Welcome to the Los Angeles Post-Examiner

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Well here it is – the Los Angeles Post-Examiner.  Everything you ever wanted to know about the West Coast but didn’t know to ask.

We’re getting started on Veterans Day no less, which might be appropos. Southern California, in fact, all of California and the West, has many military installations and as a result a large number of veterans who, like myself, decided to stay once our enlistments (or careers) were finished.

Actually, I didn’t stay. After my three years, 10 months and 22 days of the Marine Corps I returned to Milwaukee, WI, but came back to the San Diego area for a summer and then back to Wisconsin where I stayed until 1992. Cue the Grateful Dead’s “Estimated Prophet,” or at least the Beach Boys’ “California Girls.”

A surfer at the Ocean Beach Pier in San Diego. (Photo by Tim Forkes)
A surfer at the Ocean Beach Pier in San Diego.
(Tim Forkes)

This isn’t just focused on Southern California. We will cover national issues and water cooler conversation topics. And  we will do our best to include the rest of the West as well.

We actually have a blogger from the University of Wyoming School of Law who will be contributing. Yes, in case you’re wondering, it’s the same school former Vice President Dick Cheney attended before dropping out to be a draft dodger during the Vietnam War.

Don’t know everything that young man will be writing about, you know lawyers, but in his first post he writes about climbing two peaks in the Rocky Mountains. That’s pretty damn cool.

Then there is the actual lawyer from SoCal who gives us usable information about the law. That’s very interesting. Then there’s the writer from Santa Monica who writers about the beach, from her unique perspective. Instead of the Beach Boys or Jan and Dean, cue up “Sleepwalk” by Santo and Johnny.

A few years ago someone asked the question, “What’s the best surf song of all time?”

“Pipeline” by the Chantays took that honor, but “Sleepwalk” ranks right up there, if you’re romantic or at least sentimental.

We have a comedian/actor and a guy named Moose. Yeah, that’s right, Moose. He’s starting off with an issue we should all be thinking and talking about – fracking. If all you know about fracking is that people can produce a flame from their kitchen faucet, this one is worth a read.

We revisit the L.A. riots of 1992 with a reporter who was there and survived.

Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. It is 8,800 feet above sea level and rises 4,737 above Yosemite Valley. (Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons)
Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. It is 8,800 feet above sea level and rises 4,737 above Yosemite Valley. (Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons)

Our sports reporter Claudia will start filing her reports under the Los Angeles Post-Examiner banner. California is for dreamers. Once they get here though the dreams often fade, or begin to look like fantasies. Not so with Claudia. She is busy covering Southern California professional and college sports, not only for the Post-Examiner sites, but also for PASTV out of Venezuela.

As suggested, this is the logical next step for the founders of the Baltimore Post-Examiner. Starting a website such as this isn’t easy. Writers are needed of course, but we have to find a web hosting company that can handle the traffic and that takes money.  Our parent company Baltimore Post-Examiner LLC  or as we  call them BPE –  pays the bills. So we ask that donations be sent to BPE.  We are supported through advertising, and through your generous donations.  If you donate and advertise, we can support a lot of great talent.

Hey, we have plenty of jobs. If you are interested in sales, marketing, social media, writing,  got some lyrics, poetry, an essay, a news item, serial novel, drop us a line. If you are interested there’s a link at the top of the page you can use to contact us.

Our goal is to provide a little bit of everything, as the banner says, from everywhere in the West. We are centered in Southern California so there will be an emphasis on content from here, but if you live in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah or Arizona and want to contribute, please do. Oh, and New Mexico. The land of Walt. That’s a reference to Breaking Bad, if you’re not experienced.

We actually have a writer who is involved in the television and film industry so we are looking forward to her contributions. I wonder: should I send her one of my screenplays?

Over-The-Line is a tournament that takes place every year in mid-July on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay, San Diego. It's one big party on the first day. It's run by a bunch of cranky old men from the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) and their one main rule: “No Dumb Shit Questions.” (Photo by Tim Forkes)
Over-The-Line is a tournament that takes place every year in mid-July on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay, San Diego. It’s one big party on the first day.
It’s run by a bunch of cranky old men from the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) and their one main rule: “No Dumb Shit Questions.”
(Tim Forkes)

This is the third attempt at a closing paragraph, but something comes to my mind and voila, this is now six paragraphs longer, so I’ll just add a few things here: we will print your song lyrics and poetry; your fiction, with excerpts or installments if you have a novel.

We will be able to host videos, if writers have video to go with their articles or for the filmmakers if they want to feature pieces of their work. We will also host music clips, for the musicians and bands that want the world to hear their music.

It will be a little bit of everything, including the stereotypical things we associate with Southern California: Disneyland, Hollywood, the beaches and surfing — everything, including the Over-the-Line Tournament, a San Diego tradition held every year in mid-July on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay. Epic.

Which brings to mind Death Valley, the Salton Sea, Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, not to mention, Big Sur and Highway 1 that runs up the coast from Malibu to the Bay Area. And how can we forget San Francisco? Napa Valley? Silicon Valley?

It will all be featured here on the Los Angeles Post-Examiner. With a different vibe, a little attitude, as our photo from the OTL Tournament might suggest, although, being an online publication we will of course except any and all dumb shit comments and questions.

We’ll just have a little attitude about it. This is Southern California after all, where anyone and his brother can get a doctor to sign off on a medical marijuana card and light up legally. Our prediction: within three years California will follow Washington and Colorado and completely legalize pot. Why pretend anymore?

Now this is done — seriously. Please enjoy the Los Angeles Post-Examiner. We appreciate your participation.