Ross A. Lincoln

As reported by our good friends, the Stuggling LA Times, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger*, has weighed the options and determined that when it comes to negotiating a new budget, the most effective tactic? Human Shields: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has prepared an order to cut the pay of about 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a budget is signed. Administration officials said Schwarzenegger was expected to sign the order, a...

UPDATE: Further down the page, I refer to Jonah as an idiot. That's not really fair, and I apologize. He's a fu an incredible idiot: One small point in response (I know, I know: Why bother?). The 13th amendment lists involuntary servitude and slavery as different things. If they were the same, the founders wouldn't have wasted the ink repeating themselves. In case you're curious, here's a brief description of just how much of an...

We at LAist are sad to report that there is no longer any point to making art, recording music or even writing something in that Live Journal we all know you have (even if you've set it to "private" so no one knows how much you really hate that one friend of yours.) Everything our civilization could possibly contribute to the universe has been effectively and entirely topped by 20 contestants - three surly, drunken...

Usually, the historical portrait of a famous warrior is either base hagiography or black legend, designed to vilify or venerate without really minding too much about what actually happened, as long as the subjects know that god/the gods/Lenin/George Washington specifically approves of and fully endorses the regime, or condemns it as the hated enemy. Not so with Genghis Kahn, a brutal conqueror who really was just about as incredible as you've heard. We're talking about...

Though it's not as high profile as the magical adventures we had on Super Tuesday, there's an election tomorrow and it's of critical importance for everyone in the State who isn't a landlord or a massive corporate entity. In addition to various local elections, there are two propositions on the ballot tomorrow competing for your vote on seemingly the same issue - Prop 98 and Prop 99. Both propositions aim to amend Eminent Domain law...

Combining the thrill of the crime scene with the the dry humor of a better than average sitcom, an LAPD sqaud car collided, in full view of local residents, with a telephone pole on the 300 Block of Ave 57 in Highland Park, while in pursuit of a suspect. According to officers and witnesses on the scene, the suspect was believed to have brandished a handgun, fled on foot, ditched his weapon, and escaped into...

The ongoing economic meltdown (caused by the uniquely American combination of self absorbed consumption and delusional self destruction, otherwise known as the "housing boom") has become so convoluted and terrifying that it's starting to feel like science fiction. However, as the LA Times' indispensible LA Land blog makes clear, to make the most sense out of things, we should be boning up on Jonathan Swift, not Heinlein. That's because even as California's housing economy...

There are things that should have turned out, you know, good, but unfortunately didn't. It's an extremely long list. George Lucas should have been banned from going within 50 yards of a word processor when it came time to write The Phantom Menace. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip should have been more than a terrible romantic comedy (minus, inexplicably, the comedy.) And The Fall should have been a great film. I honestly, really wanted...

Last week, the attention of LAist's family of contributors was directed to Yahoo Music blog List of the Day, and an entry called The Ten Most Annoying Singers. Now normally, we love lists like this. Not only do we get to vent our seething jealousy of the success of idiots, but much needed schadenfreude washes over us like an embittered baptism. Now, no disrespect to Rob O'Connor (who frankly has a job we'd love), but...

There's a primary afoot and, if reports from all over the country can be believed, voter turnout in every state has consistently exceeded expecations. That ought to come as no surprise, considering that we're still talking about it, instead of fending off the latest iteration of Swift boating. Ordinarily, by this point in the game the remaining primaries would be mere formalities, Kabuki performances held mainly to support the pretense that the people who bother...