The Budget Crisis

California has been dealing with a ballooning budget crisis for the past 8 months, but the latest flash point of major financial crisis is now hovering over the City of Angels. The city faces a budget deficit close to 1 billion, and could be effectively bankrupt by the summer. How is it even possible that one of the biggest and richest city in America be in such state of disarray?

Everybody in Los Angeles is feeling the pinch as city officials are randomly and drastically cutting spending. First cuts were made in education and social services, and it is now the turn of critical sectors of public life and basic safety to fall under the ax of deep budget cuts. The fire department, in an effort to cut labor cost, has been forced by the city to take crews and paramedic units off the job one day a week through fire stations around Los Angeles. And the cuts are likely to get more severe in the very near future.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is increasingly facing the heat even from within the city council. Last week, Villaraigosa was greeted in the city council chamber by booing city workers after he announced an order to eliminate at least 1,000 city jobs. And there will be thousands more to come for next year indicated Villaraigosa.

“I do not see a scenario where there will not be layoff, not only this year but next year as well. We will not be able to meet our financial obligations sometime in the summer if we don’t act now,” the embattled Mayor said in front of the city council last week.

Others within the council, such as council Janice Hahn, do not see eye to eye with the Mayor on the cut of city employees. Hahn was cheered by the crowd present in the chamber when she argued that laying off people at this juncture would only compound the financial crisis by increasing a soaring unemployment- more than 12 percent in LA county- and put the laid off workers at risk of losing their houses.

The Options Considered by The City Council: A Lack of Vision

An option which the city of LA is taking under serious consideration is to privatize numerous city properties and assets such as the convention center, city garages and even the zoo. Many city in America are going through tough times as local tax revenues- mainly property taxes- have plummeted in conjunction with the recession driven by the real estate bubble and the foreclosures epidemic.

But let’s face it, these remedies considered by the city will not be enough to make the city solvent before the summer. Of course the logical approach should be to increase revenues and also raise taxes. Raising taxes is always unpopular with voters, but it could be the only way for Los Angeles to stay solvent and avoid bankruptcy.

A few options should be on the table: The city could levee a temporary tax on gasoline sold in the county; a toll system on the freeway system would also generate substantial revenues. A perfect example of the city lack of vision and gross mismanagement is an ordinance passed by the city council to shut down most of the medicinal marijuana dispensaries, which were one of the only booming businesses of the city. The ludicrous argument used by the city council was to claim that such businesses “attract crime”. This brings us to our last, and perhaps most damaging argument against Mayor Villaraigosa and the city council at large.

The Los Angeles Police Department Is The $1.2 Billion Gorilla Draining The City Coffers

Mayor Villaraigosa does not have his priorities straight. He has no problem making cuts in all the important sectors of public life-including the fire department- but he is absolutely adamant about not cutting the city Gargantuan police force. The LAPD has 15,000 employees and an annual budget of $1.2 billion.

Even though the budget short fall will top $1 Billion this summer, the city spent between fiscal 2008 and 2009 an astronomical $500 Million for the swanky new headquarters of the LAPD. In April 2009, Villaraigosa and former LAPD chief Bratton announced plans to increase the police department by 10,000 officers. Since then chief Bratton left office to start his own private security firm. This is counterproductive at best, in fact more equitable allocation of city resources such as education, public transportation, prevention efforts and affordable housing would lessen the need for more policing by investing instead in sustaining the communities.

“To Protect And Serve”?

Mayor Villaraigosa’s obsession with “security” is unfortunately shared by most American politicians either Democrats (such as Villaraigosa) or Republicans. It is an irrational policy, and further constitutes a disaster in the making in Los Angeles with its massive police department. It is the same grave systemic problem on the federal level with the military spending, for the sake of “keeping America safe” we put an unbearable and unsustainable strain on the federal budget.

Just think about it for a minute: Los Angeles spend on its police force $1.2 Billion a year, and as a nation we will spend $720 Billion on Defense for 2011. The motto of the LAPD is “to protect and serve”; the 15,ooo employees from the police department will not have much to protect when mid-summer comes and the city is bankrupt from spending too much on them.

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The main difference between movie stars and actors is that, too often, movie stars make the characters they play fit into their own persona. True actors do the opposite by going under the skin of the characters they inhabit on the silver screen. Great actors, such as Jeff Bridges, make this intense psychological challenge of becoming someone else seem effortless.

In “Crazy Heart”, Jeff Bridges accomplished this magical metamorphosis by embodying Bad Blake a down-on-his-luck hard drinking small time country singer. Jeff Bridges is so much at the top of his game in “Crazy Heart” that we can almost smell the tobacco on his clothes and hair, and get a strong whiff of booze from his breath.

The perfect little gem that is “Crazy Heart” finds Bad Blake at the end of his rope. Bad Blake is barely surviving drifting from one small time gig to the next in his beat up old Suburban. Blake is out of control, fading fast and seems to be about to lose his grip on life. But then he meets a young reporter who sees the talent and even the humor of Blake under the crumbling facade, and despite the obvious wreckage of his life.

“Life is funny and tragic, and the humor in the movie gets you a relief from the downside, but it also sort of sets you up for the next hard moment. It makes it a bit off kilter- you are laughing, and then heartbreak comes. It is like great country music,” said Bridges.

And like great country music, this terrific movie is about raw emotions, heartbreaks and trying to overcome adversity. Jeff Bridges drew his inspiration from several country singers to become Bad Blake on the screen.

“One of the direction that “Crazy Heart” writer/director, Scott Cooper, gave me was to to think of the Highwaymen- Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johny Cash and Kris Kristofferson- and to think that, in our alternate universe, Bad Blake would have been the fifth Highwayman. All of those guys and other people went into it. Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan. There are aspects of myself too. That is where I start with all the parts I do. I look for the places where my character and I overlap. That is always the beginning point,” said Bridges.

An Oscar win is long overdue for Jeff Bridges. During his long career, the 60 years old actor has had four Oscar nominations. One for lead actor in “Starman” (1984), and three for supporting roles in “The Last Picture Show”(1971), “Thunderbolt & Light-Foot”(1974) and “The Contender” (2000).

“Crazy Heart” is based on a novel by Thomas Cobb and was written and directed by first time director Scott Cooper. The small budget movie was shot in just 24 days, but it is likely to become a film classic. It is a throw back to gritty, unpretentious American cinema with rich multidimensional characters, which are not cardboard  cutouts  like in so many big Hollywood films. “Crazy Heart” oozes with the richness of its characters, it is about life, love, heartbreak and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit over life’s curve balls.

Editor’s Note: Please follow Gilbert Mercier on Twitter, and visit this author’s archive on News Junkie Post.

Editor’s note: This is a first hand account of something going on behind the scenes in the Growing Rift Between Libertarians and Republicans, as first reported by ProgressiveNation.

by L.K. Samuels

The Tea Party movement has reconnected the cooperation between conservatives and libertarians that harks back to their mutual opposition to FDR’s big government days. But a host of these newly forged alliances have failed to take hold. There is an undercurrent of ill-fitting philosophies and anti-intellectual clashes that suggest freedom is not always brewing in many Tea Parties. One example of a Tea Party divorcing its libertarian brethren recently occurred in Monterey California.

I helped create a nine-member board for the Monterey County Tea Party after an April 15 demonstration that attracted 600 sign-carrying protestors. The match seemed perfect. We all agreed on a mission statement that supported smaller government, lower taxes, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The libertarians wanted to include a non-interventionist plank, but, under pressure, were willing to forgo it for the sake of a peaceful alliance.

But after a successful 4th of July Tea Party parade and Freedom Rally in Monterey, the cracks in the alliance split wide open. I was accused of belonging to too many leftist organizations. In fact, I am co-chair of the local Libertarians for Peace, which joined the 27-member Monterey County Peace Coalition to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Libertarians for Peace is neither Left nor Right.

Looking back, the fur first hit the fan when Monterey CodePink asked to be one of the co-sponsors of the Tea Party Freedom Rally. I loved the idea of bringing together the anti-war and anti-tax crowds. But this possible alliance alarmed the conservatives. The Left and Right dehumanize each other daily on talk radio and cable news; so I should not have been surprised by their fierce determination to share no common ground with any leftist organization. To calm their fears I tried to put the issue in perspective. Nationwide, CodePink follows a socialist agenda; no argument there. But the Monterey branch of CodePink has worked with libertarians on both anti-war and anti-tax issues for years. In fact, the local Monterey CodePink leader was one of the most active signature-gathers in an attempt to abolish the utility tax in Seaside.

Next, I was accused of being too involved with the Libertarian Party, as if the Libertarians were somehow responsible for the financial meltdown, bailouts and stimulus packages. To their credit, the conservative flock wanted no association with Republicans or Democrats either, saying that both political parties had caused our current problems. But somehow they were upset with the Tea Party Board members who held leadership roles in the Libertarian Party. It did not seem to matter to them that libertarians were heavily involved in starting the Tea Party movement back in 2008, nor that the original 1773 tea partiers at Boston Harbor were classical liberals (libertarians), not Tories or conservatives.

Obviously, the Tea Party conservatives were neophytes; never before had they been involved in political activism. Some had never heard of Congressman Ron Paul. Prof. David R. Henderson, one of the libertarian Tea Party Board members, described this curious phenomenon as “activism without ideals.” I thought my phrase captured it best: “a cause without a rebel.” In fact, as demands to purge the libertarians intensified, we got the distinct feeling that the purgers fit the category of “reactionary” since they seemed to know only what they were against, not what they were for. Amazingly, they never pointed out any philosophical differences that they found objectionable. It was as if they were devoid of ideas, marooned with empty rhetoric and no real solutions.

One of my major crimes was passing out several copies of my book – /Facets of Liberty/. This occurred at a Tea Party event billed as a “mixer.” A few days later I was told that I should have neither passed out educational material nor mixed with the crowd. The libertarians soon labeled this misnamed event the non-mixer mixer.

In retrospect, it did not help our case when we asked these rookies embarrassing questions. We asked them why they had done nothing when President Bush bailed out the banks and auto companies, spent money like a drunken sailor, bashed civil liberties and advanced socialized medicine with Medicare Prescription Drug law, a program that some in Congress estimated will have a price tag of $1.2 trillion by 2016. I suppose our questioning merely rubbed their noises too deeply in their ignorance.

Whatever the reasons, the Monterey County Tea Party purged the libertarians by dissolving the entire organization. That failed to stop us. The libertarians quickly formed the Liberty Tea Party and, in an effort to set up a large tent, invited everyone to join a more enlightened Tea Party.

L.K. Samuels is editor and contributing author of /Facets of Liberty: A Libertarian Primer/ and a forthcoming book, /In Defense of Chaos: the Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action/. He is the elected Chairman of the Project Area Committee (PAC), a citizens committee to advise the Seaside Redevelopment Agency and the city of Seaside over eminent domain issues. He is co-chair of Libertarians for Peace of Monterey County and vice chair of Seaside Taxpayers Association. He is the winner of the 2007 Karl Bray Memorial Award. Visit his website.

Today, about 49 million Americans experience what the US government refers to as “food insecurity with hunger”. It is Thanksgiving, a perfect time to reflect on hunger. Hunger is a miserable feeling and a powerful word that rightly produces anger and outrage. Today’s hunger and poverty crisis is similar, in scope, to the one of the Great Depression.

One in six people in America suffer from chronic hunger. In a nation that is both, the world’s largest economy and its most productive food producer, it is simply not acceptable. In Los Angeles, one of the wealthiest cities in California, which is the world’s eight largest economy and America’s top agricultural state, one in eight people suffer from hunger.

Los Angeles county is in the middle of an unprecedented hunger crisis with over 1 million people confronting hunger and food insecurity on a daily basis. This is not including the homeless population, which is currently estimated at 100,000 in Los Angeles county. One in eight Angelinos must often make the decision between paying the rent or buying food to feed themselves and their families. The daily struggle of 1 million people in Los Angeles that  the US government defines, in an understatement, as “food insecurity” is real, and it is on a dramatic rise all across America.

In the wake of the economic crisis, with unemployment numbers increasing and families losing their homes to foreclosure, more and more people are becoming food insecure. In Los Angeles, the number of people utilizing emergency food services has increased by 41 percent since 2008, with at least one in six people receiving food aid identified as never having received assistance in the past. The number of people receiving food stamps in Los Angeles is at an all time high of 795,000. The food stamps program was originally launched by Lyndon Johnson in 1964 under his comprehensive program of “war on poverty”.

Not surprisingly, children and seniors are at greatest risk from suffering from hunger: 25 percent of children in Los Angeles county are food insecure and about 50 percent of independent elderly do not have enough money to buy adequate food. Furthermore, the lack of healthy affordable food has led to an obesity epidemic that reaches 55 percent of adults in Los Angeles, and 25 percent of children. This, in return, presents a growing public health risk. On a local and state levels, these problems have been magnified by a major budget crisis. Governor Schwarzenegger’s reaction to California’s budget crisis was to cut back programs that address poverty and hunger.

Not only the overall political decisions at local, state and federal levels are absurd, but they lack the most basic morality. The ruling class of conservative Republicans, corporate Democrats and CEOs are de facto practicing social Darwinism. The super rich in America such as Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and the “masters of the universe” from Wall Street give to charities in large amounts. But this substitution of what should be good governance and  local, state and federal social safety net for 49 million Americans is not truly helping. It helps the super-rich feel less guilty, but it doesn’t change the system or even start scratching the surface of the root problems hiding in plain sight behind hunger and poverty.

Our tax dollars are wrongly spent on all level of government. For example, in Los Angeles, the lion share of the city budget is spent on the police department. Sate wide the amount of money spent on the prison system is astronomical. Instead of hiring more cops and incarcerating more people, it would be a wise and durable investment  to invest in good and free public education. Federally, the waste of our tax dollars and resources is just as absurd. Next Tuesday, President Obama will try to justify his escalation of the war in Afghanistan. By sending more troops to Afghanistan, the astronomical defense budget will keep going up and is likely to reach 700 billion in 2010.

Meanwhile, 49 million of Americans are going hungry every day. Globally, 1 billion people suffer from chronic hunger. It is Thanksgiving, and while the executives of Goldman Sacks, which are getting ready to pay themselves 21 billion in bonuses, have too much to be thankful for, the 49 million Americans going hungry every day should be resentful of a system that has let them down.

According to a review on one website, in 2005 “the two crossed paths, crossed words, and came to blows just outside Benneton.  Police arrived, not sure whether to arrest Anti-Bushman for impersonating Bushman, or Bushman for being himself.”

It is the exact same act with the same results, but credit must be given where credit is due.  The man interviewed in this article is anti-Bushman.  Apologies for this reporters gullibility.  The title of the article has been edited to reflect this development.

I was back in the center of the anthill.  Downtown San Francisco is a loud and busy place for a country boy like myself.  Everyone seems to be in a hurry, but having a sense of purpose and looking good along the way.  Cabs and buses roar along crowded streets that never seem to quiet down, and the sharp dress of the people bustling along is contrasted with the shabby rags of the homeless hustling on the sidewalks.

This is the home of the world’s most famous panhandler, known as Bushman.  He works on the northern side of the city, in the Fisherman’s Wharf district.  I was a bit blurry, coming off a 3 night bender with foreigner travelers, and weary of the man finding me before I found him.  You see, his bit involves scaring the shit out of you, then wanting money for it.

After taking a cable car, visiting the Pier 39 seal lions, and flirting with some Israeli girls selling zipper-purses, I found someone who pointed me in the right direction.  Bushman was sitting on a milk crate next to a trash bin.  The rare sight of fresh green branches in this concrete jungle stood out.  He sat still and silent behind his camouflage, but it did not take long before he had his first victim, a couple teenage girls, unaware of what lurked behind the bushes.  With a quick thrust of the canopy and a gravely yell, they screamed, then started laughing.  “People give me money for this ya know.” Bushman said, but they walked on.  He would have to wait to get a tip until next time.

I stayed on the sidelines taking in the scene with some photos and video, before approaching.  “Hey, I saw you taking pictures.  People who take pictures usually throw in a couple bucks.” he said.  I tossed in a few bucks, a free drink token from the Ambassador, and a cough drop.  He agreed to the interview, but not until he went on break in 15 minutes.

We sat down in front of the Subway nearby, and the following conversation took place.

Ole Ole Olson – Where are you from originally?

Bushman – Arkansas.  I’ve been here about 45 years, so…[stops talking]

Ole Ole Olson – When did you engineer the whole Bushman routine?

Bushman – Unbelievable, I mean believe it or not yesterday was my 27th anniversary.  27 years…what a way to make a livin’ man.

Ole Ole Olson – I’m not sure if you know this, but you’re pretty world famous…

Bushman – [interrupts] I’m world known, I don’t know if I’m world famous.  Over the last, I’d say 5 years, I didn’t realize myself how popular I had gotten, so in fact if you want to buy a souvenir, t-shirts, dreadlocks and all. [big smile] But if I had known 20 years ago, I would have done a lot of marketing stuff.

Ole Ole Olson – Well, I think you’ve become a fixture not only of the Fisherman’s Wharf area but of San Francisco in general.

Bushman – I am.  People actually do look for me.  A funny story, a couple came last summer and I remember them because for the last 6 or 7 years someone would come from New York.  So 2 summers ago, she said Bushman, you almost cost me a divorce.  Her husband wanted to go to Florida, he said we’ve been there (to San Francisco) 7 years in a row.  She said, no, I want to go back there to see Bushman.  He almost went anyways, and I said don’t blame me!

And a lady from Australia.  She was pregnant at 18 years old.  I couldn’t tell, because I don’t do pregnant people or people with a handicap.  She came back 8 years later and she had a little daughter.  They both came back about 10 years later and her daughter was pregnant, and last summer she brought her daughter…3 generations man.

Ole Ole Olson – Did you induce labor?

Bushman – Oh no, there wouldn’t be no more Bushman.  But ya know that’s 2 of my most loveable stories.

Ole Ole Olson – What’s the strangest, craziest, or most outlandish reaction you have ever got from somebody?

Bushman – A few 14 or 15 year old girls, laughing, having a good time.  The louder the scream, the more reaction and the more tips I get.  So the reason I am where I am now is because across the street they play music and I get up and dance.  So these girls walk by, I threw down my bushes and started dancing.  The girls screamed, but one of them just started shivering and crying.  I mean terrified.  So I went up to apologize and another girl stopped me and said, it’s OK Bushman, she didn’t know and you didn’t know.  They was from Pittsburgh.  2 weeks before a black man had jumped out the bushes and raped her.   I didn’t work for a month.  I mean the thought of me making her relive that…I almost stopped for good right there.  It’s not like I’m going to injure them, I mean there’s a chance, I’ve had one injury in 27 years.

Ole Ole Olson – Did you poke somebody with the bush?

Bushman – No, I said I haven’t had one injury in 27 years.  I pick my victims carefully.  I’m lucky the city gave me a permit, because this is on the verge of being illegal you know.

Ole Ole Olson – Somebody told me you have 42 tickets.  Did you recycle them?

Bushman – Tickets?!  I’ve probably got at least 280 citations.  I didn’t keep all of them, but I kept at least 200.  I think all of them actually went to court, the DA threw most of them out.  One of them was assault and battery with attempt to frighten.  (Another was) littering, leaving leaves on the sidewalk.  Public nuisance. [contemplates more]

Ole Ole Olson – I think it’s counter productive for them to do that, because you’re a fixture of San Francisco and a lot of people come here and you’re one of the things they want to see the most.

Bushman – Most of the tickets were in my first 10 years.  Now I have a permit and a business license, so they can’t cite me anymore.  I have an agreement with the city and the police here, if I get more than 2 complaints in a day, I quit for the day.  That’s just a bad day, you know?  Many people probably don’t know this.  I’ve been doing this 27 years, and my wife is a 24 year police officer.  Can you believe that?!  Opposites sure do attract.

Ole Ole Olson – I bet she can get you off the hook sometimes.

Bushman – Never.  Anything you do you have to put in your badge number, because in the past wives and cousins and friends, they fixed it so you wouldn’t get tickets, but now you can’t do that.

Ole Ole Olson – What’s your given name?

Bushman – Gregory Jacobs.

Ole Ole Olson – How did the four winds blow you into this place originally?

Bushman – Believe it or not, I was a professional football player with the St. Louis Cardinals.  I’m telling my age now, but I was a third stringer so I wasn’t getting much playing time and the salary wasn’t that great.  The World Football League was throwing money around, so I jumped to the WFL.  In fact, I played in Memphis with Tom Cook, Chip, [Paul] Warfield, the whole Miami Dolphins and part of the only team to go undefeated [in 1972].  It lasted about 2 seasons then folded.  Then I got a trial with the 49ers, that’s what brought me here, that was in the 1970’s.

Ole Ole Olson – I assume now you have a roof over your head, but when you were starting out were you living on the street?

Bushman – No.  I was a Chef at the Cliff House, one of top 4 best restaurants in the city.  I was in the bar one night, I had closed down a couple of bars so I was lit up pretty good.  It was kind of overcast, some misty rain, and a lot of fog in the air.  So when I got home and tried to open my door, it had swollen up and wouldn’t open, so I had to bump it.  I had hedges by my door, and some birds flew out of those bushes and scared the living shit out of me.  I mean dude, I’m half drunk.  Later on I was taking a shower and I couldn’t stop laughing, and was thinking if any of my neighbors saw me, it had to be the funniest thing in the world.  I said, a-ha!

Ole Ole Olson – Lightbulb?

Bushman – Lightbulb.  I was in stitches.  The next day, after I got done with my shift at the clubhouse, now I’ve refined it and I tell jokes, but that’s how the Bushman got started.

Ole Ole Olson – There’s a lot of interesting panhandling gigs on the street.  I was living in Europe when the the very first living statues started appearing, and now that’s exploded, it’s everywhere.  Then there’s Harry Perry down in Venice Beach, that’s a very original act, but I think your routine takes the cake.  I know your break is almost over, so just 1 or 2 more questions.  What’s the most unusual tip you ever got?  Any girls flash you or guys give you a bruise for a tip?

Bushman – I was in front of Joes Crab Shack when it was Bobby Rubino’s.  Very slow night, I had $11 the whole night.  There were 2 tables with 8 people in the whole restaurant.  2 men came down and put something in the tip bucket.  They had on overalls and were a bit grungy looking, ya know?  After they went back up, I looked down, and I had $211 dollars.  Two $100 bills.  I said to myself, I’m going go wait for these guys to come back down the steps.  That totally made my night.  Eventually they came back down, and I reached out to shake his hand.  He pulled it out of his pocket, shook my hand, and I felt something.  He said you enjoy this and have a good night.  You don’t know how much entertainment you gave us tonight.  I looked down and it was an ounce of some of the best marijuana I’ve ever smoked.  They was from Humboldt County and had come down to make a delivery.

Ole Ole Olson – That’s like a tip on top of a tip.

Bushman – I said you want your hundred dollars back? [raucous laughter].  I’ve had phone numbers.  I’ve had girls drop their room key in the bucket.

Ole Ole Olson – Sweet.

Bushman – I went on one, then I thought, well I got leery, ya know?  I mean I make ya laugh, then you want sex too?

Environmentalists and labor groups have joined forces to stop a new cancer-causing pesticide from being used in crops across California. The pesticide, commonly known as “MIDAS Soil Fumigant,” uses methyl iodide as its key ingredient. Methyl iodide is extremely great at killing bugs, but also at killing animals and humans — causing cancer and harm to the nervous system to those exposed to it for long periods of time: migrant farm workers and their families.

The fight to stop methyl iodide hasn’t been easy since the chemical company that produces MIDAS is Arysta LifeScience — a member of a PAC group that supports GOP candidates and Blue Dog Democrats (The Chemical Producers and Distributors Association). Under the Bush-era administration, Arysta LifeScience got its carcinogenic pesticide approved by the EPA even after five prominent scientists warned the administration of the poisonous nature of methyl iodide.

Shortly after EPA approval, the pesticide entered the U.S. market as an alternative to a pesticide that contained an ozone-depleting substance: methyl bromide. Methyl bromide has been banned for its harmful effects on the environment and already 47 states have switched to MIDAS.

The United Farm Workers has been at the forefront of the fight to stop the new pesticide. The UFW, which was co-founded by the legendary union leader Cesar Chavez who organized the boycott of California grapes back in the 1970’s to protest the unjust working conditions and treatment of migrant workers — now has mobilized to get the EPA to re-evaluate the toxic chemical.

Last week the UFW heard back from the EPA and got some good news: the EPA is willing to re-consider the pesticide’s future in California but only after it sees the results of an independent scientific review panel. It’s unclear when the results will be completed, but the union is trying to get the public to write letters to the EPA thanking them for being willing to re-evaluate the pesticide.

The UFW has partnered up with the Pesticide Action Network, the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, the Californians for Pesticide Reform, Pesticide Watch, Lideres Campesinas, and the Natural Resources Defense Council to get methyl iodide off California fields.

Arysta LifeScience maintains the pesticide is safe to use. This is a snippet is from a Capital Press article published on Saturday:

Husein Ajwa, an extension researcher with the University of California-Davis who has researched methyl iodide for the past decade, argues that the chemical is safe when used properly, and more efficient than methyl bromide.

Without it, producers would require several different pesticides to disinfest soil, Ajwa said.
“Without iodomethane we will have to keep using other fumigants at high rates,” he said. “I’ve worked with all fumigants. It’s one of the safest materials I’ve worked with.”

The article, however, failed to mention that Mr. Husein Ajwa’s work has been funded by Arysta LifeScience. Ajwa is part of the company’s research team, which received an award by the EPA earlier this year (the 2009 Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards). Obviously the award is not deserved. Nevertheless, the company has connections with “experts” at other universities: Joe Noling, University of Florida Citrus Research and Education Center; Greg Browne, UC-Davis Dept of Plan Pathology and others. If they say methyl iodide is safe, now you know who they work for.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s days are counted and Judgment Day is coming. There are news this morning that former President Bill Clinton has come out in support of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for the Governorship of the almost bankrupt, Golden State.

With such level of support, Newsom’s opponent, the dignified Attorney General Jerry Brown may have to do more work to get pass the Democratic primary on June 8, 2010. Brown served California as governor for two-terms from 1975 to 1983. But with the state’s problems, this legendary politician has vowed to bring back California’s golden days of surplus budgets and job growth.

But the true fight will come down to Newsom or Brown against a terminated-Terminator, Arnold. The economic crisis in the nation and the awful political gridlock in Sacramento coupled by the state’s growing deficit proved too much for the former movie star. For the Terminator fans who were disappointed with not having Arnold in the last sequel, guess what? He may need a job after the election is over next year, that means Terminator 5 may actually be good.

With the Clinton power couple in the house, Newsom can pick up lots of moderates, specially those living in counties east of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Francisco. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton loves coming to California for fund-raising events, so showing up for the Mayor of San Francisco will not be a problem. And, let’s not forget another power diva in Newsom’s list of friends, House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

Still, Newsom’s support of LGBT issues like gay marriage may come back to hunt him. Conservatives proved last November that working together they can do a lot of damage, such as passing Prop 8 (the California ban on gay marriage). Nevertheless there is LOTS of resentment in the LGBT community about having Mormons take their right to get married and if gay marriage is on the ballot again (that is very likely) the election for Governor may be a landslide for Newsom.

The Democratic primary in California is still months away, so the surprises are not over yet. A certain older woman from the U.S. Senate may also likely aim to take down Arnold. Not Barbara Boxer, but Dianne Feinstein, who coincidentally like Newsom, was mayor of San Francisco (from 1978 to 1988). That’s a possible two older, well-experienced Democratic Californians from the early days of the Reagan era, competing against a handsome, young, and popular Democrat. That’s enough to make Arnold nervous.

White supremacist, Buford Furrow, killed a Filipino postal worker and wounded five people in 1999 during a shooting rampage at a Jewish community center near Los Angeles.

Kevin Modesti, a reporter with the Los Angeles Daily News, received a letter from Buford Furrow after the reporter’s request for an interview was denied by prison officials.

This is Buford Furrow’s letter to Kevin Modesti.

“Hello, I am a sorry we couldn’t speak during your earlier interview request. Today, I received the paper work of the denial of that request. I have filed an administrative remedy in response to this unconstitutional refusal to your visit.

I did want to speak to you for the simple reason that I feel deep remorse for my crime. About five years ago, I threw away my racist books, literature, etc. and took up a new leaf. I now publicly renounce all bias toward anyone based on race, creed, color, sexual orientation, etc. and I am a much happier person. I feel a life based on hate is no life at all.

Those people I hurt, and the man I killed that day in 1999 will probably never forgive me, but I am truly sorry and deeply regret the pain I caused. My mind was filled with sickness, and unfortunately I acted on it. But I am now a “model” inmate who has renounced criminal activity and spend my day with exercise, art, and learning prison civil law. I can’t change the past, but I can damn sure change the future, and my future will never include Neo-Nazi activity again. That is all I can do.”

Furrow avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to murder and firearms charges, and he is currently serving two life sentences and an additional 110 years. Shooting victims, relatives and Jewish and Asian-American groups expressed surprise about the letter, but some questioned the convict’s sincerity and his motive.

Updated at 10:08 p.m. (Pacific) – 9/1.

The thick smoke from the wild fires in Los Angeles and from the other fires across California is now reaching as far as Las Vegas, Nevada and even Denver, Colorado — that’s a distance of over 1,000 miles. NASA has also sent in photos of the smoke, which is quite visible from space.

At the epicenter of the Southern California fires, unhealthy air quality levels have prompted authorities to urge people to stay indoors at all times. Television reporters are urging people to use dust masks to protect them from the particulates in the air and the worse is not even over.

Photo by Jennifer Schneider

Firefighters battling the Station Fire located at the Angeles National Forest, northeast of downtown Los Angeles have been unable to get the fire under control. It has been contained only 5 percent since the fire started on Thursday. Some 105,000 acres have been charred by the fire, 54 homes have been destroyed, and 12,000 homes are under forced evacuation. Human casualties have been low, only two deaths yesterday and two injuries. The injured men suffered serious burns after trying to ride out the fire in a hot tub.

Expensive planes have been brought in from as far as Canada to aid blanket the fires with water and fire retardants. But there are concerns that the costly efforts to bring the fires under control will once again sink the state of California deeper into a financial crisis.

Mount Wilson is still expected to go up in flames as the fires get closer to the top, where transmission antennas for TV, radio, and cellular communication are located.

The heat and dry conditions have been the main culprits driving the six fires burning in Southern California, but some of those fires are under investigation. Authorities suspect that the Yucaipa fire was set by a possible arsonist.

Cooler temperatures may slow down the flames from spreading tomorrow, but it’s likely the fires won’t be under control for another week.

Update 11:28 p.m. (Pacific) 8/30 — Fire officials expect that the fire will reach the top of Mount Wilson by the early hours of Monday.

Earlier story:

The wild fires in Los Angeles may engulf important television and radio transmission towers on Mount Wilson this evening, causing viewers that use antennas to lose 22 channels, including the ones from ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and other major networks.

Firefighters that had been battling the flames from the bottom are being air lifted out of the mountain located in the Angeles National Forest.

“We are letting our viewers that use antennas know that you can go to abc7.com to watch all of our coverage,” said an ABC 7 reporter preparing her viewers for the worse.

“It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” said Mark Savage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department told ABC 7 news.

Viewers with cable and satellite will still be able to receive signals from the networks.

Very important police and fire dispatch equipment is located at the mountain as well as a historic solar observatory.

Over 32,000 acres have been burned since the “Station Fire” started on Wednesday. The fire is only 5 percent contained.

Are you in Los Angeles? Send us your photos of the fire: comments@newsjunkiepost.com