The Malicious Smear Campaign of Aaron Proctor, featuring the Pasadena Star News and the Pasadena Weekly, part 2

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From: Inside Track
Date: July 1, 2009 12:06:39 PM PDT
To: Virginia Hoge


"It sounds like you are turning a political adversity into a malicious smear campaign."


-- Inside Track, Pasadena Star News insider, Pasadena New Progressive, July 1, 2009

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Aaron Proctor's threatening rant to Charles Gerencser, publisher of Southland Publishing

Aaron Proctor posted this threatening rant directed at the publisher of Southland Publishing, Charles Gerencser, last September. Gerencser had fired Proctor after one of his employee's told him about Proctor's blog. To follow the story back, after Aaron Proctor left town the first time, he was invited back by the Pasadena Weekly who provided him with a job at City Beat L.A., their sister paper, in the Accounting department.

After Proctor was fired, he published this threating rant at Gerencser, complete with a portrait of himself in which he had shaved his head. He also made and posted a YouTube video (which I never saw) which Proctor himself described on a new blog in Philly:

"people in Los Angeles don’t have a sense of humor and will be quick to call a lawyer or the police even if you make an unharmful WWE-style video challenging a newspaper publisher to a wrestling match"

I copied the rant from his blog and posted it on PNP last September 2008. Proctor entitled it: Of Course You Know This Means War.

Charles Gerencser left his job soon afterwards, on October 8, 2008.

Chased by lawyers (and the cops), Aaron Proctor left town around that time as well.

Note: the Star News did not give Aaron Proctor a send off in their paper this time around.

[do not read the below if you do not like profanity and threats]

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Of Course You Know This Means War
by Aaron Proctor
Date: September 27th, 2008

Pic by The Real Zajac [above]

Subhead: The mother fuckin’ Proc has a mother fuckin posse.

Categories: I (heart) Pasadena!, The State of Things, Freedom, Freedom!, Elsewhere In The Area, Video, The Proc Says..., The Pasadena Way, The War On Terrible Newspapers
[this is Proctor's "indexing" system for all of his posts - makes sure they go all over the place via search engines...]

Just a reminder to any piece of shit ham and eggers who think calling The Proc at his job and telling him that his “employment is in peril due to his stupid blog” think that they are going to get away with their actions on Friday afternoon:

Perfect for fucking with people that publish piece of shit “newspapers”. Rags that I wouldn’t even give my best girl to use as a tampon.

You know who you are.

You want a war? Your roody-poo candy faggot ass has got one, bitch. If you didn’t hear, I’m from Philly. We lay mother fuckers like you out left and right on a DAILY basis.

Don’t fuck with The Proc. Don’t come to his job with that shit. What are you? Some crazy ex-girlfriend or something? That’s crazy bitch shit. Are you trying to tell me you’re a bitch? I thought so.

Don’t believe that fucking with The Proc is not a good idea? Ask Larry Wilson, Steve Madison, Virginia Hoge, and anybody else who has gotten in my way before.

Ask Victor Gordo in March of 2009.

Put that shit on Google Alerts and smoke it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson quote

I stir in it for the sad reason that no other mortal will move, and if I do not, why, it is left undone.

The amount of it, be sure, is merely a Scream; but sometimes a scream is better than a thesis.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) On his efforts to stop the U.S. Government's forced expulsion of the Cherokee Nation from its land, journal, 23 April 1838



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Happy July 4th

[Image: Washington Crossing the Delaware Oil on canvas by Emanuel Leutze]

Happy 4th of July to you and your families and friends.

I have dug up a few things to share. Julia Ward Howe was a prominent abolitionist, social activist and poet (can you imagine, a Liberal!). She wrote my favorite American anthem, written during the Civil War and very much an ode to social justice, here is an excerpt:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free;
His truth is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

The Battle of Trenton, was a critical battle for besieged and retreating George Washington during the American Revolution. Here is an eye-witness account of the pain and suffering (yet determination!) that was endured by those soliders (and fishermen) who lived (and died) during that time,

written by an officer on Washington's staff (read full text here):

At six o'clock on Christmas evening, the troops marched toward McKonkey's Ferry, nine miles north of Trenton.

Many of the ill-clad soldiers wrapped rags around their feet; others were shoeless.

Boats collected at this strategic crossing were manned by Colonel John Glover's Fourteenth Regiment of Continental Line, a unit largely composed of fishermen from Marblehead, Massachusetts.

The passage of 2,700 American soldiers commenced at twilight, but was impeded by snow fall that turned to sleet and by heavy ice floes in the river. Washington, wrapped in his cloak, watched silently from the shore. The artillery finally landed on the Jersey bank of the Delaware at about three o'clock in the morning of December 26, 1776, and the march got underway an hour later.

Two miles beyond the landing, at Bear's Tavern, Washington separated his army into two columns: General Greene a division of about 1,200 men and ten field pieces, accompanied by General Washington, down the Pennington Road while General Sullivan's division of about 1,500 men marched down the River Road.

Informed along the march by courier that the storm was making muskets unfit for firing, Washington responded: "Tell General Sullivan to use the bayonet. I am resolved to take Trenton."

1776

George Washington quote:

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little Spark of Celestial fire call Conscience.

-- George Washington (1732 - 1799)



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The Malicious Smear Campaign of Aaron Proctor, featuring the Pasadena Star News, part 1

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From: Inside Track
Date: July 1, 2009 12:06:39 PM PDT
To: Virginia Hoge


"It sounds like you are turning a political adversity into a malicious smear campaign."


-- Inside Track, Pasadena Star News insider, Pasadena New Progressive, July 1, 2009

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Joseph Campbell quote:

The tyrant is proud, and therein resides his doom. He is proud because he thinks of his strength as his own; thus he is in the clown role, as a mistaker of shadow for substance; it is his destiny to be tricked.

-- Joseph Campbell (1904 - 1987)


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Dormitas wigs out! Updated

[Updated] So many times, since I began this blog, I have been confronted by the fact that the Truth, is much stranger, much more absurd, and much, much worse than fiction. (isn't it?) Thankfully however, sometimes exactly the reverse is true! (as to the "worse" part, the rest still holds!)

Something very strange (yet wonderful! which is why I have the champagne glasses chilled here at the PNP, which I invite you to share in), is going on over at Pasadena's Political Underbelly.

The Pasadena Political Underbelly blog remember, was once so "posh", it included on its contributor list, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce president Paul Little.

First of all, there is the Mystery of the Missing Post. When I checked the blog early in the morning of July 2, 2009 (yesterday), West Coast Blather Grrlie (a contributor to the blog), had posted the latest PPU entry, about a high school reunion. Ok, it was a little strange, the high school wasn't even in Pasadena, but still. That post is now gone.

Even stranger, is the firestorm that happened sometime yesterday in the comments section of the Underbelly, on a post ironically titled:

File this one under TMI - Too Much Idiocy (could the name even possibly be better??) But it gets even better, the content of the post by Mike deLeeuw, is bashing none-other-than Larry Wilson for sniveling in his column. I have to ask here however, considering what was to come, is this post genuine? or is it cover-up for the PPU's considerable engagement in Larry and the Star New's drive to re-introduce (and re-affirm) Aaron Proctor,

to cover-up for their massive mistake in supporting him in the first place.

(or? did they want him back?)

I visited the blog yesterday morning at 7:23 am, after being directed there by a commentator who told me that Kelly was up to no good again. There I found indeed, that Dormitas (a gender-bending anonymous blog administrator whose icon-art representative, is a pit bull with a large, spiked collar),

was still at it, hurling stones at myself and plugging for Aaron Proctor.

What she hadn't counted on, however, was that THIS time around, there were a lot of eyes watching her, enough to name this, her last "gig" - just that!!

Plenty of us now understand (and understanding is something crooks can't stand) Dormita's and the Star New's (I am still waiting to hear from them if this "move" was sanctioned by the entire company) embarrassing AP cover-up campaign.

[more coming soon on the bizarre story of the "malicious smear campaign of Aaron Proctor"]

Apparently, the stress of all the deviance, evil and duplicity, was getting to Dormitas.

Earlier in the thread she lashed out at commentators masquerading as myself (or did she suppose them to be? or did she write them herself? was she going that nuts?), even finally resorting to blaming Angel Bec!! In a strange series of comments (most of which are now deleted), someone masquerading as myself*, apparently didn't fool Angel Bec, which made Dormitas steaming mad, mad enough to point her lacquered fingernail at him! to which he (wisely) replied:

"I have better things to do than to try and imitate others. I always post with my name and I have agreed to disagree with you and others on the blog.

Simmer down and get a cup of coffee - learn how to spell and chill out - your comment was nasty and unnecessary."

* for the record, I submitted only two comments to this thread, the ones after real friend's.

But the wig really came flying off when a commentator wrote in:

Kelly is it at again LOOK at the comments

http://underpasadena.blogspot.com/2009/06/file-this-one-under-tmi-too-much-idiocy.html

When are we sending the flyers to AP's 'friends' and neighbors

Philadelphia needs to be warned.

Let's make sure he doesn't get a job any where

3135 Aramingo Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19134

July 2, 2009 4:41 AM

The truth came rushing at Dormitas all at once, and she knew, that she and her lies, were history! She began a mad rush of deleting the "offending" comments (see above and full thread is below),

ending finally, with a pronouncement that perhaps "says it all" about Dormitas and "her blog":

"It's my blog and I'll do what I want with it"

Finally, the Truth comes out! The Pasadena Political Underbelly is/was very much the creation of one person, an anonymous blogger, a blogger who has no problem with taking on other assumed identities.

The political connections of this blog still need to be investigated, but for now, what an amazing end, to an amazing turn of events!


- - - - - - - comments from the PPU (note the ones Dormitas leaves in):

14 comments:

Angel Bec said...

I'm fortunate that my family helped me out with my kids tuition. I still worked a second job. Exactly how much does an editor make? And if he's married does his wife work? Maybe since the last couple of his columns have not done well ... he's trying to keep it real with the little people.

Who knows?....

June 29, 2009 7:54 AM
Virginia Hoge said...
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

June 29, 2009 8:14 AM

Or others? said...

Harsh.
June 29, 2009 4:13 PM

Angel Bec said...

VH,

As much as I disagree with Virginia - (the real one) if you are going to try and be an imposter and imitate her you might be bright enough to realize that her posts link back to her home page - not her blog. If you click on her name her home page comes up.

If I click on your name it goes directly to her blog. Her posts also include her photo ... it's easy to see you are not her.

VH and I called a truce a while back. Sorry you are on the late train. Enough dust has been kicked up on this site without a troll whose too stupid to be a troll.

Come on now ... get a job.
June 29, 2009 5:20 PM

confused?? said...

Zuh?
June 30, 2009 8:59 AM

McPoop said...

I agree Dormitas. This is definitely too much idiocy.

Fuckity fuck fuck
June 30, 2009 10:58 AM

ginny is mad said...
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
July 1, 2009 12:10 PM

Anonymous said...
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
July 1, 2009 3:39 PM

Dormitas said...

So who's masquerading as Virginia Hoge if it ain't her? Honestly, if this one';s fake they're doin' a decent imitation of three bricks shy of a wall Ginny.

So, who are these pretender? Snarky Larry? Fake Weakly writers? Aaron Proctor's ghost risen from the grave? (Philly, six feet under-same difference.) or is it Virginia herself doing a clever imitation of herself being herself but bein' enough different to make us all think twice?

Or is it Angel Bec who's the imposter?

Who gives a fuck, how about y'all just quit it? Quit baggin' on the dead and gone so's I don' gotta start moderating posts or deletin' some a this crap?

D.
July 1, 2009 10:19 PM

Virginia's real friend said...
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
July 2, 2009 4:43 AM

Virginia Hoge said...
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
July 2, 2009 7:26 AM

Angel Bec said...

Dormitas,

It's not me. As much as I have disagreed with what both AP and VH have said on this blog - I respect the right of them to say it whether I agree with it or not.

Due to the fact that there was a high school reunion notice on your blog and many posts that were obviously trolls I voiced an opinion.

I have better things to do than to try and imitate others. I always post with my name and I have agreed to disagree with you and others on the blog.

Simmer down and get a cup of coffe - learn how to spell and chill out - your comment was nasty and unnecessary.

Thanks.
July 2, 2009 7:53 AM

Dormitas said...

I'm not sure what was up with the high school reunion post. It didn't seem to come from any of our approved posters and now it's gone.

Magic internet or subversive Taliban incursion?

There's another week of no council meeting, so I'll chill some and decide what to do next.

I am hereby banning all mention of Aaron Proctor, since the only one who brings it up is Virginia Hoge, or the lifelike version that's posting here. I may moderate posts, stop allowing comments altogether or just shut down and migrate elsewhere.

It's my blog and I'll do what I want with it.

D.
July 2, 2009 2:10 PM



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Open letter to the Pasadena Star News

to: Pasadena Star News staff: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/contactus

Dear all:

I need you to verify that a series of comments I received today (7/2/2009), yesterday and the day before from an anonymous commentator named "Inside Track" (who claimed to be a Star News insider),

is in reality a Star News employee and sanctioned by you. (this would mean you ok his copy)

Here is one sample comment. Inside Track is saying I have initiated a "malicious smear campaign" against Aaron Proctor. Does the Star News support Aaron Proctor?

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Inside Track
July 1, 2009 12:06:39 PM PDT

Virginia:

Commanding people to not befriend the guy because of comments he made on a website a few years ago is awfully malicious.

<<>>

It sounds like you are turning a political adversity into a malicious smear campaign. Mind you it is against someone who lives thousands of miles away and to my recollection no longer a political figure

If this is about an internal city wide investigation why tell people thousands of miles away to not befriend him.

Do you not believe in free will?

From the looks of it AP could be frolicking with the antichrist and he'd come out smelling like roses after reading your web site.

Honestly both of you are people I would not befriend but you are handing us AP's case of your insanity to all five of us in the Pasadena blogosphere- on a silver platter.

~IT

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As another commentator noted, Aaron Proctor was a phenomena most of us do not want to see repeated and are prepared to take action to prevent:

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July 2, 2009 7:23:18 AM PDT

When are we sending the flyers to AP's 'friends' and neighbors

Philadelphia needs to be warned.

Let's make sure he doesn't get a job any where

3135 Aramingo Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19134

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I ask that you read the full set of Inside Track's comments here:

http://pasadenanewprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/06/eye-level-pasadenas-goodbye-to-aaron.html

with deep concern for a city (and paper) I love,

Virginia Hoge



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Martin Luther King quote

Racism is a philosophy based on a contempt for life.

It is the arrogant assertion that one race is the center of value and object of devotion, before which other races must kneel in submission ...

Racism is total estrangement.

... All prejudice is is evil, but the prejudice that rejects a [person] because of the color of [their] skin,

is the most despicable expression of man's inhumanity to man.


-- Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968)



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E.R. Hoge photo, Roadway 2, 1932

Walter Lippman quote

The decay of decency in the modern age, the rebellion against law and good faith, the treatment of human beings as things, as the mere instruments of power and ambition, is without a doubt the consequence of the decay of the belief in man as soemthing more than an animal animated by highly conditioned reflexes and chemical reactions.

For, unless man is something more than that, he has no rights that anyone is bound to respect, and there are no limitations upon his conduct which he is bound to obey.

-- Walter Lippman (1998 - 1974) "The Forgotten Foundation", New York Herald Tribune, 17 December 1938



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Rainer Maria Rilke quote

What we experience as spring, god views as a fleeting, tiny smile that passes over the earth.

The earth seems to be remembering something, and in the summertime she tells everyone about it until she grows wiser during that great autumnal silence with which she confides in those who are alone.

Even when taken together, all the springs that you and I have experienced are not enough to fill even one of god's seconds. The spring that god is supposed to notice must not remain in the trees and meadows but somehow has to assume its force within people, for then it takes place, as it were, not in time but in eternity and in god's presence.


-- Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)



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Marcus Aurelius quote

Things have no hold on the soul.

They stand there unmoving, outside of it.

Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions.

Everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist.


- Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161 - 180), translation by Gregory Hays 2002, Modern Library Edition




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E.R. Hoge photo, Desert View, 1932

E.R. Hoge photo, RR Bridge, 1932

E.R. Hoge photo, Distance, 1932

E.R. Hoge photo, Bridge, 1932

E.R. Hoge photo, Roadway, 1932

art break

[Image: cemetery angel with chestnut trees]


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Larry gives up on the children of Northwest Pasadena

Whenever there is lost the consciousness that every man is an object of concern for us just because he is a man, civilization and morals are shaken, and the advance to fully developed inhumanity is only a question of time.

-- Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

Larry Wilson has declared war on Northwest Pasadena.

No, his media war is not new, not at all, but he has lately been firing off again. In the excerpts below from 2 of his recent columns, he gives his negative, pessimistic view of the kids of Northwest Pasadena/Altadena. He writes them off, in other words. Not only the children, but their families too. He calls them "slackers", "evil", "hopeless", "sick".

What is "sick" here is Wilson's lost consciousness!! As Albert Schweitzer says, this loss of concern for his fellow man, means that Larry Wilson (and the Pasadena Star News) are advancing inhumanity in our (our!) community.

This is an evil, and no, it is not Northwest Pasadena that is "evil" but Larry Wilson and his fellow hate-mongers. Hate-mongers that write off kids and entire communities based on their misrepresentation of them in their biased papers.

He is playing a game with his own propaganda war. In other words, he is taking as "fact" the deceit of his own creation.

Are we going to sit back and continue to let this man spread hate and racism across our community?

Or is it time to say "enough"??

excerpts from Wilson's columns: Look out for another long, violent summer. and Community not ready to give up on John Muir:

It's a way of life, like any other. And to think that we're going to turn around the schools or a cycle of Northwest poverty and thug life by just telling kids to hit the books or pull themselves up by their bootstraps - it's a fantasy.


It takes a bit of a hope-against- hope - well, I was going to write naivete - to continue to believe in Muir.


Terrible graduation rates, lousy test scores, a history of violence, student indifference to the myriad outreach programs launched over the years - it's no wonder the school was on the verge of state takeover.


I'll leave us with two small glimmers of hope. George emphasized that she not only got rid of teachers over last summer who "weren't a good fit for Muir" - she's ready to get rid of more slackers today. And when a math teacher at the meeting worried about the high rate of kids in her algebra class who are entirely lost and don't seem to care - "I can send them to tutoring, but I can't walk in the door with them" - she was told of a new policy: When kids aren't cutting it, they won't go on to June and failure.


The whole mess, so little changed in the last two decades, makes me wonder about the futility of trying to, among other things, shore up public education in the local schools when the society right out on the sidewalk is so sick.


There's blood on the streets. There will be more. And the residents of the city and the town either get it together, or sign that check now to build another prison.

-- Larry Wilson, Pasadena Star News, 2009



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Wingnut Larry strikes again!

[Image: Larry Wilson in shades]

Larry Wilson and the Pasadena Star News have done it again! In a span of less than one month he (and they) have dug into children of the poor, children of color, Northwest Pasadena AND their schools, twice.

Hit-piece number two is called Look out for another long, violent summer.

I think the ACLU needs to be called in and no, I am not kidding! I wrote here about hit-piece number one, his vile, completely unacceptable, condemnation of the students of John Muir High which happened just a few weeks ago.

Now he takes aim at the children of Northwest Pasadena, with the verbiage of the most abject "winger" (this is NO liberal!):

It's a way of life, like any other. And to think that we're going to turn around the schools or a cycle of Northwest poverty and thug life by just telling kids to hit the books or pull themselves up by their bootstraps - it's a fantasy.

I'll tell you exactly how we are going to fulfill the prophesy Larry Wilson has just made here, by keeping him employed at the Star News writing this bash-journalism that undermines the self-esteem of children of color and their communities. By incriminating those he has never met, by fanning the flames of racism and hate with his poison pen.

His form of violence, is worse than theirs! and it hurts a lot more people.

Violence of the tongue is very real, sharper than any knife.
-- Mother Teresa

Wingnut Larry smears Northwest Pasadena:

There's blood on the streets. There will be more. [Larry is channeling his inner Sergeant Joe Friday on this one]

He even opts for the "popular" suggestion (on FreeRepublic that is) of building more prisons:

And the residents of the city and the town either get it together, or sign that check now to build another prison. [Rush Limbaugh couldn't have said it better]

Of course, he reserves a special "knife" for PUSD, taking our whole society down with it:

The whole mess, so little changed in the last two decades, makes me wonder about the futility of trying to, among other things, shore up public education in the local schools when the society right out on the sidewalk is so sick.

What is "so sick" is Larry Wilson's attack on our community. Of course, like all tyrants, he points the finger in the opposite direction:

...the banality of the evil: summer's bad in part due to "the fact that you have a lot more young people with a lot more time on their hands."

"The banality of evil" is witnessed right here, and its not wearing gansta' clothes, nor is it strolling the streets of Lincoln Ave,

its wearing a suit and tie and safely ensconced (and very well paid) in the offices 911 Colorado Blvd, the offices of the Pasadena Star News.

It has a name too, and that is Larry Wilson.


[Thanks to Mike de Leeuw over at the PPU for calling this one out.]



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Full editorial, reprinted from the Pasadena Star News

Larry Wilson: Look out for another long, violent summer
Posted: 06/09/2009 07:18:16 PM PDT

IT'S still the classic June gloom prelude to the long, hot summer.

But I'm sure the words from the gang experts at the end of staffer Nathan McIntire's report Tuesday on worries about the latest Pasadena-Altadena shooting match gave you pause yesterday, just as they did me.

"Word from the young people on the street suggests that we are in for another cycle of deadly violence," the county's Tony Massengale said. "We've got folks with ears to the ground who are reporting to us that the conversation on the streets doesn't sound good."

Not good at all, in fact.

Pasadena police Commander Mike Korpal noted the banality of the evil: summer's bad in part due to "the fact that you have a lot more young people with a lot more time on their hands."

Some will want to put their own hands to work and, metaphorically at least, wring some necks. And some will just wring their hands.

Good on Jacque Robinson's Vision 20/20 group for getting together in front of City Hall and at least talking about the violence.

But who else is really sounding the alarm? And, while the economy could hardly be worse, and summer school's been canceled, baby, look - do we imagine that the Crips and the Bloods were searching for jobs sweeping up at the malt shop or planning to re-take algebra II this coming hot season?

I talked to a man who has worked with young people in the midst of the violence.

"Can you imagine the emptiness in the soul of someone who could pull a gun on another person, a stranger or someone they knew, doesn't matter?" he asked.

Not quite.

"Can you imagine the effect on the entire community, the energy wasted? Can you imagine what it would be like if you lived there and didn't have to spend that energy worrying about your safety, your family's lives, didn't have to think about that? How could this be a healthy community?"

How indeed.

The whole mess, so little changed in the last two decades, makes me wonder about the futility of trying to, among other things, shore up public education in the local schools when the society right out on the sidewalk is so sick.

Few people will be much for studying when their dad's in prison, their brother's in prison, their mom's thrown up her hands.

It's a way of life, like any other. And to think that we're going to turn around the schools or a cycle of Northwest poverty and thug life by just telling kids to hit the books or pull themselves up by their bootstraps - it's a fantasy.

"It's as if we don't have the will yet, or the life force," says my friend, who knows the gang members, "to bring together all the players - to get juvenile justice, probation, parole, the police department, the sheriff's department, social workers, preachers, the schools, to plan a system-wide strategy of how we're going to get through this."

There's blood on the streets. There will be more. And the residents of the city and the town either get it together, or sign that check now to build another prison.




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Eye Level Pasadena's goodbye to Aaron Proctor, featuring Miss Havisham

In June of 2007, early in Aaron Proctor's Pasadena run, he made a very public Good Bye as he moved to Missouri, that not only earned him lots of love from the blogsphere, it actually made the Star News, not once but twice!

In what turned out to be a brief vacation, AP was back soon enough to play out his Opera to its final round.

One of the contributors to Pasadena Political Underbelly (along with the West Coast Grrlie Blather) is yet another woman, Jill Davis Doughtie. On her blog Eye Level Pasadena, she posted this heart-felt goodbye to her "political mentor".

Miss Havisham stopped by to gush:

Goodbye — but only for a little while, I hope — to Aaron Proctor
Jun 18th, 2007 by Jill

Aaron Proctor, whose blog introduced me to Pasadena politics and got me started following them, has moved temporarily to Missouri.

Proctor for Mayor: Well, if you haven’t heard by now…

Under the Dome: Proctorless Pasadena

Pasadena Star-News: Proctor leaves Pasadena: Eccentric former mayoral candidate garnered attention

3 Responses to “Goodbye — but only for a little while, I hope — to Aaron Proctor”

1. on 18 Jun 2007 at 10:36 am1Miss Havisham

   Oh, I’m going to miss him. He was a real sweet young man. Very nice. I took his message seriously, even though he was very witty about it.

   So many of us became motivated and interested in local politics because of his efforts. It’s too bad a guest house didn’t materialize, or an employer-in time.

   All I had to offer him was a cup of tea. (sigh)

2. on 18 Jun 2007 at 4:50 pm2Aaron Proctor

   *looks up at Miss Havisham*

   Best cup of tea ever, though.

   I miss you guys more than anything. St. Louis sucks more than female White House interns from 1992-2000.

3. on 18 Jun 2007 at 4:52 pm3Aaron Proctor

   Thank you for your kind words, Jill. I don’t really think I deserve the accolades you give me, even in small doses. I’m just glad you’re involved and more aware of your political surroundings. That was my goal from the get-go.

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Project Censored’s Peter Phillips named recipient of the 2009 Dallas Smythe Award

excerpts:
Project Censored is instrumental in collecting and publicizing the news stories that really matter—stories about the abuse of national power, about labor exploitation and the global market, about surveillance at home and abroad—stories about the world we live in, and the threats it faces from its most powerful residents.

Their annual publication with Seven Stories, the Censored series, has been called “required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens” by the LA Times, and has been an invaluable resource in publicizing the news that the mainstream media doesn’t want to cover—or doesn’t want you to hear.


Project Censored’s Peter Phillips named recipient of the 2009 Dallas Smythe Award
April 23, 2009
Reprinted from Seven Stories Press

Project Censored’s Peter Phillips named recipient of the 2009 Dallas Smythe Award

Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored since 1996 and co-editor with Dennis Loo of Impeach the President, has just been named the recipient of the 2009 Dallas Smythe Award from the Union for Democratic Communications.

Anyone who follows the news knows about Project Censored, or ignores it at their own risk. Project Censored is instrumental in collecting and publicizing the news stories that really matter—stories about the abuse of national power, about labor exploitation and the global market, about surveillance at home and abroad—stories about the world we live in, and the threats it faces from its most powerful residents. Their annual publication with Seven Stories, the Censored series, has been called “required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens” by the LA Times, and has been an invaluable resource in publicizing the news that the mainstream media doesn’t want to cover—or doesn’t want you to hear.

According to the Union for Democratic Communications, the Dallas Smythe Award is “the highest honor given by the Union for Democratic Communications. It is awarded to researchers and activists who, through their research and/or production work, have made significant contributions to the study and practice of democratic communication.” Phillips will receive the award “in honor of his life time contributions to the critical study of the media and his actions supporting democratic communications.”

The award will be presented at the UDC conference in May at Buffalo State University. Details for attending are available here.

Please don’t think that we’re censoring our feelings on this award if all we have to say to this is a very loud: Peter, congratulations!



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What Michael Beck saw (what was he thinking?)

Let go back to August 2008 and think about what greeted Michael Beck when he followed the link to Aaron Proctor's blog supplied by our city's chief "information" officer, our "link between city government, the community and the Media", Ann Erdman.

What could he have come upon there?

Was AP calling PUSD kids "retarded"? was he bashing John Muir and especially its students? or was he calling Edwin Diaz foul names? all of this and more is possible.

Or was he making graphic sexual smears on Liberal councilmen (Beck's and Erdman's colleagues) Sid Tyler and Steve Madison?

(or myself)

Or was he bashing Joe Hopkins? or spewing racism against African Americans, Mexicans or Armenians? (whoever was his current target)

Or was he just making lewd jokes and references? more of the "guilty pleasures" that brought him fans like the Pasadena Closet Conservative?

Or did Michael Beck just look at the list of the others who had interviewed with Proctor. Did he say, "well, if they did it, I guess I should"...

(or was he told it was "the thing to do"?)

Who knows??

I say, we have to know, to bring our city back on its feet again!



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Ann Erdman arranged for City Manager Michael Beck to be interviewed by Aaron Proctor 4 days after he was hired

[Images: from the City of Pasadena website, Ann Erdman, Public Information Officer; Michael Beck, City Manager]

On Monday, August 11, 2008, Ann Erdman, Pasadena's PIO (the chief of public information for the City of Pasadena) posted a press release to her blog on new hire, Michael Beck.

Beck was hired to be our City Manager. The blog post on her blog Pasadena PIO, see below for the entire post, included a press release and 5 comments (one has since been removed). Of the remaining comments (remaining! can you believe our lead media person was so careless as to leave these up on her blog? up for almost one year?),

two comments are by the West Coast Grrlie Blather (Kelly) and one is by Aaron Proctor, dated August 12, 2008:

AP said...

So when was he briefed about me?

- Aaron Proctor
http://www.proctorformayor.com

August 12, 2008 9:35 AM

Ann Erdman's job description is listed here on the City of Pasadena website. She is nothing less than our "link between city government, the community and the Media":

Ann Erdman is the Public Information Officer for the City of Pasadena, California.

The Public Affairs Division is the information link between city government, the community and the media. It produces the community newsletter Pasadena In Focus, prepares and distributes news releases, answers media inquiries, oversees all programming on 55 KPAS, develops and sells City Hall souvenirs, produces brochures, leaflets, flyers, posters, ads and other literature; plans press conferences; promotes special events; provides media relations and public relations counsel to city departments; and oversees the information kiosk at Pasadena City Hall (click here to learn about the architecture of City Hall)

So how does this media "leader" for the City of Pasadena respond to Aaron Proctor's comment?

(this was August of 2008 remember, literally one month later Proctor would blow up, the police would be called in and he would be run out of town. By October 9, 2008, The Adventures of Aaron Proctor would be gone - see here for the PNP post documenting this)

How does our lead media professional, the link between the City and our Community, respond?

She answers "Aaron" by his first name, he is a friend of hers already:

pasadenapio said...

You need to have more faith in me, Aaron -- I already sent him the link!

August 12, 2008 6:10 PM

She does a whole lot more than send him the link.

Four days later, our new City Manager Michael Beck appears on Proctor's profanity-laden, racist hate-blog, as a part of AP's popular Interview Series!!

From the Adventures of Aaron Proctor and Foothill Cities blog:

#
Posted: August 15, 2008, 6:31am by Aaron Proctor
#
Hazing In The Blogosphere
—Foothill Cities
Number of comments: 6

Yesterday, I welcomed Michael Beck, our new City Manager as of 10/1, to Pasadena. I’ve got a few predictions about this Inland Empire go-getter (a go-getter in the IE is defined as anyone who wears a dress shirt and works more than 10 hours a week). [...]

Share | Rate | BNN Archive

Michael Beck is our City Manager. He is responsible for oversight of our city's budgets, among other top responsiblities.

Yet how responsible can he be, to interview with someone like Aaron Proctor? Was this "dedicated family man" naively led into this?

or?

From Ann Erdman's blog Pasadena PIO, August 11, 2008:

Monday, August 11, 2008
Introducing Michael Beck
Pasadena PIO

We had another press conference today, this time to introduce Michael Beck, who has accepted the offer from the city council to be Pasadena's next city manager effective Oct. 1.

The press conference was in the council chamber, where Mayor Bogaard made the announcement.

A lot of local reporters and editors were there from various news agencies, including Larry Wilson and Janette Williams from Pasadena Star-News, Andre Coleman from Pasadena Weekly, Terry Miller from Pasadena Independent, Marc Berry from Crown City News, Dean Lee and Susan Henderson from Mountain Views Observer, Candice Merrill from Pasadena Now and others.

Mayor Bogaard also sang the praises of Barney Melekian, who has done a masterful job of serving as city manager in an interim capacity and will go back to his duties as Pasadena's police chief in October.

I spent a lot of time with Michael Beck today and I have a good feeling about him. He's a good leader with a good track record in local government, plus he's a dedicated family man which makes him A-OK in my book.

Here's the news release that was sent out today.
Posted by pasadenapio at 5:00 PM


5 comments:

penny stock info said...

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
August 11, 2008 5:21 PM

West Coast Grrlie Blather said...

Let us know when we'll have an opportunity to welcome MB in person.
August 11, 2008 10:03 PM

West Coast Grrlie Blather said...

Hee hee. That's like asking you to do your job - which you do very well!
August 11, 2008 10:04 PM

AP said...

So when was he briefed about me?

- Aaron Proctor
http://www.proctorformayor.com
August 12, 2008 9:35 AM

pasadenapio said...

You need to have more faith in me, Aaron -- I already sent him the link!
August 12, 2008 6:10 PM




-

Bhagavad Gita quote

Who have all the powers of their soul in harmony, and the same loving mind for all; who find joy in the good of all beings — they reach in truth my very self.

- Bhagavad Gita (6th century B.C.)



-

Primo Levi quote

The true crime, the collective, general crime of almost all Germans of that time [i.e., the Nazi period] was that of lacking the courage to speak.

- Primo Levi (1919 - 1987)



-

Marcus Aurelius quote

Our inward power, when it obeys nature, reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces—to what is possible.

It needs no specific material. It pursues its own aims as circumstances allow; it turns obstacles into fuel. As fire overwhelms what would have quenched a lamp. What's thrown on top of the conflagration is absorbed, consumed by it—and makes it burn still higher.

The impediment to action advances the action.

What stands in the way becomes the way.

- Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161 - 180), translation by Gregory Hays 2002, Modern Library Edition




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Marshall named top public high school by Newsweek Magazine, Graduation day

My daughter graduates today from John Marshall Fundamental. She has had a wonderful experience there, she has had excellent academics, excellent teachers and developed deep, lasting friendships.

It is her friends, especially a few of them, that I will remember the most. There is her friend whom she took to a concert as a birthday gift. When I asked her how he liked the concert she said that he never gets super happy about anything and when I asked why she said he was very worried about his parents financial state. The boy, who is going to UC Davis to study engineering, was dealing with the considerable strains of poverty - something that our papers in their attacks completely overlook and possibly augment - poverty that adds an extra dimension of strain to a family and many of the Marshall students live with that strain on a daily basis.

Mother Theresa spoke of the great Dignity of the Poor, and I can vouch for that three-fold, it is witnessed at PUSD on a daily basis. You don't often hear Pasadena's poor loudly shouting about "MY rights" or "MY tax dollars", most just silently bear their burdens with great dignity. Another friend of hers I will never forget lost her mother to cancer in her Junior year. The mother, a single mom, left her three children alone, and they are currently all working jobs to pay their rent and household expenses, while finishing school. Again, these burdens are born with great, uncomplaining dignity, and she is a beautiful, inspirational girl.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, John Marshall, not only for my daughter but for all the students you have taken care of and educated so well.

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
June 12, 2009
Binti Harvey

MARSHALL NAMED TOP PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL BY NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE
School ranks among top 6 percent of high schools for 7th consecutive year

Pasadena, CA – Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) announced that Marshall Fundamental School has been named one of Newsweek magazine’s Top Public High Schools for the seventh consecutive year. Every year, the list is compiled by Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews, and includes only the top six percent of high schools nationwide.

Marshall’s overall rank improved five points to 152. The school also improved its performance on the “Equity and Excellence” or E&E scale, which measures the quality and accessibility of a school’s Advanced Placement (AP) program. Marshall's E&E rate moved from 34 percent in 2008 to 43 percent in 2009.

“Marshall Fundamental continues to provide a high-quality, challenging academic program that accelerates learning,” said Superintendent Diaz. “It is gratifying to see Marshall compete favorably with schools from surrounding districts as well as nationwide. This should reinforce the community’s confidence in the strong programs PUSD schools offer to prepare our high school students for success in college and careers.”

Newsweek evaluates the overall academic quality of public schools by dividing the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge exams by the number of graduating seniors in a given class. The resulting number is used to rank all schools that have achieved a ratio of at least 1.000, which represents the top 6 percent of schools nationwide. The E&E rate represents the percentage of graduating seniors who scored a 3 or above on at least one AP test during their high school career.

“The improvement in the E&E rate is the statistic we are most proud of,” said Marshall Principal Keith Derrick. “This means that 43 percent of our seniors passed at least one AP exam, which is quite impressive, especially when you consider that the national average is only 15.2 percent.”



-

Monument to Balzac

[Image: Monument to Balzac, sculpture by Auguste Rodin at the Norton Simon Museum]

text from the Museum:

Given the power and brutality of the human form in Auguste Rodin’s Monument to Balzac, it is no surprise to find that the work was universally rejected by all but the most progressive viewers upon its first exhibition in 1898. The sculpture is an expressive, potent portrait of the embattled writer, and it took Rodin seven years of meticulous study to complete. Its action, its plays with light, and its spectacular vitality—all cornerstones of Rodin’s technique—broke entirely with the sculptural traditions of the past and nearly singlehandedly brought the medium into the twentieth century. Rodin himself said that the work was beyond compare, claiming that it was “the sum of my whole life, the result of a lifetime of effort, the mainspring of my aesthetic theory. From the day of its conception, I was a changed man.”




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The Burghers of Calais. 2

[Image: part of "The Burghers of Calais" sculpture by Auguste Rodin at the Norton Simon Museum]

West Coast Grrlie Blather, Miss Havisham, Aaron Proctor (and Larry and Kevin)

Some bloggers have a "thing" about posting pictures of themselves on their blogs. Fortunately, Aaron Proctor was one of those bloggers. The West Coast Blather Grrlie Blather (Kelly) is also, and she makes sure her blogger picnics are recorded for all posterity. Larry Wilson even appeared in a few (how incredibly careless of him!).

They never seem to realize (even still!) that blogs are open to ALL people to read, even people who don't share their views.

The arrogance of this, is mind-numbing.

Kelly and Miss Havisham were the two biggest supporters of Aaron Proctor. They faithfully followed and befriended him, with Kelly, up to his very last blogger's party, even to the point of attacking his critics (I have some comments here on this blog that prove this).

Miss Havisham gave AP this flattering birthday card, which he happily posted to his site. It goes into some of Aaron's connections to Pasadena City Hall, connections which no one at City Hall has deemed worthy of investigation (at least a public investigation).

I say, absolutely these connections should and need to be investigated!

Aaron Proctor was a right-wing, racist troll who caused all kinds of misery while he was in town. Of course his pals, felt none of that misery - nor feel it still, they only try to distance themselves from him.

Both of our city's leading paper's editors, Larry Wilson and Kevin Uhrich, openly solicited with Proctor, printing his comments/letter, blogging with him (in Larry Wilson's case, having your staff do it), Kevin Uhrich interviewed with him (and his staff, Star News staffers also interviewed with Proctor), and the PW gave AP a column.

This is so wrong!

Again, the City has deemed that no investigation of this abhorrent behavior by their local press is needed. I would add here, that no other Pasadena prominent group (Liberal or otherwise) or prominent person has either.

Why?

Kelly wrote this post "Clowns to the Left of Me, Proctor to the Right" in June of 2008, reprinted below, as not only a rational" for her good friend, but also in sympathy with his conversion to Republicanism (!!). It also seems be some sort of "pitch" for him. Aaron, super-pleased, happily commented on it, as did other friends:

Clowns to the Left of Me, Proctor to the Right
By Kelly
Reprinted from the West Coast Grrlie Blather blog

Pasadena-specific blog post alert. Those of you who read proctorformayor.com may be curious about AP’s alignment with the Republican party. Does he really mean it? Yes. Is it logical for a working-class young guy who is interested in politics and a no-BS approach to become a Republican in Pasadena, especially after observing local political machinations? Yes. Is he doing it just to be annoying? No. Does he like it that some people are annoyed? Yes. Does AP have a sense of humor that is best described as “equal opportunity offender”? Yes. Does AP get it right on some of the issues? Yes, that’s why a lot of people read his blog. Should the ARTS buses expand their hours of operation? Yes.

There’s an article in the 2 June 2008 New Yorker entitled “The Dirty Trickster: Campaign tips from the man who has done it all” by Jeffrey Toobin. It’s about Roger Stone, who in his years as a political consultant, “…crossed the line between respectability and ignominy, and has become better known for leading a colorful personal life than for landing bigtime clients.” However, the guy has worked on high-profile campaigns, like George H.W. Bush in 1988, and Bob Dole in 1996 (he was forced to resign due to a sex scandal). Stone was involved in preventing the recount of votes in Miami-Dade County in 2000 (there is “some controversy about his precise role” the article says).

AP is no Roger Stone clone. Stone has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. “Women love it,” he says. AP would probably go with a wrestler. After all, there are no graven images of Sid Tyler. (Any photos you may have seen of Sid Tyler are reasonable facsimiles.)

The article helped me understand the historical context for why someone like AP would become a Republican:

“He (Nixon) identified with the people who ate TV dinners, watched Lawrence Welk, and loved their country…

Nixon recognized the effectiveness of anti-elitism—a staple of American campaigns even today—as a core message. “Everybody talks about the Reagan Demorcrats who helped put the Republican Party over the top, but they were really the Nixon Democrats. The exodus of working-class people from the Democratic Party was started by Nixon. The realignment was delayed by Watergate, but it was really Nixon who figured out how to win,” Stone said. “We had a non-elitist message. We were the party of the workingman! We wanted lower taxes for everyone, across the board. They were the party of the Hollywood elite.”

AP identifies with people who like Wendy’s and watch Dr. Who and The Prisoner. AP doesn’t like what he perceives as Pasadena’s “Us up here gotta help them down there while making sure things are stay exactly the same for us up here” attitude. That attitude smacks of snobbery and hypocrisy, and it is an easy target for humorous jabs. If it wasn’t at least partially true, we wouldn’t be reading his blog and laughing.

Still, there are a lot of “up here” people, along with just regular people, who make significant contributions of time, money, or both to make Pasadena a better place. My guess is that AP wouldn’t argue with that, even though most of the people I’m thinking of really loved the film Sideways. Me included.

We were cringing along with Miles, the unpublished writer who wouldn’t stoop to drink merlot, but then showered himself with the winery tasting room’s spit bucket (upon learning that his book is not going to be published). We even turned away from merlot ourselves (for a while…we’ve gone back).

Meanwhile, we were laughing hard at Jack, the guy who popped open a bottle of unrefrigerated, rare champagne in the car when they first hit the road; the guy who charges the golfers on the golf course that hit into Jack and Miles; the guy who, when Miles dismisses a wine that tastes “like the back of an LA school bus,” unapologetically and unpretentiously replies, “Tastes pretty good to me.”

Tags: Aaron Proctor, Pasadena, Sideways

19 June, 2008 at 12:32 pm a

11 Responses to “Clowns to the Left of Me, Proctor to the Right”

1. AP Says:
19 June, 2008 at 12:40 pm | Reply

I’ve never had someone try to figure me out before.

Good job..I also identify with people who like sports.

I’ll talk about this tomorrow.

2. AP Says:
19 June, 2008 at 3:06 pm | Reply

I don’t think people in Pasadena would be surprised if I ended up in a sex scandal. :-)

3. AP Says:
19 June, 2008 at 3:07 pm | Reply

And, ya know, another guy who gives a good “us up here/them down there” message is Dormitas over at underpasadena.blogspot.com.

4. The Adventures of Aaron Proctor » Proctor's Archive » For My Gangstaz Says:
20 June, 2008 at 5:28 am | Reply

[...] WCGB has also given me some blather love – as she tries to figure out what I’m all about at this link. [...]

5. Kelli Proctor Says:
20 June, 2008 at 7:06 am | Reply

Good Job Kel. Pretty good pin down I’d say. :)

6. Miss Havisham Says:
20 June, 2008 at 8:39 am | Reply

Unsolicited typo alert (backatcha):

“laughing hard at Jack, they guy who”

It’s really not important but in honor of AP I wanted to have some sort of smackdown with you.

7. AP Says:
20 June, 2008 at 9:01 am | Reply

Bra & panties match?

8. Kelly Says:
20 June, 2008 at 11:22 am | Reply

More like Victorian vs Edwardian

9. frazgo Says:
20 June, 2008 at 7:15 pm | Reply

I’m telling you more than a few outside Pasadena thing AP is one to watch as he’s got a political career ahead, the kind that can make a difference.

10. AP Says:
24 June, 2008 at 5:38 am | Reply

*the more you know*

11. frazgo Says:
25 June, 2008 at 6:20 am | Reply

Oh yeah…equal opportunity offender has been my line for more years than I care to admit.




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The Burghers of Calais. 1

[Image: part of "The Burghers of Calais" sculpture by Auguste Rodin at the Norton Simon Museum]

text from the Museum:

"The Burghers of Calais" depicts an episode from the history of the Hundred Years' War.

In 1347, after the city of Calais had been under siege for eleven months, six prominent citizens offered their lives to the English king, Edward III, in return for his promise to spare the city. Upon hearing of their bravery, Queen Philippa interceded and obtained their release.

In 1884, Rodin was commissioned by the city of Calais to produce a monument honoring the six burghers. Rodin rejected the established conventions of public sculpture and portrayed the men not as glorious heroes, but as troubled and isolated individuals brought together by their anguish and common purpose. He depicted the emaciated figures departing, dressed in tattered sackcloth, to surrender themselves to the English army. Features and proportions are distorted to intensify the expressiveness of the figures struggling with their conflicting thoughts of fear, indecision, anguish, and nobility.




-

Blogger smackdown, read all about it!

For all the politicians reading my blog (I know you're out there!),

I want to tell you that blogging offers a new ray of hope for those under Media Siege (and with the truth emergency of our media today, this happens all the time, to good people).

Imagine, the next time someone writes a bash-column about you, you get to answer back and actually talk with your oppressor!

Blogging offers untested possibilities/opportunities, for people trying to speak truth to power,

you are actually able to "duel" with you opponent (and possibly win).

That said, blog dueling is not for the faint of heart. As I have been saying over and over again, the age of Anonymous blogging is a very dangerous one for ethics and justice.

Hate carries very well without accountability (duh!), and hate has been refined to new, unseemly levels (much of it directed at Justice), with this new media genre.

There is no way a community should sit back and not examine what this new media form is doing to their city, and I urge this.

That said, I have learned (I think I can write a book one day) a thing or two about dealing with Trolls. I will tell you just a couple of them of them here (I need to leave some mystery so you'll buy the book!).

My Troll maxim Number one is:

A Troll is trying to shut you up. So don't!

Number two: you need to speak to Trolls as they deserve (i.e. you need to be very tough with them).

Enjoy (as if you haven't already, yeah right!!) the "Sport" of blog-dueling (ironically on a post attacking Larry Wilson, one of my arch-nemesis's):

"Sharkey vs. Snarky: Blog Smackdown"
posted by Dormitas at 10:42 AM on Jun 3, 2009
Reprinted from the Pasadena Political Underbelly

Our own Sharkey (aka Mike deLeeuw) got in a pissing contest with biddy-meister Larry Wilson's on the snarky dude's blog.

Snarky Larry took off after us anonymoose bloggers and Sharkey did the unmentionable: he signed his name to a post. Larry claimed to have somehow electronically outed Sharkey but got corrected by our own snarky Sharkey. Mike signed it on purpose and paid the price from Larry who got smacked down by the MAN, our own Sharkey.

Way to go, Mike! Watch out for Larry driving past your house in his Prius throwing water balloons at your kids.

Today snarky Larry's column had something about the LA superintendent Cortines trashing the S-Nooze but Larry hasn't got the guts to tell us what he said. Anybody know?

We're still anonymoose.

D.

"Sharkey vs. Snarky: Blog Smackdown"
25 Comments

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Reporters have gone to jail establishing the newsperson's privilege not to disclose sources -- resisting court orders to protect sources and their journalistic ethics. Why would anyone in journalism "out" anonymous posters, especially after offering anonymity to them in the posting feature. Because they disagree with them? It is a sure way to discourage any trust in the notion of an off-the-record comment and may even help to end the newsperson's privilege if the courts feel that journalistic ethics have changed and do not apply in the internet age. The Star News should not offer anonymous posting if they do not mean it.

June 7, 2009 1:21 P

Anonymous Sharkey said...

Snarky Larry wants to scare anyone who disagrees with him away. He's just proving what an asshole he is.

If you can't win an argument intellectually nothing beats bullying, eh Larry?

Mike deLeeuw
East Pasadena Taxpayer
former Star-News purchaser

June 7, 2009 9:00 PM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

That is insane, Larry Wilson carping about Anonymous bloggers!!

He only publishes anonymous comments all the time on the Pasadena Star News (and has for years),

what a hypocrite, as usual.

June 8, 2009 6:23 PM

Blogger West Coast Grrlie Blather said...

I'm not a fan of anonymous blogging, but I will defend the right of anyone who wants to either blog or comment anonymously. Free speech, right?

June 9, 2009 9:31 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

yes, Kelly, you really "love" and defend Free Speech, thats why you were such a big fan of Aaron Proctor,

and allowed him to post his racist, profane, sexist hate on this blog.

June 9, 2009 9:54 AM

Anonymous Sub Lt . Ogilvie said...

And We're off!!!

Guess when no one comments on one's blog then one must comment on the PPU.

Tired of kissing ass over at the Tattler?

June 9, 2009 10:02 AM

Anonymous Kelly is mad said...

yes, I can see you are a very big fan of anonymous blogging

June 9, 2009 10:11 AM

Anonymous grow up ginny said...

Kelly is mad IS Virginia

June 9, 2009 10:14 AM

Anonymous kelly is in charge said...

no, really?

June 9, 2009 10:18 AM

Anonymous danger to herself? said...

Can't the action so obviously crave on the PNP so you have to troll here? They kick you off of Topix?

June 9, 2009 10:20 AM

Anonymous edit said...

Can't get the action.....

June 9, 2009 10:21 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

wow, Kelly, you really learned the "Diss" well,

AP taught you well,

no wonder you were one of his biggest fans

June 9, 2009 10:23 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

to edit:

oh, theres plenty of "action" here

June 9, 2009 10:24 AM

Anonymous or others? said...

Actually he was race baiting Troll. I thought he was a cynical opportunist, but I never came to doubt his sanity.

PS. I have never met Mr. Amy

June 9, 2009 10:26 AM

Anonymous Wooooooooah then said...

"....oh, theres plenty of "action" here...."

Say no more say no more wink wink nudge nudge.

June 9, 2009 10:29 AM

Anonymous Wooooooooah then said...

"....oh, theres plenty of "action" here...."

Say no more say no more wink wink nudge nudge.

June 9, 2009 10:29 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

no, Kelly, but I'll bet you read his blog all the time.

And Aaron Proctor, you were one of the die-hard supporters, at his very last party when most former "friends" had, sensibly, dropped off.

Thankfully, I saved the pictures AP posted from that party,

and there you are.

why?

June 9, 2009 10:38 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

it fine, Kelly, to call someone a "race-baiting troll" AFTER they have been outed and shamed (and kicked out of town),

but while AP was here, he could rely on your friendship.

June 9, 2009 10:48 AM

Anonymous Wow said...

You owe WCGB an apology, when someone posts something you don't like you just can't accuse the person you think of.

June 9, 2009 10:54 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

you just outed yourself

(sorry, Kelly, too late for cover-up)

oh, and I have everything saved and screen shot, in case you try deleting the revealing comment.

June 9, 2009 10:56 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

by the way, thanks for the chat, Kelly,

I have been wanting to talk with you for a long time.

I am going now, but will be happy to chat with you further at another time.

June 9, 2009 11:00 AM

Anonymous Not kelly said...

Man you are a bully, you pick the first you find and try to pick a fight. Our dialogue this morning reminds me of the times I tried to talk some sense to a certain cyber goth cum neocon.

I am not the proc
nor am I rene amy
not even Goldstein Am I

June 9, 2009 12:59 P

Blogger Miss Havisham's Tea Party said...

I am completely in my cups this evening, but you, Ms. Hoge, are being unreasonable. You are writing nonsense of the old, old, dusty, dried and shriveled up kind.

As for the newspaper, I support them--all of them 100%. Or, I should say, I support journalism and what it means to keep an accurate record. All of the paper involved in advertising, etc. needs to go-- (sip)

I think Mr. Wilson and staff create a valuable product. It doesn't mean I agree with what they print or the tone, etc. His remarks stir the pot and that will bring in readers. He's not stupid. In fact, he is pretty smart despite what you may think.

Journalists don't have to be neutral but it is best (for us) when their product is not connected or does not hold an interest in a third party public institution, ie. school, church, police, state, etc.

News services should come from a disinterested third party but that is my idealism talking. (sip)

I wonder...
Is it better these days when most public institutions have PIOs instead of the old school getting information from moles, dumpsters, or schmoozin' officials with the remnants of ground axe dust weighing down their back pockets?

It's easier to blame the PIO instead of the person that did some bad thing against the public while employed at the public institution. But then, you're back to the same old problem as before; if the paper prints the nasty facts--will the PIO cut the reporters access? Well, that's doubtful, isn't it? I mean, that's the person's job--to provide access to public information.

Yet, lazy or inexperienced or overworked and underpaid reporters often parrot whatever the PIO puts out--never questioning or putting a critical thinking mind to it. Why is that? (sip)

One has to wonder who has a vested interest in keeping the problems with schools, young people, police, poverty, inequality, etc. going? This is just as bad as covering stuff up. Slant, ie. adding gratuitous ethnic information as a nondescript description--then justifying it by calling it "avoiding confusion."

Who manipulates information to $erve their $pecific agenda and to hell with anyone that get$ hurt in the proce$? That's what gnaws at my gin soaked brain.

Who and what keeps distracting us?
(glug)

Now, play nice. Remember, we're all connected under the skin.

June 10, 2009 12:18 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

oh look whose here?

AP's other biggest supporter, Miss Havisham.

I "loved" you birthday card to him (have it saved too).

Miss H. has been rather under cover lately (but busy, I'm sure), but look, here she is, in the "flesh".

These Ladies had a partnership in their support of Aaron Proctor, he was their good friend" and well, he needed them.

They took up for him, defended him (him!) from any attack.

How nice of them.

Miss H., your post is so bogus.

If you (or Kelly) really "cared" about people, you wouldn't have stood by a flaming racist/hate monger all that time.

All you only care about your friends, thats it.

Typical conservatives.

I am disgusted by the both of you,

whose behavior reminds me of old fashioned "witches".

June 10, 2009 8:19 AM

Blogger Virginia Hoge said...

oh and Miss H and Kelly, while I have you here,

I saw a few posts back on the PPU, a little baby AP post cropping up,

are you ladies engineering a come-back for your "baby boy"?

(just asking)

June 10, 2009 8:30 AM





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Truth Emergency in the U.S., by Peter Phillips and David Kubiak

This awesome piece by Peter Phillips and David Kubiak was published in January of 2008.

At PNP we remember that on that previous June of 2007, Kevin Uhrich of the Pasadena Weekly, was awarded for his hit-piece on Phillip's Project Censored by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.

Lets then be grateful then, that this piece was written at all (according to Kevin Uhrich, Project Censored's "time was up"),

and it is a great one.

Phillips and Kubiak dig into Corporate Media and tell how little of the Truth we are getting in our daily news, more importantly, they say what a huge danger this is.

It is dangerous to get lies in your daily papers!! Communities get scarred by this.

One related issue Phillips and Kubiak don't touch on in this piece, is the widespread popularity of Blogs, and how millions of people are getting their "news" from them.

I have written about what a big problem this is, given the very real existence of right-wing bullies on the internet (trolls) who scare off liberal bloggers in droves and deride liberal opinion, with their bottom-feeder hate-speech.

In Pasadena we are literally the victims of these bullies as they abound, not only on our unregulated Internet, but in our papers as well which source, publish and support them.

excerpts:

Tens of thousands of Americans engaged in various social justice issues constantly witness how corporate media marginalize, denigrate, or simply ignore their concerns. Activist groups working on issues such as 9/11 truth, election fraud, impeachment, war propaganda, civil liberties/torture, and many corporate-caused environmental crises have been systematically excluded from mainstream news and the national conversation leading to a genuine truth emergency in the country as a whole.

Now, however, a growing number of activists are finally saying "enough!" and joining forces to address this truth emergency by developing new journalistic systems and practices of their own. They are working to reveal the common corporate denominators behind the diverse crises we face and to develop networks of trustworthy news sources that tell the people what is really going on. These activists know we need a journalism that moves beyond forensic inquiries into particular crimes and atrocities, and exposes wider patterns of corruption, propaganda, and illicit political control to rouse the nation to reject a malignant corporate status quo.

Peter Phillips and David Kubiak: Truth Emergency in the U.S.
01/25/2008
by Peter Phillips and David Kubiak
from BuzzFlash

Many economists now doubt that government measures can prevent a major recession given the severe slump in the housing market, the subprime mortgage crisis, growing unemployment, declining consumer spending, and record high oil prices. Even harder times for working people are undoubtedly at hand, yet mainstream corporate media continues to lavish more attention on the Super Bowl and celebrity misadventures than measures to protect Americans from grave personal economic harm. We are spun, mislead, propagandized, and amused to death by our media conglomerates and as a result, the U.S. has become the best entertained and least informed society in the world.

There is a literal truth emergency in the United States, not only regarding distant wars, torture camps, and doctored intelligence, but also around issues that most intimately impact our lives at home. For example, few Americans know that there has been a 35- year decline in real wages for most workers in the country, while the top 10% now enjoy unparalleled wealth with strikingly low tax burdens.

George Seldes once said, "Journalism's job is not impartial 'balanced' reporting. Journalism's job is to tell the people what is really going on." Michael Moore's top-grossing movie Sicko is one example of telling the people what is really going on. Health care activists know that U.S. health insurance is an extremely large and obscenely lucrative industry with the top nine companies "earning" $93 billion in profits in 2006 alone. The health-care industry represents the country's third-largest economic sector, trailing only energy and retail among the 1,000 largest U.S. firms.

Nevertheless, 16% of Americans still have no health insurance whatsoever and that number will not soon decline, as insurance costs continue to rise two to three times faster than inflation. The consequences are immediate and tragic. Unpaid medical bills are now the number-one cause of personal bankruptcy in the country, and the Institute of Medicine estimates that nearly 18,000 Americans die prematurely each year because they lack coverage and access to adequate care.

U.S. private health care services differ markedly from other industrialized countries where single payer systems provide everyone with medical care as a basic human right. Unfortunately, objective media coverage and comparisons of single-payer public health care with our current profit-driven corporate system are almost non-existent at this time. To protect their bloated bottom lines, private insurance companies and HMOs invest heavily in lobbyists and corporate-friendly political candidates that promote their "indispensable" role in any future health care reforms. Besides their insider political influence, these firms deploy massive advertising budgets to discourage media investigations of the economic interests shaping our health policies today.

Tens of thousands of Americans engaged in various social justice issues constantly witness how corporate media marginalize, denigrate, or simply ignore their concerns. Activist groups working on issues such as 9/11 truth, election fraud, impeachment, war propaganda, civil liberties/torture, and many corporate-caused environmental crises have been systematically excluded from mainstream news and the national conversation leading to a genuine truth emergency in the country as a whole.

Now, however, a growing number of activists are finally saying "enough!" and joining forces to address this truth emergency by developing new journalistic systems and practices of their own. They are working to reveal the common corporate denominators behind the diverse crises we face and to develop networks of trustworthy news sources that tell the people what is really going on. These activists know we need a journalism that moves beyond forensic inquiries into particular crimes and atrocities, and exposes wider patterns of corruption, propaganda, and illicit political control to rouse the nation to reject a malignant corporate status quo.

This Truth Emergency Movement is holding its first national strategy summit in Santa Cruz, California on January 25-27. Organizers are gathering key media constituencies to devise coherent decentralized models for distribution of suppressed news, synergistic truth-telling, and collaborative strategies to disclose, legitimize, and popularize deeper historical narratives on power and inequality in the U.S. This truth movement is seeking to discover in this moment of Constitutional crisis, ecological peril, and widening war, ways in which top investigative journalists, whistleblowers, and independent media activists can transform the way Americans perceive and defend their world.




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Larry digs into John Muir High, 10 days after unprecedented cuts to public education are announced

[Image: Larry Wilson, Public Editor of the Pasadena Star News, at a bloggers picnic holding up a sign that says "Centinel" (hmmm, I wonder why?)]

For a guy who has made his career bashing John Muir High School, I was not surprised that Larry Wilson's column Community not ready to give up on John Muir, was another hit-piece.

The fact that it was published 10 days after billions of dollars in cuts to public education were announced, did not stop Larry for one second.

PNP has followed surfer/pseudo-liberal Larry Wilson since the sorry beginning. Here Larry openly invited right-wing extremist Rene Amy to his offices to bring him his "dirt" on PUSD, dirt that turned out to be loaded with inaccuracies.

Who cares?? if your Larry Wilson that is, you never print (and the community doesn't demand of you to) a retraction for ANY of the many PUSD factual errors (i.e. slander) your paper ran for years and years and years.

Its the Hate that Larry wants to stir up in the community, and he has, very effectively, as he again does with his new column.

I wrote here about the time Aaron Proctor picked up his pal Larry Wilson's John Muir-bash (the football players at John Muir this time were Larry's victims), this made it to the "global online conversation" that is Technorati, where it resides in the "Entertainment" section of this trendy blog, still today.

Sure, in Larry's latest column on John Muir, he wrote two paragraphs of "good" parts (they "only" had a National Merit Scholar in this year's graduating class),

but the remaining 85% of his nasty column, is devoted to recycling the negative (horrible, actually) impressions of Muir, he has been re-cycling over and over again in his paper, the Pasadena Star News, for years!!

These impressions have left the scarred community seething in open racism (I don't know if I even want to read the Comments from this Wilson column! I have seen enough extreme Racism directed at John Muir for two lifetimes already!),

Racism of which we have not seen the like of here, since the 1970's.

excerpts:

I'll leave us with two small glimmers of hope. George emphasized that she not only got rid of teachers over last summer who "weren't a good fit for Muir" - she's ready to get rid of more slackers today. ..she was told of a new policy: When kids aren't cutting it, they won't go on to June and failure. [Look here how Wilson exhibits THE most appalling lack of feeling for the KIDS of John Muir, he is actually advocating for giving up on them! this is so wrong.]

It takes a bit of a hope-against- hope - well, I was going to write naivete - to continue to believe in Muir. [ classic Larry Wilson sarcasm here]

"Small learning communities" is a buzz phrase these days - but, hey, got a better idea? [here again]

Terrible graduation rates, lousy test scores, a history of violence, student indifference to the myriad outreach programs launched over the years - it's no wonder the school was on the verge of state takeover. [its not Muir that needs a "State Takeover", its the Pasadena Star News for printing yellow journalism like this!]

Yeah, Muir's still got problems. Remember education reporter Caroline An's January story about how half the freshman class had at least one F? ["Yeah" Larry, we remember that article (and wrote about it). We also remember Caroline An's interview with Aaron Proctor, held in your offices.]

I find every one of these excerpts, offensive.


Larry Wilson: Community not ready to give up on John Muir
By Larry Wilson, Public Editor
Posted: 05/30/2009 09:37:20 PM PDT
Pasadena Star News

Having to leave early from a meeting of a group of people interested in the future success of John Muir High at entrepreneur/philanthropist Jaylene Moseley's offices last week, I passed by Jaylene's car in the parking lot, and caught the license plate: JAY(hearts)NWP.

Jaylene certainly does love Northwest Pasadena - and shows it day in and day out, no cynicism, all soul. But then all 30 or so Mustang backers gathered on an evening when they could have been at home are deeply invested in the future of the school at the core of the neighborhood as well.

It takes a bit of a hope-against- hope - well, I was going to write naivete - to continue to believe in Muir. Terrible graduation rates, lousy test scores, a history of violence, student indifference to the myriad outreach programs launched over the years - it's no wonder the school was on the verge of state takeover.

But Principal Sheryl George, Superintendent Edwin Diaz, the school board and some of these same community members crafted one last plan to save John Muir. For some crazy reason, the school that can break your heart also inspires passion in all of us.

From my era there, it's memories of a time when Muir not only took state track championships and had the baddest drum corps on Earth - it sent grads straight to Caltech, and graduated greats from California Attorney General John Van de Kamp to David Lee Roth.

The latest effort to reinvent involves breaking up the school into career academies. "Small learning communities" is a buzz phrase these days - but, hey, got a better idea?

One school year in, how's it working? There are hard stats on behavior, for instance: Last year, there were six student expulsions, this year two. Last year, 202 suspensions, this year, 482 - the reason that's good news is it shows a no-excuses toughness. Students caught out of class last year: 491; this, 178. Saturday-school mandates last year: 0; this, 467.

There was also a more than 100 percent increase in students accepted to four-year colleges, from 57 to 118, two of them to UC Berkeley - and Muir boasts a National Merit Scholar in senior Jon Ancona this year.

Problems? Yeah, Muir's still got problems. Remember education reporter Caroline An's January story about how half the freshman class had at least one F? And school board members tell us they're deeply concerned this is just one more well-intentioned effort destined to fail.

I'll leave us with two small glimmers of hope. George emphasized that she not only got rid of teachers over last summer who "weren't a good fit for Muir" - she's ready to get rid of more slackers today. And when a math teacher at the meeting worried about the high rate of kids in her algebra class who are entirely lost and don't seem to care - "I can send them to tutoring, but I can't walk in the door with them" - she was told of a new policy: When kids aren't cutting it, they won't go on to June and failure. They'll take the first semester over, until they get it right. That way, one day, all of Muir may get it right once again.





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Ramon C. Cortines quote

[Image: Ramon C. Cortines delivering the news that LAUSD will lose $130,000,000. million dollars. Notice the look on his face, compare it to the Terminator's ]

In all my years in education, I have never seen financial news as bad as the budget currently faced by this school district. Remember the story of Sisyphus in Greek mythology--the man forced to push a huge rock up a steep hill only to watch it roll back down, forcing him to repeat the impossible challenge again and again for all eternity? Imagine every time he had to roll that rock up the hill--both the boulder and the mountain got bigger and bigger and bigger. That sums up our financial plight because of the State's budget crisis.

We may be asked to cut even deeper, but our schools will remain open, our teachers will teach and our students will learn.

-- Ramon C. Cortines (1932 - )


From 1 John:

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another...Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.




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art break: V. Hoge harbor paintings

[Images: top, New York Harbor early morning, bottom, New York Harbor in a storm - both wet-on-wet watercolor on paper]

If you can believe it, I used to work in the World Trade Center in New York. It was a freelance job and I was on one of the top floors, right by a big glass window, overlooking the New York Harbor. As I had frequent down time, I would sketch the harbor, the light on it changed daily and hourly. The light (and the weather) affected the color of the water. When I went home, I made a series of watercolors from my sketches, here are two of them.




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May 20, 2009, article: LAUSD Prepares for a $130 Million in Cuts

From the LAUSD website, Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines: LAUSD Budget Keeps Getting Worse

In all my years in education, I have never seen financial news as bad as the budget currently faced by this school district. Remember the story of Sisyphus in Greek mythology--the man forced to push a huge rock up a steep hill only to watch it roll back down, forcing him to repeat the impossible challenge again and again for all eternity? Imagine every time he had to roll that rock up the hill--both the boulder and the mountain got bigger and bigger and bigger. That sums up our financial plight because of the State's budget crisis.

To make ends meet for the 2008-2009 school year, this District cut deeply from its budget. We thought we were finished. But no, the bad news keeps coming. We must cut an additional $131 million in the six weeks before the current school year ends. We still won't be finished. Although the District will lay off teachers next month and has cancelled summer school, increased class sizes and postponed textbook purchases, we face more cuts for the 2009-2010 school year in the range of $200 million to $300 million.

We may be asked to cut even deeper, but our schools will remain open, our teachers will teach and our students will learn.

Ramon C. Cortines, Superintendent


LAUSD Prepares for a $130 Million in Cuts
May 20, 2009
NBC Los Angeles

excerpts:
“I believe our employees and parents need to understand that we have an inferno”

"adding that the impact of further reductions in state funding...would prove to be “devastating” for local schools at all levels."

"If Sacramento borrows money owed to Los Angeles, they must do it on terms that keep our city whole. The state simply cannot profit off of L.A.'s taxpayers and Los Angeles must not get the short end of the stick in California's endless quest to get its fiscal house in order," Villaraigosa said."

The Los Angeles Unified School District launched a fresh belt-tightening campaign today following the rejection by voters of ballot propositions designed to stabilize the state’s finances.

“I believe our employees and parents need to understand that we have an inferno,” Los Angeles schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines told NBC4 in an interview this morning, adding that the impact of further reductions in state funding resulting from Tuesday’s vote would prove to be “devastating” for local schools at all levels.

Cortines said he would be holding an emergency meeting with LAUSD staff this morning to begin identifying another $130 million in budget cuts that will have to be made in the next six weeks. The 2009-10 budget already has a $48 million deficit, he said.

The superintendent said he would also be meeting this morning with United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy to discuss money-saving measures. “...This is not a game we’re playing,” he said, adding that, absent additional budget cuts, the district will face the prospect of being unable to meet its payroll.

One thing he won’t allow, Cortines said, is for the LAUSD to declare bankruptcy.

Read full article here




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The Los Angeles Times smears LAUSD's Arts High School 5 days after $5 billion dollars in budget cuts are announced

[Image: The Terminator, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - take a look at his face as he announces $5 billion dollars in cuts to crucial services in our State, affecting millions of people and children - scary.]

In a display (again) of lack of ethics in Media, the Los Angeles Times published a hit-piece on LAUSD's new High School for the Arts, 5 days after $5 billion dollars in budget cuts were announced by our Terminator, I mean governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Schwarzenegger sends lawmakers $5 billion in proposed cuts
By Michael Rothfeld and Patrick McGreevy
May 27, 2009

It did not phase the Times that LAUSD and public education in California has just suffered a devastating blow. They had to keep on fanning the flames of discord in the Southland.

Five days after Schwarzenegger's announcement, the dirt this time was hidden in the Arts section, and written by no less than Architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne (who gives his dirt a pedantic swing). In a petty, scornful piece, Hawthorne lambasts LAUSD through a well-worn set of criticisms - charging in the same breath that the building is over-priced and elitist from the neighborhood - charges which have circled the internet for years:

Pass/fail for L.A.'s new arts school
By Christopher Hawthorne, Architecture Critic
May 31, 2009

excerpts:
"Yet the speed with which the campus became a symbol of controversy and discord raises serious questions about whether Coop Himmelblau, known for bravura design gestures and terrifically complex form-making, was the right choice for this contentious obstacle course of a commission."

"But Prix is hardly cut from the same cloth as those architects, whose work is marked by a frankness and economy well suited to building in Southern California."

"leaving it vulnerable to the overheated but potent charge that it is an elitist enclave standing aloof from its neighborhood."

"Once the debates over cost and curriculum have fallen away -- and that may take years"

[hmmm, Hawthorne does the "MY tax dollars are being wasted by LAUSD!!!" refrain pretty well! guess he is just earning his keep or maybe he hopes to land a position in the Education section of the Times one day.]

The L.A. Times had a glaring cover article which basically said the same things as Hawthorne does a few months ago.

I wrote about on PNP back in 2008 when Times columist (and movie author) Steve Lopez sang the same refrain (and simultaneously published it on FreeRepublic) here:

Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Steve Lopez: The design of L.A. Unified's new arts high school is convoluted and costly

Apparently there is a "growing furor" over the school and Eli Broad, one of the schools primary champions, has been put on the spot. On April 6th, 2009, the L.A. Times published yet another piece attacking the arts high school:

Discord builds over new downtown arts school
By Mitchell Landsberg
April 6, 2009

Why is LAUSD's High School for the Arts under siege by the media??

Where is the L.A. Times compassion and support for public education AND the Arts?




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Marcus Aurelius quote

This file picture dated 21 August 2008 show the head of a large statue of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, that was discovered 20 August 2008, at the archaeological Sagalassos site, in south-Western Turkey, near Aglasun, Burdur province. The archeaology team of the KUL Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University Leuven) discovered several large statues in the Roman Baths at the Sagalassos site. EPA/BRUNO VANDERMEULEN / SAGALASSOS

[It is hard when reading Marcus Aurelius to believe that he lived so long ago (April 26, 121– March 17, 180). His voice and more importantly, his message, are so contemporary. The Gregory Hay's translation has really opened up this text for today.]


Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come.

Existence flows past us like a river; the "what" is in constant flux, the "why" has a thousand variations.

Nothing is stable, not even what's right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us—a chasm whose depths we cannot see.

So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or any indignation, either. As if the things that irritate us lasted.

-- Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180)




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In praise of apartment life, Updated

[first published on August 4, 2008]

In New York, everybody lives in apartments and I mean Everybody! Jackie Kennedy, lived in an apartment (ok, a very large apartment, but still). If you live in the shining gold Trump Towers, no matter, you are still living in an apartment!

Apartment life, to say the least, in this city, is afforded no such glittering status. People who live in apartments are viewed suspiciously, at best! I was at a (garden) party once, and the man sitting next to me said to me (me!): "if we could get rid of that apartment building down the street, 99% of our crime would go away".

Needless to say I immediately got up and vigorously walked away from that table (the garden was huge and there were plenty of other places to sit).

But this man's words were not exactly gasped at. No one else walked away. There is a prevailing attitude here that to live in an apartment is the equivalent of just about living in the "ghetto" - a term that is often used here to describe apartment buildings (and their tenants).

Come on!! Wake up here.

Apartment life can be great!! Yes, you do have neighbors living close by, but so often this is a blessing in disguise. By and large, the people living in our city's apartments are people with decency in spades! And they have lots of interesting interests and stories to tell.

Having lived their entire lives in apartments, they have learned of art of giving people space (there is an unselfish motive here), and keeping to your own private space - so essential a skill for in city life - and this is what makes it easy to coexist.

This is really a form of Zen, and makes for the frequent peaceful atmosphere that abides and one feels - living in, yes, an apartment!

Here I need to point out, that in the San Gabriel Valley we have some of the most comfortable apartments to live in on the Planet, and that is because so many of them were built in the 1970's.

Yes, this was a horrible decade for Architecture, and the many, decent activists who fight to keep this style of architecture from ever being adopted (and in vogue) again, earn my greatest respect!!

[is that why the Courthouse building is covered up? I say lets keep it that way, and allow artists to paint murals on the canvas, and therefore that ghastly 1970's monstrosity won't have to muck up our beautiful Civic Center anymore!]

But the architects of the 1970's were strict students of important movements like the Bauhaus, and took the interior space of their buildings very seriously, and designed according to Bauhaus dictates and California's sense of space, much to the everlasting benefit and comfort, of their tenants.

More benefits also of apartment life need to be mentioned here. For example, the garbage disposal breaks, call the Super! Its his/her problem - and not yours!

I would (who me?) hazard a guess, that living in an apartment makes you smarter - at least, keeps your curiosity at a high peak, which in turn, keeps your brain active (dissertations on this topic are welcome). It is really interesting to look out the window and wonder, what is everybody doing?? Often, I feel like I am living on the set of Rear Window - and as the great Hitchcock knew, it is really interesting!

So for all of us apartment dwellers - by the way, we are over 50% of the city and therefore, a potent political force!

[and therefore should demand a one pet per unit law be adopted, also, how about rent control??]

- heres to us! the neglected city dwellers.




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Why Project Censored is so important

Dr. Peter Phillips, Director of Project Censored, spells out exactly what has been missing in our Media, accountability:

The growth of independent media and journalism in recent years shows that people throughout the world yearn to hold not only their leaders accountable, but their media sources as well.

He also points out the very real harm modern media censorship performs in our society:

On a daily basis, censorship refers to the intentional non-inclusion of a news story – or piece of a news story – based on anything other than a desire to tell the truth.

Its "funny" then, that the Pasadena Weekly (and the AAN by their supportive award) attacked Project Censored as a "relic" whose "time was up" (come on! this work is so needed today). But at least there is poetic justice here (again!), in that we get to discover the fantastic work and words, of Dr. Peter Phillips and Project Censored.

At Project Censored, we examine the coverage of news and information important to the maintenance of a healthy and functioning democracy.

A "healthy and functioning democracy"? sounds good to me!! Thank goodness this organization has survived, this is why Project Censored is so important!

Here Dr. Phillips offers an astonishing vision of corruption-free media and how to obtain that (imagine):

What is media accountability?

In our view, the only valid justification for declining a news story is that in a medium limited by time and space, another news story was simply more important to the people of the community, whether local, national or international.

While admittedly a subjective process, it is nonetheless, a process to be undertaken by the news people themselves (the investigative journalists and editors), NOT by the managers and CEOs of their “parent company.”

No professional journalist or researcher should ever have to face the destruction of his or her career (or life) simply because they wanted to tell the truth.

While no two people will always agree on what story is more important than another, a system where the working reporters and editors run the newsroom would at least provide a fertile environment for debate, dissent and critical thinking.

The growth of independent media and journalism in recent years shows that people throughout the world yearn to hold not only their leaders accountable, but their media sources as well.

For that reason, the Project Censored research program continues, in its small way, to support and highlight those who tell the truth about the powerful (no matter the consequences) and are relentless in their quest to hold Big Media accountable for their decisions.

What is modern censorship?

At Project Censored, we examine the coverage of news and information important to the maintenance of a healthy and functioning democracy.

We define Modern Censorship as the subtle yet constant and sophisticated manipulation of reality in our mass media outlets.

On a daily basis, censorship refers to the intentional non-inclusion of a news story – or piece of a news story – based on anything other than a desire to tell the truth.

Such manipulation can take the form of political pressure (from government officials and powerful individuals), economic pressure (from advertisers and funders), and legal pressure (the threat of lawsuits from deep-pocket individuals, corporations, and institutions).




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The AAN created a Molly Ivins Award the same year it censored Project Censored

[Image: Pasadena Weekly 2007 cover for Uncovering Project Censored]

- from the AAN website: AAN Announces AltWeekly Awards Winners, June 15, 2007

Fiona Morgan of North Carolina's Independent Weekly and Kevin Uhrich of Pasadena Weekly tied for first-place in the smaller circulation section of the Media Reporting/Criticism category, earning them the Connye Miller Award.

- from the Pasadena Weekly: 05/03/2007, "We Win":

The Pasadena Weekly has a lot to be proud of, and this week even more so following the announcement of finalists in two major journalism competitions honoring 2006 coverage.

Stories by PW Editor Kevin Uhrich and Deputy Editor Joe Piasecki were selected for top accolades by the national Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) — Uhrich in the Media Criticism category for a set of three stories on Project Censored

- from the AAN website: AAN Announces AltWeekly Awards Winners, June 15, 2007

AAN president and The Memphis Flyer publisher Kenneth Neill kicked off the event with an explanation of the newly created Molly Ivins Award, which the association presented to Keith Olbermann in May. In a video acceptance, Olbermann shared how Ivins inspired him by continuing to pursue the truth despite frequent, and often personal, attacks.

In the Spring of 2007, the Association for Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) had a busy awards season.

They announced the creation of a new award named after Molly Ivins AAN to Name Annual Award After Molly Ivins:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13, 2007 -- In recognition of Molly Ivins' hard-hitting investigations as co-editor of The Texas Observer from 1970 to 1976, as well as her subsequent work as a no-holds-barred syndicated columnist, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN.org) announced today that it will name an annual First Amendment Award in her honor. The award, which will be bestowed every year at the association's annual convention, will be given to a North American journalist whose work best embodies the spirit of Ivins' legacy.

They also, that same year, awarded Kevin Uhrich of the Pasadena Weekly for writing his "hit-piece" on Project Censored.

Uhrich's AAN award-winning piece: Time Up For Project Censored? subhead: "Even some on the left are wondering how useful Project Censored's stories really are" (named "Uncovering Project Censored" in the PW, subhead: "There once was a time when you couldn’t trust anyone over 30. Today, some are wondering if that isn’t true of Project Censored"),

was part of the same awards year for the AAN (2007) that produced the Molly Ivins award!!

In a million years Molly Ivins would not have censored Project Censored.






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Edmund Burke quote

Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.

-- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)




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Open letter to Richard Karpel, Executive Director of the AAN

Since I have no return email address from Richard Karpel, Executive Director of AAN, in his comment to PNP (reprinted below), I am writing this open letter to him.

My "beef" with the Pasadena Weekly is that they have been sourcing and employing right-wing extremists for years who provide inaccurate, inflammatory "information" to them. Maybe its just me, but in no way do I want to have a right-wing Alternative Weekly in Pasadena, one that foists hatred onto the community. I do not think that this is "ok".

The reason I "brought AAN into it" is that they have given the Pasadena Weekly two dubious awards. One was for Kevin Uhrich's piece bashing Project Censored (it was called a "hit piece" by an Alternet commentator), which is an extremely important and decent organization. Why would the AAN reward this?

The other is for the PW article on the bogus Obama assassination letter. First of all, was that letter even real? (this is a valid question). Secondly, this piece was a cover-up piece for a publication that had had a "bad year" (to say the least!). This was the year Aaron Proctor blew up, the right-wing Troll they had such high hopes for (talk about hate-speech!).

Thirdly, Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America, and I find it inflammatory to publish art with a target on this head. If the Pasadena Weekly weren't so unethical, I wouldn't question this as much, but since they are, what in the world are they getting at here??

Again, why would the AAN reward this?

Which brings me to the point that the Pasadena Weekly has been using right-wing extremists for years and should in NO WAY be rewarded for their behavior by your organization!!

Come on!! You represent what used to be THE most important media outlets in the country, and if you go "bad", we are all in big trouble.

I need much better explanations from you as to how these awards happened.

Also I need to know that your organization condemns the use of right-wing extremists by Alternative Weeklies.

Sincerely,
Virginia Hoge
Pasadena New Progressive

Richard Karpel said...

I have no idea what your beef is with Pasadena Weekly, but I'm not sure why you brought AAN into it.

Your thesis might make some sense but for the fact that at least a couple dozen AAN papers run the Project Censored story every year.

Richard Karpel
Executive Director
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
1250 Eye Street N.W., Suite 804
Washington, D.C. 20005-5982
202/289-8484
http://aan.org
http://AltWeeklies.com

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Project Censored is great - Updated

Project Censored is great, it addresses the huge problem of the Media in our country controlling the information we receive. It offers a solution to this.

No wonder that dubious media (like the PW and the AAN) attack it. "Media Accountability"? not something a paper that sources and employs extremists would care for, nor any corporate media that attempts to control information (i.e. modern censorship).

Here Dr. Peter Phillips, Director of Project Censored, giving a definition of modern censorship, and on the very real importance of media accountability in a Democracy:

What is modern censorship?

At Project Censored, we examine the coverage of news and information important to the maintenance of a healthy and functioning democracy. We define Modern Censorship as the subtle yet constant and sophisticated manipulation of reality in our mass media outlets. On a daily basis, censorship refers to the intentional non-inclusion of a news story – or piece of a news story – based on anything other than a desire to tell the truth. Such manipulation can take the form of political pressure (from government officials and powerful individuals), economic pressure (from advertisers and funders), and legal pressure (the threat of lawsuits from deep-pocket individuals, corporations, and institutions).

What is media accountability?

In our view, the only valid justification for declining a news story is that in a medium limited by time and space, another news story was simply more important to the people of the community, whether local, national or international. While admittedly a subjective process, it is nonetheless, a process to be undertaken by the news people themselves (the investigative journalists and editors), NOT by the managers and CEOs of their “parent company.” No professional journalist or researcher should ever have to face the destruction of his or her career (or life) simply because they wanted to tell the truth. While no two people will always agree on what story is more important than another, a system where the working reporters and editors run the newsroom would at least provide a fertile environment for debate, dissent and critical thinking.

The growth of independent media and journalism in recent years shows that people throughout the world yearn to hold not only their leaders accountable, but their media sources as well. For that reason, the Project Censored research program continues, in its small way, to support and highlight those who tell the truth about the powerful (no matter the consequences) and are relentless in their quest to hold Big Media accountable for their decisions.

Here are Project Censored's Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009, every one of them interesting and important.

• #1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation
• # 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA
• # 3 InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business
• # 4 ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America?
• # 5 Seizing War Protesters’ Assets
• # 6 The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
• # 7 Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking
• # 8 Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly
• #9 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify
• # 10 APA Complicit in CIA Torture
• # 11 El Salvador’s Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror
• # 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind
• # 13 Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq
• # 14 Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste
• # 15 Worldwide Slavery
• # 16 Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights
• # 17 UN’s Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights
• # 18 Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers
• # 19 Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction
• # 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record
• # 21 NATO Considers “First Strike” Nuclear Option
• # 22 CARE Rejects US Food Aid
• # 23 FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs
• # 24 Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror
• # 25 Bush’s Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer

(are these are the stories the Pasadena Weekly and the Association for Alternative Newsweeklies didn't want us to read?)




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The AAN awarded the Pasadena Weekly for censoring Project Censored

[updated]

Excerpt from the Pasadena Weekly, 2007, "We Win":
"We win!
05/03/2007

The Pasadena Weekly has a lot to be proud of, and this week even more so following the announcement of finalists in two major journalism competitions honoring 2006 coverage.

Stories by PW Editor Kevin Uhrich and Deputy Editor Joe Piasecki were selected for top accolades by the national Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) — Uhrich in the Media Criticism category for a set of three stories on Project Censored, ethnic media and open government laws, and Piasecki in the Feature Story category for his five-part investigation last summer on the troubles children face in the state's foster care system.

AAN's AltWeekly Awards contest drew more than 1,400 entries from 125 weekly papers across the country."

It appears that the Pasadena Weekly and the Association for Alternative Newsweeklies have been compatriots for a lot longer than I had previously realized.

In 2007, AAN awarded no less than Kevin Uhrich (see just one of Pasadena New Progressive's numerous exposés on Uhrich and the Pasadena Weekly here: the pasadena weekly sticks its foot in its mouth, again) their top prize for his attack on the well-respected, liberal, Project Censored.

Here is Project Censored's mission statement:
The mission of Project Censored is to teach students and the public about the role of a free press in a free society - and to tell the News That Didn’t Make the News and Why

Project Censored conducts research on important national news stories that are underreported, ignored, misrepresented, or censored by the US corporate media.

More about Project Censored, here is their list for the 25 Top Censored Stories for 2009 and here is Peter Phillips statement from the Project Censored website on Media Accountability:

WHAT IS MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY?

In our view, the only valid justification for declining a news story is that in a medium limited by time and space, another news story was simply more important to the people of the community, whether local, national or international. While admittedly a subjective process, it is nonetheless, a process to be undertaken by the news people themselves (the investigative journalists and editors), NOT by the managers and CEOs of their “parent company.” No professional journalist or researcher should ever have to face the destruction of his or her career (or life) simply because they wanted to tell the truth. While no two people will always agree on what story is more important than another, a system where the working reporters and editors run the newsroom would at least provide a fertile environment for debate, dissent and critical thinking.

The growth of independent media and journalism in recent years shows that people throughout the world yearn to hold not only their leaders accountable, but their media sources as well. For that reason, the Project Censored research program continues, in its small way, to support and highlight those who tell the truth about the powerful (no matter the consequences) and are relentless in their quest to hold Big Media accountable for their decisions.

Hmmm, now I can see why the Pasadena Weekly would attack Project Censored (and Peter Phillips, the great Truth crusader), knowing Kevin Uhrich who falls a little short when it comes to "media accountability" (he "only" employs crazy, right-wing extremists at his paper), for him, this makes perfect sense to me.

But WHY would this National organization for Alternative Weeklies, award thuggish Kevin Uhrich for this thuggish piece bashing an important (and well-respected) Liberal clean media vehicle??

Something is very wrong here.

Uhrich's AAN award-winning piece: Time Up For Project Censored? subhead: "Even some on the left are wondering how useful Project Censored's stories really are" (named "Uncovering Project Censored" in the PW, subhead: "There once was a time when you couldn’t trust anyone over 30. Today, some are wondering if that isn’t true of Project Censored."),

was published on Alternet in June of 2006, and the liberal commentators there cried "Foul"!!

The AAN however, didn't cry "Foul", and awarded Uhrich their 2007 award for bashing Project Censored, well after the piece had been trashed on Alternet.

Read some of the comments from Alternet, where Uhrich's scam was clear for all to see:

"That faux-liberal do-nothing "centrist" democrat rags like Alternet and The Nation would take potshots at real liberal publications like Project Censored. After all, as Steven Colbert recently noted, doesn't reality have a well known liberal bias? And we can't have reality mucking up dem chances in nov, can we?

Real reporting isn't going away."

- - - - - - - -

"This poorly written article just proved its opposite. How can you say that stories in Project Censored may not be censored because "It may be more a question of not paying sufficient attention," to the stories. Censorship does not mean having a bureaucrat in a dark office strip inconvenient stories out of a paper. It precisely means hiding or making it difficult for people to pay attention to those inconvenient stories. Media corporations do that all the time while highlighting the propaganda stories that prop the Bush administration."

- - - - - - - -

"if you want to attack biased press, Project Censored is not the most obvious target - rather, look at attempts to buy up and consolidate media outlets with FCC approval. Look at the major media outlets - TimeWarner, WaltDisney, GE/Vivendi, etc. Instead of writing an article attacking Project Censored, why not look into Disney's ownership, the stories they promote, and the business interests that they have ties to?"

- - - - - - - -

"Someone please expose Southland Publishing -- new owner of Pasadena Weekly -- for what it is.

Maybe somebody can also explain why Kevin Uhrich is one of the more highly paid prostitutes in California."

- - - - - - - -

"The bigger question is why Uhrich wrote this story in the first place.

I'll just take a guess here:

Pasadena Weekly is now owned by Southland Publishing. The aim of Southland is to publish "alternative" weeklies targeting the more affluent communities in Southern California -- which are among the wealthiest communities on the planet."

- - - - - - - -

"One thing's for sure. Southland has little further need of Project Censored. That's cuz Project Censored may someday post an article or two about changes at PW and the mission of Southland Publishing. It could be a less than flattering protrayal -- or perhaps the word is "betrayal" -- of what the weekly once was. Now it has a centralized editorial board in place -- that wants PW to still look the same -- but subtly put a more centrist and libertarian spin on articles. To me, it looks like UHRICH IS LOOKING FOR A PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE ON "PC" BEFORE "PC" MIGHT EXPLORE CHANGES MADE BY SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING.

Not all the "giant Green Pods" landed outside Santa Mira. I think a couple found their way to Pasadena. "

- - - - - - - -


[and why is the AAN supporting this??]




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Memorial Day 2009

[Images: I shot these in Sierra Madre's beautiful old cemetery near to Heasley field.]






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Edmund Burke quotes

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.



The whole Business of the Poor is to administer to the Idleness, Folly, and Luxury of the Rich; and that of the Rich, in return, to find the best Methods of confirming the Slavery and increasing the Burdens of the Poor.


-- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)





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AAN dubious award-winner's: featuring Joe Piasecki and the Pasadena Weekly

Lets take a closer look at a previous piece in the Pasadena Weekly by Association for Alternative Newsmedia award-winner Joe "thug" Piasecki. This time instead of a hate-letter targeting Obama, the hate was targeted at PUSD's All Star Marching Band, courtesy of the PW.

Like most music programs across the State of California, numbers and money had dwindled over the years, but thanks to the supreme effort of lots of good people in Pasadena, a band program was resurrected and reborn. The All-District All Star Marching Band was revived and marched in the 2006 Rose Parade, in the pouring rain I might add!

The rain was pouring down alright... thanks to Joe, his good friend Rene Amy and the Pasadena Weekly:

Rene Amy is at it again.

And apparently so is the Pasadena Unified School District.

Last year, Amy learned that more than 30 members of the PUSD's first-ever Rose Parade All-Star Marching Band weren't really with the PUSD, but were students from other districts from as far away as San Bernardino County.

This year, after filing a lawsuit to force the PUSD to honor his Public Records Act request for information on this year's Rose Parade band, Amy found that 72 of the 274 band members were not enrolled in PUSD schools.

On Tuesday, City News Service broke the story about Amy's lawsuit and the so-called "ringers," which was picked up by Associated Press. After that, the story was picked up by major newspapers around the country and television stations here in LA, including Glendale-based KABC Channel 7.

(do you see how they feed this stuff to other news media? part of Joe's job, no doubt).

Amy was screaming on his listserv greatschools on Yahoo groups about the number of "ringers" in the band and actually sued PUSD in a PRA lawsuit for the list of the entire band (who would want to give HIM any children's names?). He was obviously attempting (again) to slander PUSD in the Media, using the prominence of the Rose Parade as a media vehicle.

Joe Piasecki has been involved in plenty of other Rene Amy sourced articles for the PW over the years, he was also a very good friend of Aaron Proctor's.

Yet the AAN rewards this behavior? Are you telling me the AAN thinks its ok for journalists (Alternative Weekly journalists no less!) to hang around with and source, right-wing extremists?? (at the expense of children?)

Lets check out Piasecki's job on the Pasadena Unified All Star Marching Band. (and look who turns up, again):

excerpts:

"Pasadena City Councilman Paul Little, a regular participant on Amy's Greatschools Internet listserve, scolded both Amy and the district.

"What a waste of time and money. PUSD should cough up the info and the list-en-fuhrer shouldn't even have considered suing over this. Silly on all counts," Little posted to [Rene Amy's] listserve."

"District spokeswoman Janet Pope was surprised by the amount of coverage the story was getting, primarily because there was never anything sinister or secretive about what the district did.

"Yes, there are kids from outside the district who participate, but the band is filled first with all the kids in PUSD who are eligible and want to participate. Then the band is filled with additional talent if needed," Pope said."


PUSD 'ringers' back in the news
By Joe Piasecki 03/02/2006
Reprinted from the Pasadena Weekly

Rene Amy is at it again.

And apparently so is the Pasadena Unified School District.

Last year, Amy learned that more than 30 members of the PUSD's first-ever Rose Parade All-Star Marching Band weren't really with the PUSD, but were students from other districts from as far away as San Bernardino County.

This year, after filing a lawsuit to force the PUSD to honor his Public Records Act request for information on this year's Rose Parade band, Amy found that 72 of the 274 band members were not enrolled in PUSD schools.

On Tuesday, City News Service broke the story about Amy's lawsuit and the so-called "ringers," which was picked up by Associated Press. After that, the story was picked up by major newspapers around the country and television stations here in LA, including Glendale-based KABC Channel 7.

Also on Tuesday, Amy received a letter of apology from Assistant Superintendent George McKenna, who promised to deliver requested information within 48 hours. "I accept responsibility for the tardiness of our response," McKenna wrote.

But apparently it was too late. Late Tuesday afternoon, a Channel 7 helicopter could be seen hovering over PUSD headquarters.

District spokeswoman Janet Pope was surprised by the amount of coverage the story was getting, primarily because there was never anything sinister or secretive about what the district did.

"Yes, there are kids from outside the district who participate, but the band is filled first with all the kids in PUSD who are eligible and want to participate. Then the band is filled with additional talent if needed," Pope said.

The effort was largely made possible due to the band's volunteer boosters, who include former Planned Parenthood of Pasadena head Ellen Pais, wife of school board President Ed Honowitz.

Pasadena City Councilman Paul Little, a regular participant on Amy's Greatschools Internet listserve, scolded both Amy and the district.

"What a waste of time and money. PUSD should cough up the info and the list-en-fuhrer shouldn't even have considered suing over this. Silly on all counts," Little posted to the listserve.





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Award-winning "Journalism" from the Association for Alternative Newsweeklies places a target on Obama's head

Meet one of the "winners" from the Association for Alternative Newsweeklies 2009 awards. The above inflammatory Pasadena Weekly cover art is for the AAN award-winning article Hater Nation, an article on an anonymous letter received by the PW threatening Obama's life.

[hmmm, could troll Aaron Proctor be the author of this letter? (see the letter here). He and Joe were very good friends (see AP interview here) and he loved hand-scrawled letter art (and block caps, see a sample Proctor letter here).]

The winning author is none other than our own, Joe "thug" Piasecki. Joe is actually given an AAN award for this piece:

excerpt from Hater Nation:
The letter was delivered on a slow Friday in August. Like some sort of fictional ransom note in a Hollywood film caper, it appeared to have been crudely generated on a photocopier with lettering done in block caps. The envelope bore a fake name and return address.

But this was serious, disturbing stuff.

"Serious, disturbing stuff", this sounds like gangster dialogue, doesn't it? Joe has the Hollywood caper part right, but what he doesn't realize is that HE is a main character in this caper.

Pasadena New Progressive is very familiar with Joe Piasecki, he has authored some of the most inflammatory Pasadena Weekly pieces over the years, including when they went after the PUSD All Star Marching Band, siding with Rene Amy in his vile lawsuit. Here is Joe's article PUSD 'ringers" back in the news, written in support of PW editor Kevin Uhrich's good friend and frequent contributor, right-wing extremist Rene Amy.

This time Joe leaves school kids alone and goes after nothing less than our President, then president elect, Barack Obama. The PW cover art does nothing less than place a target on Obama's head, as does the letter art, reproduced in the Pasadena Weekly. Not only is the piece inflammatory, it is completely hypocritical as the PW was in full support (and had been for years) of the hate speech of Aaron Proctor and Rene Amy (and their own Jim Laris).

When Piasecki writes: "[white supremacist groups] feel they can make inroads into the white population like they haven’t before,” said Mayo" he might have been describing the condition set up here by PW contributor Aaron Proctor's racist blog.

The AAN awarded the Pasadena Weekly for this and below you can read for yourself what this National organization considers award-winning "journalism":


Hater nation
Presidential election prompts an explosion of racist threats against Obama — including one sent to this newspaper

By Joe Piasecki 12/04/2008
Reprinted from the Pasadena Weekly

The letter was delivered on a slow Friday in August. Like some sort of fictional ransom note in a Hollywood film caper, it appeared to have been crudely generated on a photocopier with lettering done in block caps. The envelope bore a fake name and return address.

But this was serious, disturbing stuff. The words at the top of the page read “THE ASSASSINATION OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA,” and whoever sent it to this newspaper took the time to paint blood-red bullet holes onto the chest and forehead of a photograph of him.

Sharp, angry pen strokes and similarities in writing style appeared to connect the letter to an earlier one (also using a fake return address) that denigrated Michelle Obama and this reporter’s coverage of her summer fund-raising visit to Pasadena.

Reporters immediately took both letters to the Pasadena Police Department, which turned them over to the Secret Service to investigate. The Secret Service has not shared any information about their findings, and a spokesman reached last week would not detail how many Obama-related investigations were ongoing, saying only that all threats are investigated.

Considering the eruption of hundreds of racially motivated hate incidents nationwide since Election Day — from cross burnings to nooses hanging from trees to Obama assassination betting pools to incidents of actual physical violence — and a spike in activity among white supremacist groups, the Secret Service must be very busy.

“There’s no question that we’ve seen a rise in the number of hate incidents in the wake of the Obama election. We’ve seen some nasty hate crimes: an attack by white teens in Staten Island, New York, on a black youth the night of the election — they were wielding a baseball bat and screaming ‘Obama’; there was a black church burnt to the ground in Massachusetts; a cross burned in the front yard of a family in New Jersey,” said Heidi Beirich, a researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center.

While most recent race-related incidents have not been tied directly to organized white supremacist and skinhead groups — several of which are based in Southern California — there has been an increase in organized racist activity surrounding the election, said Marilyn Mayo, co-director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

“We’ve already seen more activity around white supremacist groups. They feel they can make inroads into the white population like they haven’t before,” said Mayo. “There have been a number of extremists who have been careful not to make a direct threat against Obama, but say they hope someone kills him.”

White supremacist organizers may incite hate, but rarely carry out violent activities — leaving the dirty work to lone-wolf extremists with whom those views resonate, explained Rick Eaton, a senior researcher for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “What happens is you get these individuals who may have some association with organized groups or may have just looked at their Web sites combining some of that processed hate with their dislike for the president-elect, thinking ‘I’m going to make a statement,’” he said.

One case in point: On the eve of the election, federal officials uncovered a plot in Tennessee by two young men on the fringes of the white supremacist movement to go on a race-related killing spree that included Obama as a target. They had hoped to kill 88 people — a number symbolic to the white power movement (the eighth letter of the alphabet is H, and two Hs abbreviate Heil Hitler).

Closer to home, the Los Angeles Times mailroom on Oct. 10 opened a letter that read “Death to Obama” and contained a white powdery substance that turned out to be harmless, according to the media blog LAObserved.com. Earlier that week, an Obama campaign office in Palms was evacuated, due to another suspicious envelope that prompted a visit by the bomb squad.

Since Election Day, the Chicago Tribune has counted more than 200 hate-related incidents — nearly all of them by individuals who were not involved in organized hate groups — and the journalism industry magazine Editor & Publisher has also been compiling reports, adding reader accounts to its growing list.

One such story came from an Iowa high school student, who said one of her classmates was suspended for saying, “Well, it’s called the White House for a reason. We need to get that Goddamn nigger out of there.” The girl was concerned that no action was taken regarding other children who discussed how they could get a high enough vantage-point to shoot Obama.

Other incidents detailed by E&P include the spray-painting of swastikas on a Michigan Democratic clubhouse and an extended discussion by high school students in Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, about whether Obama should be assassinated.

There have been no reports of hate-related incidents in Pasadena or the Pasadena Unified School District, according to the Pasadena Police Department, and spokesmen for the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department and LAPD report no hate-related incidents since the election.

Over the weekend following the election, however, vandals in Torrance spray-painted racial slurs on Obama supporters’ homes and cars, according to police reports.

But the bulk of organized racist Obama backlash, however, has been taking place on the Internet. Anonymous posters to both white supremacist chat rooms and mainstream news Web site comment sections have increased attacks on black and Jewish Americans in general and Obama in particular, said the ADL’s Mayo.

The international white supremacist Internet chat room stormfront.org features dozens of anonymous users who claim to be from Southern California, including at least one claiming to live in Pasadena (using the handle Aryan_Pride_88) and two in Glendale.

In June, the Weekly reported that the Topix service, which allows readers to respond online to stories in papers such as the Pasadena Star-News and the Daily News of Los Angeles, was plagued by users promoting hate speech.

“Anyone has the ability to make comments, and white supremacists are going to take advantage of that. There was a report on the financial crisis, and a Yahoo! finance [chat] group became a forum for anti-Semites to express their views that Jews were behind the financial crisis. Yahoo! was responsive, but comments were being posted faster than they could delete them,” said Mayo.

Trying to get the message out anywhere possible is a strategy that, ironically for those who express hate for non-whites, parallels al-Qaeda’s call for members to commit this sort of electronic jihad, said Eaton.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Racist Skinheads Project has identified more than two-dozen white supremacist, neo-Nazi or skinhead groups in California, but most organized Southern California hate group activity takes place outside Los Angeles in Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. However, a few small groups are organizing in the San Fernando Valley.

A report earlier this year by the LA County Human Relations Commission found that 17 percent of all 2007 LA County hate crimes — 131 of them — showed evidence of white supremacist ideology.

However, the vast majority of those hate crimes were committed by the type of lone wolf Eaton describes, individuals who buy into hateful ideologies but are not known to have strong hate-group connections.

“Is there going to be a serious increase in hate group activity in this area? I don’t think that’s necessarily the case,” said Eaton, who has worked for the Simon Wiesenthal Center for more than two decades, both monitoring groups on the Web and sometimes infiltrating their membership.

“The lone wolf philosophy has been promoted by the white supremacist movement for more than a decade now,” said Eaton. “That’s the danger. Whatever they do, they will plan their attacks privately, in secret.”

[well, we sure have seen a rise in hate group activity in the San Gabriel Valley, thanks to the support of the Pasadena Weekly]



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Updated 2: AAN and the PW: BFF's

[Image: letter received by the Pasadena Weekly, scanned and used as art for the article Hater Nation]

It appears that the Association for Alternative Newsweeklies and the Pasadena Weekly, are "best friends forever".

Its hard to think of what is happening with the Southland's media, as anything less than a War when stuff like this happens. What has happened is, two of the biggest journalism awards, have been given (or almost given) to the Pasadena Weekly, which is "only" the most unethical publication in the Southland.

One is by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, which awards the hypocritical PW for crappy sex comics and its self-cover-up piece on "Hate-speech" (something they do all the time), with the sensationalistic topic of an anonymous letter the paper receives threatening the assassination of Obama no less!! the article is authored by Joe Piasecki who is little more than a "thug":

"The winning pieces range from the irreverence of Fast Forward Weekly’s Christmas Sex Stories Contest (pdf) to the disturbing account of a letter sent to the Pasadena Weekly which threatened to assassinate then President-elect Barack Obama."

The piece was "disturbing" alright, thug Joe wrote this inflammatory piece (see above) that did nothing but fan the flames of fear in the community (something at which he excels).

The flames the PW was fanning this time around, were no less than flames of fear carried by the entire country over threats to Obama's life. The PW makes a mockery of these in this semi-threatening and self-serving piece (and cover artwork). This is "award-winning"?

And, the fantastic Ketchup Capers by Nick Schou, is left off the list entirely. (??) What is going on here?

And it is not like AAN did not know about the Pasadena Weekly and what it has been up to (one example of which is below). They did and still, made these decisions.

The Pasadena Weekly published a profane letter about Superintendent Edwin Diaz written by Aaron Proctor, their new columnist and good friend (and crazy Troll).

That letter is now offline but her are excerpts from An Aaron Proctor Sampler, published on Pasadena New Progressive on Friday, August 1, 2008.

• He published obscenities in the Pasadena Weekly* and on his blog about our Superintendent:

examples:
Diaz could have simply contacted me directly to air his grievance. Maybe I should have added “arrogant” to “stupid mother fucker“.

Edwin Diaz, you’re the 2nd Ham And Egger of the week. I think I’ll actually write “You’re a fucking dumb ass” on the award, too.

* In the crazy world of Pasadena media, our Alternative Weekly, is a supporter of Proctor's. Here he openly admits to having Pasadena Weekly's (who gave him a column!) full support:

I also find it hilarious how people think going to reporters at the Weekly to complain about my blog are going to accomplish anything. (Not that Diaz sought out a reporter - I know I just came up in conversation…this time). Maybe they think I’ll get in trouble or something?




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art break: Josef Sudek

Josef Sudek (1896 - 1976), from Sudek's photo essay on the renovation of the St. Vitus Cathedral, 1924-28
more photographs by Josef Sudek





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Meet The Owner Of The Sierra Madre Cumquat, Reprinted from the Sierra Madre Tattler

This post is so damn good, I'm going to shut up (for once) and just let the beauty of it speak for itself. Our neighboring hamlet Sierra Madre, is in the capable hands of journalist/activist Sir Eric Maundry, who is moving some mountains!!

Meet The Owner Of The Sierra Madre Cumquat
Sir Eric Maundry
The Sierra Madre Tattler
May 19, 2009

excerpts:

"the Tattler Rule that it is always about money, the divide we're really talking about here is between the privileged and the work-a-day commuter/pickup truck class. Those fiscally leisured enough to enjoy this town whenever they feel the need, versus those who rarely see the sun here except on the weekends."

"And who were those who supported Measure V? Working people, the retired, and the elderly, mostly. Measure V proponents raised around $30,000 for the cause, spending it most on black & white postcards and flyers. And yet somehow, and much to the consternation of the investor class, they won. And they are deeply resented for this even now."

"It makes sense that some of Sierra Madre's so-called leading citizens would have unleashed things such as The Sierra Madre Cumquat upon their political enemies. It was not just a political tool designed to degrade and humiliate those who stood between them and the rewards they expected to reap from their real estate investments. It was also an indication of just how deep the contempt that the elite sector of this community held for the rest of this town."

"And that the Mayor of Sierra Madre at that time, John Buchanan, should have endorsed such a thing from the front page of the Pasadena Star News makes perfectly good sense as well. He was merely speaking the prejudices and attitudes of his class. And that he appeared gobsmacked when he was called out on this also works.

"After all, nobody he knew had a problem with it."

Meet The Owner Of The Sierra Madre Cumquat

(Pictured: Members of the Sierra Madre Downtown Investors Club on a recent outing to Goldberg Park to inspect the natural stone benches. While claiming to be pleased with what they saw, they still wished to go home as soon as possible.)

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Neuroblast Films posted a video of B.D. Howes on their site yesterday. At the time this clip was filmed, B.D. was the President of the Sierra Madre Rotary Club, and the video shows him presenting a rather large check to a very grateful City Council to help defray some of the expenses associated with keeping our library open.

All of which was magnanimous and highly commendable, but there is a kind of conundrum attached as well. How is it that this prosperous gentleman engaged in good works is also the domain owner of notorious and - in their heyday - pornographic websites such as Downtowndirt.org and The Cumquat? And is this as much a contradiction as it first appears, or is there actually a kind of logic here? One that combines both the regard a certain strata of Sierra Madreans holds for people such as themselves, coupled with a searing contempt for those in town who fail to meet their standards?

I've often thought that there really is a kind of class warfare aspect to the question of who does and does not support big development here in Sierra Madre. Like all societal generalizations there are a lot of ready exceptions, and you are welcome to point them out. But I think that if you dig deep enough you'll find there is a core of truth here.

Those most likely to oppose runaway development would be working and family people. Those who realize that they have a very good thing going in our town, and that their chances of ever finding this sort of thing again are not very probable. These are mostly people who spend their entire paychecks on getting by, shell out for monthly mortgages and car loans, and are forced by circumstances to send their kids to public schools that they sadly realize are only barely adequate. Yet to live here is a kind of dream come true, and they resist any kind of change that could threaten something that has given so much value to their lives.

On the other hand, the people who would support big development tend to belong to the investor class. Many of them are highly paid professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and developers. They do not sweat the monthly bills, preferring instead to allow those they do business with to draw money straight from their bank accounts. They have surplus cash for investments, and many speculated heavily on downtown properties during the real estate boom of a few years ago. They are clubbish and well-connected to power, and tend to join just about anything that they feel favors their sense of personal worth. And they would never understand why anyone would not want to be like them.

Many have spoken of the divisions in this town, but never with any kind of analysis or reasoned exploration into why they exist. So let me tell you how I see it. Using the Tattler Rule that it is always about money, the divide we're really talking about here is between the privileged and the work-a-day commuter/pickup truck class. Those fiscally leisured enough to enjoy this town whenever they feel the need, versus those who rarely see the sun here except on the weekends.

Which takes us to the owner of the Sierra Madre Cumquat. B. D. Howes has become, in my mind, a kind of metaphor for the mores and attitudes of his class. He is a well-to-do man, owning a large dental concern, and many other properties as well. And he has the leisure necessary to participate in club life, becoming the President of the Rotary Club just last year. And he does participate in charitable enterprises. These are all admirable things and should not in themselves be disparaged.

So then how do explain his ownership of the Sierra Madre Cumquat? My take is that this is no contradiction. When those opposed to Measure V launched their assault on its proponents, they were doing so from the vantage of money and privilege. Measure V opponents had nearly $200,000 to spend to defeat their opponents. And they also paraded about a long list of what the Loony Views News likes to call "the pillars of our community." Mayors, lawyers, doctors, wealthy business men, all folks seemingly convinced of the worthiness of that cause. The veritable village elite.

And who were those who supported Measure V? Working people, the retired, and the elderly, mostly. Measure V proponents raised around $30,000 for the cause, spending it most on black & white postcards and flyers. And yet somehow, and much to the consternation of the investor class, they won. And they are deeply resented for this even now.

So it makes sense that some of Sierra Madre's so-called leading citizens would have unleashed things such as The Sierra Madre Cumquat upon their political enemies. It was not just a political tool designed to degrade and humiliate those who stood between them and the rewards they expected to reap from their real estate investments. It was also an indication of just how deep the contempt that the elite sector of this community held for the rest of this town.

And that the Mayor of Sierra Madre at that time, John Buchanan, should have endorsed such a thing from the front page of the Pasadena Star News makes perfectly good sense as well. He was merely speaking the prejudices and attitudes of his class. And that he appeared gobsmacked when he was called out on this also works. After all, nobody he knew had a problem with it.

So does it makes sense that the charitable and rather elite B.D. Howes should own The Cumquat? Of course it does. After all, wasn't it always the property of that segment of this community? And, of course, now we know it still is.

Moving Mountains in Sierra Madre, Sir Eric strikes again!

I have said Sir Eric is my Idol and I am saying it here again today. Once again, Sir Eric has proven that he is the BEST investigative journalist in the entire San Gabriel Valley!!

With a bit of Tattler sleuthing, Sir Eric uncovered a big fish in Sierra Madre:

"why is a President of the Sierra Madre Rotary Club the domain owner and administrator of a website that is apparently in the process of relaunching the pornographic site known as The Cumquat? Why is he identified as the owner and administrator of DowntownDirt.org on Domaintools.com?"

I didn't know much about the Cumquat before (thank goodness) but from the sound of it, there was a whole lot of red-neck sneering, degrading and porn going down there.

It definitely did not sound like anything local politicians should be dabbling in, but just like in Pasadena, dubious Sierra Madre Pols were down in this basement, clanking the chains with the lunatic fringe.

Besides being an excellent investigative journalist, Maundry is a strong activist with real muscle (a golden combination).

He not only uncovers this ruse, he makes sure to put Benjamin D. Howes in his place, to let him know that these kind of vile media games will not be tolerated in Sierra Madres anymore:

"And it must be noted that B.D. Howes, a businessman of some note and success, would hardly be foolish enough to allow the kinds of things that happened on either Downtown Dirt or The Cumquat to be done on a site he owns. Jim Snider was never dragged into Court because, let's face it, he was penniless."

An Anonymous commentator echos his cry:

"Accordingly, I also believe that remaining silent in the face of the website's eminent return does a tremendous disservice to Sierra Madre as well as Council Members Zimmerman and Watts, who had to suffer in the face of its weekly calumnies. Please show up at the next City Council meeting and express your outrage. Let those responsible for the threatened return of that internet monstrosity know that you will not tolerate such filth in our town."

Wait, theres more, the icing on the cake is that this is "kill" number 3 for Maundry!!

"Which now makes it the third time we've killed off a Cumquat revival"

Bravo, Sir Eric and Tattler fans, good for you, bringing real Justice to your town!

Tattler Expose: So Why Does the 2008 President of the Sierra Madre Rotary Club Own the Domain Name for DowntownDirt.org?
Sir Eric Maundry
Sierra Madre Tattler
May 16, 2009

Reprinted below:

Tattler Expose: So Why Does the 2008 President of the Sierra Madre Rotary Club Own the Domain Name for DowntownDirt.org?

And why is there now a posted notice on the internet saying that DowntownDirt.org is not only back, but it has also somehow merged with its evil twin, The Sierra Madre Cumquat?

(11:30 pm update: Once again the Mayberry Mafia - thanks Bip! - has pulled a Cumquat site, the third time this has happened. In its place there is now a newly designed DowntownDirt.org logo - sans The Cumquat - featuring the face of Curly from the Three Stooges. Appropriate given the players involved, though something that I'm sure would be of interest to the highly litigious Howard Family Estate as well. But here's a question, if these knuckleheads - to use Moe's nickname for Curly - are so embarrassed by being associated with The Cumquat, and always pull it down just as soon as it is discovered, why do they keep putting it up in the first place? Can it be these dudes have some kind of shame fetish going on?)

To see the art posted to the left in its original setting, click here. You can see that the following legend is spelled out in bold letters. "DOWNTOWNDIRT.org is back! Check back for updates on our launch schedule."

After discovering the relaunch notice for DowntownDirt.org /The Cumquat, I did a little search on Domaintools.org to see if an owner popped up. A domain owner being the person who owns the rights to a web name. Think of it as a patent, something registered to the individual possessing the site. And an owner did turn up in the search. A rather distinguished Sierra Madre gentleman to be exact. One holding a position of great trust in the community.

It turns out that the owner and administrator of DowntownDirt.org is a B.D. Howes. AKA Benjamin Duward Howes. Benjamin was born in 1957 and lives at 58 E. Laurel Avenue here in Sierra Madre. His company is identified as B.D. Howes, Inc. Also located at 58 E. Laurel Avenue.

And what makes B.D. "Benjamin" Howes a notable figure in this community? Here is a passage from a Coburn article entitled Sierra Madre Rotary Club's Dan Stower Award Competition 2008.

"At Cafe 322 on Monday night, Rotary President B.D. Howes introduced his fellow Rotarians the Sierra Madre Chapter's representative in the Dan Stover Music Competition. Selected to represent Sierra Madre Rotary was ..."

I'm going to cut to the chase here because this whole episode is making me kind of nauseous. Benjamin D. Howes is a President of the Sierra Madre Rotary Club. So why is a President of the Sierra Madre Rotary Club the domain owner and administrator of a website that is apparently in the process of relaunching the pornographic site known as The Cumquat? Why is he identified as the owner and administrator of DowntownDirt.org on Domaintools.com?

Here is how award winning L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez described The Cumquat in an April 2007 column entitled, "Sierra Madre fears for its treasure:"

"Another blogger, known as the Sierra Madre Cumquat, reported -- in one of the lamest stabs at satire I've seen in a while, that Councilman _____ ____ had opened a bathhouse for young men, superimposing his photo over what looked like a gay orgy. The same website made up a story that pornographic images of Measure V supporter _____ _____ had been released on YouTube."

And as for DowntownDirt.org? Lopez had this observation to make:

"When I told ____ that DowntownDirt.org didn't appear to be as satirical as other sites and instead seemed devoted to jabbing The Observer, she scoffed. Downtown Dirt has a space devoted to 'lively, spirited and civilized debate' on which a February entry by 'Cumquat' asked 'how long its been' since ____ 'had an orgasm.'"

Oh, one other thing, and maybe this is an important missing clue. B.D. Howes is a strong political supporter and close friend of Joe Mosca. Anybody surprised? I'm not. After all, there are many people in this town who claim to believe that Joe Mosca wrote much of the first incarnation of the pornographic site known as The Cumquat.

A friend stopped by to help me with some of the technical aspects of this post. I ran through what I discovered, and he scratched his head. "These people really aren't all that smart, are they?" No, they're not. Lowlife creeps? Sure. But definitely not long on intellect. After all, if they were, would they be attempting to return once again to the same losing strategy?

Protecting Victims, Preserving Freedoms, reprinted from Huffinton Post

[Many of the hateful comments I have written about here: Back from the Front, unmoderated comments from the Star News appearing on the Star New's comments section on Topix, are pointed directly at children of color, like this one: "I see these kids (the vermin ones) everyday on the way to/ from school". This essay is by Rep. Linda Sanchez, in support of HR 1966, spells out why this is wrong!

To me, you cannot say that adults have complete rights of Free Speech, when they are using those "rights" to direct slurs at children. First of all, how are they going to defend themselves? What about the very real hurt these words cause them? As a society, we have to work extra hard to protect children from harm and throwing slurs at them online, is very real harm!]

Protecting Victims, Preserving Freedoms
Rep. Linda Sanchez
Reprinted from Huffington Post

excerpts:

[T]he internet should not be the last refuge of scoundrels who use its anonymity to abuse, harass, and bully our children.

When so-called free speech leads to bullies having free-reign to threaten kids, it is time to act.

If you were walking down the street and saw someone harassing a child, would you just walk by and look the other way? If that person was telling the child the world would be better off if they just killed themselves, would you ignore it?

Cyberbullying is hurtful enough and affecting kids enough that its victims have turned to suicide or violence just to make it stop.

If you were walking down the street and saw someone harassing a child, would you just walk by and look the other way? If that person was telling the child the world would be better off if they just killed themselves, would you ignore it?

This is what is happening on the internet except it is more painful, and can be more abusive because of the faceless anonymity the web provides. Bullies are using technology in ways we could not have imagined only years ago, and studies show that outdated and erroneous beliefs that bullying is "harmless" downplay its true seriousness.

Laws criminalize similar behavior when it takes place in person, but not online. In fact, we have laws criminalizing stalking, sexual harassment, identity theft and more when it takes place in person and online. All of these actions have consequences. But there is one serious online offense that has no penalty -- cyberbullying. Do we not think it is as serious because it takes place in cyberspace and not face to face?

Missouri already has a law that criminalizes cyberbullying, but cyberbullying isn't just happening in one state. It's happening everywhere and it follows kids home -- occurring at any hour of the day or night. Cyberbullying is hurtful enough and affecting kids enough that its victims have turned to suicide or violence just to make it stop. Should we just ignore it? Pass it off as simple child's play?

When so-called child's play turns hostile and a child becomes a victim, it is time to act. Victims of cyberbullying do not choose to participate. Rather than build character, bullying can cause children to become anxious, fearful, unhappy, and even cause them to be physically sick. A young person exposed to repeated, severe and hostile bullying online is deserving of protections because bullying puts them at risk for depression and suicide. According to a study by the United States Secret Service, being bullied is a risk factor for perpetrators of school violence, such as the kind that was unleashed with tragic results at Columbine High School in Colorado.

When so-called free speech leads to bullies having free-reign to threaten kids, it is time to act. The Supreme Court recognizes that in some instances words can be harmful. For example, you cannot falsely yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater. If you say it even once you can be held liable. Yet, you can repeatedly emotionally abuse someone with words, pictures, and false impressions online and get away scot-free.

The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act would criminalize bullying like this when perpetrators hide behind the emboldening anonymity of the web. Severe online bullying must have consequences.

Current Supreme Court jurisprudence already recognizes some reasonable regulation of speech is consistent with the First Amendment. For example, the Court has found that true threats, commercial speech, slander, and libel can be reasonably restricted consistent with the Constitution. Slander and libel law provide for different standards when the injured party is a public official or private person, and nothing in the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act attempts to override that principle. Instead, the Act would give judges and juries discretion to recognize the difference between an annoying chain email, a righteously angry political blog post, or a miffed text to an ex-boyfriend and serious, repeated, hostile communications made with the intent to harm. I consulted with a variety of experts and law professors in crafting this bill to preserve our American freedom of speech and protect victims of cyberbullying.

Congress has no interest in censoring speech and it will not do so if it passes this bill. Put simply, this legislation would be used as a tool for a judge and jury to determine whether there is significant evidence to prove that a person "cyberbullied" another. That is: did they have the required intent, did they use electronic means of communication, and was the communication severe, hostile, and repeated. So -- bloggers, emailers, texters, spiteful exes, and those who have blogged against this bill have no fear - your words are still protected under the same American values.

But the internet should not be the last refuge of scoundrels who use its anonymity to abuse, harass, and bully our children.

Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez represents the 39th Congressional District of California.

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Marcus Aurelius quote

[Image: Bronze fragment, sculpture of Marcus Aurelius, collection of the Louvre]

Remember Heraclitus:

When earth dies, it becomes water; water, air, fire; and back to the beginning.

Those who have forgotten where the road leads,

They are at odds with what is all around them—the all-directing logos. And they find alien what they meet with everyday.

Our words and actions should not be like those of sleepers (for we act and speak in dreams as well) or of children copying their parents—doing and saying only what we have been told.

Marcus Aurelius, 121– 180, Meditations, Gregory Hay's translation





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Updated - Back from the Front, unmoderated comments from the Star News

The tragedy of Pasadena's disconnect (from fact, from the kids) of PUSD, is being played out over at Topix, where the Star News posts comments from its articles.

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/pasadena-star-news/THKMRS18TU09ON75K

Where we are (and most clearly, we we aren't) is spelled out here, for all to see (and comment on). Pasadena New Progressive paid a visit there, and I survived to tell you, the racism running free on the airwaves in Pasadena is very, very bad news.

Open racism, fear and chronic mis-information, has flourished on the Internet in our city because it has been tolerated. So much leeway has been given to this new Media, and its right to "Free Speech", which has been bent and twisted like a pretzel to create a Public media atmosphere that tolerates everything (even the intolerable!).

All of this is done in the open, in public, for all to read (that means all over the World by the way, do you know how bad this make our city look from other city's vantage points?) in the Pasadena Star New's unmoderated comments section (most newspapers and online news sources moderate their comments).

(and no, just because the Star News posts its comments on a third-party website named "Topix" does not mean they are not accountable for every single comment posted!)

Ethics codes have been broken, especially those that apply to children. Here, from the Society for Professional Journalists Code of Ethics:

Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

• Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
• Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.

Larry Wilson has recently publicly stated in a comment he wrote to the Sierra Madre Tattler here, that he alone is in charge of Opinion at the Pasadena Star News:

"i used to oversee news; now i oversee opinion. "

Does this means that he is personally responsible for the comments published on Topix, some of which follow?

But first, I would like to show you the Google ad that was running next to these comments on the day I copied them (and is still there today):

Ads by Google

Unique Christian School - The Peace & Justice Academy, Grades 6 - 12 in Pasadena. Now enrolling.
www.thepeaceacademy.org

(hmmm, now what could this be doing here?)

On to the War, I mean comments section. It wasn't only the racism in the comment's content (and Comments are content, popular and well-read content) that was alarming, although this was alarming enough.

It was the many commentators that alluded to a belief that public education has failed and is nothing but a tax burden they would just as soon get rid of. In their copius discussions of the kids achievement at PUSD, it often seemed like they were analyzing laboratory animals in a maze, comparing their test scores (even racially!) with plenty of scorn, even disgust, thrown in. Commentators even alluded to the "hopelessness" of some PUSD children. Of course the Teacher's Union also took some jabs.

All in public for all the city to read. (and last time I checked, Pasadena was a diverse city)

Here are samples of comments posted:

Top Turkey: "The public schools like in Pasadena are real sorry with low class people and very lax discipline. A whole lot of good people sacrifice to send their children to a private school and I don't blame them at all."

"Maybe they should put the Tournament of Roses volunteers in black suits and call them 'Black Suiters' if that would make you people happy. It sure wouldn't look very good.

It is obvious that you are a NAACP guy."


True Freedom "I don't want my kids surrounded by the kids that attend my local public school. Sure, there are good kids that go there, but there is a non-negligible percentage of vermin... I see these kids (the vermin ones) everyday on the way to/ from school...

I would (and do) pay good money to educate my kids in an environment absent of these unprincipled children."

"Plus, I don't think you are really being honest with yourself. You use PC euphemisms like: "the Pasadena high schools are [not] all that safe or will present good influences".

I would say, "I don't want my kid around some dangerous and dirtbag kids""


TakeFive "Here we see the result of "Progressive" policies -40 years of racial tinkering and the Pasadena schools are worse for it."

"And you know what? It will never get any better. "


Odallderamma "I'M ALL FOR IT. Segregation is a good thing. Get em out of my hair!!"


skool "Public schools are a joke, they exist only to ensure that the children of the poor are smart enough to know how to ask rich white kids if they'd like fries with their order."


Former ACLU Member "The bottom line is that blacks and poor latinos receive a dead end non-education in the corrupt Teachers Union dominated public schools."


Typical White Person "Half the student body is Latino, almost 25% black. They are not minorities, yet their test scores are appalling. 44% proficiency!"


BellaMia "Government education is low class, and a failure."


skool "Things will never change because SOCIETY will never change. This is America, someone has to LOSE, everyone can't win, cause that'd be SOCIALISM. The poor remain poor whilst the rich remain rich, albeit in fear that someday the poor will come knocking on their door."





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How David Beats Goliath, from the New Yorker

[Image: Osmar Schindler (1869 - 1927): David und Goliath, 1888, colour lithograph]

The latest edition of the New Yorker has a very interesting article in their Annals of Innovation section.

The article is called "How David Beats Goliath". The article postulates that the Davids of the world, have a much better chance of beating their Goliath, if they, yes, break the rules!

How David Beats Goliath
When underdogs break the rules.
by Malcolm Gladwell

excerpt:
David's victory over Goliath, in the Biblical account, is held to be an anomaly. It was not. Davids win all the time.

The political scientist Ivan Arreguin-Toft recently looked at every war fought in the past two hundred years between strong and weak combatants. The Goliaths, he found, won in 71.5 per cent of the cases. That is a remarkable fact. Arreguin-Toft was analyzing conflicts in which one side was at least ten times as powerful—in terms of armed might and population—as its opponent, and even in those lopsided contests the underdog won almost a third of the time.

In the Biblical story of David and Goliath, David initially put on a coat of mail and a brass helmet and girded himself with a sword: he prepared to wage a conventional battle of swords against Goliath.

But then he stopped. "I cannot walk in these, for I am unused to it," he said (in Robert Alter's translation), and picked up those five smooth stones. What happened, Arreguin-Toft wondered, when the underdogs likewise acknowledged their weakness and chose an unconventional strategy? He went back and re-analyzed his data. In those cases, David's winning percentage went from 28.5 to 63.6.

When underdogs choose not to play by Goliath's rules, they win, Arreguin-Toft concluded, "even when everything we think we know about power says they shouldn't."





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HR 1966!!

[Image: Ballons ]

"1966" what a Perfect year!!

and its time to celebrate on Pasadena New Progressive the GREAT news that is H.R. 1966!

This bill (finally!) addresses the nightmare of Internet bullies, a nightmare which I have lived through (more than once!).

All of this profane bully (right-wing based) behavior, has been sheltered by the "Law", these "Free Speech" Laws I have been railing about here on PNP.

Finally, Justice is closer.

Bill could mean jail for Internet flamers

Open letter to the editor:

This is GREAT news!!!

I have been the victim of a cyber bully and let me tell you, someone attacking you with graphic sexual references (and having a million people read it), and being able to do so as who-knows-who,

isn’t a lot of fun, but neither is it right!

and so I applaud the authors of this bill, its about time!!

Virginia Hoge






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Cyberbully attacks on Virginia Hoge, reprinted from the Pasadena Political Underbelly

[Image: mailed birthday card from Aaron Proctor. See PPN post Aaron Proctor's hate birthday card]

May 13, 2009
I have twice asked publicly for the Pasadena Political Underbelly to remove the post below which contained* a graphic sexual reference to myself

* the worst graphic reference has been recently edited out of the post: "I think she's just hot for me and doesn't know how to express her affection. Hell, if she wants to lick my dick and let me do her in the ass, I'm good," Proctor said."

They have not responded and so I am reprinting this still-active post (written by Dormitas), as well as another still-active post (written by Aaron Proctor), from Pasadena Political Underbelly blog. These are only two, there were plenty of others all over the Pasadena blogsphere. Much worse was posted on Aaron Proctor's popular blog. Both posts have been up for a long time.

The "poetic justice" here, is that they can now serve as examples (on the far weaker end, much, much worse posts are published everyday) of exactly what H.R. 1966 is intending to make accountable!! (finally!)


Friday, August 29, 2008

Weekly Pasadena News Reports: Virginia Hoge Selected Assistant Superintendent of Propaganda

From the Weekly Pasadena News:

Superintendent Names Virginia Hoge Assistant in Charge of Propaganda
Pasadenan Known for Being Internet Bitch Ecstatic Someone Might Listen to Her

DATELINE PASADENA: In a surprise announcement, Pasadena Unified School District Suprintendent Edwin Diaz named Virginia Hoge to the newly created position of Assistant Superintendent for Propaganda. In her new position, Hoge will be responsible for maintaining a positive media presence for the school district. "I can think of no one more qualified to maintain the good reputation of the Pasadena Unified School District than Virginia Hoge," Diaz was quoted as saying. "She has an amazing ability to see only the positive and displays unbelievable tenacity in eviscerating anyone who is in the least bit critical of the PUSD. We need those qualities in our administration and especially in our Minister of Propaganda, I mean Assistant Superintendent of Public Communications."

Hoge was gleeful at the announcement, "Now I finally have the means to let Pasadena know how detrimental it is having Aaron Proctor in our community," Hoge said. "I'm going to bite off his nuts and spit them down his throat, metaphorically, of course."

Hoge is best known as the volunteer who parlayed her "artistic talent" into paid stints as a PUSD consultant. All the community ever saw for the PUSD's money were attacks on anyone who was in the least bit critical of the PUSD, first under Percy Clark, and now under Edwin Diaz. Lately, her ire has been directed at Aaron Proctor, local gadfly, blogger and aspiring politician.

"I think she's just hot for me and doesn't know how to express her affection," Proctor said. "Tell her they call me the Sonny Corleone of Pasadena."

Hoge said she was preparing a PUSD guidebook for students, parents and supporters of PUSD. It will detail exactly how to express loyalty to the school district and what steps to take to respond to criticism of the school district and its leadership. "If somebody talks about classroom progress, failures at Muir or students being assaulted at PHS, then this manual will have the appropriate response," Hoge said. "For example, if somebody says students are failing, you break the windows out of the front of their house. I modeled the manual after a little book I found in my attic that talks about organizing people to be the power behind a movement. It's even got cool uniforms for kids to wear, though I'm not sure the brown color they used in that book will work here in the hot sun, but I like that Gernam guy's ideas."

Hoge may be best known for filing the complaint that had Rene Amy temporarily kicked off Yahoo. Amy was reinstated when it was discovered that Hoge hadn't been truthful in her complaints.

"She's a lying bitch," said one local blogger who wished to remain anonymous. "She's perfect for the PUSD!"

"Our school district is absolutely excellent and I will gut anybody who says different," Hoge said. "Then I will make art out of their entrails and get Edwin and the school board to pay me to make it an art project at Don Benito."

Why pay her when she does this shit for free? Oh, that's what PUSD always does.

Satire Wayne.

D.

Posted by Dormitas at 3:31 PM

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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Virginia Hoge Fan Club

Top Ten New Names For Virginia Hoge's Blog

10. Who's Repulsed By Virginia Hoge?

9. Pasadena's Political Train Wreck

8. Slightly Less Intelligent Than Punching Yourself In The Crotch

7. If You Were Insane, You'd Be Home By Now

6. Virginia Is For Crazies

5. After 35 Shots of Whiskey, She's Halfway Attractive

4. Bellevue

3. Hillary Clinton Hates The Jews

2. 404 Not Found (And You're Lucky!)

1. Loserville. Population: 1

- AP

Posted by Aaron Proctor at 11:50 AM

Heres how LA Observed feels about Newspapers

How does he get away with this?? It never ceases to amaze me how Kevin Roderick and LA Observed, can tear apart the Los Angeles Times for years and years, with dirt acquired by all kinds of dubious means and sneering condensation (a sample of which is above)

and still they are forgiven every single time,

by a fawning Journalistic community.

When is this community going to learn stick up for itself? (and print media)

before its too late!




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Union-bashing comments from the L.A. Times article

Of course its the UTLA that is taking the greatest abuse by the commentators on the Sunday Los Angeles Times cover article,
Accused of sexual abuse, but back in the classroom

This "hit" by the L.A. Times struck directly at the Teacher's Union, and they are being vigorously attacked (as planned?) by the many Commentators on the article (1490 of them at this moment!).

Maybe its just me, but I feel that college accredited Teachers have every right to be Unionized, but the Right feels differently.

On the L.A. Times "Comments Blog" which invites yet more comments on the same article, the numbers have slowed down since Pasadena New Progressive appeared but see here, more Union-bashing by a commentator named (how appropriate) "WORTHLESS UNIONS - ESPECIALLY UTLA" who "congratulates" the L.A. Times and Jason Song on a job well-done.

"Worthless Unions" proposes to do away with the Unions and replace them with, you guessed it, Lawyers! "Now, there are thousands of private civil and government attorneys ready, willing and able to enforce the laws" (I'll bet there are!)


"EXCELLENT PIECE, and long time overdue. CONGRATULATIONS to LAT and Mr. Song!!! The next piece needs to be about UTLA as there really is VERY little use (if any at all) for their continued existence.

Once upon a time, 50-70 years ago, unions were necessary to protect employees from unscrupulous employers. That was BEFORE Civil and Labor Codes were enacted (with the help of unions) for the protection of employees. As a result of the Civil and Labor Codes, there are now thousands of laws that attorneys can and do use as a weapon to represent employees against employers.

Enter the attorneys, exit the unions!! It's no longer the 1920's when there were very few laws on the books to protect employees and employees ONLY had unions to fight for them. Now, there are thousands of private civil and government attorneys ready, willing and able to enforce the laws,

THE UNIONS EXIST FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT ONLY ! In the case of LAUSD, the union's willingness to throw reasonableness and decency out the window and protect obviously bad teachers who hurt our children only acts to cripple LAUSD administration who are afraid to fight UTLA."

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mother's day is ruined

[Thanks a whole lot, L.A.Times, for ruining my Mother's Day!]

Teachers: Accused of sexual abuse, but back in the classroom
Jason Song
Los Angeles Times
May 9 , 2009

excerpt from article Comments on LA Times blog:

"The Los Angeles Times has done a fantastic job exposing all manner of evil that prospers in the LAUSD."

"You tell the children not to talk to strangers and then you send them to Public School. Maybe its time to take the children back and home school them. It is true that they won't be able to socialize with child molesters, drug dealers, prostitutes, and others who do not have your belief. But they might turn out not only your child but your best friend."

"How I wish most aspects of the union-based employment would be done away with! "


Open Letter to the Los Angeles Times and to writer Jason Song:

It is fact, not fiction, that the most vicious internet "Trolls" (i.e. right-wing bullies) are attacking public education profusely on the Internet.

Don't take my word for it, take a quick glance around the web, begin on FreeRepublic or on Topix, but there are many other sites one can visit as well. What this means that millions of people around the Southland are exposed to an "overload" of vicious hatred for LAUSD.

When the Los Angeles Times, a paper I very much respect, publishes an inflammatory public education cover article like the one on Sunday, all of these "haters", all of these "crazies" go crazy!

I urge that THIS issue is delved into by the Los Angeles Times educational corespondent next time around.






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Happy Mother's Day

Madonna and Child, Joseph Kiselewski (1901 - 1988)
from American Sculpture 1900 - 1950




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The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank, excerpt

I have mentioned several times on Pasadena New Progressive the importance of this book, The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank. This is a must-read!! So much of what I have witnessed (and written about on PNP) going on in the Southland's Media, is described by Frank, who gets down into the very mentality, the ideology, of the extreme conservatives who have been in power in Washington, and how incredibly destructive it is.

Here is an except from The Wrecking Crew:

Let us start with conservatives’ sense of their own exclusion. This idea may strike you as peculiar, but to conservatives it is fundamental; it predicates everything they do, say, and enact.

The government is never theirs, they believe, no matter how much of it they happen to control. “Even when conservatives are in power they refuse to adopt the psychology of an establishment,” marveled the journalist Sidney Blumenthal during the Reagan years.

George W. Bush, who has grabbed more power for the executive branch than anyone since Nixon, actually sees himself as a “dissident in Washington.” One of his more worshipful biographers calls him the nation’s Rebel-in-Chief: he “operates in Washington like the head of a small occupying army of insurgents. . . . He’s an alien in the realm of the governing class, given a green card by voters.”

The hallucination is dazzling, awesome. For most of the past three decades these insurgents have controlled at least one branch of government; they were underwritten in their rule by the biggest of businesses; they were backed by a robust social movement with chapters across the radio dial.

Still they remain the victims, the outsiders; they fight the power, the establishment, the snobs, the corrupt.

John McCain rails against Washington as the “city of Satan”—which in any sober theology would make him Lucifer’s lieutenant. Fred Barnes, the author of Rebel-in-Chief, is such a well-known Washington fixture that he hosts a TV show called The Beltway Boys. Karl Zinsmeister, the editor of a magazine published by the ultra-insiders at the American Enterprise Institute, reviled the people of the capital in 2004 as “morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings.” Soon afterward he was rewarded for his adherence to the fantasy by being appointed chief domestic-policy adviser to President Bush.

-- from The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank (1965 - )

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Updated - Will a third time be the "charm" for Foothill Cities and Centinel?

He's back, our dear friend Centinel (i.e. right-wing corporate media front-person) refuses to die.

It couldn't be that easy could it? But lets put away the Champagne glasses (which I had chilled in the fridge) and look at the bright side here.

Now that you all, readers, are tuned into the Centinel Caper, you get to live it in "Live" time (just like a soap opera!) on the #3 Foothill Cities blog, and here on PNP.

So lets dig right in:
Here is Centinel's explanation of the FC blog mysteriously vanishing:

MediaTemple, the company that hosts this blog, had a mega-disaster. Unhappily, it also screwed over several projects I was in the middle of for work (back in the real-world), so what little free time I had just vanished. [how convenient, now he won't have to post too much, every new post he writes, is a chance to compare his writing style/persona to the previous Centinel]

Posts more recent than the ones below aren’t gone. MediaTemple swears they will be recovered. I swore…well, at MediaTemple mostly. Long and short: looking for a new hosting company that doesn’t obliterate this site at random.

"Posts more recent than the ones below aren’t gone." ? Something is very "fishy" here and as I have postulated before on PNP, how convenient that yet MORE of the old Centinel's writing gets fried in a system crash! Guess what posts are missing from the FC blog, Season 2? All of the old Centinel's thats whose (thank goodness for my scrapbook where I've saved some). Good idea!! delete all the old Centinel's posts (through bogus "system errors") and try and start fresh with a new actor in place.

Hmmm, now what could be going on here?? Stay tuned to PNP, for the continuation of the Centinel Caper.





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Updated - The Centinel Caper

[images: screen shot from Crime Scene Blog, Sir Eric Maundry]

With all the scandal going on here, the greatest story of the year (perhaps decade) for San Gabriel Valley Media, has gotten a bit lost.

But what a tale it was!!! And without a doubt, one can name a "hero" here, and that Hero is Sir Eric Maundry of the Sierra Madre Tattler. This excellent investigative journalist, poked around the growing media ocean (some might call it a "swamp") of Anonymous authored right-wing blogs and came up with a "big fish". But lets do a quick summary of the Centinel and Foothill Cities story.

In a Media Caper worthy of Hollywood (or Don Corleone!), Centinel, became the powerful (anonymous) leader of the Foothill Cities blog and took the FC into glory days, as Maundry writes on the Tattler:

"For a while the FC Blog was the place to go when you wanted to vent about local issues. And because of this it had become just about the most influential blog this side of Los Angeles. References and quotes from Foothill Cities could be found all over the Los Angeles blogosphere, and it looked like there was nowhere to go but up for Centinel."

The FC blog was all over the place and frequented (and sourced) by LA Observed among other large Southland media outlets. Its "star" blogger was none other than Aaron Proctor, as Maundry writes:

"Aaron Proctor, of course, was the star contributor to Foothill Cities when that site was in its prime"

Proctor filled the blog with lots of right-wing sleeze (and bloggers), with Centinel as his willing PR man. But Centinel was no side-kick to Aaron Proctor, Centinel could write!! He was clearly a journalist, as much as he tried to claim he was merely a "citizen" journalist. He wrote up this interesting (in hindsight) "Manifesto" for Foothill Cities I wrote about here:

"...undoubtedly local newspapers provide information in a way that citizen journalists and commentators just can't. But the question strikes at the very heart of the Foothill Cities endeavor. Government at the municipal level has the most influence on our day to day lives, and, at the same, is most likely to be influenced by the individual. And yet City Hall remains a cipher to the average Jane, its actions seeming to be the provenance of a removed, insular elite, while the White House and the state capitol receive far greater attention and interest."

Centinel was eulogized by Pasadena's media, who even created media "Stunts" in his honor!! In this picture here, taken at a blogger picnic, attendees (which included Larry Wilson, then Editor of the Pasadena Star News) were asked to hold up signs bearing Centinel's, and his more quiet partner Pubius', very names!
in this tribute an attendee gushed:

"[A] tribute to Foothill Cities and all of the anonymous bloggers and commenters in our virtual neighborhood

thanks for taking that great group shot, I’m certain Publius and Centinel will enjoy it. "

By pure "coincidence" (or?) Larry Wilson ended up holding a plaque bearing the name of his protegé "Centinel".

But who was Centinel?? No one thought to ask (can you believe it?) That is, until Sir Eric came up with the brilliant idea of offering a 6-pack of Modelo Especial for whomever could find out. The answer came quickly (that must be good beer!) and Maundry published the post We Have A Winner In Our "Where Is Centinel" Contest! on February 19, 2009:

"Ladies and gentleman, meet the fellow that I have now come to believe is the mysterious Centinel. AKA Todd Ruiz, former political writer of some consequence for the Pasadena Star News and ex-editor of their now duller than death Under the Dome blogsite. (In that sad case he is actually missed.)"

This shocking discovery placed Centinel (and Foothill Cites) at the heart of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and San Gabriel Valley media! (no wonder LA Observed sourced them!)

Pasadena New Progressive jumped on the story, Kenneth Todd Ruiz being an old "friend" of mine (he was the one who reported on Reny Amy's blog greatschools being shut down by Yahoo group's Terms of Service Abuse, an abuse report which I had filed). I wrote about the Aaron Proctor/Centinel connection here Centinel and Aaron Proctor:

"Aaron Proctor was at the center of it all and he was actively promoted and included on Foothill Cities. Part of Centinel's job was to promote, blog with and maintain AP because his profanity-laden, right-wing, race-baiting, charismatic prattling, brought in the bloggers big time."

I also had long bemoaned LA Observed sourcing of Foothill Cites. Maybe its just me but I thought Kevin Roderick's openly sourcing an anonymous bash-comment from the FC blog was wrong! (and especially to bash another publication). I wrote about the FC blog/LA Observed connection twice on PNP: LA Observed/Foothill Cities blog: BFF, LA Observed/Foothill Cities/Robert C. J. Parry: gone, gone, gone

But the story gets even better!!

Corporate media (who were behind the whole thing all along) could not let itself go "down" without another try on their part, to redeem themselves and guess what they tried to do? They tried to replace Centinel with a duller-than-dull replacement who was immediately ferreted out by, you guessed it, Sir Eric Maundry. From the Tattler: Some Guy Calling Himself Centinel Is Paying Money For Posts Over At The Foothills Blog

"OK, now this is getting way past the frontier of what most people would agree is acceptable internet behavior. Some guy calling himself "Centinel," (we'll be referring to him from now on as Faux Centinel), is not only leaving posts on the Foothills Cities Blog under Todd Ruiz's old handle, but he's also offering to pay people for comments!"

Yes, in a bit of media sleeze (and stupidity) that will surely go down in Southland history, this faux-Centinel offered cash (a "bounty" he called it) for the Comments he so desperately needed to build up his blog to its former Glory:

"Hey, folks. I’m back, this time for real. The past few months have been tortuous on the personal side of things, but I’m crawling back to the blog to start pitching in and slowly return it to viability. Time will tell if that happens....

To encourage this I’m offering a bounty: you write the best summary for your city, and I’ll give you money. Best summary of the whole FC area dating back to January, gets $100. Best summary of an individual city (Categories: Pasadena, Claremont, Pomona, Arcadia/Monrovia, Sierra Madre, and Everything Else) gets $30."

Comments might be, in the end what kills Foothill Cities a third time!

The sputtering lack of comments on round #2, was made all the more glaring in the wake of Centinel's offer of cash and each one seemed to move Foothill Cities further and further away from its goal. "Faux" Centinel could only muster 2 posts in the end, on the new FC, and the last one (circa Season 2) was a dead-ringer for Publius.

Stay tuned to the ongoing San Gabriel Valley soap opera, the Centinel Caper.




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PNP, still on the road

The tragedy of Pasadena's disconnect (from fact, from the kids) of PUSD, is being played out over at Topix, where the Star News posts comments from its articles.

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/pasadena-star-news/THKMRS18TU09ON75K/p5#lastPost

Where we are (and most clearly, we we aren't) is spelled out here, for all to see (and comment on).

The boorishness of some of the commentators is unbelievable!! but it seems to be because they have been "getting away with murder" (unmoderated comments) for some time now - not to mention, all the great harm Rene Amy's hate-blog (in business since 2001) has caused our city.

A particular boorish commentator named "True Freedom" has the nerve to spew hate and racism at the kids of PUSD, and then work to "get himself off the hook" for a blame,

he refuses to carry!!

All of this reminds me of Orwell (why won't the Star News moderate comments?), and examples of Newspeak and Crimestop abound on Topix, Crimestop is a term from George Orwell's 1984:

Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It included the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, or misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingosoc [i.e. the Party's ideology], and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.

True Freedom (pre PNP):
"I don't want my kid around some dangerous and dirtbag kids"

"I don't want my kids surrounded by the kids that attend my local public school. Sure, there are good kids that go there, but there is a non-negligible percentage of vermin... I see these kids (the vermin ones) everyday on the way to/ from school."

True Freedom (after PNP):
"Yep, that was me that used the "vermin" and "dirtbag" term. Again, look up the definition... when applied to a person, it means: "an offensive person". Yes, many of these kids I find particularly "offensive". Again, reread where I say many PUSD kids are good, but a higher percentage are vermin than I'm willing to subject my children to."

"Your machinating can bend anything to be termed racist. Your use of the word would have a little more efficacy if used at the appropriate time. My use of vermin and dirtbag in this instance is not one of them."



George Orwell:
Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.




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PNP goes on the road

Pasadena New Progressive has gone, on the road,

over to the PSN (oh sorry, "Topix") to meet head-on yet more Newspeak.
(welcome readers, again, to the truth being a whole lot stranger than fiction.)

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/pasadena-star-news/THKMRS18TU09ON75K/p5#lastPost

excerpt:

Virginia Long Beach, CA

| to True Freedom: "Instead of calling all who have defected the public school system racists" I am NOT calling all private school parents racists, I am calling the comments you wrote here which called PUSD kids "Vermin" and "Dirtbags", racist. I most certainly DO NOT think all private school parents are racists, but I am alarmed at all the Racism here, in this discussion, racism is NEVER a good thing. it is Harmful for the Community.

Virginia Long Beach, CA

to abc: "Get out and walk the neighborhoods and see the reality of Pasadena {and I don`t mean the rose bowl}. Visit the communities that you have no knowledge of." Beautiful idea!!! Exactly! We sit in our cars and drive by these kids and neighborhoods without understanding of who they really are. In Pasadena? In 2009?? (hello?) Wake up. The year is 2009 - our president is Barack Obama. (time to go back under your rocks, racists of the World!)

More racism from the Pasadena Star News

[The Pasadena Star News is 100% accountable for the comments on its articles. Comments are media and this is media that the Star News is allowing to be published, without censure (which means acceptance). Note that in these comments, PUSD kids have been called "vermin", "dirtbags" and "low class"!!]

"Maybe they should put the Tournament of Roses volunteers in black suits and call them 'Black Suiters' if that would make you people happy."

"I don't want my kid around some dangerous and dirtbag kids"

"I'M ALL FOR IT. Segregation is a good thing. Get em out of my hair!!"

"Thank you PUSD for ensuring gangs, prisons, and fast food restaurants will always have people lining up to join them!"

"Public schools are a joke, they exist only to ensure that the children of the poor are smart enough to know how to ask rich white kids if they'd like fries with their order."

"The public schools like in Pasadena are real sorry with low class people and very lax discipline."


Comments on the Star News' comment hosting website Topix for this article:
Pasadena principal angers students by proposing segregated assemblies
By Caroline An, Staff Writer




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Pasadena Star News publishes comment calling public school kids "vermin"

Good job, Star News, allowing someone to call kids "vermin" on your comment hosting website:

"I don't want my kids surrounded by the kids that attend my local public school. Sure, there are good kids that go there, but there is a non-negligible percentage of vermin... I see these kids (the vermin ones) everyday on the way to/ from school."

a comment on the Star News' comment hosting website Topix for this article:
Pasadena principal angers students by proposing segregated assemblies
By Caroline An, Staff Writer

Marcus Aurelius quote

Keep reminding yourself of the way things are connected, of their relatedness. All things are implicated in one another and in sympathy with each other. This event is the consequence of some other one. Things push and pull on each other, and breathe together, and are one.

-- Marcus Aurelius (121– 180), Meditations, Gregory Hays translation



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George Orwell: on Newspeak, from Nineteen Eighty-Four

Since Dennis Winston, Rene Amy's former lawyer and a lawyer in the OC Unified case, has introduced the allegory of George Orwell's 1984 to the case (see here), lets read more about how George Orwell defined "Newspeak" [the method The Party had of initiating its propaganda] in his book 1984:

Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It included the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, or misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingosoc [i.e. the Party's ideology], and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.


Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated.

-- George Orwell (1903 - 1950). Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949





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finally, the Truth in the Rocco case

Here are a few important excerpts from the Michael T. Travis editorial in the Sacramento Bee: Orange Unified court victory benefits public, which comes as a breath of fresh air after all of the hot air.

Travis is still facing litigation over the Rocco case. Rich McKee mentions in his self-authored Pasadena Weekly article The High Cost of Open Government: "The only light at the end of this tunnel may come in June when Californians Aware v. Orange Unified School District is heard by the Fourth Appellate District Court"

With all the hoopla about "poor" Ricky's finances (his tax shelter, his retirement, his mortgage, his piggy bank and even the very light at the end of his tunnel!) and how our Rights are somehow tied up with Steve Rocco's and how both open government and the First Amendment are somehow on trial here (all of which is fishy as hell!!),

what gets lost here are the real details of the Rocco case, some of which I am reprinting from the Travis editorial here, in which he carefully spells out the truth in the situation in Orange County:


Board member Steve Rocco threatened to fire a district employee during open session of a school board meeting.


The board long maintained a policy that board members should not discuss such matters in open session.


Rocco, as he did on a regular basis, ignored board policy and aired his personal grievances in a profoundly disrespectful and inappropriate manner.


Other board members believed they needed to make a statement about Rocco's flagrant violation of board policy and his unwarranted humiliation of a district employee.


The board members drafted a resolution censuring Rocco, sending a clear message that the rest of the board did not agree with him.

-- Michael T. Travis





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the twisted logic of CFAC and CalAware's "open government"

Well, it looks like my blog is safe for now. How could a prominent free speech advocate threaten free speech? the twisted logic of these "advocates" needs to be exposed, and the irony here is,

it will be Free Speech that will do it!

Here, I thank them for the work they have done to ensure this blog is untouched.



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Peter Scheer, Director of the CFAC, encounters a type of Free Speech he can't stand

Peter Scheer, Director of the CFAC, threatens Free Speech

Updated, Updated, Updated - Huffo post featured blogger appears in the Star News as an advocate for the lawyers trying to sue my kid's school district

When I wrote the PNP post: The Right is threatening to sue PUSD, again! I never knew I was in the presence of "greatness", but look here, again truth again tops fiction,

a lawyer/advisor pal of serial litigator Rene Amy is a Huffo Post featured blogger!!

Rene Amy has had some funky partners to his PUSD (my kid's school district) lawsuits before. As I wrote about here two words earn Rene Amy $16,000. off Pasadena's public schools (this is only one of many!) , Rene Amy sued and won a Brown Act lawsuit against PUSD represented by the right-wing U.S. Justice Foundation, who pocketed the cash. He has all kinds of strange associates, but never a Huffo Post featured blogger before.

This super gauche looking man is Peter Scheer, Huffington Post blogger, Harvard grad and executive director of the CFAC, The California First Amendment Coalition, a prominent First Amendment advocacy group.

He is also a Brown Act lawsuit veteran (see previous post) and appeared as an authority in the Star News article about the latest Pasadena Unified School District, Rene Amy initiated lawsuit, (the PRA being his own "special" tool).

Rene Amy publishes his "how-to" tips (how to rip off public school districts using the PRA and the Brown Act) on the Peter Scheer's CFAC website, where he is a valued contributor. No matter to Scheer, that Rene Amy is a right-wing extremist with a manical hatred of our school district whose sanity is seriously in question.

The fact that Peter Scheer, First Amendment advocate, is in consort with none other than Rene Amy, Pasadena's own "loco Rocco", is alarming (if not surprising. Rene Amy's years of research in how to sue public schools with "open government" lawsuits have trained him well, and made him a valueble asset to the CFAC, I am sure).

Here Scheer is quoted by the Pasadena Star News:

Pasadena school district withholds public records of alleged theft of school bond funds
By Caroline An and Nathan McIntire, Staff Writers
Article Launched: 10/30/2008 10:42:48 PM PDT

excerpt:
Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said the documents referred by district officials to police are public record under the California Public Records Act.

Public documents can be withheld if they are produced during the course of litigation, Scheer said, but not if they existed before a lawsuit was filed.

"There is an exemption for documents relating to pending litigation, but it has to be pending litigation," Scheer said. "If you're merely investigating and gathering documents like that in anticipation of litigation in the future, that's not enough."

The company of "locos" hasn't seemed to hold Peter Scheer back one single bit, in fact, the question begs asking: are "locos" a very necessary part of Sheer's coalition?

He "only" has Rene Amy giving lessons (and advice) over there!

He "only" fights day and night for the "rights" of Anonymous bloggers (who spew the most vile venom, even to the point of murderous harassment, without accountability or fear of censure)

He "only" has Terry Francke, his former partner, on his website crying for cash for "poor" Ricky McKee (this "selfless public servant" did not make one penny off of his 14 Brown Act lawsuits over the years, no he did not, and that is why he has to dig into his tax shelter, his retirement, his 401-K, his bonds and his piggy bank).

"Poor" Ricky McKee, I might add, who defended Loco Rocco (the Ketchup Caper guy) over the children of OC Unified.

Scheer, as well as Francke, have been feted about town (I seriously doubt these "poor" lawyers were wearing their Goodwill suits and ties to these occasions, nor did they drive their sodden, beat-up cars), most recently as hosts for their favorite annual event all year, the week the "Sunshine" comes out on open government, Sunshine Week.

Peter Sheer served as moderator for the panel: Sunshine Week, "Top Secret" Discussion

One of the "top secrets" was, no doubt, how important they believe it is to maintain the privacy, even protection from prosecution, for Anonymous bloggers even from serious, even life threatening internet harassment, or the worst in ugly racism, this, says the CFAC, is their First Amendment Right.

Here is more about the CFAC from their "About us" section. I especially call out their Strategic Mean (i.e. mode de operandi) Number 2:

excerpt from their "About us" section:
CFAC has initiated a program of strategic litigation. Strategic means (1) identifying an important issue, and then creating the strongest possible test case (rather than waiting for plaintiffs to come to CFAC), and

(2) selecting defendants who, because of their prominence, assure that a successful outcome can have far-reaching effects.


hmmm, is this why Rich McKee (the first citizen activist to be President of CFAC), went chasing after Steve Rocco?

for far reaching effects?





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Frederick Douglass quotes

[Out of the depths of the American Holocaust, chattel slavery in America, came Frederick Douglass who had seen and experienced the very worst in human nature and power abuse. Yet Douglass had very rare tenacity and extremely firm conviction "The soul that is within me no man can degrade" and was able to become not only a voice for his world, but a remarkable voice of Truth that has lasted throughout the ages, and carries a completely contemporary message.]


The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.


Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.


I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.


At a time like this, a scorching iron, not convincing argument, is needed.


If there is no struggle, there is no progress.


It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.


Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.


The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.


-- Frederick Douglass (1818 - 1895)



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The Brown Act is being used to rip off schools all over the State of California

[Image: poster by the fantastic graphic artist, Shepard Fairey with Frederick Douglass quote: The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. (one of my favorites). You can purchase this poster, at the website OBEY]

The Brown Act is being used by tyrants to rip off schools all over the State of California.

The website quoted below, is authored by Mike McMahon and gives a partial listing, in favor of the Brown Act, of California school districts that have faced Brown Act lawsuits, reprinting articles from the different cases across the State. (Note, Pasadena Unified is not mentioned here, but it has faced several of these suits)

Not only is this use of the Brown Act to rip off school districts alarming, what I find equally alarming are these flattering Media accounts, that paint exactly the picture (i.e. distortion) these "selfless public servants" want of themselves - as Knights in Shining Armour, Protecting the Public's Right to Know. (Hah!)

These people seem to have the Media in their pocket, why? Well for one, I have noticed that they offer lots of free services to the Press - to help them gain access to whatever government documents they want etc. Could this be the reason?

Or could the reason be worse than that, that bad news about public schools sells papers?

Or?

Whatever the reason, I can only hope that eventually, the press will see these people for what they are and for what they are doing to our schools across the State.

The Brown Act, for those who don't know, allows any crazy in the entire community to vent whatever foul, hateful thing that happens to be on their mind, to a school board (or city council and other good government institution). If this sicko's remarks (as hateful or damaging they may be) are "stricken from the record" (as Rene Amy's have been, he sued PUSD and won over this, as Steve Rocco's to a principal were, he sued and LOST) these First Amendment groups like CalAware and the CFAC along with their phalanx of "poor" lawyers and "selfless public servants", to sue them to force them to "Obey the Law".

As the articles collected here recount, Santa Rosa Unified, Stockton Unified, Alameda Unified, Newark Unified, Rio Unified, Venture Unified, Los Alamitos Unified, Capistrano Unified, Delhi Unified, Eureka Unified, San Marcos Unified, Oxnard Unified, Glenn County Unified, Lucie Mar Unified, Ceree Unified, Natomas Unified, Davis Unified, Vallejo Unified, Kern Unified, have all been stung by Brown Act lawsuits. (!!)

Read this and weep!

The Brown Act
California Codes Government Code Section 54950-54963

Rocco is in here, a couple of times - here he is exercising "free speech" and lashing out at his school board as puppet of "The Partnership":

"THE PARTNERSHIP has come to the Orange U.S.D.," Rocco wrote in a three-page, typewritten letter." [The Partnership was explained by Nick Schou in his Orange County Weekly piece is a plot that Rocco imagines is controlling the city (and the schoolboard). Rocco "claims...the son of a high-ranking Albertsons executive is the “largest drug dealer in the West” and that the company is complicit in murder."]

Steve Rocco, Brown Act poster boy.

Terry Francke is all over the place in these articles, here he is yet again putting out the tin cup for "poor" selfless public servant, Ricky McKee:

"Meanwhile McKee, a chemistry professor of 34 years who, as a non-lawyer, has successfully prosecuted 14 other Brown Act and Public Records Act cases to protect the public’s right to open government, is wondering what happened to his retirement savings—and not just because of the economy. " [his