Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Crystal Cathedral files bankruptcy
The Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, October 18, 2010. The cathedral owes unsecured creditors over 7 million dollars, according to The Seattle Times online.
The Southern California church was founded by Robert H. Schuller, a popular television evangelist. The Seattle Times includes a statement issued by the church's leader, Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman which explains that the cathedral had no choice but to file bankruptcy after creditors chose to file lawsuits and refused to extend a moratorium to allow continued talks about a payment plan.
The Orange County Register reports that Jim Penner, a church board member, says that the church's debt is at 44 million dollars - which is a much higher number that what the Seattle Times reported.
A very popular program that takes place in the cathedral is "Hour of Power." The show has since had to cut its air time, send home its orchestra and professional choir singers; the choir is now composed of church volunteers.
The Orange County Register includes an interview with Kristina Oliver, who supplied the church with many props and such for the yearly Christmas pageant. Oliver is still waiting to get paid from the church. She was less than thrilled with Penner's attempts at negotiation saying:
"He offered to pay us 100 percent over the next 12 years. What kind of an offer is that?"
Crystal Cathedral's web site has a press release that asks members to donate money to help pay for the debt.
A follow up post will be made when more information is released.
By Nikky Raney
Journalist & Blogger
Tylenol recall
U.S. News online reports in its health section that there has been a Tylenol recall as of Monday, October 18; the report states that nearly 128 thousand bottles of Tylenol eight-hour caplets included chemical combinations producing a mold-like odor.
US Post Today online said that the chemicals causing these smells were called 2,4,6-tribomoanisole. The company Johnson and Johnson has issued several recalls in 2010 throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
The recalled pills with the unusual odor when taken caused nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea.
By Nikky Raney
Journalist & Blogger
'The Rent is Too Damn High Party' Strikes a Chord with Voters During NY Gov's Debate
It’s gonna be hard to watch a gubernatorial debate and not have some one on the panel as outspoken and as colorful as Jimmy McMillanfrom the ‘Rent is Too Damn High Party‘
As I was watching this debate the other night for governor of New York at Hofstra University, I was glad to see that they opened up the event to all 7 candidates. This needs to be done more and we as a voting public we need to demand this..It would’ve been a oh hum affair just to see Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino. Well lemme take that back.. Paladino and his outbursts of ignorance can be entertaining until you realize folks are actually voting for him. But normally speaking, too many debates are corporate driven exercises where everything is scripted down to the questions. Very rarely do we have fireworks and real conversation. The excuse given by debate organizers is that there are too many characters who don’t deserve to be on the stage with the ‘real’candidates.
When you stop to think about the so-called front running ‘real candidates’ who belong to the Republican and Democrat party are often characters. They play the role of being elusive, overly cautious and staying on message. The viewing public is left trying to figure out what’s truth and what’s spin. There’s never anyone else on the stage who can raise other perspectives and challenge scripted assertions. This needs to change.
Former Black Panther & NY City Councilman Charles Barron is running for Governor under the newly formed Freedom Party
What was good about the NY gubernatorial debate we got to see everyone. We got to see Brooklyn City Council member Charles Barron who was repping for the newFreedom Party. many didn’t know he stepped out and has tried to get traction for a much-needed third-party that doesn’t have to compromise. In short he gave folks something to vote for.
As noted earlier we also got to see Jimmy McMillan from the ‘Rent is Too High Party‘. He was the breakout star who was funny and provided comic relief of sorts but was at the same time, so right on point with his issue. In the age of Youtube we get to see how a debate should unfold and how a candidate should have passion for an issue.
It was also interesting to note how the NY gubernatorial debate was covered nationally. However in many places outside of NY the focus was only on Cuomo and Paladino. This goes to show how a script is already written and being followed by Mainstream media.
Here’s some highlights..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4o-TeMHys0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TIGQhHGvP0
I think people should check out the Freedom Party. Here’s a good interview with Charles Barron..After Barron answers the first question there’s about 45 seconds of down time as camera person reposition themselves to get a one on one interview I wish someone had recorded and posted up Barron’s remarks from the debate. I couldn’t find anything on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thc5SVnfzcE
Steve Jobs: Apple CEO's Five Minute Anti-Google Android Rant
It's described as a "classic rant" that's less that and more a calm, reasoned explanation of Apple's product differentiation from Google Android in the smartphone wars.
Some highlights:
First, Steve Jobs says that "Apple has activated 275,000 IOS (IPhone Operating System) devices per day average for the past 30-days with a peak of about 300,000 IOS devices on a few of those days. Unfortunately, there is no solid data on how many Android phones are shipped each quarter. We hope that manufacturers will soon start recording the number of Android handsets they ship each quarter, but today that isn't the case."
Then Jobs focused on the "open versus closed" argument: "Google loves to characterise Android as ‘open’ and iOS and the iPhone as ‘closed.' We find this a bit disingenuous, and clouding the real difference between our two approaches. Android is very fragmented. HTC and Motorola install proprietary user interfaces to differentiate themselves from the commodity Android experience. The user’s left to figure it all out. Compare this with the iPhone, where every handset works the same."
Jobs then included Twitter's known issues with Android "Twitter clients, Twitterdeck recently launched their apps for Android. They reported they had to contend with 100 different versions of Android on 244 different handsets. The multiple hardware and software iterations presents developers with a daunting challenge."
Ouch to Google. But Jobs didn't stop there. He then deconstructed the Android platform fragmentation problem, where some Android apps work on some Android phones, but not others: "Many Android apps only work on selected Android handsets, running selected Android versions. Compare this with iPhone, where there are two versions of the software, the current and the most recent predecessor, to test against.
Here's the video containing the "Five Minute Anti-Google Android Rant:"
Oh, you're not seeing an error; the video was created with an upside down photo of Steve Jobs and the iPad.
San Francisco Bus Transportation News: Bauer’s Serves SF To Fremont, Milpitas, Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
In San Francisco Bus Tranportation News, Bauer’s Transportation has a new service called "Wi-Drive." "Wi-Drive" is a bus transportation service that goes round-trip between the city of Santa Rosa and San Francisco and between the cities of Fremont and Milpitas.
Here's the details from Bauer’s Transportation:
Bauer’s IT (Intelligent Transportation), the Bay Area’s leading provider of chauffeured, eco-friendly individual and group bus transportation, today announced that two new routes have been added to the acclaimed Bauer’s Wi-Drive! program.
Beginning Monday, October 12, the eco-transit commuter service will expand to include round-trip routes between Santa Rosa and San Francisco and between Fremont and Milpitas.
Bauer’s Wi-Drive! current routes include: San Francisco to and from the North Bay (as far as Santa Rosa), San Francisco to and from the South Bay (as far as San Jose), and Fremont to/from Milpitas. Wi-Drive! plans to expand its fleet to Sacramento, Stockton, Fairfield, Napa, Santa Cruz and beyond in accordance with consumer demand.
Offering paramount comfort and convenience, the fleet is equipped with plush leather seats with Corian® work tables, high-speed Wi-Fi, flat screen LCD monitors, iPod hookups, phone and laptop power ports, CD and DVD systems, bike racks and restrooms. A Ride Host is onboard at all times to offer food and drink service, which can be purchased onboard or pre-ordered through the Bauer’s Wi Drive! online ordering system.
Bauer’s Wi-Drive! operates Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fares can be as low as $5 for a one-way ticket depending on location, with 10 percent discounts offered for monthly passes. Bauer’s Wi-Drive! memberships and individual passes can be purchased online. A variety of payment methods, including commuter checks, are available. For detailed information on pricing, schedules and pick-up and drop-off locations, please visit www.BauersIT.com or call 800.546.6688.
Note: Bauer's Transportation is a Zennie62.com sponsor. The blog post is the original creation of Zennie62.com.
Eliza Dolittle: Miley Cyrus Look-Alike Wows UK, Gets Ready For Australian Shows
| Eliza Dolittle |
The star nicknamed the "Perky UK poppet," and who's dating UK Hip Hop Rapper LIL SI, who she's performed a remix with. Here's her bio courtesy of the BBC:
"Eliza Doolittle (born Eliza Sophie Caird, 15 April 1988), is a British singer–songwriter from London. She is signed to the Parlophone record label. As of July 2010, Doolittle had released three records. Her debut, self-titled album, Eliza Doolittle was released on 12 July 2010.
On debut , it was Number 3 in the UK charts. Since the album's release, Doolitte has had another two of her records hit the top 25 charts, including her single "Skinny Genes". Doolittle's second single, "Pack Up", has debuted in the Top 20 for the Single Top 100 and Irish Singles Charts, and in the Top 5 in the UK Singles Chart. Her third single, Rollerblades is yet to make an impact on the charts. She also has a remix for Rollerblades with UK rapper LIL SI, this has been causing a buzz in the dubstep scene."
In a recent chat interview, Dolittle said that she fell in love at an early age, and have performed on concert tours since the age of 15. According to ILikeMusic.com, Eliza's on course to become one of Britain's hottest young stars.
Mad Men: Don Draper Is A Twitter Trending Topic
| John Hamm as Don Draper |
"Tommorrowland" was interesting in that it seemed to reveal a Don Draper who wanted to turn his "player card" in for a more normal life with one woman, albeit his office assistant.
But why Megan? What makes her different from the other women Don Draper's been with? Jessica Paré, who plays Megan, answered that question over at the Mad Men Blog:
"I think she's more modern, in the sense that she has a secretary job for now but she fully expects to do something more with her career. I think she sees this job as the right place for her to be at 25 [years old] in New York. It's not like she takes it for granted that she's going to move up, but I think she doesn't necessarily see it as an obstacle so much as someone just a few years older than her might."Paré thinks they're a grea match, too:
"I think she's got a really natural, nurturing warmth to her, and I think he responds to that because, as he says in the finale, I feel like myself when I'm with you, but the me that I want to be. And that's a really good place to be with a partner."
The Twitterverse Ignites
On Twitter many of the tweets expressed surprise at Drapers decision, and met it with sarcasm:
MadMenTweets Mad Men Tweets by SeanPatin
RT @steveohville This season of #MadMen began with the question, "Who is Don Draper?" And it ended with the answer, "Tiger Woods".
gooalice gooalice
Jane Lynch to Steal Don Draper's Identity -- "I'm going as Don Draper from Mad Men. I love Jon Hamm and I love his performance and I got
johngibbons10 John Gibbons
Don draper is such a pimp
gooalice gooalice
Jessica Pare, from AMC's “Mad Men” says that people on the set joke that once you become involved with Don Draper, you're days are number...
SlimShaezy Shaezy Pepperoni
You can't spell Don Draper without "raper."
empod Emily
Ahhhh I hate that don draper & madmen are trending on twitter. I'm like 3 episodes behind. I WANT THE SEASON FINALE.
You get the idea. But once again, the genius of Mad Men sucks its viewers into an alternative universe where people are concerned for and interested in the life and decisions of a middle-aged alcoholic, racist, sexist, 1960s Ad Man.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Oakland Mayor's Race: Rebecca Kaplan On Joe Tuman And Voting
![]() |
| Joe Tuman |
That information came from the Bay Area Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club's email forum, where long time Oakland local business supporter, political activist, and friend Pamela Drake wrote this:
Rebecca Kaplan contacted me and said that she is NOT recommending Tuman and that she refers voters to the East Bay Express article to make their own decisions. I apologize for repeating an incorrect report,So Rebecca's phone call was puzzling, but as they say on the street, it is what it is. What Kaplan said to this blogger is that she encourages voters to make the selection they think is best. Also, Kaplan notes correctly that Drake is a supporter of Councilmember Jean Quan for Mayor. Even with that, it seems that Drake was just trying to get the right representation of who's backing whom.
Pamela
For example, prior to the message above, Drake wrote this:
Interestingly, although Jean has publicly recommended that her voters put Rebecca as their number 2 choice, Rebecca has reportedly suggested Tuman as her number 2 choice and Quan as her number 3. Tuman is fairly conservative and does not even support Measure BB (the Measure Y fix). This is a disappointment to supporters of Jean (1) and Rebecca (2).Then, to clarify for those who may be lost at this point, Drake wrote this:
Pamela
Rebecca Kaplan contacted me and said that she is NOT recommending Tuman and that she refers voters to the East Bay Express article to make their own decisions. I apologize for repeating an incorrect report,Okay?
Pamela
Kaplan Loves Tuman
Councilmember Kaplan wants it known that she has love and respect for Tuman and the two have become friends. She has nothing against him.
The intent of the original blog on this wasn't to imply that Kaplan disliked Tuman, just that she was reconsidering recommendations because of his rising popularity.
Kaplan Calls Grand Lake's Allan Michaan
True to her desire to mend fences, a rare quality in Oakland politics, Kaplan also said she did call Grand Lake Theater Owner Allan Michaan.
Michaan, who supports Tuman, has been a critic of the draconian Oakland Parking Enforcement strategy Kaplan supported, and Kaplan herself because of it. This is an issue Kaplan's sensitive to and needs to make an outright statement that she's no longer supportive of the efforts that have harmed so many Oaklanders.
More coming soon.
Danroy Henry of Pace University shot by police
| Boston Globe |
Danroy Henry Jr., known to his friends as DJ, was shot and killed Saturday at Pace University's homecoming game in Pleasantville, N.Y by police officers.
The 20-year-old was parked in a fire lane and then quickly sped away when police officer's knocked on his window, according to the Boston Globe.
Pleasantville police officers claim that they tried to stop the car but Henry continued to accelerate and struck and officer. Other officers fired at the vehicle, which was not stopping, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The passenger suffered a minor gunshot wound.
Oakland Mayor's Race: SFGate PhotoGate, Reporter Insults Greg Harland
(What's interesting is that Mr. Thanawalla also tweeted with pride that SFBART used one of this photos for their blog, but that's not OK for this blogger given the subject matter.)
But Ali, for some wild reason that can only be attributed to inexperience with New Media, elected to use Twitter to communicate the photo's existence to anyone who happened to do an "Oakland" search on Twitter and scroll through the results. This is what this blogger saw on Twitter (link):
After a heated discussion with Oakland mayoral candidate Joe Tuman, writer Matthai had had enough. Funny moment. http://flic.kr/p/8Kit5PAccording to a call from Tuman, he and Matthai got into a conversation about the City of Oakland's budget deficit. Tuman remarked that the real problem was the Oakland pension deficit, and he had a solution for it. Tuman says that Matthai placed his head on the table, but "Didn't know what that was about."
A number of Oakland Mayor's Race candidates have complained that Matthai Kuruvila openly expresses a bias against campaigners who aren't one of the "big three:" Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Councilmember Jean Quan, or Former State Senator Don Perata.
This escalated when Matthai used Twitter to re-tweet a post by Echa Schnider AKA "VSmoothe" at the blog A Better Oakland, when she was upset some candidates and this blogger were calling for a more open Sierra Club Forum, inclusive of all of the Oakland mayoral candidates:
RT @Vsmoothe : Dear candidates for Oakland Mayor: Nobody wants to listen to your whining http://bit.ly/aPyeg0Well, in the words of Charles Foster Kane "I got my candy." (Let's see em have fun with that one!) The Sierra Club did open the forum for all of the Oakland Mayor's Race candidates.
But candy aside, and to repeat, a number of candidates have felt that Kuruvila is indifferent to them. Now, it's one thing for a blogger to have such a bias and Echa does as well at that as I do, that's what blogging is about; reporters are held to a different standard. Thus, for Matthai Kuruvila to retweet the tweet - unless he made a mistake, which happens, but isn't evident - means he agrees with the tweet on Twitter.
The idea that any reporter or columnist - Matthai Kuruvila or Tammerlin Drummond at the Oakland Tribune - expresses a bias that leads them to exclude candidates from media access ultimately harms the voters of Oakland or any city. It also looks like an attempt to "fix" the outcome of Ranked Choice Voting by limiting information available about a candidate. To take it a step further, it works against the intent of Ranked Choice Voting.
The idea of Ranked Choice Voting is to have the selection of a candidate that was the one "most preferred" by the voters, rather than the standard method, which gives the person who got the most votes, but not the majority, the win. By blocking information about all of the candidates in a Ranked Choice Voting process, there's a greater possibility that the outcome will be more like the standard method. In other words, why vote for someone you have no information about and can't easily obtain it?
That's the climate the Oakland Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle introduce when reporters openly ignore certain candidates. Greg Harland is really upset about this.
Harland, reached by phone, told this blogger on the record that Mr. Kuruvila approached him at last night's forum at College Prep and explained why the San Francisco Chronicle did not talk to him and that he was "not a viable candidate."
That's nasty and wrong. It's something for the voters to decide, not Matthai Kuruvila. A real good endorsement comes after the media talks to all candidates, not just some of them.
NFL Star Junior Seau Arrested for Domestic Violence -Crashes SUV off Cliff
Sadly this is becoming all too familiar, the arrest of an athlete or some other celebrity for domestic violence. Many were shocked to hear that former NFL 12 time Pro Bowler Junior Seau was the latest to go down this lane. Over the past year we’ve had everyone from Shannon Sharpe and Warren Sapp to Ben Roethlisberger get in hot water over alleged domestic violence and assault. Makes you wonder whats going on in the NFL.
Oakland Mayor's Race: Oakland Tribune Prejudice Angers Greg Harland
![]() |
| Greg Harland |
One big problem that's plagued the Oakland Mayor's Race and that apparently still exists is how some Bay Area media organizations ignore some of the candidates running for the office of Mayor of Oakland.
That practice has angered Oakland Mayoral Candidate Greg Harland because he wan't contacted by either the Oakland Tribune / Bay Area News Group or The San Francisco Chronicle.
Harland was upset to the point where he referred to one post as saying "that says it all," and it was a column by Mercury News / Oakland Tribune columnist Tammerlin Drummond which reads:
"We began by whittling down the list of 10 candidates to the four who actually merited voter consideration: Kaplan, Perata, Councilwoman Jean Quan and political analyst/university professor Joe Tuman."
Ok, let's let loose here. That statement is a freaking joke. The only reason Joe Tuman was placed in the Tribune's "merited voter consideration" hopper was because Tuman's name recognition with Oakland's white Montclair / Oakland Hills region was high. Or to look at it another way, Terrance Candell is well-known in black and Latino East Oakland, where his prep school is located on 73rd Street, but the Oakland Tribune didn't even talk to him.
The Oakland Tribune and Tammerlin Drummond should be ashamed, but they're not. This space is not complaining about their selection of Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan to endorse, only the way they did it. The Tribune process was not open, and race and class prejudiced to boot. Thus, unfortunately, it taints the selection of Kaplan.
That's right, race and class prejudiced. In other words this blogger can hear the Tribune's demons saying about Candell "He's a blowhard brotha who thinks he can be Mayor, so why talk to him?" and about Harland "Who? Never heard of him," and about Green Party Candidate Don Macleay, "Ah. Who? OK. Nice guy." You get the idea.
In other words, different kinds of prejudice applied to different Oakland Mayoral candidates. The real joke is that none of the Oakland Tribune or SF Chronicle reporters has any experience in working for a mayor in Oakland's City Hall, either. So how would they know how to evaluate a Mayoral Candidate? They don't.
You have to have experience in the office in order to evaluate a candidate that is running for office, so you can recognize the qualities that person has which are appropriate for the office. The Oakland Tribune and the SF Chronicle lack that experience. By contrast, this blogger has worked for two Oakland mayors - Elihu Harris and Jerry Brown, and sat on the Sports Task Force for Ron Dellums before quitting in protest. (I'm still proud of that.)
It's one thing to pretend to be a policy wonk, crunching numbers over a local legislative idea. But it's quite another to understand that when a developer contacts the Mayor's Office and wants to build in, say, a location that happens to be in Councilmember Nancy Nadel's District Three (Downtown and West Oakland), it's a good idea to know to contact her office to get them in the loop.
It's one thing to know the population of Oakland, and another to know how to dig through Mayor's Office files to find projects that were of importance, but were left undone. That's one thing I did when I first worked for Elihu Harris on the first day on the job - it's something every mayoral candidate should consider doing.
That's why I ask each candidate what kind of office they're going to have, and how will it be ran. The Tribune and Chronicle people don't have the experience to even think of asking that kind of question. It's a question that of the candidates I've talked to thus far, Don Perata gave the best answer to, but not by much.
It's also why I asked about Tax Increment Financing at one forum, only to find that of all of the candidates, Marcie Hodge, who I didn't expect to get it, actually had a good general answer.
The point is, you as media person have to talk to each candidate, because in doing so you learn something about that person's abilities for the office that you didn't know before.
Look at it this way: Lionel Wilson was a judge before he was elected Oakland's first black mayor. He went on to serve for three terms and is arguably the best mayor Oakland's ever had. If Tammerlin Drummond had her way she may have delayed Oakland's election of its first black mayor.
Stay tuned.

