Santa brought me a sweet-ass camera.

Secret: I've always dreamed of becoming a photographer. If I could anything and get paid for it, and being a travel show host wasn't a possibility, I'd be a photographer.

So I've decided to do it. Might take some time, but I'm one step closer. Feel like joining me?

newsmebaby.tumblr.com

Boycott!

Why I will never, ever, buy Charmin. Even if it's on sale.

Just fucking disturbing. 

Dear Parking: You're a Bitch

In the words of the great Randy Newman, 
I Love L.A. But I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate parking in L.A. Deciphering parking signage in this city is absolutely insane. Non-Angelenos: check out the picture to the right, and you tell me when you want to park there.

The latest infuriating parking inhibitor? Those god-damned PODS. As if parking wasn't hard enough, some lazy neighbor has had one of those PODS delivered to the curb outside their building/house. The POD takes up at least 1.5 legitimate parking spots and it sits there FOREVER.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation states, "no vehicle may be parked continuously at one location on any public roadway for more than 72 hours." In addition, "parking of unattached semi-trailers is prohibited on any street."

However, LADOT also states, "parking an unattached semi-trailer on any street is prohibited, except for semi-trailers used for carrying personal property or for recreational purposes."

I don't know what the POD is. It's not a vehicle, so it must be a trailer of some sort, but I suppose it's carrying personal property. In any case, how come it gets to sit there for weeks at a time taking up seriously valuable real estate on the curb outside my apartment? Does it have to move every 72 hours? Does it have to clear out between 4:00pm and 7:00 to facilitate the rush-hour lane? Does it have to set it's alarm for 7:45am one day a week to move before street-cleaning?

Besides my jealousy over the POD's giant parking spot, those things are also something like 37,000 feet tall and stick out into the street much farther than a regular vehicle. Find one near the corner and then try to turn around it. Better yet, have one parked next to your driveway, and then try to back out on to the street. Your death would be ruled a suicide.

So, all prepared to wage war against the city for allowing these crazy things to hang out, I make a few calls. Parking Violations Bureau, LADOT, DMV, and finally the Bureau of Street Services, where I talk to a woman who informs me that before I get all uppity, I should know that these things are actually illegal. Woohoo!

Well, OK, the actual POD is not illegal, but putting random crap out on the street is. She even gave me the municipal code: 56.08 regarding the obstruction of public streets. When asked how companies like PODS get away with dumping these things on the corner, my Street Services source tells me "they just hope no one will say anything."

Luckily, we can stop this madness! OK, maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but it's the little things in life, you know? In any case, Street Services Lady shared my passion, and was more than happy to provide the phone number for the Street Services Investigation & Enforcement Department, where you can file a complaint. And don't worry about any POD related retaliation. You can file anonymously, and SS will send a Sherlocke Holmes/ Nancy Drew type out to do the dirty work. Renters of the POD will be warned and potentially fined, and YOU get your parking spot back!

Oh City Services. I (sometimes) Heart You.

Ready to dial? Call 1-800-996-2489 or 1-800-996-CITY to file a complaint.

Oh right, one more note that is completely unrelated but somewhat interesting for all you Prius drivers. Discovered this while browsing fascinating City of Los Angeles websites...

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) will begin citing alternative fuel vehicles parked at expired parking meters starting March 1, 2009. Therefore, starting March 1, 2009, the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) will begin citing all alternative fuel vehicles parked at expired meters. FYI.



"Parking Rules" Photo by Flickr User John and Keturah
Pod Photo: Seattle PI

I'll Tell Me Ma | When I go Home...

And so it is that I've decided to go on a European adventure. England, Ireland, Scotland. Long lost family, heritage, pints and chips.

It's on. September, 2010.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back...

In Which I Twitpic Midnight Mass

So I was raised Catholic. I went to church every Sunday. I was baptized. I took part in the annual Christmas Eve pageants, and wrote award-winning essays about the meaning of the Christmas Star. I wore a tiny wedding dress to my First Communion. I even went to confession.

When I got to be about 13 years old, I started thinking for myself. I decided I was over it. Church didn't really do it for me. I eventually stopped going. I stopped praying. I started questioning.

I haven't been to church in about 10 years, but for who-knows-what reason, this year I thought Christmas Eve midnight mass at the Los Angeles Cathedral sounded like a good time.

Minus the part about having to get there over an hour early to secure seats, it started out OK. Kids everywhere, news cameras, and police directing traffic outside.

The mass ran like a machine. Always flowing, perfectly choreographed. Songs of praise, sung by a chorus of 5,000, echoed throughout the enormous, modern hall. It was sort of beautiful, and I couldn't fucking stand it.

By the time we had praised God and begged for mercy and proclaimed our unworthiness more times than should be legal, I was ready to flee. I stayed just long enough to hear Cardinal Roger Mahoney's Christmas homily- a full 20-minute commentary on the importance of being obedient and servant to God. No talk of peace, love, acceptance or compassion for our fellow beings. Just obedience.

When I could no longer stomach the call for faith, and after watching an aisle full of folks miming the placement of cash into the overflowing collection baskets, I left.

Now, before you get all "you're going straight to hell and don't you even dare look over your shoulder" on me, let me explain my thoughts.

I believe in love, peace, acceptance and equality, and I believe in Jesus. I believe he was a controversial philosopher, a man who brought about a new way of thinking in a time of violence and opression. He was a Ghandi, a Mother Teresa, a Saint. He walked the Earth as a man of incredible wisdom and light. But he did not walk on water.

I accept your beliefs. If you want to go with the whole Jesus Christ, son of God, born of immaculate conception in a stable surrounded by glowing angels and goats, that's fine with me. But Holy Crap. This spectacle we call religion is insane.

If you follow this blog, you can probably guess the political connections I'm making in my head here. This is the part where names like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly start popping out of my mouth along with words like "evil" and "imaginary friend for adults." I'm not going there today.

Today I'm sharing my TwitPics.

Just Calm Down

In September, 2001, I was 17. That's the year Osama bin Laden and the Afghan terrorist group, the Taliban, attacked the United States.

In March, 2003, I was 19 years old. That's the year President Bush took us to war in Afghanistan Iraq.

The day we went to war, I sat on my couch glued to MSNBC. I watched infrared videos of never-ending explosions. I tried to understand why we were blowing the shit out of Iraq, when I had been under the impression that those who had hurt us were from a totally different country. I tried to figure out why we were going to war with an entire country for the selfish acts of a few. I couldn't understand why we fought terrorism with terrorism. I was incredibly sad. Then I was incredibly outraged.

At some point, Bush decided we'd "accomplished" whatever our "mission" was. There was a whole banner-on-an-aircraft-carrier-moment. We all remember it.

Then he kept fighting. He kept killing. He kept invading. He found more and more reasons to prolong this "mission." We found Saddam, killed him, and still we stayed.

In November, 2008, I was 24 years old. That's the year we elected Barack Obama. We had listened to his campaign promises. We believed in his ability to lead. We trusted him wholly, and we held each other and cried and celebrated the night he took office as Commander in Chief.

It's December, 2009. I'm 25 years old. After inheriting an unjust, misdirected, near decade-long, greed-based war, and after spending nine months gathering advice from all sides of the strategic spectrum, President Obama just announced his decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

When he was on the campaign trail, and since his election, Obama has promised to find a resolution to the fight in Afghanistan. He has kept his word. With Afghanistan in it's current state, we can not pick up and leave. Our President did not take us into Afghanistan, but he is decent enough, and smart enough, to pick up the pieces of the mess we helped make.

And for once, and for the very first time, I trust that our President knows exactly what he's doing.

"As Obama removes our combat brigades from Iraq, he will send at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent. He will also provide our armed forces with the reset capability that they need. He will replace essential equipment, and he will ensure that our men and women in uniform get the care and support they have earned."
-Barack Obama's Campaign Defense Fact Sheet (2007)

H1N1 's Got Nothin on Accidentally Shooting Yourself

I will not be getting the H1N1 vaccine.

I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I get the feeling some pharmaceutical company is making a killing off of the 250 million doses the U.S. Government just snapped up (if you're interested, the manufacturers of the H1N1 vaccine are Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis, MedImmune and CSL Limited).

Despite a giant lapse in vaccination upkeep in my lifetime, I've never contracted SARS, Mad Cow, or the Avian Flu. I have never been poisoned by Anthrax or accidentally eaten a stray chicken tumor at Jack-in-the-Box. In fact, I've never had food poisoning (but I also refuse to eat at restaurants sporting "B" grades in the windows).

I did have the Chicken Pox once. I've had Strep a couple times. I somehow developed Scarlitinia and mild Scarlet Fever at the same time. I even had Pityriasis once, which was totally strange. So it's not as if my immune system is superhuman. I just never bought into the Scary Disease of the Year hype.

Government health officials say the Swine Flu has killed some 4,000 people in the United States since April, including 540 kids.

Yes, that's a lot of people, and please don't think I'm making light of the matter. But for comparison's sake, here are some other fun facts to consider before going postal on your local CVS for running out of The Shot:

In the same 7 months...

16,916 people in the United States were killed in accidents involving firearms.
19,843 people in the United States were killed in car accidents.
21,000 people in the United States were killed by the Influenza virus (the regular one).
42,261 people in the United States were killed by Diabetes.
253,750 people in the United States were killed by tobbacco.
326,601 people in the United States were killed by Cancer.
368,454 people in the United States were killed by Heart Disease.

Sources: http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/deaths.htm

iWatch, uWatch, We All Watch

So, because apparently there's nothing more interesting going on in the world than debating the weirdness factor of LAPD PSAs, I bring you...iWatch.

For those who haven't read the headlines (fun stuff like "LAPD Creeping Out America," or "Terrorism: Important or Incredibly Creepy?"), I will attempt to explain the dilemma here.

LAPD has a new program. It's called iWatch. It's a way to report suspicious, possibly terrorism related activity without feeling like an asshole if it turns out to be nothing. The End.

So here's the video. You watch, then we'll discuss.





I admit, the still frame image of Luna Lovegood is a tad disconcerting, but that's all I've got.

No it's not original. No it's not very creative (I think every PSA I've ever seen follows the same We-Are-of-Varying-Ethnic-Backgrounds-and-We-Care-About-Our-Siblings-So-Lets-Say-Part-of-a-Sentence structure), but you know, it kinda gets the job done. It's semi dramatic. Terrorism is dramatic. I think it works, and I gotta say, I'm going with the LAPD on this one.

That being said, friends and lovers, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Can someone explain to me why our lame PSA is national news? I've perused the comments on other blogs, news sites, etc., and when you take away the "GOVERNMENT=SATAN" explanations, you're left kinda empty-handed.
Please, somebody, News Me.

DineLA October 2009

FYI, my J. Gold Essential Blog Part 2 has been updated to reflect those restaurants on the J. Gold 105 that are also participating in DineLA Restaurant Week 2009.

Check it out here.

Chambonea y mas!

Sitting in Dodger Stadium, I often find myself silently grooving to Rafael Furcal's sweet at-bat music. Of course, I have no idea what the lyrics are or what they mean, so I can't really get down like the rest of the upper reserve section.

Luckily for me, Roberto over at Vin Scully is my Homeboy made a list of all the at-bat songs for my favorite Boys in Blue.

Furcal= Chambonea Omega. Not sure if that's a two-word title or an artist and track, but in any case it loosely translates to something having to do with being lucky. Or lazy. One of the two.

Enjoy the rest of the list and bust out those iTunes gift cards. Time to get your driving-to-the-playoffs mix CD ready.

Photo: Rafael gets high.

The Essential Blog Part 2: 99 err...105 in '09

**9.17.09** Updated- those restaurants on the J. Gold list that are participating in Dine LA Week have been noted. Click here to see a list of all participating restaurants and their special, Dine LA week menus- valid October 4-9 and 11-16.

Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic, Jonathan Gold (@thejgold on Twitter), of the LA Weekly, published his updated list of the 99 Essential Los Angeles Restuarants on Thursday. That afternoon, I spent the better part of an hour tracking down a west side newspaper box still stocked with this essential edition of the weekly Los Angeles rag.

Sure, I could have read the list online, but this was equivalent to the difference between casually downloading the latest single or being first in line at Best Buy the morning of your favorite band's newest release.

Having The Hard Copy somehow validated my J. Gold obsession. And because I dug through the bottom of the box to get the most pristine copies, (knowing full well I would never need all four of them, but would love and cherish one with the same pleasure my younger sister relishes on her prized, "old school" copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), I have somehow proven my devotion to the gods of journalism. They are sooo gonna find me a job.

But I digress. Gold writes of food with delicate, poetic passion and grace. Here's to another year of eating my way through LA, GoldStyle.

The Title: A Sidenote I numbered this list after typing it out...and came up with 105 Essential LA Restaurants. I checked it twice against the LA Weekly's website and couldn't seem to find a mistake. Thinking perhaps this had something to do with the accidental omission of the beginning of the list in print (see LA Weekly's editor's note here), I went to the source.

"Has to do with the missing As: we knew the count was short, but not why; added some. Once in print, hard to rescind," said the man himself, @thejgold in a direct message via Twitter.

More is better I say, though I have to wonder which restaurants were added after the fact. In any case, rock on.

Links open to Yelp page, except for Street and Tavern, both of which seem impossible to find on Yelp.

*been there
#new to the list

1. *Akasha- DINE LA
   
2. Alcazar
3. Angeli Caffe
4. Angelini Osteria
5. *Animal
6. Anisette- DINE LA
   
7. A.O.C.
8. #Auntie Em's
9. Babita
10. Beacon: An Asian Cafe- DINE LA
    
11. Bistro LQ
12. BLD- DINE LA
    
13. *Border Grill- DINE LA
14. #Bottega Louie
15. Bulgarini Gelato
16. #Cache- DINE LA
    
17. Campanile- DINE LA
    
18. Casa Bianca
19. Chameau
20. Chang's Garden
21. #Chaya Downtown- DINE LA
    
22. Chichen Itza
23. Chung King
24. #Church & State
25. *Ciudad- DINE LA
    
26. Comme Ca
27. Cora's Coffee Shoppe
28. Cut
29. Daikokuya
30. #Drago Centro- DINE LA
    
31. 8 oz. Burger Bar
32. *El Huarache Azteca
33. El Parian
34. Elite
35. *Euro Pane Bakery
36. Fab Dogs
37. Flame
38. Fraiche
39. #Gjelina
40. Golden Deli
41. #Golden State
42. Golden Triangle
43. #Good Girl Dinette
44. Grace- DINE LA
    
45. The Grill on the Alley
46. Guelaguetza
47. #Huckleberry
48. The Hungry Cat
49. Il Moro- DINE LA
    
50. Jar
51. JiRaffe- DINE LA
    
52. *Jitlada
53. Kagaya
54. Kiriko
55. Kobawoo
56. #Kogi
57. Krua Thai
58. *Kyochon
59. La Casita Mexicana
60. La Mill
61. *Langer's
62. Larkin's
63. Let's Be Frank
64. *#Little Dom's
65. *Los Balcones del Peru
66. *#Loteria Grill- DINE LA
    
67. *Lou
68. Lucques
69. Ludo Bites
70. M Cafe de Chaya
71. Marouch
72. Meals by Genet
73. Melisse
74. #Mo Chica
75. #Moles la Tia
76. *#Mozza
77. Musso and Frank Grill
78. *The Nickel
79. Nobu Los Angeles
80. *Oinkster
81. Palate Food + Wine
82. Park's Barbeque
83. Phillip's Barbeque
84. #Pho Minh
85. Pollo a la Brasa
86. Providence
    
87. Renu Nakorn
88. #Riva
89. Rivera- DINE LA
    
90. Rustic Canyon
91. Sanuki No Sato
92. Sapp Coffee Shop
93. Sona
94. Spago- DINE LA
    
95. *Square One
96. #Street- DINE LA
    
97. Tacos Baja Ensenada
98. #Tavern
99. Terroni
100. Tirupathi Bhimas
101. Urusawa
102. Vincenti
103. Wolfgang's Steakhouse by Wolfgang Zwiener- DINE LA
     
104. #Wurstkuche
105. Zelo Gourmet Pizzeria

Photo: One I wish had made the list: Don Chow Tacos

9.1.09- Amended to add Providence, thanks to a savvy commenter at Eater LA. :)

Bye Bye Modern Communications, Hello Martial Law!

The Station Fire, currently burning out of control in the La Canada area of the Angeles National Forest, is rapidly approaching the communications towers of Mt. Wilson.

Most firefighters have been pulled from the area, and though some crews are still working to clear the brush around the historic Mt. Wilson observatory, officials say they expect the fire to reach the area within the next few hours.

Why such a big deal?

Mt. Wilson is home to almost all radio, television, cell phone, national security, and police communication towers in the city of L.A.

Best get your tweeting done now, kids. You may not get a chance later tonight.

Check out the current view of Mt. Wilson, from Mt. Wilson, here.

Photo by L.A. journalist T.J. Sullivan, www.tjsullivanla.com

Like Christmas Morning...

It's here! It's here!

Jonathan Gold's annual list of the 99 Essential Los Angeles Restaurants has arrived. Unfortunately, I can't open my present 'til later this evening, but expect a News Me Baby Redo of The Essential Blog over the next few days. No spoilers please!

As an added bonus, our local Pulitzer winner has recently joined Twitter. Follow @thejgold for some of the most poetically written tweets you could imagine. Start drooling now.

There's money growing off of that Tree of Liberty

For two weeks I've tried half-heartedly to understand the healthcare reform debate. I watched a little news, read a couple of articles, and generally wrote the whole thing off as this month's Obama is the Devil stunt ala the Tea Party Protestors of April '09.

But over the last few days, things have changed. Yesterday a man named William Kostrik arrived outside a town hall meeting in New Hampshire with a handgun strapped to his leg and a sign reading "It's time to water the tree of liberty..."

Brush up on your historic quotes recently?

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -Thomas Jefferson

Did I forget to mention that the man was standing outside the doors of a high school in which our President was currently speaking? Don't worry though, Mr. Kostrik wasn't arrested. After all, New Hampshire law grants their citizens the right to bear arms. There's no clause restricting any American from hanging out near the President with a couple of weapons bearing a sign suggesting the time had come to shed blood.

So, why was Kostrik there? What was he so angry about? Why was Obama holding this town hall meeting in New Hampshire?

Well, it all has to do with Health Care Reform. And this is where it gets complicated.

Let me start at the beginning.

President Obama wants to pass a comprehensive Health Care Reform bill.

The 852 word document outlines the ways in which the Government would play a role in the regulation of the health insurance industry.

It is not a Universal health Care proposal.

But the reform would set a universal standard of health care, "guaranteeing access to affordable coverage, essential benefits, and other consumer protections."

It would ensure that "a qualified health benefits plan may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion."

It would establish a "Health Insurance Exchange in order to facilitate access of individuals and employers, through a transparent process, to a variety of choices of affordable, quality health insurance coverage including a public health insurance option."

Allow me to explain...

If reform passes:

President Obama will appoint a Public Health Administration Commissioner, who would help create a standard of care. This means all health insurance policies would be held responsible for covering the same minimum benefits including certain treatments, visits, and medicines.

Your insurance company can not deny you coverage because of your health history. Sure, they may want you to pay more, but they can't deny coverage.

The government would offer all citizens the option of being covered by public health insurance. In the President's own words...

"This is where a lot of the idea of government takeover of health care comes from. All we want to do is set up a set of options so that if you don't have health insurance or if you're underinsured, you can have the same deal that members of Congress have, whi

ch is they can look at a menu of options-- we're calling it an exchange but it's basically just a menu of different health care plans-- and you will be able to select the one that suits your family best."

The Opposition

As with any political issue, there is debate over Obama's proposed reform. Many believe the "nationalization of health care" will not only cost taxpayers a whole bunch of money, but that millions of Americans will actually lose their insurance due to employers switching from private to public health insurance plans.

In the same vein as the tea party protests, "grassroots" organizations have called upon their members to storm town hall meetings and have their voices heard.

Tea Party Patriots, the "Official" Grassroots America Movement, is the leader of the pack when it comes to this debate. On their website, they urgently encourage visitors

to download flyers, read over a list of talking points, and join up with other like-minded people to have their voices heard at health care town halls throughout the country. They remind meeting protestors to "make sure to get plenty of video and photos of the

event, post them to YouTube," and to "remind your protest attendees that they may be on video with those who support nationalized health care."

Dig a little deeper, baby.

Note: Though I suspected as much myself, the investigative reporting in this section must be attributed to the staff of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. I have done my own research and have been able to verify every claim made here.

At the bottom of the TeaPartyPatriots.org site, you will see a list of affiliated partners, the most notable of which is Freedom Works (revisit my original Tea Party blog for more on this organization).

Now follow along closely...

The chairman of Freedom Works is former U.S. House Majority Leader, Dick Armey.

Armey is also Senior Policy Advisor for a lobbyist group called DLA Piper.

Among DLA Piper's major clients are Bristol-Myers Squibb- a pharmaceutical company, and SleepMed- a medical device supplier specializing in sleep medicine, Medicines Company- another pharmaceutical bigwig, and Metcare- a health care provider based in Florida.

The connection that The Rachel Maddow Show has laid out here, doesn't end there.

In 2007, the American Council of Life Insurers paid Armey's Lobbying firm, DLA Piper, $100,000. Within six months, Freedom Works, that "Grassroots" organization, had begun lobbying Congress to deregulate the life insurance industry.

In 2006, DLA Piper began lobbying for the Senado de Republica, or Mexican Senate "to promote U.S.-Mexico relations." Soon after, Freedom Works started promoting themselves as "one of the few conservative organizations willing to aggressively promote meaningful immigration reform."

The Director of Freedom Works is a man named Richard J. Stephenson. He is also the Chairman of the Board and Founder of Cancer Treatment Centers of America Inc (a for-profit company).

Matt Kibbe, President of Freedom Works, is a former Senior Economist for the Republican National Committee.

Grassroots? Really Freedom Works? Really Tea Party Patriots?

From Wikipedia...

"A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. the term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it is natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures."

Don't be scurred!

So in misrepresenting themselves, these organizations, who, by the way, obviously have a major financial interest in leaving health care the way it is, have been able to scare people into believing that the hostile takeover of health care will mean going bankrupt over taxes, sending our elderly to the "death panel," and, somehow, turning into a socialist society run by Nazis.

Let's start with the money.

Yes. It will cost money to implement a plan like this. A lot of money to be exact. And some of it will come from taxpayers. But not all of it. Yesterday, at the town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, President Obama laid out his plan for financing the reform.

"About two-thirds of those costs we can cover by eliminating the inefficiencies that I already mentioned. So I already talked about $177 billion worth of subsidies to the insurance companies. Let's take that money, let's put it in the kitty. There's about $500 billion to $600 billion over 10 years that can be saved without cutting benefits for people who are currently receiving Medicare, actually making the system more efficient over time.

That does still leave, though, anywhere from $300 billion to $400 billion over 10 years, or $30 billion to $40 billion a year. That does have to be paid for, and we will need new sources of revenue to pay for it. And I've made a proposal that would -- I want to just be very clear -- the proposal, my preferred approach to this would have been to take people like myself who make more than $250,000 a year, and limit the itemized deductions that we can take to the same level as middle-class folks can take them."

So we're talking about leveling out the playing field here. Rich people get to take just the same deductions as the middle class, therefore collecting more tax from the wealthiest in this country. Sure, that may be upsetting to those who fall into that bracket. But it's not as though they're being punished- simply being treated the exact same way everyone else is. In the name of liberty and justice for all, isn't it about time we started treating each other equally on all levels- including financially? I don't see why not.

Moving on.

Obama is not sending your Grandma to the grave early because it's too expensive to keep her lying around. I'm sorry, but stop being absurd.

Here's where this malicious rumor came from.

The way it stands, most health care policies, including Medicare, don't provide any coverage for end-of-life counseling or the creation of a living will. If I wanted to go to my doctor and create a document outlining my wishes should I become incapable of making decisions for myself, I have to pay out of pocket for that visit.

There is a provision in the reform bill that requires Medicare and health insurance companies to cover the cost of that visit- should you want to have it. No one forces you to do it. There is no requirement to have this discussion with a doctor every five years. But you have the option to have the consultation every five years. If you'd like to go, it will be covered by your insurance. Want to learn more? Read this Washington Post interview with Republican Senator Johnny Isakson.

Don't get me wrong. I have loved watching Americans go from completely apathetic to down right pissed. We are finally involved in our own country. I just wish that those with opposing opinions would do a little research before they throw their hearts in the ring, only to benefit the wallets of those who started this political terrorism in the first place.

GatesGate

When 58-year-old Henry Louis Gates returned to his Cambridge, Massachusetts home on July 16, he had a hard time opening his door. He called for his driver to help him gain entrance to his home. While struggling with the door, a neighbor called police to report a possible break-in in progress.

When Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department arrived, he demanded to see Gates' identification. Not knowing why the police were at his home, Gates yelled at the officer. After showing ID, the Harvard Professor was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct.

Racial profiling? Perhaps. A big misunderstanding? Most likely. The Gates/Crowley incident is no longer the hot topic. It's what happened after the arrest, after charges were dropped, and after the story gained national attention, that has prime time news anchors all a-tizzy.

Speaking at a press conference a few days later, President Obama was asked to comment on the story...

"I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three – what I think we know separate and apart from this incident – is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."

Yes. Obama said the police department acted stupidly. All it took was that one word to fuel the firestorm that is... Thaddeus McCotter.


Now, keep in mind, the President has already personally called both Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates. Both men are invited to, and will be attending a White House "beer party" with The Big O this Thursday. Both men have, reportedly, agreed to bury the hatchet.

But Thaddeus McCotter, a Republican congressman from Michigan, is not satisfied. He's written and introduced a house resolution asking Obama to formally apologize to the Cambridge Police Department. One more time: Thaddeus wants Congress to vote on, and pass, a non-binding resolution asking the President to publicly apologize for his choice of words.

Thad, I get where you're going with this. I really do. And you're entitled to your opinion just like everyone else. But I just have a little issue with dragging the whole freaking Congress out to perform this little piece of theater for you. I just have this nagging feeling that Congress may have slightly more important things to do. No?

You know what? I take it back. Let's make Obama apologize. While we're at it, I have a few things I'd like Bush Jr. to apologize for too. You know, like, starting a war for profit and killing lots of innocent people while simultaneously ruining our economy and turning our country into the laughing stock of the world.

Congress, here I come.

The Government Wants to Buy Me a New Car

No, really!

Earlier this month, President Obama passed through the so-called "Cash for Clunkers Bill," aka the "Erin Might Drive a New Car For the First Time in Her Life Bill."

Essentially, the Government wants you to trade in your crap old car for something a little more environmentally friendly. This drives business to dealers, in turn stimulating the economy and hopefully letting a few auto workers keep their incomes. Good ol' Uncle Sam is going to give you a credit of up to $4,500 towards your new vehicle. Talk about a win-win!

Daydreaming of turning your rusted out 1985 Accord into a 2010 Camaro? Well, there are a few limitations. The following information is taken directly from CARS.gov, the official site of the Car Allowance Rebate Systems Act. Read on, my fellow P.O.S. drivers.

THE OLD CAR

• It must have been manufactured less than 25 years before the date you trade it in.
• It must be in drivable condition.
• It must have a "new" combined city/highway fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less (check your car's combined fuel economy here).
• It must be continuously insured and registered to the same owner for the full year preceding the trade-in.

The New Car

• You don't have to BUY the new car- you can lease.
• The new car DOES NOT have to be American made.
• The new car must have a MSRP of no more than $45,000.
• The new car must have combined fuel economy of at least 22 mpg.

Other Stuff

• The amount of the credit is between $3,500 and $4,500 depending on your old car and difference in fuel economy between the trade-in and the new car.
• The CARS Act requires the dealer to use the credit under the CARS program in addition to any rebates or discounts advertised by the dealer or offered by the new vehicle’s manufacturer.
• You can combine this with other State and Federal incentives, such as the hybrid vehicle credit.
• The deal ends November 10th, or when funds run out.
  

Excited yet? Before you run off to the dealer, there's one more thing you should know. Though trades made after July 1st will be potentially eligible for the credit, the final rules and regulations will be issued on July 23rd. It's in your best interest to wait just a couple more weeks 'til then.

Image via Realist Idealist

Screw you, and please give me back my money.

Listen up, Renters! This one's for you.

If you are among the many, MANY apartment dwellers in this fine city (or elsewhere), you've no doubt had to put up with trying times. Something's broken, landlord won't fix it. Someone in your building is loud/annoying/insane/stealing your mail, and the landlord won't do anything about it. You come home Friday night, excited about sleeping in the next day, to find a notice on your door informing you that the landlord needs to come in tomorrow morning. At 7:00 am.

None of those ring a bell? How about this one: you scrub, you sanitize, you paint, you rent a carpet cleaner from the grocery store, and you move. Three weeks later, you get your security deposit back. Or rather, you get a tiny fraction of that deposit back. Along with your ridiculous check, the landlord sends you a list of things they used your money for.

Think they owe you more? They probably do.

Here's how to get it.

According to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, "the most common disagreement between landlords and tenants is over the refund of the tenant's security deposit after the tenant has moved out of the unit."

No surprise there. It's imperative that you know exactly what you are responsible for. Keep in mind, these are not laws (though many are included in the CA civil code), but if you do decide to fight for your cash, this info is, for the most part, accepted as truth.

The DCA states, "California law specifically allows the landlord to use a tenant's security deposit for four purposes"...

• For unpaid rent
• For cleaning the rental unit when the tenant moves out, but only to make the unit as clean as it was when the tenant first moved in.
• For repair of damages, other than normal wear and tear, caused by the tenant or the tenant's guests.
• If the lease or rental agreement allows it, for the cost of restoring or replacing furniture, furnishings, or other items of personal property (including keys), other than because of normal wear and tear.

THAT'S IT.

Essentially, your landlord can only use your money to make the apartment as good as it was when you got there. You should always take pictures when you move in to a new apartment, especially when the place isn't perfect. Stains on the carpet? Broken or bent mini blinds? Scratch on the wood or tile? Take a picture. Make note.

If you don't have pictures, don't freak out. It's your word against theirs, so you have a fair chance.

If you read that carefully, you'll notice the "normal wear and tear" clause. Your landlord can NOT charge you to fix or replace something that has normal wear and tear. Think: carpets, floors, bathtub glazing, etc. They can use your deposit to clean the carpet- only to get it back to it's condition before you moved in.

"Suppose, for example, that the tenant had washed the kitchen floor but that it remained dingy because of wax built up over the years. The landlord could not charge the tenant for stripping the built-up wax from the kitchen floor."

Now, how about carpets? Drapes? Furniture (if your place came furnished)?

You only need pay for the "remaining useful life" of those items. If your place came with a used couch, and you put a few cigarette burns in that couch, you can NOT be held responsible for the cost of a brand new couch. Another example:

"One common method of calculating the deduction for replacement prorates the total cost of replacement so that the tenant pays only for the remaining useful life of the item that the tenant has damaged or destroyed. For example, suppose a tenant has damaged beyond repair an eight-year-old carpet that had a life expectancy of ten years, and that a replacement carpet of similar quality would cost $1,000. The landlord could properly charge only $200 for the two years' worth of life (use) that would have remained if the tenant had not damaged the carpet."

Most people generally assume they'll be charged for repainting. It's one of those standard things that we expect. Well, guess what? You don't necessarily have to pay for that.

The DCA says interior paint has an expected life span of about two years. If you live in the same place for at least two years, you've outstayed the life of that paint. You don't owe a penny, even if your five-year-old played Picasso on the bedroom wall. In the same vein, if you stayed in the place for less than six months and somehow your place needs repainting already...you're SOL.

Remember, the landlord is always REQUIRED to send you an itemized list of repairs and costs, and to include receipts for all the work that was done (the exception being that total repairs cost less than $126.00).

Armed with this info, you should be able to make a strong case for your cash. Write a letter (email works too) explaining why you think you are owed more. Cite the DCA. Be professional. Make a copy, date it, and sign it. If all else fails, you can take the case to small claims, but usually just the threat of court is enough to make your landlord buckle.

The Landlord from Will Ferrell

For more information on your rights as a tenant, visit the DCA's website here.

Riddle Me This...

I'm an EL Monte police officer. I'm chasing a fugitive through the streets of East LA. Helicopters fly overhead, broadcasting every moment live on local news stations. The guy stops. He's lying on the ground, hands behind his back. No longer threatening violence. I'm the first one on the scene.

Should I...

A) Point my gun, tell him to stay down, and wait for backup (which, clearly, is only seconds away)?
B) Kick the guy in the head?

Obviously B is not the correct choice, but surprise, surprise, B is what this asshole chose. Watch the video. See for yourself, and tell me: did we learn NOTHING from Rodney king?

Can't we all just get along?

MANNYGATE '09

News Me Baby is a Dodger Fan. I bleed Dodger blue, and all that jazz.

So the news that my main squeeze, Manny Ramirez, was suspended for 50 games today after testing positive for drug use was a bit of shock.

You can't dispute test results, but I'm all kinds of pissed off that Manny was suspended. 50 games? For (what's being reported as) a little bedtime performance enhancer?

Screw you, MLB.



It doesn't matter anyway. We have one of the strongest teams out there. I watched with pride as my Dodgers kicked Cubby butt last year for the division championship, and I look forward to watching Manny take the team all the way to the series.....after July 3rd.

Rodney King & the LA Riots- 17 years later

The story of Rodney King is one that the world, and Angelenos in particular will always remember. It's on par with the asassination of JFK or MLK Jr., the Northridge quake, and 9/11. In our 90's, we'll still be able to recall where we were, and what we were doing when we first heard the news.



The brutal beating of a man named Rodney King, off a deserted Los Angeles freeway in March 1991, was the catalyst that sparked the LA Riots just over one year later. On April 29, 1992, the officers involved in the beating were acquitted, and chaos ensued.

The LA Riots were a defining moment in the history of our fair city. Racial tensions came to a head once again- decades after the Civil Rights Movement, and the fight for equality took over this country.

In 1992, I was 8 years old. Growing up with a mother who was constantly glued to the news, I was used to the bad stuff. But scenes of looting, fire, and the live near-death beating of Reginald Denny stuck with me. If I knew what the word apocalypse meant at the time, I'm sure that's how I would describe the events in LA.

17 years to the day after the riots began, I'd like to think that something like the Rodney King incident couldn't happen again. But who knows? With the exception of a brief stint in Memphis, I've never been subjected to any kind of racial anxiety, and with the color of my skin I doubt I'll ever come close to the kind of prejudice those LAPD officers exhibited back in 1991. If I did, I doubt I'd have the resilience and strength to forgive. Fortunately, Rodney King is a much stronger man than I.

In honor of the anniversary of the riots, LAist.com has posted an interview with Rodney King, written by Caleb Bacon. It's a hell of a story...

King’s Hyundai was speeding west on the 210 freeway north of Los Angeles. His intoxicated mind swam with childhood memories of his father getting “stomped and kicked on by the police,” he said. “I never thought I’d get caught up in one of those kind of beatings.”

“I knew what kind of dudes followed a police chase,” said King. He finally stopped on Foothill Boulevard in Lake View Terrace near Sylmar. Multiple police cars surrounded him. “I knew it wasn’t going to be nothing nice.”

King was first met by Officer Melanie Singer. Behind her, King could see the other officers readying their billy clubs. “I told her 'tell them they don’t have to do this.'" Non-responsive, she walked away as the other officers charged King.

Despite the presence of African-American officers, the words of the charging officers was “straight racist,” he said. Standing aside, the African-American officers did not participate in The Beating. "Whoever black that was standing around was probably scared for their job. It was like a routine that you just know goes on.”

To continue reading Bacon's interview with Rodney King, click here.

Photo: Rodney King in 2008, with Dr. Drew Pinsky on VH1's Sober House