East Of West L.A.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Thursday, June 19, 2008

West Hollywood Wedding Tent

As same-sex marriages are no longer illegal in California, mass weddings were held Wednesday in West Hollywood, the epicenter for gay life in Los Angeles.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Tim Russert seems to have been an exceptionally fine
husband, father and son. I don't discount that at
all but he in no way can be considered the excellent
journalist that his co-workers are claiming him to
have been. I can't recall, and I haven't been able
to find anything on the Internet, in which he broke
or even challenged any kind of story despite operating
during a time when Washington was rife with scandal and
incompetence.

As a matter of fact, the endless recapping of his career
this afternoon is virtually empty as to any examples of
hard news that he uncovered. A savvy Washingtonian without
doubt but as to any pre-war skepticism, any Walter Reed-type
expose, it just never happened. And let's not forget about
the retired military men who were constantly brought out
for their supposedly objective analysis. Never a word
as to their current employment with defense contractors.
Russert was the head of NBC's Washington bureau and
said nothing but that would be expected as General
Electric, a big defense contractor itself, owns NBC.

Think of him as fine human being but not an especially
good journalist.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Franklin Canyon

This weekend I paid $72 to have my cat groomed. My plan to "Go Vegan" for 7 days lasted for three hours. I really enjoy the political columns by Glenn Greenwald.

Happy Birthday, Matt.

Last week I wrote about my letter to the editor of Harpers Week in Review. This week, they printed it. I'm listening to "Emotional Rescue" by the Rolling Stones from 1978, perhaps their last great album.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City

1.) Dear Harpers magazine:

This is an unedited excerpt from your latest Week In Review:

".....Brazilian football star Ronaldo picked up and was blackmailed by three
transvestite prostitutes, and an eight-year-old boy in Arizona died after a goal
post fell on him during a soccer game.  An Illinois newspaper carrier rescued
an elderly woman whose leg had been pinned for four days under the dead
body of her obese 77-year-old husband."

How is an eight year old getting killed even remotely
appropriate to these other two items?

(I wrote you an e-mail harpers-weekly@harpers.org but
you still haven't responded.)

2.) California's having an election next month which
means prepare to be scammed by the propositions that
are not what they appear to be.  Example: Proposition 98
appears to be about eminent domain  but it will also
phase out rent-controlled apartments.  Vote "No"

3.) Brown rice sushi is a bad idea.