Category Archives: Analysis

Regulate the Rich. Make them play nice.

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  • Exxon Mobil makes $76,000 per minute.
  • Exxon Mobil paid on $5 bililion dollars in income taxes last year to the US government.
  • Exxon Mobil paid $25 billion dollars to foreign governments.
  • Exxon Mobil made $400 billion dollars last year.

Also take a look at this yesterdays FT(7/29) article pg 18 “Shells sets pace as big oil lifts R&D spend” in the Financial Times by Ed Crooks to see how they are apparently price fixing, which I deduced sense the oil companies are spending far less than they should on R&D. And the article pg 2 “US Treasury blames supply and demand for oil prices” by James Politi that shows how they even have the US Treasury Department in on this deadly game.

Facts from Conde Nast Portfolio, Crude Reporting by Howell Raines 08/08

Hey they pay less of a percentage of their income on taxes than I do? I’m a human being that works.

Exxon Mobile Oil formerly Standard Oil was started by the John Rockefeller and his descendants still sit on the board (puts it all in an interesting historical perspective).

Now Rockefellers is synonymous with arts and NY and some odd looking guy running for various offices and another one who was VP, but that was just a great PR campaign. Pretty easy for them, since they own pretty much own either indirectly or directly everything we read.

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Westside or Eastside?

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(This post was submitted by a reader of the site, some text dealing with the whole Eastside/Westside “debate”. It might have already been said, but it’s good to remember this info.)

Recently, I received an email posting about a new magazine set to launch soon. What’s wrong with that you ask? The magazine is going to cover the new “eastside”…..say what?!

Traditionally, Angelenos have referred to Los Angeles by two major halves: Westside and Eastside. In recent years during the process of gentrification, demographic shifts, and social trends, there have been some efforts in renaming geographic areas from its traditional identifiers.

As the areas of Echo Park and Silverlake began to emerge in the 90’s as hip and trendy neighborhoods, some people have been on a quest to rename these locations and its surrounding areas as the new “eastside.”

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The voice that announces stops on the bus

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A few weeks ago I noticed something odd about the voice that announces the stops on the bus, it was happy. For those of you who haven’t been on the public limo, there is a voice that announces upcoming stops to passengers in a cold and robotic tone of voice, kinda like a Mr. Spell and Speak. I was in Hollywood with a friend and during our ride I noticed that voice was ecstatic when announcing the Hollywood stops. It’s something that stands out right away to any regular bus rider because the voice goes from its boring,deep, low tone to a energetic,happy high tone right away. I pointed it out to my friend and she noticed the difference as well. Well once I got home later that day I sent Metro an email on July 2 asking a few questions about the voice recording and how it works. On July 21 I received the following reply, (Note: I removed my real named and replaced it with my blog name)

Dear El Random Hero,

The stop announcements are manually recorded, but they are triggered automatically when the vehicle comes to a stop. When a stop is established, the stop is geo-coded (lat/long location) that defines the stop. The lat/long location is used to create a trigger box (typically 100-250′ from the lat/long point). Whenever the bus enters the trigger box, the vehicle will make the announcement (assuming the operator is running a schedule that uses that particular stop). Some trigger boxes are longer than others to account for a stop which may be a very heavy transit stop and shared by many lines (transit centers, airports, USG, etc.). We appreciate your inquiry and this opportunity to respond.

Metro Customer Relations

In my questions I neglected to ask about the voice recordings accent and tone of voice because I didn’t think it would be an appropriate question to ask. If I did I would basically have to ask “Why does the voice sound sad and depressed when announcing ethnic streets in more urban areas and sound high class in fancier areas ?” My hypothesis is that it’s because it’s the Hollywood line. I imagine the city wants to keep some sort of quality control to keep tourist coming back and to not scare them away. But honestly, you would think that someone involved in the recording process must have corrected the person recording on how to properly pronounce a simple street name, that’s what dictionaries are for right ? Either way I still get a kick out of that voice botching up names like Cesar E. Chavez, Rampart and of course Hollywood !!!   

 

Don’t Flip THIS House!

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Piedmont Investment Office/Mia Sushi Bar in Eagle Rock

Rudy Martinez a character on A&E’s Flip This House, along with his associate, Paul Pagnone comprise the Piedmont Investment Company, the development firm that recently purchased the historic Self Help Graphics & Art Building in East Los Angeles.

The Self Help Graphics & Art building, a visual art piece of tile work by international artist Eduardo Oropeza, has been a sanctuary for over 30 years to hundreds of marginalized artists. Through Self Help Graphics’ print ateliers, use of studio spaces, premiere instruction, use of gallery walls and mutual interchange—major Los Angeles artistic voices were born. It is not by chance that an overwhelming number of artists whose work is now exhibited in the Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement and the Cheech Marin collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) have a deep allegiance to Self Help Graphics.

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Scratch to Lose!

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The photo above was taken from a moving bicycle and with an awkwardly held camera, thus the blurriness. It’s a woman crossing her fingers, scratching for hope, and wishing for a small financial windfall, so long as the symbols match up into an appropriate pattern. I wish I could say this was something due to “La Crisis” but this is a pretty regular scene in communities of the working poor. Yes, the lottery is a waste of money and a tax on the poor, but it still represents one of the few imaginary options out of poverty. And when you don’t have many real options, those few threads that offer a lifeline to a better standard of living take on an importance they should not deserve. When you only make minimum wage, why not risk a small part of it in the hope of escaping that interminable prison? There’s a pretty messed up logic to this lottery business. I suggest you read the article by Kim Phillips titled “Lotteryville, USA” which was in The Baffler #7, now available via this google books link.

Water Quality?

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I got my yearly “water quality” report from the DWP a few days ago, which is now in newspaper size print. Okay, seems a bit excessive for this lil’ gripping page turner, but what do I know. But did they really need to use a picture of Echo Park and the missing lotus flowers, considering that “poor water quality” is one of the possible reasons for their disappearance? I would have gone with a different image, one that doesn’t make me look at my glass of water suspiciously. But what do I know.

Penny and nicked in LA. A car wash story.

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Barbara Ehrenreich speaking at Mama\'s Hot Tamales

“Tesco is to stop importing about £1m ($2m) of fresh vegetables from Zimbabwe, reversing its previous stance that the trade was essential to support the families of the farm workers who grow crops such as mange tout and baby corn.” By John Willman in London and Tony Hawkins in Harare at the Financial Times.

Tesco owns the recent upstart in the organic food game, Fresh & Easy (which for some odd reason the blogosphere is obsessed with.)

Not that I believe that Tesco was only trying to help, but how far is too far in regards to “helping” and what’s not far enough?

On Friday I went to a get together at MacArthur Park’s Mama’s Hot Tamales in support of the ongoing carwash boycott that first came to the attention of the media with the boycotting of the Pirian-owned Vermont Hand Wash in Los Feliz.

At the event Barbara Ehrenreicht (author of Nickle and Dimed and the new book This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation) gave the boycott organizers and their supporters her encouragement.

“America has forgotten it’s own history of organized collective action and outright rebellion…” Barbara Ehrenreicht.

That to me is the key. You can’t go too far, but you can screw yourself if you don’t go far enough.

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The dangers of having brass ovaries…

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I was riding the Blueline train the other day and this young black man was trying to get my attention. He wasn’t that cute, he was too young, and I have a boyfriend.

I mean I have a boyfriend; even if he were the right age and was cute I definitely would not have talked to him. I don’t think.

Anyways me ignoring him pissed him off, so he proceeded to call me a “f*cking b*tch.”

It was weird, because I haven’t been called a bitch by a black guy (that wasn’t homeless) in years. The last time a black man called me a bitch was when I brought a white guy friend on accident (sort of) to a coffee shop that was very heavy on Nation of Islam types. Well this guy didn’t so much call me a bitch, but pulled out a gun and threatened to kill the guy I was with (he said he didn’t believe in hurting black women,) that actually happened. Awesome story, but that’s another post.
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Following up on neglected memorial site

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I visited council member Jose Huizars Boyle Heights office to talk about the memorial site and other issues around the neighborhood. Celina Mancia, a field deputy for the council member informed me that the site has been brought to their attention and they are taking the needed steps to clean up the site. She didn’t go into details when I asked her what those steps are. It’s the nature of the beast that they have to go through procedures and steps to make something happen and it’s understandable that the process will take sometime. However, the process can be sped up the more people call in or visit the office to ask about the site and what’s being done about it. If you read the post and want to do something like I do, call the Boyle Heights office or pay them a visit and inquire about the site.

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Eatable Patches of Dirt

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I briefly mentioned my distaste for “Edible Estates” in a previous post and I figured I’d expand a bit on why that “project” annoys me. I don’t dislike the concept, quite the contrary: everyone in this city should stop watering their wasteful lawns and plant some food instead, for the good of the environment and for gustatory pleasures. But the amount of press and coverage for what ultimately amounts to just an activist art project is unmerited, especially when the garden proposal Haeg makes is a reality for many working class families in Los Angeles. Since he was living in Mt. Washington when he did this project he should have been aware of the gardening practices right around NELA, he ought to take a stroll down the hill once in awhile just to see how the flatlanders live. I took the following pics of front yard gardens in Lincoln Heights mostly in one day, just riding around randomly on my bike. They’re everywhere.

The LA Times recently did a story on a place called Skyfarm (in Lincoln Heights no less) about a middle class family building a “country escape” in the urban environment, meaning they grow food and have some chickens. Oh wow, how unique. Here’s what I read as the subtext: when poor people grow food and raise chickens in the city, they’re just poor and desperate, and that lack of intent gets them no carbon credits. When middle class (often white) folks do the same thing, it’s an exploration in sustainable living and a return to homesteading. This should be no surprise to Eastsiders, as we’ve learned how things work when you’re outside of the media loop: your shit don’t matter ’til they say it does.

Though (and because) they may be off the radar of those that dictate the social gaze, I present you with pictures of green living done on the cheap! Lack of theory does not negate the practice! Be an urban pioneer and click ahead for the tour! (Warning: lots of pictures ahead. I highly recommend you read this on company time.)

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PC Slavery. One of the many reasons I celebrate my independence on Juneteenth.

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I can see how slavery lasted so long in the United States. Most people in the US didn’t own slaves, though most everyone benefited indirectly, so is the case of the migrant worker.

I like to call migrant workers PC slaves, since people can pretend as if they aren’t doing anything wrong by casually buying clothes, food and other products that people produce who are paid virtually nothing.

I know many people will whine and bitch about how it’s migrant workers choice, but I don’t think you have a choice if you’re a human being in regards to whether you live or die.

And in order to buy food and shelter you need money and that’s not a fact that is up for debate, correct?

So why would anyone say you have a choice in regards to working? Do migrant workers have trust funds? Are they slumming? They have to work to live.

I was reading one of my most favorite rags, the Economist. That’s pretty much the only way I can find out what kind of nastiness the US economy is actually in, since over here in the states people are insistent that there are signs of a recession, but refuse to say the “R” word. It is as if they think it’s a racial slur or something.

“A CAMPAIGN to improve the low wages and awful labour conditions of tomato pickers in Florida has notched up a substantial victory over farm owners and their biggest clients, the fast-food chains. After one embarrassment on top of another, Burger King backed down last month and reached a ground-breaking agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, representing mostly seasonal farmworkers from Mexico, Central America and Haiti. The Miami-based company agreed to pay them one cent more for every pound (450g) of tomatoes they pick, and to improve their working conditions.” From the Economist, The Price of a tomato. June 26, 2008.

This is the kind of country that we live in, where assholes will fight so that they won’t have to pay a person one penny extra, not a dollar, not a quarter, but one bloody penny. But it’s not just that the guy will fight to not pay that one penny, but the fact that in America that’s all we will fight for. That’s all we’ll help someone fight for.

We will fight for one penny (or half of one percent )  and get slapped down and keep working, because we don’t want to seem unreasonable.

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