LITTLE SKIM MILK BUT LOTS OF SHOPLIFTERS: A Dog Trainer editorial complains that there are no quality grocery stores in South L.A. The editorial begins: “Rent-by-the-hour motel rooms are easier to find in South Los Angeles than a quart of skim milk.” It goes on to compare the variety of foods sold in South L.A. groceries unfavorably with the variety sold in West L.A.

Fair enough. But the editorial praises a South Los Angeles activist who is “working to block the construction of new motels and to bring in grocery stores, or at least get the ones already there to carry healthier food.” And I just can’t help but think that this same activist is probably dead set against any significant punishment for criminals such as repeat shoplifters, burglars, and robbers — who, you have to believe, are a principal reason you don’t see entrepreneurs rushing to establish businesses in South L.A.

BLOGGING LIGHT: Blogging will probably be light during this Labor Day weekend.

HILLARY NOT RUNNING: “I am absolutely ruling it out,” Hillary says.

So did Mr. N-Word.

HOWARD DEAN, CANDIDATE OF GRAFFITI: While the rest of the world works to get rid of graffiti, the Howard Dean campaign commissions it.

OVERSEER FAULTS LAPD ON CITIZEN COMPLAINTS: The Dog Trainer reports: “Undercover LAPD officers posing as citizens trying to report police misconduct were routinely dismissed or stonewalled by fellow officers in a series of stings, according to the federal monitor overseeing reforms after the Rampart corruption scandal.”

Once I called LAPD’s Southeast Division and asked the guy at the front desk for the number for Internal Affairs. I wrote down the number he gave me, but it didn’t work. When I later learned the correct number, I looked again at the number the desk officer had given me. He had transposed two of the digits.

Whoops!

CRUZ OR JOE?: It has already been noted that Mr. N-Word Cruz Bustamante looks just like character actor Jon Polito. But has anyone else noticed that he sounds like Joe Mantegna?