OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Friday, October 29 Long Beach police go into gang-swarming mode tonight, falling upon a mob, detaining them, sitting them on curbs, circling them with helicopters. The gang, known as Pedal Movement, which is a pretty lame name for a gang, I myself have always been partial to the elegant simplicity of Bloods … THOUGH I COMPLETELYHONOR THE BEAUTY THAT IS CRIPS, COMPLETELY DOWN THE MIDDLE HERE, FELLAS … anyway, Pedal Movement is a completely lame name for a group involved in drugs and violence, which is pretty much how they were treated tonight. The only way the name Pedal Movement wouldn’t be lame is if Pedal Movement were a bike safety group, which it is—in fact, tonight when Pedal Movement was ambushed it was on a ride designed to PROMOTE BIKE SAFETY. In an interview with LBPost.com, Pedal Movement’s Ron Sandlin and Graham Baden described in detail how organizers had continually contacted members of the Long Beach Police Department—uh, Tasha Day, LBPD Special Events Coordinator, they’re still waiting for a call back from you. Oh, and William Doll, Special Assistant to Mayor Bob Foster? You, too. They made repeated calls, went through numerous channels to inform folks what they intended to do and got nothing back. So they and about 100 riders head out tonight on a ride to PROMOTE BIKE SAFETY and they are trounced upon like they were on a ride NOT PROMOTING BIKE SAFETY. This would be lame anywhere, but is inexplicable in a town promoting itself as bike friendly. The thing to remember here is that I, in no way, meant to disparage or denigrate the Crips brand in any way. We good?

Saturday, October 30 Be cool, Downey.   

Sunday, October 31 Really. Chill.

Monday, November 1 So, the election is tomorrow and I’ve seen more of these really awful bumper stickers that say something like “How’s that Hopey, Changey Thing Working Out For You?” Quite well, thank you. For
the first time in two years, I’ll be able to get health care, having been denied for that time because I’d egregiously been born with a slightly leaky heart valve. The stock market, which appeared to be heading to single digits under the previous administration, is now rock solid above 11,000. I haven’t heard of any banks failing, the
American auto industry appears strong, if we’re to judge by Ford’s just-announced record profits. Oh, and the troops are finally coming back from Iraq after being flung out there by the previous administration with apparently no thought to purpose or plan. So, yeah, it’s going pretty well. Now, I know those stickers are designed
to tweak folks as being naïve for putting so much belief in President Barack Obama, but it’s been less than two years since he took office. I don’t think any of his supporters thought he would clean up the mess that George W.
Bush left, that mess being the political equivalent of the area directly underneath a rest-stop bathroom glory hole. Here’s hoping for a happy ending.

Tuesday, November 2 Let me just say how happy and proud I am to live in California. While the rest of the country is losing its mind in today’s elections—Islamic law is now illegal in Oklahoma, though it was never in effect. Watch out Klingon Code of Conduct!—California keeps its cool. Meg Whitman’s millions lose by double digits, same for Carly
Fiorina’s smugness. Locally, self-promoting buttinski Star Parker, whose idea of limited government was to tell people who they could have sex with and when they could have babies, got about 20 percent of
the vote as the Republican nominee for Congress in the 37th district. Twenty percent running against Laura Richardson, who is by acclamation one of the worst members of Congress. Hey, Star, do you know who could
have gotten 20 percent running as the Republican nominee? Anyone.

Wednesday, November 3 Yeah, I dunno if I mentioned it, but I was a sportswriter for a long time and I still write about the subject from time to time when I want to get insulted online as well as financially. Anyway, there’s this thing that occurs in sportswriting, where someone will write something and all of a sudden everyone is writing it even though it may not have anything to do with the truth. For instance, someone wrote or said that USC’s recent football game against Oregon was being approached by the Trojans as “their bowl game.” Soon, everyone was saying and writing this despite the fact that not only had anyone associated with USC said this but when asked if this was “their bowl game” they, to a man, said absolutely not. Anyway, I bring this us up because there’s a story coming out of the
just-completed election that its outcome is somehow historic and points to the strength of the Tea Party and its defacto leader, Real Housewives of Wasilla star Sarah Palin. OK, so here’s the thing: First, the election was only historic in that virtually every President in history loses seats in the House of Representatives in their first
midterm election after taking office. Happened to FDR, happened to Reagan. It’s a record amount, yes, but that probably owes more to the fact that a lot of those were Republicans that got pushed to the Democrats in the Obama landslide. As far as Palin is concerned, if you want to give her credit for the incredible success of winning House
seats in the Deep South, have at it. But if you’re going to credit her with wins then what do you say when she campaigns for Carly Fiorina and Fiorina gets her doors blown. And how about Sharron Angle in Nevada, who got planted by stud muffin Harry Reid after Palin vigorously campaigned for her? And in Delaware, where her candidate
Christine O’Donnell was beaten by nearly 20 points. Or in Alaska—Palin’s own state—where her hand-picked champion got beat by write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski. Oh, and you who else got a Palin endorsement? Star Parker.

Thursday, November 4 Palin in 2012! Pleeeeease!