Jimmy Carter was right ...but does anyone in the US government understand the implications of this (even off the record)?

Every statement of indignation by the Bush administration only underscores how spot-on his assessment is. It isn't like Carter is some crackpot off the street, after all.

And the MTA would appear to be trying to destroy mass transit in Southern California... just as millions of drivers begin to seriously contemplate giving up their gas-guzzling cars.

I guess it's official: we're going to Hell in a tacky knock-off handbag that doesn't match our shoes.

No more Veronica Mars. No more Gilmore Girls. So The CW wants to prove they can mismanage their best assets as good as ABC, eh? Lost is drifting aimlessly somewhere in the South Pacific (who has a pool to bet it gets cancelled before they get off the island?), and no word yet if Jericho will receive a reprieve. I guess that's a hint for me to get back to my reading.

On a "lighter" note: only thirteen months after I suggested Annie Proulx for "One City, One Book," Frontiers magazine came to the amazing discovery while in Denver about the nationwide program, and have chosen "Light Before Day," by Christopher Rice as their first annual Summer Book. Japhy Grant has a great cover story on Christopher Rice in the June 5, 2007, Frontiers, and there's a link to Christopher Rice's website on the left. Rice is a Lambda Literary Award winning author of three novels; his fourth, "Blind Fall," will be released next year. "Light Before Day" was chosen in part because it is set in West Hollywood, but beware: it's not a book for the squeemish. You'll want to leave the lights on and don't let anybody tap you on the shoulder from behind while you're reading!

Quite a Spring day this is turning out to be

First came word that Donald Trump was fired. Then the news that Jerry Falwell was on his way to spending the rest of all eternity ...someplace really hot (no, not Boca Raton).

Almost makes up for the fact that tonight is the series finale of the Gilmore Girls.

When I went to vote today, I had to wake up the poll worker; I was but only the sixth person to caste my ballot today. If youth is truly wasted on the young, I might think sometimes that Democracy is wasted on Americans.

Bad cops - no donuts

As long as the LAPD is busting foreign little old ladies over the heads, perhaps Queen Elizabeth might want to skip LA on her itinerary. For that matter, the city can kiss their bid for the Olympics goodbye.

What really ticks me off about the May Day melee, is that for a week, the mayor and other officials begged schoolchildren to stay in school and miss the downtown march, and go to the rally in MacArthur Park instead.

Maybe we should send those "elite" Metro cops to Baghdad... oh, and someone remind those Iraqi "insurgents" that they shouldn't go around killing Indian citizens when they have an itchy trigger finger on their nuclear missles. Ya think?

To end on a lighter note, congratulations are in order to Naomi Hirahara for winning the Edgar Award.

Greetings from the police state of Los Angeles!

Whatever gripes I might have about the current state of journalism, at least I don't go around clubbing reporters or shooting them with rubber bullets. The LAPD veterans still don't seem to understand that their behavior looks like it came from the worst of the dictatorships around the world.

Kudos to Beth Dunlop for her inimitable insight into the saga of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, on the heals of her riff on the Carnival Center, in the March and April editions of Ocean Drive. Few and far between are the architectural critics who can so knowledgeably champion responsible development. Architectural criticism is so much more than commenting on the veneer. In Miami, to be against the construction of yet another crass condo tower in a flat real estate market ...well, it's nothing short of treason. Barbara Capitman would be proud.

If you still had dry eyes at the end of last night's Gilmore Girls, then get outta my kitchen! And Veronica Mars is back, too! How cool is that? Gee... am I allowed to be watching this? VM has been one of the best written programs on television as far as I'm concerned, so excuse me if I don't watch anything where a contestant can get voted off.