Oakland Mayor's Race - Don Perata out of candidates forum Thursday

Make it seven competitors in the Oakland Mayor's Race upcoming debate as Don Perata bows out of the Thursday, June 10th Oakland Mayoral Candidates Forum sponsored by 100 Black Men of The Bay Area.

But what's interesting behind the reason, according to a very good source, is that the Perata camp gave a weird reason for not wanting to participate in what they thought was going to be an Oakland Mayor Candidates Forum in September, even thought the source claims Perata was not asked officially to do so.

The Perata Camp said that as current Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums had not actually announced what he was going to do, run for another term as Oakland's Mayor, or not (even as some have told this blogger he was going to run again), Perata didn't think it was fair to participate in any forum. Seriously.

At the time, the source was surprised Perata was going to be in the 100 Black Men-sponsored forum. Perata is not going to be there as of this writing. That's a mistake.

Perata's starting a string of mistakes that stem from the 20th Century Old Media idea that everyone in Oakland's pay attention to what he does. Not true. It's a different media world, and by not participating in candidates' forums, Don Perata takes away yet another media content development opportunity for himself.

Not smart.

Joran van der Sloot's confession to murder - what did Ramirez see?

Joren van der Sloot and Natalie Holloway

Dutchman Joran van der Sloot's confession to murder has Peru and the World talking about 'psychopathic' foreigners visiting Peru and other countries to harm women. Joran van der Sloot, confessed to the murder of 21-year old Stephany Flores Ramirez, after van der Sloot said he found her going through his laptop, looking at files from the Natalee Holloway case.

But before we look at the charge of "psychopathic' foreigners visiting Peru", the unanswered question is what did Stephany Flores Ramirez see in those files that Joran van der Sloot didn't want her to see? Joran van der Sloot said he did not kill Alabama native Natalee Holloway but his confession to the murder of Ramirez brings new light into a long dormant case.

According to former LA Detective Mark Furman on Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Ramirez was hit in the back of the head. Furman said there was "blunt force trauma to the back of her head and her lower neck" which caused hemorrhaging and led to her death. A death that's now connected to an alleged extortion by Joran van der Sloot of, of all people, Natalie Holloway's mother. Again, this comes from Fox News.

Greta Van Susteren reports that Natalie Holloway's mother transferred $15,000 of what was to be a $250,000 payment to Joran van der Sloot if he told her what happened to Natalie. Beth Holloway and related individuals met a contact person and Joran van der Sloot in Aruba on May 10th.

Bo Dietl of Dietl and Associates, a private investigations company, told Greta Van Susteren that his company was asked to get involved, and go down to Aruba, but the FBI told them not to - "they would handle it." Bo said:

Wherever it was, he made statements incriminating that he pushed her down, she hit her head, he got his dad, they buried her. He was going to tell her where it was. He wanted a quarter of a million dollars.

So the agreement was give him $25,000 up front, $10,000 cash given to him, and this was all videotaped with all his statements, and $15,000 was wire transferred. This way we have him on wire transfer of money on extortion. You have extortion and wire transfer.

The reasonable hypothesis is Stephany Flores Ramirez saw Joran van der Sloot's files that contained detailed information on what he did to Natalie Holloway. Information that Joran van der Sloot did not want to get out, else it would harm his extortion scheme.

FBI should have arrested Joran van der Sloot

For some reason, even as the FBI and the Aruban government took over, they failed to lock up Joran van der Sloot. They had video evidence of extortion and wire transfer and, yet, let him go.

Joran van der Sloot went off to Peru, where he met and then killed Stephany Flores Ramirez.

Awful.

If there's one shining light on this case, it's that Natalie Holloway's killer will be finally identified and brought to justice, and young women will learn not to judge a book by its cover in the form of a young man like Joran van der Sloot.

John Dillinger Death Mask The American Gangster Museum by Suzannah B. Troy

http://www.moagnyc.org/

As you know gangsters tend to be a big hit at the box office and on the television.   If you miss the Sopranos don't worry, Marty Scorsese will be entertaining you soon enough with "Boardwalk Empire" -- described on the website as "The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City.

Personally I can't wait for the HBO Series with the title NYC empire: Birth, High Times....about what is happening right now.

But if you are in need of a gangster fix than you can visit The American Gangster Museum on 80 St. Mark's Place housed in the historic Theatre 80.

The newest acquisitions are the death mask of John Dillinger and sundry items of gangster or killing machine Roy Demeo including a baseball bat.

Gangsters have their appeal and America has it's share of colorful characters that the world is just obsessed with so tune in to HBO soon for 12 episodes or just make a date to visit Theatre 80.

You can even rent the Theatre 80 for private parties, just don't bring a base ball bat or a machine gun.  They are already there on display!

Joran van der Sloot confesses by Suzannah B. Troy

I never met a misogynist who hasn't blamed the women he is victimizing and remember  some  have female supporters.

Joran van der Sloot confessed to killing Stephany Flores, a business student,  but he wanted to make it clear it was her fault for intruding on  his privacy.  He therefore broke her neck and disposed of her like garbage.

He has yet to confess to murdering Natalee Holloway but he has been busted for toying with her Mother selling her false information regarding where Natalee's body could be found.   Click here for the criminal complaint filed against him.

Remember Robert Chambers surrounded by a group of adoring young women all having quite a laugh when he broke the barbie doll head off the barbie body and than said "oops".  Laughter all around and the jury was not allowed to see this tape.

He was referring to killing Jennifer Levin.  Remember he said a cat scratched his face?

Misogynist's lie, the blame the victim, they want to control her and the most extreme murder them.

How many women has Joran van der Sloot murdered?   Seems like he took pleasure in toying with Natalee's Mother as well as the media attention until the Peruvian police collared him.  He seems like a vile and despicable misogynist right out of Stieg Larsson's book, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" but the real title in Swedish is "The Men Who Hate Women".  This cowardly disgusting murderer could easily be a character from his book.  

Do you think Joran van der Sloot is a narcissist and perhaps he did not like the reflection of himself he saw in Stephany Flores' eyes when possibly discovered he was accused of the murder of Natalee Holloway and therefore murdered her 5 years to the date that he perhaps murdered Natalee?

For those who don't know I also have a blog called Misogynist NYC.

Marvin Isley of The Isley Brothers died of diabetes at 56 years old

Marvin Isley

Sad news from the entertainment world: the legendary Marvin Isley of The Isley Brothers, died of complications caused by diabetes.

The bassist and youngest member of The Isley Brothers was 56 years old. Marvin reportedly passed away Sunday June 6th at the the Seasons Hospice in Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Marvin Isley reportedly had a 20-year battle with diabetes, going back to the age of 36. Over that period of time, Isley had a stroke and a kidney transplant. Isley retired in 1996. In 1997, Marvin lost his legs to diabetes according to The New York Times.

Marvin Isley and The Isley Brothers are known for such classics as Who's That Lady?



Marvin Isley is survived by his brothers Ernie, Ronald and Rudolph and his wife Sheila. May he rest in peace.

Oakland Mayor's Race - Maya Dillard-Smith out; Don Perata's errors

Don Perata 

The Oakland Mayor's Race which once featured ten candidates - Ron Dellums, Don Perata, Don MacLeay, Jean Quan, Greg Harland, Maya Dillard Smith, Terrance Candell, and an tenth person who's still not ready for prime time - is now down to nine. Sources who know her told this blogger Maya Dillard-Smith has elected to drop out of the race.

Not to be mean, but to be critical, Maya Dillard-Smith stood a better chance in the Oakland Mayor's Race with a real website and a good Internet strategy. She did not have one. Her only real Internet marker was a Facebook page called "Maya for Mayor." The problem with the growth of Facebook is anyone thinks that a Facebook page can do as a serious Internet marker. It can't and it doesn't.

When you do a Google search for Maya Dillard-Smith, a website that reads "Maya Dillard-Smith for Mayor of Oakland" should pop up. It doesn't because there's not one. A simple website, or a free blog on Blogger.com or Wordpress and with connected YouTube and Blip.tv video channels fed with weekly content is enough to not just have an Internet path but visibility in the Oakland Mayor's Race.

The problem is that all of the candidates don't get the Internet, and that's especially true of Don Perata, who thinks his Old Media strategy works in the 21st Century; it doesn't and he will lose the Oakland Mayor's Race because of his errors.

Google Don Perara and you find not just the good news on the first page, but the bad news: three of the first ten listings are negative and directly related to the Don Perata running for Mayor of Oakland. The second page of the search is dominated by content produced by others; nothing by Don Perata.

The point is that if you're going to run for elected office, produce Internet content about yourself. Make yourself available for video interviews and do your own. Have a blog or a few. Flood the Internet with your own content so that you control the message.

Maya Dillard-Smith for Mayor was all but invisible online. Don Perata online spells 'bad candidate.' Both are examples of why the Oakland Mayor's Race is wide open and can be snatched and won by a person with an intelligent Internet strategy.

Primaries promote participation

There are primaries in a dozen states today; many will prove pivotal in shaping the political landscape at the state and local level for the near-term future. Others are nearly two months away, such as in Minnesota, where Democratic insiders are seeing challenges in the primaries to their anointed choices. Here's why primaries matter: they bring the campaign to the attention of more voters instead of leaving the endorsement in the hands of insiders cutting old-school deals in smoke filled back rooms, GOP-style.

Former state Representative Shelley Madore, the first Democrat elected to represent Apple Valley (a southern Twin Cities suburb) in 30 years, said Monday that she's pleased to be in the only DFL (Democrat-Farmer-Labor) primary at the Congressional level with a remaining challenge.

"Our Representative makes speeches about supporting small business growth, but actions speak louder than words.  While Mr. Kline has consistently voted the GOP line in support of big business, and the sort of deregulation that led to the crisis on Wall Street and enabled BP's slipshod Gulf operations, this district deserves somebody more interested in partnering with business and understanding the challenges facing people who work for a living."

Former MN Representative, Shelley Madore

There are two DFL challengers to the party-endorsed candidate in the Minnesota Governor's race, former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton and former state legislator Matt Entenza (who surprised many by picking a political rookie for his running mate,) both mounting substantive challenges to Margaret Anderson-Kelliher's campaign.  In fact, Dayton ascended to the Senate by challenging the party-endorsed candidate in 2000, and although he's been chair of the party he emphasizes that the voters who participate in the primary should have a choice rather than simply accepting what insiders decide.  Maureen Reed, the challenger to convention-endorsed Tarryl Clark in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, announced Sunday that she was suspending her primary campaign.

Still, Madore isn't looking for her primary opponent in the 2nd District to drop out despite rumors he's finally kicked off fund-raising in the past week.  The election is about Kline, she says.

"He's a good speechmaker, but his voting record shows this Texas transplant is taking the advice of GOP strategists rather than thinking about how to bring jobs to our district. Leaders don't wait for things to get better, they go get things done. My record as a State Legislator tells the voters I'll take personal responsibility representing the district in Washington."

Former MN Representative, Shelley Madore

During her time working in state government, Madore authored dozens of bills each year, and managed to build bi-partisan cooperation moving legislation forward, which stands in marked contrast to Kline's record. She "welcomes the primary process" because it gives district voters who didn't participate in the DFL convention in the district a chance to learn more about her record of accomplishment while promoting the involvement of a much larger number of people.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, political staffer, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community. He was a delegate to the 2010 conventions in Minnesota, and has served as an officer of MN's DFL party.