5 questions: Ultra-runner Scott Jurek on training and diet

5 questions: Ultra-runner Scott Jurek on training and diet

Scott Jurek is a nice guy who exhibits none of the sanctimonious proselytizing that vegans sometimes do.

He's also a guy who gave up a fast-food burger diet and runs what many consider to be obscenely long distances. How long? In 2010, he ran an astounding 165.7 miles (more than six marathons) in 24 hours to set a new U.S. record. His long list of running accomplishments has led to much praise, including Ultrarunning magazine three times naming him ultra-runner of the year. He also found time to write the new book "Eat Run" with Steve Friedman (Houghton Mifflin).

How did you get into running, and do you feel like this is something you are genetically programmed to be good at?

I used to hate running and only did it to get in shape for cross-country ski season over the summer during my teen years. I don't think my genes were that special. When I was 20, a buddy of mine decided on a whim to enter a 50-mile race, and he won it, so the next year I decided to do it as well. I ran my first marathon [26.2 miles] … and finished in 2:54. What I think made it stick was the social aspect of it. My friend put a fun spin on it, and I've met a lot of great people because of running; there is a pack mentality to it.

Wait. You ran your first marathon in under three hours? And you say your genes aren't that special?

Well, I grew up in northern Minnesota, and during my childhood there was always lots of hard, physical work to do. Having a mother with MS meant we were always busy working, and if I was sitting down it was in a fishing boat or a deer blind. Maybe I had some good farm boy genes, b ut the beauty of ultra-running is that it is mainly a mental game. It's a pure guts type of event, and that's where I've been able to succeed. My best marathon time is 2:38, but I've beaten 2:15 marathoners in 100-mile races. Perhaps genes make a difference. I know I'm not made for shorter stuff. Also, I have scoliosis. I'm not this perfect specimen. I do get sick and run-down from time to time. I've learned to listen to my body.

What other type of training do you engage in to augment your running?

I do two to three days of strength training each week, both for the upper and lower body. I also do a lot of functional core strengthening. I think it's important to focus on the supportive muscular system for injury prevention. I also advocate some stretching, but don't think we need to be gymnasts. I'm a physiotherapist and know that lots of sitting leads to tightened hamstrings and hip flexors. I don't do any other aerobic exercise other than runnin g. I also do some yoga.

When and why did you become a vegan, and what effect did this have on your performance?

I became vegan in 1999, the same year I won the Western States 100-mile run, which I went on to win seven years in a row. (It's like the Boston Marathon of 100-mile races.) Going vegan was a really tough decision mentally. I came from a meat-and-potatoes background and made the transition to vegetarian at the age of 25 for a year and then fully vegan after that.

It wasn't a performance-motivated decision. It hit me when I began working in hospitals and learning about chronic disease and growing up with a mother with MS. I ate a lot of fast food in college, and the shift was one of those gradual things that was about health. It forced me to think carefully about what I was eating. I am sympathetic to ethical issues of eating meat, but don't think people should be demonized. I'm probably going to vegan hell for all the animals I kil led and ate in my youth.

With the traveling you do, is it hard to maintain your vegan diet?

It's not that bad. It's mostly about searching out ethnic foods, particularly when I'm in airports. You can still survive. In restaurants, a lot of times they have beans in the salad bar. Sometimes you have to look off the menu. It becomes a bit of a challenge, but usually Mexican and Asian are good choices. I've even eaten at a steak place in Texas before a race and able to get a good vegan meal there. Sometimes I travel with a protein powder or protein bars for those occasions that I can't find something.

You have to have an adequate protein intake, but it's really about caloric intake and getting enough variety. The amount of protein you need isn't as much as people think.

health@latimes.com

Try This! Yoga's crescent tones legs, builds balance

Try This! Yoga's crescent tones legs, builds balance

Yoga is a great way for athletes of any stripe to build lean muscle and improve their balance. No knowledge of Sanskrit is necessary.

Crescent reps, demonstrated by Tamal Dodge, co-founder of Santa Monica's Yoga Collective and the yogi behind Element's "Hatha Flow Yoga for Beginners" DVD, are a great way to tone the legs and get the body warmed up for other exercise.

What it does

The movement in this pose gets your heart rate up at the same time you're working your glutes and hamstrings. It also challenges the center of balance, which indirectly works the abdominal muscles.

How to do it

Start in a standing forward bend, with your hands touching the mat in front of you (or as close to the floor as you can get). Step your right leg back 3½ to 4 feet so you're in a runner's lunge with your left knee bent and right leg extended on the ball of your right foot. (The taller you are, the wider your stance should be.) Slowly bring your hands to your sides, so your body forms a straight line from your right foot to your head. Inhale and raise your hands and your upper body until they form a straight line to the ceiling. Exhale and slowly lower the arms and upper body until you are back at your starting position. Once you're finished with 10 repetitions, step your right foot back in standin g forward bend and switch to the other side.

How much

Start with 10 repetitions on each leg. Work up to two sets of 10.

health@latimes.com

Green gyms focus on high-power workouts, low-power usage

Green gyms focus on high-power workouts, low-power usage

With the cycles, the flat-screen TVs and, of course, the air conditioning, most people who exercise at gyms are working out the electrical grid along with their muscles. But the members of AC4 Fitness in Goleta will be generating power and feeding it back to the grid every time they step on a treadmill or elliptical. When they need a drink, they'll have to bring their own refillable bottle and get water from a hydration station that provides free water filtered with reverse osmosis. And when they stash their belongings, they'll do so in lockers made from recycled plastic.

"If we're enabling people to be good stewards of their own bodies, it seems like the natural progression of that is to also be good stewards of the environment," said Tony Calhoun, 54, who opened AC4 Fitness in mid-June and plans to run it with as little paper, plastic and energy as possible.

AC4 Fitness is one of the more thorough examples of the so-cal led green gym, a trend that has been growing in recent years as more fitness centers embrace electricity-generating workout equipment and other strategies for reducing their environmental impact and improving their financial bottom lines. In the last year alone, several universities, including UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge, and private gyms such as the Greenasium in Encinitas, have installed workout equipment that generates, rather than saps, electricity. Chapman University in Orange plans to have equipment installed in August.

Byron Spratt, 34, was inspired to co-create the Greenasium after "years of going to a big gym and seeing the TVs and the AC blowing and the lights blaring in my eyes," he said of a situation he found especially troubling on days when the weather was nice and nobody seemed to be in the gym. "So much power was being used, we thought we'd be more responsible."

The Greenasium, which opened in August 2010, has floors covered with mats made from recycled tires. The dumbbells are previously used and refurbished. Sports drinks and energy bars are not offered for sale in an effort to reduce waste and plastic. If clients need water, of course they can have some. They'll just have to drink it from the club's reusable ceramic mugs or a bottle they've brought from home.

Still, "we realized we couldn't be 100% carbon-footprint-neutral in the workout studio," said Spratt, who tries to reach the gym's carbon balance with community servic e. Each month, Spratt and the rest of the Greenasium staff participate in beach cleanups with the nonprofit environmental group Surfrider Foundation. Every other month, they volunteer for a local e-waste recycler.

"Kinetic means if you take action, you can achieve anything," said John Scarangello, 47, owner of Kinetic Cycling in Brentwood. The popular Westside spinning club has been using five electricity-generating cycles since the club opened three years ago. Together, the bikes generate 600 watts of electricity per hour when in use. "We call it good energy," added Scarangello, who this summer will open a second workout space outfitted with silent Woodway Curve treadmills that are self-sustaining and use no electricity. The entire space will be lighted with energy-saving LEDs.

David Solomon, who is such a regular at Kinetic he is known as "the king," makes a practice of working out on the electricity-generating cycles.

"It's a great workout," said Solomon , a real estate investor who spins at Kinetic three days a week. "I like to think that in my small little world, I can make some little difference to the environment."

susan.carpenter@latimes.com

Gadget: SunMate UV index indicator

Gadget: SunMate UV index indicator

Ultraviolet, or UV, radiation. You can't see it coming. But you can keep a lookout for it, thanks to a nifty little gadget called the SunMate.

The sun's invisible ultraviolet rays are ultra-villainous â€" known cancer causers and wrinkle wreakers â€" and they're waiting to get you, year round, just about every time you step outside during daylight hours.

Enter the UV Index, a scale from 1 to 11+, that tells you the level of UV radiation at any given time, which, in turn, tells you how risky it is to be out in the sun.

You can keep tabs on the index level for your city or ZIP Code at http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvindex.html. You can also subscribe to daily forecasts by email (at https://enviroflash.epa.gov/uv/Subscriber.do?method=start) or download an app for your phone (at http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/uviresources.html).

Most convenient of all, perhaps, you can get a SunMate. "Pull it out and push a button," says Myron Mullins, chief executive of Purely Products, which makes the gizmo.

The UV scale on the SunMate is the same as the UV index, except compressed. (It ranges from 1 to 5.) Tests prove it's extremely accurate and consistent, Mullins says. "And it's very, very durable, impervious to rain, salt, sand or wind."

A SunMate can be yours for $9.99 at http://www.purelyproducts.com. "Our goal," Mullins says, "is to take very cool technology and make it affordable."

health@latimes.com

MOCA: Eli Broad discusses ousting of Paul Schimmel

MOCA: Eli Broad discusses ousting of Paul Schimmel

Inside the 12th floor conference room of his Broad Foundation in Westwood sat Eli Broad, the man the art world wanted to hear from after the forced resignation of Paul Schimmel, the longtime chief curator of L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Broad, who helped found MOCA in 1979 and is now its biggest donor, didn't have an official vote in the museum board's decision to oust Schimmel â€" his status as a "life trustee" means he's not a voting member. But he was present for a portion of the June 25 meeting where MOCA's co-chairs, David Johnson and Maria Bell, negotiated an agreement calling for Schimmel to be paid his full salary for another year. (According to the most recent tax records, Schimmel was paid $235,000 in 2010.)

"It was no one event," Broad said of the board's action. "It was time for Paul and the museum to have a new beginning."

That new beginning is now firmly in the hands of Jeffrey Deitch, the New York art dealer brought in two years ago as MOCA's director.

Deitch's buzz-driven vision of how to run a museum collided with that of Schimmel, who was known for sweeping, meticulously researched and often expensive exhibitions that examined themes and movements in contemporary visual art. Those shows and Schimmel's acquisitions were vital to MOCA's standing as one of the world's most respected showcases for post-World War II art.

"They knew that Paul was from the old culture and was not getting along with the director," Broad said of the board's decision. "And although they had a lot of respect for his curatorial ability, they thought it was time to move on, especially some of the newer trustees."

Normally, museum directors hire and fire employees without board involvement or authorization. But, Broad said, "the leadership felt that getting Jeffrey Deitch involved would create a bad scene which wouldn't serve anybody.

"The bottom line is it was no surprise to Paul," Broad said. "He's a brilliant curator and he'll be an asset in whatever he chooses to do going forward."

How Deitch and MOCA fare going forward will depend not only on his signature presenting style, but on whether he has the fundraising clout to help pull MOCA out of the fiscal funk that has dogged it for more than 10 years.

Although the museum's attendance rose from 149,000 the year before Deitch arrived to 402,000 in 2011, its last successful fundraising campaign was in the mid-1990s, and from 2000 to 2008 it burned through most of the proceeds. In 2008, Broad stepped with $30 million to save the financially depleted museum from going under.

Even with Broad's help, MOCA is far from being out of the woods financially. The budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year that began this week is less than $15 million, according to a person knowledgeable about the museum's plans but not authorized to speak publicly, the lowest since the 1990s. MOCA last week laid off five employees besides Schimmel. According to the museum's most recent tax return, Deitch earned $648,281 in 2010.

In a departure from past practice, when MOCA would schedule shows before funding had been secured, it has adopted a policy of committing to exhibitions only after at least 80% of its projected budget has been lined up.

Deitch, who had no experience courting donors before taking over at MOCA, acknowledged in a public forum at an art fair last month that the difficulty of the task, a crucial and time-consuming one for museum directors, had come as "a rude awakening."

"People wouldn't take my phone calls because they figured, 'he's going to ask me for money,'" Deitch said, according to the online magazine Artnet. "People say it's more important to give to hospitals or needy children than the museum."

Now he'll need to overcome bitterness in local art circles over the perceived indignity of Schimmel's sudden exit.

Schimmel, 57, did not return calls, and Deitch, 59, declined to comment for this article, other than releasing a prepared statement: "I want to express my admiration for Paul and his great contributions to the art community. I am happy to participate in an interview about my plans for the museum in more detail at a later date."

When Deitch took over at MOCA in June 2010, after closing his Deitch Projects galleries in New York, acclaimed Los Angeles artist Paul McCarthy and others thought that sparks between the new director and Schimmel might kindle a stronger MOCA.

"Both have done really great shows, both have a super awareness of the art world. I thought a dialogue between the two of them could make it into a really interesting place," said McCarthy.

The hoped-for fruitful creative tension never developed.

Scott Peterson appeal says verdict tainted by publicity, bias

Scott Peterson appeal says verdict tainted by publicity, bias

Convicted murderer Scott Peterson told the California Supreme Court that his guilty verdict and death sentence should be overturned because his trial was tainted by massive publicity, a biased jury pool and shaky evidence.

In his appeal, Peterson said he was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son "absent evidence of how, where or when the murder occurred."

"At the very least, a verdict under such circumstances raises a legitimate question as to how a jury could arrive at such a result," Peterson's lawyers wrote in the 423-page brief. They said the answer was overwhelming pretrial publicity and widespread public belief in Peterson's guilt, fueled in part by inaccurate reports from police who assumed form the start that Peterson had killed his missing wife.

The lawyers noted that nearly half the prospective jurors said in pretrial questioning that they believed Peterson killed Laci, and a huge billboard outside the courthouse asked people to call in and vote on whether Peterson was "man or monster."

The appeal reminded the court that "a mob" of more than 1,000 people waited outside the San Mateo County courthouse for the verdict and wildly cheered the departing jurors after they found Peterson guilty but before they had deliberated on whether he should be condemned to die.

Laci Peterson disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Her husband told police that he had gone fishing in San Francisco Bay off the Berkeley marina and returned to find their Modesto home empty. Intensive searches failed to find a trace of the missing woman until her unborn son, Conner, washed up on a beach near Berkeley a year later, near a torso that was identified as Laci's.

Peterson's lawyers complained that an expert witness who testified about the movement of bodies in water admitted he was not schooled in the subject. They also questioned "highly prejudicial dog scent evidence" from a dog with a record of being wrong 66% of the time.

Lawyers for the former Modesto fertilizer salesman also faulted the trial judge for excluding a video that the defense said showed Peterson's fishing boat would have capsized if he had used it to dump his wife's body, weighted down with anchors, into the bay.

"The evidence the state claimed conclusively established Scott's guilt was simply unreliable and should never have been admitted in this capital trial," Cliff Gardner, Peterson's chief appellate lawyer, argued.

Peterson's appeal is not likely to be decided soon. More briefs will be filed, and the court could spend a year or more studying the written arguments before scheduling a hearing. Peterson is also entitled to file a second legal challenge based on evidence that was not presented at trial and may appeal his case in federal court if he loses in the state court.

Senate passes high-speed rail funding, which now goes to governor

Senate passes high-speed rail funding, which now goes to governor

The state Senate voted to fund California's ambitious high-speed rail project on Friday, handing a major victory to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Obama administration.

The $8-billion legislation will fund the project's first stretch, covering 130 miles from Madera to Bakersfield.

The project had become increasingly controversial as Democratic senators from around San Francisco and Los Angeles asked why construction was was set to start with a 130-mile stretch in the Central Valley.

"The ridership is not in the Central Valley," said Sen. Leland Yee (D- San Francisco), speaking Thursday night. "The ridership is along the 101 corridor," referring to the U.S. highway stretching from the Bay Area to Los Angeles.

The funding bill included $5.9 billion in state bond money and federal funds for the rail network. There was also about $2 billion for local and other related transportation projects, such as electrification of Cal Train tracks in the Bay Area and improvement of Los Angeles County's Metrolink system.

After the Assembly approved funding on Thursday, the pressure was on Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) to round up support in his chamber.

"Our predecessors faced this same challenge before building California's freeway networks and the Bay Area's bridges," he said in a statement before the vote. "Today, we have an historic opportunity to follow in their footsteps and do the same."

Brown and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) were also leaning on senators to vote for the funding.

The bill now goes to the governor.

Kobe Bryant: Steve Nash 'gives us a great chance'

Kobe Bryant: Steve Nash 'gives us a great chance'

LAS VEGAS -- Kobe Bryant's a Steve Nash fan. How could he not be?

The recent acquisition from the Phoenix Suns will undeniably open up the Lakers' offense and, in Bryant's view, improve their championship hopes.

"He gives us a much, much better chance," Bryant said Friday. "He gives us a great chance."

Bryant hadn't spoken to reporters since the Lakers were eliminated by Oklahoma City in five games of the Western Conference semifinals in May.

A lot has changed since then. Bryant knows it.

He has never played with a point guard as dynamic as Nash, who is fifth all-time on the NBA assist list.

"It enables me to do what I do naturally, which is finish plays ... as opposed to having to put guys in the right spots and facilitate the offense and playmake for everybody and still score," Bryant said after Team USA's first practice in a weeklong training camp for the Olympics. "I don't have to do that anymore because that's what Steve does best."

Bryant did not, however, indicate much about the Lakers' chances to land unhappy Orlando center Dwight Howard.

"I don't know if they're done," he said about more change s on the Lakers roster. "I don't think that they're done, but they obviously have a track record of doing things that has proven to be beyond what other teams in the league can do. The moves that they make just seem to come out of nowhere. Steve Nash just came out of nowhere. The Pau Gasol thing just came out of nowhere. That's just kind of been our M.O."

Bryant claimed to be looking at the Howard situation from afar.

"I follow it, as I'm sure everybody else does," Bryant said. "I don't know what's going on in his inner circle, what Orlando's looking for, what they want to do. I just wish the best for him and hope he ends up in a situation where he's happy."

Bryant has professed his hatred for the Suns in the past because Nash and Phoenix beat the Lakers in the first round of the 2006 and 2007 playoffs. He's quick to forget such things now that he's teammates with Nash.

"We've obviously had our moments, we've had our battles," Bryant said. "But at the core of it is two guys who came in the league the same year. There's kind of a bond that comes along with that. It's a little bigger than some of the rivalries that we've had."

Nash was acquired from the Suns for two future first-round draft picks, two second-round picks and about $2.5 million in cash.

Bryant acknowledged that Nash, 38, initiated contact with him this week by phone.

"He just wanted to know if it was something that would be OK with me," Bryant said. "He knows how competitive I am and obviously the history that I've had."

Bryant looked forward to Nash's deft outside shooting, "which is something that was lacking for us." The Lakers finished 25th in the league in three-point shooting last season (32.6%). Nash has career accuracy of 42.8% from behind the arc.

Bryant also said Nash's pick-and-roll playmaking was "one of the best that we've ever seen."

"We've had great conversations," Bryant said. "We all know what an intelligent basketball player he is. It's pretty easy for us to converse and talk about how we're going to support each other and what we're going to do as a team. It's going to be fun."

Bryant said he was perfectly happy being on the Lakers. He has two more years and $58.3 million remaining on his contract.

"I'm not planning on going anywhere at all," Bryant said. "Steve has that same attitude, that same mentality. We're going to have to be dealt with eventually."

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan

California Senate vote keeps bullet train alive

California Senate vote keeps bullet train alive

SACRAMENTO â€" The state Senate authorized initial funding for California's high-speed rail project, handing a victory to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Obama administration, which have been pushing hard for the first-in-the-nation bullet train.

It is unclear when construction on the largest infrastructure project in the country can begin; the state still needs a series of regulatory approvals to start the first 130 miles of track in the Central Valley. The plan also faces lawsuits by agriculture interests and potential opposition by major freight railroads.

But proponents rejoiced at Friday's narrow 21-16 vote, which allocates roughly $8 billion for the first segment of track and related transportation projects. Barring insurmountable obstacles, Californians eventually will be able to ride a bullet train â€" traveling as fast as 220 mph â€" between Los Angeles and San Francisco rather than fly or drive on aging highways.

"The Legislature took bold action today that gets Californians back to work and puts California out in front once again," Brown said in a statement. The governor has been promoting the project since taking office in 2011 and is expected to sign the funding bill.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who was under intense pressure to round up votes in support of the plan, called Friday "a turning point in California, a time when we decided to say yes to hope, yes to progress, yes to the future."

The federal government, which is providing most of the money for the project, had threatened to rescind funding if the Legislature did not authorize funds this month.

On Friday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who had made repeated trips and telephone calls to California to push for the project, called the vote a "big win" for the state.

"No economy can grow faster than its transportation network allows," LaHood said in a statement. "With highways between California cities congested and airspace at a premium, Californians desperately need an alternative."

Republicans assailed the project as a misuse of taxpayer money. Not one GOP lawmaker voted for the bill in the Senate or in the Assembly, which passed the measure Thursday before adjourning until August. Both houses are now in recess.

The bill included $5.9 billion â€" about $3.2 billion in federal money already committed and $2.6 billion in state bond funds â€" for the section of track from Madera to Bakersfield.

There was also nearly

$2 billion for other rail projects, such as electrification of Cal Train tracks in the Bay Area and improvements for Metrolink in Los Angeles County.

The vote hinged not on whether high-speed rail is a good idea â€" Democrats have overwhelmingly favored the concept â€" but on whether Washington and the Brown administration had the right plan.

Sen. Joe Simitian of Palo Alto was one of four Democrats who voted no, even though he supports the long-term vision for a bullet train.

"This the wrong plan," he said, "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Democratic senators from around San Francisco and Los Angeles had criticized the plan to start construction in the rural Central Valley rather than in more congested metropolitan areas.

They had also raised questions about the future of the project, because Republicans in Congress have threatened to cut off any future appropriations that would help complete the system.

When voters approved borrowing of $9.9 billion for the project in 2008, the economy was just heading into a recession that has left the state's finances tattered and taxpayers worried about the cost.

Since then, the project has faced delays and rising costs. The price tag was $33 billion, with a completion date of 2020, when voters said OK.

The estimated cost shot as high as $117 billion before settling at $68 billion, and the completion date was pushed to 2028.

In addition, the proposed route through the Central Valley ignited a legal war. Farm bureaus, irrigation districts and rural counties have filed suit to halt the project.

Meanwhile, public opinion has moved against the project.

A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in May showed that 59% of voters would reject the plan if it were back on the ballot.

A Field Poll released this week suggested that billions of dollars in spending on high-speed rail could dampen voters' enthusiasm for Brown's tax increases on the November ballot.

The poll found that 21% of voters who back Brown's measure would be less likely to support it if the Legislature appropriated bullet-train money.

In the survey, 17% of voters said approval of the rail funds would make them more likely to support the governor's call for higher taxes.

chris.megerian@latimes.com

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com

Former CIA spy advocates overthrow of Iranian regime

Former CIA spy advocates overthrow of Iranian regime

Los Angeles Times

ARLINGTON, Va. â€" His disguise consists of a blue surgeon's mask, sunglasses and a baseball cap that reads "Free Iran." A small modulator distorts his voice. He uses a pseudonym, Reza Kahlili.

He lives in fear, he says, because his years as a paid spy for the CIA inside Iran have made him an assassination target of Iran's government. He worries about his wife and children, who live with him in California.

At the same time, implausibly, he has become one of the most influential and outspoken voices in the U.S. advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government.

For the last two years, Kahlili has gone semipublic with a memoir, a blog, op-ed pieces and invitation-only speeches at think tanks. He warns that Iran operates terrorist sleeper cells inside the United States and is determined to build nuclear weapons to destroy Israel. The U.S. should respond, he argues, by supporting the opposition inside Iran.

He travels furtively between appearances, working as a Pentagon consultant and as a member of a domestic security task force.

"There's probably nobody better on our side in explaining the mind-set of those in power in Iran," said Peter Vincent Pry, a former CIA military analyst who directs the Task Force on National and Homeland Security. "He understands the ideological sources of Iran's nuclear program."

U.S. Rep. Peter T. King(R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Kahlili has convinced him of the importance of supporting the opposition and hardening sanctions against Iran.

"I thought I knew a lot about Iran until meeting with him," King said on a New York political radio program in January. At the time, Kahlili was a guest and King was a guest-host, but the two had previously met in the congressman's office.

"If you're going to take this issue seriously, the one person you have to consult with and read his writings is Reza Kahlili," King said.

In a quiet hotel lounge in Arlington, Kahlili is not wearing his disguise or using his voice modulator for a meeting with a reporter.

"You'd be shocked by how easily agents from the Revolutionary Guard come and go inside the United States every day," Kahlili says in a near-whisper, bent over a table in a dark corner.

A soft-spoken man in his mid-50s, Kahlili is wearing jeans, a sports shirt and a black coat. He's of average height and weight, with a smattering of facial hair.

He made certain he wasn't followed, he says, and performed a quick security check of the hotel.

"They'd kill me if they could find me," he says of Iranian agents.

Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer inWashington, D.C., said he had confirmed that Kahlili was a longtime operative of a U.S. intelligence agency, adding: "He has insights on Iran most people in the U.S. intelligence community don't have."

For covert operatives, clearance agreements with the CIA often prohibit public acknowledgment of the agreement itself or of the CIA. A CIA spokesman, Todd D. Ebitz, said the agency had no comment on Kahlili.

Brian Weidner, program coordinator for Iran instruction at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy, confirmed that Kahlili is a paid lecturer for the Pentagon agency. Other instructors are videotaped, Kahlili says, but his lectures are audio-only to protect his identity.

***

President Obama finds his voice on the road

President Obama finds his voice on the road

POLAND, Ohio â€" President Obama refined his stump speech using an old-fashioned method this week â€" by giving it over and over again, buffing and polishing it before different crowds on a multicity tour.

By Friday morning's campaign rally, the president was joshing with his audience, drawing individual crowd members into his remarks and building up to the swell of cheering on which he likes to end.

The question now is whether the message will resonate beyond the walls of a school gymnasium filled with Obama-friendly voters.

Obama might not be able to control jobs statistics or other disappointing news, but advisors know he can run a strong offense, which begins at the podium.

As the president moved through his two-day, 10-city bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania, his reception got warmer. Several advisors tagged along as sounding boards, watching as Obama went from a Thursday morning speech in Maumee, Ohio, where he hewed closely to the text, to a Friday event where he was largely extemporaneous.

One advisor pointed out a new theme Obama was exploring â€" seeing the country through the lens of his own family. Another grinned as Obama finally nailed the closing exhortation.

"When ordinary Americans decide what's right ... they can't be stopped," Obama said as the cheering crowd drowned him out.

One advisor said Obama was "feeding off the crowd at the events and riffing off of what he sees" â€" a sign he was settling into his speech.

The heart of the stump speech is now the "fundamentally different visions" held by Republicans and Democrats. "The language on contrasting visions and belief in the American worker â€" you will continue to hear more of that," an advisor said.

The advisors requested anonymity to talk about internal strategic discussions.

Republican governors traveling through the same states as Obama also argued that voters faced a stark choice.

"The reality is the president can't run on his record, can't run on his broken promises," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. "This is really about two very different visions for America."

The Obama team has struggled to find the best way to present the president's vision. On healthcare, the White House, despite its efforts over the last year, has not persuaded Americans to embrace the law.

On the economy, which has stubbornly refused to rebound with vigor, Obama has tried different pitches, even making uncharacteristic stumbles, such as saying the private sector was doing "fine."

But Obama got a big break when the Supreme Court upheld the healthcare law, and Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, botched his talking points on it.

In Maumee, during his first speech on Thursday, the president got sustained applause when he promised his healthcare law was "here to stay." The next time he talked about it, in nearby Sandusky, Ohio, he delivered the line with vigor.

Obama also began interweaving family stories with political points. When he argued that American workers should be able to expect a decent quality of life with retirement and the occasional vacation, he recalled childhood road trips that featured staying at Howard Johnson hotels, swimming in the pools and buying snacks from the vending machines.

Americans don't expect to revel in wealth, he said, just as his family and his wife's family knew that "what made us rich was spending time together."

"I see myself in you," Obama told one crowd. "I see my kids in your kids."

In Sandusky, several advisors listened carefully to his delivery and message. Afterward, senior advisor David Axelrod scribbled notes while White House political advisor David Plouffe smiled and nodded.

Media consultant Jim Margolis went along for the tour, as did campaign traveling press secretary Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, White House healthcare advisor Nancy-Ann DeParle and Obama family friend Marty Nesbitt.

Speechwriter Cody Keenan was on board Obama's big black bus to help refine the speech, but aides say Obama ended up doing that himself.

There was nothing in the text, for example, that caused Obama to fumble a bit when a crowd member in Maumee shouted out "Where's Michelle?" while he was in midsentence. And there wasn't any change that prompted Obama to explain in Poland that the first lady was home and not with him in Ohio. She had this notion that 14-year-old daughter Malia and her friends could not go unsupervised, he said to a laugh.

Obama got at least one pleasant surprise. Cancer survivor Natoma Canfield, whose letter about her health crisis has inspired numerous public references by Obama, showed up unannounced at the Thursday rally. Obama had never met Canfield before he saw her standing next to his bus that late afternoon.

"I told him what a great thing he had done," Canfield said afterward, referring to the healthcare law. "And I told him we have to stick together."

christi.parsons@latimes.com

Rodriguez, Shin Joong Hyun to celebrate Light in the Attic at El Rey

Rodriguez, Shin Joong Hyun to celebrate Light in the Attic at El Rey

Light in the Attic Records, the celebrated Seattle/L.A. reissue label whose new release, "Dreamin' Wild" by Donnie and Joe Emerson, is featured in a story in this Sunday's Times, will celebrate 10 years as a label with an anniversary show at the El Rey Theatre on Sept. 28.

The bill includes three acclaimed artists who have been the focus of the label's reissues: Rodriguez, the folk rock singer, creator of the essential late '60s album "Cold Fact" and subject of the new documentary "Searching for Sugar Man"; South Korean guitarist Shin Joong Hyun, who will be performing his meditative guitar music in a rare appearance outside of Asia; and British folk guitarist Michael Chapman, whose underappreciated work has received new interest on the heels of Light in the Attic's series of reissues.

Label co-owner Matt Sullivan, who relocated to Los Angeles last year to open a satellite office, is particularly happy to bring Shin Joong Hyun to America. The 74-year-old got his start playing for U.S. troops in Korea after the 1953 armistice agreement and was jailed and tortured in the 1960s for subversive activities. He'll be performing in the States for only the second time ever. (His first appearance was during a Korean music celebration at the Hollywood Bowl.)

All three artists playing the show have at one time or another seen renewed interest in their work because of reissues by the label. Similarly, Donnie and Joe Emerson have done a fair number of interviews since the re-release of "Dreamin' Wild" on June 26. A reissue of a private press record that the teenage duo recorded at their family farm in rural Washington state in 1978, the record began receiving attention a few years ago after a collector found a copy in an antique store, and soon thereafter an online buzz started building.

By the time Sullivan called them, a few other labels, most notably Indiana-based Secretly Canadian, had expressed interest in reissuing the record. Ultimately, the Emersons decided on Light in the Attic.

Listen: Randall Roberts' 'Best of Light in the Attic' Spotify playlist

"I think they real ized that we did a lot of reissues," Sullivan said last week at his East Hollywood office, "and that it really fit in with what we do, and we’re really going to spend time with it, and nurture it, and go out there and meet them and get them involved." Sullivan added that he was definitely thrown for a loop when he learned from the duo's father, Don Emerson Sr., that they were close to signing a deal with another label.

"Hearing an 80-year-old guy say 'Secretly Canadian' was like, the farthest thing from what I thought he was going to say." (Sullivan stressed his admiration and respect for Secretly Canadian's work.)

No info yet on ticket sales for the 10th anniversary show, but Pop Hiss will keep you posted with details.

Keep an eye out for The Times' story on the story behind Donnie and Joe Emerson's "Dreaming Wild."

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Twitter: @liledit

 

Moguls about to descend on Sun Valley for Allen & Co. conference

Moguls about to descend on Sun Valley for Allen & Co. conference

The forecast for Sun Valley, Idaho, next week is sunny with a chance of moguls.

That's right: It's time for the rich and powerful to convene for investment bank Allen Co.'s annual conference, a not-so-secretive gathering that brings together the elite from the worlds of media, technology, sports, industry and politics.

This is the 30th year of the Allen event, and although the bar has gotten lower in terms of who gets invited, there will still be plenty of C-suite executives schmoozing with one another on the tennis courts and hiking trails and in the conference rooms. The conference is famous for being the birthplace of lots of mergers, including the Walt Disney-ABC deal and Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal.

It's not just for rich old white men. Oprah Winfrey will be there, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker is on the guest list too. 

Confirmed guests are News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch with sons Lachlan and James in tow. Murdoch's No. 2 at News Corp. -- Chase Carey -- will be there too, and daughter Liz may drop by.

Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes will attend, as will Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, CBS chief Leslie Moonves and Discovery President David Zaslav. Also making an appearance will be new Sony chief Kazuo Hirai, alongside longtime attendees including Barry Diller, John Malone and Warren Buffett. 

Expected from Silicon Valley are Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg probably will be updating their statuses from there, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates is supposed t o make the trip down from Redmond, Wash. Apple chief Tim Cook is also thought to be attending, which is noteworthy because his predecessor -- the late Steve Jobs -- made a habit of blowing off the Allen conference.

A few agents may be loitering around the grounds too. ICM's Chris Silbermann and UTA's Jim Berkus both got invitations. But if you are looking for an Emanuel there, you'll have to be satisfied with Rahm, not Ari.

Also on hand will be NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NBA Commissioner David Stern. Whether any athletes will be on hand remains to be seen, but Jeremy Lin or Tim Tebow would certainly make the same type of splash there that LeBron James did in 2009.

Some politicians are also on the guest list including New Jersey governor Chris Christie and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski also got an invite but he migh t be a late arrival since he's schedled to be testifying before Congress on Tuesday.

With all these A-listers, there will no doubt be a large media presence too. But don't look for much dirt coming out of the conference. Over the last several years, Allen has cracked down on media access. Never allowed to attend the panels and seminars, lately reporters haven't even been able to hang in the bar with the big shots. Mostly they huddle outside buildings and shout questions like "Any deals happening?," then go back to tweeting jokes about the event.

But Allen does show some love to members of the media they think are special by letting them moderate panels. Reporters on the guest list this year are Tom Brokaw, CNN's Erin Burnett, CBS' Charlie Rose and CNBC's Becky Quick. Maybe they'll even get to have a drink at the bar.

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Seth Meyers could be the next Regis

Seth Meyers could be the next Regis

Kelly Ripa is finding that replacing an octogenarian with an artificial hip is not so easy.

It's been some 18 months since Regis Philbin announced his retirement from their popular syndicated daytime talk show, "Live! With Regis and Kelly." And it's been nearly eight months since the longtime broadcaster actually departed the New York-based show, leaving Ripa to trot out a parade of often high-profile guest hosts.

This week, however, reports are swirling across the Web that "Saturday Night Live's" Seth Meyers may be the front-runner to be co-host. The 38-year-old comedian, who has already been a guest host with Ripa on the morning show, will return for another weeklong engagement beginning Monday â€" an important July ratings sweep week.

VIDEO: Regis and Kathie Lee reunite on 'Today'

Meyers, whose sly and acerbic wit would seem an odd pairing with the energetic, wholesome mother of three, apparently isn't the only contender. Former New York Giant Michael Strahan and singer Josh Groban are also said to be under consideration. (A spokeswoman for"Live! With Kelly" would not comment on co-host speculation or the delay in hiring a co-host.)

"Meyers is an odd choice as a replacement for Regis," said Brad Adgate, an analyst for ad firm Horizon Media in New York. "I don't think he was on anybody's short list.

"But if you think about it, it's not so weird," added Adgate. "What he does on 'SNL' and with 'Weekend Update' is basically what he needs to do here, just in a tamer manner."

Executives may too be undecided about what kind of persona will mesh with the 41-year-old Ripa, said television analysts. Indeed, a procession of hosts have marched through the show, including Joel McHale, Neil Patrick Harris, Anderson Cooper, Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Bublé, and even Ripa's husband, actor Mark Consuelos.

VIDEO: Regis Philbin's own version of 'Rent's' 'Seasons of Love'

"The producers have to figure out what sort of relationship they're going for with Regis' replacement," said Bill Carroll, a media analyst for Katz TV group. "Do they want him to be a brother, a husband or a friend to Kelly?"

Carroll views Strahan as a "big broth er" type, Groban as an "aw-shucks" guy, and Meyers as a performer with a "comic edge."

"When Regis was paired with Kathie Lee, they were like husband and wife," he added. "But when Regis was paired with Kelly it was like a not-with-it father and his totally-with-it daughter."

The holdup in announcing a successor to Philbin is not unusual, at least for "Live!," point out analysts. In 2000, executives similarly waited almost a year â€" one also filled with rotating co-hosts â€" before finally naming Ripa after Kathie Lee Gifford left after 15 years.

Strong viewership even since Philbin's retirement has also helped minimize pressure to quickly name a new co-host for the show, which is syndicated nationally by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Overall, ratings are up slightly with the show averaging a respectable 3.3 million viewers per week.

The show traditionally has been lean on younger viewers though, said Adgate, and selecting Meyers may pull in harder -to-reach young adults, which advertisers prefer.

For her part, Ripa hasn't seemed to be in much of a hurry to find her next co-host. In January, she told The Times that she was enjoying the game of musical chairs.

"I'm having fun playing the field," she said. "Every person brings a different energy."

The lengthy search for a co-host stands in stark contrast to the recent sudden moves at NBC's "Today" show, which is locked in a tight ratings battle with ABC's "Good Morning America." Last week, Ann Curry, who had been co-host of the morning program for about a year, was pushed aside and replaced with Savannah Guthrie, who had formerly hosted the show's third hour.

After nearly three decades, Philbin announced his retirement from the morning program in January 2011. Though he gave no official reason, the 80-year-old had been struggling with his health, undergoing triple bypass surgery in 2007 and a hip replacement in 2009.

"It was his show," said Adgate. "At the time, I think people were thinking, 'We can't replace Regis.' He was the fabric of the show and so closely associated with it. I think they feel comfortable picking a co-host now that Kelly isn't the secondary star anymore. She can hold her own. She can run the show."

A decision on a permanent co-host is expected to be officially announced before the new season of "Live!" begins in September.

yvonne.villarreal@latimes.com

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'Anger Management' loses some of its Sheen in its second week

'Anger Management' loses some of its Sheen in its second week

Suppressing the tiger blood has its drawbacks: Charlie Sheen's "Anger Management" saw its viewership shed 2 million viewers as it settled into its 9:30 p.m. slot on Thursday night.

The FX comedy had seemed to be #winning, in Sheen's terms. Its double episode premiere set records for a cable comedy premiere and for a launch on the network, with its 9:30 airing drawing more than the first with 5.74 million viewers. But with curiosity subsiding, things took a dip. In the same half-hour this week, its third episode pulled 3.37 million -- a dip of more than 41%.

The dropoff, unsurprisingly, was also felt in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. Thursday's episode drew 1.71 million viewers in the demo, down compared with last week's telecasts of 2.89 million at 9:30 p.m. and 2.65 million at 9 p.m.

At stake for Sheen's follow-up to "Two and a Half Men"-- after his much-publicized chaotic lifestyle led to his firing from the CBS sitcom -- is a 90-episode renewal should "Anger Management" meet an undisclosed ratings minimum, as part of FX's arrangement with distributor Debmar-Mercury. A decision won't be finalized until after a 10-episode run (its impressive and heavily-promoted debut, though, won't count toward the show’s average).

Should things not go as planned, there will still be plenty of the rock star from Mars on the network. FX also airs repeats of Sheen's former sitcom, "Two and a Half Men."

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Follow Yvonne Villarreal on Twitter: @villarrealy

District of Columbia scandals cast shadow on autonomy

District of Columbia scandals cast shadow on autonomy

WASHINGTON â€" A parade of District of Columbia politicians and operatives keeps passing through the doors of the federal courthouse, pleading guilty to felonies.

They leave behind the corpses of their careers, and the local leadership of the nation's capital in disarray.

In early June, Kwame Brown, chairman of the D.C. Council, pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining a $55,000 boat loan and to a misdemeanor campaign finance charge. He became the second councilman to resign after facing felony charges: In January, Councilman Harry Thomas pleaded guilty to stealing $350,000 intended for youth programs.

Brown's resignation came just weeks after the departure of two staffers who had worked on Mayor Vincent Gray's 2010 campaign, stemming from a federal investigation into an allegation that a minor candidate had been supplied with illegal cash to attack Gray's major opponent, Adrian Fenty. And federal prosecutors are also looking into a series of possibly illegal campaign donations to Gray and other council members.

The real question now is whether the investigation will engulf the mayor, inevitably resurrecting the specter of Marion Barry, the former mayor who went to jail on drug charges. And old questions now have new life about whether the city that would be a state is capable of self-governance.

A Republican congressional aide, who has been following the scandals closely, said they had made it hard to sell autonomy to already skeptical Congress members.

"There was a sense earlier this year that there was real mom entum behind [autonomy], and these law enforcement actions took away a lot of the momentum," he said. The aide asked for anonymity in order to discuss party strategy.

As if to emphasize how bad things have gotten, Barry, now a City Council member, said the crisis was the worst since Congress devolved power to the city in 1973.

"I can't think of anything except9/11that's been more horrific," he said in a subsequent statement.

Tom Sherwood, a veteran reporter who wrote "Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C.," said that "with all due respect," he disagreed with the former mayor.

In 1990, Barry was videotaped smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room, and five years later he brought Washington to the brink of bankruptcy, leading to a partial federal takeover of Washington's budget.

But Sherwood acknowledged, "The bad news is we do not know if our mayor is a criminal."

Last year, Sulaimon Brown, the candidate who allegedly re ceived payoffs from the Gray campaign, testified to a council committee that Gray personally promised him a job on the city payroll if he continued to take shots at Fenty. After the election, Brown was hired to a $110,000-a-year post in a city office.

Gray has said he told Brown he would arrange a job interview, but denies any knowledge of payments to Brown's campaign.

"We recognize the need to regain the public's trust in the present climate," said Doxie McCoy, a spokeswoman for the mayor, "and of course we have been taking allegations seriously while continuing to do the work of the government and making progress on many fronts related to the mayor's priorities."

Gray last week sent Washington Atty. Gen. Irvin Nathan to a council committee to outline campaign finance law reforms.

Meanwhile, some Republicans in Congress are pushing to use Washington as a laboratory to try out favored policies â€" such as looser gun laws and limits on abortion. A Sena te bill to give the District of Columbia more control over its budget was withdrawn last week after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a series of amendments advancing those policies.

Despite the scandals and high-level political fights, the city's boosters are keen to point out that the economy is growing and crime is down.

Anwar Saleem, a salon owner, landlord and community leader in one still edgy but definitely booming neighborhood, was blunt.

If Washington is doing this well with scandals, he said, "maybe some other states should have some scandals."

ian.duncan@latimes.com

Citizen sues over imprisonment under fingerprint-sharing program

Citizen sues over imprisonment under fingerprint-sharing program

WASHINGTON â€" A computer specialist is suing the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security after a controversial fingerprint-sharing program incorrectly identified him as an illegal immigrant and authorities ordered him detained in a maximum-security prison.

The lawsuit is the first legal challenge by a U.S. citizen to the Secure Communities program, which the Obama administration has expanded nationwide over the objections of immigration advocacy groups and Democratic governors in Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

Under the program, fingerprints obtained when local authorities arrest a suspect are automatically checked against immigration databases as well as FBI criminal databases. U.S. immigration agents are notified if the results indicate an immigration violation.

When James Makowski, a Chicago-area resident who repairs computer networks for companies, pleaded guilty in December 2010 to a felony charge of selling heroin, he was sentenced to four months at a "boot camp" drug treatment program, according to DuPage County, Ill., court records.

But when the fingerprint search flagged Makowski as an illegal immigrant, he was held for two months in the maximum-security prison in Pontiac, Ill., before immigration officials acknowledged the error and canceled the detention order. He later completed the four-month drug rehabilitation program and was released.

"Everybody makes mistakes. I've made mine," Makowski, 24, said in a telephone interview Thursday. "But if the government can detain a U.S. citizen without justification, that's pretty outrageous. There have to be safeguards in place."

Makowski was born in India and adopted by an American family in New Jersey when he was 4 months old. The family later moved to Illinois. Makowski became a naturalized U.S. citizen at age 1, but the government did not update his immigration records, according to his lawyer, Mark Fleming.

Makowski's suit, which was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois, argues that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which restricts what information may be passed between government agencies, every time they share fingerprints from people who are not suspected of an immigration violation.

"The FBI and DHS are consistently and systematically violating the Privacy Act," said Fleming, a lawyer for the National Immigrant Justice Center, a nonprofit advocacy group in Chicago. "The FBI should not be sharing this data if they have indications that this individual is a U.S. citizen."

The lawsuit seeks to hold the government liable for unspecified damages for "loss of liberty" for two months, lost wages, emotional dist ress and attorney's fees.

Government lawyers are evaluating the lawsuit, said Brian P. Hale, a spokesman forU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. "However, we do not comment on pending litigation," he added.

In December, ICE created a 24-hour hotline that detainees can call if they are victims of a crime, or if they are U.S. citizens and have been wrongfully detained. ICE officials said that the agency did not track how many U.S. citizens had been inadvertently held in immigration detention.

Secure Communities was started by PresidentGeorge W. Bushin 2008, and the FBI has sent more than 16 million fingerprints to the immigration database since then. More than 900,000 were flagged as potential immigration violators, records show.

The other 15 million sets of fingerprints likely belonged to U.S. citizens, the lawsuit alleges, and their transmission violates the Privacy Act.

The fingerprint-sharing program is active in 97% of stat e and local law enforcement jurisdictions around the country, and the rest will be covered by the end of this year.

In Illinois, where some local police departments have voiced concerns that giving fingerprints to immigration officials may make witnesses less likely to cooperate with police, only 26 of the state's 102 jurisdictions are involved.

The Obama administration argues that Secure Communities has allowed ICE to focus on finding and deporting illegal immigrants who have criminal records and who pose a threat to public safety.

They say the program was partly responsible for nearly doubling the number of deportations of convicted criminals and repeat immigration violators, from 114,415 people in 2008 to 216,698 in 2011.

"I've been here my whole life," Makowski said. "I was raised like an upper-middle-class American. But I didn't feel American when I had that detainer put on me."

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Letters: Healthcare and Congress' powers

Letters: Healthcare and Congress' powers

Re "The limits on liberty," Editorial, July 4

This could be clearer. The individual mandate is a mandate to get insurance, with some people exempted. If one does not, a penalty applies, with some exempted; but the penalty is the only consequence imposed for not having insurance.

The Supreme Court did not label the individual mandate itself as being a tax. It upheld a use of the power to tax as a way to impose the penalty. Tax law has many provisions to spur or deter conduct. The court found that the penalty is of that nature: It discourages forgoing insurance.

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The penalty itself does not even apply to anybody having insurance. It will likely affect only a tiny percentage of people, as it succeeds in spurring what the individual mandate actually does mean: Get health insurance.

John C. Nangle

Palm Springs

The Times writes that the Supreme Court "placed new limits on Congress' power." That's strange. Everything I've read explains that the court's decision on "Obamacare" actually expands Congress' powers. All it has to do is add a tax to mandate just about anything.

So the only way left to protect ourselves is to just vote them out next fall.

Dick Ettington

Palos Verdes Peninsula

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Review: Oliver Stone overdoes the brutality in 'Savages'

Review: Oliver Stone overdoes the brutality in 'Savages'

"It's that kind of a story where things got so out of control," says O, the narrator of"Savages."She's talking about the plot, but she might be talking about the filmmaking as well.

Adapted from the bestselling Don Winslow novel, "Savages" has a lot going for it, including a pip of a story, a propulsive narrative drive and the über-cool blacker-than-night attitude and language of author Winslow, who told one interviewer, "I don't know that I'd want to visit my brain except with a gun and a flashlight."

Initially, Oliver Stone is an asset as well (besides directing, he has co-written the screenplay with Shane Salerno and Winslow). As a filmmaker, he's often shown an affinity for ruthless people acting ruthlessly, and there's a pulp side to his directing personality that meshes well with this self-consciously amoral story of a drug-dealing ménage à trois facing off against a rapacious Mexican cartel. Leave the kids at home for this one. Please.

PHOTOS: 'Savages' premieres in L.A.

But Stone is also a director who has often felt that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, and his weakness for bloody excesses of all sorts undermines much of his good work. You might not think that a motion picture called "Savages" could be too violent, too savage, but you would be wrong.

Some of that material, of course, comes right from the book, like the opening sequence of a homemade video put together by the Baja Cartel, a group that makes up for in violence what it lacks in cinematic sophistication. The video shows what happens when the cartel's decapitation squad has finished "going all Henry VIII" on some unfortunate rivals.

That scene is intended for best friends Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch), buddies since high school and Laguna Beach-based partners in a multimillion-dollar business that grows some of the best, most potent marijuana in the world â€" weed that sells for $6,000 a pound to people who consider themselves lucky to get it.

Filling us in on the details with lots of verbal style ("Laguna is where God parked himself on the seventh day") is O, short for Ophelia. Played by Blake Lively, O lets us know that Ben is a mellow botanist who is into renewable energy while Chon is a former Navy SEAL with a hair-trigger temper who came back from combat "with a lot of cash but no soul."

O also tells all about Ben and Chon's sexual lives, something she knows a great deal about because she shares a bed with both of them. "Together they make one complete man," she enthuses. "They have one thing in common: me."

Though no one's going to be winning any acting awards here, Kitsch ("Battleship"), Johnson (John Lennon  in "Nowhere Boy") and Lively ("Gossip Girl," "The Town") make this threesome as convincing as it's going to be. The film's starry-eyed idealization of the relationship has to be at least borderline believable in order for the essential contrast with the cartel's cutthroat cynicism to be effective.

Impressed by the potency of Ben and Chon's weed, the Baja Cartel intends to swallow their business whole. "They are Wal-Mart," someone tells the boys, "and they want you for a specialty aisle."

Ben and Chon reject the cartel's offer, and the drug lords retaliate by kidnapping O, the only thing in the world that means anything to our heroes. The cartel refuses to let her go unless some very onerous demands are met. Do BC have what it takes to confront these scary and dangerous people, and, if they do, what will going to war take out of them?

Much of the juiciest acting in "Savages" comes from performers playing the story's more morally compromised characters. Salma Hayek does her best Wicked Witch of the West imitation as La Reina Elena, head of the Baja Cartel, and Benicio Del Toro all but oozes evil as Lado, her enforcer. Best of all is John Travolta, who gets it just right as Dennis, a genially corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Though it could be argued that the violence and torture these people bring with them is essential to this kind of story, there is a key difference between how the novel and the film treat the material.  In the book, Winslow's style is so hip that the violence, though quite explicit, is coolly held at arm's length. Nothing is allowed to disturb the fabric of the writing.

Stone, on the other hand, has a counterproductive tendency to get infatuated with violent extremes for their own sake. His weakness for what the Motion Picture Assn. of America calls "strong, brutal and grisly violence" overpowers everything else: at those overdone moments, the tension in the scenario dissipates and you fall out of the movie.

The story of  "Savages" is too strong to destroy, even with key elements of the novel's plot tampered with. But the hurt can be put on this material, and that's what has happened here.

PHOTOS: 'Savages' premieres in L.A.

----------------------------------

'Savages'

MPAA rating: R, for strong, brutal and grisly violence, some graphic sexuality, nudity, drug use and language throughout

Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes

Playing: In general release

Campaign for L.A.'s homeless reaches out to younger activists

Campaign for L.A.'s homeless reaches out to younger activists

We see a video on the Internet and it makes us melt or fume or cry. Sometimes, we respond en masse and change lives overnight.

Thanks to one video campaign, a 9-year-old boy who made a cardboard arcade in East L.A. has received more than enough money to one day go to college.

Thanks to another, a 68-year-old school bus monitor verbally bullied by a pack of middle schoolers probably now can afford to get off the bus for good.

We see things on the screen and we act, in part because it's so easy. At our keyboards, on our cellphones, we can with a handful of clicks beam out help.

What's right in front of us is different. Sometimes we don't see. Sometimes we choose not to see. Sometimes we see but have no idea what to do.

Take the homeless people many of us pass daily on city sidewalks and freeway ramps.

Make eye contact or not? Give money or not? Is passing cash out the car window enabling?

A lot of us mull these questions and, failing to resolve them, do nothing.

The nonprofit Weingart Center on skid row wants that to change. It needs private donations to help pay for its programs to move the homeless toward self-sufficiency by tra ining them for work, providing them counseling and finding them jobs and housing. Public money often requires private matching funds, and it doesn't cover some of the center's efforts.

But private donations outside of foundations are hard to come by, said Kevin Murray, the center's chief executive.

"It's hard to sell homelessness. It's not sexy," Murray said. "It's not the big dinner where the big star shows up."

Generally, individual private donors are older and wealthy and write big checks.

"Clearly, we're not getting money from young folks," Murray said.

So his organization has decided to reach out to a younger audience on its own terms, with a campaign designed to be linked to and tweeted and clicked on and Facebook-liked â€" and to educate them on the breadth of homelessness in Los Angeles.

The campaign is centered on the pro bono work of David Goliath, an El Segundo-based creative agency, which does commercial campaigns for Ki a Motors, Universal Studios and the California Lottery. It asks people to donate $10 by text message.

Last November, DG, with the help of Grandesign Media Services, filmed two different projects in downtown Los Angeles.

Both featured volunteers who once were homeless. Both used street art that made passersby stop in their tracks. Both spoke of the more than 50,000 people living on the L.A. County streets.

One had a grim message, one a more hopeful one.

In front of City Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall and other spots around downtown, open cardboard coffins were lined up. Some were placed vertically, with volunteers standing inside them. Some were placed horizontally, with volunteers lying down. Next to the coffins, a cardboard sign read: "Every day in L.A., one person who sleeps on the street dies there," and directed people to the Weingart Center's website.

Violent Fourth of July leaves 3 dead in South L.A.

Violent Fourth of July leaves 3 dead in South L.A.

For more than 40 years, the extended Williams, Russell, Dill and Cherry families have celebrated the Fourth of July with firecrackers on 97th Street in South Los Angeles.

They barbecue all day outside the beige duplexes near Normandie Avenue that have been the family gathering spot for decades. At night, the kids light fireworks in the street.

For years, this tradition went off peacefully, family members said. But on Wednesday night, shortly after 10 p.m., as the celebration was in full swing, two men approached the crowd and fired.

The gunshots sent men playing dominoes diving for cover. The bullets hit and killed 14-year-old Unique Russell. A cousin, 12, was also wounded, as was a 21-year-old man.

Unique's death was part of a violent Fourth of July in South L.A., with police responding to eight other shootings â€" including two more homicides â€" during a six-hour period overnight.

"July is typically one of our busiest times of the year. We put many more officers out on the streets to deal with the added number of people on the streets watching fireworks or partying," said Los Angeles police Cmdr. Andrew Smith. "But we were all a bit disappointed by the number of violent incidents as the evening progressed."

At one point, police called a modified tactical alert when alleged gang members pelted officers with lighted fireworks, rocks and bottles early Thursday in the 1300 block of East 111th Place.

Officers were responding to more than 250 people in a nearby parking lot drinking and lighting fireworks as a DJ blasted music. One man became belligerent, and, as officers tried to subdue him, the crowd became unruly, police said. One officer was hospitalized for burns. Another suffered a dislocated shoulder.

Most of the shootings were also believed to have a gang connection, police said.

One such attack took place about 10:30 p.m. in the 4800 block of 2nd Avenue and left one man dead. Police said five men were standing in front of a home when a white SUV drove past and someone opened fire. One man in his 20s, who was not identified, was pronounced dead. Four others were hospitalized in stable condition.

About 2 a.m., officers were called to Manchester and Vermont avenues, where they found an 18 -year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim, who was not immediately identified, died at a nearby hospital. Police said they do not have any information on the assailants.

Fifteen minutes later, a man was shot multiple times in a suspected gang-related attack moments after he stepped off a bus near Florence and Western avenues. The victim was listed in stable condition; the shooting is under investigation.

Sheriff's investigators said they have no motive yet in the shooting of Unique Russell, a bubbly girl entering 10th grade at Washington Preparatory High School.

Unique lived on Crenshaw Boulevard with her mother and sister, but was a frequent visitor to the two duplexes on 97th Street, where her great-grandmother lived, and near where her grandparents and father lived.

"On 97th" was a frequent response her mother, Donna Wade, received when asking Unique where she was going.

"It was the house. It was the holiday house, the eating house," Wade said. "That's a big family, and they're like a real family."

The family came from the small town of Thomaston, Ga., in the 1960s. Though 97th Street is in a neighborhood where gang violence was once rife, in all the years the families have gotten together for the Fourth, Wednesday night marked the first shooting during the celebration.

"People don't realize they're hurting you when they do things like that," said Mary Dill, one of Unique's many aunts.

Sheriff's investigators have made no arrests in the case and ask anyone with information to call (323) 890-5500.

sam.quinones@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

Many small banks still struggle to repay TARP

Many small banks still struggle to repay TARP

Nearly four years after Washington bailed out Wall Street, small banks have yet to repay $11 billion of taxpayer money.

Uncle Sam wants out and is threatening to unload its stakes in the banks at big discounts to new investors. Many of the 324 institutions, mostly tiny community banks and niche players, wonder whether they'll be able to stay in business.

Some stragglers would become financially unstable if they repaid their part of the $245 billion doled out during the financial crisis by the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Critics said the government, having moved so fast to bail out the big banks, should be nurturing the smaller ones.

"Many of these banks feel forced into a situation they can't control â€" a potential fire sale with new and perhaps unfriendly shareholders," said Jerry Comizio, a banking lawyer at Paul Hastings in Washington. "For some banks, though, given their small size and financial condition, they may not have any other viable option."

The biggest U.S. banks, four of which have more than $1 trillion in assets each, were able to repay TARP in short order. The fact that so many small banks â€" most with less than $1 billion in assets each â€" cannot do so illustrates how the struggling economy has crushed business strategies that often relied on housing-related loans and small-business mortgages.

The Treasury Department bought preferred stock in the banks on the condition that they compensate the government by paying a 5% dividend for five years, which then jumps to 9% late next year or in 2014. Counting the dividend payments, the government has turned a $19-billion profit overall on its bank bailouts.

Nonetheless, nearly half the 707 banks that received TARP funding have yet to repay their debt, including 164 that at last count had missed one or more dividend payments because regulators have restricted their operations.

Nowhere is the struggle more apparent than in California, where 28 banks still owe TARP funds, more than in any other state. They include rural Plumas Bank north of Lake Tahoe, Ojai Community Bank in an exclusive part of Ventura County and Saigon National Bank, which caters to Vietnamese immigrants in Orange County.

The Treasury Department is encoura ging the banks to buy back their own stock, which some are planning to do. But most are required to clean up soured loan portfolios, strengthen management and raise new capital privately before regulators will allow them to buy their own stock or even to pay dividends.

Bankers in the state said they were struggling to find cash from friendly new investors at prices that wouldn't wipe out the existing shareholders, often people with deep ties to their communities. The government has signaled that it hopes to dump all its investments within 18 months.

"There's no capital out there for little banks, no capital for inner-city banks and no capital for banks with a lot of troubled assets," said Wayne Kent-Bradshaw, chief executive of Broadway Financial Corp.in Los Angeles.

The three-branch bank, founded in 1947 by African Americans to help blacks who had been shut out by mainstream banks, "is all of those," Bradshaw said.

In a bid to keep the company's Broadway Federal Bank in business, the Treasury Department has agreed to trade its dividend-paying stock for non-dividend shares at a 50% discount. But the deal is on only if Broadway raises $5 million in new capital and persuades other preferred stockholders to take a haircut.

Bradshaw said investors have pledged $3.5 million, and sale of the bank's Wilshire Boulevard headquarters yielded $1.5 million after taxes â€" a total of $5 million. But he said the Treasury Department may still insist that all new funding come from investors.

"We're negotiating with everyone, including Treasury, to get this worked out," he said.

Some small banks, such as ICB Financial in Ontario, have kept the funds by choice, biding time until the dividend rises. Others, including National Bank of California in Los Angeles and Beach Business Bank in Manhattan Beach, have agreed to takeovers by larger rivals in deals that repay the government.

Timothy Massad, the assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability, said deals such as the one with Broadway are struck only if they represent the best outcome for taxpayers.

"Some of those institutions were very close to failing," Massad said, which would wipe out the government's entire investment.

Court backs L.A. County in custody case after child's traffic death

Court backs L.A. County in custody case after child's traffic death

Parents who transport a youngster without a car seat and lose the child in a fatal traffic accident may have their surviving children removed by social welfare authorities, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday.

The state high court ruled in favor of Los Angeles County social workers who placed two young boys in foster care after their 18-month-old sister, held on the lap of an aunt, was killed when a driver ran a stop sign and plowed into the car their father was driving.

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The ruling permits counties to remove children in such cases even if the child's death was not caused by criminal negligence or abuse. Social welfare agencies also are not required to show that the fatal conduct posed a risk to the surviving children, the court said.

Lawyers for Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services said Thursday's decision would make it much easier to win legal control over children who have lost a sibling because of a parent's lack of care. "It's a big case for us, and it is a big case for the child welfare community," said James M. Owens, assistant county counsel.

But Christopher Blake, an attorney for the father in the case, complained that the ruling was overly broad and would encourage social workers to wrest away control of children simply because they were transported without a car seat or seat belt.

"It will make it too easy for children to be removed from their parent s when their parents make a tragic mistake," Blake said.

The case was brought by the father, identified as William C., after his two young sons were put in foster care following the death of his daughter.

William and his three children lived in South Los Angeles with his mother and extended family. He had been separated from the children's cognitively impaired mother.

William was en route to a hospital in June 2009 after his daughter, Valerie, fell off a bed and injured her arm, according to court records. William said he had loaned his car, which contained a car seat, to someone else and drove another vehicle to the hospital with the injured daughter on her aunt's lap. He suffered "extreme remorse" after the accident, the court said.

County social workers received a report a week later that Valerie's siblings, Ethan, 3, and Jesus, 8 months old, were being neglected.

The county investigated and determined that the children lived in a househ old with about 20 people. They also found evidence of unsanitary conditions and reported that the children were dirty and appeared unsupervised. Ethan was suffering from severe developmental delays and had rotten teeth that required extraction, according to the court.

In removing the boys, the county invoked a law that says children may be taken from their parents if negligence has caused a child's death. William contended that the law should apply only if the negligent act was criminal and posed a risk to the surviving children.

But the court said a "breach of ordinary care" was enough to trigger government intervention.

"When a parent's or guardian's negligence has led to the tragedy of a child's death, the dependency court should have the power to intervene… even if the parent's lethal carelessness cannot necessarily be characterized as sufficiently 'gross,' reckless, or culpable to be labeled 'criminal,' " Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the cou rt.

The court said social welfare agencies were not required to show a connection between a child's death and potential harm to the surviving children. A parent's responsibility for a death "inherently" poses concerns for the safety of other children, it said.

Blake, William's attorney, said the ruling would affect other parents more than William. After more than a year in foster care, his children were returned to him after he took several parenting courses.

Kim Nemoy, principal deputy county counsel, said the county had sympathy for the grief-stricken father and worked to ensure he would be able to regain custody once his parenting skills improved.

"This was a family that was greatly in need of social services," she said.

maura.dolan@latimes.com