"...appears to be an example of abusive reporting."
An LA Times oops:
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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.
“A major investment in renewable energy could create 3 million new jobs over the next 10 years. The Green Jobs Act will ensure all workers are skilled for these jobs, which offer higher wages, greater access to benefits and more career choices,” said Solis. “The bill is a message for all workers across our nation that there is a place for them in the clean energy future.”
The Green Jobs Act authorizes $125 million for work force training programs. The training will be targeted to veterans, displaced workers, at risk youth, and individuals in families under 200 percent of the federal poverty line. It could benefit programs such as the one at the East Los Angeles Skills Center where workers are trained to install solar panels.
Solis hailed enactment of the historic Energy Independence and Security Act. “This groundbreaking measure will strengthen national security, lower energy costs, grow our economy, and begin to reduce global warming. Not only will these steps reduce our dependence on foreign oil, they will save consumers billions of dollars.”
Specifically, the Energy and Independence and Security Act:
Ø Strengthens national security by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency to 35 miles per gallon in 2020, decreasing U.S. oil consumption by an amount more than twice our daily imports from the Persian Gulf.
Ø Reduces global warming emissions by 24 percent by 2030 through increased efficiency and other measures.
Ø Lowers energy costs for consumers.
Ø Creates hundreds of thousands of new jobs and strengthens our economy.
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
6th suspect held in attempted mafia hit
By Fred Ortega, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/08/2007 12:40:33 AM PST
A sixth person accused of involvement in an attempted hit orchestrated by the Mexican Mafia has been arrested, police said Friday.
George "Jokes" Bravo, 40, of La Puente was taken into custody without incident early Friday, said Sgt. Chris Bradpool of the Los Angeles County sheriff's Homicide Bureau. He was being held at the sheriff's station.
Bradpool would not provide details about how Bravo was found or where he was arrested.
Bravo and five others were charged Thursday with conspiring to murder two Mexican Mafia associates, Rafael Gonzalez-Mu oz and Ralph Roacha. The plot was allegedly hatched by Maria Delores "Lola" Llantada, 42, of La Puente on behalf of her husband, imprisoned Mexican Mafia member Jacques "Jocko" Padilla.
Detectives discovered the alleged plot while investigating the March 2006 death of Valinda resident Robert Whitehead, who was killed while confronting two men tagging his neighbor's wall. Azusa resident Anthony Castillo, 20, has been arrested and charged in that case, and a second suspect, Robert "Pee Wee" Lopez of La Puente, remains at large.
A third man, Paul "Malo" Salazar, who authorities say was the actual shooter, was shot and killed in July.
Llantada was arrested at her mother's La Puente home Tuesday in a series of raids that netted a total of 18 arrests as well as the seizure of handguns, assault rifles and quantities of methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin.
Sheriff's records show at least four of those arrested have been released. Also released, according to family members, was 24-year-old Doreen Padilla, the daughter of Llantada and Jacques Padilla, though a sheriff's spokesman could not confirm whether she had been released.
The criminal complaint suggests that Doreen Padilla served as a go-between by passing messages from her father, who is serving a life sentence for murder in Corcoran State Prison, to her mother.
Ernie Llantada, Maria Llantada's brother, said Friday that his sister and niece are innocent of the charges and had nothing to do with the Whitehead slaying.
"We think the police are overreacting and that probably some of the charges are false," said Ernie Llantada, adding that no drugs or weapons were found at his mother's house, where Maria Llantada was arrested. "These are decent people with jobs. The police are wasting their time and the taxpayers' money."
He said his sister had made a mistake by marrying Padilla, but that she hasn't had contact with him for more than a year and was not involved in any criminal activity on his behalf.
"(Padilla) has been incarcerated for 16 years and I don't know if he is still involved with the Mafia," Ernie Llantada said. "I don't know why she is still married to him. When my dad was alive he was always telling her, `What are you doing with that guy? Why are you writing him?' "
Also arrested Tuesday and charged in the alleged plot were Yvonne Colleen Montes, 30, and Angelita Martinez, 37, both of La Puente. A fifth suspect, Mexican Mafia member Anthony Palacios, 66, was already serving time in state prison on unrelated charges.
David "Bulldog" Sahagun, 26, of Taft, who investigators believe would have been the triggerman in the assassination attempt, was picked up on the Pomona (60) Freeway on Oct. 31 with an AK-47 assault rifle stashed in his pickup truck, authorities said.
Investigators do not believe the Mexican Mafia was directly involved in Whitehead's death. But his accused killers are suspected of having relationships with members of the crime syndicate, also known as "La Eme," the Spanish word for the letter "M."
------
Killing probe leads to 18 arrests
By Fred Ortega, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/06/2007 10:33:58 PM PST
MONTEREY PARK - The killing of a good Samaritan eventually led to the arrests of 18 suspected gang members, including five accused in an attempted hit linked to the Mexican Mafia, authorities said Thursday.
In police raids Tuesday, investigators seized an assortment of handguns, shotguns and assault rifles and quantities of methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Chief Richard Castro.
Paul Whitehead, 44, of West Valinda was shot and killed outside his parents' home in March 2006 after confronting a group of taggers spray painting a neighbor's wall.
"(The Whitehead murder) case turned out to have deep roots leading to the criminal organization known as the Mexican Mafia," Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said at a press conference announcing the arrests.
Several of those arrested were picked up Tuesday in a sweep conducted by Operation Safe Streets deputies, an anti-street gang unit of the Sheriff's Department.
The sweep concentrated on neighborhoods in West Covina, La Puente and Azusa, officials said. Also taking part were investigators from the San Bernardino and Kern county sheriff's departments, Azusa and West Covina police departments, and various state agencies.
Among the arrested were Maria Dolores "Lola" Llantada, 42; Yvonne Colleen Montes, 30; and Angelita Martinez, 37, all from La Puente and Valinda.
They are accused of conspiring to murder rival Mexican Mafia members Rafael "Cisco" Gonzalez-Mu oz and Ralph "Perico" Roacha, sheriff's investigators said Thursday.
Another alleged co-conspirator, 26-year-old David "Bulldog" Sahagun of Taft, was arrested in Montebello on Oct. 31 with an AK-47 assault rifle in his pickup truck. Sahagun was apparently on his way to kill Gonzalez-Munoz when he was arrested, according to court documents.
A fourth suspect, George "Jokes" Bravo, 40, of La Puente, was still being sought by authorities.
Another individual believed connected to the case, convicted Mexican Mafia member Anthony Palacios, 66, of Valinda, is serving a state prison sentence on an unrelated crime.
Arraignment for Llantada, Sahagun, Montes and Martinez was postponed Thursday afternoon. All but Martinez were being held in lieu of $10 million bail. Martinez's bail was set at $5 million.
Several of the suspects' friends and family members attended the 1:30 p.m. hearing in Superior Court.
Prosecutors asked that any posted bail money be examined to ensure it was not criminally obtained. Judge Henry Hall granted the motion.
If convicted, each of the suspects faces life in state prison, officials said. Arraignment was rescheduled for Dec. 13.
Detectives began looking into Llantada after realizing she was connected to several individuals suspected in the Whitehead killing, said Gary Hearnsberger of the district attorney's Hard Core Gang Division.
Anthony Castillo, 20, of Azusa and Robert "Pee Wee" Lopez, 18, of La Puente are suspected of participating in Whitehead's death along with a third man identified as Paul "Malo" Salazar.
Castillo was arrested at an Azusa home in Tuesday's sweep and was being held without bail in the county jail, according to official documents.
Lopez, a suspected member of the "Puente Trece" gang, remained at large, officials said.
The suspected shooter in the Whitehead case is dead, Cooley said. Salazar, 31, of West Covina, who was named as a suspect in the Whitehead killing, was shot dead at his Fairgrove Avenue home in July.
Hearnsberger said surveillance conducted during the 15-month operation revealed that Llantada was allegedly running a drug taxation and extortion operation from her La Puente home on behalf of her husband, Jacques "Jocko" Padilla, an alleged Mexican Mafia member serving time for murder at Corcoran State Prison. The operation allegedly involved protection rackets in Valinda, La Puente, Norwalk and Montebello.
Llantada intended to "rub out" her husband's competition - Gonzalez-Mu oz and Roacha - and conspired with Montes to get information about where Gonzalez-Mu oz lived and worked, said Cooley.
Montes tried to talk to Gonzalez-Mu oz at a birthday party at Margarita Jones in West Covina to find out where he worked, according to the district attorney's complaint.
Investigators said Llantada had been in contact with Sahagun about where Gonzalez-Mu oz lived and worked, and had talked to him about securing weapons and men for the hit.
Charges against the other individuals arrested in Tuesday's raids, including Doreen Padilla, Llantada's daughter, ranged from drug possession to child endangerment.
Seventeen children were taken into protective custody by the Department of Children and Family Services during the operation.
The Mexican Mafia, also known as "La Eme," originated in California's prison system and has grown to control much of the gang and drug activity in Southern California, according to sheriff's Lt. Pat Wilson, who investigated the case.
"It is almost a controlling force over many of the area's Hispanic street gangs," Wilson said, adding that while La Eme was not directly involved in Whitehead's murder, many members of La Puente and Valinda street gangs are allied with the organization.
Wilson said he expects additional arrests in the case.
The district attorney's 17-page complaint contains specific details about conversations between Llantada and her alleged co-conspirators. Wilson would not confirm whether the details were acquired through wiretapping or the use of informants or undercover officers.
"Those details will come out during the trial," he said.
According to the complaint, Llantada and Montes began collecting information about Gonzalez-Mu oz in September and October, including the type of car he drives, photographs and other details. In one conversation on Oct. 19, Montes told Llantada that Gonzalez-Mu oz had "lookouts on his street and a pit bulldog and German shepherd in his yard."
The complaint also details a trip by Sahagun and Bravo from Llantada's home to a house in the 300 block of South Vermont Avenue in Glendora on Oct. 19. Hearnsberger declined to comment on the significance of that visit to the case.
Investigators also allege that Llantada gave Palacios a small, coded note from her husband authorizing the murder of Gonzalez-Mu oz and Roacha. Palacios is the only "made" Eme member to be charged in the case.
Cooley said the case has put a "small dent" in La Eme's operations, and that local law enforcement will continue to use every legal tool at its disposal against the group.
"We are going after these people who order and coordinate violence on our streets, and we are not waiting for a murder to be committed," said Cooley. "This is a large, sophisticated organization that has been around for generations and is extremely violent. But we are sophisticated, too."
Sadly it was an unrelated killing - that of Whitehead - that led investigators to the Llantada case, L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina said.
"(Robert Whitehead) had respect, both for himself and his community," said Molina. "He was simply defending his neighborhood - and he paid for his bravery with his life."
Staff writer Ruby Gonzales contributed to this story.
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.
Paper: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Title: A CHINESE BATTLE ON U.S. SOIL - PERSECUTED GROUP'S CAMPAIGN CATCHES POLITICIANS IN THE MIDDLE
Author: SARAH LUBMAN, Mercury News
Date: December 23, 2001
The battle between the Chinese government and Falun Gong, the banned spiritual group, has spilled onto American soil, catching sympathetic but uninformed bystanders in the crossfire.
As Falun Gong's overseas followers have stepped up appeals for public support, often invoking the movement's principles of tolerance and compassion, hundreds of American politicians have responded with letters and proclamations, including the mayor of San Jose and members of California's congressional delegation.It is a chorus that the Chinese government has tried to mute. But in supporting Falun Gong as a victim of Chinese communist repression, U.S. politicians often have unwittingly endorsed a philosophy that is intolerant in many respects and in conflict with the values of a Western democracy.
One teaching, for example, explains the existence of mixed-race people -- who number 1.6 million in California -- as instruments of an alien plot to destroy humanity's link to heaven.
Some critics say Falun Gong has deliberately obscured its teachings in the West so it can manipulate domestic and foreign policy.
''They know how to play politics with American elected officials,'' said Ming Xia, a political-science professor at the City University of New York onStaten Island.
He calls Falun Gong ''Janus-faced,'' saying it presents itself in China as a moral-revival movement, but in the West as a movement for freedom of religion and thought.
Falun Gong adherents in the United States deny this, saying human rights seem emphasized in the West only because the persecuted group cannot raise them in China.
''Chinese practitioners also try to present these issues but have no way to do it,'' said Sherry Zhang, a research chemist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Falun Gong activist. ''Here, we have freedom of speech.''
Beijing sees it differently.
''I think Falun Gong has been used as a tool by congressmen to extend pressure to the Chinese government, although some know it's a cult,'' said Wang Yunxiang, consul-general in San Francisco.
According to one veteran China-watcher, Orville Schell, the West's blind embrace of Falun Gong fits into a well-established pattern of viewing communist China in black-and-white terms, missing the complexities and nuances.
''This has been the tradition,'' said Schell, dean of the journalism school at the University of California-Berkeley. ''Anyone the Chinese government opposes gets lionized as righteous.''
Propaganda war
-China tries to stop outreach by 'cult'
Last year, the Chinese propaganda war came to Saratoga. As in hundreds of other cities, followers requested a proclamation honoring their practice, formally known as Falun Dafa -- ''Great Way of the Law Wheel.''
The mayor, Stan Bogosian, did not know much about Falun Gong beyond that China had persecuted its adherents since banning the group in 1999. But his proclamation did more than assert followers' rights to their beliefs. It encouraged Saratogans to become aware of ''this ancient Chinese practice'' and its ''higher goals of ultimately bringing people toward wisdom.''
Bogosian was not prepared for the reaction. The Chinese consul-general in San Francisco, Wang, sent a letter calling the group a cult and asking Bogosian to retract the proclamation. He refused.
''My basic understanding was that the mayors who issue proclamations for Falun Gong know little about it,'' Wang said. ''I thought it was my responsibility to let him know more.''
Bogosian says he does not know much about Falun Gong philosophy and does not need to. ''On the surface, what I see out there looks reasonable,'' he said. ''The issue for me is what the Chinese government is doing to its citizens. That's my issue -- and their attempt to come in and interfere with our process. I'm not getting into the substance.''
Bogosian's proclamation joined hundreds on a Falun Gong Web site, most from the United States and Canada. More than 70 have been issued in California, testimony to the state's large number of followers.
Local practitioners say the Bay Area has 200 to 300 followers who try to raise awareness about Falun Gong's persecution. They say the number of practitioners is higher but cannot provide a figure.
Mixture of beliefs
Falun Gong draws on Taoist, Buddhist and other Eastern concepts, including Chinese folk beliefs that resonate with its largely Chinese followers. It also reflects elements of popular Chinese culture, such as an interest in UFOs and aliens.
The movement has three main principles: ''Truthfulness'' (Zhen), ''Compassion'' (Shan) and a concept that gets translated as either ''Tolerance'' or, more accurately, ''Forbearance'' (Ren). According to Li Hongzhi, the group's founder, ren is the ability to tolerate or endure suffering imposed by others. Li has said his teachings are best understood in Chinese.
Some scholars who study Falun Gong say Westerners are misled by its third principle. '' 'Tolerance' suggests respecting other people's viewpoints,'' said David Ownby, a Chinese-history professor at the University of Montreal. ''That's not what it means.''
Ownby says Li ''shares no common background with our Enlightenment heritage and its emphasis on the individual, on acceptance of difference.''
There is a good reason most outsiders and even some Western practitioners do not know about Li Hongzhi's teachings on race or about homosexuality, which he views as perverse: Many are available primarily in Chinese, and are not featured in Falun Gong's promotional materials.
Falun Gong's bible, Li's book ''Zhuan Falun,'' is posted in English on the Internet, the same vehicle for its well-coordinated human rights appeals. The book can be bought from Li's publishing firm or downloaded for free. The English version does not mention race. It briefly criticizes homosexuality, a stance not uncommon in socially conservative China.
Li gets more extreme when he expounds on his teachings to followers in his numerous talks, some of which have not been translated, and in the second volume of his book, which is no longer available in English.
Some practitioners in the United States acknowledge that Li's philosophy rejects homosexuality, but say Falun Gong followers are not trying to prevent it.
''We're not going out on the street and saying, 'Stop doing that,' '' said Shizhong Chen, a biology researcher at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. ''That would be intolerant.''
Chen and other followers say Li's comments on race echo Jesus' teachings and have been misunderstood. They say Li's teachings about aliens cannot be disproved.
Li, a former grain clerk, blends philosophy with meditation, moral precepts and slow-motion exercises. He preaches that in an age of moral decay, practitioners must shed bad karma through suffering and self-cultivation by doing the exercises and reading his book over and over.
Li encourages followers, whom he distinguishes from ''everyday people,'' to study his book in groups. The goal is to purify one's mind and heart to attain a loftier spiritual plane, which Li calls ''consummation,'' a kind of paradise. ''If I cannot save you, nobody else can,'' Li writes, echoing the promise of countless religious movements throughout the ages.
When Li started teaching Falun Gong in China in 1992, it was one of many schools of qigong, a form of exercise meant to channel qi (pronounced ''chee''), a traditional Chinese concept of energy. With China's communist safety net eroding, state media initially praised Falun Gong for improving people's health. The group registered with an official qigong association.
But in the mid-1990s, Li split from the association, and the media began criticizing Falun Gong for advocating ''feudal superstitions.'' Li began lecturing abroad, and by 1998, he had moved to New York.
He left behind an escalating crisis. Criticism of Falun Gong mounted in China's state-run press. Without a public forum, followers began protesting outside media offices. During April 19-23, 1999, several thousand practitioners protested in Tianjin over an article that criticized Li. More than 50 were arrested.
Two days later on April 25, more than 10,000 followers gathered silently in front of Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership compound off Tiananmen Square. China's government, which is struggling to maintain social control, was spooked by the fact that such a large gathering could suddenly materialize, mere weeks before the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Three months later, China banned Falun Gong and branded it a subversive ''evil cult.'' That drove more followers to protest, many of whom were arrested as a result. Falun Gong has since gone underground in China, claiming 100 million members. The government estimates there are as few as 2 million.
Li's remarks from the United States became increasingly apocalyptic, posing China's persecution as a test of faith and urging followers to defy ''evil beings.'' ''Anyone who tries to make excuses for himself and who's never stepped forward is wrong,'' Li said in July.
Falun Gong representatives did not respond to repeated requests to interview Li.
Falun Gong followers say the non-violent spiritual group, unlike Chinese authorities, does not violate the rights of those who do not share its views. The group says tens of thousands of practitioners have been incarcerated in China, and that more than 300 have died of torture by police.
In January, five people identified by the government as practitioners set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. A 12-year-old girl and her motherdied.
Although state television showed the protesters seated in the meditative lotus position used in Falun Gong, representatives of the movement say they were not true practitioners. Adherents in the United States circulate a video that suggests the government staged the incident.
During a recent visit to China, Mary Robinson, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, expressed concern that Beijing is using the U.S.-led war against terrorism as an excuse to step up crackdowns on both its Muslim minority and Falun Gong.
The Chinese government says more than 1,600 Falun Gong followers have died, most from refusing medical treatment or suicide. The government will not cooperate with attempts to confirm its accounts. When the Mercury News Beijing Bureau asked to speak with former followers, it was referred to a government cult-monitoring agency for which there is no public phone number.
Homosexuality
Leader spreading
idea of perversion
Though Li is often vague about how to become a better person, he is specific on a few points. One is that homosexuality is perverse.
''The disgusting homosexuality shows the dirty abnormal psychology of the gay who has lost his ability of reasoning at the present time,'' Li wrote in Volume II of ''Zhuan Falun,'' or ''Turning the Law Wheel,'' which was translated into English in 1996. It is now posted on Falun Gong's main Web site only in Chinese.
In a 1998 talk in Switzerland, Li said gay people would be ''eliminated'' by ''the gods.'' Asked in Frankfurt, Germany, that year whether gays could practice Falun Gong, Li answered, to a round of applause, ''You can cultivate, but you must give up the bad conduct.''
Those lectures can be read on www.falundafa.org or ordered from Li's publishing company in Chinese, but they have not been translated into English. Two organization officials said they did not know why. The Mercury News read Li's comments in Chinese.
Li also regards mixed-race or ''cross-bred'' people as rootless and deviant, a sign of morally bankrupt times.
In Li's world view, mixed-race people are a plot by the evil extraterrestrials who populate his cosmology, which spills over with accounts of lost civilizations, higher realms and mysteries that science cannot grasp.
''By mixing the races of humans, the aliens make humans cast off gods,'' he said in a lecture in Switzerland.
(But Li says practitioners may marry people of other races -- one of many contradictions in his philosophy.)
Li told followers that aliens came in droves during the Industrial Revolution and that they aim to take over human souls through science, monitoring people by assigning every computer a number.
''By embedding their technology and science in human bodies, aliens control their thoughts,'' Li said.
Some Chinese-speaking practitioners interviewed in California knew of Li's views and did not dispute them.
''Actually, a lot of scientists believe in aliens,'' said Sherry Zhang of the Berkeley lab. ''Just because we can't find them doesn't mean they don't exist.''
Alicia Zhao, a Foster City marketing consultant who sends out e-mail bulletins about China's persecution, said: ''It depends on how you define aliens. There may be intelligent beings we may not be able to see with our naked eyes.''
Like many Chinese practitioners, Zhao and Zhang had tried other forms of qigong before they learned of Falun Gong through friends. They say it has improved their health and relieved stress.
Other practitioners said Li's remarks about aliens, race and gay people are a small part of his teachings, or that they require more study to understand.
But some Western practitioners who discovered Falun Gong in the context of China's persecution of it were less aware of Li's views.
''My understanding of Falun Gong's teachings is that everybody has the right to their own sexual preference, and as a practitioner should be kind and tolerant toward everyone, regardless of age, race, culture, or sexual preference,'' said Alejandro Centurion, a neurology resident at StanfordHospital.
He learned of Falun Gong through press coverage of the 1999 protest and crackdown, and has read ''Zhuan Falun'' in English 10 to 15 times.
Dean Tsaggaris, an engineer at Xilinx who runs a Falun Gong Web site, was aware of Li's critique of homosexuality and was not bothered by it.
''Generally, traditional cultures have similar concepts and values,'' said Tsaggaris, who began practicing in 1997.
Besides, he said, singling out Li's individual teachings is misleading. ''Teacher discourages us from quoting him out of context. It's too difficult to understand one sentence without the whole paragraph or the whole book.''
Like scores of civic leaders, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales didn't know any of this when he signed a letter commending Li.
''Your teachings and practices have impacted millions of people all over the world, encouraging truth, compassion and tolerance to improve individual lives and society as a whole,'' the 1999 letter said.
With those words, Gonzales became part of Falun Gong's Internet lobbying campaign.
His quote is featured on a flier, posted on a Web site for practitioners to download and distribute, as an example of ''proclamations and other forms of recognition for the contributions Falun Dafa has made to local communities throughout the United States.''
A press secretary for Gonzales, David Vossbrink, said such letters are routine: ''I don't think the mayor is very aware of the details of Falun Gong except what we've seen in press accounts of what's happening in China. We're familiar with Falun Gong here as a spiritual discipline with tai chi-like physical movements.''
Accidental pawn
Gonzales was not the only person to wind up on the Internet as an accidental pawn in an intramural Chinese war. A political-science professor in the Midwest was stunned to find himself drawn into the fray after inviting Falun Gong followers to speak to his class.
Wesley Milner, who teaches at the University of Evansville in Indiana, was one of thousands of academics contacted by practitioners seeking to promote their cause. Milner thought the topic would interest his students.
He did not know that the practitioners would post an account of their visit on www.minghui.org, the Chinese-language Web site where Li's latest statements appear. It portrayed Milner as sympathetic to Falun Gong.
Two days later, Milner got e-mail from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, giving the Chinese government's perspective. Then he was contacted by Deng Zixian, a Chinese doctoral student and ardent Falun Gong critic in Texas.
Milner was even more surprised to discover that Evansville had proclaimed Dec. 27, 2000, ''Falun Dafa Day.''
''These people here in middle America, they don't know anything about it,'' Milner said. Looking back, he said he felt used: ''I don't want to be out there trumpeting a cause I know nothing about.''
Qing Liu, a Columbus, Ohio, practitioner who contacted Milner, said she should have asked permission to post his name. She acknowledged that U.S. proclamations do not reflect a true understanding of Falun Gong, but said they help counter Chinese government propaganda.
''If someone says that Falun Gong is banned in China, but it's not illegal in the U.S. and local governments give us this award, it helps people in China understand.''
Angry rhetoric
Chinese tactics
seen as too tough
Chinese government officials sometimes manage to block Falun Gong proclamations, although their angry rhetoric often backfires.
Chinese Embassy and consular officials won apologies from the governors of Connecticut and Maryland, and the mayors of Alhambra and Seattle. But attempts to stop two Falun Gong conferences in Pasadena fell flat.
One consular official in Los Angeles warned the California Institute of Technology that it would be ''illegal'' to hold a Falun Gong event, but the Pasadena university did not back down, citing freedom of speech.
Two years ago, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown signed a proclamationdecreeing July 23, 1999, ''Li Hongzhi Day,'' but a ceremony was canceled abruptly. P.J. Johnston, Brown's press secretary, would not say why Brown changed course. Both he and a Chinese consular official said there was no pressure.
Falun Gong has also garnered high-visibility support for a loftier cause: getting Li nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. In January, four Bay Area members of Congress, Democratic Reps. Tom Lantos, Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren and Pete Stark, joined 41 other lawmakers in signing a letter that praised Li for promoting the ''highest humanitarian values.''
''Mr. Li believes that by consistently pursuing truth, showing compassion, and practicing tolerance, an oppressed people will embrace a morally and practically sound method to purify their own minds and to resolve conflicts in any kind of society,'' said the letter, which was circulated by Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
When the Mercury News asked the Bay Area legislators whether they knew about Li's views on homosexuals and race before they signed the letter, three said no.
''Obviously I wouldn't recommend to the Nobel Institute someone who's anti-gay, because that's a human right,'' Eshoo said.
She subsequently rescinded her nomination, writing to the Nobel Institute that while practitioners deserve freedom of speech, belief and assembly, ''Mr. Li has made statements that are offensive to me and are counter to many of my core beliefs.''
Stark said he signed because of Falun Gong's principles and Li's efforts to advance freedom in China, adding, ''If Mr. Li holds views which promote intolerance of any kind, I was not aware of it.''
Neither was Lofgren. When she asked Falun Gong adherents about Li's beliefs on homosexuality and race, Allen Zeng, a San Jose follower, replied that Falun Gong's philosophy applies only to practitioners. ''Falun Gong has no intention of promoting its own principles beyond its own circle of practitioners,'' he wrote.
Lofgren said that while she no longer considers Li to be Nobel Prize material, any publicity about Falun Gong may discourage its persecution.
''In addition to Falun Gong, there are other belief systems and religions we may find in some measure wrong, but that doesn't mean oppression of the believers is morally correct,'' she wrote in an e-mail to the Mercury News.
Lantos, one of Congress' toughest China critics, was unapologetic. He said he nominated Li to call attention to China's persecution: ''As with many human rights cases in which I have been involved, I do not agree with Li Hongzhi on all issues, and no one is a greater advocate for the rights of gays and lesbians at home and abroad than I.''
The U.S. State Department gets occasional calls from cities asking whether they should sign pro-Falun Gong proclamations. It tells them to make their own decisions, a State Department official said. The U.S. government has said repeatedly that practitioners' rights should not be violated, but has not taken a position on their beliefs.
But human rights groups, particularly those run by Chinese activists, know what Li preaches and do not endorse it.
''We stay away from what they're doing, the practice,'' said Ignatius Ding of Silicon Valley for Democracy in China. ''We speak about human rights, which doesn't mean we believe a certain religion.''
Similarly, Xiao Qiang, executive director of New York-based Human Rights in China, disagrees with Li's stance on homosexuality and his insistence that practitioners follow only his teachings.
''Personally, Human Rights in China supports Falun Gong members' rights, but I don't support Li Hongzhi's message,'' Xiao said.
Teacher in exile
Li, whom followers refer to by the Chinese honorific ''master,'' formerly lived in Queens, New York. His current location is not known. He owns Universe Publishing, a private New Jersey company that sells his books, videos and practice tapes.
Li says he will ''personally install'' falun (a wheel of law) in his followers' abdomens. He also says practicing Falun Gong unleashes supernatural powers, reverses the effects of aging and prevents illness -- although not ifyou strive for such results. Mental patients and the mentally retarded cannot practice, he says.
Followers do not pay dues and are linked by the Internet, where new Li statements appear every few weeks, along with news updates and a running tally of persecuted victims in China.
Falun Gong's Web sites -- which are hacked frequently -- also list practice sessions and contacts around the globe. Adherents meet to share testimonials at occasional self-funded conferences, but have little or no direct contact with Li.
Although Falun Gong's promotional materials often show multiethnic groups of followers, most are of Chinese origin. Enthusiasts spread the word through the Web and through free talks and seminars, where they show videotaped talks by Li and teach the exercises.
Falun Gong's victim status was a draw for some people who attended a two-hour introductory seminar in Mountain View earlier this year. ''When I heard the Chinese government was oppressing it, I knew there must be something to it,'' said one non-Chinese participant.
As China's crackdown hardens, Falun Gong followers in the United States push for condemnation of local Chinese government offices. In April, followers asked the San Francisco Human Rights Commission to pass a resolution that accused the Chinese Consulate of ''harassment and defamation'' in an assault on practitioners in Portsmouth Square Park. The consulate denied involvement.
The human rights commission was sympathetic to Falun Gong's complaint, especially after getting a letter from the consul general that blasted the group as a ''cult.''
But commission members were wary of allegations that the consulate orchestrated the attack. Their revised resolution mentioned ''incidents of violence'' in San Francisco, but not the consulate.
Falun Gong followers have moved on. In September, the San Jose City Council adopted a resolution supporting the rights of local practitioners. It refers to ''interference in local Falun Gong activities,'' but the council dropped proposed language that blamed the Chinese Consulate.
Nan Su, a Santa Clara County building-inspection engineer and Falun Gong practitioner who drafted the measure, was not fazed. ''Anybody who hears this resolution will be pretty clear who the finger is pointed at,'' he said.
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.