We Must Be Butter Cause Were on a Roll

Photo by James BunoanPEACE'D OFF
We've written before about the weekly anti-war demonstrations that have sprung up all over and a pro-war rally at a site peace activists have occupied for years. Now, pro-warriors spurred on by conservative radio/TV commentator Sean Hannity are trying to run anti-warriors off their Brea stomping grounds. About 10 to 20 peace activists had been gathering at the corner of Imperial Highway and Brea Boulevard every Saturday and Sunday for five months. But on Feb. 22—Washington's birthday—counterdemonstrators were occupying all four corners of the intersection when the anti-war forces arrived. Since the Old Glory wavers easily outnumbered the peaceniks, "those of us who gather there decided we should simply give them the opportunity to bask in their one day of glory and not argue or play childish games with them," said Michael Clark, a Brea health-care worker and weekly peace rallier. Peace organizers, who later learned that Hannity had directed his KABC-AM 790 listeners to take over the corner, put out a call of their own: to retake Brea and Imperial. On March 1, the crowd was about 50/50 pro- and anti-war. "We will not weaken over time," Clark said. "We will only increase our passion for peace."

THE DEMONSTRATION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
In the five months that there were only anti-war activists at Brea and Imperial, Los Angeles-based television news stations never showed up to cover the demonstrations. But news vans from KABC/Channel 7 (hmmm, owned by the same company that owns Hannity's radio station) and KTTV/Channel 11 (hmmm, owned by the same company that owns Hannity's Fox News Channel) were out Feb. 22 when pro-warriors took over the corner. Channel 7 was there March 1, too. It brings to mind the popular weekly anti-war protests that have been held at Bristol and Anton in Costa Mesa since the first Gulf War. News vans managed to avoid that intersection until Feb. 8, when Orange County's Young Republicans held a pro-war/support-our-troops rally there while the peaceniks were away. The next weekend, the boob tubers blew off 1,200 anti-war protesters at Hart Park in Orange to cover 200 warmongers rallying in Seal Beach. DON'T IT MAKE MY ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BROWN?
Editor & Publisher, the trade magazine for newspaper owners, reported recently that Irvine-based Freedom Communications has hired DGWB advertising to make its flagship Orange County Register and a buttload of other Freedom fish wraps more appealing to Hispanics.

Why turn to a fancy-schmancy ad agency? Clockwork has free advice on browning up the Register. Send inoffensive "Latino people" columnist Yvette Cabrera back to la-la land and replace her with a woman who writes only in Nahuatl. Swap cartoonist Mike Shelton for the LA Times' Michael Ramirez. When Regoperators put us on hold, we should hear nothing but canned salsa music. Editorialize in favor of a controversial Spanish-only initiative, a masa pan-based economy and tainted multiparty elections. Have Gordon Dillow frequently refer to his lone reader in print as "pinche güero"—a term of endearment that means "my good fellow." In fact, when you call, it would be good form to ask, "Is that pinche güeroGordon Dillow there?" You'll be treated to a long stretch of salsa music for that one! How about free pan dulce with every paper dropped on your driveway? Or random mentions of Che or Zapata in every article? Or a worm floating at the bottom of the Show section? Come on, Grande Avenue, think mucho grande!

CONFIDENTIAL TO STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN ART TORRES
Artie, gumbah, enough already! You fax us weekly, demanding that Republicans apologize for racism. First, you were pissed-off over racist comments by Ward Connerly. Then it was Trent Lott. Then that North Carolina congressman who praised the World War II internment of Japanese Americans. Then the California Republican Party leaders who fought over who most wanted the South to win the Civil War. Then the racially insensitive bake sales by Republican clubs at UCLA and UC Berkeley. Fer chrissakes, Arturo, the more you've demanded that Republicans apologize for being racist, the more racist they've been! An old-timer like you should know that job one at the Grand Old Party is to promote and protect the interests of rich, old, conservative white men at the expense of anyone who isn't a rich, old, conservative white man. And Republicans of color? Lawn jockeys get better treatment. Now go devote your energies to something more winnable, like Middle East peace.