maybe its because Tim Russert is in bed with the neocons and hates everything RP stands for: limited federal government, no more policing the world, etc…

Russert got Congressman Paul against the ropes pretty hard in pt two (above) during the conversation regarding earmarks, which was sorta interesting because i dont recall him ever being taken to task on that one. RP’s defense was ok, but not great

In part three Mr. Paul comes back stonger hitting all cylinders on his strongest points and Russert is outted for pretending he doesn’t understand the basic aspects of the Constitution: namely that its ok to amend it as long as you do it via the process that was intended

Then in the conclusion Dr. Paul coasts home with some very basic answers that shouldnt surprise anyone. But again Russert seems amazed that anyone would think that Ronald Reagan wasn’t God.

Basically this is the reason lots of people try to keep RP off tv, if you ask me, because he’s so good at explaining his beliefs. It’s so easy to simply write him off by saying, “he wants to get rid of Public Schools, The CIA, Income Tax. He wants to legalize drugs and he hates Ronald Reagan. Clearly he’s insane.” Which if presented that way, he does look insane. But when you listen to him explain how those (mis)quotes got there, you remember, oh yeah I sorta believe all of those reasons too.

I haven’t given any money to any politician this year. And now that I’m a journalist, or at least a member of the press, I’m being told that it would probably be in my best interst, not to even vote(!), but I gotta say, this crazy old fucker does make a lot of sense to me. And he never bores me. And I believe him.

That’s a lot more than I can say for anyone in the Republican party for the exception of Huckabee. But Huckabee worries me because he doesn’t seem like he knows hardly anything important other than Scripture. And the last I checked, we’re not about to vote for Pope next year.

one of my goals while running the coolest metro blog west of Manhattan was to get us into the Technorati Top 1000. then the goal was go get into the Top 750. for so long we were hovering around 690 and my goal was go get us in the Top 666. then i wanted to try to get it into the top 600.

when i left i think we were at 620 with a bullet. today, while waiting for my doorbell to ring i saw something that made me oh so happy. no not the long legs of tonights date, but the best number ive ever seen ever next to LAist ever. 584, bitches.

who knew that the missing link to success for that site was to get me out of the way? but the scoreboard doesnt lie and the kids have been working their tails off during the time that ive been away and so i congratulate them.

584 means that out of 100 million blogs there are only 583 other blogs that are more popular than LAist. quite a feat.

kudos to Zach, Lindsay and the LAist crew!

i cant believe life can be this good. people at work treat me with so much respect. yesterday i spent most of the day on the news floor. the real news. like the city desk and the foreign and national desks. no offense to the others but the busblog has always kept it real.

and whats funny is a few people here and there were all, tony if theres one place thats gonna give you the stink eye its them. but im here to report that every floor at the paper has been just as sweet and kind and open and willing as the next.

every department knows how important adjusting with the everchanging way news is delivered is vital to their future – and present. i spent hours with the city editor talking about his key superstars and his short term and long term plans. we talked about things that his writers want, things that i want, and things that he wants. i got to meet mr steve lopez who is one of my heroes and we talked about some very interesting and very forward-thinking ideas.

i talked to mr charles ornstein, the young man on the health beat who was part of the team that won the Pulitzer a few years back.

and then i got to meet and talk with ms. jill leovy the woman and brains behind the amazing (and grossly overlooked) Homicide Report. a very sensitive blog (that i probably shouldnt call a blog – cuz they dont) where one reporter tries to document every single homicide in LA.

we talked about the odd differences that the coroners office determines is the difference between a homicide and not-a-homicide. for example, when the old man plowed through the farmers market in santa monica a few years back thats not a homicide because the car was accidentally a weapon (i think that was the explaination), however if a gangmember uses a car to do the same thing it is a homicide because it was super intentional. dont quote me on that, but it was fascinating to talk with her because she looks so unassuming in her jeans but she speaks so clearly and professionally with beautiful use of big words mixed with cop words (we were on a 2-11…) plus she knows different types of spanish.

shes the sort of pro that i wanted to work with. and the place is full of people like her from bottom to top.

after i sat with the foreign desk as we went through the babylon blog. one reporter is at the hajj or on the hajj – dont quiz me. embedded basically with all these muslim pilgrims reporting from freakin Mecca! uploading pics (right) and vids as it happens! i had problems getting a signal from Coachella to show people that i was drinking with Lady Sovereign and bro is in deeeeep from Mecca busting with posts day after day after day.

tell me thats not the perfect mix of blogging and journalism!

so where do i come in? look at the comments on these amazing posts from the Mid East – zip. so either no one knows it’s there, or people are so amazed theyre speechless. either way, your boy is about to spread the good news to the right people. watch me work.

thursday night i spent all night (6p-9pm) meeting every single Sports copy editor, both of their main editors, and several of their design people. a friend of matt good’s of all people, knows one of their copyeditors and he told them that i was coming. and they invited me to watch some football with them. so i went down there and was so warmly welcomed it was as if i was the kegmaster or something. but seriously these are people who have worked at the paper for 15-20 years who know it all. who are natives. who love their paper. who know so well whats missing on every level. and who want to do a group blog like no other group blog i could have ever created even in my fertile imagination. and they all wanted it. and their bosses were all, do your thing freak.

so watch. and be amazed. cuz its gonna go down and dont give me the credit because all i did was say, um hell yes. infact i want to go to Paseo Nuevo and see if Stampa Barbara is still there cuz i need them to make me a rubber stamp that says HELL YES because i have heard so many great great great smart ideas that i cant believe people are waiting on my approval because i wanna wear out that stamp.

plus my assistant is brilliant, and a vegan, and last night we stayed late as she slowly convinced me to go vegan. which i might do – during work hours – just to see if i can do it. shes the best best best as well. if you only knew the level of support i am getting. and all of this is just scratching the surface. and yes i wore a suit yesterday. minus the tie. and i didnt mind because we have serious business to take care of and lots of it is in my hands and they trust me and im honored and i cant wait to show you the results but it is a huge corporation (which im co-owner of now, oddly, thanks zell) so things happen slowly, however some of the things might start during our CES coverage, which i was involved in a cool meeting regarding yesterday which was also eye opening and wonderful. why? because, again, it was smart people saying smart things, quickly, as a team, in a way that youd want a smart team to work.

not at all like what most corporations work like. why is the times different? because its a newspaper who have done it before. staffed by veterans. pros. mixed with some youngins and eager beavers, all who want the exact same thing – excellence. world class excellence.

i didnt eat or pee all day yesterday until 10pm cuz i had no time for those trifles.

i’ll work out those details later. until then, at the top of this post is a pic of my truest in Afrique. and this afternoon i dine with Karisa as we do some last minute Christmas shopping. then Christmas eve i fly to hangover park. then new years eve eve i jet to the GTA to party with pitt, raymi, duane, fil, christie (who provided that sweetass manger pic above) and all my canadian friends, then i get back home after that snowball fight of love

and the rock gets into second gear. so fasten your seatbelts america. this fuckers fixin to get floored.

so far ive worked at my new job for several days now.
everyone ive met have been really smart AND really nice.

today after work me and this dude met with my former news editor and these two babes at seven grand and we drank and it was beautiful.

its hard to believe that i have been in jobs where people totally disrespected be when here at this totally powerful place filled with damn geniuses they treat me like not just an equal but as an omg person.

so i guess my advice is, if people are dissing you at your workplace get out as fast as you can because there is a place for you somewhere else, and they might even give you an office and let you come in after 10am and not even blink.

they might even give you pizza and salad during a lunch meeting. and candy.

today i even wore sneakers and noone said shit.

at the seven grand a girl in a plaid skirt asked me what i wanted to drink and i said a beer and she said what kind i said stella she said how about a blahblah and i said baby anything you want me to drink i will drink looking like that and she said ha

and on our walk back to the office only 5 different homeless people asked me for spare change.

congrats LAist for breaking a million pageviews in just 19 days. i heart you all!

it was like a dream that never stopped.

i got there on time. headed to the orientation. an hour later the publisher of the company showed up to say hi and give us a little background about the paper. he talked about how things are changing in the business and how the new direction is online.

“is anyone here going to be working online?”

i raised my hand.

“what are you going to be doing?”

Blog Editor.

he hesitated and said, “what’s your name?”

i told him and he smiled. “i read about you.”

nice. he smiled and said, “i have a blog. but it’s not easy. that takes a lot of discipline. maybe i need an editor. ha ha. so you ran LAist so well with a big staff and you didn’t pay anyone? welcome!”

later we took a great tour of the place. who knew the place got blown up in 1910? not me. then we had lunch in the cafeteria and the dude made pasta for me while telling me jokes.

then around 3pm i was led to my office. and right away i was dragged into a meeting and this guy whose an expert with newspapers and online content asked me all these questions and wrote down my answers and i asked him questions and he was all, wow these are great. and i was all, im being punk’d right?

wrong. then there was a holiday party for the online dept and there was the publisher, mr hiller again. but i was hungry. there as all this food. two bars. free wine and beer. my boss introduced me to everyone. i met her handsome husband who is a cameraman for the NYT who goes to dangerous places like Darfur. we joked.

then i saw mr hiller applauding loudly for all the employees who were singing karaoke in the party room. i was all, THIS is the stuffy LA Times? this is old media? im dreaming right?

he waved me over. we talked for a good 15 minutes. he asked me again about his blog. i told him, your problem is you have a great life. “good life, bad blog.” we took a picture (above) and 15 minutes later he circulated around and said, “good life bad blog. hahahaha.”

then i met this guy with sandals and no socks and i said dude, youre my hero. and he said, dude, i cant believe a celebrity is saying that to me. i was all what? he said, i wanted to join your fantasy football league this year but you didnt have one? i was all get out. he said yes, ive been reading you for years. then his buddies showed up and they all were Clipper Girl, Anna Kournikova, karisa! turned out it was the development team. wonderfully dressed geniuses.

busblog readers!

so after i finished my third beer they gave me a tour of their huge offices and they said, tony anything you want to do here you’ve got the Tech Team behind you.

then my boss said, i dont wanna see you here before 10am.

and thats when i knew i was being punk’d.

we’ll see in an hour if my ID card really works cuz i cant imagine a better first day than that.

i dont know why this job makes me more nervous than any of the others. i feel like i know more about this one going into it than all the others, but in some ways maybe i dont.

i just spent all night going through facebook looking at everyone who listed The Los Angeles Times as their employer. theres a lot of people in there including my boss and the young woman im replacing, and the woman who i will be sharing an office with.

maybe im nervous because i know what i wanna do there. and i think i know how to do it. and i think they want me to do it. and all eyez are on 2pac. and im so ready to rock.

but before i lay my head to sleep i wanna give a shout out to my man matt welch. he set a great precedent to what a Daily Nexus alumn could do at the Times, and it was his move to Reason which inspired me to ask him who to write to get the gig that i got. if he had stayed pat i probably would have too. and sure enough all of his advice and all of his predictions were true. all the cool people who he said were cool were cool, and all the haters who he said would come out of the woodwork did so.

when i was a kid there was this game i was fascinated with. more of a toy really than a game. called barrel of monkeys. ive been thinking of that thing a lot lately. seems that there are monkeys who wanna try to stop you from climbing out of the barrel, and there are 1 or 2 who will try to help you get out of there.

LAist was the greatest barrel ive been in since college. it was everything a man could dream of and to be honest i really thought id be there for years and years and years. it was perfecto for me. the only thing that could have lured me away was to work for MTV, Playboy, the Cubs, or the LA Times. in this capacity. either writing their main blog or running all their blogs.

its so bizarre for this to actually happen. so bizarre. remember when the cubs were good? the year of bartman? this is more bizarre than that because after 90 years you sorta thought that SOME DAY the cubs would get it together. but there are so many people who dont get the chance to do the one thing that they know they can destroy at.

my buddy charlie was over with basart and jeanine the other night and we were all getting drunk and charlie started firing off all these hard questions all in a row. it was awesome. this morning he called to apologize, but there was no need for that. thats what friends are for, and in a way thats a way of being a good monkey. and if theres one person who has been blessed with the greatest smartest best friends, it’s yours stupidly. i needed to get drunk this weekend. i needed to cuddle with jeanine. i needed to eat drink and see tsar. i didnt know i needed it, just like i didnt know i needed welchie to become eic of reason, but i did.

and just like when i got my last job, i promise you i wont fuck this up for the next monkeys to follow. in fact i will do all i can to help others out of their little worlds and into the sunshine.

if i wake up early enough im gonna walk to the subway, ride it while listening to britney on my iphone and thank the Lord while reading my local paper. not believing any of it. and again my thanks extends to the readers of the busblog cuz this is where it all began and if anyone knows that its me so thanks for always being here.

ps

this is where im going for new years in a few weeks.

looks like im not so smart after all.

= TSAR REUNION!?!!?!?

how many Christmas Miracles can there be this year?

(l-r) Dan Kern, Steve Coulter, Jeff Whalen, Jeff Solomon

OMG OMG OMG OMG

video evidence as soon as my camera can stop being blown away

not midwest or back east freezing, but trust me, it’s not the type of weather where ANYONE would wanna run around in their victoria’s secrets

which is why i gotta give it up to the thousands of UCLA Bruins who strip down every quarter and run around their campus

guess who has the photos fer yr ass?

two parts, in fact.

and yes it basically tripled the hits we normally get on a thursday. which is great because i didnt wanna leave LAist with a bad month on my exit, especially during a month that has some very good excuses to be slow.

major props to adam, henry, zach, and andy