The rich really are different. The rest of us may constantly want more, but the rich never have quite enough. Just ask the three dozen members of the Bancroft clan among whom there was enough consensus to sell off the Wall Street Journal to satan Rupert Murdoch. Not being a billionaire, of course it’s easy [...]

As an opponent of the war in Iraq, as someone who strongly supports the commencement of immediate withdrawal I am often beset by doubts and fears of what would fill the vacuum left behind. Curse Colin Powell all you want (I certainly do) but there’s an undeniable truth to his invocation of the Pottery Barn [...]

The suggestion that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate Gonzo seems a tantalizing notion.  It would be gratifying to watch the AG do some more squirming. Put aside all the dissembling about Gonzales’ dubious testimony on the NSA spying program/s. His role is promoting a policy of torture should be enough to get him [...]

Thursday’s plummet in the market was quite enough on its own to depress any one of us boomer-types (who hope something will be left by retirement date). Equally bumming was listening to any part of the new and totally phony debate now rocking the Democratic primary race.  Please, Lord, tell me this Obama-Clinton dust-up won’t [...]

My excellent bud Alan Mittelstaedt (my former editor at L.A. Weekly and a colleague at USC Annenberg) is back in the fray. He’s been appointed news chief at City Beat and has come out firing with his new weekly L.A. Sniper column. His first victim:  L.A. County D.A. Steve Cooley.  Poor guy.

Better late than never. My reaction to this week’s first-ever YouTube presidential “debate:” A total perversion of any truly democratic potential of the Web. Here’s the column I wrote about it.

The tyrants of summer are out in force. No, not George Bush and Dick Cheney.  More like Emily, Madison, Kaitlyn, Ryan, Joshua and Connor. Y’know, all those spoiled, enabled, over-empowered, hyper-kinetic, A.D.D.-addled, sugar-addicted little freaks some call their children! I’ve spent the last three weeks in different spots in the Southwestern desert: Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson [...]

Todd Gitlin, writing in the L.A. Times, reveals his discovery of Internet politics and declares that the Netroots have already definitively recast the Democratic Party. Todd makes some good points but, imho, grossly overstates his case. Yes, as Gitlin argues,  Ralph Nader, is indeed a spent political force — at least as an electoral vehicle. [...]

It’s re-assuring to know that capital-P Povery finally, now, in 2007,  has emerged as a Democratic campaign issue.  One should never abandon hope. I’m pretty much in transit for the next few days so there will likely no real blogging until this coming Monday. Meanwhile, on Wednesday I was lucky enough to meet in person [...]

Sorry, I’m gonna skip the congressional all-nighter on Iraq. I’ve been in transit all day and am too tired to follow the debate on C-Span. I’ll leave that task to more valiant souls. Anyway, we already know the outcome. The Senate Democrats will fall 7-10 votes short of the 60 they need to achieve cloture. [...]

Here we go again. The progressive fringe ginning up yet more round of impeachment fever. What a striking demonstration of the imbecility of what passes itself off as an American Left! What’s the grander strategy here? Would someone take a moment and explain? Last time I looked, there weren’t enough votes in the Senate to [...]

I suppose, given my profession, I’m gonna have to start thinking again about presidential politics after a couple of weeks of at least semi-vacation. What I see, I pretty much don’t like. Here are some randomly linked musings: * I find the obsession with fund-raising totals to be exactly that — an unhealthy obsession. Well, [...]

What NOT to see this weekend. Per My Daughter. I’m still mixing reporting with some relaxing in the desert. Will likely resume regular blogging next week…or so. Meanwhile…. damnit this is depressing. I think after 35 years of doing what I’m doing I deserve much more worthy enemies and critics than this sort of sniveling [...]

Continuing with light blogging for the next few days as I’m currently roving in Arizona, mostly working. For those gentle souls who have queried me by e-mail about my health: be advised that it continues to improve and I’m feeling groovy. Which is not to be confused with the U.S. Special Forces slogan of “Stay [...]

There sure was a lot of moaning and whining from some readers about my affiliation with Pajamas Media. But there were NO comments when I severed that connection a few weeks ago (amicably) and the PJ logo and ads disappeared from the blog. Tells me a lot. Now, to tell you something. The Nation magazine [...]

Looks like the Deputy Chief of Staff of California’s Assembly Speaker has declared war on me. I take it as an honor. Being called the “worst” political journalist in the state is a great compliment coming from one of California’s most notorious, whining political hacks. Here’s the blow-by-blow. A couple of weeks ago I wrote [...]

I might be on vacation, but The Daughter keeps crankin’ em out. Here’s her dismantlement of Transformers.

It was only about 103 degrees Sunday where I live on the fringe of L.A., so I’ve decided to migrate this week about 150 miles southeast into the Southern California desert town of La Quinta where temps of 118 or more predicted. Some, like me, like it hot. I’m looking forward to reading (currently doing [...]

I celebrated the birth of the hyper-pitched Apple iPhone this weekend by rushing out to upgrade my trusty 2 year old Blackberry to the new 8830 global model. It’s a humdinger, a third of the the price of the Apple machine, and runs on a (worldwide) network that, consistent with Verizon’s PR campaign, really does [...]