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We've got Rocky, Antonio, Paris, Orlov and Hymon, Robert Heinlein, Daniel Pearl and more — just a typical Monday at Morning Buzz. Click to come on in.
(And thanks for tuning in. June set a new high for visitor traffic at LA Observed, across the board.)
News
Rocky troubles mount
Deputy City Attorney Asha Greenberg told the Times she "felt pressured" by Rocky Delgadillo to drop charges in 2001 against grocery magnate George Torres, an associate of Horacio Vignali who was accused of illegally demolishing low-income apartments. Delgadillo denies the inference. LAT
Jan Perry aide in trouble too
Hugo Ortiz, who works for the councilwoman, was charged nine months ago with filing a fraudulent crime report and obstructing police work after falsely reporting his city car had been stolen. It actually had been totaled, perhaps by his 17-year-old daughter. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor obstruction, was sentenced to three months' probation and ordered to pay $835 in fines. He has not paid any restitution for the damage to the city car, Steve Lopez columnizes in the Times.
Antonio at "personal and professional crossroads"
Rick Orlov's second-year report card on Mayor Villaraigosa. Also, the mayor may not get control of his cluster of schools until fall 2008. DN
Howard Fine gives Villaraigosa a B+
The Business Journal's mid-term report card. LABJ
Monday columns
Steve Hymon in the Times, Rick Orlov in the Daily News.
Missing OC priest and companion found dead
Their car went off a rural road in Oregon. LAT
DN editorial page makes a joke
What do you call 500 unemployed LAUSD bureaucrats? A good start. DN
Jerry Stahl fans, meet Harry Potter fans
Second issue of New Angeles Monthly hits the streets.
Noted
Paris mania could be good for us
That's Gregory Rodriguez's peg for his column on the Times Op-ed page.
Whispering about the lives of others always has served as a finely tuned social warning system that helps people avoid the inevitable pitfalls of life. Did you hear who she hooked up with? Can you believe he did that? How could they have fallen for the Nigerian e-mail scam? Plenty of not-so-idle gossip warns us about bad guys, the consequences of certain types of behavior and iffy practices of all types.
If you watched the extraordinarily boring Larry King interview with Paris Hilton, you realize that Paris herself isn't anywhere near as interesting as what we all think about her. That's the point. The long arm of electronic media has allowed us to include an ever-expanding world of complete strangers in our social circle. And just as we would a neighbor or classmate, we judge and dissect her life as a means to justify our own, reinforce our life choices, sort out and share our opinions with others.
Remembering Daniel Pearl
LAT Opinion section editor Nick Goldberg writes about his encounters with the Wall Street Journal reporter back when times seemed better in the Middle East. LAT
Robert A. Heinlein as L.A. prophet
The author "lived in Los Angeles in the 1930s and '40s, and first turned to writing because of looming mortgage payments after his failed campaign in 1938 to represent Hollywood in the Assembly. Though he would later become a great inspiration to libertarians, Heinlein was then an active member of novelist Upton Sinclair's popular quasi-socialist 'End Poverty in California' movement...In his peculiar and unprecedented combination of rocket visions, a tough-minded individualism respectful of the military and iconoclastic free living, Heinlein is truly the bard of Southern California," writes Reason's Brian Doherty in Sunday Opinion. LAT
Sam Quinones interviewed
The L.A. Times staff writer talks about his latest book, Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration, with Daniel Olivas at La Bloga.
New political writer at The New Yorker
Ryan Lizza of The New Republic becomes Washington Correspondent, covering national politics and the 2008 Presidential campaign.
Really wild Antonio speculation
Downtown News editor and publisher Sue Laris wonders if Mayor Villaraigosa plans to bolt the Democrats and run for vice president alongside Michael Bloomberg. DT News
Madale Watson, Democrat was 95
She was an important figure behind the scenes in local Democratic Party affairs. LAT obit
Patt Morrison reviews the Kristin Gore book
"I for one am mighty relieved to find out that humor genes did not completely bypass the Al Gore family," she writes. LAT
Griffith Park, Interrupted
The blog by former West magazine cartoonist Donna Barstow focuses on the fire aftermath. The LAFD blog responds to one post.
KCRW commentary
My piece on Friday talked about the departure of Times managing editor Doug Frantz. Read or listen here.
Decemberist tix still available!
An LA Observed subscriber could win two free tickets to the Hollywood Bowl this weekend. See the info.
