My sweetie does the KPFK book show – Mondays at noon.

then there’s the irreverent Pocho Hour of Power on Fridays…

I haven’t heard Deadline L A., will look for it. There’s a Radio Intifada I catch once in a while to hear that POV, and really, it’s not as bad the name sounds, pretty moderate.

I’m waiting to see a picture of Celeste in her Topanga Days costume–fairy wings and all.

WBC: KPCC is NOT the KalPropCommieChannel, though: that honor goes to KPFK, check it out. Pacifica Radio.

I’m not on top of public radio in L.A. I figured that they were all commie.

(And, yes, I remember the cost of the STAR program for my own kid. It was freaking high.)

Love KPCC.

KPFK , on the other hand, has….issues. (I heard they were even dissing me on air on some show or other because I supported the police union on the financial disclosure issue. The horror!)

That photo of Sandra is from one of her one woman shows.

KPCC is NOT the KalPropCommieChannel, though: that honor goes to KPFK, check it out. Pacifica Radio.

Celeste, one thing I do agree with (besides the waste at LAUSD) is that L A isn’t getting our share of state funds for education — or for transportation, for that matter, whether it’s the fact that State stole $1.2 billion of our “surplus” gas taxes last year and Arnold announced he’s taking another $800 mil this year (that’s a cool $2 bil, the entire state deficit of Arizona), which we levied on our silly selves because we were assured it would go to fix OUR roads and for other Transportation issues. Then there are highway funds that go disproportionately to places like Stockton, while Janice Hahn keeps pointing out that it’s out ports that handle the bulk of cargo, and our state’s roads are worn down by those gazillion trucks and thousands of people are injured or die from the toxic smog they produce. While the feds won’t let us regulate our state truck emissions…

Part of the problem, besides overall incompetence from the clowns we have in Sacto, is that the City relies on two paid lobbyists to look out for us in Sacto, saving money by closing a paid city staff. This came to light again last Friday in Council when Wendy Greuel told her colleagues with shock and dismay that there’s a bill AB212 (Felipe Fuentes) which eviscerates the Council and City’s power to stop any and all highly dense, ALL-”affordable housing” projects going into any community, anywhere, overriding community and city General Plans. (RonKayeLA.com has the background of the story, how this was not only known but co-planned by Fuentes’ mentors Councilmembers Alarcon and Cardenas, with full support of Reyes of course — but since some CM’s still represent their constituents, they weren’t advised…) This is a hot-button issue which Kaye, Zev Y and community leaders are using to galvanize homeowners’ groups.

Greig Smith fumed about our lack of State representation in general, and we seem to be losing billions annually as a result. The same is true with LAUSD not getting its share of state school funding, even though the district faces unusual burdens. Plus there was some horrendous failure to fill out some paperwork properly that cost us millions… Celeste, you probably know more about that stuff.

RG, my gripe isn’t with individual teachers like yourself, who often do a great job on an individual basis, despite the bad apples. One of my own kids went to a public kindergarten (had to apply for a STAR permit and pay some $4000 for the half-day program, that’s another story unique to this mess called LAUSD), and the old-school teacher blew my socks off, the way she taught the non-English speakers to read by Christmas. (Not Hispanic, two Japanese and a French kid, but of modest means, who couldn’t afford international private schools. I myself learned English in kindergarten.)

BUT she did it by defying the “required” school programs like Open Court, with old-fashioned drills, phonics, etc. The other two classes didn’t achieve anywhere near her results. Normally she’d have gotten in trouble for being this exceptional, but with her seniority and record, she told the Principal to not open her door if she didn’t want to see anything irregular, because it was her way or the highway.

– My gripe is with the UTLA which requires an iron grip on the educational system, including over teachers like this, and worst of all, fights charters which can do a lot more with less money and it’s the LAW and parents’ will. The exceptional charter in Chatsworth that just had to close because LAUSD wouldn’t give them space, is a real crime.

Okay, that’s my spiel on LAUSD and budgetary incompetence. Just don’t blame it all on Prop 13, though I know it’s fashionable to do so. E.g., OpEd today in LAT, Bill Stall, wanting to revise the bill. He admits to being on Jerry Brown’s staff back 30 years ago when they and a “blue chip coalition” of government and business “leaders” were sure it wouldn’t pass — but it flew by with 65%. But he misses the irony that if he thinks the public is ready to revoke it now, he’s just as out of touch. (These guys are now pushing to allow a mere majority to raise prop taxes — which would be taxation without representation in our city, where they’re now in the minority. Maybe they’ll fuel a counter- movement harking back to the founding fathers, that only prop owners can levy prop taxes.) The populist blogs, even on the MSM, are all vehemently opposed to the pious opinings of the Stalls and Tim Ruttens, but they’ve been going against public opinion for 30 years, so why stop now. Meanwhile, we COULD be billions richer if people focused on our getting more of our fair share from State and the feds.

As Rebel Girl said, we’re all paddling (and bailing).

And, it is hard to be sympathetic with LAUSD when they spend $230 million in bond money on a ski jump….er….new arts school.

http://witnessla.com/los-angeles-writers/2008/admin/lausds-pricey-arts-palace/

We are all, indeed, in the same leaky boat.

Back to paddling (and bailing).