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Don’t let not having money bring you down. All you need is love AND you can still have a Happy Holidays with stuff, maybe not new stuff, but free stuff (continues click more…)
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Unemployment is at 8.3 % in California. That’s pretty insane. And that doesn’t include people who have stopped looking for work or are underemployed (working parttime for peanuts) or business owners who are going under.
Can you hear the screams.
I can.
Now the counties that are especially hurting: 24% unemployment in Imperial County. In Yuba County it is at 12% and there are lots of places already at 10% and/or creeping towards 10%.
California isn’t the only place hurting. Michigan (Detroit auto industry) 9.3% and Rhode Island is also at 9.3%. Continue reading
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
A year after the Los Angeles Riots, a wave of wildfires driven by the Santa Ana winds rushed across wide swaths of suburbia. The fires were so severe that I could see the San Gabriel Valley foothills burning from Lincoln Heights. On the streets, hushed rumors were passed around regarding the source and cause of the fires. It was being said all over town (at least in the working class parts of town), that the fires were started by the looters and rioters of South Central as an answer to the critics who said they were stupid for “burning down their own neighborhoods.” I even remember reading in the Los Angeles Times about a guy in South Central who was picked up and questioned about the wildfires. I tried to follow up on the story months afterwards but as is all too common, the stories of class war fueled fires faded away into the dustbin of history.
I mention this because I heard the oddest thing at work today. One of my co-workers mentioned a very strange rumor regarding the current wave of Southern California wildfires. She said her mother’s boss (I think she works for a school and I think both belong to an Evangelist Christian church) said the fires were started by No on Prop 8 folks as revenge for the measure passing. I was flabbergasted! I really doubt the mother’s boss made this rumor up herself and I will bet anything it’s being passed around at the local store front churches.
Interesting questions emerge from these urban legends, have our local seasonal wildfires become the outlet for our urban fears and fantasies? Do the mysterious origins of these fires lend themselves to the projection of our collective dark thoughts? Any other rumors out there?
Blog in critical condition................
Many blogs disappearances or locking are met with sadness, but sometimes certain blogs have lived through their usefulness. Unlike TV shows though, some blogs keep going long after their usefulness has ended. The LA Times Homicide Report blog a vehicle that I have always hated has finally been put in a home.
Reasons this blog annoyed me.
1. Wasn’t going to solve crime. You would think the LAPD would be embarrassed about all of those dead people, but dead poor people don’t make the real newspaper, so they weren’t that concerned. The Homicide Report blog was just a blog. Being in the Homicide blog meant that you didn’t matter. I always joked when I died I was going to be in the Homicide Report blog, maybe it wasn’t so much a joke, but you know an acknowledgement of my non anything status.
I was over in Artesia today where you could still see some blue sky with the ominous smoke from the Triangle Complex fire looming large. Even though its quite far from the site of the fires, it still smelled and tasted like I had a bbq in my mouth. Click ahead for some exciting pictures of ash on the sidewalk!
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.†First Amendment, US Constitution.
Last Thursday on November 6, my boyfriend’s (BusTard) first amendment rights were violated in the name allegedly of Homeland Security. He was taking pictures of Sheriffs that do nothing at the rail stations, but harass people not polluting the environment with their cars. For doing this he was rewarded with being arrested and taken to LA Country Jail where he got to spend the remainder of his day.
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 With the inception of the newly formed Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de CA.taco truck owners and workers banned together to fight for their rights to sell tacos. The community forum hosted by the union was held at the Casa del Mexicano and everyone and there mother showed up to support the trucks, the union and to bask with fellow taco lovers under a full moon and a full plate. During the meeting, the union reassured everyone in attendance that the union is organizing and working with both city and state officials to find a solution to the harassment the trucks face. The one of the biggest priorities mentioned during the forum was that taco truck owners and workers have rights that cannot be ignored and have to be respected. The trucks all operate with city and health permits that require rigorous regulations that require trucks to be within 100 feet of a public restroom and to house their at a commissary.
Founder and co-director of Tropico de Nopal Gallery-Art Space, Reyes Rodriguez said that he was first inspired to have a Dia de los Muertos inspired fashion show after seeing people in the Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights celebrating Dia de los Muertos and dressing up in home made outfits.
“I would always see people getting decked out [for Dia de los Muertos.]
“It was never an attempt to recreate a calavera (skull) or specific image, it was always very contemporary, it was always very East L.A. and Chicano and I would say, ‘that stuff belongs on a run way.â€
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Join me and other’s in this forum with the La Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de C.A. on Thursday at La Casa del Mexicano starting at 6 p.m. To provide information to community members regarding the recent events that affected the catering  truck industry.Â
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LA CASA DEL MEXICANOÂ
2900 PEDRO INFANTEÂ
LOS ANGELES, CA 90063Â
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Now that I’ve done my community service.
I always said if America got to the point where we had a president of other than white descendent that I would never do that thing where I refuse to even entertain the idea that people who look like me could be jerks, well that day happened last Tuesday and I also think I can probably ice skate in hell.
Black people we need to talk. I am not excusing the total racist, vile crap that has come out since Prop 8. That’s not right.
BUT…70% of black people voting yes on a prejudice law. Now I understand that we are not magical or special or fantastical, but god damn are we stupid?
I don’t normally report on other blogs, but I feel that this bit of news is of importance to many of our readers. One of my favorite bloggers out there in Blogtitlán, the Militant Angeleno, seems to have gone the way of the L.A. City Nerd. Yep, the Militant’s blog is now readable by invite only. It’s odd because his last post was on Election Day and didn’t leave a goodbye. I was looking forward to a celebratory post from the Militant on Measure R and Prop. 1A, but his silence was deafening. His YouTube and Facebook pages are still up, though, with a simple “…” status. Maybe the Militant felt the need to go undercover after the election?
Whatever the reason, I’m hoping to see the Militant’s pixels once again. If not, let’s pour a forty for a fallen Militant.
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Feelings on Prop 8.
I’m upset that it did pass. Gay rights is a civil rights issue. I am not surprised that it passed, but that doesn’t stop me from being pissed about it.
I’m also angry about how the LA Times focus in regards to this seems to be just on black people. Just in this wide swath. Why aren’t we divided into different demographics like educated or Christian or blue collar? Why are we not individuals like how white people are viewed as individuals in the LA Times?
Kevin Roderick LA Observed (a long time comrade of people at the LA Times) makes a point to say 70% of the black population voted for Yes on 8 (over and over and over again), but fails to point out that we are six percent of California.
But on the other hand he doesn’t link one blog by an African-American writer (I’m pretty sure that was on purpose), though he does link blogs that talk about African-Americans celebrating, in African-American sections of LA after the Obama win.
If the black issue was such a concern to him then why not at least do that.
