Washington DC Focus Blog - Zennie62

Obama Does Tim Tebow and Tom Brady Imitation

2012-01-05T06:18:00.000-08:00

David Brooks - NY Times Columnist Fear His Daughter Wants A Black Rapper?

2011-12-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

Oakland Honors Morrie Turner Wee Pals Cartoon Creator

2011-12-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

Kim Jong Il North Korea Leader Dies, Son Kim Jong Un New Leader

2011-12-19T05:51:00.000-08:00

Kim Jong Il North Korea Leader Dies, Son Kim Jong Un New Leader

2011-12-19T05:50:00.000-08:00

Virginia Tech Shooting And Violence In America

2011-12-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

Rick Perry Blog Opinion Gets Zennie Abraham Blocked From SF Chronicle

2011-12-07T02:16:00.001-08:00

Here’s an update to the original Zennie62.com blog post: it seems a Houston-based blog picked up my lasted re-telling of the “Is Rick Perry Gay?” question the mainstream media has avoided asking.
Here’s what Chicago Pride wrote:

Houston — Some bloggers want Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry to answer one simple question: “Are you gay?”
The issue is being dredged up again on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website by blogger Zennie Abraham.
“It’s a good question to ask that’s not been asked: why has CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC not followed up on the long-time claims that Rick Perry may be Gay, or at least had a romantic encounter with a man, but they’re all over the Herman Cain rumors,” Abraham wrote on Monday.
The details of the Perry rumor — as presented by blogger Mike Starks and the venerable newspaper the Austin American-Statesman — are that the Perry’s wife discovered him in a compromising position with a male staff person in early 2004.

This came on the same day that SF Gate.com Executive Director Alana Nguyen emailed me, and I called her back, about her concerns about my Rick Perry blog posts where, even though the first one was about Herman Cain, she totally removed the post, and did not tell me she was doing that, then I had to repost it.
The point is why does the mainstream media jump all over Herman Cain on the sexual harassment issue, but leave Rick Perry alone on the gay story that’s been flying around for some time.
What was told to me by someone at SFGate.com (not Nguyen) said that “She must be getting push back from New York. If they Google ‘Rick Perry Gay,’ they find your work on SFGate. Also Houston is where our sister publication The Houston Chronicle is.”
“New York,” is where Hearst Corporation is located.
That was all before the sudden act of being blocked from blogging at SFGate.com happened on Tuesday.
What does this say? It says that suddenly, Hearst Corporation is protecting Rick Perry. My posts on this subject go back to October of 2010.

Couples, Don't Grind Dance Sex In A Black Guy's Face!

2011-11-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

YouTube Copyright Do's And Don't And YT Partners

2011-10-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

Anthony Weiner Resigns - Video Press Conference And Job Offer

2011-06-16T23:56:00.001-07:00

New York U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner did something on Thursday this blogger honestly didn't think he would do: resign from his seat in Congress.

In a press conference that has been correctly described as a "circus, the 25-year elected official announced he was stepping down from public life, and to take time to correct his life and obviously work to repair a marriage undoubtedly damaged.

Weiner, who personally contacted and sent lewd photos of himself to five women, first said he would not resign, but apparently saw his political life fading as many Democrats ran away from him and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi reportedly threatened to strip him of committee assignments.

That move alone would make it much harder for Congressman Weiner to help his constituents.

So, at 2 PM ET, Weiner took to a podium at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, to first explain that the venue was where his political career started, and then said...

Unfortunately the distraction that I have created makes that [work] impossible... so today I am announcing my resignation from Congress.

And that's when all hell broke lose in the form of a man we didn't know until Thursday. That's when he yelled "Goodbye Pervert" and other choice words I really don't want to type here.

Now, we know his name is Benjy Bronk (right), and we know he represents The Howard Stern Show.

And we also know he likes to be in interesting photos of his own (see below - that's really Bronk himself).

Some people just don't think about the photos they're in, do they? Or maybe Bronk doesn't care?

At any rate, that planned Howard Stern injection of bombast didn't make things any better for Weiner, and added a sad note to the press conference proceedings.

Anthony Weiner's Future: Larry Flynt?

What's Anthony Weiner's future? Well, we really don't know, but it's good to know that Weiner has at least one appropriate option: working for Hustler Founder Larry Flynt.

In Thursday's Huffington Post, Mr. Flynt wrote:

I would like to make you an offer of employment at Flynt Management Group, LLC in our Internet group. As a Congressman, you are known for your intensity and perseverance...This offer is not made in jest. To show our sincerity, Flynt Management Group, LLC is willing to pay twenty percent more than your former Congressional salary ($174,000), ensuring that your medical benefits would be equal to what you were previously receiving....While you will have to relocate to our corporate offices in Beverly Hills, California, we would pay for all relocation costs.

The job offer is apparently open-ended, and it's not clear exactly what Flynt would ask Weiner to do, although the statement "While this employment opportunity is being offered in large part due to your qualifications and clear passion for making a change.." would seem to point to the same actions that caused him to step down, that's not clear.

Stay tuned.

President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden (SPOOF)

2011-06-12T16:11:00.001-07:00

If you've not seen this spoof of President Barack Obama's speech after Osama Bin Ladin was assassinated, stop what you're doing and pay attention. This is a video that exactly expresses what you and I both know Barack wanted to say after the Navy Seal Team 6 got to their objective.

Created by So-Cal-based actor and impressionist Iman Crosson, the video, according to CBS News, perfectly captured the national mood. But enough of that, here's Mr. Crosson as President Obama:

If you're wondering "How did he do that?" Here's a video called President Obama on Death of Osama SPOOF- BEHIND THE SCENES and contains several out-takes, as well as Crosson's explanation of how he copied the President's speech style, while in time with the rap music he used.

In short, a work of genius that's only gained 4.66 million views over the past month, when it should have gained 10 million views by now.

By comparison, the eHarmony Video Bio featuring that crazy cat lover, Debbie, faking her crying, has reached the 4 million mark in just four days.

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead - Credit President Obama

2011-05-02T01:54:00.001-07:00

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead. President Barack Obama made the stunning announcement at 11:39 PM EDT Sunday, as this blogger sat in a position of stasis. For almost 10 years, the name Osama Bin Laden had become an indelible part of American Culture, and with an image just equal to that of Adolf Hitler.

The Mastermind of the September 11th 2001 events we call 9-11 and that led to the total destruction of the twin towers of The World Trade Center in New York City was on the run, seemingly forever.

Not any more...

And while the media points to a intelligence gathering process that started back in 2001, the truth is that America's political leaders in charge for much of that time wrongly focused American military resources on Irag, and not Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Now, almost a trillion dollars, and 4,000 lost lives by 2007, then-Senator Barack Obama, just starting what would become his successful presidential run, said that he would end the Iraq War, and go on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden right in Pakistan.

The statement led to a ton of criticism from his major presidential rivals. In a blog post dated Wednesday, November 7, 2007 at Zennie62.com, this blogger pushed-out for distribution what CNN's Ruben Navarrette Jr, wrote:

When Sen. Barack Obama suggested getting out of Iraq and moving "onto the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan," and then pledged, if elected president, to go into Pakistan if our military was in hot pursuit of "high-value terrorist targets" (read: Osama bin Laden), his opponents pounced.

Rudy Giuliani suggested that Obama should be more accommodating of Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Mitt Romney said that Obama was "confused as to who are our friends and who are our enemies." Sen. John McCain called Obama's remarks "kind of typical of his naivete." And Sen. Hillary Clinton said that Obama's foreign policy views were "irresponsible and frankly naive."

Now, fast-forward to 2011 and while Hillary Clinton is now Secretary of State, and Rudy Giuliani is semi-retired (or so it seems) Mitt Romney is talking about running for President, again. And Sen. John McCain doesn't seem to be in the mood of thanking President Obama, issuing this Twitter Tweet:

SenJohnMcCain John McCain
We finally got him, justice has been done. Read my full statement here http://tinyurl.com/3auckey...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), made the following statement this evening regarding the announcement made by President Obama that Osama Bin Laden has been killed:

"I am overjoyed that we finally got the world's top terrorist. The world is a better and more just place now that Osama bin Laden is no longer in it. I hope the families of the victims of the September 11th attacks will sleep easier tonight and every night hence knowing that justice has been done. I commend the President and his team, as well as our men and women in uniform and our intelligence professionals, for this superb achievement.

"But while we take heart in the news that Osama bin Laden is dead, we must be mindful that al-Qaeda and its terrorist allies are still lethal and determined enemies, and we must remain vigilant to defeat them."

That's great. But never forget that it was McCain who wasted no time in saying then-Senator Obama was naive for wanting to go into Pakistan to get Bin Laden. If McCain were POTUS, and not Obama, this day arguably would never have come.

And the list of potential GOP Presidential Candidates who don't have the class to thank President Obama includes Sarah Palin and, of course, Mitt Romney, as of this writing.

What Were We Doing In Iraq?

All of this, this modern V-Jay Day, now brings back the question "What were we doing in Iraq?" It was, indeed, not just the wrong war, but a costly war. And we wasted years in Iraq while Osama Bin Laden gained enough time and money to have the giant compound in Pakistan constructed to keep him safe.

Now, a revisiting of what the USA was doing over that time is in order, especially since it's clear Osama Bin Laden was no where near Iraq.

We got him. In Pakistan.

Stay tuned.

Obama Tucson Speech: President Barack Obama Is Back

2011-01-13T02:14:00.001-08:00

After a brief absence, he's back: President Barack Obama's Tucson Speech signified the President's return to that full-power greatness we'd not seen in a long while.

Obama's return started just before the end of Congress' last term, then in 2011 was growing. But it took the tragedy that was the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others to bring it to full strength.

The "it" is Barack Obama's unique ability to tap into the collective conscience of America at the very time it matters most.

Obama did it with the "Race Speech: A More Perfect Union" in 2008, where then-Senator Obama, faced with a racist element in his own campaign that he had to bring under control, talked to America about race from his place as a bi-racial American.

Obama did it again in his first State Of The Union Speech, and yet again, in the first major speech delivered to the Muslim nations by a sitting President of The United States. Faced with overwhelming odds, and more often than not, a spot you couldn't send to the cleaners, President Obama delivered. And in doing so, again and again, reminded us of our own humanity.

When I first heard the Obama Tucson Speech, I'd just walked in and turned on the TV set. The President was in the middle of his speech, and the crowd at the University of Arizona was just plain into it. So much so, that I was drawn in, in just seconds. The American Family was at the TV set, listening to our leader of the free World.

Obama spoke with such coiled emotional power it seemed as if he was trying to avoid crying. That feeling came through the TV set and into my living room. If you weren't moved by that speech, you were either not human or jealous that Obama didn't pick you to be in his administration.

I get that feeling from CNN's David Gergen, an advisor to past presidents, including President Clinton, and who more often than not struggles to praise President Obama. Gergen tried to throw cold water on the impact of Obama's speech, but ended up sounding like someone still smarting from not being in this President's inner circle.

Gergen aside, everyone liberal and conservative and in between praised Obama's speech. "Obama Tucson Speech" is one of the stop searches on Google. And as we saw Obama walk with First Lady Michelle Obama to Air Force One, he bounded up the steps to the plane with a new energy and purpose.

He heeled America, and he knew it.

President Obama is back.

Tuesday Night Football: Eagles vs Vikings - Mike Vick Hurt By Game Plan

2010-12-28T20:48:00.001-08:00

The first Tuesday night pro football game played since 1946 had a surprise ending. The Minnesota Vikings under Rookie Quarterback Joe Webb beat the seeming World-beating Philadelphia Eagles in Phili, 24 to 14.

While Webb's cool, calm, clutch performance in his first start made a lot of people say "Tavarez who," (referring to the Vikings other QB Tavarez Jackson) and cemented him as their new signal caller, it was a very bad offensive game plan that prevented Vick and the Eagles from playing up to expectations.

Michael Vick can't win. When his athleticism overcomes a bad game plan, everyone cheers him. When his athleticism can't overcome the bad game plan, everyone boos him. But the bad game plan, and the coaches who created it, goes without criticism.

Against the New York Giants last week, Vick overcame a bad offensive game plan with his legs and timely passing. But the Vikings used the same defensive game plan as that of the Giants, and with Vick not able to muster the same energy as the week before to essentially play out of that awful game plan, the Eagles offense stalled.

"That bad game plan," sets the relatively short Vick up in the pocket as a sitting duck, a focal point for blitzes. And those pass rush calls have come more and more over the last four games. But instead of rolling Vick out to have him throw more often than not, Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid kept Vick in the pocket.

The result: hurries, batted passes, and sacks.

And a shocking Vikings win.

NORAD Santa Tracker - Christmas Eve Santa Tracking

2010-12-24T16:50:00.001-08:00

This year, 2010, once again this blogger is following (kinda) the Santa Tracker, but while tree trimming, wine drinking, and talking, and listening to Nat and Frank (Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra).

But here's my NORAD Santa Tracker Video, because I just had to!

This business of going to the NORAD website to track Santa Claus' trip around the World is rather cool, but I'm in the middle of watching It's A Wonderful Life, so I decided to embed the tracker right here in my blog:

As of 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST, Santa Claus is , well, he's moving really fast! (If the embed doesn't work in your browser, click on the NORAD link.)

Merry Christmas!

Santa Baby 99ers Christmas Unemployment Song

2010-12-24T02:38:00.001-08:00

Presenting the Santa Baby 99ers Christmas Unemployment Song, or The Santa Baby 99ers Song, on Christmas Eve.

Donalee King (in photo from Zennie62.com), who goes by Paladinette, at Zennie62.com, created this variation of the classic Christmas Song Santa Baby.

King, a blogger who also has her own blog called Jobless Unite, is one of the so-called "99ers," those who's unemployment benefits have ran out after the 99-week limit, and seek an extension of benefits, or better yet, a job.

In seeking both, the San Diego resident has become a tireless advocate for the jobless. Her work on this song landed her notice by the LA Times.

The video is below, followed by the lyrics, which are graphic but worth reading and singing...if you dare!

(In fact, if you're in Oakland, California, print out the lyrics, take them down to The Alley at 3325 Grand Avenue, present them to Rod Dibble at the piano, and ask he would accompany you in song. Santa Baby is a song he knows how to play.)

Lyrics to video song Santa Baby - 99ers Style 2010

Congress Baby, the 99ers need a tier 5......to survive

I know you’re HEARTLESS P@#*s But....so what?

My children need some dinner tonight!

The car got repo’d and the rent is awfully late...but wait

You only care for the rich that’s a B*@#H

there’s millions of us dying out here

We can’t afford a Christmas tree

While you’re all buying Cartier at Tiffany

You bailed out banks Greece and Haiti too

I think it’s time the 99ers heard from you

Obama baby, just help the 99ers please

and... don’t tease

Been a really tough year

Out here

I Hope Your change is comin’ tonight

Obama honey, you sold 99ers flat out

no doubt

and now it’s snowing out,

My stomach’s growling

I need some food and shelter tonight

Sherrod honey, Schumer and that Stabenow too

Were through we all trusted you

but senate baby your lies have left us hurtn’ out here

We’re not rich - guess we don’t count

The dirty little secret you won’t talk about

There’ll be no jobs again next Year

It’s time you kicked your senate’s butts into high gear

Congress baby just pretend to care for us poor

once more - come on it’s just a check - so what the heck?

there’s millions of us dying out here!

That’s right I’d rather work than fight

Hurry Congress there’s 99ers dying TONIGHT

Merry Christmas!

President Obama Signs Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Video)

2010-12-22T14:38:00.001-08:00

Today, three days before Christmas, President Obama signed the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT).

Here's the full 26 minute video marking the fall of one of the last vestiges of mass stupidity. If anyone, had doubts about Barack Obama as a president right for our time, please jettison them.

Richard Holbrooke Has Died At 69: Torn Aorta

2010-12-13T17:05:00.001-08:00

Richard Holbrooke, the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, a key player in President Obama's Afghanistan war strategy and relationships there, has died at 69 years of age.

Holbrooke's passing came after surgery.

Politico had reported that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Holbrooke was in "stable but still in very critical condition." He had just sustained 20 hours of surgery for a torn Aorta. The most common cause of a torn Aorta is High Blood Pressure.

Holbrooke has served three presidents, and been involved in American Foreign policy at some level, almost since he left college at Brown University in 1962 (photo by Brown University). He is survived by his wife, Kati Marton.

Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards wife, dies of Breast Cancer at 61

2010-12-07T15:40:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Senator and Presidential Candidate John Edwards, has died of Breast Cancer at the age of 61. This news is both shocking and sudden, as it was just Sunday that Mrs. Edwards was taken off her cancer treatments as doctors told her they were no longer effective.

Mrs. Edwards cancer had metastasized to her liver.

Elizabeth Edwards Was A Political Wife

Elizabeth Edwards (photo by www.sugarslam.com) was every bit the political wife of John Edwards. I've never met her, but did have the pleasure of being in the same room as she: the Pepsi Center for The Democratic National Convention.

What I can't help remembering, because as a blogger, I was in the middle of it, was just how her husband was cheating on her as was diagnosed with had Breast Cancer. That was back in 2007 going into 2008, as Edwards was seen to be the rising star of the Democratic Party, and the front-runner for the Democratic Primary. They, the Democratic Party establishment, gave "that Obama guy" little chance of winning.

But for me, all of that changed when we got word from, of all places, the National Enquirer, that Edwards had established a relationship with a woman named Rielle Hunter. There were only a handful of blogs - The Huffington Post, and what I then called Zennie's Zeitgeist - that ran with the story. And being an open and very aggressive supporter of Obama for President, I pushed the blog post with gusto on January 8th 2008.

Why?

Because the news that Hunter was about to have a child by Edwards was being swept under the rug by too many people. A number of big donors saw Edwards as their "Golden Boy" and didn't want the news of his affair known. They were also standing in the way of Obama's assent at the time.

And yes, even with these problems, their was a powerful pull for an Obama / Edwards ticket, even as then-Senator Clinton was the front runner.

But all of that changed when Edwards finally admitted to his affair on August 8th 2008, and just days before the 2008 Democratic National Convention. That was the game-changer that put Obama firmly in the driver's seat and Clinton at number two, with Edwards' delegates searching for a new home.

But what was sad to witness was John Edwards basically turn his back on Elizabeth Edwards. And as a person who's Mom's a Breast Cancer survivor, and lost both a Stepfather and Father in 2005 to Prostate Cancer, the last thing a cancer patient needs is more stress. John was bringing just that to his wife.

Sad.

It's good to read that he was by her side, but what he did will live with him forever. Edwards can't get a do-over now.

Morgan Freeman World Cup Speech Makes Twitter Trend

2010-12-01T08:52:00.001-08:00

The Legendary Actor Morgan Freeman is the voice for America's presentation to host the 2022 World Cup, and the news is causing "Morgan Freeman" to become a trending topic.

The USA presentation is underway as this is being written. You can see the FIFA.com live stream here.

The USA team was led by President Bill Clinton, US Attorney General Eric Holder, Big Committee head Sunil Gulati, Carlos Cordeiro, Don Garber and Morgan Freeman.

Later today, FIFA will announce which nation wins the right to host the 2020 World Cup.

Stay tuned.

The Hot News Doctrine: Google's reason for Google News changes

2010-11-28T20:06:00.001-08:00

The Google News Meta Tag program, activated 12 days ago on November 16th, has ignited a firestorm of controversy that shows no sign of abating. The intent of the online news aggregator's effort was to give proper link credit to the originator of a story. (Which, in itself, is a dicey affair, considering unnamed sources, and small blogs that are ignored by search engines.) But the real result has been the de-listing of small blogs and news websites, while large content farms like Associated Content have been retained.

Indeed, by the experience of this blogger at Zennie62.com, Google News staffers delist the blog, then claim some "violation" of their guidelines without providing evidence to back their claim while having counter evidence produced. Meanwhile, true violators of Google News guidelines, like Associated Content, are permitted to remain listed on Google News, and even today, as of this writing, produce content that is an obvious affront to those same guidelines.

Scott Rosenberg specifically pointed to Associated Content's practice in Salon in August, when he wrote...

A.C.'s appearance in the Google lead position surprised me. I'd always assumed that, inundated by content-farm-grown dross, Google would figure out how to keep the quality stuff at the top of its index. And this wasn't Google's general search index recommending A.C., but the more rarefied Google News -- which prides itself on maintaining a fairly narrow set of sources, qualified by some level of editorial scrutiny.

Gee, maybe Associated Content is getting better, I thought. Maybe it's producing some decent stuff. Then I clicked through and began reading:

The Dr. Laura n-word backlash made her quit her radio show. It seems the Dr. Laura n-word controversy has made her pay the price, as the consequences of herbrought down her long-running program. But even if it ended her show, it may not end her career. Despite being labeled as a racist, and despite allegedly being tired of radio, the embattled doctor still seems set to fight on after she leaves. In fact, the Dr. Laura n-word scandal has made her more defiant than ever, despite quitting

But fast forward to today, after the Google Meta Tag program, and the mass blog delisting for what this blogger claims is the "cover reason" of "guideline violations," and Associated Content still remains, and with a new post that features the use of "fantasy football" a whopping seven times in a paragraph-and-three-quarters.

So how can Associated Content's "crap" as Scott Rosenberg implies, remain, and better content from smaller blogs be removed? Simple. I assert that Google News Staff's not telling the truth and this move has everything to do with the arguments over something called The Hot News Doctrine, court cases involving websites FlyOnTheWall.com and Briefing.com, and Google's "friend of the court" role.

The Hot News Doctrine

According to a number of sources, among them a very good post at Arstechica.com , The Hot News Doctrine was originally introduced by The Associated Press in 1918 and in a case where a competitor news organization called INS was taking AP newspapers and rewriting their World War II stories if they originated from INS. At some cases, ilke California, where INS had a geographic advantage, it looked as if INS broke the story, not the AP.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Associated Press work was being used for profit and without credit of any kind by INS. In the process of developing the argument supporting their ruling, the term "Hot News Doctrine" was created.

Fast forward to today, and since 2005, media observers have warned that news organizations, hemorrhaging ad revenue as more news went to the Internet, and blogs proliferated, would resort to the "Hot News Doctrine" to protect their revenue base and get rid of the impact of blogs and bloggers. That, under the idea that they, the legacy news organizations, were the originators of news, even when that wasn't the case.

In 2008, the AP went on a kind of rant against blogs , claiming that some were infringing on its copyright by including portions of content from its articles. But the AP has not then, nor as of this writing, ever explained what a fair use of its content was. The best option was not to even link to the AP, as TechCrunch' Michael Arrington implied when he said his blog would just pretend the AP "didn't exist."

That inflamed the claim by some legacy sites, like the AP, that bloggers were not giving "proper link credit" to their work, even if bloggers could claim that legacy news sites were not giving "proper credit" to blog sites, ether.

This year, 2010, the big media players - in this case The Associated Press, New York Times, Time,Washington Post, Agence France-Presse, and Advance Publications to name the major players - have brought up the Hot News Doctrine in friend-of-the-court briefings in the case of Barclays Capital vs. TheFlyOnTheWall.com. Basically, the legacy media players don't want what they consider to be the re-reporting of "their facts."

What FlyOneTheWall.com was doing was collecting had gathered stock recommendations from investment banking companies, including Merrill Lynch, and reposting them on its website. The Federal Court agreed with Barclays and asked FlyOneTheWall.com to delay the release of its information. The case went to the appeals court.

That directly relates to the idea in Google News guidelines that news should be original or contribute to the original news story in some way. Blogs are commentary, thus, by the nature of the definition of that term, blogs do "contribute to the original news story." But the overall assumption, based on the position of big media as the accuser, is that they produce all original content, when in point of fact, blogs like TMZ.com and PerezHilton.com create as much or more original content. (Regardless of your view of the blogs, which is irrelevant, that is the case.)

The brief written in the Barclays Capital vs. TheFlyOnTheWall.com case states that

Unless generalized free-riding on news originators’ efforts is restrained, originators will be unable to recover their costs of newsgathering and publication, the incentive to engage in the news business will be threatened, and the public will ultimately have fewer sources of original news," reads the brief.

One of those "original news" sources online has been Google News. Google, with Twitter, wrote a "friend of the court" brief attacking the position of the big media players. The online giants have claimed the Hot News Doctrine is not workable in today's Internet news world. Google claimed that enforcing The Hot News Doctrine would create a "hot mess." Their voice was joined by that of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

The EFF, in a statement to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the Barclays's case by Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry, wrote: "We're asking the appeals court to recognize the elephant in the room and analyze the 'hot news' doctrine in light of the strong First Amendment protections developed by the Supreme Court to encourage the expression of truthful statements on matters of public concern."

While a decision is expected, perhaps before the end of the year, one has been made in another case, the Briefing.com case . There, the Hot News Doctrine was used by Dow Jones, a division of Rupert Murdock's News Corporation. But Briefing.com admitted to copying parts of more than 100 articles, which is a violation of federal copyright law.

Google News and The Hot News Doctrine

Where Google News fits in this complex issue is that as a news aggregator facing a legal vice grip being tightened by the big media players, it's role in a Hot News Doctrine world is severely curtailed. According to Sam Bayard of the Citizen Media Law Project, news aggregators like Google News are negatively impacted, because TheFlyOnTheWall itself, which in court and is now in appeals court, is itself a kind of news aggregator.

What I think happened is, anticipating a negative ruling in the Barclays appeal case, Google had Google News install a "meta tag program" that would get rid of blogs, push them to "Google Blog Search" status, and leave Google News for many of the same big media players that Google and Twitter attacked in court via the friend-of-the-court briefs.

Everything in the Google Meta Tag Program results point to that occurrence. It's not that your blog's content is in some violation of Google News content guidelines, just that you're a small blog that Google News wants to get out of the way to protect itself. From what? From a lawsuit it fears it may lose by The Associated Press.

The only place of relief for this is Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The big media organizations have too much legal money, think their very life is on the economic line, and Google and New Media players don't seem to have the stomach to fight them. This is a battle bloggers have to fight, if they can stop attacking each other for a spell.

Stay tuned.

March Of Dimes, Walgreens CFO, Honor White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford

2010-11-01T00:33:00.001-07:00

The good news in politics is often not reported. Such is the case with this news of The March of Dimes Of Chicago and Walgreens CFO, Wade D. Miquelon, who's formal title is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Walgreens as Honorary Chairperson, presenting White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford with the 2010 Chef of the Year award just over a month ago.

According to The March Of Dimes, Wade D. Miquelon was joined in the role of Honorary Chairperson by Denise Wong, Vice President and Division Chief Information Officer of Walgreens. The retailer was presenting sponsor for the event to honor this Chicago legend who serves President Obama in the role of White House Executive Chef.

First Woman As White House Executive Chef

First Lady Laura Bush selected Cristeta Comerford as Executive Chef on August 14th 2005. She became not just the first woman but the first Filipino and minority in the role. When Bush gave way to the tidal wave that was the Obama movement into the White House, Comerford, a Chicagoan, was retained in her role.

In doing so, First Lady Michelle Obama said this "Cristeta Comerford brings such incredible talent to the White House operation and came very highly regarded from the Bush family," Michelle Obama said in a statement released by the transition team. "Also the mom of a young daughter, I appreciate our shared perspective on the importance of healthy eating and healthy families."

Obama Terror Attack Quote Shows Stupidity Of The Right-Wing

2010-09-22T18:39:00.003-07:00

(Post originally at Zennie62.com)

Obama Terror Attack Quote: the definition of "absorb" - keep that in mind.

The Internet's ablaze with news, blog, and soon video and audio chatter about President Barack Obama's quote in Bob Woodward's new book Obama's Wars. The Right Wing of the blogsphere's especially excited over the so-called statement by the President that America "could absorb" a Terrorist attack.

The right, looking for whatever edge it can get politically, is prone to great leaps in misjudgement. Want an example? Look no further than Senator John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Not to digress, the problem of Couch Potato Conservatives rests in their lack of desire to think. Thus, failing to ask one simple question: what's the definition of "absorb."

Here are all of the possible definitions:

1. To take (something) in through or as through pores or interstices.
2. To occupy the full attention, interest, or time of; engross. See Synonyms at monopolize.
3. To retain (radiation or sound, for example) wholly, without reflection or transmission.
4. To take in; assimilate: immigrants who were absorbed into the social mainstream.
5. To learn; acquire: "Matisse absorbed the lesson and added to it a new language of color" (Peter Plagen).
6. To receive (an impulse) without echo or recoil: a fabric that absorbs sound; a bumper that absorbs impact.
7. To assume or pay for (a cost or costs).
8. To endure; accommodate: couldn't absorb the additional hardships.
9. To use up; consume: The project has absorbed all of our department's resources.

Of all nine choices, the one that most fits President Obama's statement is Number 6: "To receive (an impulse) without echo or recoil." That's not what America was able to do in the case of 9-11 and means that such an attack could happen and ultimately no one would be killed, certainly not the 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001.

Memories are short, and some Right-Wing blogger contemporaries show a weakness of cognitive thought that is the result of a poorly funded national educational system coupled with an inability to avoid the impulse for anti-intellectualism.

In other words, some of them are just being stupid. Note that "being stupid" is a temporary state of mind, not a permanent one, which means the problem can be repaired. Read on.

Before 9-11 we didn't have the Transportation Services Administration, The Department Of Homeland Security, or WiFi, smart phones, or any number of systems that help prevent or absorb possible terrorist attacks. Now we have those systems in place and they work.

Obama Not Inviting An Attack, But Read The Book

All of this is taken out of context because you and I don't know the full context of the book's prose. Some at the New York Times do, but only share their observations with us, not Bob Woodwards's book itself. Thus, we're left to guess at the context, at least for those of us thoughtful enough to realize we don't know it.

The Right should cool its jets, unless it wants to see an unearthing of every scary, stupid, and idiotic comment made from members of its brethren since September 11th 2001. By using patient, thoughtful consideration of words, The Right Wing can avoid such displays of lack of intellect in the future.

Happy Rosh Hashanah : President Obama's Wish, Stephen Hawking's Error

2010-09-08T07:15:00.001-07:00

President Obama is joined by this blogger in wishing you a Happy Rosh Hashanah. Here's Obama's video from yesterday:

Prof. Stephen Hawking

Come to think of it, since Stephen Hawking elected to introduce his book The Grand Design and declare that God did not create the Universe, it's fair to say that for him, Rosh Hashanah's not good, eh?

You'd think Hawking would show some respect for Jews by not releasing his book just a day before Rosh Hashanah, right? Talk about flunking his performance review. Geesh.

This blogger still can't understand why Stephen Hawking would write a book trying to debunk the existence of God, but not The Devil. Makes you wonder if his book itself's the Work of The Devil.

From this vantage point, Stephen Hawking looks just like the religious zealots he and his fans rightly criticize. Two sides of the same coin.

I prefer the edge. It rolls, if you know what I mean.

Happy Rosh Hashanah

CNN's Ed Henry's Kendrick Meek Interview Was Awful

2010-08-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

Ed Henry pays more attention to his hair than interviews

CNN's Ed Henry gets hammered all too often for his interview approach, which often has nothing to do with the concerns of the subject he's interviewing. Take the interview he just conducted with Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek today, Sunday.

Congressman Meek just beat challenger Jeff Greene for the Democratic Nomination to be Florida's next Senator. With that, does Ed Henry talk about the campaign? No.

Ed Henry opens with a not-veiled and wrong-headed attack on the Obama Administration's Economic Stimulus package. The questioning had nothing to do with the Florida Senate race against GOP challenger Marco Rubio.

Instead of giving the viewer what was expected, Ed Henry used Kendrick Meek to do Henry's White House crit for him, or at least tried to.

If Ed Henry wants to take political positions against the White House, he should quit CNN and become a columnist or a blogger. The strategy of trying to use one interview subject to make news about something having little to do with that subject, as Henry clumsily tried to do with President Obama last year (and Wonkette made him look like a fool for doing it) not only doesn't work, it makes Henry look plain silly.

If Ed Henry doesn't know about Florida politics, don't waste my time interviewing Florida politicians. I watched the interview expecting to learn something about the events of last week and about Congressman Meek. Instead, what I got was a big dose of Ed Henry grandstanding for the right to ask irrelevant questions.

Ed, don't do that again. Please. Do your homework before an interview.

Restoring Honor: The I Have A Dream Speech Anniversary

2010-08-29T09:16:00.001-07:00

We can't allow crackpot talk show hosts to glen or for that matter to beck America into forgetting that Saturday, August 28th was the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech. This blog post is a small action of "Restoring Honor" to that day in 1963.

The ten minute speech was given on Saturday, August 28th 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC; the event drew over 200,000 people. The address is ranked as the top speech in history.

What is forgotten in all of the silliness of yesterday's faked emotionalism, aside from the fact that Dr. King's greatest moment was nearly glen becked by the media, was the actual speech of 1963 came at a time in this blogger's life (I was born in 1962) when white America's view toward blacks in America was largely screwed up.

(It's not accurate to say "America's view" because it implies either that blacks were also treating other blacks the same way, which wasn't the case, and that blacks and other minorities had the same levels of freedoms that whites in America enjoyed in 1963; not so. Truth, painful as it is to deal with, is the truth. Skin color was the issue. You could claim to be a black conservative at the time, and that would not save you from racism.)

Blacks and whites could not marry and even something as simple as going to the bathroom was segregated by race. Many of the freedoms younger African Americans are used now to weren't even allowed then. And beatings and lynchings of blacks, particularly in the South, were all too common.

It's always said that one must know history, if only to avoid repeating it. That's what "Restoring Honor" really means.

For those of you who have not seen the I Have A Dream Speech, the video of it is below, followed by the text of what Dr. King actually said.

Here's the text of the speech from MLKOnline.net:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski Losing To Joe Miller In Alaska GOP Primary

2010-08-25T08:37:00.001-07:00

If Lisa loses, she may go fishing for Sarah

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski is behind by 2,000 votes, 45,909 to 43,949, to challenger Joe Miller in the Alaska GOP Primary.

If Lisa Murkowski loses, it will be viewed here as a win more for Sarah Palin than for the Tea Party Movement.

Look, Lisa Murkowski has a seat Palin felt should have been hers long ago. But Lisa's daddy, Frank Murkowski, picked his daughter to be Alaska Senator in 2002. Then Palin beat Frank Murkowski in the Alaska Gubernatorial Race in 2006. Over the course of time, Palin has made it known she felt that Senate seat should have been hers.

This isn't about the Tea Party; this is a catfight.

And I don't care if you bring up a Black Conservative from out of state and tell people a Black Conservative is stumping for Joe Miller and how great it looks, as the so-called American Thinker (smoking a GIANT bong in the process) presented. This is still about Lisa and Sarah.

But, yeah, some brother named Lloyd Marcus was trucked up to Alaska by the Tea Party Express to stump for Joe Miller! Why in God's good name would the Tea Party Express send a black guy up to Alaska to help a white GOP candidate? To show that the Tea Party Express and Joe Miller really do have black friends. (Meanwhile CNN gives the racist Tea Party guys airspace, painfully reminding the Tea Party Express of its real roots.)

What's more shameful is Lloyd Marcus allowed himself to be used in this way. If you look at the American Thinker (LOL), Mr. Marcus looks like he should play the Sheriff in Blazing Saddles.

Now a fair bet is Lloyd Marcus is a beautiful man. He has to be just to put up with all of the "what you doing here" looks he's certainly getting. OMG!!

But I digress. I really had to, though. Back to Lisa, er Senator Murkowski.

As she was watching the election returns, Lisa Murkowski remarked that when Sarah Palin left office she vowed to help the people of Alaska. Instead, she served "in her own self-interest" as Senator Murkowski said to The Anchorage Daily News.

Democrats, don't you just love this GOP self-eating process? This massive cannibalization? Isn't just so cool to watch this Murkowski vs. Palin catfight writ large?! This blogger's having a ball.

Because once the smoke clears in Alaska, the GOP will have to face the clear Democratic choice, Scott T. McAdams.

Boy, kick GOP butt in Alaska's going to be so fun!

Julian Assange rape charges dropped, Wikileaks founder cleared

2010-08-21T11:23:00.001-07:00

Julian Assange - Image via Wikipedia

In what has to have been a nightmare experience for him, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been cleared of charges of rape and molestation in Sweden, false charges issued by two women, one in her 20s and the other in her 30s. As reported at Zennie62.com, the charges looked like the anatomy of a smear campaign.

According to Aljazeera, Eva Finne, Sweden's chief prosecutor, Julian Assange was "no longer wanted."

On Friday, it was reported that the two women, who knew each other, came forward to Swedish Police. But the problem was they did not want to file an official report because of their so-called fears of his power.

What's fishy about that story is if the women actually knew who Julian was, thus "fearing his power," which is a joke of a claim, and knew what his controversial Wikileaks issue was about, why would they seek to file a false report of rape, especially since he up against the U.S Government?

If they were supporters of his cause, they would not have done that. Period.

Under the circumstances, because they're not named and did not file an official report, its fair to ask if the women were connected to the CIA?

Many news organizations will go back to the story that Wikileaks has over 70,000 documents on its website that are classified and concern the War in Afghanistan. But the dropping of charges does not begin to explain exactly and in detail why they were issued. And who were the two women who brought the story forward?

Charging someone with rape is a serious issue. What's more troubling is that it was done at a time when Wikileaks and Julian Assange are the focus of the U.S Governments anger. Anyone who abuses the legal process to make a false claim should be punished.

Stay tuned for more on this fish story.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to surrender to police over rape charge

2010-08-21T07:02:00.001-07:00

Julian Assange - Image via Wikipedia

It's reported from the Google translated web version of the Swedish tabloid Expressen, that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is to surrender to Swedish police over an alleged rape charge reported earlier.

Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said that Julian Assange will remain in Sweden. Reportedly, police want to confront him with what is called "the data."

According to Expressen's Anna Skarin, two women, one in her 20s and the other in her 30s, came forward with the claim.

Wikileaks currently holds about 70,000 pages of classified documents related to the War in Afghanistan.

Ted Stevens: Former Alaska Senator plane crash death confirmed

2010-08-10T12:59:00.001-07:00

Senator Stevens

Sadly, Senator Ted Stevens' death in the crash of an airplane owned by GCI, which provides telecommunications services to Alaska, was confirmed by CNN and The Washington Post.

Previously, the first source of news that the former Senator had passed away, then claimed they were "not sure," as the three crash survivors were not identified.

The plane, a small eight-passenger single engine prop aircraft, crashed 20 miles away from Dillingham, Alaska. The passengers included Senator Stevens and former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, said to be Ted Stevens' fishing buddy.

Ted Stevens was a giant in politics, who survived a nasty legal battle and at 86 was still helping other elected officials. He will be missed.

More on Ted Stevens in this space, soon.

Obama on The View: Sarah Palin, in Alaska, says Obama should be at U.S. Mexico boarder

2010-07-30T13:07:00.001-07:00

OK, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin just can't resist putting her foot in her mouth regarding President Obama. She should just admit he's doing a great job and she's got the hots for him. Instead, Palin, who's known for creating new words like "refudiate," had to talk before she realized where she was.

According to The Huffington Post, Palin said Obama had no time to be at the U.S. Mexico boarder but was on ABC's The View instead. Now, was Sarah Palin at the U.S. Mexico boarder ? No. She was in Alaska.

Alaska.

Great. I guess Sarah Palin's going to tell us she can see the U.S. Mexico boarder from her window, right?

If Palin were serious, she'd have made her statement from, yep, the U.S. Mexico boarder, but its too late for that. Anyway, going down there is the political kiss of death for any elected official or person running for office.

If Sarah Palin is, well, frankly, stupid enough to go down there, she can kiss any idea of running for President goodbye. She will lose the Latino vote and be peppered with blog posts pointing to her racial bias.

Sarah Palin should just stick to being a news commentator who "refudiates" when it suits her. Geez.

Tea Party Movement and Mark Williams hurt GOP chances in November

2010-07-18T11:12:00.001-07:00

A big problem for the GOP

The current controversy over Tea Party Express blogger Mark Williams' racist Letter to Abe Lincoln" and his expulsion from The National Tea Party Federation have created such negative attention for Republicans that it threatens GOP chances to gain seats in the House or the Senate in November.

What Mark Williams and some members of The National Tea Party Federation forget, if they even knew, is that America's population has changed so dramatically that minorities who were mere bit players in elections in some states and counties, are now significant influencers in those same regions.

The Center For American Progress Action Fund report on voter demographics explains that while the Democratic Party will become dominated by "the emerging constituencies that gave Barack Obama his historic 2008 victory," the Republican Party will be smaller in its support base, and forced "to move toward the center to compete for these constituencies."

Heavily Democratic minority voters (80 percent for Obama) increased their share of votes in U.S. presidential elections by 11 percentage points between 1988 and 2008, while the share of increasingly Democratic white college graduate voters rose 4 points. But the share of white working-class (not college-educated) voters, who have remained conservative in their orientation, has plummeted by 15 points.

From The Center For American Progress Action Fund Report

The Republican Party is anything but "near the center" in the wake of the Tea Party Movement and Mark Williams. It's no wonder why GOP elected officials aren't talking about Mark Williams or his actions. They're trying to kill the issue with silence, but Mark Williams appearing on CNN's not helping their cause.

Between Mark Williams and Arizona's racist approach to illegal immigration, GOP hopes for gains after the November election are silly to maintain. The only way forward for the GOP is to dump any association with The Tea Party Movement.

Racist Tea Party Express blogger Mark Williams expelled from Tea Party

2010-07-18T10:01:00.001-07:00

Mark Williams, the Tea Party Express leader who CNN seems in love with having on their shows, and who's racism seems to know no bounds - first saying that Muslims worship "the terrorists' monkey god," and then writing a racist "Letter to Abe Lincoln" - has been kicked out of the National Tea Party Federation, which represents the Tea Party movement around the country.

Mark William's letter from his blog MarkTalk (where he's taken down the post and replaced it with a note) is here:

Dear Mr. Lincoln,

We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!
In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.
The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.
And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!

The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out of control spending.” Again, they directly target coloreds. That means we Coloreds would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.
Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is outrageous! How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?
Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.

Sincerely,

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew NAACP Head Colored Person

The main, troubling issue, is what kind of mind thinks of even writing something like that? While other Americans are living diverse lifestyles and getting on with the business of teaching, working, and enjoying life, Mark Williams has to prove that racism is a mental illness just by first thinking of that letter, then writing it.

Mark Williams comes off as one of those white guys that would say something stupid to a black / white interracial couple as they walked by, in part because he's angry over his own sexual frustrations

The question is, how many members of The National Tea Party Federation actually think like Mark Williams? While we may never know that answer, it's more than gracious for NAACP head Ben Jealous to want to meet with Mark Williams. Frankly, why bother?

Mark Williams needs to get with the American program and understand history, and not repeat it. Williams claims he's not racist, but tosses out an obviously racist letter. That's unfortunately typical with racists today, who say "I'm not racist" while doing everything they can to prove they are.

If Mark Williams is a good person, he'd apologize for the letter and for his screwed-up attitude. It's totally un-American, as has been his views on American minorities.

Stay tuned.

John Kerry calls Rand Paul and Republicans "dangerously radical"

2010-06-29T11:37:00.001-07:00

U.S. Senator John Kerry (D - Massachusetts) is sharpening his knifes for the 2010 election season. Kerry just sent this blogger an email that is a perfect indication of how Democrats are going to paint Republicans as we head into the fall election season: as "dangerously radical." But given that Kerry mentions Kentucky GOP Senate Candidate Rand Paul, he should call Rand "a wacky guy" because he is. And besides, being dangerously radical is too nice. No. John Kerry should call the Republican Party "dangerously wacky." Well, here's John Kerry's email: Hello Zenophon, Republicans are betting that you don't care - that after all you did to beat them in 2006 and 2008, you're going to sit this one out. So they're whipping up their base by blocking help to unemployed workers, blocking summer jobs for teens, apologizing to the big companies that gave us the spill in the Gulf, and doing anything else they can do to stop progress. They're betting that they can excite their radical base and you won't respond. The stakes? Look no further than the truly radical candidates we're up against. Down in Kentucky, it's would-be Senator Rand Paul. Yes, that Rand Paul, who says freedom means a private business can discriminate against African-Americans, and that President Obama holding polluters accountable for the mess in the Gulf is "un-American." And he's not alone. All across the country, the Republican Party has turned dangerously radical. One candidate calls Social Security "horrible policy," while another has said that Americans will turn to "Second Amendment remedies" against Democrats. We have to stop them. Please contribute today to Jack Conway, Admiral Joe Sestak, and some other great Democrats. Tell the GOP that you do care and that we will stop them. The Republican Party believes they have the upper hand; they've made no secret of the fact that they plan to repeal healthcare reform if they win back control of Congress. But we have great candidates, and if we all work at it, we will beat them. In Pennsylvania, Admiral Joe Sestak is running to keep Pennsylvania blue. In Illinois, Alexi Giannoulias is running hard to keep Barack Obama's seat Democratic. But we're not just playing defense. In New Hampshire, Paul Hodes is running neck-and-neck with his Republican opponent to take this seat for the Democrats. Each of these candidates will make the Senate work better for average Americans. We need to do more than just play defense. Years of GOP mismanagement dug a deep hole. We've just started to turn our country around, passing healthcare reform, working to hold the big banks accountable for the Wall Street meltdown, pushing legislation to address climate change and end our addiction to oil. The GOP is betting big that saying "no" and blocking progress is a path to success in November. What bet will you make? We've still got a lot of work to do. Thank you for all your help, John Kerry
Again, John Kerry should just call some names and throw some dirt the GOP's way. That will liven things up a bit. Rand Paul's a wacky guy, not dangerously radical.

Senator Robert Byrd dead: Byrd opposed Civil Rights; backed Obama

2010-06-28T08:06:00.001-07:00

Robert Byrd

West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd died at the age of 92 and with him, as with his friend Senator Ted Kennedy, went the passing of an era where Senators were more statesmen and women who knew the rules and cultivated friends on both sides of the aisle. People like Senator Sam Irvin.

But even with that, Robert Byrd was, for a long time, not well regarded by blacks because he voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Amendment and considered a conservative Democrat because of that stand and his support for the Vietnam War.

But Robert Byrd grew with America. Byrd is an excellent example of being able to change because he was willing to learn. From one perspective, he had to in order to remain in office, but he could have chosen not to change and just leave the Senate and go back to West Virginia. Byrd did not do that.

Here, Byrd talks about why he would have changed his vote on the Civil Rights Act:

Kentucky GOP Senate Candidate Rand Paul, who made an unfortunate comment about not supporting the Civil Rights Act, should learn from Robert Byrd. Rand Paul would do well to pay attention to his words and be all the smarter for it.

Robert Byrd is a proud symbol of America's enduring ability to grow in the face of a moral challenge. Byrd went from opposing civil rights and backing the Vietnam War, to supporting then-Senator Barsck Obama for President, helping Obama become America's first black President.

At a time when it seems racism is on the rise in some quarters, Americans would do well to learn about Robert Byrd. If he can grow, so can all of us.

Senator Robert Byrd. A true American who will be missed.

Rand Paul interviewed by David Weigel on McChrystal and BP

2010-06-27T02:26:00.001-07:00

David Weigel's last blog post for The Washington Post in his Right Now section (RN) consisted of an interview with Rand Paul, the GOP candidate for the Kentucky Senate. Apparently still chaffing from his public flogging over comments on the Civil Rights Amendment, Rand Paul was eager to steer clear of any statement that could be interpreted as support for British Petroleum (BP) or Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation / President Obama sacking on Wednesday.

Rand Paul cleans up

Already called a "wacky guy" in this space for his civil rights law comments...

...Rand Paul recently came under much more fire for accusing President Obama of being "un-American" for criticizing BP. Apparently already pained from the scar tissue developed over his incendiary comments, Rand Paul walked on eggshells with David Weigel about McChrystal and about the BP Escrow Fund. Weigel tried his best to pull a straight answer our of Paul at his fundraiser. Witness:

Rand Paul
RN: Do you agree with the president's decision to accept Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation?

PAUL: Ultimately it is the prerogative of the president to decide who his generals are. My first thought was, going back to the historic controversy between Truman and MacArthur, but the thing is I'm not sure I'd call this insubordination, but he had a public disagreement and I think -- I don't think anybody questions that it's the prerogative of president, whether it's a small or big disagreement, to decide who generals are at the top level. I haven't read all his comments nothing specific to say.

RN: You've started to take heat for your approach to the BP escrow fund. Do you support the fund, the way it's set up?

PAUL: Well, I don't think there are many people who don't believe in any regulations, myself included, and even my dad -- I don't think you'll hear him say he doesn't believe in any regulation. But I'm not sure I have the answer to that, sincerely. I think everyone in the country wants BP to pay for the clean-up, myself concluded. I've never had any argument with that -- it's amazing how you say things and they get blown into things you didn't say! I'm not even sure I can talk to some people anymore because they take things out of context.

Paul went on to dodge and weave around Weigel. Paul never addresses the question of whether he supports the fun or not. Rand Paul's dancing now will eventually damage him when he faces his Democratic opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. (Conway himself has to deal with that $9,600 contribution from BP, so he's not totally in the clear, here.)

Rand Paul's knee-jerk desire to give a controversial spin on issues of the day will harm him in two ways: 1, by making the statements, and 2, by sounding less than honest when he tries to avoid making such statements. In short, he's trapped within himself.

David Weigel resigned

Unfortunately David Weigel quit The Washington Post for, well, being too libertarian. I'm liberal but feel for Weigel not being with an organization who gets that New Media, in this case blogging, is edgy and challenging in its approach. Bloggers are supposed to be opinionated and attacking without being malicious. It seemed Weigel was walking that path, and switching his hat to pure journalism. But emails to his more liberal co-workers were used to do him in and that's really too bad. I hope he resurfaces sooner rather than later.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal: McChrystal is not a systems thinker

2010-06-26T05:47:00.001-07:00

In the wake of President Barack Obama's sacking of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was the commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and due to comments in Rolling Stone magazine from McChrystal and his subordinates that were negative and derogatory toward the President and civilian military officers, an April 26, 2010 New York Times article takes on new meaning. Indeed, it should have been a indication to President Obama that he had the wrong man in charge, assuming Obama saw the article. And why is that?

Gen. Stanley McChrystal is not a systems thinker

Gen. Stanley McChrystal

The article has two titles, reflecting the New York Times' bumbling when it comes to digital media. The page title best for search is "Enemy Lurks in Briefings on Afghan War - PowerPoint - NYTimes.com, and the title on the page itself is the one most referred to: "We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint." (As an aside, the best search-oriented title should have been "PowerPoint fails in US Afghanistan Briefing.") The centerpiece of the article is a giant system dynamics causal relationship diagram (presented above) that shows how key factors and actions in Afghanistan are interrelated. The New York Times author apparently does not know that it's a system dynamics model, because she does not refer to it, but to the place the SD model diagram is on: PowerPoint. The article takes off on PowerPoint, while missing the real problem: it's a really a model that can be ran and we can see the graph and statistical outcomes of different decisions. You need a computer and a presentation projector and a place to run the model like the platforms provided by Porio Business Simulations. Then you need to run the model and test different decisions Gen. Stanley McChrystal joked about the diagram Instead of that, this is what happened according to the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller:

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti. "When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war," General McChrystal dryly remarked, one of his advisers recalled, as the room erupted in laughter.

The simple fact that McChrystal didn't understand the slide is why we're not only not winning the war, but not seeing that we should not be in Afghanistan. The seeds of the reasons why are actually in the system dynamics model. If Gen McChrystal understood systems thinking, and then system dynamics, he would have asked for a computer to run the model, rather than joke about a picture. If he did, he would have seen a the impact of the part of the model called "Popular Support." One of the key factors in that variable area is something that is just called "anger" with both the US Government and the Afghan Government. The idea is that by the government helping the economy and infrastructure, this anger is reduced. But then insurgents destroying that same infrastructure harm this effort. So what happens if you just took the US Government out of the picture? In other words, just remove "Coalition Capacity and Priorities", which would cause the elimination of "Coalition Domestic Support" and we remove the factor the Afghan population's reacting to in the model: the United States. The problem with the model is it's designed to show how US and Coalition forces can impact Afghanistan, but then it implies our very existence in the region is pissing some of them off, causing a set of problems that we have to spend money to deal with. If you want to see a one version of a simple type of the same SD diagram that takes you through how the factors are related, here's a model created by Chris Soderquist for the IEE Systems Thinking Blog and Forio Business Simulations and presented in a blog post called "We have met an ally and it is storytelling": If Gen. McChrystal knew systems thinking, and were honest, he'd realize the best course of action is not to be in Afghanistan. Of course, if Gen. McChrystal were a systems thinker, he would not have got himself into the trouble that cost him his job.

Albert Haynesworth, Ray Lewis, Lavar Arrington: Redskins DT sit out update

2010-06-25T15:59:00.001-07:00

Albert doesn't want to be the NT or the DE in the 3-4

Washington Redskins Star Defensive Tackle Albert Haynesworth has held out of required minicamps because of his disagreement with Head Coach Mike Shanahan's planned use of the 3-4 Defense. The way Haynesworth approached the issue - taking the $22 million the Redskins owed him after the trade period past and not seeking a trade to another NFL team, then holding out - has made Albert the bullseye for a number of irrational comments from a media that generally doesn't understand football strategy or the NFL player's concern for injury. But what's different this time is that some of Albert Haynesworth's teammates, and some NFL Legends, have come down on him too. Most notable was Baltimore Ravens Middle Linebacker Ray Lewis, who said on a radio show that what defense he played in wasn't an issue to him and that Albert should essentially just do his job. That caused this blogger to call out the linebacking legend for being a hypocrite because in 2005 Lewis said that he preferred to play in a 4-man front defense and be a middle linebacker and not an inside linebacker as in the 3-4. That was picked up by my friend Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk.com, and then seen by the great, retired NFL Middle Linebacker Lavar Arrington, who was on the same radio show as Lewis. Arrington contacted me via Twitter to air a few choice words in my direction: LaVarArrington @zennie62 can agree to disagree take care June 22, 2010 1:29:52 PM PDT via web LaVarArrington @zennie62 at the end of the day if youve ever played a team sport you know sometimes "u have to take one for the team" be well educated men 1:29 PM Jun 22nd via web in reply to zennie62 LaVarArrington @zennie62 are they wrong?are his teammates wrong for feeling like hes selfish and sold them out?hes the only one not in camp?did his team 1:24 PM Jun 22nd via web in reply to zennie62 LaVarArrington @zennie62 forget about the coach and the money how about his teammates that have defended him for all this time? 1:23 PM Jun 22nd via web in reply to zennie62 LaVarArrington @zennie62 he has for me is a embarrassmentto everyone who sacraficed for him to even have the opportunity to make that type of money 1:22 PM Jun 22nd via web in reply to zennie62 LaVarArrington @zennie62 u can disagree and like i said not in malice you can take or leave it but defending haynesworth for handling his issues the way 1:20 PM Jun 22nd via web in reply to zennie62 LaVarArrington @zennie62 than just yourself! take care i did not do this in malice i did this because your opinion on this is not correct 12:56 PM Jun 22nd via web LaVarArrington @zennie62 are correct they think you are making yourself look like you dnt know what u r talking about you should be more careful for more 12:54 PM Jun 22nd via web LaVarArrington @zennie62 your post is not accurate nor is appropriate and you should really rethink retracting this mess you posted people dnt think you 12:50 PM Jun 22nd via web LaVarArrington @zennie62 haynesworth? if you want some fame do it the right way not speaking out of term of things you have limited knowledge of 12:47 PM Jun 22nd via web LaVarArrington @zennie62 your article makes no sense u seem to have a decent bio but for you to call one of the best lbs of all time a hypocrite over albrt 12:46 PM Jun 22nd via web
Well, OK, a lot of choice words. Arrington and I agreed to disagree. I simply hold that the 3-4 in the Oklahoma-style (with a nose tackle and ends over the tackles) that some teams employ will ruin the career of a lineman and a defensive tackle. I didn't always believe that, but increase in the size, strength, and speed of offensive linemen has made me alter my view. You have to fight fire with fire and that means more, big defensive linemen who can take on the offensive line. This, the 4-3, or 4-something. Haynesworth will be back to the skins Albert Haynesworth issued this statement according to The Washington Post: Despite my current differences with the Redskins, I have always planned to attend training camp and honor my contract. As I have previously said, I am continuing to prepare for the season individually and will report on time, in shape and ready to play football. Any issues I have with the club I will discuss privately and therefore do not plan to make any further public comments about this matter.
So it looks like Al's coming back. But Coach Mike should rethink his defensive ideas. The 3-4 is just plain stupid to play in the Oklahoma style. When The New England Patriots played the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football, the Saints just nuked the Pats base 3-4 Oklahoma Defense. Frankly, I enjoyed it, as the Saints used every basic trick in the book a good offense employs to beat the 3-4, and yet the Pats stayed with it. Wild. Stay tuned.

Ray's Hell Burger gets Obama and Medvedev

2010-06-24T19:06:00.001-07:00

Obama and Medvedev at Ray's (Facebook photo)

President Obama loves Ray's Hell Burger. So much so, POTUS has made Ray's Hell Burger a stop for lunch with visiting Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. And Obama had a power lunch at Ray's Hell Burger with Vice President Joe Biden last year. But what's all the fuss over Ray's Hell Burger? According to the blog DC Foodies.com, Ray's Hell Burger's the third in a series of burger places started by Washington area restauranteur Michael Landrum, and all called Ray's. Opened in 2008, Ray's Hell Burger at 1713 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, VA, DC Foodies reports that you can get the burgers in a variety of different combinations and for those who like cheese on their burger (this blogger doesn't), you have a wide selection of them to put on your burger. You can have basics, or top it with Brie, Italian, or Taleggio. Obama First at Ray's Hell Burger with Joe Biden President Obama made his first trip to Ray's last May 2009 with Vice President Joe Biden. The two waited in line to order burgers, where Obama had a cheese burger, which may have been a Swiss cheese selection. The power lunch took all of 45 minutes.

Burger eating contest!

This time, President Obama took President Dmitry Medvedev to Ray's. On this occasion, Obama had a cheeseburger again, while Medvedev put onions, jalepenos, and mushrooms on his. That means President Medvedev had one hot burger. No word on what Medvedev drank, but given the toppings, it should have been water. (Update: the photo shows it was Coca Cola.) What's interesing from the photos is the body language captured. Obama, starring intentely at Medvedev while bitting into his own cheese burger. It's as if Obama's saying "What do you think of the burger, as aides lean forward paying rapt attention like watching an epic chess match between the late Bobby Fisher and Donald Byrne. Given the way Obama bit into his meat creation, you'd expect him to suddenly find his inner Samuel L. Jackson and say "Mmmmm! That is one tasty burger!" Obama supports local establishments What's cool about President Obama is he uses the office of the President to support local food businesses. In Washington DC, he's done it with Ray's Hell Burger, and with Ben's Chili Bowl. As Obama travels around the country, he should extend the practice to local places in the cities he touches down in, when he has the time. If he comes to Oakland, Obama's got to try the sandwiches at Bakesale Betty's, which just opened a new place on Broadway and Grand Avenue. If Obama visits Atlanta, he's got to try breakfast at The Flying Biscuit; the one at 1655 McClendon. If he's in New York City, my all time favorite place is the 21 Club at 21 West 52nd Street. I know it's not the "place of the people" but it's history. A place Frank Sinatra held court at and goes back to Prohibition. "21" is an amazing place. Obama's got to pay a visit to it.

Cystic Fibrosis life expectancy longer than most thought

2010-06-24T04:35:00.001-07:00

Diet is one big reason

Cystic Fibrosis is at the top of search trends Thursday because it was found that the disease, in which the person suffering from it develops an ulcer in the pancreas, can be managed due to advances in treatment. Those advances have caused a larger group of people to live past age 40. 30,000 Americans and 70,000 people around the World have Cystic Fibrosis as of this writing. According to the Associated Press, Cystic Fibrosis treatment include inhaled medications and a chest - vibrating vest to clear airway clogs. The Cystic Fibrosis disease causes a mucus to build up in the lungs, clogging them and leading to life-threatening infections. That same mucus also clogs the pancreas so the body can't properly digest food. Cystic Fibrosis generally showed up in kids, who didn't make it to become adults. But what's happening now is that Cystic Fibrosis is showing up in people later in life. What's found is that proper care leads to longer life, but there's something the AP article does not address. The impact of the non-smoking movement Not discussed is the impact of the non-smoking movement on Cystic Fibrosis patients. It's wildly known that smoking can harm Cystic Fibrosis patients, but not talked about is the impact of the non-smoking movement and the attack on the spread of second-hand smoke. Also not considered is the impact of the diet and vitamins movement. Also, exercise is an important consideration. Why those factors aren't mentioned in the AP article is a head-scratcher.

General Stanley McChrystal ousted by Obama over Rolling Stone blast

2010-06-23T16:30:00.001-07:00

Stanley's out

Embattled General Stanley McChrystal was "ready to resign" his position Tuesday according to The Huffington Post. Today, Wednesday, President Obama gave him a helping hand by pushing him out of the door. General McChrystal and his staff were the focus of an exposive Rolling Stone Magazine article called "The Runaway General" which has not yet hit the newsstands. Excerpts presented in this space on Tuesday paint a picture of a general who's more like King Kong than Douglas MacArthur, especially in his view toward civilian officials, most notably the President of The United States, who he described as "intimidated" by top military brass in an initial meeting. The quotes add up to a climate of almost total disrespect for the civilian military officers selected by President Obama, as well as for Obama himself. Here's Obama announcing that he's accepted McChrystal's resignation: President Obama replaced General Stanley McChrystal with the well-repected and well-liked General David Petraeus, who understands how to cultivate power, unlike General McChrystal, who may be out of the military altogether. Obama is a tough guy There's a weird perception that President Obama's not "tough" and is "weak" but that view is a myth. For example, some may be surprised to learn that President Obama has ordered the murder of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, by using the C.I.A.'s Covert Drone Program, according to New York Magazine. That fact was couched in a joke that Obama tossed out at this year's White House Correspondents Dinner when he said he had two words for The Jonas Brothers regarding the dating availability of Obama's daughters: "predator drones." It can be said that those two words could have applied to General Stanley McChrystal. Obama did the right thing by getting rid of him. The President had to send a clear message that he's in charge and he will be not just respected but feared. Things were getting a little out of hand in Stanley McChrystal's office. That will not happen with General David Petraeus at the helm. .

General Stanley McChrystal: Obama should fire him for Rolling Stone blast

2010-06-22T09:28:00.001-07:00

Stanley McChrystal thinks he can beat you up

General Stanley McChrystal is the worst kind of military official a president can have: a person who shakes your hand, pretends to like you, then talks about you behind your back and to the press. That's what General Stanley McChrystal did to President Barack Obama in the Rolling Stone Managzine article called "The Runaway General", and exactly why Obama should fire him.

For all of his military accomplishments, General Stanley McChrystal is obviously just one man who must learn that in politics people don't have to take your advice all the time, but it's important that they listen.

McChrystal obviously does not know how to cultivate power. It's not being heard or having your ideas adopted, but giving others the impression that the people who matter the most listen to you, even when they don't. That's something this blogger learned working for the last two Mayors of Oakland before the current Mayor Ron Dellums. It's something McChrystal does not know.

According to the New York Times which has excerpts from the Rolling Stone article that was written by war reporter Michael Hastings, the segments' comments were and are damning. Here's a set of them:

Stanley McChrystal, Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House.

Then, according to the New York Times, McChrystal's whining about having to attend a dinner with NATO Allies in Paris in April. This is what went down:

"The dinner comes with the position, sir," says his chief of staff, Col. Charlie Flynn.
McChrystal turns sharply in his chair. "Hey, Charlie," he asks, "does this come with the position?" McChrystal gives him the middle finger. [...]

"I'd rather have my ass kicked by a roomful of people than go out to this dinner," McChrystal says. He pauses a beat. "Unfortunately," he adds, "no one in this room could do it."

Already, we see a thread here: General Stanley McChrystal thinks he's King Kong. The one person who can beat up anyone. McChrystal was probably your schoolyard bully, and it looks like he's not done pushing people around.

People like that often get punched in the mouth either figuratively or literally. It's a good thing General McChrystal didn't say to Vice President Joe Biden "bite me." as an aide suggested he do if asked about Biden's comments. While VP, Joe Biden's just ask likely to tell General Stanley McChrystal to f-off and then give him a good one. Of course, Biden wouldn't actually do that; he would figure out a way to do it politically, where the impact is far more lasting than a punch in the mouth.

And then there's this installment from the Hastings article, one that takes direct aim at Obama:

Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn’t go much better. "It was a 10-minute photo op," says an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his [expletive] war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."

Translation: McChrystal's insulted the President didn't treat him like a rock star. Well, that's just too bad for McChrystal. It also illustrates my central point: McChrystal's too much the pugilist to understand how to build and cultivate power. His ego is so large that it blinds him to the need to form power relationships.

McChrystal's schoolyard bully view of the World cost him a chance to build a good relationship with President Obama. McChrystal certainly has one with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is reported to have said "Give Stan what he wants", and that's only because she feeds his towering ego. Can you imagine what McChrystal would have said about Hillary Clinton if she didn't?

While Obama may not do it, the best move is for him to sack McChrystal. Then he will have time to reflect on his mistakes and learn that in politics, the guy who can beat up everyone in the room is often the one who's the weakest person in the room.

Albert Haynesworth is right to sit out; Ray Lewis is being a hypocrite

2010-06-21T12:47:00.001-07:00

Albert in Wonderland

Washington Redskins Defensive Tackle Albert Haynesworth has received a load of criticism for his actions in first asking to be traded, then taking the $22 million in contract money owed to him and failing to attend Redskins mandatory minicamps.

He's painted as one who doesn't love the game, as a quitter, and worse. Washington Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan is slamming him as is the Legendary Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis, who, sadly, is being a hypocrite.

But the person who really deserves the criticism and heat, and isn't getting it at all, is Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan. Moreover, Albert Haynesworth is quite correct that playing in a 3-4 will reduce his ability to be effective; the same skill than landed him a $100 million contract to start with.

Mike Shanahan should know better

All of this controversy would not have started if Mike Shanahan, who I'm personally not sold on as the answer for the Washington Redskins coaching woes, had not insisted on slamming a 3-4 down Albert Haynesworth's mouth. The way Coach Shanahan thinks about the 3-4 is not comforting; the best answer that would meet Albert Haynesworth's concerns is to have both defensive ends over the offensive guards, or at least one engaging in some kind of double-teaming action with Albert. But I've seen no evidence of Shanahan employing such hybrid schemes in the past.

Albert Haynesworth is a 4-3 three-technique tackle. Asking Albert Haynesworth to play the 3-4 as a nose tackle is like asking The Pittsburgh Steeler's "Mean" Joe Greene to do the same for the Steel Curtain Defense of the 1970s. You can bet Greene would have the same reaction.

The 3-4 is harmful to defensive tackles

Simple logic has it that asking one person to rush the passer or defend the run against three people is harmful to that players football life. When the nosetackle isn't double teamed, he (or she in some cases) is tripple teamed, when slide blocking - where the guard "slides" off the nosetackle and blocks the inside linebacker - is used.

So on an off-tackle counter play, we have the guard on the side of the play double teaming with the center on the nose tackle (and the inside linebacker on that side is blocked by the fullback), while the off-playside guard slides off the same nosetackle and blocks the off-side inside linebacker who's movement is slowed by the counter fake from the halfback.

In a 4-3 defense such games are impossible to play. Both offensive guards have to deal with the defensive tackles and the center helps on a double team of the off-side defensive tackle. The resultant hole is one the middle linebacker can plug, take on the fullback, and with the onside defensive tackle stop the play.

Ray Lewis is being a hypocrite

Ray Lewis says he can play well in either a 3-4 or a 4-3, and takes time to slam Albert, according to The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg. Lewis said:

"The response is, whatever you want me to do coach, let's get it done. If you want to switch the defense because you think it'll work better in a 3-4 -- I played in a 4-3 my whole life, but we switched up to a 3-4. 'Ok, Ray, you're gonna have to take on more guards, you're gonna have to do this and that.' Ok, coach, I'll adjust. Do I like it? Hmm, nah. But I'll adjust, so let's do it, you know what I'm saying? And through that process, I won the defensive player of the year in the 4-3 in 2000, and in 2003 I came back and won the defensive player of the year in the 3-4. So it don't matter."

But here's where Ray's not saying what he really thinks. For that, we have to go back to 2005 and S.I.com, when Ray Lewis openly expressed joy over the news that he was going to be featured in then-Ravens Defensive Coordinator Rex Ryan's 46 Defense, after playing in Mike Nolan's Ravens 3-4 Defense. In 2005, Lewis said:

"That's like telling your premier running back that you're going to make sure he's not going to be touched in a football game. To come into camp and have my defensive coordinator tell me I’m not going to be touched, I’m like a little kid all over again...It's tough, because you have to humble yourself and take coaching and do whatever they tell you to do," Lewis said. "Whether it takes away from your game or helps it, you just deal with it. That's what I did. It didn't alter how I prepared, it didn't alter my passion for the game. But at the same time, it alters how dominant I can be."

The scheme of defensive did matter to Ray Lewis, even though he says otherwise today. From another perspective, one that your more likely to get inside an African American family home (unless you live in Oakland, CA), Albert Haynesworth does not want to be treated like he's a modern day slave; black barber shop talk would place Ray Lewis in just such a category.

To be fair, Ray Lewis is a worker bee, but even he has to question a social system where the choice of football scheme is generally done without the consultation of the players that are to use it.

In an ideal world, Coach Mike Shanahan would have talked with Albert Haynesworth regarding the type of scheme he wants to play in and the two would have come to a meeting of the minds, but in the NFL, even in the 21st Century, there are coaches who can't resist the urges of their own irrational egos, even at the expense of intelligent thinking.

McDonalds Shrek glass recall: thank Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA)

2010-06-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

Movie product tie-ins are common and many new products are aimed at kids. That's why the news of the McDonalds Shrek glass recall is so terrible. But first, thank the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier for the discovery of the problem.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle via the Associated Press, there were 12 million McDonalds Shrek glasses on the market: all of them must be recalled after a discovery by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The glasses are tainted with Cadmium, a carcinogen that can cause "long term adverse health effects." While that's in the recall notice, along with the news that the discovery came from the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier from California, that news is buried way down deep in in the Associated Press article.

The article also makes it seem as if the Consumer Product Safety Commission made the discovery. You have to read the entire, long work to see that it was Rep. Jackie Speier's office who made the find base on an anonymous tip. Spier issued this statement:

"Our children's health should not depend on the consciences of anonymous sources. Although McDonald's did the right thing by recalling these products, we need stronger testing standards to ensure that all children's products are proven safe before they hit the shelves," said Speier. "Cadmium is a toxic substance that is extremely dangerous to the developmental health of children."

Here's the text from the recall notice and the link to the web page containing it:

McDonald’s Recalls Movie Themed Drinking Glasses Due to Potential Cadmium Risk

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: “Shrek Forever After 3D” Collectable Drinking Glasses

Units: About 12 million

Manufacturer: ARC International, of Millville, NJ.

Distributor: McDonald’s Corp., Oakbrook, Ill.

Hazard: The designs on the glasses contain cadmium. Long term exposure to cadmium can cause adverse health effects.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The “Shrek Forever After 3D” collectable drinking glass are 16 ounce glasses that came in four designs, Shrek, Fiona, Puss n’ Boots, and Donkey.

Sold exclusively at: McDonald’s restaurants nationwide from May 2010 into June 2010 for about $2.

Manufactured in: United States

Remedy: McDonald’s is asking consumers to immediately stop using the glass out of an abundance of caution. Visit www.mcdonalds.com/glasses for additional instructions on how to obtain a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact McDonald’s toll-free at (800) 244-6227 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.mcdonalds.com/glasses

Note: CPSC was made aware of issues with this product through the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier from California.

If you want to thank Rep. Jackie Speier's office, visit their website here: http://speier.house.gov/

Tipper Gore and Al Gore separate after 40 years of marriage

2010-06-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

Al and Tipper Gore's wedding photo

Shocking news: Tipper Gore and her husband former Vice President Al Gore announced Tuesday they've separated after 40 years of marriage.

According to The Associated Press, Tipper Gore and Al Gore said it was "a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration."

Fortunately, there was no affair or sex scandal involved; the Gores said they just grew apart after 40 years of being together. They "carved out separate lives" over time.

What's interesting about those statements is that not all parts of the Gores lives have been separate. Aside from their marriage, the Al Gore website has a prominent link to Tipper Gore's photography. Will the link remain after their separation? Was it really necessary to split? And after 40 years together? A romance that goes all the way back to high school.

Over.

Blogger Rod Dreher has a take I kind of agree with. At Belief.net Rod observes that fame caused the split, saying "it seems that the failure of their marriage could be the cost of being a famous public figure. If Al is on the road here, there and everywhere, he's not at home being a husband."

But where I differ is in the observation that Tipper Gore had her own photography business. She too was busy. But where things may have really went South was the fact that Al Gore continued to be famous for being Al Gore, where Tipper may have wanted to carve a path outside of Al's considerable shadow.

It's a pattern I've seen with wives of elected officials who are themselves smart and ambitious. They seem to want a spotlight equal to that of their mates; why that leads to marital discourse is beyond me, but it's certainly a pattern.

It will be interesting to see how Tipper Gore without Al Gore evolves.

Stay tuned.

Mark Souder: GOP Indiana Rep resigns over affair, upsets election race

2010-05-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

Rep. Mark Souder

Rep. Mark Souder is a 14-year, eight-term House of Representatives veteran who campaigned on a "family values" ethic, campaigned against the Obama Health Care Reform Plan, and said he was interested in preserving the idea of traditional marriage, has resigned after revealing that he'd cheated on his wife with a female staff aide.

While liberal blogs like The Huffington Post point to Mark Souder's commitment to the idea of one man and one woman, technically, Mark Souder didn't say he was opposed to having a mistress in a marriage for himself, just Democrats.

Souder attacked then-President Bill Clinton and called for his resignation after the Monika Lewinsky Affair, but not Clinton's impeachment.

Mark Souder's resignation opens a once closed door of opportunity for Democrats Indiana's 3rd Congressional District. The district was considered safe under Mark Soude's watch, even though some observers had predicted a close November race.

Stay tuned.

YouTube Turns 5: My YouTube Story - Zennie62

2010-05-17T20:41:00.001-07:00

YouTube turns 5 years old and this is my third installment to celebrate YouTube's fifth birthday.

This blog post presents the video called YouTube Turns 5: My YouTube Story.

For me, all of this started when I was using a camcorder at the 2006 NFL Draft and interviewed my friend Oakland Raiders Legend and Stanford Hall of Famer Michael Dotterer as we were walking to 21 Club restaurant in New York City.

On the way, Michael said "you're a vlogger, You should start video-blogging" or words to that effect. He also mentioned an online show called Rocketboom. That was here:

Later that year I was lucky enough to attend Vloggercon in San Francisco, and met a lot of interesting people including Irina Slutsky and Schlomo Rabinowitz, who produced the event:

The stars of Vloggercon were Amanda Congdon and Andrew Michael Baron the founders of Rocketboom. While not YouTube stars, Amanda and Andrew's daily video news show with videos hosted on their own site, drew as much as 125,000 viewers a day, and over 1 million during their celebrated argument over control of the company. That happened just a month after this presentation:

While their argument was nasty and publicly displayed it served to shine light on the value of video-blogging and vloggers.

It was also an example of what was possible for me.

In 2007 I became a YouTube Partner, which means I draw a monthly check based on the views my videos generate. That set in motion a number of events, from being on the CNN / YouTube Democratic Debate and the "coin question"...

Which now-Vice President Joe Biden answered very well at the debate:

That started a major change in my life and led to to being on my first national TV show, and on CNN, and one of my favorite videos:

And later that year I met YouTube Founder Chad Hurley at the BizWorld Luncheon:

Then there was the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and CNN's Jessica Ellis found me to be their on the scene iReporter. Of course, YouTube was right there with me and Matthew Modine and Willie Brown:

As of this writing I have posted 942 videos on YouTube and heading toward my 1,000th. I officially joined YouTube in April of 2006, so I'm past my 4th year mark with YouTube. But what's changed is that now I feel like I'm part of the YouTube family:

YouTube and vlogging have made me a better, more confident, and more thoughful person. It's actually helped my game business Sports Business Simulations, and for me, now, I have two jobs that I have to figure out how to merge into one. Whatever it comes to be, YouTube will be a part of it.

And yes, YouTube fixed my Channel, Zennie62.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

2010-05-09T08:21:00.001-07:00

Suburban Atlanta, GA - Happy Mother's Day everyone! I can't remember missing celebrating Mother's Day and it was vitally important for me to give my Mom the gift of my help here in Georgia. See, my Mom still insists on working, and I see that as a personal failure on my part because I believe if I made enough money she would not have to work. I give her money each month, as of this writing it helps but not enough to compel her to just stay at home.

Yet as I write this, i'm not sure that would keep her at home cooking and tending garden. While she does do that - tend garden and cook - I really think working around people is Mom's way of staying connected. She's a United Airline retiree but if United called, she'd answer it in a heart beat.

Mom's tried working for me but following Internet trends can be boring if you really like being out and about with folks. Not that I don't, but that's my Mom. It's good therapy for the passing of friends over time.

The one curse of old age is that your friends die. While the logical and uncaring mind would say "just make new ones" it's also a young mind that would form such a thought. Friends are supposed to be and are special people in your life. Friends know you. They're the people who have license to open your door without knocking or tell you what they think because it's for your own good.

Friends are people who borrow money from you and pay you back. They keep your secrets, well, at least the ones that are worth keeping. When you lose friends you lose a part of you. (And while I'm thinking about it, for those who are dating and hear the words "let's be friends", anyone who says "we're friends" and does not meet the criteria above isn't a friend. Don't kid yourself. In my experience, real friends come with benefits. But enough about that for now.)

I think if I were married with kids that would keep Mom at home because kids are the center of her life. It doesn't matter who you are, if you're around my age, your my Mom's kid and she talks to you that way.

I remember a neighbor of mine mistakenly and she will tell you stupidly poured gasoline on the side of the street in full view of my Mom, who was visiting. Well, she got it from my Mom. And while I didn't know her well at the time, and do didn't know what to expect as a reaction, I realized Mom has a way of putting things such that people know she cares and isn't being malicious. She has that way about her.

But fortunately, even though I'm not a father and believe I'd be an incredible one, I'm also not suffering through a divorce or discovering that my wife's cheating on me, either. So, I suppose there's a bright side too.

But I digress. I'm here for my Mom, who I love very much and always will. From the practical perspective, she's my only remaining family and I'm the only child, so I travel here each month to help her. But even if that wasn't the case, I'd be here anyway!

Happy Mother's Day! Give your Mom a kiss if she's near by and a call if she's not - even if you argue with her, at least enjoy that you're able to!

Arizona illegal immigration law invites psychotic behavior

2010-04-27T01:26:00.001-07:00

Governor Brewer's creating a psychotic environment

That the Arizona illegal immigration law is psychotic is without argument. The law, approved by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, calls for the identification, prosecution, and deportation of those presumed guilty of illegal immigration.

This is where the environment that invites psychotic behavior is created and why the law itself is psychotic. First, we must understand the definition of the word "psychotic."

To be psychotic is to have a "loss of contact with reality, usually including false ideas about what is taking place or who one is (delusions) and seeing or hearing things that aren't there (hallucinations)" according to a definition at Google Health. What's interesting and directly apply to the Arizona illegal immigration law and its drafters and implementers are the symptoms of psychotic behavior:

Abnormal displays of emotion
Confusion
Depression and sometimes suicidal thoughts
Disorganized thought and speech
Extreme excitement (mania)
False beliefs (delusions)
Loss of touch with reality
Mistaken perceptions (illusions)
Seeing, hearing, feeling, or perceiving things that are not there (hallucinations)
Unfounded fear/suspicion

"Abnormal displays of emotion" can be seen if one visits YouTube.com and searches for "arizona illegal immigration rally." The result has the first four videos from a rally by Nazi's or the "National Socialist Movement" showing the very "Abnormal displays of emotion" of those yelling "white power" and showing "unfounded fear/suspicion" by saying "We believe they should go back to Mexico and make their own country strong. This is out country." Here's one video:

That statement reflects not just "unfounded fear/suspicion" but "mistaken perceptions", "Loss of touch with reality", and "extreme excitement." Why?

Consider that a person could be an illegal immigrant and be from, say, Ireland. That has nothing to do with Mexico, but the man in the video is so out of touch with reality that he displays his mistaken perceptions and false beliefs.

Because of this the Arizona illegal immigration law becomes a tool with which a psychotic has license to be, well, psychotic. A psychotic can pick out anyone they believe fits their race-based fantasy of what an illegal immigrant looks like, totally passing by the Irish waitress and going for any person who the psychotic thinks comes from Mexico. To take the psychotic's possible actions to their logical conclusion such a person may try to make a citizen's arrest, and that would be an "abnormal display of emotion."

Clearly Arizona's got a problem. Moreover, the problem is its number of people showing psychotic behavior in crafting and passing the illegal immigration law. Governor Jan Brewer herself said on Fox News "We can't tolerate it. It's an invasion. An invasion of our country." I next expected Governor Brewer to yell "white power." Take a look at the video below and compare it to the video above several times, and note the "abnormal display of emotion" by both the Governor and the Nazi in each video:

In the video, Governor Jan Brewer sounds less like an elected official and more like a member of The Arizona Nazis. A very scary person exhibiting psychotic behavior.

If Governor Jan Brewer doesn't scare you in that video, well, maybe you're psychotic? Just being honest. Psychotic behavior is something one should work to remedy. Thinking of someone as "the other" only causes problems for both you and the person who's the unfortunate target of your loss of contact with reality.

In my next blog post, we'll look at what remedies the Governor, and others, should use to get better.

Stay tuned.

IRS tax day freebies 2010 at Starbucks, Cinnabon; help the homeless

2010-04-15T08:58:00.001-07:00

Today is April 15th, IRS Tax Day. That day where people get their last files together to make a list of fiscal expenditures and get their tax report in to the government before midnight.

While today may be a day of dread, fear not, for it's also a time of IRS tax day freebies 2010. Now the trouble is while this is a national trend, not enough retailers or eateries are actually sending out press releases announcing a marketing effort. If this blogger were in the restaurant business, everyone would get a free drink if they purchased a meal and could prove they just filed their taxes.

Now there is one company that seems to get "IRS tax day freebies 2010:" Starbucks. If you bring in a reusable mug on April 15th, or today, you get a free brewed coffee according to their website. Cinnabon, who makes those great, big cinnamon rolls with the thick frosting on top, is also part of IRS tax day freebies 2010.

Between 6 PM and 8 PM at Cinnabon, you can get two free cupcake bites to, as the website reports, "make it less taxing." But if you do this, I personally ask that you give your free cupcake bites to someone who needs food. It's personally sad to see people sitting or begging and know that retailers have these freebees that someone homeless generally doesn't know about.

So if you see someone near by, think about them.

Stay tuned.

American Red Cross $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations - update

2010-02-22T02:38:00.001-08:00

On the matter of the American Red Cross and the $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations, this update: there's still no word from the American Red Cross on how the $175 million in donations was handled. Initial attempts to gain an answer have been ignored as of this writing.

Meanwhile, the issue is gaining attention. This blogger was on a Fairfield, Iowa radio broadcast last Friday and more radio talk shows have expressed unsolicited interested in the matter of the American Red Cross and the $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations.

For background, it's simple: the American Red Cross reported it collected $225 million in donations over the first month of the Haiti Relief Effort. But of that, $80 million was spent or earmarked for Haiti. The American Red Cross does not explain what happened to $225 million minus $80 million, or $175 million?

On Friday, I was on KRUU, "The Voice of Fairfield" in Fairfield, Iowa, on James Moore's Planet Erstwild Show to talk about the American Red Cross donation problem. Here's the recording of that radio show: Zennie Abraham on KRUU.

This is the Zennie62 video on the issue:

Stay tuned.

YouTube video channel Zennie62 reaches 12 million video views

2010-02-21T16:17:00.001-08:00

The YouTube video channel Zennie62 has reached 12 million video views and 200,000 channel views as of Saturday, February 20th, and continuing a pattern of rapid growth that started in 2009 and has continued through 2010. Zennie62 on YouTube also has over 4,000 subscribers.

The YouTube video channel Zennie62 consists over 800 videos covering everything from politics to news, sports, tech, and entertainment and celebrity gossip. Zennie62 on YouTube is connected to the blog Zennie62.com, also at Zennie2005.blogspot.com. The Zennie62 blog is the center publication of a network of 100 blogs ran by Zennie62.com, of which this blogger, Zennie Abraham, is the executive producer.

The idea of Zennie62 is to bring "pure form video blogging" to the viewer. It's the simple practice of talking to the audience through a camcorder to tell a story or share a point of view, or as part of an interview with someone else. As video-blogging does not call for an elaborate set or expensive equipment, it can be done anywhere, at any time.

Here's one of Zennie62's most popular videos, this one on Susan Boyle:

And here's another one called "Fight in SF Fillmore":

Some of the videos are used for his national TV show The Blog Report with Zennie62 on CoLoursTV, DISH 9407.

Plans for 2010 include the upcoming NFL Draft Combine and The Academy Awards. Zennie62 has its first designated Associate Video-Blogger and seeks to form a team of video-bloggers in different cities. If you're interested, send an email to zennie@zennie62.com

Obama touts nuclear plant loan - first nuclear plant in 30 years

2010-02-16T11:56:00.001-08:00

President Barack Obama announced approval of $8 billion in loan guarantees to build the first nuclear power plant in over 30 years. According to the Huffington Post, Obama said "On an issue that affects our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we can't continue to be mired in the same old stale debates between left and right, between environmentalists and entrepreneurs."

President Obama is correct. But while Obama's working on the revival of nuclear power, some aren't happy with his efforts. Take Mother Jones, which reports that nuclear power plant cost overruns should give Obama and others pause because it takes taxpayer dollars to overcome the cost problem.

But that's the whole point of Obama's program - to use government loans and subsidies to make creating nuclear power plants more feasible. So in pointing out what they don't like about Obama's program, and reading like a Republican publication in the process, Mother Jones just explained why government subsidies are necessary in American Industry: to stimulate construction and industrial revival.

This is why it's never good to be an ideolog regardless of political leaning, left or right. A logical thinker would conclude that government subsidies were necessary to jump start an industry - The Nuclear Industry - that has made massive technical advances in 30 years. But rather than look at it that way, Mother Jones holds on to liberal ideological prejudices against nuclear power and wrongly assumes that because an expenditure is made for nuclear power, renewable energy efforts will suffer.

Fortunately, President Obama's not paying attention to them.

American Red Cross must explain $175 million in unallocated Haiti donations

2010-02-15T01:20:00.001-08:00

One month ago, singer Wycef Jean's "NGO" (for"Non-Governmental Organization) called "Yelle Haiti" raised just over $1 million to help victims of the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake. At the time, scores of non-profit organizations sprang up to announce some kind of effort to assist the quake-damaged country.

But of all of them, Yelle Haiti received the most attention because of alleged past spending patterns, leading to the awful and unfounded accusation that Wycef Jean was using the money for personal use. In this video made one month ago, Wycef Jean answered his critics:

Just after The Smoking Gun and The Washington Post blog posts were issued (and with no evidence of having attempted to personally contact Wycef Jean to give him a chance to respond to the accusations) and the rescue efforts ramped up, suddenly the American Red Cross became mentioned in commercial after commercial as the "go-to" nonprofit for donations.

Ok, but where's the $165 million?

Some newspapers, like The San Francisco Chronicle, included the American Red Cross in a list of recommended organizations to donate to in the effort to help Haiti. The message, and thus the common assumption or "conventional wisdom", was that the American Red Cross was the "safe" organization to donate to.

It's not.

According to CNN Money, The American Red Cross had to ask for a $100 million cash infusion after its emergency fund was depleted. Today, reports are that the American Red Cross spent or committed nearly $80 million to "meet the most urgent needs of earthquake survivors."

But wait. Where did the cost of $80 million come from? Or is it that the American Red Cross received that much in donations and while all of it is committed, only part of it is spent? According to the American Red Cross' own one month report, it has raised $255 million for the Haitian Relief effort.

That's as much money as was raised to finance the upgrade construction of the Miami Dolphins' stadium for Super Bowl XLIV.

But here's where the reports gets really confusing and disturbing. While $255 million was raised, only $80 million was spent or committed, leaving $175 million in donations that's neither spent nor committed to Haiti.

Where's the $175 million the American Red Cross collected? Where's The Washington Post and The Smoking Gun to look at this?

The complete American Red Cross Haiti one month report does not help because it fails to even mention the $175 million collected but not spent or committed to Haiti.

Why?

The logical mind would think that if the American Red Cross gained $255 million in money that donors believed was going to the Haiti effort, then all of the $255 million should be committed to Haiti, not some of it.

This is a major outrage. But more outrageous is the media's blind eye to the American Red Cross' activities. One would think a reporter would not be so lazy that they could avoid subtracting $80 million from $255 million, get $175 million, read the Red Cross' online documents, and start asking about the unallocated $175 million?

But that's what's happened in the case of the only mainstream media organization to look at donation spending progress to date, The Miami Herald. The report in the business section mentions the $255 million and the $80 million in one sentence - this one:

For Haiti, the Red Cross has raised more than $250 million and has plans for some $80 million of that so far, said Red Cross spokesman Jonathan Aiken.

But disturbingly, The Miami Herald fails to ask the "What happened to the $175 million in donations" question.

Everyone deserves an answer, especially Wycef Jean and those who've ran Yelle Haiti, and who continue to be dogged by a PR attack that seems to have benefitted organizations like the American Red Cross and allowed them to submit sloppy reports of their own.

Indeed, The Miami Herald picked up the "something's wrong with Yelle Haiti" theme and repeated it in the same story where they give the American Red Cross a blind pass. That is awful and must be explained ASAP.

Stay tuned.

April Ryan v. Robert Gibbs - does Ryan hate White House' Desiree Rogers?

2009-12-04T15:29:00.001-08:00

April Ryan, a reporter with American Urban Radio Networks, bumped the Tiger Woods scandal down Google Trends and for something I didn't think would reach the collective public media radar, an exchange with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs posted on YouTube by the conservative blog TownHall.com:

The issue that April Ryan's asking about is White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers' role in the State Dinner Partygate Scandal where Tareq and Michaele Salahi gained access to the exclusive affair without being on the White House' Official Guest List.

April Ryan of American Urban Networks

April Ryan was trying to ask Robert Gibbs why Desiree Rogers was at the dinner. Desiree Rogers is the White House Social Secretary who planned the event. But Ryan says that Washington gossip centers around the perception that Desiree Rogers is just working to advance her own interests.

What's of concern to me is Robert Gibbs' mistake of talking down to April Ryan - he should not have compared her to his kid - masks the real issue: what does April Ryan have against Desiree Rogers?

What's not reported at a number of conservative blogs is that this was the second straight day Ryan came to the White House press briefing and aggressively questioned Gibbs. I saw both exchanges on television and had the impression Ryan was fishing for information to write a "dirty" article about Desiree Rogers, who like Ryan is black.

Desiree Rogers

This exchange between Gibbs and Ryan is not important; what April Ryan wants to discover and then do with the information she gets is. Read this transcript (first posted at the DailyKos) from the first day of questions from April Ryan to Robert Gibbs:

QUESTION: Follow up. Normally in the past, before this administration came, there was always a checks and balances type of system at that gate with the Social Office, as well as the Secret Service --

MR. GIBBS: I think that's what Ed just asked.

QUESTION: That's what I'm saying. And you're saying --

MR. GIBBS: This is a follow-up or -- go ahead, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

QUESTION: Again, there's always been a series of checks and balances. And if there was a concern from the Secret Service, they would always relay it back to -- it was a back and forth between the Social Office and the Secret Service.

MR. GIBBS: What I'm saying -- what I said to Ed was --

QUESTION: But let me finish, please --

MR. GIBBS: No, no, no, but let me -- I think the question was asked, so let me reiterate my answer. Again, April, none of that relay happened, right? None of that relay happened between the Secret Service and the Social Office, whether or not the Social Office was standing at the gate or whether or not somebody was sitting in their office at the White House.

QUESTION: If you would allow me to finish, you can understand what I'm saying. The relay did not happen because that person was omitted at the gate from the Social Office. The way we understand, that person --

MR. GIBBS: Omitted?

QUESTION: That person was fired earlier in the year. So --

MR. GIBBS: But again, April, you can ask it seven ways. The answer continues to be, the relay didn't happen because somebody was or wasn't there. The relay didn't happen because nobody picked up the phone to relay the information. I mean, I appreciate the observation that somebody could or could not have been at a certain gate. But again, you could pick up the phone, just like I can pick up my phone in the office and relay you, April. You don't have to be standing in my office for me to convey information to you. I think the --

QUESTION: So are you saying that the Social Office does not have any responsibility in this at all?

MR. GIBBS: April, there's an investigation that's ongoing into the actions of what happened, and I'm going to wait for that to be completed.

QUESTION: The reason why we are questioning the Social Office and the Secret Service is because in the past, both have worked in conjunction and successfully were able to protect the President of the United States without anyone coming in. And now because the Social Office did not have that other layer of checks and balances there, this happened. And people are questioning why this White House is not putting the onus some on the Social Office, as well.

MR. GIBBS: I'm going to let the investigation put the onus on where the onus should be. But what I'm simply doing is explaining to you a series of facts that include the notion that if somebody was confused about whether or not somebody was on a list at a guard tower on the exterior perimeter of the White House, and there was a question, generally somebody could pick up the phone and ask. I'm saying that -- I'm saying that the Secret Service, in the statement that they released a few days ago, acknowledged that that didn't happen and that that was a mistake.

QUESTION: The whole process has been changed at that gate from now on. Will the Social Office be working in conjunction with the Secret Service now?

MR. GIBBS: I think first and foremost we're going to go through this investigation, and I would refer you to the Secret Service about operations that might change at that gate.

QUESTION: And the last question. People were saying that the President was never in danger, and many people have said that is not true. They got in --

MR. GIBBS: Who's "many people"?

QUESTION: People here, Secret Service. These people met with the President. They shook the President's hand. Who's to say they did not have some kind of -- granted, they didn't -- but hypothetically, what if a person had walked in and could have done something to the President? The President -- do you --

MR. GIBBS: This hasn't happened before. (Laughter.) I appreciate the opportunity to indulge in a grand hypothetical.

QUESTION: Has the President remarked on this at all?

MR. GIBBS: Look, I think the President shares the concern that the director has for how this happened and how we can remedy it from happening again.

QUESTION: Is he concerned about his safety with this?

MR. GIBBS: No.

QUESTION: Have you heard him say anything, is he angry or is he as incredulous as the average American is that people could just walk right into the White House like this?

MR. GIBBS: I think the President -- look, the reason there's an investigation is the President and the White House has asked for that to happen. So I think suffice to say the President is rightly concerned about what happened last week.

QUESTION: Have you actually heard him say anything about it?

MR. GIBBS: I have not heard it, but it's been relayed to me.

QUESTION: Can you confirm whether or not charges will be filed against this couple?

MR. GIBBS: That is not a power bestowed on me as the press secretary. I know they've -- according to media reports, they've been interviewed by the Secret Service. I think that's a decision that would be made by the Secret Service and the United States Attorney in that area.

That reads like April Ryan's trying to do a media hit on Desiree Rogers. The Gibbs / Ryan "talks" are not Gibbs being disrespectful to a black woman, Ryan. They are Gibbs trying to defend Desiree Rogers from April Ryan's silly attacks.

April Ryan's questions have nothing to do with Tareq and Michaele Salahi at all. It's about Desiree Rogers' style. First, the real question is what did the Secret Service ask the Salahis at the check in desk? Second, who did the Salahis' know that helped them get into the event? Focusing on what fashion show Desiree Rogers attended in New York City has zero to do with the issue of the State Dinner.

In my view, April Ryan is being what we in the African American professional community call a "crabbarel": a black person who wants to take down another black person because the target has reached some level of fame. Mentioning that Desiree Rogers is at fashion shows and other events is not the point and calls her real intent into question. Desiree Rogers style and looks may be April Ryan's issue, but Ryan needs to get over it.

OSCAR ALERT - Screen Credits and Music Entry Form Due December 1st for Academy Awards

2009-11-27T06:22:00.001-08:00

OSCAR ALERT. You have until December 1 to get your Screen Credits and Music Entry Forms in to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) if your movie is to be considered for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. From the press release, AMPAS explains:

For a feature film to be considered for the 2009 Awards, the film’s distributor or producer must file an OSC form with the Academy by 5 p.m. PT on December 1. If a feature film is released in 2009 and the completed OSC form is not submitted by the deadline, the film will be ineligible for Academy Awards in any year.

OSC forms may be submitted online only, at http://aiwosc.oscars.org/aiwosc/. Information about submission and feature film eligibility can be obtained by contacting Credits Coordinator Howard Loberfeld at (310) 247-3000, ext. 113, or via e-mail at hloberfeld@oscars.org.

For an achievement to be considered in the Original Score or Original Song category, the principal music writer(s) for a feature film must submit an official music submission form by 5 p.m. PT on December 1.

To request music submission materials, contact Dave Hanson at (310) 247-3000, ext. 151, or via e-mail at dhanson@oscars.org.

While the credits submission deadline is December 1, feature films have until midnight, December 31, to open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days to be eligible for 2009 Oscar® consideration.

Entries in the foreign language, animated feature, documentary, and short film categories are subject to special rules and must meet other qualifying criteria. The entry deadlines in these categories have already passed.

The deadlines have been communicated before; it would be sad to learn that a great film missed being nominated because of paperwork issues. Hopefully those responsible will pay attention to this deadline notice.

Jimmy Carter 's right: White Nationalists taking over GOP

2009-09-30T10:03:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

Jimmy Carter was right. It was bound to happen. The combination of the weak economy, the Internet, and the election of Barack Obama as America's first African American president have come together to cause the Republican party and Conservatives to be influenced by white supremacists and white nationalists. I call them the "Confederate-flag-waving conservatives."

(And I don't for one minute think that black nationalists – or Asian nationalists or Latino nationalist or Whatever nationalists - are any more tolerable and certainly just as insane as those who happen to be white nationalists. The operative word for me is "yuck.")

Unlike their ilk of decades past, these racist activists don't always have sheets over their heads, or KKK t-shirts, or even salute Hitler (those guys are jailed). Yes, they do yell, most of the time. Yes, some of them fly the Confederate Flag from the back of their pickups driving through shopping center parking lots.

Look, for those who need a history lesson, the Confederate Flag is a historic symbol of the support of black slavery. OK?

(And for the record, Rep. Joe Wilson, who's "You Lie!" comment to President Obama set off a new conversation on race and politics, did argue for the right to fly the confederate flag, in fact, in 2000 he said "the Confederate heritage is very honorable" and he has not taken back his statements. Rep. Joe Wilson should clarify them; it's possible to fly the flag and not be racist, but that's a rare breed of person from my personal experience.)

Yes, they do include "birthers", tea-baggers, and wingnut fringe types, but not Alan Keyes because even though he's conservative, to those folks he's just another black guy who they don't take seriously.

I can't believe 21st century America has people like that on its shores, but they walk among us. They're the people who send emails of watermelons planted at the White House. The ones who place "black face" photos of President Obama in the succession of pictures of presidents. The sad sacks who make doctored pictures of Obama as a spear-carrying witch doctor. The radio talk show hosts who commonly use unfavorable stories involving blacks to insight white anger. And those who say anyone who accuses them of being racist, is racist; thinking that old trick's going to curb scrutiny of their actions.

The Top-10 dumb lines of Confederate-flag-waving conservatives

These types aren't policy wonks and act more like the cyborgs called "The Borg" in Star Trek TNG. It doesn't matter where I go: an airplane or on the street for that matter, I hear the same line from Confederate-flag-waving conservatives again and again when politics is the subject (maybe this is you). The Top-10 dumb lines of Confederate-flag-waving conservatives:

1.First, I'm a Conservative. (I didn't ask.)
2.I believe in small government (I didn't ask that either, but the idea's batcrap stupid. Government is more than the federal level – its federal, state, and local and of a size that reflects our democracy.)
3.We're in trouble because the wrong people got housing loans. (This sends me through the roof. Who the heck's the "wrong person" and why are you the right one? And do you realize that without a job a person can't pay any kind of loan? So what is the problem then, Huh? Huh? Huh? Duh!)
4.Illegal aliens are taking over America. (First, I didn't ask that either. Second, which ones? The Latinos you're thinking of or the sexy blonde Irish waitress you hit on? When I ask that the answers is always silence because the person never stopped to think that people comes from all parts of the World to be American, and well, it's OK to be a pretty blonde Irish waitress and an illegal alien. )
5.Obama's socialist. (I didn't ask that either. Plus, when I explain how much government's a part of our lives, I get silence on that too. What's really annoying is these so-called conservatives – but are really political racists – show how little they understand about their own country's political economy. It's tragically silly and almost as bad as the percentage of young people surveyed in Oklahoma who don't know who our first president was.)
6.Obama's not American. (I didn't ask that either and by this time you've either driven me to drink scotch-on-the-rocks if I'm on a plane or looking for a way to escape your company if I can.)
7.Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck are right. (About what? Again, I really didn't ask and have presented my views in my videos. I hate repeating myself. Plus, by this time, I'm so enjoying the scotch with my salmon-spinach-and-rice dinner I'll listen to anything, even you.)
8.There are "good black people" like Colin Powell. (Again, I didn't ask and if I'm on a plane, I'm asleep by this point, accept to mutter that Powell endorsed Obama for President. The assumption is that every white person is good, but one has to find a good black person. Plus, this is said to a good black person. Me. As I'm trying to sleep. With the scotch and food putting me under.)
9.Asians are the model minority. (I really didn't ask and didn't realize I was on earth to be in a "model minority" contest. Let me sleep.)
10.The "Jews" have our money. (Now, I'm asleep and really pissed off with you for four reasons: the comment, your interruption of my sleep, the fact that my last name is Jewish, and that I've dated a few Jewish women. And that comment was actually said to me and posted on my Facebook page.)

The simple fact that I can list a common line of thinking from these conservative Confederate-flag-waving types is proof that America's school system is in the crapper and has been for some time. What in the world were they learning in school? How to get high? Such a constant, unwavering, thoughtless, uninformed, and race-based view is an attack on intelligent, detailed, critical thinking.

If Confederate-flag-waving conservatives are out of work, that stokes the fire which hardens their views. Right now, some of these folks are so far gone – so "mental" – I doubt they can be reasoned with. They must have someone to hate – someone who doesn't look like them. Our ever-more-well-integrated America gives them a lot of choices of color.

What's the future with these hate-mongers? Well, there's not a lot of them, so that's a good thing. It's just that Fox News does a good job of making them seem like a lot more people than the thousands that have time to dump good hard earned tea they bought with your tax dollars because so many of them are drawing unemployment! .

And on that, Fox News is becoming "wingnut central" for America. Having met some of the Fox News anchors, I know its all an act as they're cool, sane, and urbane, but sadly they've figured out that the Confederate-flag-waving conservatives provide ratings and entertainment for America. People who know Fox News is, well, off, tune in anyway just to witness the next level of craziness, then whine about it. I've not watched Fox News in about a year. I'm not missing a funny moment I can't see on YouTube.

The only hope we have is to get this economy moving. Got that President Obama? We need to produce millions of good manufacturing jobs for low-skilled workers, and give a $5,000 check to every American worker under $100,000 in income – I call it the taxpayer bailout.

That will get everyone, especially the Confederate-flag-waving conservatives, back to work. And you know, maybe when they're in those nice, integrated work places they'll slowly dump that racist mental garbage they accumulated over the years and actually think for a change.

Time will tell.

ACORN, Ecuador, Chevron, and the hidden video camera

2009-09-14T00:25:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

Readers and viewers have asked me to offer my opinion on the discovery by a couple of conservative activists that a couple of workers at the Washington DC office of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN were giving advice on how a pimp and a prostitute can hide themselves from IRS scrutiny.

The "pimp" and the "prostitute" were "played" by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, she a columnist at TownHall.com in Washington, D.C, he a filmmaker and activist.

What they reportedly did was go around America on a tour of different ACORN offices posing as pimp and prostitute. According to CNN, most ACORN offices called the police on them with the exception of the Washington and Baltimore offices. Here's the video of what was said in the ACORN Washington office:

Now, what do I think? Well, the ACORN workers were wrong of course. Do you think I'm going to defend someone giving tax evasion tips to a pimp and his, well, you know. (I can't help but wonder if O'Keefe and Giles were sleeping together during their tour posing as people who were in the sex business. I mean all that talk and travel had to make them horny at some point, right?)

I also think it's a lot like the Chevron Ecuador case, where Ecuador Judge Juan Nunez was secretly caught on video in a meeting talking about the Chevron case and how he could rule and what the cost would be - $27 billion. Even though the Judge picked his words carefully, it was clear he knew about "that other thing" (because he used those words) which were the bribe arrangements where two environmental consultants would pay $3 million for the right to get a part of the remediation work the $27 billion was to pay for, in part.

Here's that video:

The cry in that case was that the consultants worked for Chevron; actually that's not exactly true but I'll deal with that in another blog post. The whine in the ACORN case was that the videos were made without the knowledge of the workers. In both episodes my response is if the subjects know that they're doing the right thing, they don't care if a camera or camcorder's in the room.

The simple fact that being secretely filmed is an issue for both the Judge and the ACORN workers means they knew they should not have been in those situations saying what they said.

Period.

The ACORN workers on camera were advocating a corrupt practice. The Judge and his friends in the Chevron video were caring out a corrupt practice.

I tell everyone I know this: if you're always in the right, you can't fear the use of a camera or camcorder because it will show that you were correct in your actions. The video made by O'Keefe and Giles doesn't damage the overall intent of ACORN at all; but it does call into question the ethics of some of the workers hired to staff the offices in certain cities, like DC.

The best action for anyone is to have their own camcorder. It's a good idea to have video evidence of one's actions anyway. But the bottom line is to just be on the right side of an ethics fight and to use the Golden Rule: do onto others as you would have others do on to you.

Calvin Klein SF Union Square - Is store front racist?

2009-09-12T03:26:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

On YouTube.com

I received this email below from a viewer which explains the person's shock over the Calvin Klein SF Union Square store front display. I went over to make the video above and get your view on the display.

As I've stated in the video, it was not a good idea to approve a store front that is at best questionable. Everyone who's seen the video thus far has a reaction to it, from furled brows to frowns and raised eyebrows, the video does not make for a stoic reaction.

Why someone would do this is a question I will ask Calvin Klein's staffers in the days ahead. Indeed, the worker that talked to me through the glass admitted that she did not the racial overtones in the display until they were pointed out to her.

But for now, read the email below, then take my poll on this certainly controversial Calvin Klein store display.

The email:

Hey Zennie,

I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture (I don't usually use my phone for anything other than a phone, so it escaped me in a moment of anger), but I just got back from the San Francisco Shopping Center where I happened upon an appalling window display in the Calvin Klein store next to Bloomingdale's on the 3rd floor.

Imagine a window full of frolicking monkeys, swinging from tree branches in various playful poses, but instead of monkeys, there are mannequins wearing the latest Calvin fashions. And instead of swinging from tree branches, the mannequins are swinging from ropes finished in nooses at the ends. All of the mannequins are black. It doesn't sound like much, but I'll tell you, those nooses caught my eye in the first place, and it didn't take long to piece it all together.

Why am I sending this to you? Well, you've got a voice on several forums, and could make this very public and embarrassing for Calvin Klein. That anyone could get past the basic design stages of such a display without questioning its bad taste is unbelievable. That such displays are crafted by designers with an eye on every detail makes it even less excusable. That such displays are often dictated to stores by corporate headquarters and duplicated at all locations makes it a disgusting travesty.

If you happen by that store, or know someone in SF who could take some pics for you to post, you could shine a bright light on a very ugly message going out to the thousands of people who pass by that carefully composed collection of symbols. I was deeply offended, but rather than contact Calvin Klein so they can quietly change their windows, I figured I'd contact someone who can give it a bit more exposure.

Thanks for listening and keep up the good blogs,

Name withheld by Zennie
San Francisco

Poll

More fun polls on pollsb.com

Robert Reich, The Borg, and The Health Care Debate

2009-09-01T06:06:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

I just happened upon Berkeley professor and dweller, Robert Reich's blog and a post title that caught my eye: "The Guns of August and Why The Republican Right Was So Adept at Using Them on Health Care" and a particularly true statement he wrote:

"The Left had ideas; the Right has discipline"

Prof. Robert Reich

The former professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and former Secretary of Labor is right. I'm stunned over the almost "Borg-like" efficiency the right brings to the effort of getting out a message consistently, and getting its members to follow the cue cards chapter and verse, time after time.

(Oh. The Borg were characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation who were part machine and part human and ran by a central computer system.)

Now, if one thinks about my Borg analogy, they might say I'm implying that there's little or no independent thought on the Right. One would be correct here. After all, it's independence of thought that leads to the creation of a new idea.

While the idea-laden Left needs to get its messaging act together, the Couch Potato Conservative representatives on the Right must show the ability to think about what they're talking about. For example, the who notion of "The Public Option".

Conservatives I've talked to think the "Public Option" in the proposed Health Care Bill means you going to a government-run hospital, or having the feds pick a doctor for you. Not so. Ir's just another insurance program. Period. That's it. End of story.

But the facts don't stop the Right from tossing out more untruths, take this email I got from a friend recently:

Hiya,

I got this in my mail. Can you forward it on to Zennie. Could be good stuff for his blog.

It's kinda scary... It seems like it's coming from a legit website.

Below are the items you may find interesting and worth more investigation:

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!! You can only get so much "care" per year

Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits 4 you. You have no choice!

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access to individs finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access 2 your banks accts for elective funds transfer

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Govt control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs for private HC plans in the Exchange

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services..... Example - Translation for illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individually for Govt HC plan

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Benefit Levels for Plans. #AARP members - your Health care WILL be rationed

-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Indiv. will be automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monopoly

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public opt plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll

pg 150 Lines 9-13 Biz w payroll between 251k & 400k who doesnt prov. pub. opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll

Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC accrdng to Govt will be taxed 2.5%

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (You and I will pay for them)

Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans financial/personal recds

PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that

Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor will be very affected

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same

PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr's time, professional judgments, etc. Literally value of humans.

PG 265 Sec 1131Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries

PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs

PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals for what Govt deems preventable readmissions.

Pg 317 L 13-20 OMG!! PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells Drs. what/how much they can own.

Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand

pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have oppt to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can you say ACORN?!!

Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt mandates estab. of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing

Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing all into Govt HC plan

Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs

Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Cmtte. Can you say HC by phone?

PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life. Seniors will be interviewed every year for health issues and decisions made as to what care they can or can't receive

Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides apprvd list of end of life resources, guiding you in death

PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Govt has a say in how your life ends

Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "adv. care planning consult" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates

PG 429 Lines 10-12 "adv. care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOV

Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.

PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life

Pg 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello, ACORN Medical Services here!!?

Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. 1 monthly payment to a community-based org. Like ACORN?

PG 489 Sec 1308 The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt into your marriage

Pg 494-498 Govt will cover Mental Health Svcs including defining, creating, rationing those services

This is all in there, check it out yourself! And be afraid. You must contact your representatives and STOP this insane Health Care Plan before they pass it some night at midnight.

Now none of the points in the email is true. For example, the first item on the list, "Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!" is a load of crap. The Heath Care Bill calls for a study of the ABILITY of self-insured programs to cover their obligations. It's part of a call for a national study.

I was pretty upset with the email because of the list of distortions you saw, so I asked harshly "What idiot sent out this email?"

I got this response from the friend of my friend who originally sent the email:

I do not know who wrote it which is why I ask a few friends if they knew anything about it.

My persoal opinion is not an F for who wrote it but a F for the ones that wrote such a complex plan and involved bill. No wonder there is confusion on both sides of the fence. Seriously who will interpret the plan if no one can read it? Will it be the politicians that interpret it to the doctors and patients?

That is I want to know.

Thank you.

To which I replied:

Hi

Just saw this.

The Bill is not complicated to read. It's simple but one had to take the time. You're asking for the "dumbing down" of an important piece of legislation. Please don't do that.

Take time to get a cup of coffee, turn off the TV, and read the bill for yourself. It's that important. I'm really concerned with the apparent lack of desire of Americans to absorb information that's not in small bites.

Read. Read. Read.

...And then ask questions.

Best,

Zennie

But do you see how the Right's sending out these takes on the Health Care Bill and scaring the uninformed with their own uninformed view? Part of me thinks its deliberate and they know its wrong, but a larger part of me thinks they just can't comprehend what's before them.

We've always complained about America's declining levels of education, so it should come as no surprise and complete alarm that we now have a good set of the population that's just not used to reading large amounts of information and turns off past page two.

And it seems most of those people have decided to be on the Right and not the Left.

(I'll return to this list for more vetting soon.)

Chevron Ecuador Judge Nunez bribery scandal - implications

2009-08-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

In a blockbuster development, Ecuador Judge Juan Nunez, the key legal figure in the Chevron Ecuador environmental damage case, is captured in a video shown here explaining that he plans to rule against the oil giant and for an award of $27 billion "more or less". The judge explains that the verdict will happen and that Chevron will be blocked from filing an appeal of his ruling. In that segment of the video, the Judge explains he's only there to talk about the verdict, not about "the other stuff" which refers to a $3 million payoff request. Later in the video its implied that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa will benefit from the bribe amount.

On video today I talked to Chevron Media Relations representative Sean Comey about the video and Chevron's investigation.

In the video Judge Nunez, Aulo Gelio ServioTulio Avila ("Avila"), and Pablo Almeida and are talking with two gentleman, Wayne Hansen and Diego Borja who are environmental remediation contractors and in the Judge's chamber in Lago Agrio, Ecuador. Hansen and Borja have pen-installed camcorders in their shirt pockets. Diego Borja has worked for Chevron before, Hansen has not, according to Chevron.

Judge Nunez (on the left)

The idea of the meeting was for the Judge and his political associates to be paid by the environmental company for business that would come to them as a result of the Judge's planned verdict. Here's what the Judge said from the video and the Amazonpost website:

Núñez:             “Any other questions for me as a judge?”
Hansen:           “Oh no, I, I know clearly how it is, you say, Chevron is the guilty party?”
Núñez:             “Yes Sir.”
Hansen:           “And the, the, the act (decision) is October or November of this year?”
Núñez:             “Yes Sir.”
Hansen:           “And it’s….?”
Núñez:             “No later than January.”
Hansen:           “January 2010. And the money is twenty-seven (billion dollars)?”
Núñez:             “It might be less, and it might be more.”

The Judge says "I have nothing to do with that other part" which is not explained in full but Garcia below fills in "the blanks" later, explaining that the Judge will be paid part of $3 million from the consulants.

Patricio Garcia

The second part of the video has an operative Patricio Garcia (photo from the Amazonpost website) who's reportedly a member of Ecuador's ruling party talking about how the $3 million would be delivered and transfered. This is what was said by Garcia:

Borja: “OK. Of the three million … one million is for the judge?”

Garcia: “Yes.”

Borja: “One million for the presidency…?”

Garcia: “Yes.”

Borja: “And one million for the plaintiffs?”

Garcia: “Yes, that’s right.”

Borja: “But, Loco, for the plaintiffs, who gets the money? Fajardo?”

Garcia: “No. The thing is, we’re going to handle it here.”

Borja: “You mean Alianza PAIS would receive the payment here?”

Garcia: “Right.”

Here's the 30 minute version of the video (the full two hour version is here):

But there's more to this video than what's reported in the press thus far. The focus here is on President Rafael Correa, who's office is named by Patricio Garcia as a beneficiary of the planned bribe money as is "his sister" as stated in the video above. As of this writing Correa has not issued a statement, but his reputation has already come under attack.

The second part of the video was filmed at Alianza PAIS (which means "Proud and Sovereign Fatherland" according to the Wikepedia listing) Offices June 22, 2009. PAIS is a political movement led by President Correa.   Who Patricio Garcia is beyond his appearance in this video and his role in PAIS is still basically unknown as of this writing.

Garcia says that the President's sister Pierina will be helpful (presumably in making sure that the businessmen get their piece of the planned $27 billion pie) and will meet with "The Gringo" (that's Hansen). I checked and "Prierina" is indeed described here as "Pierina Correa, the president's sister and an Alianza País leader in Guayas province". That confirms my assertion that Garcia is tied to the President and his family as he states in the video.

Shocking.

Chevron wants Nunez taken off the case

The implication here is that as Chevron's Comey said in my video above, Chevron wants Nunez taken off the environmental damage case. But given that Chevron has informed the U.S. Department of Justice, the revalation could have deeper implications.

It could cost the country its Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) status, which was just renewed in June of this year. Whatever the case, this news sends a clear message that doing business in Ecuador is not the "clean" experience it should be. Until now, blogs have reported the problems of corruption in Ecuador and with respect to President Correa's involvement in the Chevron case, but now we have visible evidence to back those claims.

The news also forever destroys the claim made by Ecuador lawsuit legal advisor Steve Donziger and others who say that the lawsuit against Chevron has nothing to do with the Ecuadorian Government and is brought by citizens of the Amazon. But Correa has appeared with Donziger in public and has been interviewed about the case.

Right.

One can see that the bribe money's not going anywhere near those groups of people Donziger claims to represent; the political party PAIS would get it and "handle it" as Garcia said in the video. The question is, did Donziger or his associates in Ecuador and America know about this bribe plan? Was he to be one of the plaitiffs that would get the bribe money? In the Amazon Defense Coalition statement today, he does not address the possibility that he may be involved, instead he said "As the facts come out it's going to backfire heavily on Chevron."

Amazon Defense Coalition defends Judge Nunez

Karen Hinton of the Amazon Defense Coalition told Reuters that the video shows Judge Nunez resisting the bribery matter. (This is Hinton's full statement.) In point of fact, the video shows the judge saying that he's speaking in the role of Judge and "does not know about that other matter" which is a way of saying he does know but does not want it to be officially said that he does know. It's called "plausible deniability ."

Stay tuned.

Notes:

Full video transcripts:

Meeting 1 Transcript (228 KB)
Meeting 2 Transcript (195 KB)
Meeting 3 Transcript (218 KB)
Meeting 4 Transcript (217 KB)

Miley Cyrus' stripper pole dance at Teen Choice Awards

2009-08-12T11:51:00.001-07:00

TAKE THE POLL - http://www.pollsb.com/polls/p2137290-...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/a...

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2009/0...

When I learned that teen star and Twitter mogul Miley Cyrus had literally done a number on a stripper pole at the Teen Choice Awards Monday night, two thoughts entered my mind: first, who convinced the 16 year old to do it, second, does this mean a sex tape's in her future too. I say and write that because I learned she and her father Billy Ray Cyrus came up with the dance production idea. So if her dad's cool with his daughter dancing around that pole at her age, the sky's the limit, right?

Obama "Beer Summit", Crowley Press Conference - history!

2009-07-31T04:24:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

YouTube ,Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler

Thursday, President Barack Obama held a "Beer Summit", as some have called it, with Harvard Professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr., Cambridge Police Sergeant Officer James Crowley, and Vice President Joe Biden, bring an end to an unfortunate but necessary event in American Cultural history, and starting a new chapter in American race relations.

It was the first time in American and world history a sitting president met publicly with a white police officer and the person the officer arrested, a black man. And to add to the moment, the president is African American. I think the teachable moment President Obama referred to was that two gentlemen of seemingly different stripes but of one culture can not only meet, but (as they agreed to do) meet again and again.

Sgt. Crowley assists Prof. Gates as President Obama leads the way

President Obama issued this statement:

"Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them," the president's statement said. "I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart. I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."

And I think everyone did, even if Sapporo, my personal favorite beer, wasn't on the menu, (Obama had a Bud Light, Crowley chose Blue Moon, and Gates had Samuel Adams) it was still gratifying to see the four men sit together and talk. It provides a great example for a country that seems ready to split over differences of opinion. We have to get to the point of communicating openly and often and without fear. While it's hard to know exactly what was said between the men, we can read between the lined in Crowley's press conference - in the video - when he said "We agreed to disagree." It's not hard to determine what they disagreed about.

In the arrest of Gates, basically because Crowley judged him to be disobedient after what turned out to be a case of a mistaken 911 call in since Gates was entering his own home, Crowley said he was "going by the book" or word to that effect. But the whole point of critics of racial profiling is that the "book" argument is used all the time. The "book" is tossed out when an officer uses his or her own personal emphathy, and please don't tell me this isn't done. Water Goldstein over at the Huff Post has a great blog on why white guys like him come away from such encounters gaining the help of an officer, and not handcuffs.

Gates and Crowley say: "time to move forward"

In the website "The Root", Professor Gates, its editor and chief, wrote:

Sergeant Crowley and I, through an accident of time and place, have been cast together, inextricably, as characters – as metaphors, really – in a thousand narratives about race over which he and I have absolutely no control. Narratives about race are as old as the founding of this great Republic itself, but these new ones have unfolded precisely when Americans signaled to the world our country’s great progress by overcoming centuries of habit and fear, and electing an African American as President. It is incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.

In his press conference held after the "summit", Crowley said that both he and Gates would talk again as soon as next week.

That the two plan to meet and seize the moment to create a lesson for America is really exciting. I really believe God made this happen. It's too good to be true that a professor of Black Studies and a police officer who's also an expert in racial profiling are working together and have this exchange to build from. That's a miracle.

Toward American Culture

I hope people realize from this that we really are one people and there's much that binds us together below the surface. I don't know if it's from reduced education spending, longer work hours, or what, but we seem to be less patient with the idea of study and more willing to just go with our prejudices, but that's countered by the ever-more-well-mixed society we live in. We have extremes like the thoughtless Glen Beck (who said the President was racist in a horrible misuse of the term) and the thoughtful Gates and Crowley right before us. With a little communication we'll have more people like Gates and Crowley and far fewer people like Glen Beck.

John Edwards has a sex tape?

2009-07-28T15:02:00.001-07:00

http://www.zennie62.com - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-b...
For more perspective on this story, click on the above links.

Win $300 from TheChampReport.com and iwearyourshirt.com

2009-07-28T11:33:00.001-07:00

On Youtube from iwearyourshirt, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FXCComxqu4

We couldn't resist posting this because of our interest in the power of social media.

John Edwards has a sex tape?

2009-07-28T08:01:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

In the story that will not die, we now learn that John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator and VP running mate to John Kerry, now reportedly has a sex tape. According to Rush & Molloy, the gossip columnists of the New York Daily News, Edwards former aide Andrew Young just finished a book proposal that described first, that he is not the father of the child of Rielle Hunter, John Edwards mistress, second, that Young just happened to see a sexually-explicit videotape as he was unpacking after moving to California from the East Coast, where he lived with Rielle Hunter, Edwards' mistress, and Young's wife and family.

The story is known by now: in August of 2008, after the heat of the Democratic Primary had cleared and just before the Democratic National Convention, former Senator Edwards admitted he cheated on his wife Elizabeth starting in 2006, while she was battling breast cancer. The scandal was originally reported by the Enquirer as far back as November of 2007, and just a few blogs, including Zennie62, then called "Zennie's Zeitgeist" followed it.

Rielle Hunter was an amateur film-maker Edwards befriended in New York City in 2006, but the friendship turned into two things: a $200,000 video job for Hunter and an affair for Edwards. Then - aide Andrew Young told the media - or those new media types paying attention - that he was the person who had the affair with Hunter and evntually got her pregnant.

This video I created gives you a look at what Rielle Hunter did for Edwards on the campaign trail:

Now Young's changing his story, claiming there's a sex tape and he has it, stating that he's not the father of Hunter's child and that Edwards is, and throwing Edwards so far under the bus he's going to be ran over by it and have skid marks on his back.

Yikes.

The question is why, after all this time, would Andrew Young do this to his former boss? Loyalty can last forever, can't it? According to the Huffington Post, Young feels "betrayed" by the "once-friendly" Edwards family. That turnabout may have come at the hands of Elizabeth Edwards, as the NY Daily News claims it was she who blamed Young for being an "enabler" of Edwards affair with Hunter, even to the point of arranging cell phone calls between Edwards and Hunter. Reportedly, Ms. Edwards threatened to leak information about Young's criminal past.

Yikes.

And The Enquirer, which rose from tabloid obscurity to gain mainstream media attention by breaking this story, reports that Young expressed displeasure with Edwards after he visited Hunter just after the child was born last year. Then, just after Edwards admitted his affair in August of 2008, Fox News ran a post presenting Young's unfortunate past of arrests. Young, with his image damaged, felt backed into a corner and like any wounded animal, struck back with this new story. The real story.

(Some websites, like the Enquirer claim the story of Young's past came up in The Daily Beast, but that's not true. It was Fox News.)

That the Edwards matter has degenerated to this point is sad to say the least. A once-promising man and family have essentially reduced themselves to the point of slinging mud at former friends and vice versa and who knows who else is next, given that Elizabeth Edwards is writing a book too.

Yikes!

Sarah Palin resigns: thin skin did her in

2009-07-05T15:04:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget!

On YouTube.com

As of July 26th, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will resign her post as Alaska's governor. I deliberately used the term "governor" twice, because even though I disagree with her politics, I always respected her as a governor of a state in America. Moreover, I root for women in politics, period. But I always believed Governor Palin - as I will continue to call her, much as some still refer to California Attorney General Jerry Brown as "Governor Brown" even though he's not been that since the 80s - had too thin a skin to deal with the new level of stardom she achieved after her time running to be vice president of the United States. A lot of this has to do with the life she crafted for herself in Alaska, which totally drove her and the GOP nuts when the media started asking her about her past.

Indeed, with the spotlight on Palin came a set of issues so great in number, I predicted she would be forced to resign in the middle of her run with John McCain and said so in this video:

Here's the list:

1) TrooperGate, where Gov Palin is accused of using her position to fire a state trouper, who's still on the job as of this writing.

2) The news that Palin was part of a group that wanted Alaska to leave the Union.

3) Palin was fundraising director for Senator Ted Stevens' 527 committee.

4) Palin was almost recalled as Mayor of Wasalia, Alaska.

5) She says the Iraq War, costing over 80,000 iraqi lives and several thousand American lives is a war for oil -- she's right, but Republican, so she should not say that.

6) She took earmarks totalling over $197 million, while saying she did not.

Then there was her family. The role her husband Todd Palin had in acting almost as a "shadow governor". Her daughter Bristol Palin, who's on-then-off relationship with Levis Johnston became a media circus itself (and now Johnston's writing a "tell-all" book about the Palins.)

Then there was Sarah the character: the wink, the nasal accent, the dress skirts, the pumps, the boots, and especially the "you 'betcha". Add to that Palin's constant stream of factual errors on federal government operation as she's trying to convince voters she's ready to run the country, and you have what we saw: a media train wreck in slow motion. The process evolved into one where Palin was constantly in front of a camera talking not about Alaska, but putting out some kind of media fire about her family or herself; there was the Bristol / Levy issue, the Bristol / Letterman joke, and the snipping about the McCain campaign staffers. Nothing about Alaska and all that from its governor.

Not good. And it's worse now: she's on Twitter! Yep. Palin's taken to the Twittersphere to attack her critics. Take this latest tweet:

Attached is my "thank you" sent yesterday to express gratitude, & smack down lies at same time http://tinyurl.com/q28wl5
about 2 hours ago from web

Indeed, Governor Palin's used Twitter to deny whatever guess has surfaced about her reason for resigning, particularly those surrounding the charges that Palin steered contracts to build the Wasilla Sports Complex to the company that built her home. (In this, the FBI stepped in and said there was no investigation of the issue.) Take a look at this list of tweets:

Trying to keep up w/getting truth to u, like proof there's no "FBI scandal", here's link http://tinyurl.com/nzlae8 Thanks, AK!
about 2 hours ago from web
so I'll make attempt to keep up w/attaching corrected info. I head 2 West AK villages today, look forward to their busy comm fish activity!
about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again....
about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
To see full text of the letter from my attorney on baseless allegations of past 24hrs check http://tinyurl.com/mmhv4u
about 15 hours ago from web
See letter from my attorney on baseless allegations of past 24hrs @ http://tinyurl.com/l4ct5n
about 17 hours ago from web

Oh, here's the letter:

Happy 4th of July from Alaska!

On this Independence Day, I am so very proud of all those who have chosen to serve our great nation and I honor their selflessness and the sacrifices of their families, too.

If I may, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the last 24 hours and share my thoughts with you.

First, I want to thank you for your support and hard work on the values we share. Those values led me to the decision my family and I made. Yesterday, my family and I announced a decision that is in Alaska’s best interest and it always feels good to do what is right. We have accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two – and I am proud of the great team that helped to build these wonderful successes. Energy independence and national security, fiscal restraint, smaller government, and local control have been my priorities and will remain my priorities.

For months now, I have consulted with friends and family, and with the Lieutenant Governor, about what is best for our wonderful state. I even made a few administrative changes over that course in time in preparation for yesterday. We have accomplished so much and there’s much more to do, but my family and I determined after prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most. And once I decided not to run for re-election, my decision was that much easier – I’ve never been one to waste time or resources. Those who know me know this is the right decision and obvious decision at that, including Senator John McCain. I thank him for his kind, insightful comments.

The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the “politics of personal destruction”. How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it’s right for all, including your family.

I shared with you yesterday my heartfelt and candid reasons for this change; I’ve never thought I needed a title before one’s name to forge progress in America. I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!

God bless you! And I look forward to making a difference – with you! Sarah

If you think about it, Palin declared her independence from the State of Alaska. But a run for President would be completely stupid. I can see and hear the comments now: "Palin quit on Alaska; she'll quit on America." No. I really think, just looking at her tweets, that something "snapped" perhaps after the detailed and far-less-than-flattering Vanity Fair article by Todd S. Purdum. Palin just signed a book deal herself, one that makes her a millionaire, so she doesn't have to deal with politics anymore. She's made it.

When I worked for Elihu Harris, when he was Oakland's mayor, I talked to him about why so many blacks went into politics rather than the private sector in post-war American history. "We could gain power that way," he told me. Of course, there was the major problem of private sector racism, but Harris explained that politics was the best way to "get in the game" of power. It's also true for women, even today.

In Palin's case, politics was her key to wealth, but now that her celebrity has essentially "paid" her, I'm sure she started to see being governor a kind of burden she had to carry; she let it go, and I think forever.

What will she do next? For some reason I think Rush Limbaugh's success presents a window to a possible future for Palin. But if she even thinks of running for office again, she's going to jump right back into the purgatory she's getting out of. I can't see her doing that at all; I just can't see it.

Michael Jackson passes | public opinion: "We Are The World"

2009-06-27T02:57:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget!

YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler

Michael Jackson's passing is still a shock to me. The very idea that someone I feel like I grew up with left us at the age of 50 is just not right at all. I first saw Michael perform when I was 10 years old at the old Chicago International Amphitheatre in 1972; the Campbell family, who babysat me, took me and I remember it like it was yesterday. The Jackson Five was then the must see event and Michael was the star.

Michael was like my brother. In a way for many African Americans he was just that, a sibling. I knew him as the guy who grew up in Gary, Indiana. We knew people who knew them in Chicago, so I felt close to him long ago. I think it's for that reason so many African Americans were on Michael's side during the years when it seems he was kind of flying the coup: changing his skin color from brown to near white; narrowing his nose, and basically seeming to channel his best friend the legendary singer Diana Ross. Then, of course, there were the claims that he "liked boys" which we figured wasn't the case, and was more a byproduct of the money and attention seeking people who surrounded him. Michael was a person with an arrested development: he never had a childhood so to escape the trappings of a constant adult life, he created a childhood for himself.

I think being an adult just literally killed Michael.

For me, Michael Jackson was the person who wanted to bring us all together, as shown in his "We Are The World" effort. That amazing production and song, created with a group of the World's best known music talents, with Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Steve Perry, Bob Dylan, the late Ray Charles, and a host of others and to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, was just amazing. Amazing. I loved that song then; I still do today and I cry every time I hear it. (the lyrics and video are at the end of this post).

Talking with people About Michael's passing

The death of Michael Jackson is one of those events that will cause you to remember where you were when you learned of it. In my case I'd just emerged from a private movie screening at the Saul Zaentz Film Center in West Berkeley, CA. My Mom just happened to call with the news as I was walking to my car; I was stunned. Just stunned. So I took my Flip Video Camera and set out to talk to people about what happened to Michael. I had plenty of places to do this: the BART train station, the San Francisco Magazine "Best of The Bay" party, and all points in between.

What's amazing is the sheer number of people who were immediately informed via text messages and the reactions: shock, sadness, but not joy. No. No one expressed anything close to that at all, even given the part of his life where it seemed he was overwhelmed with "kid" issues. Nothing.

Dominic Phillips, the master of event planning in San Francisco, and who produced last night's "San Francisco Magazine Best of The Bay" party said "It's horrible. First and formost, anybody dying is horrible. There are so many family members that are just gonna be torn apart. But also Michael Jackson; on the one hand he was a very maverick person. But on the other hand he was part of my generation's life. He was like part of my experience, my growing up and I feel a little robbed that he's not there anymore. Like whether you thought his experience was your experience,that doesn't really come into it for me. I just sort of bonded with him in my youth and now he's gone."

Another woman I talked to on Howard Street in San Francisco said "I was just walking and three people got text messages (that he died)...just terrible. My friend Beth Schnitzer, who's the Director of Sponsorship Marketing at Pier 39 said "I can't believe it. Every time I listen to his music, it brings back a great memory from growing up somehow, some way. You know, it really hasn't hit me. He was too young; way too young." Jerusha, "The Last Single Girl In The World" said, as only she can, "We all have to go sometime and boy did he have a fabulous life before he went. He did it up and he did it up right. You know what they say, you only live once and that's all you need if you do it right!"

I talked to a lot of people, and if you see my video there are more than what's presented here, but all just variations on what was expressed. People loved Michael, warts and all. The "Best of The Bay" event turned into a kind of tribute to Michael, with his music playing continuously through the evening, and people danced, especially to "Thriller" which is a modern classic.

Sad day it was to have this happen. Michael, the world will miss you.

We Are The World - Lyrics and video:

Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced by Quincy Jones.

There comes a time
When we head a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God's great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Metro train derails in DC

2009-06-22T17:45:00.001-07:00

Rush Limbaugh's Wrong, Sonia Sotomayor's Not Racist

2009-06-05T08:14:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget!

YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, Blip.tv, Sclipo and Viddler

I'm sure anyone black or white can relate to this because it's a common conversation:

White person to me: "I as a white person don't know what it's like to be in your shoes as someone black.

Me to the white person: "Well, you can do it; I don't mean to be insulting but it's called empathy. I have a lot of white friends who get the experience just by having black friends."

I've had that episode replayed over and over again in my life, though less so today than in the past. I've never thought the white person who was in the conversation - and they have been many people - was racist. Indeed, I did think they were race-concious and that's a very good thing.

Why? Simple. Because that person's not being colorblind and for that moment at least recognizes that it's really impossible and a total joke to be "colorblind". We make choices positively or negatively who we want to associate with regarding a person's skin color every day. In my case, having a diverse set of friends is extremely important because it shapes and keeps in check my "world view". A racially complex set of friends keeps you're mind sharp and makes life fun.

It's for that reason I assert Supreme Court Justice Designate Sonia Sotomayor's not racist. She's certainly as race-concious as the white persons who've made the statement I opened with, but that's not being racist. To be racist is to put another person down because of their skin. Period. Moreover Sotomayor's 2001 comment in a very long speech given at U.C. Berkeley (and called "A Latina Judge's Voice) reads like this:

"First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Think about that, and combine it with the statement I presented and made to me many times by someone white. It's the flip-side of the white person's statement. Think about it. Think again. Sotomayor's 2001 comment essentially confirms what has been said to me many times and some of the white persons who said this were, drumroll please, conservative and all male come to think of it.

So what's the real problem? Well, there isn't one; it's manufactured by a conservative PR machine led by radio yeller Rush Limbaugh, always feeding the minders of his $400 million broadcast contract, and repeated by television producers seeking ratings to maintain a level of post-election political interest. Gotta have something to get your blood going and this is red meat for some folks, especially Limbaugh.

But Rush, in his zeal to pin Sotomayor as racist, has started telling lies. He said on his show today, Wednesday,...

"I mean, when she says that she'd do a better job than a white guy, what is it? It's racism. It's reverse racism, whatever but it's still racism. She would bring a form of racism, bigotry to the court."

But she didn't say that.

The comment I presented by Sotomayor above was made in a remark about how judges have responded to civil rights cases over our history. Since that has impacted people of color, Sotomayor was simply saying a wise person of color -- in this case a Latina woman judge - with experience would hopefully make a better decision in that context than someone white and male who did not have the experience.

We have to pay attention to what is said here in specific. Indeed, if I were to challenge Rush in person he'd have to admit he was wrong, if he was honest with me, of course. The bottom line is because we as a World don't know how to talk about race, the door's open for folks like Rush to confuse the discourse.

We Need To Learn How To Talk About Race

The real problem is some people, regardless of color, don't know how to talk about race. Too often conversations focus just on their personal perception of a racial issue rather than a broad read of what people do. (I'm not discounting the value of a personal perception, just the application of it. Ok? Really stop and think about what I'm explaining before you react here. Thanks.)

For example, I tried to explain to a friend why her friend, who was making and selling a product like the terrible "Obama Waffles", was doing a bad thing, very racist in that it took a black stereotype and used it to make fun of President Obama. I further explained that her friend's product would be roundly panned in the blogsphere and give her friend a bad name.

My friend, who's white and not involved with the product, reacted defensively and then launched into an explaination of why she's not racist, which wasn't my assertion at all as I was talking about her friend's product not her. I explained that we're not talking about her or her experiences and I know she's not racist, but she's got to understand how society around her is changing and what's acceptable and what's not. After a time of a lot of frank and a bit rought talk, she understood what I was saying and said she'd talk to her friend. Oh, and we're still the best of friends.

But episodes like that mean we need to take stock of what's happening beyond our personal experience. It's good to get a constant statistical and content read on how society is changing (Marketers are you paying attention?) so you're not caught in the backwash of social change.

The GOP's fighting this problem right now and Limbaugh - as the GOP's standard bearer - by calling Sotomayor racist, has once again revealed its own racism.

The reality is, even with people like former Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-Colo.) staffer, conservative writer, and activist Marcus Epstein pleading guilty to the hate crime of calling an innocent black woman the N-word and striking her with a karate chop in 2007 (he says he wants a second chance and accepts that he behaved terribly, which is an understatement.), we've still come a long way in America. You don't have to be black to understand the black experience or Latino to "get" the latino experience, or Asian to feel the Asian experience, or white to get the white experience, but all of us try, accept our physical limitations, and listen.

A lot. With love.

Yeah, that word again.

Happy Memorial Day! Thank A Soldier Today

2009-05-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget!

YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler

I went to my stepfather's burial place today. Even though I was really ill, I forced myself to go and place flowers at his grave site as I've made it a habit to visit him on Memorial Day each year. He fought in World War II.

But this time, I took my biological father's burial flag with me. Both my father and stepfather died in 2005.

To some who are anti-war, the title of this video-blog will upset them. It should not. I'm against war and always have been, but the reality of my life is that both my late father and stepfather fought in World War II, and in my father's case, Zenophon Abraham of is his name (he lives in Chicago), I am the proud owner of his neatly folded burial flag and two bullets wrapped in them. I've never unraveled it.

Chester Harding Yerger III of Oakland is my late stepfather and he often talked of his time in the service and of attending "Officer Candidate School", and being taught how to kill. While the stories were never ones I looked forward to, I learned that sometime people go to war not because they want to harm people but because they feel their duty to protect America. I used to question this "duty" but now I honor it, even as I disagree with the idea of war.

Why? I frankly can't explain the reason as well as I'd like to but I'll try. I think as I reach deep it's because I now know some people don't feel its their job or "place" to question authority, yet, those same people made it ok for me to question authority. That was my father and my stepfather, especially as they aged.

I think it's also because people who have taken the lives of another in a time of war generally have an appreciation for life that can't be measured. At times my stepfather would think back to the war and cry. That was hard to witness. My father never talked about the war, so I never asked him about it. My dad talked about Chicago architecture, planes, trains, and automobiles. Not the war. It wasn't until he died and his funeral that I understood his role in the war; he received a 21-gun salute that October day in 2005 and I can feel the noise from the gun fire pass through me today.

It's those memories that cause me to thank a soldier when one is in my presence. I did that on a plane ride as I was standing next to a Army officer in uniform. I asked him where he was going and he responded "Home. And I'm so happy." I said "Hey, thanks for your service"; he said "I tell ya, I really appreciate that."

I got what he was saying. He was telling me, "You know, what we do isn't appreciated by a lot of people and believe me I understand why. But I'm glad you see that I'm carrying out my duty to my country, even if I may not agree with what we're doing all the time."

Thank a soldier today. Even though you may be anti-war, don't blame them for our foreign policies of the past or present. They're doing the best they can in an impossible situation.

Thank a soldier today, or any day. Even though you may be anti-war, don't blame them for our foreign policies of the past or present. They're doing the best they can in an impossible situation. They're serving our country and could die doing so.

Amazon Defense Coalition A Fake Company of Hinton Communications

2009-05-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

Ok. Here's one for the books. Because I dare bring a balanced view of the Chevron Ecuador case, Karen Hinton of Hinton Communications decides that I must be paid by Chevron. In other words, no one can possibly take a middle ground position, or even think that one exists.

The problem is that it does. Moreover, I have evidence here that the claims against Chevron are part of Ecuador's plan to clear the Amazon of foreign oil interests and replace them with state-owned Petroecuador's oil drilling activities. Ecuador cares about the poor of the Amazon far less than it cares about extracting petrodollars from the Amazon.

A Front For Ecuador and Petroecuador

Ok. Let's do some house-cleaning over the mess Hinton Communications has left for me to clean up. The first fact is this: the "Amazon Defense Coalition" does not exist except in the mind of Karen Hinton. It's presented as a firm, a group, a company, but Hinton is the only constant spokesperson who issues material for this supposedly operating organization.

In point of fact, there's no "Amazon Defense Coalition" there's no website, no office, no president, no secretary and no budget. The only person who is consistently listed is Hinton herself. What she's done, in a brilliant stroke of PR genius that I've got to stop and admire for a second, is to consistently flood the Internet with press release after press release with the words "Amazon Defense Coalition" on the title, so what comes up in a search is for "Amazon Defense Coalition" are results with that listing, so the layperson says "Well, there is an Amazon Defense Coalition because of all these search results."

Yeah. Right. Look deeper.

The vast majority of the results are reprints of the same press releases Hinton sends out. There's no evidence of anyone consistently writing for the "Amazon Defense Coalition" other than Hinton herself or Hinton Communications. It's no wonder a Google lookup of "Amazon Defense Coalition Hinton" shows over 3,000 results!

Karen Hinton should come clean and reveal what I already know: that her American company is working for the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa as a foreign agent and appears to be financed by them.

Hinton's ties in this matter are deep. She's linked with Washington lobbyist Ben Barnes, who's linked with Steve Donziger, of the law firm Kohn, Swift, and Graft (who hired Barnes), and who's the master lawyer in the lawsuit against Chevron and who may be getting resources from the Ecuadorian government, too. Indeed, the The Ben Barnes Group is listed as one of Hinton's clients and Hinton's the Amazon Defense Coalition so one can effectively say that Barnes has a major role in the Amazon Defense Coalition because it's really just Hinton who's paid by Barnes, who in turn is paid by Donziger / Kohn, Swift, and Graft, who must get its money from the Ecuadorian government, because they too stand to rake in billions, even with the one-third award stake Donziger will gain should he prevail in these legal battles. It's worth the investment.

The Ben Barnes Group is an effective lobbying organization, and its founder, Barnes, has made millions doing deals between special interest groups, companies, and powerful Democratic office-holders. Barnes has served as the spokesperson for R. Allen Stanford, who's the focal point of the Stanford Investment Scandal. (To be fair, Barnes says he has played no role in Stanford's business dealings and is said to be "shocked and saddened" by the allegations against his friend and client.)

It's hotly rumored that The Barnes Group hired former Speaker of the California Assembly, San Francisco Mayor, and SF Chronicle Columnist Willie Brown to work with them and Donziger against Chevron in the Ecuador case, and that news is "loose" because my friends - and I have a lot of them - tell me Willie's yappin' about the deal all over San Francisco! I wonder how much of this gravy train he's going to take in?

Nice.

President Correa, Donziger, Barnes, and Hinton care about bucks, not the people of the Amazon. And it's questionable at best that President Correa himself really cares about the poor people of the Amazon over oil exploration, as he would have others believe. Indeed, in 2007, Correa's advanced a proposal where countries would pay them $4 billion to protect a part of their country called Yasuni National Park in the Amazon from oil exploration, but if they didn't get the money, Ecuador itself will drill for oil there anyway!

Guess what? They didn't get the money! That led to a new round of drilling that effected the Yasuni National Park, which is supposed to be the "protected area" according to the "World Rainforest Movement" which reports:

In December 2008, the Waorani denounced new oil exploration activities in the Cononaco oilfield. In order to appease the community, the Ecuadorian state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, paid them 35,000 dollars. But these new activities affect the Yasuní National Park, a protected area.

Previous oil operations in Cononaco have been inspected as part of the trial underway against Texaco, since the activities in the field were undertaken by this multinational oil giant. Of the 35 samples taken, 30 showed readings higher than those permitted by law.

The area in question forms part of both the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve and the Waorani people’s ancestral territory, and the contamination caused by oil activities there directly affects Yasuní National Park.

When the pipeline between the Auca and Cononaco oilfields burst in 2006, the resulting oil spill contaminated the Tiputini River which runs through the National Park. But the new exploration activity is even more menacing, because it is taking place in areas vital to the survival of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.

So much for Ecuador's real concern about their own people, let alone the environment. Ecuador fans will say President Correa stopped oil exploration in the area, but he didn't stop it. He put a stay on it. That means after June 2009, oil exploration activities start again. The Amazon is a revenue generator for Ecuador, but Correa knows he can't effectively win a lawsuit against Chevron and stick it to Ecuador's poor at the same time, so he made a brilliant political move designed to get him good press.

For a month.

If the "Amazon Defense Coalition" really cares about the Amazon, ask Karen Hinton why Correa's planning another round of oil exploration in the Yasuni National Park area? Don't ask "SOSYasuni" because they cover for the Ecuadorian Government. Indeed, by first asking for Western oil companies for payment to protect Yasuni, then threatening to drill for oil themselves (using Petroecuador) if they don't get the money, Ecuador's trying to crowd-out its own oil market from foreign interests and pave the way for the state-owned Petroecuador and the Petroecuador-owned Petroamazonas S.A to drill and gain revenue. A very clever campaign.

Petroamazonas S.A got the rights to drill at "Block 31" from Ecuador, which retook control from the Brazilian-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras in 2008:

Petroamazonas, which is majority-owned by state oil company Petroecuador, is looking for financing from multilateral lenders and foreign countries to develop block 31, but Pastor didn't give details.
"We are in talks to get financing. If we obtain financing this block will be developed this year. We plan to drill around 14 wells," Pastor said.
Last year, the Ecuadorian government and Brazil's state-run oil firm, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, agreed to finish the contract for block 31, which was transferred to the state.
Block 31 has 200,000 hectares, some of this within the Yasuni National Park, which Unesco has declared a world biosphere reserve.

To the press, it looked like Ecuador's Correa was being an environmental hero, but in point of fact, he was just gathering more Ecuadorian territory to be drilled by the Ecuadorian government. U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp was litterally kicked out of the country and while Chevron / Texaco left long ago, Ecuador's trying to extort money from them via this disingenuous environmental damage claim ; the indigenious people of the Yasuni area are an afterthought both to them and to Donziger's people; the color of money is the only green they care about. Have doubts? Ask Steve Donziger if he would work for free.

New TV Show by Zennie62's On BART and Oscar Grant

2009-05-04T05:22:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, May 2nd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully.

If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org. or Zennie62.com

The first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters. Then we focus on the words of "DaveyD", America's foremost hiphop reporter and voice of the street, who shares his observations of how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums handled the situation. And finally we hear from Dellums himself. This is not the last time I will visit this issue, but it's a good place to start the show.

The standard format is to present politics, news, sports, and tech in some combination for each show. Sometimes it's me talking about an issue; other times it's me talking to someone else, and with this show we will feature the work of other video-bloggers. It's a vloggers' playground.

The show will have a deliberate vlogger feel. Videos that you see on my channels at YouTube, Blip.tv, and other places make up the show. There's no studio; the camcorder is the star instrument. That means we can go anywhere at anytime and quickly make a video. It also means I can share what's happening in the news on the blogsphere in video form and show it on "The Blog Report". A lot of ground we can cover considering I never dreamed of having my own television show, but this whole road I've taken has been totally unplanned by me.

"The Blog Report" all started last year when I met Art Thomas who's the Executive Vice President with CoLoursTV at a media walk-through for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He lived in Oakland before moving to Denver and so we had a lot to talk about. I was looking for a sponsor for our show at the time, so I sent a proposal to Thomas. That exchange turned into an idea for placing our videos on CoLoursTV and that became the concept called "The Blog Report With Zennie62".

Our first concern was how to get the videos up on television without a loss of at least the quality that is seen on Blip.tv and Viddler, which have the sharpest video uploads (that written, I love YouTube and the quality's really improved over time such that it's competitive with the two, but YouTube's best system is the website design and its "viral" nature as well as The YouTube Partner program.) I think we solved that problem and I understand the TV version looks even better than what you're going to see here.

I look forward to your feedback and questions. We're seeking sponsors and there are some organizations we simply want to establish strategic partnerships with, so please contact me. The possibilities for this are many and should serve as an example for a possble future for newspapers as well.

If you're a video-blogger located anywhere in the World and have material that's not longer than 4 minutes tops, notify me via email at zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com and we'll go from there. I prefer the video is already uploaded on some site, Brightcove, Blip.tv, YouTube, etc, so I can see it.

I wish to thank Art Thomas, Damon Purdy, and Tracy Winchester of CoLours TV, as well as Steve and Bernard who made me look good in the promo. I also wish to thank Google / YouTube for their support and encouragement and specifically Chad, Emily, and Hunter. A big loud shot-out to the iReport team at CNN: Lila, Henry, Rachel, David, Nicole Saldi, and the rest. And thanks to the team at CNN Special Projects, Errol and Jessica, and to Roland Martin and his staff at CNN for discovering me. Finally, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for seeing the value in how I do what I'm doing and providing a platform. To the National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell, Greg Aiello, and Frank Supovitz ("Mr. Super Bowl") And of course, thanks to my Mom and my relatives in Chicago and Tennessee.

Somali Pirate Attacks Point To Need For More Somalia Aid

2009-04-13T02:02:00.001-07:00

More at Zennie62.com

YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Blip.tv, Crackle, Stupid Videos, Sclipo, Viddler and Howcast

Today, Easter Sunday, an after an kidnapping affair that lasted for several days, American sea Captain Richard Phillips was rescued after NAVY Seal Snipers took three precision shots and killed three pirates from Somalia.

Conservative blogs and websites like "HotAir" have unintelligently called for us to go into Somalia "bomb" the pirates, but such saber-rattling will only kill innocent women and children. In other words, "American Machismo" worked to rescue the captain, but it will not work for the resolution of this problem.

In what can be described as a "growth industry" pirating in Somalia is a function of the country's lack of a government, weak economy, little military funding, and lack of financial aid from the World. In order to stop these attacks, the people of Somalia themselves must be helped.

What will work is increasing aide to Somalia and helping them establish a central government but from a distance, not via invasion. Somalia has been without a true central government since 1991, and that country's civil war. (And the United States doesn't need another incursion into that country, or for that matter another situation where American solidiers are killed, which were the events captured in a movie called Black Hawk Down.)

We can't afford to take on the task now. But we can work with the United Nations and other countries impacted by piracy to improve the Somali economy. Somalia is poor. According to the CIA, its' Gross Domestic Product is just over $2 billion, and the average life expectancy is just 47 years old. That's right: 47 years old.

So when the average Somalian hears that a pirate's making as much as a share of $22 million for a heist, that's attractive. Indeed, the BBC reports that Somalian pirates are "living the high life" becoming very wealthy even by American standards in a country that's very poor by the World's standards. So much so is the economy a problem and piracy attractive that recruiting participants has become easier over the years. The monetary spigot has to be shut off in two ways: economic and military, but we can't afford to constantly patrol several hundred thousand square miles of ocean to watch every action a band of pirates might take.

Aid to Somalia must be increased -- dramatically. But for now, I don't expect these attacks to stop, indeed, the lure of money and the culture that's developed around it is too intense to be curbed by America's success at recovering its people, even if the pirate hostage-takers were killed. They will try again, perhaps with some other country's vessel, but they will strike again.

Follow me on Twitter | At SFGate.com

Promise Technology Sued By Carbomite Over Data Loss

2009-04-03T23:39:00.001-07:00

Carbomite filed a lawsuit, claiming hard drives they ran that store data for customers was lost due to faulty equipment sold to them by Promise Technology. Could it be Carbomite never took proper care of the equipment? This is a landmark case people should follow.

Promise Technology Presents New ServicePlus On Site Parts Replacement Program for US and Canada

2009-04-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

First I take a stance on how backing up data is a personal responsibility and how Carbonite - a data protection company -- should take the rap for losing its customer's data, then I get comments on the San Francisco Blog about it, and from some high level folks, and now a press release? Interesting. It means our blogs matter in the tech world after all. Here's the release I got on Promise Technology's news about an onsight parts replacement program:

Promise Announces New ServicePlus On-Site Parts Replacement Program for US and Canada

Industry leading support program expands to include on-site component swap offering

MILPITAS, Calif., April 1, 2009 – Promise Technology Inc., a leading supplier of sophisticated RAID storage solutions for enterprise and SMB customers, today announced general availability of the Promise ServicePlus parts replacement plan for their VTrak enterprise class RAID storage subsystems. The ServicePlus program is an available upgrade to Promise’s leading 3-Year limited advanced parts replacement warranty. The ServicePlus plan offers onsite parts replacement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the existing VTrak warranty period.

The Promise ServicePlus Plan provides for the rapid response and installation of components that have been identified as being in a fault state. This program provides storage administrators with the peace of mind that their storage is protected 24x7 against component failure. Combined with Promise’s existing 24x7 technical phone support this program is able to significantly minimize downtime. Average response time for component replacement can be as little as four hours in most major metropolitan areas.

“The ServicePlus program builds upon our already best in class support program”, said Vijay Char, Vice President of QA and Support, Promise Technology. “Continuing to add to our support offering is part of our commitment to providing our customers with the best available uptime and service.”

The Promise ServicePlus plan is available for VTrak E-Class RAID, J-Class expansion chassis and M-Class iSCSI models in the 3U/16-bay form factor. The program is valid for the entire 3 year VTrak standard warranty period.

Pricing and Availability
The Promise ServicePlus plan is immediately available in the U.S. and Canada. Please contact the Promise sales department for further information.

About Promise Technology, Inc.
With a long history of innovation, Promise Technology develops and manufactures sophisticated RAID solutions – offering a complete line of RAID controller cards and SAS/SATA RAID subsystems catering to enterprise, mid-range and entry-level data protection needs worldwide. Known as the originator of SATA/ATA RAID products, Promise’s comprehensive product base includes high available (HA) standalone RAID subsystems with standards-based management interfaces, SAS host-based (internal) RAID controllers for servers and NAS appliances for SOHO. Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., Promise is ISO-9001:2000 and ISO-14001:2004 certified, and has offices and operations throughout Asia and Europe to support local business partners and customers. For more information, visit Promise Technology's website at http://www.promise.com/serviceplu

Americans United for Change To Spend $700,000 In Support Of Obama Budget

2009-03-25T23:25:00.001-07:00

Washington Whispers - Nation & World (usnews.com): “In its largest national ad buy ever, the progressive pro-Obama group Americans United for Change says that it plans to spend some $700,000 in a TV campaign starting today to promote President Obama's budget campaign. "The work that begins this week on President Obama's budget is by far the most significant in shaping the president's transformational commitments to healthcare reform, education, and clean energy," says Tom McMahon, the group's acting executive director.”

Paul Krugman is WRONG about The Obama TARP Plan

2009-03-24T10:20:00.001-07:00

Economist Paul Krugman has been attacking the Obama / Geitner Troubled Assets Relief Plan (TARP) as using taxpayer money to pay investors to take the assets off bank's hands. But he offers no alternative. Paul is wrong in that he wants the "bad assets" to remain on bank statements, but for what? To continue to freeze the credit market? His blog posts in the NY Times on this matter are intellectually sloppy at best. That -- for a Nobel Prize winner -- is terrible.

Krugman sets up straw person examples to prove the idea that the investor spends little of his or her own money -- but that is the idea. I do not know why he comes up with these half-baked statements at all. Perhaps he is just angry that Obama did not pick him to be economic advisor.

Star Trek Movie: Where Are The Black Men?

2009-03-17T04:00:00.001-07:00

There's a lack of Black men in the Star Trek trailers and director J.J. Abrams called and invited Tyler Perry to be in the movie to make up for the oversight

Rush Limbaugh Is Wrecking The GOP And I LOVE IT!

2009-03-04T00:38:00.001-08:00

http://www.zennie62.com -- Rush Limbaugh's idiological rants are out of touch with an economic reality that will keep The Democrats in power for at least the next 10 years. The reason is the economy itself and the need for government investment.

Between 1960 and 1999 the U.S. Economy added 20 million new jobs every 10 years, but from 1999 to today, only about 4.7 million new jobs. What happened to the 15 million jobs? They went overseas to countries like India, France, and north to Canada. And with jobs goes wealth. It's a key reason America's now the 3 largest exporter whereas we were number one for years, until 2004. We're now behind Germany and China.

All of that wealth lost has resulted in wrecked credit over time. We have to have jobs to afford our mortgages and our population did not stop growing through this period. But what happened was that we started to lose jobs from the remaining stock of them. Remember, we have millions of people that aren't even being counted in our economy -- they don't exist for employment purposes. The "Joe The Plumbers" of today are the steel workers of yesterday. With a thriving growing manufaturing industry, we were able to employ Americans and jobs were plentiful. Not today.

With this weak World Credit system we need government spending to replace the private investment spending that's gone. Indeed, with fewer businesses there's less private investment spending -- goverment must catalyze the growth of business.

All of this calls for an activist government and that's something -- that need -- will keep The Democrats in power for years to come.

Deputy Paul Schene Shown Kicking Black 15-Year Old Teen Girl

2009-03-02T06:46:00.001-08:00

From the AP:

Surveillance video released in an assault case against a King County, Wash. sheriff's deputy shows him kicking a young girl, slamming her to the jail cell floor and striking her repeatedly. The deputy has pleaded not guilty in case

This is racist and terrible. She's a 15-year old girl. Deputy Paul Schene apparently claimed she kicked a shoe but the tape does not show that. Another "Oscar Grant" example of a cop acting out of racist intent. We must punish officers who behave this way with jail time of their own. She is defenseless and did nothing wrong.

President Obama's Greatest Speech - State Of The Nation

2009-02-25T06:32:00.001-08:00

In his best speech ever President Obama sounded the call for the need to stop sending jobs overseas. It was totally missed by pundits, but Obama just sounded the call for economic nationalism. It's about time.

From 1960 to 1999, the USA added 20 million new jobs each decade, but from that point to today, just under 5 million jobs were added. Where did they go? Overseas to other nations in a large process of what economists call import replacing. One example of this is the growth of Airbus Industries in aircraft manufacturing where they got the largest tanker deal in American history -- $35 billion -- and over the Boeing Company costing 25,000 jobs.

Eric Holder Is Right: Twittering About Race Causes Cancer!

2009-02-20T18:34:00.001-08:00

Attorney General Eric Holder is right! Twittering about race causes cancer as toxins build. Best to have a diverse group of friends to talk to, and only a coward would be afraid to have friends of different backgrounds!

NY Post Racist Cartoon Is "New Yorker" Eyeball Strategy

2009-02-19T13:50:00.001-08:00

The NY Post Racist Cartoon Is "New Yorker" Eyeball Strategy. It's a ploy to get web visitors and to sell newspapers and it's working. It was done by the New Yorker last year with that Obama cover and now the NY Post is doing it.

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook's Benevolent Dictator

2009-02-19T06:37:00.001-08:00

Mark Zuckerberg is Facebook's Benevolent Dictator who says the social network is 176 million or the sixth largest nation in the World. Electing to preserve member privacy was him being nice. Suppose he didn't do it?

Cell Phone Guns; Deadly "James Bond" Micro Weapon

2009-02-12T05:03:00.001-08:00

The cell phone gun is now in media view after a raid of an Italian Mafia group last fall. A 28-year old man captured had this device, but the the others got away. I fear this weapon - which is in the United States - would wind up in our high schools.

Barry Admits Not Paying Taxes, Blames Medical Condition - DCist: Washington DC News, Food, Arts & Events

2009-02-10T12:53:00.001-08:00

More at DCist: “WUSA9.com is teasing a Bruce Johnson interview with Marion Barry in which the mayor-for-life reportedly admits he failed to file his 2007 income tax return, and then says he failed to do so because he was distracted by a serious medical condition.”

-- Crazy! But that's a creative excuse!

Protesters Disrupt District Home Auction Over Stimulus Plan

2009-02-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

More at washingtonpost.com: “More than 100 protesters have briefly interrupted an auction of foreclosed homes in downtown Washington, chanting "Bail out Main Street, not Wall Street!"

Members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, entered an office Tuesday as homes were being auctioned off. The group also held up signs in English and Spanish reading: "Stop Foreclosures."

After being thrown out of the building, ACORN continued protesting on a sidewalk outside.

ACORN member Louis Beverly said that with millions of people losing their jobs, a moratorium on foreclosures is needed to keep people in their homes.”

Richmond Va. House Approves Ban on Smoking

2009-02-10T12:49:00.001-08:00

More at washingtonpost.com: “RICHMOND, Feb. 9 -- The Virginia House of Delegates approved a plan for a ban on smoking covering most of the state's restaurants and many of its bars Monday, marking a significant political and cultural shift for a state whose history has been intertwined with tobacco for centuries.”

Attorney General Eric Holder's message to the Department of Justice

2009-02-03T13:41:00.001-08:00

From The White House:

After being sworn in on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009, Eric Holder became the first African American Attorney General in the history of the United States. In a brief video address to the employees of the Department of Justice, he promises the beginning of a new era.

I wish him well and am confident he will do a fantastic job. The question is what's first on his agenda? Stay tuned here.

Living Hungry in America - Food Stamps Use Up - Michael Moore

2009-02-03T13:30:00.001-08:00

From Michael Moore and for his upcoming movie:

As Walter Thomas knows, it's hard to look for a job when your stomach is rumbling.

The 52-year-old from Washington, D.C., started skipping meals in early January when his savings account was running dry and his kitchen cabinets were almost empty.

Thomas at first didn't want to turn to the United States' food safety net, the food stamp program, for help.

Trying to help knit the safety net back together at
http://www.michaelmoore.com

Obama Inauguration: What The Inauguration Meant To Me

2009-02-03T02:24:00.001-08:00

In this video I share what the day of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of The United States means to me, set to music - a piece called "ritual".

Michael Steele Is The New RNC Chairman - First Black Person To Have Role

2009-01-31T09:09:00.001-08:00

Michael Steele Is The New RNC Chairman - First Black Person To Have Role

Obama Inauguration - Zennie Gets Home In First Class

2009-01-29T13:28:00.001-08:00

After being stuck in Dulles for about three days after the Obama Inauguration I finally got out -- to Chicago. But then stayed overnight and then got a nice treat on the way back to the SF Bay Area.

Lou Dobbs Is An Idiot On The Economy

2009-01-27T12:06:00.001-08:00

When it comes to the Economy, Lou Dobbs is an idiot who does not get that we've lost 15 million jobs over the last 11 years or that 7 trillion in consumer debt is seeking payers and is not finding them because there's no jobs.

Tony West Appointed Assistant Attorney General By President Obama

2009-01-24T13:28:00.001-08:00

Tony West, who you've frequently seen if you're a visitor to the Oakland Focus Blog , and my YouTube channel Zennie62 , was appointed Assistant Attorney General by President Barack Obama.

Congratulations, Tony!

I just interviewed Tony, who became a friend during the campaign, on November 12th here and in a talk where one can learn more about the man and his vast background (for example, he's worked in some way for six presidents and now seven) who was just appointed on Friday of this week:

But that was not the first time I talked with Tony. Here's the other videos:

This one last year at the California State Democratic Convention:

And this one when then-Senator Obama visited San Francisco for a large fundraising event:

01/24/09: President Obama's Weekly Address

2009-01-24T12:42:00.001-08:00

From YouTube channel whitehouse: In his first weekly address since being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, President Barack Obama discussed how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will jump-start the economy.

(This video is public domain per White House copyright policy.)

-- This is just the begining, because I believe what's needed is a more direct stimulus of $3,500 for Americans at or under $100,000 in income.

Global Voices Online » Ecuador: Correa Faces Pressure From Indigenous Groups

2009-01-24T11:37:00.001-08:00

More at Global Voices Online: “Despite protests and road blockades in southen Ecuador, a new mining law [es] (pdf format) was passed in Congress. Now the new bill will head to the executive branch for final approval from President Rafael Correa. Opposition to the bill is coming from indigenous groups, who have called for a national march to be held on January 20 to protest the government's support for the new law.

The mobilization is being led by the country's largest indigenous organization, the National Confederation of Indigenous Nations (CONAIE), which is stating that there was very little discussion regarding the new law and that it will be harmful to the environment and is going against the sovereignty of indigenous communities. ”

-- And this from the President who claims to be protecting indigeneous groups, as in the Chevron case, while letting Ecuadorian companies take advantage of them. The key need is for that country to improve its economic development practices.

Jeff From Oakland talks Obama and America's Racial Future

2009-01-24T05:14:00.001-08:00

I was in the middle of finishing an interview in front of the Capital on the night before the Inauguration, when this man came up and said "Hey. You're Zennie. I read yout blog." It turned out he was from Oaklland, and is active in the North Oakland political scene. That led to this video conversation I recorded with Jeff from Oakland.