Zennie's Zeitgeist Covered By The Oakland Tribune

The Oakland Tribune's Barbara Grady penned this story below about this blogger and blog's being credentialed for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. But to be fair, the blog is more than me, its the other writers on it, like Tom Hayes and Dave Kaye and Ashley Long, all of whom are credentialed to go to the convention. It's readers like you and of course the overall SBS website system.

Also, it must be reported that the YouTube channel zennie62 is "attached" to this blog and also I said to Barbara that the overall SBS website gets 65,000 unique visitors a month, with Zennie's Zeitgeist a part of that, about between 30 percent and 50 percent of that per month. But yes, this blog did command 44,000 page views and 24,000 visitors on the day after the New Hampshire Primary. That was due to one post on reported election machine voter fraud problems in that state.

Also, I did not contribute $17,000 to the campaign, I raised it over time via the Internet and mostly from a fundraiser at the Mark Hopkins I co-sponsored. But I do not have that kind of money and could not do that anyway as the limit is $2,500. It was an error on her part.

Whatever the details, it was great to have our people recognized. Here's the article:

Oakland blogger to cover Democratic National Convention

By Barbara Grady
Oakland Tribune
Article Created: 06/02/2008 09:05:32 PM PDT

OAKLAND — As the Democratic National Convention gets under way in August, Oakland blogger Zennie Abraham will be on the convention floor with a microphone poised to pick up discussions of race, predatory lending, infrastructure improvement and other issues of concern to Oakland.

Abraham and his Zennie's Zeitgeist blog at zennie2005.blogspot.com have won a coveted credential from the Democratic National Committee to cover the convention as a blogger journalist. He was selected late last week as one of 124 bloggers to receive credentials from an applicant pool of more than 400.

Zennie's Zeitgeist is usually about Abraham's take on political issues of the day — often the Democratic presidential contest — with a smattering of posts about pop culture and sports.

The Democratic National Committee said its criteria in choosing which bloggers to let into what no doubt will be a crowded and history-making Denver convention are that they cover state and local politics and have a high daily audience based on statistics from Technorati, a Web site that tracks blogs. Among applicants whose sites met those criteria, the committee looked for blogs that "stand out as an effective online organizing tool and/or agent of change."

Abraham has not been shy to take on controversial issues. He has written about predatory lending, accusing check cashing centers of exploiting the poor, and crime
and criminals.

He already has specific plans for what topics he'll focus on at the convention.
"I'm concerned about (Hillary) Clinton and (Barack) Obama, and the race issue. I really want to see if Democrats are going to rally around Obama unanimously," Abraham said Monday. "I want to know specifically if people who are Clinton supporters, if they are really going to rally behind Obama. If not, I want to know if it is because of race."

And he will report on any discussions of race, whether polite or not.
He also plans to report in detail on the development of a Democratic platform, "with respect to what degree the platform represents domestic issues like predatory lending in credit card rates, our enormous infrastructure problems and what I call keeping jobs at home."

Abraham has been an outspoken supporter of Obama and contributed about $17,000 to his campaign. That partisanship did not seem to phase the DNC, even though many of the other blogs selected are less committed to one candidate.

Many of the blogs represent Democrats from particular states, such as the Blue Jersey, Blue Indiana and Blue Hampshire blogs.

Abraham, 45, is an entrepreneurial businessman, having founded Sports Business Simulations of Oakland five years ago, but he put in his time in politics. He worked for former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown as an economic adviser and then as the Oakland Alameda Sports Commissioner.

Abraham started his blogging career in 2006 writing about sports. But then he couldn't resist talking about politics.

Over time, he separated his own political and cultural ramblings into Zennie's Zeitgeist, distinct from his larger SBS Voices sports blog, and wrote increasingly about politics, following the Democratic campaign as it progressed tooth and nail.
The day after the New Hampshire primary, his blog posting received 44,000 hits. Since then, his audience has steadily grown. He was invited by CNN to post a video blog as a sample for its YouTube CNN Democratic Debate last year. Afterward, links to his blog started showing up elsewhere on other political sites. Now Zennie's Zeitgeist receives about 60,000 unique visitors a month on average.

Universal Studios Fire- Back To the Future Sets Destroyed - Video

This is a video of the fire that was reportedly started by a Workers' blow torch and spread to destroy the sets used for the movie "Back to the Future" and a library of 40,000 video tapes, and the "King Kong" attraction.

Universal Studios Fire Video Back To the Future Sets Destroyed

This is a video of the fire that was reportedly started by a Workers' blow torch and spread to destroy the sets used for the movie "Back to the Future" and a library of 40,000 video tapes, and the "King Kong" attraction.

Harriet Christian - Who Is Harriet Christian And What Of Racist Clinton Supporters?

Harriet Christian being escorted out of the DNC Rules Committee by two Black men totally adequate for the task.

Who is Harriet Christian? Records over at the Huffington Post's special project called "Fundrace" on the identification and location of donors to presidential campaigns shows that she does indeed live in New York City, at 20 Waterside Plaza, along the East River with a nice view I might add, and has worked or is working as a Waitress and also worked or is working for Infocus Realty at 419 Lafayette Street 2nd Floor New York, NY.

Indeed, she's currently listed as a sales agent there with the following contact information: 917-716-1757 and email at HChristian@INFNYC.com

Now, let's stop and think about that for a moment. A person who would scream "inadequate Black Male" and rant about her right to say that is the last person you'd think would sell an apartment to someone Black. She's got to be a poster child for racial discrimination in New York real estate. If there's someone out there who's been discriminated against by her, well, here's your online proof of her bias. InFocus Realty should be very concerned about this; I don't yet know if they are.

Harriet's racism reflects on the firm that hired her to work in real estate.

Then this comments posted in the Manhattan Offender:

I actually found myself at a bar sitting next to Harriet Christian shortly after she made that comment. Harriet has the Hillary Clinton tattoo. Harriet says, you want to see my new tattoo? So, she hikes up her dress and sure enough, there’s Hillary on her inner thigh. You know who this is don't you? This here's Hillary Clinton. Bet you can't guess who’s tattooed on my other leg, she says, hiking her dress even further. I look at her other thigh, but the likeness escapes me. I don't recognize the other face, I said. But I'd know that one in the middle anywhere – that there's Sandy Berger: http://theseedsof9-11.com

Posted by: Peggy McGilligan | 01 June 2008 at 03:07 PM

But what's most terrible beyond Harriet's racist rant is the supportive -- that's right, supportive -- comments at the forum called HillaryClintonForum. These people are totally sick.

For example:

My favorite quote, "You can call me white, but I can't call you black! That is not my America."

Or this:

She says it like "it" is.

And this work-of - genius:

Harriet Christian for VP

And this outrage:

A woman after my own heart! You go girl!!

What the hell was that? I could not believe the comments over at that post, but hey, you can't see them in person before you, so you can see just how dark their hearts are.

What you're reading over at Hillary Clinton Forum shows the worst in America, and it is that they are so happy this person who's White is really talking for people who apparently do feel that Blacks don't know their place and are Democrats, an are acting just like Father Michael Pflager said Hillary Clinton herself was acting (and I totally think the Father was offbase).

But I think Father Plager -- who's not a reverend as Anderson Cooper called him, he's Catholic -- should have talked about some Clinton supporters like the ones on the Clinton Forum, as he'd have been totally correct.

I doubt people would have been so upset.

Taylor Marsh Bad For Democratic Party; Might As Well Be Republican

You know, I can't find a single -- not one -- post where Taylor Marsh has anything good to say about Senator Obama. It's more of the same dribble and it continues at a time when the Democratic Party needs to come together.

She thinks it is entertainment, but it's not, it's simply an insulting and anti-intellectual blogging approach that needs to be stopped. It would be only slightly more tolerable if Marsh and her writers actually knew what they were talking about.

The antidote to right-wing talk my ass!

Pacman Returns-for now...

From NFLMedia.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

6/2/08



NFL STATEMENT ON LIMITED REINSTATEMENT OF ADAM JONES:



Commissioner Roger Goodell notified Adam Jones today that, effective immediately, he may participate in organized team activities with the Dallas Cowboys, including training camp and preseason games. In a letter to Jones, Commissioner Goodell wrote that a final determination on his reinstatement for the 2008 regular season will be made by September 1. Commissioner Goodell told Jones that his continued participation in the NFL depends on demonstrating that he can conduct himself in a lawful and reliable manner. Jones will be expected to continue the personal conduct program established for him by the NFL and the Cowboys and to avoid further adverse involvement with law enforcement.


My Take: That Means No more Topless Bars Pacman!! If you really want to Play in the NFL it's time to show you mean it and keep your Nose clean!

Rep. James Clyburn Endorses Barack Obama

According to the Huffington Post, Rep. James Clyburn from South Carolina, a ranking Congressman and House Majority Whip, is endorsing Senator Barack Obama. For the entire campaign Clyburn, a well-regarded elected official and representative of the Congressional Black Caucus, had remained neutral between Clinton and Obama.

Now, with Obama's chance for victory all but certain, and with Clyburn's expressed concerns over Clinton's race-based campaign approach, Clyburn's moving toward Obama.

Congressman Clyburn is the House Majority Whip in the 110th Congress, and is the third-ranking Democrat in the House behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. He can carry a number of Superdelegate votes with him.

Senator Kennedy Surgery Complete; Will Stay At Hospital For A Week

According to CNN.com, Senator Ted Kennedy's surgery today was a success and he will remain at Duke Hopital for about a week.

Senator Kennedy Enters The Hospital Today

Senator Ted Kennedy is to enter the hospital for targeted treatments on the tumor in his brain, it was reported today. That process will be followed by radiation and chemotherapy work. Two weeks ago, Senator Kennedy was sent to the hospital after a a seizure at his home on Cape Cod.

According to reports, doctors later announced that he had a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe, a brain region that governs sensation but also plays some role in movement and language.

YSL Passes - Yves Saint-Laurent:

YSL is what I will always remember. Another signpost in the Zeitgeist. Yves Saint-Larent, who passed away over the weekend, was and is a shaper of the fashion women wear, but most importantly to me he represents France's emergence onto the World image-making scene. From the time I was a small boy to today, YSL was creating styles that drove and influnced American and industrial culture around the World.

He will be missed, but his work lives on.

The Four Michigan Delegates Obama Now Has Didn't Belong To Clinton To Start

The Four Michigan Delegates Obama Now Has Didn't Belong To Clinton To Start

At the historic DNC Rules Committee of Saturday May 31, 2008, both Florida and Michigan delegates were seated but with 50 percent of the common voting power each and with Senator Clinton receiving 69 delegates and Senator Obama gaining 59 delegates. The total number is 128 delegates, so the 50 percent split mark would be 64 delegates.

The Clinton camp, lead by Senior Campaign Advisor Harold Ickes, claims that they were forced to give 4 delegates to Senator Obama. Before we take on their claim, let's give it a closer look.

The charge of Ickes and others, like Clinton campaign supporter Lanny Davis, is that Clinton should have gotten 73 delegates and "uncommitted" 55. When they didn't get their way, Ickes, claiming to speak for Senator Clinton, but really, I think got carried away, said they were going to take their fight to the DNC Convention.



They will lose the fight again if they do.

The reason is that Senator Clinton kept her name on the Michigan ballot, whereas Senator Obama, Senator Edwards, Governor Bill Richardson, and the other Democratic Presidential candidates took their name off the ballot, because they, and Senator Clinton, knew and admitted that the "Michigan primary would not count."

The remainder was the "uncommitted" vote, which, when the actual Michigan primary was held against DNC rules -- which told the state not to hold its primary ahead of the schedule orginally set for it by and with the DNC -- became an unusually large percentage of the vote, something like 30 percent of the total.

The Clinton people base their delegate estimate on that actual voting outcome, and say that the legitimacy of the Michigan process rests in the 600,000 people who voted in that state. That's the basis for the anger of some Clinton people like Ickes. And here's the major problem.

The delegates never actually belonged to the Clinton campaign, but to the DNC, because Michigan was stripped of its delegates by the DNC, which the DNC Rules Committee has the power to do, and did.

Because of that fact, the DNC Rules Committee could come up with any scenario they could and had the votes to pass, and that's what happened. The Rules Committee could have elected to do absolutely nothing and have a "zero-delegate" outcome, which means Senator Clinton would have no delegates seated from Michigan. Those delegates would be allocated by the DNC because, again, the DNC stripped Michigan of its delegates to start with.

And regarding the 600,000 voters, there's a great argument and study that suggests as many as 1 million people did not vote in Michigan because they were under the impression the primary would not count by the view of the DNC. And they were right. The DNC stripped Michigan of delegates.

Because of this, delegates were malleable by the DNC. In other words, because Michigan was stripped of delegates, the DNC could give life to and then shape and mold the delegate count and split as it chose to do so, and it did just that.

The DNC was well within its right to do what it did, and Senator Clinton in reality had no right to any number of delegates. She, like the other candidates including Senator Obama, was at the mercy of the DNC Rules Committee.

Harold Ickes knows this, and admitted on today's Meet The Press show with Tim Russert, that the reason the Clinton people and Senator Clinton said that they knew Michigan wasn't going to count. Here's what Ickes said on MTP today:

MR. ICKES: Michigan was, in fact, a real primary. Six hundred thousand people voted, Tim, compared, compared, compared to 160,000 in '04, which had a high--which had a real, live primary as well.

MR. RUSSERT: Then why did Senator Clinton say it wasn't going to count for anything?

MR. ICKES: I think at that time people were focused on Super Tuesday, and a lot of us did not feel that it was going to go beyond that.

Wow.

Think about that. I also can't believe Tim Russert didn't hammer Ickes on that statement because Harold just admitted on national television that the reason Clinton didn't concern herself with "defending Michigan" at the time was really because they didn't think they were going to need the delegates to win.

Wow.

So now that they're counting every delegate from here to Mars, suddenly challenging DNC rules and working some weird form of Jedi-mind trick on hapless political pundits , Michigan suddenly counts and the count must favor them.

That's not the way it works. Here's the bottom line: Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates, the DNC thus had the right to create delegates and shape and mold the delegste split, and as it turned out Senator Obama had the votes in the DNC Rules Committee -- including from Clinton supporters -- to achieve the outcome we see before us now.

End game.

Clinton Wins Puerto Rico; Obama Gains 17 Delegates; 45 From Nomination

As predicted, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won Puerto Rico gaining 68 percent of the vote to Senator Obama's 32 percent of the vote, according to DemConWatch Blog.

Now, Senator Obama's just 45 delegates away from gaining the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. It's anticipated that a combination of the Montana and South Dakota primaries and just the movement of perhaps as many as 20 Superdelegates could put Obama over the top.