Monday, February 28, 2005

Oscar Proves Brad Wrong on 'The Passion'

At a KHC meeting of a few months back, Brad Linaweaver predicted that the Oscars would nominate "The Passion of the Christ" for at least one major award. J. Neil Schulman and I disagreed, expecting the Academy to shut out "The Passion."

Well, Brad, you were wrong. The most "major" category "The Passion" was nominated for was Cinematography. And in the end, it lost in every category (three in all) that it was nominated in. A true shut-out.

BTW, Brad has been invited to post here, so if he'd like to rebut, all he has to do is accept his invite, :-)

Thursday, February 24, 2005

My Personal Endorsement for Mayor of Los Angeles

February 24, 2005
Dear Interested Voter,

MY PERSONAL ENDORSEMENT OF WALTER MOORE FOR MAYOR OF L.A.

This letter constitutes my endorsement of Walter Moore for the office of Mayor of Los Angeles. In this letter, I'll try to explain why I do this and why I urge you to join me. It is a personal endorsement only.

On Tuesday March 8, the voters of the City of Los Angeles will decide, among other issues, who will be in the running to be the next Mayor. There are twelve candidates for that office on the ballot, so no one figures to make it with 50% plus one to be elected outright in this Primary. The top two finishers "past the post" will go on to compete in a General Election run-off in May.

Because of the large field of candidates, a relatively small number of votes can make a difference in who gets to the run-off. Each candidate will be doing his or her best to put together a coalition of voter blocs. Even a small group of voters could be important in any coalition.

While the race is for a non-partisan office, in big city politics, party is a factor. The so-called "big five" candidates, Mayor Jim Hahn, Tony Villaraigosa, Bob Hertzberg, Richard Alarcón and Bernie Parks are all Democrats.

This time out they are splitting some important Democrat endorsements among them and canceling one another out of others. Dynamics among the candidates have also split or shifted voting blocs previously taken for granted. This scenario presents an opportunity to have a tactical impact on the outcome.

Thus, while there is no registered/dues paid Libertarian Party candidate running, Libertarians can still participate effectively in this contest. If our support coalesces around a single candidate, we could help move the political orientation of the city in our direction.

After examining all the candidates, I have decided to support and endorse Moore, who is the leading candidate of the two Republicans in the race. Moore is an attorney residing in Westchester.

Moore is my choice based on his platform and on his campaign thus far. What particularly impressed me, though, was that he specifically asked for votes from Libertarians. He indicates an affinity for us and supports positions that are in concert with our own. He is a natural ally.

There are 7000 persons in the County registered to vote as Libertarian. Of these, many will be eligible to vote in the municipal election as residents of Los Angeles. If you are one, please keep reading.

I've met and spoken to Moore at length and I believe he'd be a good Mayor for L.A. He is a serious candidate with a campaign that is significantly funded and organized. He is worthy of your support.

Look at all the candidates' platforms, records and endorsements and if you think Moore is the right individual for this job, please vote for him as part of a winning coalition on March 8 to get him into the run-off.

Even though I am a libertarian who is a member of the Party, my endorsement is personal and is in no way an official Libertarian Party endorsement. Precluded by its bylaws, the LP cannot endorse candidates of another political party. [Also, it does not in any way represent an official view of the Karl Hess Club, of which I am a facilitator.]

Your vote is your own, but I urge you to join me in voting for Moore because of his principled stand on issues such as "Pay-to-Play" corruption, and elimination of business tax, rent control and excessive regulations. Here are some more points:

*Moore opposes Mayor Hahn's proposed estimated $11.5 Billion remodeling of LAX.

*He favors strict enforcement of immigration laws, and is the only candidate to seriously address the local impact of unregulated immigration and to propose meaningful solutions.

*A key plank is his pledge of "No New Taxes, No New Bonds, No Exceptions."

*Moore's strong advocacy of "No-Kill" animal shelters won him the endorsement of a major animal activist organization (Citizens for a Humane L.A.), representing 30,000 supporters.

*He has also been running an intensive, active campaign with press conferences, interviews and news coverage. It is anticipated that Moore will be included in major televised "debate" events in the next thirteen days before the election.

The campaign can use workers to help get the word out. Although well self-financed by Moore, the campaign welcomes additional contributions (For financial information on all the campaigns this election, go to: http://ethics.lacity.org/efs/public_election.cfm). Opportunities for involvement are available.

Learn about Moore and his campaign at http://www.mayor4u.com/ You can check out the competition by going to http://www.smartvoter.org/2005/03/08/ca/la/race/181/ If you will, please consider sharing this information with others.

Thank you very much for your consideration of this letter, and don't forget to vote on March 8!

Mike Everling
Los Angeles

Monday, February 21, 2005

California Libertarian Party Approves My Proposal for "Prosecutorial Budget Sharing"

The CLP has approved my idea for what I termed "prosecutorial budget sharing" (above link). I'd intended it as a Platform Plank, but it ended up in the CLP Program.

Details:
Last Friday (2/18/05), at the Platform Committee's suggestion, I submitted my proposal to the Program Committee, which passed it by unanimous consent. On Sunday (2/20/05), the CLP convention delegates adopted my proposal, as re-drafted by the Program Committee, adding it to Section IV (as Item 6) of the LPC Program. The final language:

Government fines, civil commitments and prosecutions can be as damaging as criminal prosecution. While in cases of criminal prosecution, the defendant is entitled to representation, no such right exists in civil cases.

To remedy this, in all cases of government civil prosecution, civil commitment, or regulatory fines, the defendant shall be entitled to representation and funding equal to that of the prosecuting agency's, to be paid from the agency's budget.

The next step is to make this program plank part of California law, most likely through initiative and referendum.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

California Libertarian Party Passes Key By-Law Changes; LPLAC Elects Officers

Day One of the Convention, the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County had a mini-convention during the California LP convention. Officers were elected, to serve until June. David Larkin was re-elected Chair. Mike Binkley was elected Vice Chair. Dave Wire re-elected Treasurer.

Day Two of the convention saw two key By-Law changes passed. The first change grants greater financial autonomy to the county LPs at the expense of the state LP. This was done partly to comply with FEC regulations.

The second By-Law change allows the entire delegation to vote for the 10 At-Large Reps to the CLP's executive committe. Until now, the five largest "regions" each elected one At-Large Rep, and the remaining delegates elected the other five.

As a result of the second change, one outraged county chair announced that he would run against Aaron Starr for CLP Chair tomorrow. Until now, only the Southern Vice Chair post was contested.

Many other By-Law changes, mostly of a house-keeping nature, were also passed.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Bruce Cohen Discusses CLP Convention on KABC

Mr. KABC just interviewed Bruce Cohen on his radio show. Cohen discussed the upcoming California Libertarian Party convention, and that he was running for Southern Vice Chair against Mark Selzer in the only contested CLP office this year.

Mr. KABC poked fun at libertarians (as he always does), but Cohen took it in stride, congenially laughing off remarks about "tinfoil hats." He also plugged the convention, and told people how they can join the CLP, or just observe the convention.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Hijacking Catastrophe

Last night, the Region 62 supper club screened Hijacking Catastrophe, a 2004 documentary which argues that the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq were planned before 9/11. Some of the people interviewed for the docu made a few socialist comments (e.g., that Bush's $400 billion in military spending might have been spent on health care and education), but most of the docu focused on the neocons' plans for American empire since the fall of Communism.

Bob Weber observed that the docu left out that the American empire has been a bipartisan effort since at least 1898, and indeed, the docu presented the Clinton years as a lull in empire.

Also interviewed in the docu was the LP's Karen Kwiatkowski.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Welcome Karl Hess Club Bloggers!

Welcome Karl Hess Club members to our new Blog! Thanks and Kudos to Tom Sipos, our Karl Hess Club Webmaster for getting the ball rolling on this. We trust that you'll enjoy the opportunity to communicate your ideas with other Karl Hessians!

The KHC's New Blog

This is the KHC's new blog! Here, leading KHC members will gather to post their thoughts on current events, relate their personal experiences, and engage in spirited discussion and debate.

It's in a rough state right now, but stay tuned!