The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California recently made big news when it filed suit against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for failing to provide military veterans with housing and care to which they are entitled at the VA’s West Los Angeles campus. Another lawsuit, which the ACLU previously filed (and won) [...]
Toward the end of The Tillman Story, a riveting new documentary about football/war hero Pat Tillman and his family’s reaction to the circumstances of his death in Afghanistan, Vietnam war veteran Stan Goff describes the film as “an opportunity for reality to break through.” Goff is referring to largely unknown reasons why top military officials [...]
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post, Rabbi David Nesenoff ascribes this incendiary opinion to the legendary journalist Helen Thomas, who was recently forced to retire after the rabbi posted an impromptu interview he had conducted with Thomas on the internet: “The Jew has no connection with the land of Israel.” Nesenoff then writes: “And why? Because, as Thomas went on to explain to me, ‘I’m from Arab descent.’ That’s it? That’s all you got? Do we all travel with only our parents’ stereotypes to guide us, never going beyond them to get to a peaceful destination?”
After he heard about Vet Mentor, a new program run by The Veterans Project that connects military veterans seeking a career in the entertainment/media industry with experienced professionals, Marine vet Rick Reyes contacted me about his creative aspirations. We quickly found common ground. Rick told me of his interest in comedy, and I told him I felt it necessary to infuse our advocacy with a dose of humor so as to humanize post-combat warriors and reach as much of the public as possible.
Wyclef Jean’s defensive and amateurish video response to legitimate questions about his NGO, Yéle Haiti, suggests doubts about the charity are well-founded. Under fire for alleged financial improprieties and the perception he’s in over his head trying to raise funds on a massive scale for earthquake victims in Haiti, Jean simply ignored concerns about Yéle’s ability to compete with larger and more established groups such as the American Red Cross.
At a public hearing yesterday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Chad Hummel, the lead defense attorney in Roman Polanski’s criminal matter, wanted it known that although he had recently asked for an in-chambers meeting to confer about one particular issue of “great sensitivity,” he had never suggested anything else shouldn’t be discussed in open court. Judge Peter Espinoza didn’t seem to regard the issue as all that sensitive, and revealed Hummel was alluding to a witness who soon might become unavailable to testify.
Demonstrating the same lack of self-esteem as prisoners who beat up child molesters, noisy segments of the American population continue to hyperventilate over Roman Polanski as if the sexual abuse of minors were not already sufficiently condemned by our society. Among those who believe there is compelling evidence Polanski committed the various offenses (such as rape, sodomy and furnishing a minor with drugs) he was initially charged with, few express criticism of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for its decision not to prosecute the defendant for those alleged crimes.
When Emily Bazelon of Slate.com recently asked Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley about the Roman Polanski case, “Cooley’s deputy tried to shush him.” But the DA was apparently in no mood to remain silent. According to Bazelon: “Cooley wanted to hammer home the simple point that Polanski cannot escape the guilty plea he made 30 years ago. ‘The plea is airtight,’ he said. ‘The plea is the Bible.’”
