FOREWORD BY STAN LERNER: downtownster does not celebrate its first birthday until February, but I still feel compelled to post the TEN BEST downtownster blogs of 2009. And while I think all of our blogs have been great, these are the ones that readers read the most and gave us the highest level of props [...]
Archives: Politics
AFGHANISTAN ALL IN
There is never an end to the building of a country. The United States has been and always should be under construction. And all should know it to be true that good construction requires a solid foundation.
Subsequent to the September 11th 2001 terrorist attack on the United States there was great need for building, but [...]
L.A. City Council To Remove Marijuana “Hardship” Exemption
In what will be a disappointing move for medical marijuana providers and beneficiaries, the Los Angeles City Council is in preparation to close a legal exemption to the city’s marijuana law. Voters may remember when, in 1996, they approved Proposition 215 (the Compassionate Use Act), which made legal the production and consumption of marijuana for [...]
BARACK OBAMA’S NEW SUPREME COURT NOMINEE
Barack Obama recently announced his choice for the new Supreme Court justice. He has selected Sonia Sotomayor – apparently because of her impressive record and the fact that she is female and Latino.
Bravo to them both. But if the President really wants to shake things up with some bold choices, here are my picks for [...]
A BLOGSIDE CHAT WITH JAN PERRY
Jan Perry A Blogside Chat
It is late at night or early in the morning, hour fifteen of work has passed by some hours ago, and as the quiet of the night will often lead me to, I find myself reflective. My screenwriting obligations have precluded me from blogging the past few weeks as much as [...]
Obama’s Paradoxical Stance on Gay Marriage
All politicians make promises on which they cannot or will not deliver. That they do has to be one of the oldest truths in politics. You watch them at rallies and fundraisers, throwing promises out like confetti and know – with hardly a dash of cynicism – that political reality will swallow most of their [...]
The Best Pirates Are Swedish
Welcome, pirates, say I!
But wait – the word has had a somewhat ballooning course through Western culture – to what pirates do I refer? Certainly it is not to the ones lurking about and around the Somali high seas. Though they have the most ready claim to the title “pirate,” used with its original intent, [...]
It’s Draining Cats and Dogs: Senate Bill 250
The state of California is in for a very interesting succession of years. And that is putting it mildly! In the words of it’s governor: “California’s day of reckoning is here … Our wallet is empty. Our bank is closed. Our credit is dried up.” Next year, the state will have a 24 billion dollar [...]
Obama Must Either Try or Release Guantanamo Detainees
Foreword by Stan Lerner: Ben is a brilliant, rising star in the downtownster universe, whom in the case of Guantanamo detainees I disagree with vehemently—always the test of an editor. But it is the mission of downtownster to bring its’ readers the best of free speech—and as usual Ben makes a compelling case.
By his own [...]
Halting the Gay Marriage March: The California Supreme Court and Proposition 8
It has been a rough past few weeks for gays – especially those from California. First, their representative to the Miss USA Beauty Pageant, Miss California Carrie Prejean, disavowed her support of gay marriage on national television (introducing into the lexicon the weird term “opposite” marriage). Immediately following her loss to Miss North Carolina, the [...]
