2023 NFL Draft At Kansas City Union Station & WWI Museum and Memorial April 27-29th

2023 NFL Draft At Kansas City Union Station & WWI Museum and Memorial April 27-29th

2023 NFL Draft At Kansas City Union Station & WWI Museum and Memorial April 27-29th
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtVF1vhg1s8

Tiger Woods Masters Cut: Tiger Woods Makes Cut At 2023 Masters And For 23rd Straight Time

Tiger Woods Masters Cut: Tiger Woods Makes Cut At 2023 Masters And For 23rd Straight Time

Tiger Woods Masters Cut: Tiger Woods Makes Cut At 2023 Masters And For 23rd Straight Time
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Xy1-wYZqQ

Fans Catch CAT Plummeting from Stadium

Fans Catch CAT Plummeting from Stadium

'Fans Catch CAT Plummeting from Stadium' Fans watched in terror, as a cat clung to the upper tier of a stadium. The cat hung from a single claw as people frantically prepared a soft landing. All eyes turned from the game to the tense situation in the stalls. As the cat plummeted to the seats below, fans caught it in an American flag. Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/ODNsubs Twitter: https://twitter.com/ODN Facebook: https://ift.tt/vktZO3R If you wish to purchase any of our clips for commercial use, please visit: https://ift.tt/Uz1b3XA #Shorts #Cat #Animals #Football #Americanfootball #Cats
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxRGRFKBVLg

Las Vegas Has A Government Culture Friendlier To Professionals Than Oakland’s

Las Vegas Has A Government Culture Friendlier To Professionals Than Oakland’s

Las Vegas Has A Government Culture Friendlier To Professionals Than Oakland’s
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIRswYo3PKU

C J Stroud Interview: 2023 NFL Draft: Ohio State QB C J Stroud Meets Press At NFL Combine

C J Stroud Interview: 2023 NFL Draft: Ohio State QB C J Stroud Meets Press At NFL Combine

C J Stroud Interview: 2023 NFL Draft: Ohio State QB C J Stroud Meets Press At NFL Combine Zennie62Media NFL Draft Expert ...
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYLZV_5OCN4

C J Stroud Interview: 2023 NFL Draft: Ohio State QB C J Stroud Meets Press At NFL Combine

C J Stroud Interview: 2023 NFL Draft: Ohio State QB C J Stroud Meets Press At NFL Combine

C J Stroud Interview: 2023 NFL Draft: Ohio State QB C J Stroud Meets Press At NFL Combine Zennie62Media NFL Draft Expert Bill Carroll on the scene at the NFL Combine, where Ohio State QB C J Stroud steps up to the podium. C J Stroud is expected to be the first player picked at the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City. Zennie Abraham is executive producer and event producer, and the background voice directing the livestream. Join Zennie62 YouTube channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqtc118chzxCUJExjeWbeEA/join A Zennie62 Oakland News Now YouTube vlog SUBSCRIBE TO ZENNIE62 YOUTUBE HERE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqtc118chzxCUJExjeWbeEA?sub_confirmation=1
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYLZV_5OCN4

2023 NFL Draft Mock Draft With Bill Carroll & Zennie Abraham For April 4th 2023

2023 NFL Draft Mock Draft With Bill Carroll & Zennie Abraham For April 4th 2023

2023 NFL Draft Mock Draft With Bill Carroll & Zennie Abraham For April 4th 2023 1. Carolina Panthers (from Chicago Bears) 2. Houston Texans 3. Arizona Cardinals 4. Indianapolis Colts 5. Seattle Seahawks (from Denver Broncos) 6. Detroit Lions (from Los Angeles Rams) 7. Las Vegas Raiders 8. Atlanta Falcons 9. Chicago Bears (from Carolina Panthers) 10. Philadelphia Eagles (from New Orleans Saints) 11. Tennessee Titans 12. Houston Texans (from Cleveland Browns) 13. New York Jets 14. New England Patriots 15. Green Bay Packers 16. Washington Commanders 17. Pittsburgh Steelers 18. Detroit Lions 19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20. Seattle Seahawks XX. Miami Dolphins (pick forfeited) 21. Los Angeles Chargers 22. Baltimore Ravens 23. Minnesota Vikings 24. Jacksonville Jaguars 25. New York Giants 26. Dallas Cowboys 27. Buffalo Bills 28. Cincinnati Bengals 29. New Orleans Saints (from San Francisco 49ers through Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos) 30. Philadelphia Eagles 31. Kansas City Chiefs
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swc6e1hIQcw

Phil Williams Of NC5 Needs Lesson In Fair Use Legal Rights For News Re: Tennessee House Melee

Phil Williams Of NC5 Needs Lesson In Fair Use Legal Rights For News Re: Tennessee House Melee

Phil Williams Of NC5 Needs Lesson In Fair Use Legal Rights For News Re: Tennessee House Melee Not sure who Phil Williams thinks he is but you can’t run afoul of Fair Use Legal Rights for News Commentary by posting a newsworthy video but then tell other media they can’t show it. Learn the Stanford Four Factors Test for news. As to what happened that’s in the video from Mondsy, three Tennessee House Democrats were being expelled for engagement in a peaceful protest on the floor during last Thursday’s session. Then Rep. Justin Jones was making a video and then Rep. Lafferty (R-Knox) pushes him and grabs his phone. That started the melee captured in the video that Phil Williams posted on Twitter. The real question is why were they protesting in the first place last Thursday? Well, gun reform in the wake of the recent mass shooting. It completely wild that Republicans don’t want to have common-sense gun reform even as we’re faced with a rash of mass shootings. Crazy. And also crazy is trying to block Fair Use Legal News Commentary, which is what this is. That Stanford Four Factors Test is: The four factors judges consider are: the purpose and character of your use the nature of the copyrighted work the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and the effect of the use upon the potential market. Or: purpose was educational, nature of the work was non-fiction news, amount used was a fraction, and effect was to promote Phil’s video. There you go. Stay tuned.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Ma7c3RtzM

Why Oakland Is Behind With Howard Terminal Ballpark

Why Oakland Is Behind With Howard Terminal Ballpark

Ok, here's the totally, completely, unvarnished, hard, difficult truth why the City of Oakland is so far behind where it should be in helping the Oakland Athletics build a ballpark at Howard Terminal. The simple set of reasons I am about to roll out can be summed up in one word: over-politicization. That's right: over-politicization. Robert Bobb's Downtown Ballpark Dream Dashed By Jerry Brown The fact is the structure for Oakland's bureaucratic slowness was formed with the passage of “Measure X”, then-Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's version of a long-sought-after form of government called Strong Mayor. Passed in 1998, it took effect in 1999, and matted Brown with a person who was every-bit his match on the city administrative side: then-City Manager Robert Bobb. Mr. Bobb, who was trained in the traditional fashion of city managers, to, well, run a city, including it's public-private-partnerships, and who wanted Oakland to “Host Super Bowls and build ballparks” as he said at an early February 1999 city staff meeting I attended (as the new city consultant who was Economic Advisor to the previous Mayor Elihu Harris) to plan for Oakland's then-annual trip to Las Vegas for the International Council of Shopping Center's Spring Convention. As it turned out, Bobb's dreams for Oakland clashed head-long with Brown's in Bobb's pursuit of a downtown ballpark for the Oakland A's in 2002 (and after Bobb hired me to form a bid for Oakland to host the 2005 Super Bowl). Brown fired Bobb, who then was almost immediately snatched up by Washington DC, and successfully brought Major League Baseball there, along with a downtown ballpark. In short, Oakland's version of strong mayor pushed out many a trained city-builder, and left in its place an organizational habit of elected officials using big projects to burnish their own images, and accomplish nothing in return by completing those big projects. The Oakland A's quest for a ballpark home has been victimized by it. Indeed, Oakland's version of strong mayor is why Oakland has lost all of its professional sports teams, and has done nothing to try and replace any of them. Ron Dellums Plays Political Games With Oakland's Ballpark Dreams In the case of the now-late Ron Dellums, the great congressman had the sad habit of playing ballpark advocates against each other, with one wanting a building at the Coliseum and the other at Howard Terminal, and both coming up short. Rather than one giant task force to determine what should be done, and one that should have been led by Oakland's Economic Development Department, and a person who was trained at implementing large-scale projects, Dellums allowed many task forces to form, even one by the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, who's job is to help the City of Oakland, and not lead it in a direction of its own making. But, to be sure, the person who's face was on the entire affair was Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, and no one else. Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid worked to try and carve out a larger role, but again, it was an example of an elected official's hand being in the pot, and not a city-building city official. Then came Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. Mayor Quan Doesn't Let Fred Blackwell Be The Face of Oakland Sports Business Retention Unlike Brown and Dellums, Mayor Quan smartly put Oakland Eonomic Development Director Fred Blackwell in charge of projects, including a new arena for the Warriors, a new stadium for the Raiders, and a new arena for the Warriors. Unfortunately, Quan and the Oakland City Council's insistance on having themselves as the face of the efforts, led to bungled lease negotiations with the A's and Alameda County, and the embarassing idea that the financing fortunes of the planned Coliseum City were in the hands of the Prince of Dubai, rather than a complex financing plan typical of such large scale public-private partnerships. Then came Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. Libby Schaaf's Jerry Brown Playbook Fails As Raiders Leave Oakland Continued here at Zennie62Media's Oakland News Online: https://ift.tt/aFyvNWb
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0OaJOBgQnM

What Trump Getting Indicted Means For America By Vinny Lospinuso

What Trump Getting Indicted Means For America By Vinny Lospinuso

Join Zennie62 YouTube channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqtc118chzxCUJExjeWbeEA/join A ...
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD6UkUJCHWc

Ending Oakland Eviction Moratoriums In A Pandemic-Weakened Recession-Bound Economy Is Crazy

Ending Oakland Eviction Moratoriums In A Pandemic-Weakened Recession-Bound Economy Is Crazy

Ending Oakland Eviction Moratoriums In A Pandemic-Weakened Recession-Bound Economy Is Crazy The main problem here is simple: overall, Government (using a big G) has forgotten that its duty is economic development and not poor-people creation. One would think that decades of government policy around Keynesian Economics would have burned that idea into the American culture. But it appears decades of development of the idea that what government pays for is someone else's problem has overtaken what people supposedly elect politicians to do. This is true now in California, and Oakland seems to be getting the fever. So, absent California, Alameda County, or Oakland government stepping in and paying to provide assistance to both landlords and renters on anything more than a piecemeal basis has yielded this giant problem: the massive insanity of California seeking to push out many who can't afford rent because the job market crashed and making up the idea that rents not paid by those who are working. The sad truth is worse: scores of businesses forced to close due to Government Pandemic policy have taken money from many small business workers, and at a time when Government could have paid the businesses to close, but did not. There's only one word for this state of affairs: crazy. Another word is immoral. And yet another word is inhuman. This will officially plunge America into the place of a third-world country. A failed nation resting on the democratic ideal of a recent time. America has forgotten one truth: democracy works best in a non-class-system, where there's no permanent group of poor, and homelessness is a fantasy rather than a reality. When I grew up the idea of anyone being in such terrible conditions they would sleep on the streets was not even heard of. But here we are, 60 years later, and we find an America where homelessness is normalized. And we have done this under both Democrat and Republican regimes. And in Oakland and California, where legislation using tax increment financing is available, it's not used to form zones collecting property tax for bonds issues that could get assistance money to landlords and renters, and small business owners. In closing, we're in a terrible place: a place where government has failed its people. Where we go from here is a matter of political will. Stay tuned.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H0HfMnE8t4

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao To Hire Robert Bobb As Chief Administrative Officer

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao To Hire Robert Bobb As Chief Administrative Officer

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao hiring Robert Bobb for CAO! Site a desire to have an experienced, steady hand to run the City of ...
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JChnN92vsb4

Spot.us - The future of American Journalism

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Spot.us is a San Francisco Bay Area-based, unique approach to the problem facing American Journalism: money. It's founder and now my friend David Cohn created the company to solve the problem of how to fund the work on an investigative journalist. After starting in a bootstrapped fashion, Dave received a good grant from the Knight Foundation to grow his media business.

What Spot.us does is act as a kind of clearing house for story ideas and their authors. One can go to the site and bid on whatever reporters concept is posted. Reporters can use it to raise money for their story project or projects.

At first there were only a handful of stories and video pitches at the site; now there are well over 200 of them by website count. That number reflects both the dire financial straights of journalism, especially in California, where Spot.us' stories are concentrated. But it also shows that there is money out there for those who have a story others feel is worthy of funding.

The base pledge level is $20 and many of the stories in "seeking funding" status have raised hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of dollars. No, one can't consistently make their monthly rent from Spot.us but the service, coupled with other online-generated income, could give a savvy reporter a decent living, even in the Bay Area. Moreover, the reporter would be covering stories they value and not someone's media company.

One example of a story in search of money is a project on Google, called "Questions of Privacy Around Google Book Search." Eric Klien, the reporter who works for KPFA in Berkeley, writes:

Google's bid to digitize millions of books, to be searched, read and purchased online has drawn fire from the publishing industry. Less well known are the serious concerns of privacy advocates that the project represents...A coalition of authors and publishers – including best-sellers Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem is urging a federal judge to reject the proposed settlement in a lawsuit over Google Book Search, arguing that the sweeping agreement to digitize millions of books ignores critical privacy and speech rights for readers and writers. The group filed an objection to the settlement Septemeber 8....I plan to explain this somewhat geeky, internet privacy issue as compelling radio story, with passionate and intelligent voices.

As of this writing Klein has raised $180 of the $280 he needs to get started.

Spot.us needs a widget for blogs

One app that would really make a difference for this organization is a widget that posts the stories and allows one to bid on them without having to visit the site. That way viewers can come to Zennie62.com and bid on the stories. Seriously. Such a widget would extend Spot.us' reach and gain more money for the journalists who use it.

I think the future of Spot.us is a bright one, but I have to admit it opens the door to questions of "who funded what story and why." But frankly ad revenues have always held major away over what gets published or what newspaper is allowed to survive, so I suppose that's nothing really new.

Today, website and video traffic determine what becomes news just as much as ad revenues, so the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Shawne Merriman, Tila Tequila and, her website message

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YouTube.com

ESPN reports that San Diego Chargers Linebacker Shawne Merriman was accused of suspicion "choking and restraining" his girlfriend as she tried to leave his home at 3:45 am. This is what's written on ESPN's website:

Deputies responded about 3:45 a.m. to Merriman's house in Poway, north of San Diego, after a woman called to say she was choked by the player and thrown to the ground when she tried to leave, Sheriff's Department spokesman Jan Caldwell said at a news conference.


Merriman, 25, was taken into custody and booked into the central jail at about 8:30 a.m. He was released shortly after 11 a.m. Caldwell said she didn't know if he posted bail or was released on his own recognizance.


Tequila left Pomerado Hospital at 7:36 a.m. Sunday, ESPN's Colleen Dominguez reported. She was observed and treated, but not admitted. Her stay at the hospital was approximately two hours.

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune was interviewed by ESPN's and said "this does not fit with the Sean Merriman I know. Now, I only know Merriman's fantastic football career, and little else, but I know nothing about Tila Tequila, so I went on a little Internet searching spree.

Tequila's real name is Thien Thanh Thi Nguyen, or Tila "Tequila" Nguyen and is known as an MTV star. She had a show on that network called A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila and was on for two years before it ended July 8, 2008. Tequila has been featured in Maxim, Stuff, and Penthouse magazines.

Her MySpace page was reportedly the most popular in pageviews in 2006, which is no mean trick to achieve. So I visited her MySpace page, scrolled down to "About TILA TEQUILA IS IN SAN DIEGO", and found something really interesting...

You've got to read how Tequila describes herself in this message:

You people probably won't even be able to read this because my page is so cluttered...sooo...imma blab a little bit here...hoping you won't read it. Here we go: i like people who are really fucked up. I mean like tormented in one way or another because then i won't feel like such a freak around those that are "normal." nerds, geeks, and freaks are all my friends. Cool people are pretty damn lame. I am very high strung and suffer from multiple personalities. Jane. She's crazy and she always wants to kill me. Tila...poor girl..she works so hard and always wants to make others happy...she deserves a break. I haven't had boyfriend for so long. I always want one, but when there is one around i run. I'm too busy. I love being in love but i hate the consequences. I do a lot of things that are self destructive. I try not to. I like being at home alone...a lot! So much more fun than surrounding myself with a bunch of wacko's out there. I am also bi-polar so that should explain my irratic postings. I like to read. I love to read. I am a nerd. I've always been a nerdy geek trapped inside a umm...woman's body. Yea....that's me. People love me for some reason. I don't know why...i do but i just say i don't know why just to be modest. I want to be a multi-millionaire by the time i reach 25 years of age. And i will.

What I could not help but focus on was this:

I am very high strung and suffer from multiple personalities. Jane. She's crazy and she always wants to kill me. Tila...poor girl..she works so hard and always wants to make others happy...she deserves a break. I haven't had boyfriend for so long. I always want one, but when there is one around i run. I'm too busy.

Now, let me make this clear, I don't care what personality Tila Tequila may have been, choking and restraining any one of them is wrong. But I also know from personal experience anyone who says, let alone blogs, that they "suffer from multiple personalities" and is "bipolar" and "bisexual", is not someone to deal with as they have a tendency to completely self destruct and distort reality and as Woody Allen said in Husbands and Wives "crash their plane right into you."

Unless you crave drama, it's best to run away from such a person just to preserve your sanity.

Also interesting is her Twitter page (which has been "protected" since about four hours ago) and tweets written in French, but loosely translate to..

You did not realize that I knew that you are in love with me, but I am more intelligent than you realize 1:01 PM Sep 5th from web

And this one:

My secret lovers.......always bitter sweet. Love undying....lust then weep...there she goes again.....Where is she now? Who is she with? 12:30 PM Sep 5th from web

What really happened?

All of this makes me wonder what really happened between Merriman and Tequila. Merriman is out of jail, having been released this morning at 11 am; Tequila was at the hospital for two hours, but its reported she was there for two hours, then released, not admitted. And it was reported she was drinking. According to E! Online the pair were partying at a hotspot called Stingaree in San Diego "without incident."

Ha. Except that they were having a load of fun. TMZ.com has a set of photos of Tequila on his lap, or more accurately, his thigh, but another one where it looks as if Merriman is drinking water from a bottle - look for yourself.

By contrast, It's reported that she was drinking at Merriman's house.

This is hard one to deal with because my gut, just my base instincts, say that Tequila got too drunk and Merriman tried to stop her from doing something, perhaps driving, then all hell broke lose. Others were in his home and the San Diego County District Attorney's Office will question them.

I know Sean's an NFL veteran, but this is one of those kinds of incidents they talk about avoiding at the NFL Rookie Symposium. In my view, there's nothing wrong with being a careful snob. People like Merriman have too much to loose and too many people and kids who look up to them to allow themselves to be connected with anyone who claims to "suffer from multiple personalities".

After all this is over, Merriman should get a new set of friends.

Britney Spears must visit Oakland's Lake Chalet Restaurant!

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

I couldn't wait to visit the new Lake Chalet Restaurant at the restored Lake Merritt Boathouse, so I made a plan with my friend Gab to be there when the doors opened for the first time right at 5 PM last Monday, August 17th.

As you may recall, I recently posted a video-blog of the day the ribbon was cut to dedicate the boathouse and Lake Chalet owner Lara Truppelli and Executive Chef Jarad Gallagher were kind enough to give me an interview at the bar as the eatery was under construction. Now, it's open and man is it terrific!

What's so exciting is the setting. The Boathouse is right on the shore of Lake Merritt and a seat at the "Pumphouse Bar" section of the place on a sunny day as Monday was is a treat to the kind of Oakland many of us have wanted to see and cause to happen for a long time. That's where we sat after we arrived.  The interior is both modern, futuristic in a way, and warm.

Lara came over to say hello and check on us; she and her husband Gar Truppelli really deserve all the accolades they get for creating a new destination place in Oakland right where it should be at Lake Merritt. As Gar said "It's wonderful. Three-and-a-half years it took to get to this."

We were like kids in a candy store, my friend and I, trying to figure out what to order. So, we turned to Gallagher who said he wanted us to try "something that we normally would not get" and offered several suggestions. Out of those, we ordered two dishes: Brandade Fish Sticks and Herloom Tomato and Buratta Cheese. We also elected to go on a kind of tour of Lake Chalet's cocktail offerings starting with me and Old Whiskey and a kind of mint drink Gab had that I can't remember the name of and I'm not going to bug her to ask about it.

Then Gallagher brought over a nice surprise: his special English Pea Soup.  Now I haven't eaten pea soup since I was six, but I never had English Pea Soup with White Truffle Oil, (and found this great blog post about making it!).  I hated pea soup; not this time.  Not this kind.  

The soup and the Herloom Tomato and Buratta Cheese were out of this world!  Gallagher said he had the Buratta Cheese delivered from Italy and so wanted us to give him our impression of it and the tomatos. As we said in the video, just great.  The meal dances in your mouth. 

Since we were part of the first set of patrons to arrive at the Lake Chalet it was a perfect place to talk and to just stop and admire the place. Then the rush came in and the Lake Chalet became a kind of cool center of Oakland.

It seemed as if almost everyone in the town walked in at some point that night: people who live around the Lake, folks young and old, and even celebrity politicos like California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who, Lara told me, was really helpful in helping them get a good lease agreement, my friends the ever-energetic Oakland builder Mike Baines, and Bob and Barbara Schock (Bob's a well-known Oakland-based lawyer), and of course Helen.  I think we ended up closing the place down.

Yeah. We did.  Thanks Lara and Gar! 

Folks, I love this place. You've got to visit it. Soon.

Salon.com's loss can be a gain for its ex-employees

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This one comes from the Scooby-do "ruh?" files, er, Valleywag.com. John Cook explains that San Francisco based news website Salon.com is laying off six people to become more of a "true website."

Salon CEO Richard Gingras told Gawker they released three editors, one writer, one photo editor, and one producer. After some digging, Valleywag's Cook produced this list:

Jeanne Carstensen, managing editor
Kevin Berger, features editor
Katharine Mieszkowski, senior writer
Joy Press, culture editor
Caitlin Shamberg, multimedia editor
Julie Coburn, photo editor

My recommendation is that all of them start their own blogs and video channels, and then get their own sponsors or sign up as a You Tube Partner, as I have been. My prediction for news in new media is that more and more it will become personality-driven. That is we'll follow people and news about or by people far more than brands, unless the brand happens to be a person.

Do we have this already? Yes. It's in - drum roll please - the entertainment industry. We follow bands and singers less than record labels. It's as if record labels are a dime-a-dozen and performers move from one to the other or start their own. That's where news is headed.

Why?

I think it's a function of how people use the web: to look for information about other people. We like to learn what other people have to say or what they did; it's no surprise that the largest internet traffic draws are people and what they do. Now, very soon, that something's going to be reporting, blogging, or vlogging about the news.

In the wake of this development websites like Salon will die a slow death. Sites like The Huffington Post will survive and thrive because they get that people want to read what, for example, Alec Baldwin thinks about Michael Vick.

Is this a bad development? No. It's more honest. By that, I mean it's more attune to where our culture is going. I really don't like the idea that we had to rely on a few brands to deliver the news. It opens a lot of questions in hindsight, like what other news did we miss because an editor considered it not newsworthy?

The Drudge Report hit the Internet big time after reporting on a story Newsweek buried: the affair between then-President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Now, we know who Matt Drudge is and Newsweek's a shadow of its former circulation self.

With this Drudge the man has become Drudge the brand as much as Rush Limbaugh has on radio. Yes, they're both conservative, but they set the standard for the future of news. And since nature abhors a vacuum, liberal personalities will grow to take on Drudge and Limbaugh on the Internet and radio. Indeed, we already have Andrew Sullivan and his blog, as one example, and Taylor Marsh as another. News by pundit. It's only a matter of time before we have more names that become brands, moving from place to place online or being in many places at once.

Buckle up.

Robert Novak RIP: he helped kids grow

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I know you're scratching your head over that title because you know of the now-late Chicago Sun-Times Columnist as a conservative and pugilist, and SF Chronicle Editor-at-Large has a great blog post on Novak's missed call on Salvadoran death squads, but "helped kids grow?"

Yes.

I discovered this for myself one day about two years ago when I was looking to write a blog attacking Novak, who died of a cancerous brain tumor today. In searching around I stumbled on a photograph featuring a group of African American kids and adults holding what looked like a plaque and an elderly Caucasian man dressed like...Robert Novak. This photo:

I fell out of my chair.

See, Novak has a well-cultivated and well-deserved reputation as a muckraking "Prince of Darkness" all the way down to the black three-piece suits he wore on television. I saw Novak as the kind of conservative one loves to hate, but I never thought of him as racist, just cold blooded, especially in the way he outed Valerie Plame. But that photo, and this one:

..changed my view of him - Novak has a heart - and then more so when I learned that these picts were from Youth Leadership Foundation (YLF) events, and that Novak was more than just a visitor, he was on the board of directors. Moreover, Novak contributed not a small amount of money to YLF. At their 2005 awards gathering he contributed $50,000.

Now, even if that may not have been all his own money - some board members get credit for causing others to donate - the effort required to raise $50,000 for any non-profit organization is considerable. Plus, the contribution was just for that event; Novak has been involved with YLF almost since its creation in 1997.

What does YLF do? It's based in Washington DC and has the charge of helping young people from DC's poorest neighborhoods between 8 and 15 years old who are "just passing" and need some attention and guidance to help them make the extra effort in school and in life to reach their potential.

Novak was as involved in YLF as he was in giving Washington politicians a headache. Today, you'll read a lot of blogs and columns about Novak, almost all of them referring to his work as a columnist. Well, that's not all there was to Novak. The "Prince of Darkness" as it turned out, was his stage name. It's not surprise that donations in Novak's name are to be directed to YLF, because in reality Robert Novak was a community leader who cared about kids and their growth into the leaders of tomorrow.

Richmond, Ca Mayor on Chevron refinery issue

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On YouTube.com

In the wake of my interview with Chevron employee Dennis Roos I've gotten a number of email and calls updating me on the matter of the negotiations to restart the stopped construction of the improvements to the Richmond refinery.

One of them was this "Meet The Mayor" community meeting held Friday, August 7th at 5:30 PM. Here, one could ask questions of Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin for one hour, but my intent was to attend, film residents who were concerned about the project, pro and con, and after it was over, get the Mayor's direct point of view if she would give it to me. (Take note of that.)

To review, Chevron's planned upgrade of their giant Richmond oil refinery was stalled because environmentalists sued them in court regarding what was viewed to be an inadequate environmental impact report (EIR) regarding how emissions were going to be lessened over current levels. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga agreed with their view and ordered planed construction stopped until Chevron could create a "better" EIR. The judge's decision threw over 1,000 construction employees out of work and threatened the future of Chevron in Richmond.

So I did arrive and sat next to a white-haired gentleman who as it happened gave me a copy of a letter I'd not seen from Richmond's Mechanics Bank. The letter stressed the importance of keeping Chevron in Richmond and arriving at a settlement to get the plant project going again.

So the meeting started and as the Mayor listened to people introduce themselves I explained that I was a video-blogger who wanted to ask her about the plant matter after the meeting was over if I could. She did say that was fine.

There were only two people who came to the meeting to talk about the refinery issue. The first person, an African American man, said that the Mayor seemed not to care about the people who need jobs and more about her own agenda (this is in the video). The Mayor said that she does did support a support a substitute to the the resolution voted on by the Richmond City Council two weeks ago calling for settlement talks (with California Attorney General Jerry Brown involved) so that all the workers can get back to their jobs and she's working to make that happen. The Mayor said doing this is important because Richmond has a 17 percent unemployment rate.

A few minutes later, and after a number of residents expressed concern for and presented programs to stop the violence plaguing young African Americans in Richmond (which was heart-breaking to see, no matter how many times I am presented with this issue), the man I was sitting next to, who's name was Richard Lompa, asked the Mayor about the bank letter, and explained that he didn't understand "why do we continuously bash Chevron" and quoted the letter written by Mechanics Bank President and CEO Stephen Foster which said the reason given for opposing Chevron doesn't stand up to scrutiny . He said no one would support Chevron putting out more pollution, and that it was as if she was plunging a dagger in the heart of the city.

The Mayor's response was that the judge made the decision and then she threw in that Chevron does not pay its fair share of taxes and talked about the company's court battle against Measure T which imposed a new tax structure for manufacturers like Chevron. She also pointed to Chevron's appeal of its property tax assessment.

After the meeting and people left the room, the Mayor did give me her time and put to rest the idea some have expressed that she was not talking to Chevron, stating that she talks to representatives of the firm every day.

Mayor McLaughlin then essentially repeated her claim that Chevron doesn't pay its taxes in response to my question that as a person trained and who's practiced economic development, tax reductions are a normal part of negotiations to make it easier for employers to maintain their business in a city. She asked if I was referring to the Measure T issue, and repeated what she said before regarding the firm not paying its fair share of taxes. Then, weirdly and after presenting herself well on camera but before I could deactivate it, suddenly turned and said "I have a community meeting" but I turned the camera to show that the meeting had ended long ago. Moreover, the Mayor agreed to give me just a moment of her time, and I gave her a platform to present herself; the Mayor didn't say she had more people to meet when we started the interview. She didn't have to essentially rain on her own parade but that's what happened as one can see and I'm really disappointed that she did that. I turned off the camcorder.

As I went outside, Mr. Lompa was talking to another person, but after he finished gave me his view. "The Mayor," he said, "was being shallow and not grounded with reality" regarding her repeating of the idea that Chevron has a $24 billion profit. He also said that he appeals his tax bill if he thinks it's not valid.

I agree with Mr. Lompa, but I'm really concerned that the good Mayor seems to have more of a personal agenda that may cloud her ability to effectively negotiate with Chevron. It's common practice for businesses to want and ask for tax reductions and its equally normal for city economic development officials (and that includes the Mayor) to structure rates that help businesses.

In all of my years in the public sector I've not seen or met a Mayor that didn't understand that, but Mayor McLaughlin's a new breed of activist city official. That's all well and good for getting elected but it seems to cloud one's ability to conduct the business of maintaining a municipality's economy. One can have their personal beliefs but when a city's unemployment rate is at almost 20 percent as is the case in Richmond, its a recession, and the job base has decreased by over 50 percent in the last two years, it's time to be more pragmatic and less antagonistic.

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

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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.

Erin Andrews voted most influential TV reporter

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From the "You've gotta be kidding me" department, we have the news that ESPN's on-air reporter Erin Andrews has been voted "the most influential TV reporter" in a contest established by website Mediaite.com. If you're wondering just who Erin Andrews is and have been under a rock, first consult my video above, then come back here.

To recap, Erin Andrews is the ESPN reporter that was the focus - literally - of someone taking a peephole camcorder video of her in the nude, in a hotel room. The suspect has still not been identified or captured as of this writing, while some believe it may have been a co-worker at ESPN. With that action, Erin Andrews has emerged from unknown to known, and to "most infuential reporter" in two-weeks. Before we look closely at that, let's see who she passed up to gain the lofty title.

The Mediaite Power Grid contains 290 reporters in its selection field for the category of "TV Reporter". Overall, Mediaite ranks 1,500 personalities in 12 categories. Anyone can send an email to be listed, at powergrid@mediaite.com, but once there, Mediaites' system takes over and its not perfect, at least at first. But I argue that it is depending on how the results are used. Let's look at Mediaite's explanation for how it ranks TV reporters, where Erin Andrews is listed, first:

TV Reporters are individuals who report news stories on-air for a television network. Their rankings are determined based on: appearances/mentions on television as compiled by the media monitoring service TVEyes, ratings of that network or program, Online Buzz of proper name, Blogs Buzz of proper name, and Twitter Followers (if applicable). You might at times see an individual ranked higher than any of their individual metric rankings — keep in mind that our algorithm weights some metrics more than others.

And here's the complete list of metrics used, straight from Mediaite's FAQ page:

Metrics

Twitter Followers – This metric is an individual’s total number of Twitter followers, if applicable. (Individuals who do not use Twitter will not be penalized.)

Google Buzz of Name - This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google search of an individual’s name. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named individuals, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Buzz metric for James B. Stewart, the writer and reporter, filters out hits for Jimmy Stewart, the actor, and for James Stewart, Jr., the motocross racer.

Google Blog Buzz of Name – This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google blog search of an individual’s name. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named individuals, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Blog Buzz metric for James B. Stewart, the writer and editor, filters out hits for Jimmy Stewart, the actor, and for James Stewart, Jr., the motocross racer.

Google Buzz of Affiliation or Title – This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google search of a television program, print publication, or online publication. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named titles, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Buzz metric for Vanity Fair, the Condé Nast magazine, filters out hits for the Thackeray novel of the same name.

Google Blog Buzz of Affiliation or Title - This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google blog search of a television program, print publication, or online publication. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named titles, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Buzz metric for Vanity Fair, the Condé Nast magazine, filters out hits for the Thackeray novel of the same name.

Ratings of Columns - This metric is the ratings of this individual’s columns published, either exclusively online or through a publication’s website, over the past 180 days as determined by Technorati.

Print Circulation – This metric can be one of two things. For newspapers, this metric is the total average paid circulation per week. For magazines, this metric is the total paid and verified circulation per issue.

Unique Online Visitors – This metric is the estimated number of visitors to an online publication’s website in the past month, as determined by online reporting site Compete.com.

TV Airtime (through TVEyes) -This metric is the total number of times an individual appears or is mentioned on air in the previous week on a selection of U.S. cable channels, local network affiliates, and international television news operations. These statistics are reported by the media monitoring service TVEyes.

Time slot Ratings - This metric is the total viewership of the program, as extrapolated from Nielsen-reported television ratings.Note: in some cases television ratings have been adjusted for individuals who appear on programs that only air once per week, or are part of a larger ensemble cast.

Network Ratings - This metric is the total viewership for all programs managed by a given television executive, as extrapolated from Nielsen-reported television ratings. In the case of broadcast networks, we are using Prime Time network ratings. Cable Networks, however, we are using the average total day rating. Note: in some cases television ratings have been adjusted for individuals who appear on programs that only air once per week, or are part of a larger ensemble cast.

Radio Ratings - This metric is the average total number of listeners for a given radio program as extrapolated from Arbitron’s radio listenership ratings that are publicly available or self-reported.

Company Valuations - This metric is the estimated total valuation of all media companies in which an individual owns a significant stake. Non-media companies owned by an individual are not counted; however, any media company in which the individual holds a partial stake is counted at full value.

Personal Net Worth – This metric is the estimated net worth of an individual, including media, non-media holdings, and other components of personal wealth.

Number of Employees – This metric is the estimated total number of people employed under an individual, whether at an entire media company, a network, an individual publication, or a television show.

Looking at the list, Erin Andrews shares the stage with such luminaries as ABC's Jack Tapper (ranked number 2 today), MSNBC's Chuck Todd (ranked number 3 today), and others like CBS News' Morley Safer and Mike Wallace (number 4 and number 5 respectively). The highest ranking woman other than Andrews is Savannah Guthrie, White House Correspondent for NBC News at number 6 on the list. The reason Andrews is the most powerful on this list is - and Mediaite explains this - directly related to the buzz she's gotten due to this whole peephole video affair.

But does that mean she's not powerful? Well, yes and no. Let's take the hard-to-stomach yes, first. Andrews has a platform that she and ESPN could use to gain ratings or for her to bring attention to a particular concern she has, like how women should be looked at by a different set of "metrics" in media. Regardless of the fact that she would be advocating for an end to the very thing that gave her a platform, she would have it to use for her soapbox. So far, she hasn't done that, and it's a huge error. Erin lacks a Twitter page, for which she could gain millions of new followers overnight to do with whatever she pleases in much the same way that Ellen DeGeneres used her millions of followers to advance an online petition.

That Andrews may not have liked how she got this platform is perhaps the main reason she's not using it, but it's a big error in judgment because given that her network rankings on Mediaite are at number 45, when the buzz dies down, her drop from number one's going to be a big one unless she has a new appearance on TV once during the next two weeks. So, you may ask?

The "So" is in dollar. Buzz equals bucks, my friend, and people want to see and learn about other people. That's what's missing from the recent blog by San Francisco Chronicle Editor-At-Large Phil Bronstein on the new narcisism in media. Hey Phil, it pays the bills, just ask Rush Limbaugh, who's following of 14 million "dittoheads" has him laughing all the way to the bank with a $400 million contract.

If Andrews plays her cards correctly she can build such a following, but she's got to get over the anger of what happened to her to do so. Whomever made the peephole video unwittingly gave her a weapon to change media for herself - it's up to her to use it. Andrews can parlay the attention into a business that uses her name to help other women in media get noticed the right way, not the nude way.