Jerry Brown, Arnie Fields, Oscar Grant, Mehserle Verdict and The Raiders

Last Tuesday night, the night of the 2010 Midterm Elections, as now Governor-Elect Jerry Brown was making his way through the audience of media and well-wishers, and this video blogger was filming the action, Brown turned right, and into my camcorder's lens. The first thing out of Jerry's mouth - well the second thing after "there's that blogger" - was referring to the comments that Arnie Fields made about him during our interview.

Arnie Fields ran for Mayor and lost, again, big time. Arnie knows in his heart of hearts that he's not going to be the Mayor of Oakland unless he makes a concerted effort. But that's another blog post. Arnie's ran twice because he's got Jerry Brown on the brain, and doesn't like the "10K" - Jerry Brown's project that brought thousands of units of apartment and condo housing to downtown Oakland, and helped transform Oakland's population. Ok, we've been through that discussion.

But instead of focusing on the Governor's race when he saw me at his election party at the Oakland Fox, the now Governor-elect Brown could only think of my interview with Arnie. And just because Arnie was critical of Jerry. Geez. Here, I endorse the guy - Jerry - for Governor of California the previous day, and all he and his press people can think of is that. Well, so be it. I wasn't going to argue about it on camcorder with Jerry because I don't do TMZ, so I shut the thing off.

That action really upset one of my YouTube fans, who wrote that I should have kept the camera going. You know, after a lot of thinking about that, he's right. No more Mr. nice guy - well, I can't -- I just can't do full on TMZ.com with the challenging questions and the camera in the face. I don't like that. I just can't. Maybe half TMZ. Ok. Half.

On Oscar Grant And The Mehserle Verdict

Just one thing here: I think protests do very little here. Wonder how many of the protesters voted on Tuesday? Love to take a pole. If we want change, how about filing a lawsuit? Why not blame now former-Alameda County DA Tom Orloff for posting a "first-degree murder" charge he knew would not stick? That's what started this whole deal. No wonder Orloff retired.

The only good Oscar Grant and Mehserle Verdict protesters have done is boost ratings for the local Bay Area Media. You can't tell about society's problems if you're not willing to work to change society.

The Oakland Raiders

There's a video from the game coming today, but how about those Oakland Raiders! Amazing win, and on the day of the Raiderette Reunion! The first game the Raiderette's performed in was Chiefs vs. Raiders in 1960, if my source, a Raiderette who performed then, is correct.

What happened Sunday? Raiders top the Chiefs 23 to 20 in overtime. As my friend Charlie Santana, Jr. said, "I'm so happy now, I can't talk." You said it, man.

The Oakland Mayor's Race

Final results are supposed to be released today, which should include the absentee ballots.  Stay tuned.