Arizona Approves Medicinal Marijuana

Arizona is the 15th state to approve medicinal marijuana according to The New York Times online.

The medicinal marijuana will be made available for people suffering chronic or debilitating diseases. The votes ended up being 841,346 in favor and 837,005 opposed.

The state will only be allowed a maximum of 124 marijuana dispensaries.

A woman who has spoken out about this very much to the New York Times is Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep Arizona Drug Free. She has strong opposition and tells NYT:

“All of the political leaders came out and warned Arizonans that this was going to have very dire effects on a number of levels.I don’t think that all Arizonans have heard those dire predictions.”

Elizabeth Lambert Still Searched One Year After Hair-Pulling Soccer Game

Elizabeth Lambert, who gained fame for her powerfully disturbingly effective display of punching and hair pulling in the New Mexico Lobos Soccer game against BYU last year, is still a searched for personality one-year after the incident.



Lambert was stripped of her right to play NCAA Soccer in the wake of the event, then reinstated in August of this year. This season New Mexico Women's Soccer posted a 12-3-5 record, and undefeated at home. They lost to Notre Dame 3-0 on Friday.

If Lambert played, it's not readily clear as there are no posted stats for her in the game.

Here's what this blogger wrote about Lambert (#15 in the cdn.turner.com photo) last year:

Elizabeth Lambert is a junior at New Mexico and is 5'8 and her position is "Defender". She was born December 29, 1988 and according to her player bio enjoys camping, surfing, and tacos...in addition to hair pulling and fist throwing. She's majoring in University Studies with a focus on (drum roll please)...Occupational Therapy!


But as surprising as this may be to some, I know a lot of women soccer players who say the kind of activity Elizabeth Lambert is being suspended for is common. It's just that few have captured it on video and in a spotlight game against two major colleges like BYU and New Mexico where such actions are bound to get World attention as this has.

Quiet Liz

Lambert's managed to stay out of the limelight this year, save for the news of her reinstatement. That's going to be hard to maintain, as she's now an Internet celebrity; once she does something, anything, it's news.

Oakland News: Mayor-Elect Jean Quan and Women Now Run Oakland

With Jean Quan's stunning Ranked Choice Voting win in the 2010 Oakland Mayor's Race, the City of Oakland now has six of its eight mayor and city council positions held by women. Here's the count: Oakland Mayor-Elect Jean Quan, Council President Jane Brunner (District 1: North Oakland), Coucilmember-Elect Libby Schaaf (District 4: Oakland Hills, Montclair), Councilmember Pat Kernighan (District 2: Chinatown, Glenview), Councilmember Nancy Nadel (District 3: Downtown, West Oakland), and Councilmember Desley Brooks (District Six: Central East Oakland).

That leaves just Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente (District 5, Fruitvale, San Antonio), and Councilmember Larry Reid (District 7, East Oakland) as the only remaining male members of the Oakland City Council. Why? This isn't to provide a definitive answer by any stretch, but to start conversation about an important turning point in Oakland's political history.

For years, any woman running for office in Oakland stood a better chance of winning over her male counterpart. The best example of this is unknown Audie Bock's victory over then-former Mayor Elihu Harris for the California Assembly. While Bock didn't last long, her victory was as much due to gender and Green Party affiliation as it was the "chicken dinner" campaign error on the part of Harris' Campaign Manager Richie Ross. What Bock had going for her was she was an unknown and a woman.

Note, unknown.

If you think about it, it's hard to find an election example where a victorious female candidate was known. In many ways Quan's victory was more about some not wanting Don Perata as Mayor of Oakland. That was the same as voters not wanting Harris to be in the California Assembly.

If you consider the field, the vast majority of Oakland's elected officials are women who have been political novices. That is, they were unknown outside a group of people who intensely supported them. Outside of Congresswoman Barbara Lee, there's no female "political heavyweight" in Oakland.

Does that mean a female incumbent can be beaten by an unknown female challenger? The answer seems to be no. Jenn Pei failed to beat the incumbent Pat Kernighan this year, just as Pat's withstood challenge from Aimee Allison. Congratulations Pat!  And there are other examples.  Desley Brooks won her seat over the unknown-to-all-but-insiders Nancy Sidebotham.

To continue that view it's even harder for unknown men to beat women elected officials in Oakland, Councilmember Nancy Nadel withstood a challenge from two men: Greg Hodge and Sean Sullivan.

Community Involvement Is Key

One common quality of all of the successful and unsuccessful female candidates in Oakland is their level of community involvement. Mayor-Elect Jean Quan's reach came at first from her involvement with the Oakland Unified School District before she became District 4 Councilmember. Rebecca Kaplan's base came from her tenior on the AC Transit Board. When I talked to people about Councilmember Kernighan, they point to her involvement with the Crocker Highlands school before she started working as an aide to then-Oakland Councilmember John Russo.

Libby Schaaf's involvement in Oakland extends all the way back to The Festival At The Lake in the mid 1990s, and then her work for the Oakland City Council, and Councilmember De La Fuente. Her first taste of Oakland campaigning was with me, working to get Don Smith elected to the Oakland School Board in 1990.

The key for successful women elected officials is to be involved in the Oakland community. Being a school teacher's a great foundation, as is being involved in neighborhood groups and organizations. This is not to say that a woman can't be a building developer and achieve political success in Oakland, but the current pattern points toward community activism.

What Will This Mean For Oakland?

Now that women run Oakland - and the pattern will be complete if Mayor-Elect Quan selects a female Chief Administrative Officer, something Oakland's never had before - what does it mean for Oakland?

It means the Oakland Police Department is going to have to change its approach in Oakland. In my conversations with Oakland cops, all male save for one, their view is almost classically "Let's bust some heads" male. That approach has caused a lot of problems that, I think, Mayor-Elect Quan and the council want to put a stop to. One change from all of this will be an Oakland Police Department that's more sensitive to the community and less an enemy of it.

Stay tuned.

Brittany Murphy's Mother Writes Tell-All

Brittany Murphy's mother Sharon has announced that she will be writing a tell-all book about her daughter, according to Show Biz Spy.

Sharon wants to honor her daughter and her daughter's husband Simon Monjack by writing her memoirs.

“This book will be my way of celebrating and honoring her extraordinary life and career,” Sharon tells Show Biz Spy. “Brittany was a kind, loving person who enjoyed each day; she was my life. I am looking forward to everyone reading the accurate account about my daughter, her life, loves and career.”

A percentage of the money earned through the sales of this upcoming book will be donated to charity.

Oakland Focus

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Oakland Artist Gabrielle Teschner's New Art Work Based On African Nations Posted: 14 Nov 2010 01:33 AM PST Oakland Artist and friend Gabrielle Teschner is no stranger to my videos. She starred, with the setting and the great food and hospitality, during the opening of The Lake Chalet Restaurant in August of 2009. This time, hard at work at creating art, Gabrielle took time to share with this blogger and viewers her latest creations. She's a specialist in arches and also made a series of blocks around African nations. She calls them "kits." Thus we have "Kit Benin" and so on, after each nation. For more information, Gabrielle Teschner's website is here: http://www.gabrielleteschner.blogspot.com/

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Erika Winchester's Racist Rant And Assault On Black Mailman

This video, what this video-blogger calls Erika Winchester's Racist Rant And Assault On Black Mailman , is making its way around the Internet at light speed since it hit as an issue on Friday.

It features New England-accented Erika Winchester, giving a bad name to old white women along the Eastern Seaboard, and showing she's three-bricks-shy of a full load at the same time, first calling this black mailman names, then eventually hitting him for some letter she already signed for, but then wanted him to take back. That's something he could not do.

The result was a psychotic tirade about how black women don't like black men, and how IQs for blacks were low, and pretty much every garbage statement that came out of a white supremacists mouth since, well, the post-eugenics history of white supremacists.

The incident happened a year ago, and the mailman, reportedly and widely, lost his job over the issue. Gawker reports that the mailman didn't even win his court case charging assault and a hate crime!

Wild.

Now, thanks to New Media, we get to provide the kind of trial this racist system seemed not to want to have happen.  But even with that, the video seems to cause some to feel "sorry" for Winchester.

Crazy.

More on this soon.

On United 757 From Chicago To Atlanta and Proper Flight Etiquette

On United 757 From Chicago To Atlanta and Proper Flight Etiquette. The video this video-blogger had to make about two things. First, how great is was to be on a United Boeing 757 from Chicago to Atlanta, Georgia, rather than the real small Embriaier airplane United was running through much of their Southern route system.

That little 70 seat plane was taking over United and setting back travel expectations. Here's my first video on the issue of the "real small plane" from Denver to Atlanta on United back in 2007:



Wow. It's hard to believe three years have gone by. But the change is welcome.

The other welcome change would be in passenger behavior.

Frankly, this video-blogger is sick and tired of rude passengers. Basically, and this is for those who do it who are new citizens to America or new to flying, or both, wait for the persons in the rows ahead of you to leave the plane first. Don't just jump ahead of them because you want to. That's not right. It's rude. And it's awful.

Please wait.

Oh, and that rule works if the door happens to be in the opposite direction, say in the middle of the plane. The passengers in the rows closest to the door go first.

Happy flying!

Oakland Artist Gabrielle Teschner's New Art Work Based On African Nations

Oakland Artist and friend Gabrielle Teschner is no stranger to my videos. She starred, with the setting and the great food and hospitality, during the opening of The Lake Chalet Restaurant in August of 2009.

This time, hard at work at creating art, Gabrielle took time to share with this blogger and viewers her latest creations. She's a specialist in arches and also made a series of blocks around African nations. She calls them "kits."

Thus we have "Kit Benin" and so on, after each nation.

For more information, Gabrielle Teschner's website is here:

http://www.gabrielleteschner.blogspot.com/

Davey D's Hip Hop Corner

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• Hip Hop, Album Reviews and Critics (via Davey D’s Archived Essential Hip Hop Articles)
• Hip Hop History: Respect those Who Came Before Us (via Davey D’s Archived Essential Hip Hop Articles)
• Stephanie Gadlin: Hip Hop’s (UNSPOKEN) Ten Commandments (via Davey D’s Archived Essential Hip Hop Articles)

Hip Hop, Album Reviews and Critics (via Davey D’s Archived Essential Hip Hop Articles) Posted: 13 Nov 2010 05:36 AM PST This article focuses on the role of the Hip Hop critic/ album reviewer. Its food for thought which I think still applies today.. is it about personal opinion or being a voice for a fan base who this... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Hip Hop History: Respect those Who Came Before Us (via Davey D’s Archived Essential Hip Hop Articles) Posted: 13 Nov 2010 04:19 AM PST As we continue celebrating Hip Hop History Month, here’s another vintage article from November of ’99. Here we run down a list of key pioneers from NY and Cali.. Wish I was a bit more... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Stephanie Gadlin: Hip Hop’s (UNSPOKEN) Ten Commandments (via Davey D’s Archived Essential Hip Hop Articles) Posted: 13 Nov 2010 03:23 AM PST In celebration of Hip Hop History Month, we wanted to bring back this classic article from writer Stephanie Gadlin which reflected the challenges facing Hip Hop back in 1999. Her piece was powerful... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

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John Saxon On God's Ears, Bruce Lee, and Enter The Dragon - First Take

John Saxon almost was Kung Fu before David Carradine and Bruce Lee!

Thanks to my buddy Randy Gordon and Susan Johnston, the Founder of The New Media Film Festival, this video-blogger interviewed the legendary John Saxon a week ago Saturday at the Hotel Kabuki San Francisco.

For whatever cosmic reason, Mr. Saxon - star of the Oakland-made film God's Ears (for which he was in town to talk about), and Enter The Dragon with Lee - and I just plain hit it off.

We must have talked for almost an hour, and just 21 minutes of that was on camera.

This is just a short post to get the video out there and seen. We covered a ton of ground that will be expanded on later. Some highlights of our talk, include that at 74 years young, he's still working and has starred in 200 film and television properties.  Saxon's played in several iconic cult films, from Enter The Dragon to Nightmare On Elm Street.

Saxon was also in Gene Rodenberry's Planet Earth, and came close to being in what was called Star Trek Phase II.  And he's got a bunch of funny stories about Bruce Lee that he tells in the video.

But worthy of note, at least to me, is that Mr. Saxon is the second person who played in Enter The Dragon who I've interviewed. The other person is the equally legendary Jim Kelly at San Francisco Wonder Con:



Ms. Saxon said he was picked to play in the TV show called Kung Fu, but could not get out of his contract with Universal to star in the TV medical drama The Bold Ones.   We talked openly about his issues with what would have been a white actor playing a role designed for a chinese man.

Check out the video!