Free Republic

Eve of Justice Candlelight Demonstrations Planned for Prop 8 This Wednesday, March 4th, Eve of Justice will hold candlelight demonstrations in cities across the state of California in solidarity against the passing of Proposition 8. The event will fall on the evening before the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the validity of Prop 8. In Los Angeles, the demonstration will be held at 5:30 PM on Olvera Street, Downtown LA. MC’s will be Alec Mapa (Ugly Betty) and Lisa Powell. Also expected to attend is Jenny Pizer of Lambda Legal, who will be arguing before the Supreme Court...

LOS ANGELES – Barely a year ago, Antonio Villaraigosa's political star seemed anything but luminous.His wife divorced him after he admitted an affair with a Spanish-language television reporter. A court blocked his high-profile move to seize control of Los Angeles' troubled school system. News columnists charged that a notorious self-promoter was getting his public comeuppance.And yet the Los Angeles mayor is soaring again in the City of Angels. He is running virtually unchallenged for re-election in March against a field of under-funded unknowns. He is widely discussed as a likely 2010 gubernatorial candidate. Villaraigosa, who emerged from a difficult upbringing...

Former South Bay lawmaker considers run at governorship SACRAMENTO - Former South Bay Republican congressman Tom Campbell - a fiscal conservative, social moderate and respected academic who twice before unsuccessfully sought statewide office, is eyeing a possible run in 2010 to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Campbell, 55, filed papers last week to form an "exploratory committee" for governor, which allows him to begin raising money for a potential bid. He joins two other GOP moderates from Silicon Valley - state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay chief Meg Whitman - among Republicans who have expressed interest in running. On...

Designer Anand Jon faces new rape charges LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California officials unsealed new rape charges against celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon on Thursday, bringing the number of women he is accused of raping or sexually assaulting to 20. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California officials unsealed new rape charges against celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon on Thursday, bringing the number of women he is accused of raping or sexually assaulting to 20. Jon, 33, who once appeared on television show "America's Next Top Model," is accused of luring women back to Los Angeles to work as models and then...

Los Angeles (AP) -- In a town that thrives on scandal, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hasn't disappointed with the revelation he had an extramarital affair with a television reporter. The question now is whether voters will make him pay for it. The first-term Democrat has been struggling to make a show of normalcy at City Hall as his troubled personal life played out on front pages and TV newscasts. On Friday, he again struggled to turn a new page as he faced questions about the girlfriend who covered him as a TV newscaster. "It's time to move on and move on...

RUSH: Now, this David Vitter thing. Have you noticed...? You know, we have Larry Flynt out there now, and Flynt is taking credit here now for outing David Vitter, and Flynt says, "Well, we're going to find some Democrats in this list, but probably we'll throw 'em back in the river, because Democrats are not hypocrites on this. Democrats are not out there talking about moral values." Well, that may be true, and I'm not naïve and I understand this, but I gotta tell you something. Have you noticed when Democrats have sex outside of marriage, even with interns, it's...

This theory is by no means foolproof. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, remains popular despite an affair with his campaign manager's wife. Former Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) was unseated in the mid-'90s amid groping allegations that would make Schwarzenegger blush. But it may well be that Republicans are better at using their opponents' sexual peccadilloes against them, summoning up the moral outrage among voters that can be deadly in a close race. It also doesn't help roving-eyed Democrats that women are a mainstay of the party, and women don't appreciate men who cheat. Villaraigosa, a Democrat who is...

A judge Friday delivered a stinging rebuke to Los Angeles' labor and political leadership, barring the city from enforcing a ballyhooed new ordinance that would have extended the city's "living wage" protections to workers at hotels near Los Angeles International Airport. The eight-page order by Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe went far beyond merely blocking a law that had been considered a point of pride for the city's powerful labor interests. As a practical matter, Yaffe dealt a political defeat to the City Council, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the union that championed the law. During a yearlong political and...

Mayor vetoes dog-food settlement BY KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer LA Daily News Article Last Updated:11/20/2006 05:28:52 PM PST Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today vetoed the controversial $2.7 million settlement with a Los Angeles firefighter tricked into eating dog food, after reviewing photos that showed the firefighter had engaged in hazing and pranks himself. The mayor's veto - his first in office - sends the settlement back to the City Council, which had approved the payout Nov. 8. "The behavior underlying this case must be eliminated in our city workforce," Villaraigosa said this afternoon. "At the same time, settlements of this magnitude...

White House adviser Karl Rove is scheduled to speak tomorrow at the annual conference of the federally funded, left-wing, open-borders-advocacy group, the National Council of La Raza. If he does not want his speech to look like an act of appeasement, he should confront La Raza on its opposition to commonsense policies designed to secure both U.S. borders and U.S. pocketbooks. La Raza, which means “The Race” in Spanish, has denounced as “horrendous” and “appalling” the House immigration bill passed in December, which was sponsored by Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.) and supported by the overwhelming majority of House Republicans....

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving to shore up an area of vulnerability in his re-election campaign against his trailing Democratic opponent, Phil Angelides. On Tuesday at an event in L.A., he will announce the formation of Hispanic Families for Arnold. When he was elected in the 2003 recall election, Schwarzenegger garnered 34 percent of the Latino vote, a good total given that the replacement Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, is Mexican-American. But in some recent polls matched up against Angelides, Schwarzenegger is running under 20 percent. Forty to fifty community leaders and their families will join Schwarzenegger at the...

Weekend Talk Show *Preview* for 5/27 - 5/28/06 (not the live thread)The main message is the Sunday Shows.  Message 1 will be the Saturday Shows and message 2 will be the show guest links post.  Then I'll post the ping list.ABC This Week (George Stephanopoulos) Meme: The power of the MSM is unassailable!watch as they destroy the evil right wingers and crown the good progressives while blaming everything on the United States (It's what they do best) Topics: Reports of a massacre in Haditha, IraqThe immigration debate Guests Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. Duncan Hunter doesn't realize it yet, but he's...

MEXICO CITY – Mexican lawmakers issued a declaration of support for immigrant protests planned in the United States on Monday and said they will send a delegation to Los Angeles to show their solidarity. The declaration, issued late Thursday by all the political parties in the lower house of Congress, contrasts with the position of Mexico's Foreign Department, which has said it will discipline any consular officials who take part in the protests. The delegation of lawmakers will meet with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, it said in a news release from Congress. “The only thing we are looking for...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President Bush's announcement of new details on a purported 2002 hijacking plot aimed at a downtown skyscraper, and described communication with the White House as "nonexistent." "I'm amazed that the president would make this (announcement) on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels," the mayor told The Associated Press. "I don't expect a call from the president _ but somebody." Bush has referred to the 2002 plot before but he publicly filled in the details Thursday. Bush said Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of...

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ("AV") is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and I encourage everyone to help the Democrats promote him in any way they can. He's been selected to give the State of the Union rebuttal in Spanish, and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi said in a joint statement that they're "proud to have his diverse voice within the party." I encourage you to increase that pride by highlighting his many accomplishments... [See just some of his many accomplishments at the link]

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa failed Wednesday for a second time to collect the votes needed to confirm an attorney who helped sue the city over the homeless to a commission dealing with homeless services. The council voted 6-4 in favor of mayoral appointee Doug Mirell, two votes shy of the number needed to place him on the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Although Councilman Jack Weiss tried unsuccessfully to delay a vote until next week, Councilwoman Jan Perry pushed for a vote on Mirell, who helped the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California win an injunction and legal...

LOS ANGELES A consultant to top state Democratic leaders has admitted that he molested two brothers while working at a Y-M-C-A more than 30 years ago. John Robert Stevens was an adviser to former Governor Gray Davis and Assembly speakers Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-yah-ry-GOH'-sah), Herb Wesson and Fabian Nunez. In April, he testified in a deposition for a lawsuit accusing the Y-M-C-A of Metropolitan Los Angeles of failing to protect the boys from Stevens' abuse. He admitted he fondled and masturbated the brothers, who were then 13 and 10, when he was youth director of the Rio Vista Y-M-C-A in South...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Entering a fight over union rights that could have national implications, Sen. John Kerry warned Thursday that a ballot initiative backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could tip the balance of democracy by muzzling the voice of working people. Proposition 75 would force public employee unions, such as those representing teachers, firefighters and prison guards, to seek written permission from members before using dues for political purposes. Kerry, speaking outside a downtown firehouse, said the initiative would condemn workers to "a completely unfair system." The proposal "represents part of an ongoing effort by the Republican Party to...

LOS ANGELES - Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa unseated Mayor James Hahn on Tuesday to become the city's first Hispanic mayor in more than a century, confirming the rising political power of Latinos in the nation's second-largest city.After a lackluster term tainted by corruption allegations at City Hall, Hahn was turned out of office in favor of a high school dropout and son of the barrio who turned his life around to become speaker of the California Assembly and then a member of the Los Angeles City Council.With 70 percent of precincts reporting, Villaraigosa had 202,861 votes, or 59 percent, to 140,416...

Villaraigosa Renounces MEChA Past After Bruin Alumni Association Campaign May 12, 2005; Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa yesterday renounced the militant Chicano college organization MEChA he once led at UCLA, following a campaign by the Bruin Alumni Association to publicize his radical ties. As reported in today’s La Opinion by reporter Jazmin Ortega, Villaraigosa stated “I am not in agreement with most of [MEChA’s] precepts. … Of course I renounce its philosophy.” The comment was in response to a reporter’s question at a press conference and stemmed from four days of sustained demands by the...

May 8, 2005; Los Angeles, CA – The Bruin Alumni Association announced the start of a 10-day media and protest blitz to educate the citizens of Los Angeles about current mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa’s radical background as a leader of the UCLA chapter of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) from 1972-1975. The BAA will make the first of multiple protest appearances at the Studio City Rally for Villaraigosa, Sunday, May 8th, 6:30 pm, at 11514 Ventura Blvd.

Filed at 11:09 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats are calling President Bush's trip to Latin America a ruse to gain Hispanic votes at home. In the Democratic radio address aired Saturday, Antonio Villaraigosa, speaker emeritus of the California State Assembly, said the trip is an act of pre-campaign anxiety. ``The president's trip this weekend to Latin America is part of an orchestrated strategy to curry favor with Latino voters in the United States,'' Villaraigosa said. ``But our community knows the difference between rhetoric and results. They know the difference between pandering and producing.'' Villaraigosa said Bush has given only...