There's gonna be a new sheriff in town
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announced today that he is resigning. He's 71 and has been in office as Sheriff since 1998. He's been with the Sheriff's department since 1965. He is a well-educated man, with a Masters Degree and a Doctorate, both in Public Administration.
Sounds like a great career. It hasn't been, particularly since he was first elected to his current post. The following litany is offered as my opinion of things he probably did while in office.
There has been an alarming increase in the abuse of inmates in the county jail system since Baca became sheriff. He created a special reserve deputy program to allow the famous and well-connected access to permits to carry concealed weapons. It's almost impossible to get a CCW permit in California and Los Angeles is the most difficult county in the state to get one from.
He traded favors with Mel Gibson following the DUI arrest of the actor/director, who had filmed a public service announcement for Baca prior to his arrest.
He released Paris Hilton early from a 45 day jail sentence, claiming she was suffering from a psychological problem. Since the judge had specifically ordered she not be held under house arrest and kept in jail, Baca was in contempt of court; but escaped being charged.
The most recent scandals involving improper hiring and more allegations of improprieties at the jail are well known enough they don't bear repeating.
I'm very happy to see him out of office, although I suspect either of his recommended replacements will be just as bad. The people of Los Angeles County put him in office in November of 1998, and then reelected him in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Odds are good that if he'd run again this coming November, he probably would have won a fifth term. Why in the heck do the voters keep the same losers in office time and again?
Because of the tremendous advantage of being the incumbent. Political apathy leads people who don't care much about the elections below the top of the ballot to just vote for whoever is currently running things. "It ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality is not the way to choose candidates to cast a ballot for.
How many times did you vote for Lee Baca? How carefully will you look over the ballot choices to replace him, in the upcoming election?
* * *
Dennis Rodman is many things, but he is not a diplomat, nor is he a representative (official or unofficial) of the United States. We may find it reprehensible for him to continue to engage in dealings with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator who is under fire for the purge and execution of his uncle; but the truth is that Rodman does what he does for one reason. Money.
Now if the United States had a true embargo with appropriate sanctions against North Korea (as well as Cuba), then Rodman wouldn't be permitted to travel there. But we don't have such sanctions in force. Any American who wants to go to North Korea and can get permission to enter, is free to go.
On the other hand, travel by U. S. citizens to Cuba unless it is to visit a close relative, to do religious work, or for a few other very narrow exceptions; is prohibited. Buying one drink in Cuba violates economic sanctions and is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000. Unless of course you are named Beyoncé or Jay-Z, and then the Obama Administration will cover for you.
So unless the United States wants to establish economic sanctions that prevent Dennis Rodman from going to North Korea to make more money for himself, there's not much anyone can do about it.
I feel bad for the family of Kenneth Bae, and I understand their outrage at his comments.
* * *
I watched Michael Bay's teleprompter meltdown at CES again and couldn't help but chuckle and think back to a night back in 1979. I was stationed at Homestead Air Force Base, a few dozen miles South of Miami and was attending night classes at what was then Miami-Dade Community College. I was taking a Speech/Communications course with an excellent professor. She'd been hammering home the need for us to practice our speeches before going to the front of the room to actually present them.
One of my fellow students was up, as we were doing extemporaneous speeches. The professor would give a student a topic and they'd have four or five minutes to prepare a two minute speech. Obviously there wasn't a lot of time built into this particular exercise for practice. But I made sure to write my notes/outline for my topic and then go over it in my head at least once before taking that deep breath and going to the front of my class.
My fellow student had not done this. He'd written no notes. He'd told several of us he would be doing "real extemp" by doing nothing but thinking about his topic during his prep time and then speaking off the cuff. He bombed bigger than Michael Bay and walked away from the podium and right out of the classroom.
Our opinions of Michael Bay as a film director aren't important right at this moment. What is important is that he's merely the latest victim of improper planning and preparation. You can't rely on the teleprompter. You need to review the material and go over it before presenting it.
Hopefully next time, Mr. Bay will take a moment to review his presentation before attempting to deliver it.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The death of Run Run Shaw, pioneer of the martial arts movie is very sad. He was 107 and made only one mistake in his life, passing on signing Bruce Lee to a contract. RIP.
A movie that ran for only one week in only one theater during 2013 grossed $72. Not $72,000 or even $7,200 but $72. Just over ten dollars per day I think it probably lost money.
I'm guessing Meryl Streep doesn't plan to make any movies with the Walt Disney company anytime soon.
A new CNN report claims that athletes in major sports at major universities have reading comprehension levels well below their fellow students who aren't involved in varsity athletics. This is news?
Did the head of Fox News, Roger Ailes, offer a producer a salary bump of $100 per week if she would have sex with him whenever he wanted? I don't know. But it would not surprise me.
I've crossed Venezuela off my list of potential vacation spots.
I believe former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe when he says he was fired by the team because of a homophobic coach.
The two year contract extension that the Dodgers just gave to manager Don Mattingly is well-deserved and long-overdue.
Did members of NJ governor Chris Christie's political machine really cause traffic gridlock in order to mete out political payback? Probably. Heads should roll and people need to grow up.
Listening to a story about Snooki's DNA test results, I could feel my IQ dropping.
If Shabazz Muhammad really does see his D-league demotion as opportunity and not punishment, his future is bright.
* * *
January 8th in History:
307 – Jin Huidi, Chinese Emperor of the Jin Dynasty, is poisoned and succeeded by his son Jin Huaidi.
871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco.
1455 – The Romanus Pontifex is written.
1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany.
1697 – Last execution for blasphemy in Britain; of Thomas Aikenhead, student, at Edinburgh.
1734 – Premiere performance of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
1746 – Second Jacobite Rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York, New York.
1806 – Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans – Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield
1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the 'Art of Applying Statistics' — his punched card calculator.
1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
1906 – A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, caused by the excavation of clay along the Hudson River, kills 20 people.
1912 – The African National Congress is founded.
1918 – President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in a complete failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.
1962 – The Harmelen train disaster killed 93 people in the Netherlands.
1963 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
1971 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
1979 – The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland.
1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
1982 – The break up of AT&T: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
1989 – Beginning of Japanese Heisei period.
1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 237 on the ground; the aircraft's crew of 6 survive the crash.
2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of 75 passengers.
2003 – US Airways Express Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
Famous Folk Born on January 8:
Nicholas Biddle
James Longstreet
Frank Nelson Doubleday
Prince Albert Victor (not the guy in the can)
Emily Greene Balch
Karl Brandt (rot in Hell)
Evelyn Wood (you should re-read her name, but faster the second time)
Lawrence Walsh
Larry Storch
Soupy Sales (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIRmqMRSXAs)
Charles Osgood
Alexandra Ripley
Shirley Bassey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBPVe5EpnE0)
Bob Eubanks (caught telling an anti-Semitic joke during filming of "Roger and Me")
Graham Chapman
Stephen Hawking
Yvette Mimeux
Nancy Bond
Robby Krieger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrv7Hs7k7w8)
William Bonin
David Bowie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSHY1_ux8rs)
Laurie Walters
John Podesta
John McTiernan
Mike Reno
Duk Koo Kim
Michelle Forbes
R Kelly
Rachel Nichols
Gaby Hoffman
Kim Jong-Un
Chris Masters
Movie quotes today come from 2010's "Leap Year", a below-average romantic comedy that not even Amy Adams could save:
Anna: You fried my blackberry
Declan: You fried the whole village, idiot!
#2
Declan: [slams Anna's suitcase on the ground] How does that work?
Anna: Can you be careful with that, it was a gift from my boyfriend!
Declan: He bought you a suitcase?
Anna: It's a Vuitton.
Declan: What?
Anna: A Louis Vuitton?
Declan: Come on. Ah, is it yourself Louis? Can I give you a hand getting into the car Louis? She named her suitcase, she's a crackpot.
#3
Anna: When my 60 seconds came around i realized i had everything i ever wanted... but nothing i really needed. and i think what i need is here. and i came all this way to see if you maybe think so too. If you do, well... i don't really have plans past that, which is new for me. So, Declan O'Callhan and i should probably learn your middle name, here is my proposal; i propose we not make plans, i propose we give this thing a chance and let it work out how it works out. so what do you say, do you wanna not make plans with me?
Sounds like a great career. It hasn't been, particularly since he was first elected to his current post. The following litany is offered as my opinion of things he probably did while in office.
There has been an alarming increase in the abuse of inmates in the county jail system since Baca became sheriff. He created a special reserve deputy program to allow the famous and well-connected access to permits to carry concealed weapons. It's almost impossible to get a CCW permit in California and Los Angeles is the most difficult county in the state to get one from.
He traded favors with Mel Gibson following the DUI arrest of the actor/director, who had filmed a public service announcement for Baca prior to his arrest.
He released Paris Hilton early from a 45 day jail sentence, claiming she was suffering from a psychological problem. Since the judge had specifically ordered she not be held under house arrest and kept in jail, Baca was in contempt of court; but escaped being charged.
The most recent scandals involving improper hiring and more allegations of improprieties at the jail are well known enough they don't bear repeating.
I'm very happy to see him out of office, although I suspect either of his recommended replacements will be just as bad. The people of Los Angeles County put him in office in November of 1998, and then reelected him in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Odds are good that if he'd run again this coming November, he probably would have won a fifth term. Why in the heck do the voters keep the same losers in office time and again?
Because of the tremendous advantage of being the incumbent. Political apathy leads people who don't care much about the elections below the top of the ballot to just vote for whoever is currently running things. "It ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality is not the way to choose candidates to cast a ballot for.
How many times did you vote for Lee Baca? How carefully will you look over the ballot choices to replace him, in the upcoming election?
* * *
Dennis Rodman is many things, but he is not a diplomat, nor is he a representative (official or unofficial) of the United States. We may find it reprehensible for him to continue to engage in dealings with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator who is under fire for the purge and execution of his uncle; but the truth is that Rodman does what he does for one reason. Money.
Now if the United States had a true embargo with appropriate sanctions against North Korea (as well as Cuba), then Rodman wouldn't be permitted to travel there. But we don't have such sanctions in force. Any American who wants to go to North Korea and can get permission to enter, is free to go.
On the other hand, travel by U. S. citizens to Cuba unless it is to visit a close relative, to do religious work, or for a few other very narrow exceptions; is prohibited. Buying one drink in Cuba violates economic sanctions and is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000. Unless of course you are named Beyoncé or Jay-Z, and then the Obama Administration will cover for you.
So unless the United States wants to establish economic sanctions that prevent Dennis Rodman from going to North Korea to make more money for himself, there's not much anyone can do about it.
I feel bad for the family of Kenneth Bae, and I understand their outrage at his comments.
* * *
I watched Michael Bay's teleprompter meltdown at CES again and couldn't help but chuckle and think back to a night back in 1979. I was stationed at Homestead Air Force Base, a few dozen miles South of Miami and was attending night classes at what was then Miami-Dade Community College. I was taking a Speech/Communications course with an excellent professor. She'd been hammering home the need for us to practice our speeches before going to the front of the room to actually present them.
One of my fellow students was up, as we were doing extemporaneous speeches. The professor would give a student a topic and they'd have four or five minutes to prepare a two minute speech. Obviously there wasn't a lot of time built into this particular exercise for practice. But I made sure to write my notes/outline for my topic and then go over it in my head at least once before taking that deep breath and going to the front of my class.
My fellow student had not done this. He'd written no notes. He'd told several of us he would be doing "real extemp" by doing nothing but thinking about his topic during his prep time and then speaking off the cuff. He bombed bigger than Michael Bay and walked away from the podium and right out of the classroom.
Our opinions of Michael Bay as a film director aren't important right at this moment. What is important is that he's merely the latest victim of improper planning and preparation. You can't rely on the teleprompter. You need to review the material and go over it before presenting it.
Hopefully next time, Mr. Bay will take a moment to review his presentation before attempting to deliver it.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The death of Run Run Shaw, pioneer of the martial arts movie is very sad. He was 107 and made only one mistake in his life, passing on signing Bruce Lee to a contract. RIP.
A movie that ran for only one week in only one theater during 2013 grossed $72. Not $72,000 or even $7,200 but $72. Just over ten dollars per day I think it probably lost money.
I'm guessing Meryl Streep doesn't plan to make any movies with the Walt Disney company anytime soon.
A new CNN report claims that athletes in major sports at major universities have reading comprehension levels well below their fellow students who aren't involved in varsity athletics. This is news?
Did the head of Fox News, Roger Ailes, offer a producer a salary bump of $100 per week if she would have sex with him whenever he wanted? I don't know. But it would not surprise me.
I've crossed Venezuela off my list of potential vacation spots.
I believe former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe when he says he was fired by the team because of a homophobic coach.
The two year contract extension that the Dodgers just gave to manager Don Mattingly is well-deserved and long-overdue.
Did members of NJ governor Chris Christie's political machine really cause traffic gridlock in order to mete out political payback? Probably. Heads should roll and people need to grow up.
Listening to a story about Snooki's DNA test results, I could feel my IQ dropping.
If Shabazz Muhammad really does see his D-league demotion as opportunity and not punishment, his future is bright.
* * *
January 8th in History:
307 – Jin Huidi, Chinese Emperor of the Jin Dynasty, is poisoned and succeeded by his son Jin Huaidi.
871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco.
1455 – The Romanus Pontifex is written.
1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany.
1697 – Last execution for blasphemy in Britain; of Thomas Aikenhead, student, at Edinburgh.
1734 – Premiere performance of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
1746 – Second Jacobite Rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York, New York.
1806 – Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans – Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield
1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the 'Art of Applying Statistics' — his punched card calculator.
1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
1906 – A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, caused by the excavation of clay along the Hudson River, kills 20 people.
1912 – The African National Congress is founded.
1918 – President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in a complete failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.
1962 – The Harmelen train disaster killed 93 people in the Netherlands.
1963 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
1971 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
1979 – The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland.
1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
1982 – The break up of AT&T: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
1989 – Beginning of Japanese Heisei period.
1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 237 on the ground; the aircraft's crew of 6 survive the crash.
2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of 75 passengers.
2003 – US Airways Express Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
Famous Folk Born on January 8:
Nicholas Biddle
James Longstreet
Frank Nelson Doubleday
Prince Albert Victor (not the guy in the can)
Emily Greene Balch
Karl Brandt (rot in Hell)
Evelyn Wood (you should re-read her name, but faster the second time)
Lawrence Walsh
Larry Storch
Soupy Sales (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIRmqMRSXAs)
Charles Osgood
Alexandra Ripley
Shirley Bassey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBPVe5EpnE0)
Bob Eubanks (caught telling an anti-Semitic joke during filming of "Roger and Me")
Graham Chapman
Stephen Hawking
Yvette Mimeux
Nancy Bond
Robby Krieger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrv7Hs7k7w8)
William Bonin
David Bowie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSHY1_ux8rs)
Laurie Walters
John Podesta
John McTiernan
Mike Reno
Duk Koo Kim
Michelle Forbes
R Kelly
Rachel Nichols
Gaby Hoffman
Kim Jong-Un
Chris Masters
Movie quotes today come from 2010's "Leap Year", a below-average romantic comedy that not even Amy Adams could save:
Anna: You fried my blackberry
Declan: You fried the whole village, idiot!
#2
Declan: [slams Anna's suitcase on the ground] How does that work?
Anna: Can you be careful with that, it was a gift from my boyfriend!
Declan: He bought you a suitcase?
Anna: It's a Vuitton.
Declan: What?
Anna: A Louis Vuitton?
Declan: Come on. Ah, is it yourself Louis? Can I give you a hand getting into the car Louis? She named her suitcase, she's a crackpot.
#3
Anna: When my 60 seconds came around i realized i had everything i ever wanted... but nothing i really needed. and i think what i need is here. and i came all this way to see if you maybe think so too. If you do, well... i don't really have plans past that, which is new for me. So, Declan O'Callhan and i should probably learn your middle name, here is my proposal; i propose we not make plans, i propose we give this thing a chance and let it work out how it works out. so what do you say, do you wanna not make plans with me?
posted by me at 3:28 PM
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