Black Kitschtory Month

Image from the Museumofuncutfunk.com

Remember all the people who gave their lives so that this day could come

Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival

If you're gonna go after Rev. Wright, then you better go after Rev. Hagee

Sen. Barack Obama is taking a hit in the polls as the far right continues to bash him for his ties to the Rev. Wright, even though Obama has denounced his controversial remarks and taken great pains to distance himself from the minister.

Strangely, though, the same media are giving Sen John McCain a Get Out of Jail Free card in regards to the Rev. John Hagee, who he has had to distance himself from under similar circumstances.

Rev. Hagee has, among other things, repeatedly claimed that hurricane Katrina was God's wrath on the sinners of New Orleans for their support of homosexuality.


I have yet to hear an explanation for why the incompetence of the Federal government could be interpreted as God's wrath, not to mention the sheer scope of the devastation Katrina caused.


Rev. Hagee should not only have to face the citizens of New Orleans for his remarks, but he really ought to explain himself to the folks who were affected by Katrina in the communities of Beaumont, Bridge City, Nederland, Orange, Pinehurst, Port Arthur and Vidor, in Texas; Abbeville, Amelia, Avery Island, Baldwin, Barataria, Bayou Vista, Belcambre, Bell City, Bertandville, Bohemia, Boothville, Bourg, Buras, Burrwood, Calumet, Cameron, Carlisle, Centerville, Chacahoula, Chauvin, Cocodrie, Crowley, Crown Point, Creole, Dalcour, Davant, Diamond, Donner, Dulac, Eden Isle, Empire, Erath, Esther, Franklin, Gibson, Galliano, Garden City, Golden Meadow, Grand Chenier, Grand Lake, Gueydan, Hackberry, Hayes, Henry, Hickory, Holly Beach, Holmwood, Houma, Indian Bayou, Intracoastal City, Isle Jean Charles, Jean Lafitte, Jeanerette, Jennings, Jesuit, Bend, Kaplan, Lacassine, Lacombe, Lake Arthur, Lake Charles, Leeville, Louisa, Mandeville, Maurice, Meaux, Montegut, Morgan City, Morse, Myrtle Grove, Nairn, Naomi, New Iberia, Oak Grove, Patterson, Pearl River, Pecan Island, Perry, Phoenix, Point a la Hache, Point-aux-Chenes, Port Fourchon, Port Nickle, Port Sulphur, Poydras, Reggio, Saint Bernard, Slidell, Sulphur, Shell Beach, Theriot, Tidewater, Toomey, Triumph, Venice, Vinton, Welsh, and Yscloskey in Lousiana; and Bay Saint Louis, Biloxi, Diamondhead, Gulfport, Long Beach, Lyman, Moss Point, Nicholson, Ocean Springs, Pass Christian, Pearlington and Waveland in Mississippi.*

Okay, I'm mad enough now that I'm gonna have to go eat a chocolate coffee pudding. And it's all Rev. Hagee's fault.





*My apologies to any towns I inadvertently left off. I'm sure there were more.

Ruben Salazar Day

Ruben Salazar

April 22 will be Ruben Salazar Day in Los Angeles. When I did my internship at the LA Times, he was our hero. The USPS is issuing a stamp to honor the late Chicano journalist.

There are innumerable buildings, murals and other monuments to Salazar around Los Angeles--and the entire state. The Silver Dollar Saloon is no more, but you can still visit the site, and others that memorialize the pioneer journalist. To take a self guided tour of East Los Angeles, highlighting the location where Ruben Salazar was killed by the police during the Chicano Moratorium, click on the header at top.

Skank of the year: Bill Cunningham

IF you missed Bill Cunningham of WLW-AM's racist, un-American, anti-Muslim, intolerant tirade at the McCain rally in Ohio that was replayed over and over on the news last night, count yourself lucky.

I'd like to think I have a pretty high threshold before I get angry (and it shows), so I'm glad he's 2,000 miles away from me and I don't have to listen to him everyday. Or hopefully, ever again. The FCC has been working doubletime documenting every little snippet broadcast over the last few years to impose an arbitrary, insipid standard of decency, but scum of the Earth like Cunnigham somehow get a free pass.

Okay; nice easy breaths. Think of puppies and kittens. Watch the breeze rustling through the palm trees. Feel the warm sun on my face. Count my lucky stars that I'm in beautiful Southern California, and it's a beach day, to boot. And no more caffeine for the rest of the day.

Pop the Paparazzi, already

Now they tell us it'll be at least six months before any ordinance can get through the LA City Council regarding paparazzi swarms that endanger the public.

Well, as one of the 14 million people in Southern California who has to frequently cross the street, I'd like to see something done about this damn mess. It is no infringement on the free press or anyone's first amendment rights to make the paparazzo follow the same basic traffic laws as the rest of us. Since, as in this moment for example, I'm often near Robertson Boulevard where the gilded set eat, shop or philander, I'd like to have some sense of security that I won't be shoved into the street (it's happened) or worse. It's not the pseudo-celebs I'm worried about as much as the innocent bystanders-- too often it's the publicists for said celebs who employ the paparazzi for their own benefit. As a real writer, I take umbrage at the cloke of respectability these bottomfeeders wrap themselves in when defending their behavior, which has become significantly worse in recent years. We're on an express path to the finale of Day of the Locust if something isn't done soon.

Good news for Ann Coulter: she won't be roasting in Hell for all eternity alone!

Kelly Tilghman will be there with her... but hey, cheer up, Kelly. Racism was a good career move for John Gibson and Don Imus, too.

If ever the hype didn't do a show justice...

For the first time, I can say that there's a "reality" show that really impresses me. These kids can dance! I have the feeling that many of the contestants will end up stars in their own right in the future. This may be a town that chews up and spits out more talented people that you could ever imagine, but I'd like to think that they're all gonna make it.

I guess someone in televisionland figured it was time to put on a reality show where everyone seems bent over backwards to be nice to each other for a change. It's nice, especially in these times, to be able to watch a program that actually lightens your heart a bit. Television doesn't do that much anymore.


...That is, until they started to vote the participants off, one each week. Like the last thing Hollywood needs right now is a bunch of young newcomer dancers joining the ranks of everyone else in town moping around with nothing to do until the strike ends.

A note of caution to the paparazzi

When Elizabeth I got pissed off, she imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots in this tower for nearly a year...

Now that Elizabeth II is mad at the paparazzi for chasing Prince William, they would do well to remember that the torture equipment reportedly is still in good working order.

At least the Port of Los Angeles is safe... from reporters

The LA Airport police have already had their time in the spotlight wasting the public's dime (actually, about 10 million or so dimes). How ironic then, that right after Chief Bratton complained that the allocations for Homeland Security from the Feds shortchanging Los Angeles, some goon with the Port police should beat up what must be the smallest woman reporter in LA --on camera, of course. The sound of that thud as she hit the container sounded like a linebacker making a bone-smashing tackle.

I guess the Port will need those extra funds so they can beat up radio and print media as well.

The LA media has chased the story of the Mayor and his relationship squabbles to the exclusion of virtually everything else happening at City Hall. It can't be that slow of a news day, guys. And I seriously doubt that people in LA are that interested in the Mayor's marriage problems.

The questions hurled at the Mayor on Friday would have flunked me out of J-School. They weren't even worthy of paparazzi swarming around the latest celebrity scandal. Not even on Fox News. That said, no politician gets the privilege of control of what the press will cover (or not). But watching that goon smash that little woman against the cargo container might do more to hurt Mayor Villaraigosa's political standing than his impending divorce and relationship with a reporter.

At this rate, we can expect the police in Los Angeles to bash a reporter again about November 5th. And I'm not even gonna bring up the UCLA campus police incident inquiry. Oops --too late, I just did.

The distance from La City Hall to Terminal Island is about the same as from Miami City Hall to the Homestead airfield. That's a long way to go for a non-story. Aren't we glad that nothing more important or pressing was happening anywhere else in Los Angeles?

This was enough to make me relieved that I'm not on staff with a news outlet these days. However, what has me really concerned is, who's covering --or uncovering-- the real news stories while the LA media act like they've overdosed on South Park?

Okay, Arnold, do you want the Mel Gibson or Isaiah Washington suite at the foot-in-mouth rehab?

Gov. Arnold Scharzenegger, who has done nothing to stop runaway production from leaving California to set up shop in Canada or other states, has basically told Spanish language media that they should drink the kool-aid. speaking before the convention of National Association of Spanish Journalists, Arnold exhorted Spanish speakers, "You've got to turn off the Spanish television set." Sacramento seems to be unaware of the financial benefits of California being the center of Spanish language media. For being such a savvy businessman, he seems rather willing to stick it to the entertainment media.

Perhaps he is unaware that Los Angeles, not Miami (yet), is the center of the Spanish language media. 38 million people -more than the entire population of Canada- watch Spanish language media in the US. 60% of bilingual households are cited as preferring Spanish language media, even though they may speak English outside the home.

Arnold also said, "...when I came to this country, I very rarely spoke German to anyone." Gee, Arnold, is that because not that many people in the US speak German?

The Latino vote is largely credited with giving Schwarzenegger, who had no previous political experience, his gubernatorial win. I guess he isn't running for office again. And he ought not to expect Spanish language media to carry any of his movies anymore, either. That goes for all of Latin America, too.

And when is he ever going to get around to learning how to say, "California?"

Yet more April events

The Queer Media Conference (Q-ME Con) comes to Los Angeles April 13 - 15; Dining Out For Life takes place on April 26 in various cities around the country and Dine Out LA will take place on April 19 at locations throughout Los Angeles.

Last, but not least, Big Sunday will take place across LA on April 29.

The true human price of "staying the course" in Iraq

Long Beach gets an alternative newspaper (finally)

Set to hit the streets on April 11, the new publication, The District Weekly, has already been causing a lot of buzz. The word of mouth gossip has been the kind of Godsend publicity any start-up publication could only dream about. Here's to hoping they make it!