It’s a harmless brain freeze, the kind FishbowlLA occasionally has to rectify. So we feel perfectly entitled to enjoy a laugh over LA Examiner Peter Steeves’ opening paragraph calendar warp:
Today is of course Thursday. Paul attracted that sizeable UCLA crowd yesterday, aka Wednesday, following the aforementioned solid student turnout on Tuesday at California State University in Chico.
Obviously, The Daily Show had a few things to say about Sarah Palin‘s protracted Today appearance yesterday. Jon Stewart had a pretty good rant, but we prefer John Oliver‘s shenanigans.
Under the unflattering and arguably inaccurate rollcall.com headline “From Hack to Flack” comes the news that long-time LA Times and KTTV Channel 11 reporter John Schwada is shifting career gears.
He has joined the staff of one SoCal’s most successful politicans, Congressman Brad Sherman (pictured), who has been in office since 1997 and is currently serving an eighth term in the House of Representatives. Schwada will act as spokesperson during this incumbent’s upcoming re-election campaign, which will hopefully lead to a replenishment of the former reporter’s Sherman-related houseware:
“I remember interviewing Brad in his Congressional office during a five-week period when I was in D.C. covering the Clinton impeachment. A long time ago,” Schwada wrote in an email. “I still have one of Brad’s tchotchke campaign-combs; the Brad Sherman pot-holder went up in smoke during a campfire mishap in the Sequoias.”
Freelance radio columnist Richard Wagoner has a good write-up about LA City Council’s passage last week of a resolution condemning racist and sexist comments on AM-FM talk show airwaves.
Wagoner rightly reminds that since this issue falls under FCC jurisdiction, the March 21 resolution is “essentially meaningless.” Nevertheless, KFI has issued a statement of support for the resolution, which was actually backed in-chamber by former KFI station personality John Ziegler. From the article:
Ziegler, a KFI host from 2003 to 2007, has expressed concern about John and Ken for several years. “As someone who has been falsely accused of making racist statements in the past, I am very hesitant to accuse anyone of such a thing, but I do believe that John Kobylt is a racist,” Ziegler said in an earlier interview.
The eXiled is on the verge of launching its new media transparency project, aimed at exposing the “conflicts-of-interest and corruption in the media and among our major ‘thought leaders’ and ‘independent voices.’” They’re calling the site S.H.A.M.E–Shame the Hacks who Abuse Media Ethics. The eXiled’s Yasha Levine put up a preview dossier of The Atlantic‘s resident Randian Meghan McArdle–who, incidentally, just got into a bizarre argument in the comment section of Julian Sanchez‘s blog, in which she essentially argued that prosecutors shouldn’t bring charges against George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case because they might lose. Wouldn’t want to squander taxpayer money in pursuit of justice, now, would we?
Anyway, Levine claims he has the goods on dozens of prominent U.S. journalists who take money from various think tanks and corporate sponsors in exchange for slanted coverage. Can’t wait to see who makes the list. Although we have a few guesses who might be on there.
According to Variety’s Jeff Sneider, Lee Daniels wants Jane Fonda to play the part of Nancy Reagan in her his upcoming adaptation The Butler. The story of a White House servant spans many different administrations and Fonda’s role is not a main one. Still, with the actress’ CAA reps still needing to officially ink the deal, the mere possibility of Fonda-as-Ronald’s-First-Lady smacks of stunt casting.
Not to mention the kind of Hollywood move that will light up the blogosphere for days. Check out the punctuation at the end of this Fox Nation morning headline:
Studio City Patch was in attendance Friday night at the Mayflower Club in North Hollywood for the first gathering of three local Green Party candidates running for President in the upcoming California primary.
In the above video, one of several shot at the “Rally in the Valley” event by Rich Adams, the evening’s most recognizable candidate, actress-comedian Roseanne Barr, explains that as a wealthy American she has been able to personally fund many lawsuits. She reminded that the latest chapter in one of these legal pet projects, an attempt to absolve the Electoral College, will be filed around Wednesday July 4 in Philadelphia.
The official website slogan for Dr. Matthew Lin (pictured), a candidate for California’s 49th Assembly District covering Alhambra, Monterey Park, San Marino and various other municipalities, is “Vote Dr. Lin.” But for an event this weekend, the Taiwanese born politician is edging into more familiar catchphrase territory.
According to a dispatch in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune by Brian Charles, Dr. Lin (or someone on his staff) has been leaning in the New York Knicks direction on Facebook for a weekend glad-handing event:
Lin has adopted the term “Linsanity” for a precinct walk planned for tomorrow dubbed “Linsanity Hits Monterey Park.” The event kicks off at 9:30 a.m. at 641 W. Las Tunas Drive in San Gabriel.
Presidential candidate Rick Santorum‘s plan to ban “hard-core pornography” made national news for the first time yesterday. Of course, Santorum’s porn position isn’t anything new to the Valley and its porn industry. Writes Adult Video Network’s Tom Hymes:
The argument being made here is not the same old argument that porn is immoral or leads to immoral behavior, though that could be read into it as well. The new position, which first reared its ugly head only a few years ago, posits that porn is a national health issues, ergo the “pandemic.”
A connection is also being made between porn and trafficking, which is very serious because then it becomes an outgrowth of international organized crime, which leads inevitably to the claim that terrorist groups are sex trafficking in order to undermine our culture while making money to use against us militarily. Before you know it, porn producers are labeled terrorists and put in Guantanamo.
Absurd, right? Looney Tunes? Never happen?
Indeed. Like every other sentient human being, we’d love to be able to laugh off Santorum and whatever dark, closeted urges drive his politics. But this here is ‘merica, where the reptilian brain runs the show.
One advantage this political candidate would seem to have over his half-dozen opponents is an extra level of media savvy. Per a questionnaire response in the Malibu Times, Hans Laetz is armed with decades of journalism experience:
“I have worked as a professional journalist for 40 years, including 25 years in Los Angeles television news. I was an Emmy-winning news editor at KTLA, CBS News and CBS2, then news operations manager at KTLA and ABC7. I left TV to become a journalism professor via studying law. I now work part-time as a news editor at City News Service and take freelance jobs from L.A. TV stations, as well as work on environmental law issues.”
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