In an odd convergence of diametrically opposed politics and figures who have advanced and set back the women’s movement in this country, Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor Sarah Palin are both in Los Angeles today for campaign events.

Clinton will speak tonight at a fundraiser for “Angelenos Go Green for Obama,” to be held at the Edison in downtown Los Angeles.

The event is being billed as the first zero-waste, carbon-nuetral political fundraiser. Electricity for the event will come from biodiesel generators and only compostable utensils and plates will be used.

It being Tinseltown, celebrities are a part of the package tonight with Meg Ryan, William Baldwin and Catherine Keener expected to attend. Jon Bon Jovi is slated to perform, although Chris Cornell was initially scheduled to entertain when the event was announced two months ago. No word was available on whether he will still appear.

Palin is speaking in Carson this afternoon at the Home Depot Tennis Stadium. Her campaign says she will answer questions submitted by text and email, which will most likely be culled to the few that match her limited range of simplified folksy talking points. I assume the three Black Hawk helicopters that just did a low pass over my place in Silver Lake were headed there, this being enemy territory.

Susannah Breslin at The Frisky is reporting on leaked info that Hustler Video is at work on an adult film inspired by GOP VP nom Sarah Palin entitled Nailin’ Paylin. I can’t help but wonder if this is the possible source of the racy “Palin Lookalike for Adult Film” Craig’s List post that Julia stumbled across this week? Given that the CL post specified “no anal required” and one of the leaked tidbits that Breslin reveals is that Nailin’ will feature “the Russians, who come knocking on her back-door,” it seems there must be multiple Palin-themed adult films in the works. Quelle surprise.

Via BoingBoing

Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be speaking at the Home Depot Tennis Stadium in Carson on Saturday.

While her handlers will surely keep any detractors miles away from the event, Courage Campaign, the online grassroots organizing network, is having a contest to see who can come up with the pithiest slogan to write on an airplane banner that will circle the event.

But you have to act quickly to get your enlightening, persuasive and informative zinger in the running. Deadline is tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 1st at 9 PM. Get snarking! (Thanks to tdookk.)

thumbnail: Fox News

One of the toughest things as a parent is teaching kids to respect others and appreciate the differences.  The harder part is to get them to understand that no one can help who they fall in love with, it just happens.  I am putting my fingers into action to support, even promote Equality California and their efforts to stop the close-minded attempt to overturn the court ruling and prevent people from marrying the one they love deserves attention.

The invitation just arrived in my email.  The exact location in LA is a secret for now.  BUT one of my favorite actor/comedians; Lily Tomlin is going to be a special guest at a “No on 8 Fundraiser” this coming Sunday.  The address will be revealed when you make your RSVP.

• The details: Sunday, October 5 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
  Hosted bar and complimentary hors d’oeuvres
  Minimum Donation $100
  Guests will be asked to contribute to defeat Proposition 8.
  For address, please RSVP to Erica by email or at 323.661.2071 x203.

flyer about tonight's meeting

Do you hate those obnoxious digital billboards as much as I do?

Seeing them on Sunset Boulevard is kind of Bladerunner and okay, but seeing them pop up in neighborhoods is really disgusting to me.

And after being hammered daily with all this Flex Your Power/Reduce Your Carbon Footprint bullshit, am I the only one who’s outraged by this vulgar and wasteful new trend? You tell me to leave the bathroom light off when I pee but you’re running a million candle-power billboard 24/7?

Residents of Silver Lake MAY have the chance to get rid of the eyesore on Silver Lake Blvd. by attending a City Council meeting TONIGHT at 7pm at the Michetorena School on Sunset. Sorry for the short notice but I only just now saw the flyer.

You can also call or email Eric Garcetti’s office (323-957-4500), not that I have any idea how much good that will do.

Please do what you can though - this digital billboard trend needs to be stopped.

This was tweeted by a friend on Twitter. I ’bout spit out the water I was drinking. Porn is always leading the way. (click image for all the deets.)

“No Anal required.”

Local artist Shepard Fairey who created the main “Hope” image for Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign has responded to some growing criticism about the image and what it suggests. This from a reply just posted on his blog:

“The Obama image is a positive image that is patriotic and in no way Socialist or Communist. Is your assertion that my poster is “RED” based on my use of the colors from the AMERICAN flag, one of which happens to be red? I have criticized the U.S. government in my work, though I am a patriotic American. I believe patriotism is about trying to follow your conscience and make the country the best it can be. You are obviously a nationalist who supports the U.S. unconditionally. Nationalism brought Hitler to power. I’m not interested in promoting that mentality.”

This flyer has been distributed around Los Angeles and probably other places, though it’s not the first to make this incorrect assumptions. I’ve seen people make claims that Shepard only ever does portraits of communists and socialist revolutionaries so therefor he must be making a statement like that about Obama. Usually pointing these folks to any number of the portraits of people he’s just a fan of like Ozzy Osbourne, Jay Adams, LL Cool J or Flava Flav is enough to get them to reconsider. I guess in this case he felt like a more direct reply was in order.

(Disclaimer: I met Shepard over 10 years ago and have considered him a trusted friend ever since.)

Want to see how much cash Mayor Antonio has raised in Florida for his election? Curious about how many employees at a particular development company have donated for a suddenly eminent domain happy city councilman? You have questions, the LA Ethics Commission has answers…

Huffington Post’s Fund Race, which allows anyone to see which Presidential candidates your neighbors are contributing to, isn’t much of a secret (or unique - many other sites allow similar searches). But if you want to get more local, and see who’s contributing to Los Angeles mayoral and City Council seats, check out the Campaign Finance database at the website for L.A.’s Ethics Commission.

By clicking on “2009 Municipal and LAUSD Election Totals” you can see find out how much money each candidate gearing up for election day March 3rd, 2009 has raised and from whom, and how much they’ve spent and where.

“Search Contributions” allows you to find out who donated by name, employer, city or state, and other criteria. (more…)

I recently sent my Senator, Dianne Feinstein, an email regarding oil drilling and energy in our local area.  Here is the full text of the email reply I received today from her office:

“Dear Mr. Mason:

Letter begins here.

Sincerely yours, 

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator”

Thanks, Dianne.  You can expect the same effort from me at the voting booth during your next Senate election campaign.

Note to S. F. :
Is this poster really a good idea? I mean, right here (Sunset and Maltman,) right now (yesterday– and I ride by this corner a few times a week,) at this point in the election? It seems like it could be useful for the McCain campaign. Can’t you just see a 527 luridly splashing it on a massive direct mailing sent out to scare the most impressionable, most easily misled “undecided” voters?

Has the Palin situation gotten me this jumpy? Uh, yah.

“Alleged” cease-and-desist letters and street art branding wars aside, I quote from the “warning” link on the Obey site: “Please use common sense and consideration when applying stickers or other propaganda materials.”

Or maybe it’s just guerilla marketing for the Obey fashion/music/home/cake mix line? (Btw, the money clip? Loves it.)

[Full disclosure: I have a "hope" sticker on my car. And I'm curious about how the jeans fit.]