If you want the complete audio recording of tonight's Desert Hot Springs City Council meeting you can find it here. First Councilmember Jan Pye was absent. An urgency item dealing with permitting city staff to work with the League Of California Cities on some upcoming litigation was added to the agenda. The three items on the closed meeting agenda were: 1. A request for leave to present a late claim from Betty Schiermeister. Denied 4-0. 2. The anticipated litigation from BIA - no reportable action. 3. Anticipated litigation against somebody - no reportable action. Public Comments Rossie Stobbs says it's time to start working on ...

I’m looking forward to a particularly grueling day at the office tomorrow. Therefore, I’m going to try to hit the sack early tonight. More white supremacist craziness, this time in Arizona. The mass confusion and protests continue in Iran. The grand Ayatollah seems to be stuck. He has supported President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It seems clear that the election was rigged. Harriet Miers and Karl Rove seem to have a day in front of the House Judiciary Committee. Wow, could it be? Could the wheels of justice be turning? Nope, I must be ...

A ...

They (almost) always start with bickering and end with happy coupling. If you had to live inside one of these movies, which would it be? And which of the sparring partners would you most want to fall madly in love with (as soon as you were done fighting)? Tell us all in the comments. ...

I went back to work today. Well, I went back last Thursday but after two days, I was bedridden all weekend. Monday, The Greg® drove me back to the doctor for more 'roids and some reassurance that, "Yes, Brian. You will be able to sit and walk normally again." Oy. Today I was able to work about six hours before I had to call it quits. Me and Mr. Vicodin are now having a lovely evening washing dishes and grooving to my new fave song that I saw last week on BFF. Awesome, right? ...

Ciao! is the second album I've heard this year that ends with an incongruous 10+ minute disco extravaganza, and unlike the Juan Maclean Tiga succeeds completely. There's something to be said for saving the best track for the end. It almost makes you forget the excursions into Toxic Bass that pollute the first half of the album. A song called "Sex O'Clock" should have a killer hook, hilarious lyrics, or both, but of course gives us neither; "Luxury" sounds damn good now but will suck in two weeks after the words sink in. Can I call this neo-electroclash? Or ...

Opposite Ends of the Comedy Spectrum, Pt. 1Saturday evening, Caesar and I rode the Passport to Downtown Long Beach for a quick dinner at The Pike. I actually convinced him that we needed to be in the area as early as possible to make sure we didn't miss the show. Unfortunately, we arrived too early and by the time we finished eating, we still had an hour and a half to kill so we wandered through Borders then down toward the fast-spinning ferris wheel.We bypassed that, deciding instead to wander through the Romero Britto art ...

Despite the recession the high-end art market continues to thrive. A one-of-a-kind six foot sculpture by Takashi Murakami and Pharrell Williams fetched more than $2 million at the prestigious Art Basel exhibition in Basel, Switzerland. The sculpture sold within 20... ...

On the one year anniversary that same-sex couples began marrying in California, Equality California and the Jordan/Rustin Coalition (JRC), the black LGBT advocacy group headed by Ron Buckmire, begin a marriage equality and visibility campaign targeting black communities in Los... ...

Responding to a tidal wave of anger from many of the Administration's strongest LGBT supporters, President Barack Obama will extend some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, reports Ben Smith at Politico. The move, which begins to mirror the... ...

SANTA BARBARA, CA  -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called on President Obama to sign an executive order suspending the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, according to the Advocate magazine. Referring to the repeal of the ban, Reid told Advocate reporter Kerry Eleveld that, "My hope is that it can be done administratively." Eleveld added that, "A Democratic aide later clarified that Reid was speaking about the possibility of using an executive order to suspend discharges or perhaps halting enforcement of the policy by changing departmental regulations within the Department of Defense." As well, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ...

The Episcopal Diocese of California will mark this year's San Francisco Pride Celebration & Parade by celebrating a Pride Mass, staffing a booth one the Pride Festival grounds and sending a diverse contingent down Market Street during the Pride Parade. Set for Saturday June 27 and Sunday June 28, Pride events are free and open to the public. The Pride Mass Our Bishop, the RT. Rev. Marc Andrus, will join Lutheran Bishop Mark Holmerund in celebrating our annual Pride Mass. Set to start at 10:30 AM, we will worship on the street at the location where we gather to march ...

Let's pretend you wrote a play, and Meryl Streep and Debra Monk decided to do a public reading of it...? So did two of Streep's talented kids: Henry Wolfe Gummer, Grace Gummer, and fine actors Joe Paulik, and John Rothman It really happened to up-and-coming (and incredibly talented) playwright Don Cummings.Don Cummings wrote about his impressions of the experience on his blog...I know Don well. For many years. One of my nearest and dearest...And I couldn't be happier for him.Was sooo glad to attend this exciting night in the theater. It was magic!Keep an eye and ear ...

It really awesome working in the oil and gas industry. Big toys, big machineries, hard steels and hardhats are all part of the job. Grit, grime, brine and oil is part of everyday operations. If you're not doing work, it shows on your coverall and boots. Stains on the coverall and scratches on the boot surface are tell tale signs. But those are nothing compared to the rare occasions that a drilling rig (rigs and platforms are different things) comes along.The photo is an example of a drilling rig. It's humungous!This thing drills really deep.I haven't been ...

The National Flag Football League of Atlanta, its season getting bogged down thanks to repeated closures of the athletic fields at Piedmont Park, got creative on Sunday: They claimed a grassy pasture at Grant Park, put down their field markings and made it their home for a day. Meanwhile, the league is searching for backup facilities for the remainder of the season in case the fields at Piedmont close again. Even light rain the day before their usual Saturday games has scrubbed their schedule at Piedmont. The games on Sunday were held to make up portions of the league’s schedule from ...

Mozilla just announced Mozilla Service Week which will be held September 14 - 21, 2009. This week is a push to connect people who can help make the web work better for someone in the community with... I'm a genderqueer, filmmaker, returning student, videoblogger, computer enthusiast, runner, ex-smoker, michigan festival worker, and a geek through and through. Apparently I enjoy sharing my personal life with strangers on the internet. ...

good morning! next week transformers: revenge of the fallen opens in theaters (june 24th) and the cast has been premiering the movie all over the world - japan, spain, germany (where megan fox wore that incredibly sexy & revealing dress) and yesterday london - where super sexy star josh duhamel arrived at his hotel looking all casual but it wasn't long before mr. duhamel hit the red carpet looking totally dapper in his suit - check out josh's handsome transformation ... AFTER THE JUMP! doesn't he look great?!? damn - his wife fergie is ...

hey hey! thankfully at the very last second i managed to score myself a ticket to see bat for lashes down at the el rey tonight - i almost thought i was going to miss seeing natasha khan but everything worked out in the end ... phew ... i can't wait to see her play live again (i saw her back in august '07) before i leave - i've got the brand new mariah carey track obsessed from her upcoming album memoirs of an imperfect angel (due out on ...