Austrian model/host Bruno (aka Sascha Baron Cohen, aka Borat) was snapped trying to get a comment out of fellow Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger about the recent decision making gay marriage legal in California. (via Slashfilm)

Unfortunately, the site where most of the pics and more details originally appeared has pulled them and issued an apology, which seems unusual since these are snapshots, not stolen footage. Maybe the studio behind the upcoming Bruno film is striking a deal with bloggers who are catching Bruno out in public… if this was in public.

One commenter at Just Jared writes:

It wasn’t (real) - they shot the scene like 12 times outside the L.A. Farm restaurant in Santa Monica.

Which begs the question - is Schwarzenegger working as a SAG actor without anyone reporting on it?

In last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times was this clever promotional “ballot” for “Recount,” which hits HBO next Sunday. I know I shouldn’t be that excited by it, but I remember the 2000 election drama that the film depicts vividly, and, besides, I’m a movie nut more than a news junkie, so what a combo.

I’m also impressed by the posters that have been wheatpasted around Los Angeles for the film. I never have a camera on me when I see these, but the good folks at HBO were able to provide me with digital copies to show here (shown above).

While we laughed at how moronic the Florida balloting system was, who’d have thought that eight years later California would still be having issues of its own with the punchless Ink-A-Vote system and just poorly conceived ballot layouts? Instead of swinging chads, hanging chads, and that bastard dimpled chad, we just had the double bubble voting trouble… lets just hope its resolved by November (if not the June 3rd state primary, but that would be wishful thinking).

As for memories, the night of 2000 election was a weird one for me. (more after the jump)

I’d booked a last second gig on an MTV project, PAing on a Jaz Z album release party being held at a roller rink in Northridge, and borrowed my roommates car for the 45 minute drive. While I worked, I kept hearing conflicted rumors of who’d won the tight race, not yet knowing that it would be almost a full month before the actual results would be announced.

For the first time ever, I also tried Red Bull, which was free, and relatively new. I drank about four or five of the tiny cans, which I thought were “sample sizes.”

When the event ended, I was PUMPED… and then discovered my roommate’s car had been towed, along with a bunch of other event attendees, from a private lot that everyone figured would be okay since the business was closed. Anyway, I caught a ride with a tow truck driver who was hauling another car from the lot to the towing yard, gave them $200 or so - more than I made that day - and was able to drive home.

I didn’t sleep for another 36 hours. At first I thought it was because of my andrenaline rush from being towed. Then, as I watched the unfolding coverage of the election results, thought its was because the election was that damn fascinating. It took a while to find out that, no, it was actually due to drinking the four or five Red Bulls.

Ah, the memories. Maybe Sunday night I’ll need to drink some Red Bull as I watch Recount, to recreate the experience.

Feel free to leave your own recollections from November 2000 in the comments!

Haim Saban, the billionaire television producer of Power Rangers and other properties, supposedly offered to donate $1 million dollars to the Young Democrats of America in the same phone call where he also pushed for two uncommitted superdelegates with the group to endorse Hillary Clinton, according to the Huffington Post.

Saban has denied the claim, while HuffPo claims to have verified the story among no less than four different high ranking members of the YDA. YDA President David Hardt, whom the offer was supposedly made to, has yet to comment on the issue.

Last week, Crystal Strait, a Young Democrats of America member, made national news by announcing her support for Barack Obama as a California superdelegate, effectively tying Obama and Clinton in superdelegate counts.

At an economic summit in Egypt attended by members of the US Congress, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak posed a hypothetical question to Nancy Pelosi to try and put the Israeli-Palesitinian conflict into perspective.

“Think about what would happen if for seven years rockets had been fired at San Diego, California from Tijuana, Mexico,” Barak said in relation to the continual barrage of rockets fired from Gaza. [The Jerusalem Post]

Which suggests one solution to the crisis: send thrill seeking underaged Israelis into the Gaza Strip to get drunk, pump up the sex trade, and watch donkey shows. Who in Gaza would have time to fire rockets then?

The controversy plagued Glassell Park Neighborhood Council’s next stakeholder meeting will be held next Tuesday at 7pm, and according to the agenda I just received, this item could prove from some drama:

Status report on grievances filed with/against the GPNC – Mark Quiroz
Mo Oxford grievance requesting removal of a Board Member (Bradley)

For the uninitiated, over the past year Mo Oxford had been video taping GPNC meetings on a regular basis. For some reason, then GPNC Chair “Bradley” (just one name, like Cher) began telling her she couldn’t tape the public meetings, and insisted she needed to not only obtain prior permission from all board members, but needed to provide copies for them to review.

His logic was boggling, not only because there is no law forbidding taping it, but California’s Brown Act specifically makes such taping by the public totally legal… and it should be assumed that Neighborhood Council members (let alone Chairs) be somewhat familiar with the Brown Act. (you can read my summary of these events on LA Metblogs)

Regardless, this was only one of a number of Bradley’s antics, recorded on camera, that may be up for discussion on Tuesday night. But even if the issue is “tabled” for one reason or another, it seems some other drama could unfold.

At February’s stakeholder meeting, GPNC Vice-Chair Mark Quiroz and Secretary Maggie Darett-Quiroz called for the removal of boardmember Paula Bagasao for making racially divisive statements. Per Darett-Quiroz, “Paula said that she was tired of the Hispanics and the whites in the community and she needed to put the Filipinos on the map.” [Video]

Since the Glassel Park Neighborhood Council hasn’t posted the minutes from its stakeholder or executive committee meetings online since last October, its difficult to find out how this all played out. However, a cursory glance at the GPNC website still lists Bagasao as a board member, and, interestingly, shows that Bradley is no longer the GPNC Chair, remaining only as an area representative (a move that apparently occured sometime in February or earlier).

So on Tuesday bring popcorn, maybe a video camera, and a copy of the GPNC’s bylaws for easy reference to the Glassell Park Community Senior Center at 3750 Verdugo Road. And please save me a seat.

Two more items on Bradley after the jump…

• After discovering that a “Diversity Forum” he’d scheduled for was on the second day of Yom Kippur and thus would likely need to be changed, Bradley said he was “furious” and that moving the date was “a major insult to those of us that are not Jewish.” [Curbed LA]
• At a GPNC meeting last June, during public comment Bradley paced the room as a stakeholder, and Bradley critic, Alicia Smith spoke, at one point stopping to stand and linger a foot away from Alicia. A woman wedged herself between the two, and said that Bradley was harrassing Alicia, to which he announced, “I can stand anywhere I want.” [Video clip on YouTube]

…a round up of Bradley incidents at Curbed LA…

Warning: unless you like watching a conservative radio host shout repeatedly that Barack Obama is an appeaser, don’t watch:

KABC talk show host Kevin James tests Chris Matthew’s patience by refusing to acknowledge he didn’t know the history behind recent comments Bush made comparing anyone who’d want to talk to Iran or Hamas to Nazi appeaser Neville Chamberlain.

After three minutes of shouting that Bush was referring to Barack Obama, and that Obama would be an appeaser, he finally acknowledges that he doesn’t know why Neville Chamberlain is called an appeaser, sticking with the belief that its because Chamberlain simply tried talking with Hitler.

Chris Matthews finally stepped in with a brief history lesson:

“He signed the Munich Agreement, conceding a portion of Czechoslovakia to the Nazi regime.”

For the record, the Bush Adminsitration clarified earlier today that they were referring to President Carter as the appeaser. Not sure if Kevin James got the memo in between his empty rants.

…h/t Huffington Post…

Image snagged from World of Wonder, but clearly the copyright of Fox TV…

“Three of the four Supreme Court judges who voted to overturn the ban were appointed by Republican governors.”-KTLA’s Eric Spillman

“We don’t leave whether blacks and whites can marry up to the voters. This shouldn’t be left up to the voters either.” -Amy Alkon

“The majority decision goes well beyond the narrow question of gay marriage. It also holds for the first time that sexual orientation is a ’suspect classification’ under the California’s Equal Protection Clause. Therefore, any law in the state that discriminates against homosexuals will be subject to ’strict scrutiny’ by the court - essentially treating it the same way as laws that discriminate against racial minorities.” -Justin Levine at Patterico

“I see a summer filled with rice-tossing and bouquet-throwing in my future as friends pair up - just for the sake of getting married. Talk about your shotgun weddings!” -Scott Schmidt

“Bill Rosendahl…will you marry me?” -Zuma Dogg

“Think how simple life can be – man and man. No more fighting over doing the dishes. We just won’t do the dishes! We’ll eat at Taco Bell every night. All this eating out will also have a positive influence on the economy!” -Citizen of the Month

Shortly after the California Supreme Court overruled a ban on gay marriages, City Council President Eric Garcetti posted the following on his blog:

The California Supreme Court came down on the side of equality and justice today. I’m proud that this opinion puts our state at the forefront of protecting and advancing human rights for all people.

I urge the Los Angeles County Clerk to immediately make marriage licenses available to same-sex couples.

Unless the court reconsiders their decision, as opponents will press them to do, “same-sex couples could start getting married in 30 days, the time it typically takes for the justices’ opinions to become final.”

After that, expect a lot of out of state visitors to show up at clerks offices statewide:

Unlike Massachusetts, California has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning gays from around the country are likely to flock to the state to be wed, said Jennifer Pizer, a gay-rights attorney who worked on the case. [Associated Press]

Opponents are also pushing for an amendment for a gay marriage ban in the state constitution to be put up for vote in November. I don’t want to give them any hints or anything, but they’d probably be better served to wait for an election that is less likely to be attended by liberals in such high numbers. That said, I look forward to the ballot initiative being squashed once and for all.

Of possible interest: How to get a marriage license in California.

Posters for “Ironman” are being defaced adapted around Los Angeles as the metal mask is replaced with the head of Barack Obama and the title changed to “Hopeman.”

As Mark Mauer at Lurker, LA Weekly’s street art blog, writes: “If there was any pro-Hillary or McCain street art we’d post that too, but darn if we haven’t seen any.”

Ugh. I admit it. When I used to work at the pharmacy/gift shop/assorted sundries story growing up, I used to sneak a peak now and again of the photos people dropped off for developing. And when I worked at that West Side flower shop I’d skim old orders of celebrities to see what they ordered.

So, its with some reservation that I take any glee in hearing that the IRS has taken disciplinary action against a five employees for snooping into unauthorized tax returns.

From Wired’s Threat Level blog:

Five workers at the Internal Revenue Service’s Fresno, California, return processing center were charged Monday with computer fraud and unauthorized access to tax return information for allegedly peeking into taxpayers’ files for their own purposes.

Apparently only 13 taxpayers’ information was accessed, but guess what the punishment is?

Time in Club Fed? Expensive penalty fees with outrageous interest rates? An audit?

Nope. Not even a paper cut:

(Snooping workers) are typically subject to disciplinary measures like unpaid leave, and less commonly charged with misdemeanor violations of the Taxpayer Browsing Protection Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. There were 185 such prosecutions from 1998 to 2007, with offenders typically receiving probation.