Kyle Field, Little Wings at McCabes

Tonight, I got to see Little Wings ~ Kyle Field and friends perform at McCabes. It was an intimate setting to hear Kyle sing some of his amazing songs. His new albums are filled with gentle sonic blankets of coz. Click here to hear a track, or here as well. Thanks Kyle!

Help Conyers Stand Up To His Special Interests

While I am thrilled with the election victories progressives achieved in November, I am starting to see troubling signs that special interests are increasingly calling the shots. Take a seemingly incomprehensible bill sponsored by John Conyers, a heroic congressman who for years called out the Bush administration for the lies that led to war & the war crimes it perpetrated. As I've become more politically educated and informed, I've consistently found John Conyers fighting the good fight, exposing corruption and looking out for my interests.

The bill, H.R.801 , carries the deceptive title of Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. What it does is effectively double tax Americans who wish to access information that they have already paid to have produced.

Imagine you hire a scientist to come up with a new technology to increase your company's productivity. You give them money, and they give you information. Now, imagine the scientist charges you a fee for the privelege of reading the report you hired him to produce. Would you be upset with this arrangement? This is exactly what John Conyers is trying to push thru Congress. The bill would essentially allow publishers to charge for access to tax-funded research.

Why is John Conyers pushing this legislation? A great article on the Huffington Post follows the money to find out.

...sponsors of this bill -- led by Rep. John Conyers -- received twice as much money from the publishing industry as those on the relevant committee who are not sponsors.

The lesson to be learned here is that just because the party in power is generally one you might prefer, you cannot simply assume everything is now going to be all rainbows and unicorns in Washington. In fact, progressives should be even more vigilent now, keeping corruption and special interests in check, to ensure Americans do not lose confidence in our hard fought victories. Change Congress is a campaign to force congress to commit to real campaign finance reform:

Reforming the system will never be Congress’s first priority until a grassroots movement gives politicians a choice: You can have our money or special interest money, but not both. Now is the time to push for this change, and that’s why the donor strike is important. Please sign on the right.

All citizens, democrats and republicans, progressives and conservatives, should find this a worthwhile goal.

Vote Today Against Antonio's Legacy. Remember The Garden!

from Ron Kaye:

Unplanted trees, unfilled potholes, unfulfilled promises, soaring rates, fees and taxes, politics over policy, personality without progress, 1.000 digital billboards, over-development without planning, worsening traffic congestion and the fatal blow: A $1 billion and rising budget deficit that will lead to even higher rates, fees and taxes and fewer services...

Let's hear it for our Mayor "Villain" Villaraigosa !


Yes: Zuma Dogg and David Hernandez(Mayor), Nick Patsaouras (Controller), Carmen Trutanich (Attorney)
NO: Measure B, and almost any incumbents!

Shout out to Jan "Bulldozer" Perry, the singular force behind the desecration of the South Central Garden!

Westboro Baptists visit my neighborhood

It's a fact. Homeschooled Bigots Prefer Volcom 1 to 1!

Passing their traditions to the next generation

If I could just slip away, I'd be free to live in Hollywood!

That's a lot of look!

Clinton and Villaraigosa announce LED streetlights, but it's just a drop in the bucket

Congratulations to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for a PR event that includes Bill Clinton. Los Angeles will retrofit 140,000 streetlights with LEDs, saving a bunch of energy. According to the Daily News:

Over five years, the city will retrofit 140,000 of its residential street lights with energy-efficient LED lights, an aide to Villaraigosa said. The project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40,500 tons and save $10 million annually, the aide said.

What about those digital billboards? How much energy do those use again? When all billboards are converted, 900 in all, they will consume the energy of 11,000 homes. What does Bill have to say about that?

This begs the question: Do electronic billboards belong in a green city?

DONT FORGET TO VOTE MARCH 3RD! Need to register? Tomorrow is the deadline.

A Growing Chorus Of Critics Against Measure B, Solar Fraud by Villaraigosa, City Council, LADWP & IBEW

The LA Weekly has an excellent article by Beth Barrett explaining the origins and deceptions that led to a massive fraud of unprecedented proportions in Los Angeles' history. Measure B, the so called "Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles Solar Initiative" is actually a multi-billion dollar giveaway to the powerful union of electrical workers and their business manager, Brian D’Arcy.

It could cost $1 billion to $3.6 billion — nobody knows because Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti rushed it so quickly onto the ballot. With about two weeks until the election, City Hall is awash in rumors that Measure B isn’t about bringing solar to L.A. — but was meant to provide Villaraigosa a flashy issue in case he faced a wealthy mayoral challenger, such as the developer of the Grove, Rick Caruso.

This raises critical questions for our elected officials, Garcetti and Villaraigosa. What was their motivation to rush a multi-billion dollar plan with no studies and no real oversight onto voters with a flashy name that is anything but a description of what it will do? The answer is posited later in the article:

Although Villaraigosa clearly supports large-scale solar, Measure B is the brainchild of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 business manager Brian D’Arcy. He was assured that IBEW, representing most of the DWP’s 8,500 employees, would get the bulk, if not all, of the solar-installation work. Mostly unknown outside City Hall, the IBEW is feared by officials like Villaraigosa. The union can quickly jam City Council chambers with members wearing matching union T-shirts and threatening to strike.

Our elected officials are not afraid of us, the people. We are lazy, disinterested and vote more often for American Idol than City Council. This is our fault. We let our elected officials take our city for a joy ride, and should this measure pass, we'll lose more than just a couple billion:

Measure B contains a power grab that requires a change to the city’s constitution, known as the City Charter. In its fine print, Measure B shifts significant oversight power away from the Department of Water and Power Commission and gives that power to the City Council, whose members have almost no educational or professional background in energy or technology.

This measure changes our city's charter, giving control over the largest solar power project in US history to the people who brought you billboard blight, Elephant-gate, illogical parking meters and the largest city deficit as well as the highest taxes ever.

Los Angeles Municipal Elections: Why You Need To Vote

Yes Los Angeles. There is an election coming up on March 3rd. The deadline to register is fast approaching. I'll have a voter guide published soon. But in case you don't think there's anything you care to vote for, here's a short list...

Do you care about people getting mugged while walking alone at night? Then you need to vote.
Do you care about the amount of your electricity bill? Then you need to vote.
Do you care about the visual landscape of the city in which you live? Then you need to vote.
Do you care about schools failing to educate our children? Then you need to vote.
Do you care about parking meters keeping you from eating lunch or seeing a play? Then you need to vote.
Do you care about the corruption and ineffective leadership that results in budget deficits during a period of record taxes and fees paid by residents? Then you need to vote.