December 2007 Archives

An LA Times oops:

Press release from Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte:

Solis’ Green Jobs Act Signed Into Law As Part of Comprehensive Energy Bill

Washington, D.C. – Today, President Bush signed into law The Green Jobs Act of 2007, legislation introduced by Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis (CA-32) to train workers for “green” collar jobs – such as energy efficiency retrofit and service, green building construction, and solar panel installation. The legislation was incorporated as Title X of H.R. 6, the Energy Independence and Security Act, historic energy reform legislation which will put the United States on a path toward energy independence
- the rest after the jump.

Dan Walters: "A bit of political history was repeated Monday when the state Assembly voted 46-31 along party lines for an immense new health care scheme without knowing whether it would work, or even how it would work – very much like the Legislature enacted a far-reaching energy "deregulation" scheme in 1996 that turned out to be a humongous disaster."

- A KFWB announcer this morning prefaced the story about the health care news with something like "Assembly Republicans sounded like the Grinch yesterday..." ok. She could have said, "and Assembly Democrats sounded like pigs at a trough..." but didn't. Wonder what she or her editor thought about the vote.

This is on West Covina's closed session council agenda tonight. It's the first time I have ever seen this on an agenda. (There is a Brown Act exemption for it). We assume it's about mall security, but don't know.
UPDATE: Alison Hewitt says it deals with City Hall security not the mall. Still don't know the details.

Democrat * Assembly members Mike Eng of Monterey Park, Ed Hernandez of West Covina and Anthony Portantino of La Cañada Flintridge were the only ones from our area to decline $3,110 pay raises that went into effect this month, which moved annual salaries to $113,098 from $116,208.
*D'oh. Their D not Republicans. Thanks Todd. I guess I need to drink more coffee before blogging in the morning.

Jesse Unruh: "If you can't eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women, take their money and then vote against them, you've got no business being up here."
- it would be a better world if more legislators talked and acted like Jesse Unruh, outside the (ahem) drinking, sex, swearing and cutting of ethical corners.

in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken
- In that optimistic vein, I'm going to start paying more attention to politics. With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger using initiatives as a threat, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez serving thousand-dollar bottles of wine, state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata fending of the FBI and our own Congressman Gary Miller scoffing at investigations that the feds say they are conducting, it just seems like a good time.
- On the day of the CA Feb. 5 presidential primaries, voters will also be deciding about Proposition 93. The initiative will allow legislators to serve office in either the Assembly or state senate up to 12 years total. That would be down from the current 14, 6 in the Assembly and 8 in the senate. The caveat in the supposed "transistion period" that would allow current legislators to serve a total of 12 consecutive years in the house in which they are currently serving, regardless of any prior service in another house. Which of course means Nunez and Perata, who are now slated to be term limited come 2008, can run for re-election in 2008. I would imagine some impatient newly elected legislators aren't so happy about that.

A state bill could give a Native American tribe recognition that the feds so far haven't. One of the authors is Jack Scott, D-Pasadena. The Gabrielinos have ties to the San Gabriel Valley and have been embroiled in internal fighting. In the shadow of a split on who exactly is a member of the tribe is talk of casinos.

Poynter:"We both see our work distributed far and wide, thanks to modern technology. And we'd both like to be paid for it."
Associated Press CEO says users probably won't pay for content. He's eyeing search engines and news aggregators. I'm still not convinced that users shouldn't or won't pay if all news organizations force them to, but we'll see. (h/t Long Beach PT)

From La Observed here.
First thing the LAT might want to know is that nobody who lives or works here calls it the "East County"
Orale, this is the SGV.
Second thing they might want to know is that in order to be viable in the SGV, the Times might want to cover stories that take less than five weeks to write.
Just my thoughts.

In the crunch of deadlines, sometimes reporters and editors don't look deep into the information that backs up the premise of a story. Whether issued by an esteemed university like Harvard or anti-tax crusaders like the Howard Jarvis group, if it fits it goes.
Reporter Dan Abendschein has been working on a story about abuse allegations in custody cases. As part of that, he had looked for reputable studies and thought he found one in a Newsweek article that stated: "according to one 2004 survey in Massachusetts by Harvard's Jay Silverman, 54 percent of custody cases involving documented spousal abuse were decided in favor of the alleged batterers. Parental alienation was used as an argument in nearly every case. "
The problem, as Dan quickly found out, was that only 39 women were interviewed. Also, apparently, the women were found by the Battered Women's Testimony Project.

and none of them are close to us and only two in California.

Reporter Fred Ortega, who has been reporting on charges that La Eme were ready to kill rivals, received a voicemail over the weekend from an anonymous caller. The person apparently tries to justify why Rafael "Cisco" Gonzalez and Ralph "Perico" Roacha had been marked for death by the Mexican Mafia. The caller said that Perico and Cisco had been "terrorizing the little people, terrorizing us," and criticized the newspaper for "talking bad" about the defendants in the case, while allegedly ignoring the misdeeds of the intended targets of the mafia hit. Police have not released details about Gonzalez and Roacha's alleged crimes, other than to say that they were Mexican Mafia associates and had recently been paroled.
- if the links are broken, stories after the jump

And doesn't like what he sees and the lack of scrutiny given to it: "When a dope dealer kills another dealer, it's just business. When they start killing cops, newspaper editors and writers, priests and entire families it's not just business anymore."

L.C. Clemmer, a 90-year-old Baldwin Park area resident, told me last week how in the late 1930s, the West Covina chief of police decided to slow down traffic on what was then-Garvey Avenue (now the 10 Freeway). So for the portion that was in chief's jurisdiction, the speed limit became 25. Outside of the area, it was 45. The state eventually got involved, but not after four years of revenue from tickets filled city coffers. Pretty ingenious, methinks.

I find most city council members head blindly into resolutions that have nothing to do with city business. But occasionally I'm surprised. Covina Councilman Walt Allen's review of a Falun Gong resolution was that kind of rare insightful moment.
From Dan Abendschein on this week's Covina City Council meeting.
"After several Chinese residents of the San Gabriel Valley told heartfelt stories of husbands and other family being imprisoned in China for practicing Falun Gong at a November Covina City Council meeting, several council members sought a resolution condemning China and calling on it to stop its persecution of the group.
However, at Tuesday's meeting, while discussing the resolution, Councilman Walter Allen quoted a San Jose Mercury News story that claimed the Falun Gong's founder considers the mixing of the races to be unnatural. The same article quoted the group's leader as calling homosexuality “disgusting,” and saying gays would be “ eliminated by the gods.”
Allen originally suggested they reword the resolution to clearly state that the council does not endorse the views of the group, but after Allen's reading parts of the article, the Council lost its appetite for the resolution and unanimously rejected it."
Allen also noted that the women who addressed the council at the previous meeting were part of a broader political movement that has petitioned several other cities, and Congressman Adam Schiff to adopt a similar resolution, and is also behind the movement to boycott China's Rose Bowl Parade float."

The San Jose Mercury story is after the jump. Dan will be working on a future story about this.

FHB:"The people who get the transit system pay for the transit system. For most rational human beings, this wouldn’t be news. For folks who plan things like public transit systems, it’s a “cold reality.”
Centinel asks and receives. Ok. it's paltry compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars needed. But it's something. right?

According to City News Service, " A black Monrovia police officer who alleged that one of his sergeants said “Africans are lazy” and simulated the movements of a monkey settled a lawsuit he filed against the city, his attorney said on Tuesday.
Glenn Cobb filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court in August 2006, alleging race discrimination, harassment, retaliation and failure by the department to investigate his claim."

- the story will be in the paper tomorrow. It doesn't give the facts of the settlement, but since it's a public record, we'll have the financial deal for the following day.
update:Reporter Molly Okeon found out (deleted amount).
UPDATE:oops had the wrong amount. It's $125,000.

Forget forgive and forget for Barbara Boxer. Apparently she's still peeved former Rep. Jim Rogan, R-Pasadena,* was one of the Clinton Impeachment managers. She has admitted blocking him from a District judgeship. I'm never impressed by politicians. But I met Rogan and I came pretty close to darn impressed. His background and the fact, whether you agree or disagree with him, that he took a principled stand though he knew it would cost him his congressional seat are impressive.
* Correction:That was supposed to be Republican. Duh.