Morning Buzz: Monday 5.7.07

Ya think? At the very least. Platoon B of the "elite" Metro squad has been taken off duty and Chief William Bratton says some will be reassigned after they rioted in MacArthur Park. He told a group of journalists Sunday that police officers are apt to go out of control and that his commanders failed to control them, saying "clearly, a number of my officers were in violation." He also said: "I'm not going to defend the indefensible." The Police Protective League, however, continues to look bad by insisting it's too early to make any judgments. Bratton, meanwhile, said 124 hard foam projectiles were fired that day, not 240 as first reported, and he revised downward the number of alleged agitators to 30-40 from 50-100. LAT, AP

Pseudonymous LAPD cop "Jack Dunphy" suggests in Opinion that the officers who abused journalists and other non-law breakers in MacArthur Park just "responded to the rocks, bottles and other projectiles." Okayyyy.

"The May Day melee at MacArthur Park came as the Los Angeles Police Department was on the path to regaining public confidence, shedding an image of being bully boys and showing it had been transformed. But in one sweeping moment, that all has been called into question." DN

The ethical nature of campaign finance violations are often over-stated in headlines, says LAT editorial writer Robert Greene, but a bigger problem is that Ethics Commission enforcement is hit-and-miss. He urges a strong successor to Gil Garcetti, whose term expires June 30. LAT

That's a mouthful, and not very historic, but some groups around MacArthur Park want that designation for an area bounded by the 110 Freeway, Washington, Hoover and 3rd Street. LAT

Temperatures over 90, gusty winds, drought-dry brush — get used to it. Breeze

James Lileks' columns after 9/11 for the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis-St. Paul were widely read and admired over the web. He has been reassigned as a local reporter. Romenesko

Breeze reporter Larry Altman describes his scary encounters with the woman whose husbands both turned up shot in the Philippines nineteen years apart — and who turned up dead herself in Lomita recently.

Joe Scott credits the former LAT editor in chief turned NYT Washington bureau chief for journalistic integrity.

Daily News political columnist Bridget Johnson, who also blogs as the GOP Vixen, participated in a World Press Freedom Day panel May 3 entitled "The Citizen Journalist: The Internet as a Tool for Freedom of Speech." USINFO

BradPita.com takes its material from Internet gossip Perez Hilton then edits out all but the positive — and the photos, of course.

Times sports writer Christine Daniels has added her first published photo to her blog Woman in Progress.

Curbed LA co-editor Cary Kadlecek has graduated to real life and moved to Washington D.C.

The late August Wilson's play opens Tuesday. AP

Denise Hamilton's L.A. Noir got a deserved nice review in Saturday's LAT, and Erika Schickel penned a piece in Sunday's Book Review section.