Motivational Message To Help With Your New Year's Resolution

Step away from the doughnuts.
That is all.
Happy New Year.

Today's Random Rip-Off Of You, The Taxpayer

Have you gotten a thank-you card yet from Marco Contreras and Olga Contreras? Me, neither, which is surprising, because you and I gave them quite the generous Christmas gift: $48,423 of our tax money.

Villaraigosa and the Spring Street Gang squander your money so fast that yours truly, who actually has to work for a living, can't keep track of it. But from time to time I take a random look at the City's contract website.  You can, too:  click here.

Today I noticed the $48,423 "contract" which is really nothing more than a gift. The recipients apparently don't speak English, insofar as they filled in the blanks for the date with the word "Deciembre" rather than "December."

The "contract" provides that they get our money as "purchase assistance" for a house, but they don't have to pay it back in monthly installments, and they don't have to pay it back with interest. Indeed, they don't have to pay anything back unless they sell the house at a profit. What do you want to bet that, when the time comes, they sell it to cousin Jimmy at a loss, and then cousin Jimmy re-sells at a profit?

Here's another interesting tidbit: the online version of the contract -- which is supposed to be posted to provide "transparency" so you and I can see how we're being ripped off -- was not only scanned in reverse order, but is missing the odd-numbered pages. The dedication to excellence downtown apparently did not include noticing all the text on the back of each page.

And remember, this is just one of dozens of "contracts" per day to redistribute your hard-earned money to people with political connections, without any benefit to you or the public interest. I don't have time to get into the boondoggles involving the Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company, the Kwanzaa Heritage Foundation, or Mafia Papers, Inc.

Bottom line:  You need to shake up the City Council by electing some new people in March 2011, and you need to vote against any and all proposals to increase your taxes.

New Year's Resolution: Lose 550 Pounds Of City Councilmen

Don't just vow to lose 10 or 20 pounds this year. Go for hundreds. Help dump at least 550 pounds of excess weight from the City Council by getting rid of Tony Cardenas, Jose Huizar and Herb Wesson, and replacing them with Rudy Martinez, David Barron, and Althea Shaw.

And remember: this is not a particularly daunting task. Cardenas, Huizar and Wesson squeaked into office by narrow margins.  As the table I posted months ago shows, Cardenas won by just 1,178 votes; Huizar, by just 2,096 votes; and Wesson, by just 4,809 votes -- and he didn't even have an opponent last time. These men are beatable.

So how about you pitch in and send, say, $25 each to Martinez, Barron and Shaw? Heck, you could even volunteer to walk door to door, handing out flyers, which also counts as exercise.  Here are links to their websites:

  Althea Shaw - District 10

David Barron - District 6

Rudy Martinez - District 14

More Mayoral Malpractice: Constipated Stimulus Spending

Don't let this wipe that egg-nog induced smile off your delightful face, but the Los Angeles Times has documented yet another example of the incompetence of the moron elected Mayor of Los Angeles due to overwhelming indifference of the City's voters.

Villaraigosa is always so preoccupied with his next photo-op that he doesn't even take the trivial steps needed to spend "free" money from the federal government to promote employment.  Here's an example from the article:

In one instance uncovered in an audit by City Controller Wendy Greuel, four transportation projects that were supposed to be "shovel-ready" — including the installation of 85 left-turn signals and 25 new traffic lights — were not put out to bid for seven months after they were approved by state and federal officials in the summer of 2009.

Hey, no need to rush, Mr. Mayor. I mean, so what if your policies have produced an unemployment rate of 13.7% in Los Angeles, while the rate in Orange County and nation-wide was 9.7%. What's another seven months looking in vain for a job, after all?

Don't you wish you could sue politicians for malpractice? This would be a slam-dunk.

But you can't, so just go back to the egg nog and forgive me for even mentioning this.

City Hall Should Buy Or Build Cisterns

Good mudslide

As the Los Angeles Times points out today, Southern California has an elaborate system of pipes to import water from the mountains. Nature, however, routinely bombards us with more water than we know what to do with, in the form of massive rainstorms that overturn lawn furniture, trigger mudslides -- not the TGIF kind -- and turn everyone into the worst driver ever.

Do we save a drop thereof? No. We give all that water the bum's rush into the ocean, then subject ourselves to excessive DWP rates and dead lawns to discourage consumption of water.

So how about we use some simple, reliable technology that's been around since before the 13th century? On our most recent trip to beautiful Perpignan, France -- home of Mrs. Moore's fabulous MakeYourOwnDamnBreakfast.com vacation apartments -- I visited the Palace of the Kings of Majorca, which later became a massive citadel. You know how they stored water back in the day? Cisterns.

View Larger Map

Why not do the same thing here and now? Why not collect, along with all that free solar energy from the sky, some free water, too? Perhaps we can have rooftop units, though those can't be too big or they will topple buildings.

We already have this massive, paved, L.A. river, which sometimes actually behaves like a river, with actual water running through it. How much civil engineering would it take to build some diversionary damns to shunt a few lakes' worth of this rainwater into giant tanks and/or reservoirs? We already have water treatment facilities, right?

We need some outside-the-box thinking at the DWP about how to get some of this FREE, heaven-sent rainwater inside some boxes. Cisterns, baby, cisterns.

Palace of the Kings of Majorca, in Perpignan, France.  Way cool.

The Catalan Empire back in the day...

Merry Christmas!

Here's hoping you find something delightful under the tree tomorrow. 

Sam, waiting to greet Santa.

Bullet Train vs. Southwest Air vs. Wall

Los Angeles to San Francisco:  $59

The LA Weekly has the gall the challenge the wisdom of building a bullet train to Bakersfield for a trifling $43 billion. Everyone I know is just dying to go to Bakersfield, and to get there by bullet train.

Hey, did you know Southwest will fly you from LA to San Francisco for $59?


Sure you did.  Now the hard part, the math part.  Do you know how many of those airline tickets you could buy for $43 billion?  That's right:  over 728 million tickets.  That's over 364 million round trips.

So why are we taxing ourselves to build this bullet?  Does anyone really want to go to Bakersfield at all, much less by train?

I'd like to propose an alternative public works project, one that is shovel-ready, has zero environmental impact, and could produce a tremendous return on the investment. Here goes:

Even More Of Your Money Is Going To Cardenas's Sister

When it's a slow news day, and I haven't yet finished my coffee, sometimes I like to look at the latest obscene "contracts" that City Hall is handing out to the friends and family of the career politicians in the Spring Street Gang.

You yourself can browse through the City's contracts, or at least summaries thereof, at a website the City maintains: click here.

You may remember how, back in August, I highlighted some of the "contracts" awarded to City Councilman Cardenas's sister and brother-in-law, and their business and/or "non-profit," Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural. Remember? Sending low-rider cars to Mexico? Ring a bell -- as in, "Bell on Steroids?"

Well, they're still at it. On November 18, 2010, a contract was amended to give sis mo' time and mo' money. A "contract" that originally called for "just" $7,000 of your hard-earned money has been extended and increased so that now "Tia Chucha" will receive $34,000 of your money from this contract alone.  (Click here for the City's summary.)

Do NOT let Cardenas keep his job. Help replace him with David Barron, candidate for District 6. While you're at it, help replace Huizar and Wesson with Martinez and Shaw, would you?

Twenty-Six City Council Candidates And You

Twenty-six candidates have each obtained the 500 signatures needed to get their names on the ballot for the March 2011 election in which seven City Council seats are up for grabs.

Six incumbents -- six of the people responsible for the mess that is City Hall -- hope to hang onto their positions of power.  They are:  Tony Cardenas, Jose Huizar, Herb Wesson, Bernard Parks, Tom LaBonge and Paul Krekorian.

These six City Council members have been part of the Spring Street Gang that brought you the following:

• Obscene waste of your hard-earned tax dollars (e.g., by giving money to Cardenas's brother-in-law to take low-rider cars to Mexico);
• Welfare for the rich (e.g., hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies per year to billionaire developers) even as they closed libraries;
• Unemployment far above the national, state, and county rates (i.e., 13.7% here vs. 9.6% nation-wide and in Orange County), which translates into over 264,000 of our neighbors desperate to find jobs, while these local career politicians pose for photo-ops and pretend all is well;
• Highest-ever DWP rates, which are used not to fund water and power, but instead cash transfers to the general fund, because City Council does not want to bother getting the voter approval required under the California Constitution for a formal tax hike;
• Highest-ever tax rates and fees, which is just frikkin' ideal, especially during in a recession;
• Brink of bankruptcy, despite the fact that revenues are near all-time highs, an achievement they managed by increasing spending over 30% over the past few years; and
• Dumb-ass resolutions galore on topics having nothing to do with serving you, the taxpayer (e.g., condemning African nations and butting into Latin American murder investigations).

Will L.A.'s voters be oblivious and/or stupid enough to return any of the six incumbents to office? Almost certainly, yes. Why? Because the special interests feeding at the public trough will fund their campaigns.

What can you do about it?  Plenty: 

Why Is L.A. Times Surprised By Villaraigosa's Latest Photo-Ops?

"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Obama."

Today's Los Angeles Times includes an article by Cathleen Decker about three of Mayor Villaraigosa's latest attempts at media manipulation, entitled, "L.A. mayor makes 3 public forays." The sub-head states, "Villaraigosa is stepping out, politically speaking, but where is he going?"

Cathleen, darling, have you been in a coma the past seven years, or are you just playing dumb? Villaraigosa is going exactly the same place he's always gone:  wherever cameras are pointed.

Villaraigosa -- as yours truly has documented in an essay in the Daily News -- spends our hard-earned tax dollars on no less than five press secretaries, a "Deputy Mayor of Communications," an "Associate Director of Communications," two press aides, and a "media aide." If I weren't trying to cut down on my blogging, I would write a parody of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" to describe that massive media entourage.

Whatever story the press is covering, Villraigosa and his Group of Eleven try to manufacture some pretext to insinuate him into the story. 

California Demographics: Dyslexic Rats Scurried Onto Sinking Ship

Here are the latest demographics of interest from the California Department of Finance.

• California's total population increase last year: 350,174.
• Number of births: 524,476.
• Number of deaths: 240,677.
• Births minus deaths: 283,799
• Net "immigration" (i.e., people moving here from foreign countries minus people moving to foreign countries from here): 138,859.
• Net "domestic migration" (i.e., number of people moving here from another state, minus people moving to another state from here): -72,484.
• Net "migration" (i.e., all people moving in minus all people moving out): 66,375. 

I interpret the migration figures to mean that illegal aliens keep pouring in, but American citizens are fleeing. California, in short, keeps importing poverty and exporting middle-class Americans. 


The figures for Los Angeles County are particularly telling:  net "immigration" of 42,426, and net "domestic migration" of -47,568. 

It's Official: Barron vs. Cardenas for City Council

The City Clerk's Office has officially confirmed that you don't have to settle for four more years of Tony "Low Rider" Cardenas on the City Council, and that you can instead have someone terrific, namely, David Barron.

Barron has my endorsement and I even managed to send a tiny contribution by cutting into my cigar budget. How about sending $25 his way, or more, if you can. Think of it as a Christmas present to yourself.  Here's a link to his website:  Barron4CC.com.

How To Catch Tens Of Thousands Of Illegal Aliens Easily And Save Lives

The New York Times has a great article today, entitled, "When a traffic case leads to deportation," on how Georgia catches illegal aliens simply by demanding production of driver's licenses during traffic stops, and by interviewing jail inmates.  Also included is an account of how one drunk driver, who shouldn't have been in the country illegally, was caught and released, caught and released, even after he killed a man in a hit-and-run.

Gaydar In The Czech Republic

So let's say your from a middle-eastern country where there's no such thing as homosexuality -- like, say, Iran -- and you'd like asylum some place where the language is super-hard to learn. Naturally, you pick the Czech Republic.

But how do you prove you're gay? Just kissing a guy won't cut it. Instead, you will be attached to a device, and shown heterosexual porn. Do NOT get aroused. If you do, no asylum for you.

You could not make this stuff up. But you can read about it at the BBC website.

It's Official: Althea Shaw Qualifies For City Council Ballot

Thank goodness! It's official: Althea Shaw's name will appear on the March 8, 2011 ballot for City Council.

You may not realize this, but it's pretty doggone hard to get the required 500 valid signatures to accomplish this. Think about how you yourself avoid even making eye contact with strangers holding clip boards. To get your name on the ballot, you have to convince 500 perfect strangers, and three dozen imperfect ones, to stop, listen, and then write down their name, home address, and give you there autograph.

Way to go, Althea.

Let's hope David Barron gets his papers in soon, too. We need him on the ballot. To see who has qualified, and who has not, click here for the latest list from the City Clerk.

Prediction: Julian Assange Will Be Time's Man Of The Year

Winner - 1979

For what it's worth -- absolutely nothing, except perhaps a few minutes of water cooler discourse -- I hereby predict that Time magazine will name Julian Assange, the Wikileaks guy, "Man of the Year" for 2010.

Click here to see the list for 1927 to 2006.

POST-SCRIPT - DECEMBER 15, 2010:
My prediction was right, except for the name. Time named Mark Zuckerberg "Person of the Year." Maybe next time.

It's L.A.'s Voters Who Need Their Head Examined

Correction:  $50,000, not five cents.

David Zahniser reports in the Los Angeles Times that the DWP spent $50,000 of YOUR MONEY on a psychologist to answer the musical question, "Can't we all just get along," where "we" comprised the top two executives at the agency that overcharges you for water and power, namely, Messrs. Nahai and Raj. Read it and rage on.

Better yet, read it, then send a check for $25 to candidates David Barron, Rudy Martinez and, when she gets enough signatures, Althea Shaw.

Zahniser reports:

The psychologist received nearly $50,000 under a contract that required him to give only an oral report to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office. As a result, there is no written record, a DWP spokesman said.

*    *    *

Nahai and Raj became the top two executives at the utility in November 2007. Both had raised money for Villaraigosa's 2005 mayoral campaign.  

Man, if yours truly had been elected, heads would have rolled, not shrunk. Hey, how much would it cost to have that same guy examine Villaraigosa's head?

Assisted Political Suicide: City Councilman Huizar Hires Trujillo

Does Huizar realize who his doctor is?

Good news:  Rudy Martinez is now practically guaranteed victory in his campaign to become the City Councilman for L.A.'s 14th District.

City Councilman Jose Huizar -- the incumbent -- just barely squeaked into office last time around with the narrowest of margins, namely, just 2,096 more than the bare minimum needed to win. Yours truly wrote about this back in August.

Now Huizar has made the dumbest move possible, namely, hiring a dufus named Michael Trujillo to serve as his campaign manager. Trujillo's track record is abysmal. Trujillo is to political campaigns what Jack Kevorkian is to medical care.

Case in point:  Trujillo managed to lose the Measure B solar campaign despite having a massive budget, an unfunded opposition, and, for God's sake, solar power on his side. He didn't just lose, dude snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Water Again

What a feeling! (It's a song.)

Yours truly, when running for Mayor and thereafter, advocated construction of a desalinization plant.  


An article the Los Angeles Times explains the numerous regulatory hurdles companies trying to build these plants in California face.   Telling quotation: "Building a desalination plant on schedule in the state is a rarity. There's even been talk among industry officials of piping in water from plants in Mexico to avoid the complications."


The reason is that one needs permits from "state and regional water boards, air boards, environmental reviews and the state Coastal Commission."


It's time for the California legislature and then Brown to step in, wipe out the litigation and excessive regulation through legislation, and get desalination plants up and running. This is ridiculous.

You're Being Railroaded

Finally, government is giving the people of California what they have demanded: a train from Borden to Corcoran.

Yeah, I have no idea where those cities are either. But $4.15 billion of your tax money will be spent laying track, not from A to B, but from, like, K to three-quarters of the way to L.