It’s easy to laugh at the LA City Council for passing a resolution opposing a unilateral war against Iraq when nobody’s proposed such a thing, and the Angelenos invite this kind of ridicule routinely. But more interesting is looking at what the vote breakdown says about the perpetual war between the four leading Democratic Party machines who routinely compete for power in LA.
The largest and strongest machine is Berman/Waxman, funded by Hollywood and the rich Jewish business interests Warren Beaty’s Bulworth called “the big Jews.” In Congress, Berman, Waxman, and their boy Adam Schiff voted in favor of H J Res 114, Authorizing Use of Force in Iraq, while the Nate Holden/Maxine Waters machine voted against it, as did the Hispanic machines controlling Hilda Solis, Julie Roybal-Allard, and Xavier Becerra.
The protection of Israel from Iraq and other enemies has long been a wedge issue splitting the Jewish machine from the black and Hispanic machines, and this vote signalled the split is still there, and possibly growing larger. While Hollywood Jews aren’t yet ready to start voting Republican, don’t be surprised of the ethnic machines find fundraising harder in the next cycle.
LA Times report of City Council vote supporting Saddam:
“Thank you!” screamed an elderly woman in a canary-yellow T-shirt as the audience erupted in wild cheers. Another demonstrator, sporting a “No Blood for Oil” message across her shirt, blew kisses at the council members.
“It’s very bold of the city to do this,” said Fred Greissing, 42, a music video director who had slashed holes in his clothes, roasted them on his barbecue and splattered them with fake blood for the occasion. “Local government is easy to reach, closer to the people. I mean, I don’t think we could have walked into the back of the White House and done this.”
“Are they Americans?” Cararie, 63, said incredulously. “These are a bunch of showboating infidels.”
I find it ironic that one of these folks suddenly has it down on him that local government is more responsive and, thus, more representative.
Think the light will go on when it comes to, oh, say, any other issue at all?
As I sat in traffic for 75 minutes — making the 20 mile drive from LAX to Silver Lake — it warmed my heart to listen to the radio and hear the City Council tackling the *real* problems. Then I got to Matt & Manu’s new house, where a crazed lunatic had been caught wandering the back yard. The potholes on my old street had grown dramatically since the February storms, and a charming selection of couches & 90-day-old Xmas trees livened up this neighborhood of $350K 800-square-foot shacks.
And the gangs are back! I’m nostalgic for 1992, so it’s nice to see the city’s “leaders” helping us return to those glorious days.