Gotcha. That is the games name. From Culver Citys King Fahad Mosque to Somalia, Muslims, from moderates to jihadis, are snickering up their deceptive sleeves over how they have outslicked the Gentiles of the world one more time. Muslim savages on a half-dozen continents butcher Christians, fellow Muslims and Jews. Then, on cue, the same way your dog raises his paw on command, righteous Christians and Jews run to a Culver City street corner. With straight faces, they bellow out, We defend our Muslim brothers. Mind you, there is not one shred of evidence that our Muslim brothers merit a defense. Let the ubiquitous lawyer Mark Geragos defend them. Unless someone can correct me, this is the greatest scam in the history of the civilized world. I kill your landsmen. Then you round up a few of your drinking pals, pool your money for bullhorns at the 99-Cent store, shlep out to a nearby street corner and announce in your loudest voice, I defend my Muslims brothers. Sir, you are an unredeemable idiot. For the first time in 40 years, the Catholics elect a Pope who says something worth repeating. Five days later, after phony Muslim conductors orchestrate one more tiresome round of phony, entirely insincere outrage, Pope Benedict XVI not only apologizes but compounds his inane behavior by telling a fat lie. Remember the famous television picture from three years ago when a rope was looped around the statue of Saddam in Baghdad and was pulled down? That is exactly what the phony Muslim riot conductors did to Pope Benedict over the weekend. As of today, the Pope has less credibility than my second ex-wife. In view of this latest patch of insufferable Muslim buffoonery, I trust the members of the Greater Culver City Interfaith Council had trouble swallowing their own Eggs Benedict at breakfast this morning.
City Worker Returns to Work with a Caveat
Juan Vasquez, a sanitation truck driver for the city who was placed on administrative leave last week after being involved in an accident, has returned to work, according to the Public Works Dept. Not, however, at his old job — pending the outcome of of a police-conducted investigation. Instead of driving a sanitation truck, Charles Herbertson, the Public Works Director, indicated this morning that Mr. Vasquez temporarily will ride in the passenger’s seat, filling a position known as the trash collector. Normally, collectors draw lower pay than drivers. Mr. Herbertson told thefrontpageonline.com that Mr. Vasquez, as of the present, will not have his pay docked. A final determination is days away. “It probably will be another week before the investigation is complete,” Mr. Herbertson said. At that time, a decision will be made about Mr. Vasquez. A veteran city employee, he was driving a 17-ton city sanitation truck south on Duquesne Avenue last Monday morning, shortly before 7 o’clock, in the middle of his shift while city police were busy commemorating the anniversary of 9/11. Mr. Vasquez was negotiating a left turn onto wide and busy Jefferson Boulevard. As he was attempting to complete his turn, the truck, carrying a partial load of 8 tons, tilted too far. The truck, powered by liquified natural gas, landed with a thud on its side. Mr. Vasquez’ partner, Jose Meza, the collector, evidently absorbed the brunt of the force from the accident. Mr. Meza was given the rest of the week off while Mr. Vasquez was placed on the aforementioned administrative leave.
Junking the Standards for Naming a High School
What kind of statement will it make for education this afternoon when the Los Angeles Unified School District names a new downtown high school for a dead labor leader? Not a good one. My instinctive response to honoring Miguel Contreras, the late executive secretary- treasurer of the heavyhanded County Federation of Labor that means he was the juice is resistance. What is the justification? Mr. Contreras, who died of a heart attack in the spring of last year, would have marked his 54th birthday on Sunday. He thought with his fists. Since he was not a prizefighter, this is a dubious distinction. Unless you want your children to aspire to be farm workers or union activists, why name an inner city school for this anti-scholar? Mr. Contreras lived by a brute mentality. This aint drawing room stuff. Since when do we canonize crudity? One biography says, boastfully, that Mr. Contreras was arrested 18 times for violating anti-picketing injunctions. This hardly qualifies him as a role model. Look at his career path. Mr. Contreras grew up with four brothers in a family of farm workers in the Central Valley. When he was 17, his parents became involved with Cesar Chavez United Farm Workers, and that changed everything for the young man. By 21, he was a picket captain during the notorious early 70s strike against California grape growers.
Many Police Were Poised to Pounce Last Sunday
The cops came prepared. All that ordinary people saw was one lone black-and-white from the Culver City Police Dept., innocently positioned across the street in the driveway of a 7-11. Unbeknown to the hundreds of participants at last Sundays anti-terror demonstration at the King Fahad Mosque, numerous police, sheriffs and highway patrol officers from surrounding communities were poised to pounce at the first sign of trouble. Although the demonstrators largely devoted the two-hour rally to exercising their voices, no physicality was reported. There were no arrests and no injuries, only wounded feelings. Plainclothes officers mingled with the unsuspecting, distracted demonstrators. They were too riled up to notice. Since vagueness and mystery are essential to these kinds of police operations, City Hall sources declined to discuss the number of agencies that assisted or the number of personnel who were at the ready. This form of mutual aid agreement has been around for years, a source told thefrontpageonline.com. Within the last 10 years, it has been refined to a pretty high degree. I cant tell you everyone who was there, just that all areas of law enforcement were represented.
After You Clean up Your Room, Clean up the Creek
Jim Lamm of the Ballona Creek Renaissance, the easygoing emperor of the environment in Culver City, is leading the charge to recruit volunteers, especially students, for the annual Creek Cleanup Day on Saturday. He tole thefrontpageonline.com that he has no idea how many (especially young) people will volunteer at three sites along the Creek — Sepulveda Boulevard, Overland Avenue and Duquesne Avenue. Entrance is by the bike paths. Over the years, between 100 and 350 persons — with an accent on the student population — turn out for Ballona Creek Cleanup Saturday to socialize and to purify the environment. It is Coastal Cleanup Day all over Southern California. As a lure, students may document their service hours. Registration begins at 9 a.m. “Cleanup Day has two purposes,” Mr. Lamm said, “to get the community together and to remove trash around the Creek that otherwise would end up in the ocean. It also is intended to create an awareness of the environment in people.” Friends believe that sensitivity toward the environment has steadily increased in Culver City because of the gentle manner of Mr. Lamm, one of the leading instructors in environmental education. “The environment is a subject that often is ignored,” Mr. Lamm said. “But once people are introduced and get involved, many find that they are inspired. The ecosystem is all around us, trees, water, land, sky. It all works together. More and more businesses and developers are going green in meaningful ways.” Mr. Lamm, who first became a serious student of the environment during his own student days in the last century, talked about “how dramatically the environment has been altered in the last 100 years. Gradually, there has been a recognition that we can’t go on living the way we have or we will spoil our nest. So much renewal is going on, and that is good.”
Mr. Lamm may be reached at Jimlamm@ballonacreek.org or 310.839.6896.
Arnold the Star vs. Dreary Ol Whats-His-Name
Witty, folksy and brimming with brisk, fast-paced repartee, Eric Bauman, the Chair of the County Democratic Party, told the Culver City Democratic Club last night that the November elections look promising for partisans, but the results are not a cinch. Nationally, he said, Democrats have their best chance to make inroads in Republican monopolies since President Bush’s election six years ago. He foresees a likely split decision in Congress. “Winning the House is truly within our grasp,” Mr. Bauman said. “Winning the Senate is a possibility.” Back in California, in spite of the Democrats’ longtime dominance of the State Legislature, there is foreboding darkness at the top of the ticket. It might not have been kosher for Mr. Bauman to make an outright prediction that Gov. Schwarzenegger will handily be returned to office, given that he was surrounded at the moment by fiercely loyal Dems. But he circularly danced to the point convincingly. So compelling is the Schwarzenegger persona that a remarkable event occurred during Mr. Bauman’s extensive analysis of what is shaping up as a one-sided gubernatorial campaign. In the heat of a Democratic race, in a Democratic setting, with only Democrats within range of his voice, Mr. Bauman did not mention Mr. Schwarzenegger’s Democratic opponent by name one time. Mr. Bauman, however, implored his audience in the Rotunda Room at the Vets Auditorium to ignore published polls before Election Day.
Call Him Arnold, Please
If I say Arnold, I dont imagine your answer will be Toynbee, Stang or even Eddy. Presently in the English-speaking world, Arnold conjures up only one image, Mr. Schwarzenegger. You would think Arnold was a bad word. The Los Angeles Times assiduously has avoided using Arnold in a headline since he was elected governor three years ago. The newspaper detests him. Your black feelings for a former spouse wilt by comparison. The Times reasoning goes this way: Using Arnold in a headline connotes not only familiarity but, in a more base way, implies approbation. Therefore, thousands of Times headlines the past 36 months have used the awkward abbreviation Gov. A rudimentary rule of journalism is to make a headline accessible. Gov. does not. Arnold does. Yesterday, when I wrote a headline for a story introducing a first-time Assembly candidate, I chose not to use either the first or second name of Jeffers Dodge. He is not known. But if I say Bass Opponent, recognition will dawn more quickly.
Basss Opponent Beats the Heat by Thinking Ahead
As the most fascinating underdog competing in the autumn elections for the State Legislature, Assembly candidate Jeffers M. Dodge is beating the heat of his first campaign by concentrating on his second run for office. The show business veteran is accustomed to thinking creatively. Before converting back to Republicanism, he had to wear a mask over his political heart every time he left home. For now, Mr. Dodge has concluded that Assemblywoman Karen Bass, the much decorated first-term incumbent for the 47th District, ranks somewhere between cinch and unbeatable for the November elections. This, you know, is one of those districts that goes Republican once or twice every century. Voters will have no trouble distinguishing the diminutive and dynamic Ms. Bass from her first challenger. Strapping and square-shouldered at 51 years old, Mr. Dodge, of Middle Western roots, breathes the organized confidence of a 10-term officeholder. Instead of affecting the Southern California casual trademark, he dresses like a traditional candidate. Beneath a hank of sandy hair, he wears a dark blazer, light slacks, open-necked white shirt. While enduring the (under)dog days of a campaign hungry for notice, he is preparing for a takeoff that he predicts will blow away his Democratic opponent when the time is propitious.
City Worker Accident Today at a Moment of Irony
Irony intersected with solemnity shortly before 7 this morning when a city sanitation truck driven by veteran employee Juan Vasquez and bearing an estimated 8 tons of trash turned over and landed on its right side, injuring both the driver and his passenger, known as the collector. Jose Meza, the collector, riding on the right side of the truck that is equipped with compressed natural gas, was trapped in the vehicle. The Fire Dept. seared off part of the vehicle to free him. The scene was spectacular a combination of an enormous garbage truck inertly on its side, like a wounded elephant, shattered windshield glass scattered in the street like so many diamonds, and decidedly infragrant trash strewn on the adjacent grass. Although Mr. Meza was deemed to have sustained the greater injury, both he and his partner. Mr. Vasquez, had been medically released by early this afternoon, sources said. On the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, the emergency rescue call came on a cool, overcast morning, around 6:50. A phalanx of dark-uniformed officers from the Police Dept. and Fire Dept. were lining up along the yellow stripe down Duquesne Avenue, in front of the Police Station. The summoned officers from both departments broke ranks, climbed into vehicles diagonally lined up in front of the Station, especially for the brief annual 9/11 commemoration ceremony. They headed for the nearby accident scene, at Jefferson Boulevard and Duquesne.