalities State Map -- deaths are heavily concentrated in the blue states, by the way), some infuriating (1242: US deaths since July 2, 2003 [when] Pres. Bush announces, "Bring Them On"). The site also has an up-to-date list of news stories, many from foreign media, related to the war. <http://www.icasualties.org/oif/>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
