Critics Slam Railyard Environmental Impact Report p. 2 Fishing Boat Catches Hell, Not Fish p. 2
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Cirque du Soleil Comes to Long Beach p.11 Dark Blue Mondaze Feeds the Hunger for Theatre p. 15
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
President Barack Obama was in Los Angeles to tape the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He flew to Chicago to cast his vote early -- a first for a sitting president. In doing so, he set an example for supporters to ward off a repeat of the 2000 Bush-Gore election fiasco. File photo.
The Pot Police By Kevin Walker, Community News Reporter
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Kyle Kazan, a retired Torrance police officer and member of LEAP, jokingly referred to the gathering as the “Woodstock against the drug war,” before describing the strain put on law enforcement agencies by the state and the federal war on drugs. “[When] a kid, 21-years-old, driving down the road gets pulled over and has marijuana… they [the police] book the marijuana into evidence,” Kazan said, describing tedious and often expensive police procedure involved in even the simplest pot citation. “That is very time- sensitive, the lab has to prove that
Pot Police/ to p. 5
He then launched into a pitch for early voting, which he called “really terrific.” It was typical of Obama not to dwell on or dig deep into the dirty tricks being deployed by his political enemies. But it’s not just him that’s the target, it’s millions of potential voters and American democracy itself that’s at stake, which is why a deeper understanding of the strategies and forces at play in the shadow election could prove vital in preserving our democracy, particularly if we face a replay of the 2000 election. The Romney campaign is clearly planning with this in mind, as it’s begun pushing a baseless narrative of Romney’s “momentum,” which supposedly makes him the front-runner.
Romney’s Bad Math
In the closing days of the 2000 election, Karl Rove and the Bush campaign peddled a similar narrative of Bush’s winning big. Rove told the conservative Washington Times that Bush would win “in the vicinity of 320 electoral votes,” picking up “50 to 51 [percent] versus 44, 45 percent” for Vice President Al Gore in the popular vote. Bush also spent several million dollars on TV ads in California, which he had no chance of winning. It was all pure B.S., but it helped create a mindset that gave Bush an edge throughout the protracted battle over the outcome of Florida, even though Gore was ahead in both the popular and the electoral college vote at the time. The Romney campaign’s strategy appears virtually identical, but as with so much else, the numbers don’t support him: Romney gained ground significantly after the first debate, but his momentum petered out around the time he lost the second debate. National poll averages have generally shown no clear trend over the past 2 to 3 weeks. The Princeton Election Consortium’s electoral vote metaanalysis, which aggregates all state polls and produces an electoral college result, based on all 2.3 quadrillion possible combinations, dropped from the 340 range for Obama before the first debate down to below 280, still a winning margin. It has since bounced back into Don’t Let Them Steal the Election/ to p. 1 7
November 2 - 15, 2012
n Oct. 25, the Art Theater in Long Beach hosted a fundraiser for the marijuana decriminalization group, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition or LEAP. The event featured a screening of the documentary Legalize It, which chronicled the failed 2010 Proposition 19. Had Proposition 19 succeeded, it would have effectively legalized the use of marijuana for anyone older than 21 in California. The movie was followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers and several prominent marijuana activists.
green leafy substance is marijuana… where are our priorities?” Kazan is not alone in believing that the national preoccupation with controlled substances, like marijuana, has put an undue burden on local law enforcement and has turned police attention away from violent crimes such as rape and murder. LEAP, which was started 10 years ago, has grown from a handful of police officers to more than 50,000 members, including judges, prosecutors, police and civilians. The organization supports members of law enforcement who see drug enforcement policies as wasteful endeavours that risk professional ostracism. Kazan and other members of
“And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”
“It’s a problem,” President Barack Obama said, when Jay Leno, of all people, finally brought the issue of voter suppression out of the shadowy underground and placed it center stage. “Our country’s always been stronger when everybody’s had a voice… We should be thinking about ways to make it easier for folks to vote, not to make it harder for folks to vote.”