California Conservative

“I know, Officer - you jus’ stopping’ me ‘cause I’m BLAAACK!”

Cops hear it every day, and although millions of hours and tax dollars are wasted each year to disprove false allegations, many blacks (and guilt-ridden whites) consider the non-existence of racial profiling as proof of an institutional cover-up that corroborates its existence.

Who needs more proof than that?

Trial lawyer Merrick Bobb, who faked portions of the Christopher Commission Report, blames “… the impossibly high burden of proof…” for the exoneration of the falsely accused. While Bobb may have forgotten the need for evidence, he ignores facts that show officers stopping blacks and Latinos at rates that are consistent with (or lower than) high Latino and black crime statistics.

How many innocent white people does he think the LAPD should shake down before LA cops can question these suspects? Because they are overwhelmingly black and Latino, Bobb says these “patterns demand a response” without explaining that taxpayers will waste millions more on trial lawyers like himself who profit by corrupting our police departments.

While most Americans easily dismiss Bobb and Mack’s arguments, we had no idea that millions of black Americans actually believe that our “genocidal government” created the AIDS virus in a laboratory to control black populations – or where such rumors came from – until Barak Obama introduced us to his “spiritual advisor”. Because police officers are the most prominent representatives of America’s “oppressive government,” it’s hard for some criminal suspects to not defend their bad behavior by initiating false complaints when arrested.

Cops who tire of the physical and political risks that come with stopping black suspects often move to safer (and more appreciative) neighborhoods. While those who serve within LA’s toughest areas are rewarded spiritually, they also risk being labeled as problem officers after their third false complaint. And if that complaint arrives during his third year of service, he may spend the next 27 doing everything he can to avoid criminals who might make a fourth (frustrated rookies call them drones). To trial lawyers like Bobb, benchwarmers who generate no complaints make better cops than those who foul out after four quarters of triple-doubles. After a while, cops ask themselves why they don’t simply ignore black criminals - The pay’s the same so why take unnecessary risks?

False allegations don’t hurt cops as much as the communities they try to serve. Some officers learn to avoid contact with black suspects, leaving vulnerable black communities to deal with them alone, unarmed and undefended. Crime and neglect further strain and dispirit these neighborhoods, where locals congregate on Sunday mornings to hear preachers blame white people (e.g., Republicans) for their sorrows.

Forty years after Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) convinced Americans to pay single black girls to have fatherless babies, his neglected offspring continues to join gangs while “locked down” inside Democrat-controlled public schools. After decades of neglect and disillusionment, some seek spiritual comfort. If lucky, they find someone like Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. If not, someone like Rev. Jeremiah Wright finds them.

Celebrated by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) in 2005, black theology requires pastors to convince their congregants that black people “must struggle daily under the burden of white oppression.” Democrats rely on activists like Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, and Jeremiah Wright to spread this message to foment racial disharmony and distrust to control the black vote. Few Americans considered that until now.

For more than three decades, Jeremiah Wright screamed FIRE in his crowded theater. But when America’s magical Negro introduced us to his spiritual advisor, even liberal Democrats choked on the hypocrisy. Wright backtracked a little at the National Press Club, blunting his government-AIDS fable with a vaguer US Government “is capable of anything.”

After years of sermons that routinely violated the Third and Ninth Commandments before thousands of susceptive parishioners, Wright’s theological and political peers are now expressing frustration not because of Wright’s abhorrent performances, but because of his willingness to enunciate his unrepentant bigotry days before the upcoming primaries. Wright tried to wrap himself in the skirts of “the black church” and found that embarrassed blacks and guilt-ridden whites were unwilling to defend him.

Pastor John of LA’s First AME Church was not hurt or disgusted by Wright’s sermons, but that “one of the most historic political campaigns in the nation’s history could be derailed by this pastor who has been needlessly callous, careless and insensitive in his remarks” – implying that they are true and would’ve been okay AFTER Barak Obama’s undeserved election.

Now that Jeremiah Wright has shown us the inside of black theology churches and how he ignores black-on-black crime to sell the voodoo of white-on-black racism, it’s easier to understand where someone like LAPD Police Commissioner John Mack and Merrick Bobb learned that white LA cops routinely engage in racial profiling. Mack attends the First AME Church.

Because Mack is a major player in LA’s racial politics, we can assume that he’s not subject to customary delusions of his co-parishioners. If so, it’s hard to imagine why he would deliberately spread false tales to his vulnerable constituents – unless to destabilize and influence his constituents in support of LA’s other corrupt political leaders – and trial lawyers like Bobb who profit from these beliefs.

In this effort, Mack and his peers are not unlike the foremen who once managed field slaves. Mack was flummoxed not by the non-existence of racial profiling within the LAPD, but by the fact that he might one day be forced to choose between reality and the witches’ brew of black theology.

For those who wonder why the networks and newspapers are dying, look no further than pseudo-journalists like Rachel Uranga. Her report this week about the LAPD’s recent murder spree reminded me of the biker who saves a girl from being eaten by a lion:

… the lion grabbed her by the cuff of her jacket and tried to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.

The biker jumped off his bike, ran to the cage and hit the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch. Whimpering from the pain the lion jumped back and let go of the girl. The biker then took her to her terrified parents, who thanked him endlessly.

A reporter saw the whole scene and, addressing the biker, said, ‘Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I saw a man do in my whole life.’

‘Why, it was nothing,’ said the biker, really. The lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and reacted the right way.’

‘I noticed a patch on your jacket,’ said the journalist.

‘Yes, I ride with an Israeli motorcycle club,’ the biker replied.

‘Well, I’ll make sure this won’t go unnoticed. I’m a journalist with the Times, and tomorrow’s paper will have this on the front page.’

The following morning the biker bought the paper to see if it indeed brought out the news of his actions. On the front page was the headline:

ISRAELI GANG MEMBER ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH

In 1999, Uranga was asked:

Q: What are your future goals?
A: To win the Pulitzer (laughs). Just kidding. I don’t care.
Q: Why not?
A: Because I just really want to be able to do the bigger stories I have in my mind.

Like real cops, REAL journalists report stories – they don’t come to work with stories they have in their minds. But while Rafael Perez (also an affirmative action hire) went to prison for creating stories, Rachel is a rising star at the Daily News.

My friends need not worry about fake journalists like Uranga any longer. The mainstream (aka dinosaur) media (MM) is being replaced by the Internet and cable news. Real journalists, like Daily News alum Michelle Malkin, successfully compete with their former employers. We are no longer forced to rely on Walter Cronkite to tell us “That’s the way it is…” Bloggers forced CBS to dump Cronkite progeny Dan Rather and the NYT is going the way of Air America. We now have choices.

My news sources:

I read the Times and Daily News for free on the Internet and watch/TIVO Fox News from 3-6 PM PST. Although the former rag LA Weekly still hawks vaginal rejuvenation, call girls, and “medical” marijuana, their journalism is usually more solid than LA’s MM.

Besides Malkin, giants like Drudge, Breitbart, or local bloggers like Patterico (a deputy LA County DA) and Mayor Sam provide free alternative stories that would horrify the mainstream mediocrity. And if those outlets are too unsophisticated for you, bona fide geniuses like UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh or Townhall columnists like Thomas Sowell are also available, free for the reading. We don’t need Uranga, Rather, or Cronkite – they need us.

So don’t let Uranga or her ilk upset you. She’d never make it on her own, and her employers can’t make it without your monthly subscriptions. And if you need to sell your car or find a puppy, there’s always Craigslist.

Fourteen years ago, I received an unforgettable telephone call:

“Officer Baker?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I’m Charlton Heston.”

My heart jumped – Moses was on the line!

“I heard about your case,” he began, “and after some checking with friends around town and in the LAPD, I have come to the conclusion that you were screwed… I have instructed my lawyers to provide for you any assistance that you may need to appeal your case.”

MY CASE stemmed from false charges filed against me after I questioned the legitimacy of criminal charges brought against police officers whose brutality was required by then-Mayor Tom Bradley’s civilian Police Commission. Although I had no excessive force complaints or history, I was criminally charged with beating a pedestrian during an arrest (no injuries) weeks after publishing a Daily News op-ed about the LAPD’s brutal use-of-force policies.

It’s hard to explain what being wrongly convicted is like. There’s no easy way to tell prospective employers that I was convicted - but it was a bum rap. They don’t care. The LAPD fired me despite their knowledge of my innocence, leaving me with two children, a mortgage, and few prospects. So when Charlton Heston called me on that spring day in 1994, he lifted my spirits in ways that no one else could.

A few months later, the Superior Court reversed my conviction and cited Judge Veronica McBeth and prosecutor David Sotelo for judicial and prosecutorial misconduct. But instead of being disbarred like Mike Nifong, Sotelo was rewarded with an appointment to the Superior Court Bench. (His affiliation with Warren Christopher and La Raza continues today.)

I returned to the LAPD in 1994 and retired in 2000.

Today, I spend my days writing, mentoring, and helping other wrongly accused defendants. My kids are grown and married, and I am happy, healthy and honored to live within a mile of the Heston’s home.

Charlton Heston, who marched with Martin Luther King before Democrats hijacked his dream, was deeply concerned about civil rights issues. One reporter wrote:

In late years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action. He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union’s refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in “Miss Saigon” was “obscenely racist.”

He attacked CNN’s telecasts from Baghdad as “sowing doubts” about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War. At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing.

Heston wrote in “In the Arena” that he was proud of what he did “though now I’ll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I’ll get a traffic ticket very soon.”

He would not and did not.

As good as my life it today, a day does not pass when I don’t thank God and Heston for his hand when I needed him. God blessed him, his friends, family, and his community with love, grace, virtue, and courage that so many in Hollywood abhor today.

Goodbye, my friend. I pray that you find your well-deserved place in Heaven.

While the far-left bias at the Los Angeles Times is not new, this sentence in Louise Roug’s farewell for William F. Buckley Jr caught my eye:

During one memorable encounter on ABC with Gore Vidal, however, Buckley lost his temper — responding with a homophobic slur and threatening to sock Vidal in the face when the author called him a “crypto-Nazi”.

Roug suggests that, while Vidal was justified to call Buckley a crypto-Nazi (he meant fascist), Buckley was not justified to call Vidal queer.

Why not? Is it because Buckley loathed socialist mediocrity or because Vidal happens to be queer and homosexual? His contempt for Vidal stemmed not from what the LA Times assumes was Buckley’s irrational fear of gay men, but from his contempt of Gore Vidal’s anti-American/pro-Communist advocacy (or what George Orwell described as pro-fascist).

While our sons and daughters risk their lives in the service of our country, betraying and dispiriting them to help our enemies demands universal contempt – especially within the only country where their sacrifice promotes freedom in the United States and around the world.

Some disagree, but when Ann Coulter called John Edwards a faggot, she attacked his pro-insurgency comments as a US Senator and not his unremarkable sexuality. But to defend Edwards, the media (e.g. Democrats) attacked Coulter’s remark as a slur against all homosexuals, whether genuine patriots or self-indulgent narcissists.

Assuming that “all blacks (gays, women, etc.) are alike” is a slur lost on liberals and Democrats alike. As Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient Leonard Matlovich has said: “… many gays are forced into liberal camps only because that’s where they can find the kind of support they need to function in society.” My gay friends agree, telling me that those who challenge liberal doctrine risk becoming as isolated as black students who pursue good grades – which may be why so many Democrats envy political unifiers like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

While Coulter and Buckley would not disparage real patriots like Gad Beck, Leonard Matlovich (USAF), or Commander Steve Hall (USN), calling a whiney trial lawyer like Edwards a faggot, or Gore Vidal queer, affords us precision that William Shakespeare would appreciate.

Robert “CJ” Parry has tipped another cow on LAPD’s command staff.

In this LA Times op-ed from March 16, 2008, Parry exposed how East Coast import William Bratton used this three-year-old shooting as a pretext to push for a series of politically-correct changes within LAPD’s Special Weapons & Tactics Team (SWAT) designed to appoint unqualified female officers. SWAT wives are understandably upset.

A Brief History

Appointing unqualified candidates to LAPD ranks is an old story. When LA politicians decided there weren’t enough women or minorities on the LAPD during the 1980s, then-Mayor Tom Bradley ordered the LAPD to accept more.

Unless each class graduated the correct ratio of black, brown, and female officers, none of the overwhelming number of highly qualified white officers could be hired either. When some women couldn’t vault walls, the walls were lowered. Written tests were made simpler. Some recruits even lacked the finger strength to fire their pistols. Another complained that her heavy badge hurt her shoulder and back and took a desk job.

Officers who questioned the fitness of these useless officers were sternly warned about workplace harassment rules. Some field training officers (FTOs) were forced to pass dangerously incompetent rookies or lose their rank and merit pay. Some rookies stood no more than five feet tall and others were appointed despite known criminal affiliations. And because female officers must use a greater level of force than their male counterparts (to compensate for skinny arms and legs), some have unnecessarily shot and killed unarmed naked teenagers. Despite some outrageous (but secretly settled) excessive force lawsuits, no female officer has ever been charged criminally for using excessive force on the LAPD or in California.

Certain organizations within the LAPD have remained free from LAPD’s affirmative action mediocrity.

Motorcycle Enforcement (Motors), for example, requires officers to be able to straddle a motorcycle without it tipping over. They must also know how to ride. Gravity and physics have a way of weeding out weak riders regardless of race or gender.

The other unit is SWAT. Throughout its 35 year history, SWAT officers have only lost one hostage despite thousands of dangerous incidents. Until recently, no officer was ever lost during an incident.

That’s the good news.

The Bad News

The bad news is that many of the LAPD’s lackluster rookies now comprise the LAPD’s mid- and senior level management today. One of them, Assistant Chief Sharon Papa, was promoted as a commander in 1997 after the LAPD was forced to absorb LA’s former bus police (MTA). Papa was promoted to chief of police there after chasing buses for seven years.

To find a way to shoehorn a female into SWAT, Bratton used this three-year-old shooting as a pretext:

… Police Chief William J. Bratton appointed a board of inquiry to examine the incident. Its mission, he said, was to investigate the officers’ tactics and other factors in the shooting. “For the safety of the public and officers, we need to understand intimately what transpired in that incident,” he said at the time.

In fact, the board did nothing of the sort. None of the SWAT officers from the Peña shooting were even interviewed by the panel, according to multiple sources. Indeed, the board’s eight members included fewer tactical experts (one) than attorneys (three). In its final report, the board acknowledged that it had been “ultimately precluded from gaining a full and complete understanding of what transpired in Peña until after this report was finalized.”

What’s more, Assistant Chief Sharon Papa privately promised the team shortly after the incident that the report would be aired openly, according to officers who were present. That didn’t happen either.

The final report — completed 15 months ago — has not been released. Many senior department officials have never seen it, and Times reporters have repeatedly requested it but have been turned down.

Rumors of the secret report got back to a SWAT wife. In this widely circulated message, she emailed Assistant Chief Sharon Papa on March 10th:

Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:08:57 -0700
From: “LAPD SWAT Wife”
To:”SHARON PAPA” sharon.papa@lapd.lacity.org>
Subject: Re: D TEAM wives

Recently a group of LAPD SWAT wives gathered to learn how to support our husbands and deal with our redefined roles after the death of the first SWAT officer. This has had an enormous ripple effect through the SWAT families. The reality of how easily that could have been our husband. And although it wasn’t we have been consumed with guilt and grief for the family that was affected. Now we have heard there are actions being taken to lower the hiring standard for getting into SWAT. Although I can’t speak for everyone the majority of us are offended that at this time of grieving that anyone would do this to these officers. We are concerned with the safety of our husbands, the father of our children if they are expected to go into these highly dangerous situations with someone who got in under a compromised standard.

Of the 60 men on SWAT 52 are married. It is widely believed this is an attempt to be politically correct and allow a female officer on the team. We do not begrudge a female making it on the team. And from what I understand neither do the men of SWAT. However, she needs to meet the same criteria. The motto of the SWAT team is “Uncompromised Duty Honor and Valor” this is compromising all those. You do not see the NFL, NHL, MLB lowering their standard to allow females to get to play. And those are entertainment organizations for profit. It defies common sense that a life saving organization would be willing to.

The SWAT selection certification process has been tried and tested. It has been in place for 20 years and it was approved by the city. If you watched Randy Simmons funeral or if you know any of the members of this elite division of law enforcement you would know it is working. Their record proves it. It doesn’t require change. Change is only good when something is not working. We will not sit quietly by and allow you to compromise our husbands safety.

Chief Papa responded two hours later:

Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:08:57 -0700
From: “SHARON PAPA” sharon.papa@lapd.lacity.org>
To: “LAPD SWAT Wife”
Subject: Re: D TEAM wives

I am not aware of any actions being taken to lower the standards for getting into SWAT. (BOLD ADDED) I do know that the LASD recently did a validation study of their requirements and our Chief wanted to have ours looked at as well to make sure our standards are still legally valid.

I will forward your inquiry to Chief Paysinger and Chief Roupoli since they would be involved in any review that may currently be underway. I appreciate your e-mail and certainly understand your concerns. Once I have more information, I will get back in touch with you.

When Parry’s op-ed was published a week later, it was clear that Chief Papa and Bratton knew all about the secret inquiry and had lied to the LAPD wives, possibly in violation of LAPD Manual sections 828 , 360, and 115.95, all of which ordinary officers could be suspended immediately without pay or terminated.

Two days later, the Los Angeles Police Protective League LAPPL attacked Bratton for the scheme.

I won’t blame Bratton or Papa, however. Bratton was hired for his East Coast discretion. This kind of politically correct secrecy illustrates why a police agency should never be controlled by a sleazy mayor or a wild band of anti-police lawyers.

Until civil service protections are restored and a real cop is appointed as the chief of police, we can expect more secrecy and mediocrity from the Mayor and Bratton.

Active or former officers or their wives are encouraged to contact me privately here.

When I trained rookie officers at LAPD’s Foothill Division twenty years ago, it was hard to ignore the low standards that the civilian LA Personnel Department was forcing onto the street:

• After eight months on the street, a rookie couldn’t read a Thomas Map.
• A rookie couldn’t hop a block wall to assist her partner “because her breasts were too big.”
• Another rookie left his training officer alone with gang members when called to the station.
• Another rookie didn’t have enough strength to fire her pistol.

Regardless of how America’s mediocrity deniers think these stories are, they are real. What’s worse – area captains forced training officers to pass minority and female recruits regardless of how dysfunctional they were as officers. As a result, LAPD standards plummeted:

• One obese affirmative action sergeant demanded free food from local eateries. He would return on weekends with his family, show his badge and demand free food for all of them.
• Another black officer boasted of on-duty sex and credit card fraud, threatening officers who objected.
• A female helicopter pilot disabled herself and partner when she lost control of a $2 million helicopter
• Other affirmative action cops raped women, stole narcotics, planted evidence, and shot innocent people.

But even after the Rampart scandal, white officers knew better than to complain of questionable behavior by some of their black counterparts. The only refuge for quality-conscious officers was SWAT and Motors - until now.

Robert C.J. Parry describes how Antonio Villaraigosa’s favorite lap dog is forcing the same mediocrity into SWAT:

Would you want the police SWAT team coming through the door to be the best of the best — the toughest, most highly trained, most elite tacticians in the Los Angeles Police Department — or would you want the team to “look like L.A.”? Would you want rescuers who had not lost a hostage in three decades, or would you want a team with heartwarming, multicultural diversity?

The LA Times Jonathan Chait is getting tired of the Clintons’ scorched earth tactics. In fact, he thinks it’s time for them to exit stage left:

Something strange happened the other day. All these different people, friends, co-workers, relatives, people on a liberal e-mail list I read, kept saying the same thing: They’ve suddenly developed a disdain for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Maybe this is just a coincidence, but I think we’ve reached an irrevocable turning point in liberal opinion of the Clintons.

The sentiment seems to be concentrated among Barack Obama supporters. Going into the campaign, most of us liked Hillary Clinton just fine, but the fact that tens of millions of Americans are seized with irrational loathing for her suggested that she might not be a good Democratic nominee. But now that loathing seems a lot less irrational. We’re not frothing Clinton haters like…well, name pretty much any conservative. We just really wish they’d go away.

The big turning point seems to be this week, when the Clintons slammed Obama for acknowledging that Ronald Reagan changed the country. Everyone knows Reagan changed the country. Bill and Hillary have said he changed the country. But they falsely claimed that Obama praised Reagan’s ideas, saying he was a better president than Clinton, something he didn’t say and surely does not believe.

It’s amazing that people on the left didn’t say anything about the Clintons when they directed their attacks at conservatives but now they’re frothing at the mouth now that they’re attacking a liberal. I won’t belabor the point that there is a double standard; that isn’t news. (more…)

In a town where jurors will give the benefit of the doubt to people like OJ, Phil Spector, Robert Blake, Cardinal Mahoney and Warren Christopher, I was surprised to read that an LA jury cleared the LAPD of being mean to Mitch Grobeson.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Grobeson, who calls himself Sergeant Mitch, was so preoccupied with his homosexuality that he negated his responsibility as a police officer to promote his personal activist gay agenda. Several gay LAPD officers told me how sick they were about his latest lawsuit against the LAPD, and how he had hurt the reputation and mainstreaming of gay officers.

During his failed career, Grobeson’s gay peers have performed their duties with steadfastness and quiet heroism. Some have been promoted to command positions. They got there not because they were gay, but because they were good cops. Conversely, Grobeson thought he deserved his badge and promotions because he was gay. In the end, even the jury disbelieved him by a wide margin.

Grobeson says he’ll appeal, but overturning a jury verdict is almost impossible. And unless he starts filing age-discrimination lawsuits against future employers, it’s not likely that he’ll darken LA’s doorstep any longer. No longer the gay blade, we can only hope that Mitch will devolve into the bitchy old queen he always was.

Michael has an interesting post up about Al Franken attending an event featuring Rep. Maxine Waters. Waters is one of the most out there liberals in Congress. What I found fascinating is that Rep. Waters once wrote Fidel Castro. Here’s what Michael posted about that letter:

Waters Wrote Fidel Castro To Urge Him Not To Deport Convicted Killer. “Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Panthers formerly known as Joanne Chesimard, fled to Cuba after being convicted of the 1973 execution-style killing of a New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster. The final shots to his head were fired as he lay wounded on the ground. Shakur’s friends helped her break out of prison. Federal officials have been trying to get her back from Cuba since she surfaced there in the 1980s. Despite Shakur’s murderous acts, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., wrote Cuban President Fidel Castro and urged him not to deport Shakur. Waters claimed Shakur had been persecuted ‘as a result of her political beliefs and political affiliations.’” (David B. Cooper Op-Ed, “Murderers Deserve No Part Of Clemency,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 9, 1999)

The name Assata Shakur rang a bell for me. Here’s why: (more…)

The Daily News reports that Los Angeles Unified School District officials have quietly hired two consultants to help improve their public image.

The recent hirings come in addition to a six-person communications staff with a nearly $1.4 million budget, an overall $10 million communications budget, and a separate consulting contract with Darry Sragow, who helps LAUSD develop communications strategies and policy issues.

Their online poll asks whether hiring consultants help improve LAUSD’s image. So far, more than 90 percent of respondents say NO.

But the question is not whether consultants will help improve LAUSD’s image, but why LAUSD and UTLA would bother to provide the education that our taxpayers and children deserve.

After doubling their budget during thirty years of decline, why would they? So far, their formula for failure has delivered nothing but ever-increasing budgets.

LAUSD’s 50 percent drop-out rates, bloated bureaucracy, hemorrhaging budget, abysmal test scores, drug- and gang-infested campuses threaten hundreds of thousands of children each day, and Admiral Brewer plans to waste $10 million to promote their image? Why do lipstick and pigs come to mind?

Q-Tips, Honda, and LA’s private schools don’t sell because of their advertising, but because they provide superior products and services at a reasonable price. Spend $10 million to promote OJ and, no matter how slick the campaign, you still end up with a double murderer. Spending $10 million to report that no one was shot at Venice High today is NOT progress…

The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but that train ain’t comin’.

H/T AJK