No. Those puffs of white smoke you see aren’t coming from the Vatican””at least not the one in Rome. Instead, they’re emanating from the mouth of journalism’s new self-appointed Pope, L.A. Times media columnist Tim Rutten. In a piece published over the weekend,  Rutten dons that pointy little hat and issues a papal ruling on [...]

My Oscar Predictions: Best Picture Who the Academy Will Choose:  The Aviator My preference:   Million Dollar Baby Best Director The Academy:   Clint Eastwood for MDB My preference:   Ditto Best Actor The Academy:   Jamie Foxx My Preference:   Johnny Depp in Neverland Best Actress The Academy:   Hilary Swank for MDB My preference:   Annette Bening for Being Julia Best Supporting Actor The Academy:   Thomas Haden Church [...]

In the interest of full disclosure: As I mentioned in the post below, I celebrated this Oscar weekend by throwing my own private beach party this morning– doing my best to personally meet up with as many Barred Surf Perch as possible. My nephew Neil and I fished the incoming tide about a mile north [...]

The Oscar pre-parties are in full bloom this weekend in Los Angeles and I can report that the only date I have on my calendar are with some Santa Monica surf perch Saturday morning. Sorry, you won’t catch me at Morton’s if you were planning on showing up. No reason not to speculate about who’s [...]

The case of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet continues to be an international bright spot for human rights. This just in from the Washington Post: Riggs Bank and the Allbritton family agreed to pay $9 million to the victims of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for the bank’s role in concealing and spiriting Pinochet’s money [...]

Man, am I ever pissed off at my poltical adversary and sometimes friend David Horowtiz.  Here he’s gone and posted a poltitical database of the American Left called Discover The Network (seems like the words The Base were already taken). And the individual dossier on me has used the worst possible portrait that could be [...]

From Gonzo to Bonzo. From Hunter S. Thompson to James D. Guckert aka Jeff Gannon is certainly a greased slide down the journalism evolutionary ladder. And”¦ so what? I’ve received several emails urging me to comment on “Gannongate.” Here’s my one word response: YAWN. Please tell me what the scandal is here. Someone in the [...]

One quick and final go-around on the suicide of Hunter Thompson. Running a Technorati search on him Tuesday night turned up a staggering 11,050 postings. An impressive homage to a writer who obviously had an impact much greater than some would assume. Here’s my elaborated obit for HST  now posted at L.A. Weekly.  Nikki Finke [...]

So long, Swifties! I’m actually quite pleased that the Republican hatchet squad has now hired some of the PR hacks that were behind the Swift Boat Veterans to attack those geezer commies over at the AARP. I’ll tell you why I’m so pleased in a moment. First an excerpt from the way the New York [...]

From the final paragraph of  Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas: "We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes [...]

l Tony Allen has got one  helluva story to tell. Once a fierce adherent of  the political cult known as MOVE, Allen dedicated his life to defending death row prisoner and fellow cult member Mumia Abu-Jamal. Allen spent his time ruthlessly attacking and smearing anyone who criticized his dread-locked hero.  One of those onslaughts led [...]

Like my colleague, David Corn, it’s too weary a task for me to write, once again the What’s-Wrong-With-Negroponte story. So I will let David reprise it one more time. I will only say this: it’s not just that Negroponte was a key player in the unconstitutional scheme known as Iran-Contra. Worse, he’s one more hack [...]

Former California governor and presidential candidate Jerry Brown has just started a blog. I find this to be great news because contrary to the "Moonbeam" media stereotype, Jerry is one of the most unpredictable politicians around.  He certainly ran to the left in the 1992 presidential campaign, but Brown is definitely bi-directional. As Mayor of [...]

Changing subjects for a moment. Check out my report back from attending a local Surf Fishing Seminar. Once you click on the link, my story is the third one down: "Professor of Fishing."

Pardon me, but I find this story as reported originally in the L.A. Times to be simply staggering. Former American POW’s from the 1991 Gulf War who were tortured by the regime of Saddam Hussein (some of them in Abu Ghraib) are being denied compensation by”¦drum roll”¦those super-patriots over at the Bush administration. Anyone who [...]

I have refrained until now from commenting on the Eason Jordan resignation of a few days ago. He’s the CNN chief news executive who was quoted saying in a closed-door session in Davos last month that U.S. forces in Iraq had killed 12 journalists. Because those remarks were not recorded and no real transcript exists, [...]

On my way to the local tackle store Saturday morning, (surf fishing season is upon us!), I accidentally tuned my satellite radio to a public radio channel and caught the tail end of a live broadcast covering the election of Howard Dean as the new chair of the Democratic National Committee. The era of the [...]

So Doctor Dean has cinched his campaign to become Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. My first reaction is to warn his followers: Be Careful for What You Wish.  The entrenched machinery of the Democratic Party —nationally, state by state- and county-by-county– is an entity much larger and much more powerful than that of Howard Dean and [...]

My Nation magazine colleague Jonathan Schell is an elegant writer, a serious thinker and more than anything a decent and compassionate man. Schell opposed the invasion of Iraq from the outset and has consistently favored a withdrawal of U.S. troops. Now, in a new essay just posted, Jonathan opens his heart on the subject of [...]

My political profile of L.A. mayoral candidate Bob Hertberg is now posted at L.A. Weekly.