Sacramento: April 2007 Archives

Does Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plan to tell speakers at next week's Cinco de Mayo celebration that they are full of hot air and to limit their speeches to 30 seconds each? How about the speakers at the annual September 16 Mexican Independence Day celebration?

That's what he told speakers at Sunday's Israeli Independence Festival at Woodley Park in Van Nuys.

At Villaraigosa's request, officials and dignitaries at the event limited their remarks to 30 seconds in ceremonies that ran so fast that Israel Counsel General Ehud Danoch rushed to summarize almost six decades of Israeli achievements in half a minute.

In the mayor's own remarks, he said he had been attending the festival since 1998, and "the speeches are too long!"

It appears that the motivation for Villaraigosa demanding the 30-second speeches at the ceremonies that began well past 1 p..m. is that the mayor was rushing to get to the annual pre-Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Broadway downtown where he was scheduled to make a 2 p.m. appearance. The mayor didn't even stick around long enough for the Israeli National Anthem at the end of the unusually shortened Israeli Independence ceremony.

The Candidates

Hillary Clinton A
No surprise. Nothing like tutorials from Bill.

Barack Obama B-
Sound bites, more style than substance and little else.

John Edwards B-
Could use another medical update.

Bill Richardson C
Should know that when Castro dies, Cuba will not be in a "post-Democratic" era.

Joe Biden C-
Leading contender... for The Comedy Store.

Chris Dodd C
Where's Bianca Jagger when you need her?

Dennis J. Kucinich C-
Who did this guy's hair dye job?

MIke Gravel D
I thought this guy was dead.

Moderator

Brian Williams D
Hardly Tom Brokaw. Nor Jim Lehrer, for that matter.

This is a political story only in the sense that throughout the country, a fairly new class of people is demanding its rights in legislatures and offices acoss America -- and succeeding in many cases, as they should. The group of people are transgenders, though it is interesting that some of them still refer to themselves by a label that is increasing going out of use within that community -- transsexuxals. Among them is Los Angeles Times sportswriter Mike Penner.

For most who have not known what he has been going through, through much of his life, Mike presents his first-person account today -- "Old Mike, new Christine."

"During my 23 years with The Times' sports department, I have held a wide variety of roles and titles. Tennis writer. Angels beat reporter. Olympics writer. Essayist. Sports media critic. NFL columnist. Recent keeper of the Morning Briefing flame.

"Today I leave for a few weeks' vacation, and when I return, I will come back in yet another incarnation.

"As Christine.

"I am a transsexual sportswriter." Read his story.

Eli Broad apparently isn't waiting on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to come up with an alternative to his seemingly defunct attempt to take over the LAUSD -- and he's found more upscale company with which to partner.

On the eve of the first presidential debate, Broad and the foundation he heads with wife Edythe Wednesday joined up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for what they call "the Strong American Schools campaign" aimed at elevating American education to the top of the upcoming presidential campaign agenda.

Strong American Schools is a nonpartisan public awareness and action campaign designed to give a voice to every American who demands strong leadership to improve our schools.

"The American dream is slipping away, and unless our leaders dramatically improve our public schools, our standard of living, our economy and our very democracy will be threatened,”" Broad said in a statement touting the announcement in Columbia, S.C., where Democratic presidential nominees will square off in a debate Thursday night. "Our country'’s education system is no longer the best in the world. We need every American to demand better schools and specific policy solutions from presidential candidates. Our future depends on it.”"

“Broad and Villaraigosa parted ways on the education front last year when the Los Angeles philanthropist and billionaire grew disenchanted with the mayor's backroom political compromises to get AB 1381 -- the measure to give the mayor control of the LAUSD -- through the legislature.

Even as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger touts his environmental agenda, questions are being raised about his commitment.

The governor has been calling on the federal government to adopt the Kyoto Protocol as he stumps for support to reduce greenhouse gases.

But, in the category of letting no good deed go unpunished, the California League of Conservation Voters released its scorecard and gave the governor a mark of 50 _ down from his ranking of 58 given two years ago.

“Despite the governor's embrace of the enviroment, his record on signing good environmental bills into law remains mediocre,” the League said.