DNC Convention Invesco Tour | CNN Grill | Pepsi Media Tent City

On the morning of July 31st 2008, I boarded a United Airlines morning flight to Denver to attend the final (?) media walkthrough before the Democratic National Convention, this one at Invesco Field.

Unlike my first media walkthrough trip, I ended up renting a Saturn SUV for ground travel. The reason was simple: it was cheap. Cheaper to rent than a Prius and because they were in low demand versus the economy cars. In a way it worked out to a savings of about $25. Invesco Field was only 20 minutes away from the airport, so it was a quick trip for me.

I arrived at Invesco at 11:20 and ran into a DNCC employee (who I will not name by request) and who walked me around the stadium (we ended up on the field at one point) and eventually into the main briefing meeting.

For security reasons I did not film the main meeting discussion, but focused more on the 'broadbrush" tour and interviews of key media people there. On the way to the main press box, I met "Oreo" who's one of the main contributors at DemConWatchBlog.com and talked about how the blog came to be and who the writers were. To my surprise, one of them was a person who had his own blog called "Mr. Superdelegate" for a time, and gave all of us political junkies fits trying to figure out who he was. It's become a great resource for DNC Convention news.

After talking with Oreo, and heading to the main field, I met Sara Burrett, who's a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News. Sara -- who I talked to while tripping all over myself on the Invesco Field sidewalk -- told me that she was a court reporter until this assignment and that her current focus was on the lawsuit the protest group Recreate68 and their leader Glen Spagnuolo, who's known for protesting the Columbus Day Holiday in Denver and for whom a split was caused between his group and other protest groups.

See, even Democratic PROTESTERS can't get along.

But I digress.

Sara also pointed out where Senator Obama will stand to give his acceptance speech, which is about on the 50-yard-line of the field used by The Denver Broncos.

That about ended that part of the tour. But Oreo and I decided to take a tour of our own making. He drove us over to the Pepsi Center area to see the media tent city in the making. Two construction reps let us in and we parked and walked the grounds. The media tents must be about 25,000 square feet in size each, and there were two made already, one for NBC News, the other we didn't know who was for, perhaps CNN.

Writing of CNN, we then walked over to the Brooklyn Grill for a quick lunch. Oreo informed me that the grill was to be transformed into the "CNN Grill" and almost on que, we saw a stencil being used to paint the CNN = Politics logo on the side of the building. They had just got started with this, and we were the first to record the action.

The one problem with the CNN plan is the restaurant workers know nothing about it. They don't know if they will be paid double-time or who will get to work the shifts, or anything and they're getting a little nervous about the whole deal.

Then, on the way out, Oreo, who lives in Denver, pointed to where the DNC Media Party was to be held over at an amusement park nearby.

In all, the Democratic Party is working overtime to make the DNC Convention work. The objective is open-ness. The main issue now is still scheduling. Contrary to reports, many of the speakers and speaking days have not been fully set. Speculation that Hillary Clinton will not be the VP choice because of the Tuesday "Women's Day" event is faulty at best.

On the way back to the airport, I turned in my rental car and then forgot my iPhone in it. Alamo Rent-A-Car got it back to me very quickly and for that I give thanks.

Bush Legacy: a BAD TASTE in GOP's Mouth

Isn't it ironic that President Bush, once clearly a darling of conservatives and Republicans alike, may come to be, in the words of Ann McFeatters in the Boston Herald, "loathed by most of them."

The problem is that Bush isn't at all what people thought they were voting for. The "Compassionate Conservative" label was the epitome of sound-bite marketing, for openers. Show me any even moderately compassionate initiative Bush championed, and on review you'll find it was driven by pressure from outside, not his own leadership. And the notion you'd vote for him because you'd like to have a beer with him? Nevermind that he doesn't drink anymore: Who really thought they'd like to have a beer with him?

Answer: people who'd like to have a beer with anybody.

Republicans = small government?

When you look at his term of office it seems likely that he was, in essence, a figurehead. Sadly I see President Bush primarily as a puppet of the likes of Cheney & Rumsfeld, who realized Rove had hold of a guy that could be made electable at the national level. There is little on the record to suggest Bush has been a savvy leader with a vision for the betterment of this country.

No, instead the GOP had the drop on the dems in marketing, two cycles in a row. Effective smear attacks from surrogates while their guy appeared to remain above the fray. A dose of fear, a carefully acquired Texas drawl for an Ivy Leaguer from a privileged family... It was brilliant.

Unfortunately, it was brilliance applied to electing a self-interested cabal fronted by a puppet. Bush has presided over some of the most disastrous policies in modern U.S. history - the economy is hanging by a thread as we pour our precious lives and resources into an investment in big oil noguls becoming even richer. And how are the folks atop those companies faring, while the rest of the country deals with unemployment and recession? Oh, right: Their best quarter EVER.

Another irony, of course, is that Rumsfeld has been consigned to the back room somewhere, while Cheney continues as arguably the most powerful Vice President the US has ever seen. Some say the only reason the various calls for impeachment of George W. Bush are not pursued more stridently in congress is the realization that it would lead, at least briefly, to Cheney ascending to sole control of the Oval Office.

Follow the money:

One has to hope that the sense and sensibility of the citizens - and voters - of the USA will help turn the U.S. back from the old-school politics to embrace respect for both the average people as well as the political opposition. There are signs such candor and civility is valued over the increasingly transparent, self-serving "mis-speaking" that has become all too commonplace. We must hold elected officials to a higher standard. It is short-sighted and shallow to tolerate duplicitous, politically expedient apologies after the fact as "expected behavior" though the mainstream media continues to look the other way. We must ask who profits from each decision, be it invading then rebuilding Iraq or stockpiling Tamiflu at taxpayers expense.

The alternative is to continue our slide from prominence toward a second class status on the stage of world affairs. That's not the legacy I want to leave for my offspring - what about you?

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Zennie62 On Vloggerheads.com WIth Kenrg And Renetto

Zennie62 On Vloggerheads.com WIth Kenrg And Renetto

Today -- well, Saturday -- I received an email invitation from YouTuber Ken Goldstein, who you may (or may not) know as Kenrg on YouTube. He was inviting me to join what he and other call a "vlogging experiment" and is called "Vloggerheads."

That would be me.

The site is only eight days -- yes eight days -- old and already there are as of this writing 46 members. Folks like Esther, Beth, and star YouTubers like Renetto, Kenrg, and Gimmeabreakman who made this great video:

Where he tries to answer the question "What is a vlog" from the comfort of a pool he's in somewhere. He even goes underwater for a bit. That means he takes the camera under water -- watch -- how he does that I don't know because if I did that with my Sony camcorder, that would be the end of that machine.

Anyway, I love to share my ideas on video, but I want to get paid for it too. YouTube allows that; I just have to see his improvement. his viewpoint. I'm not giving up on YouTube at all. I think this can enhance the total experience of videoblogging and increase the visility of YouTubers at the same time.

NFL Hall Of Fame Day: Art Monk, Fred Dean, Emmitt Thomas, Gary Zimmerman, Darrel Green

NFL Hall Of Fame Days is always a moving event, and 2008 is no exception. Today, Art Monk, Fred Dean, Emmitt Thomas, Gary Zimmerman, Darrel Green are being inducted into Canton. I'm watching it now on NFL Network.

Gallup Fixing Polls Again? McCain Backers Older; College Students Ignored

The Gallup Poll for Friday reports a tie between John McCain and Barack Obama at 44 percent fo the first time, but I'm really skeptical of this because Gallup's Frank Newport came under fire for having a USA Today-Gallup lead for McCain, but not one for it's own daily polling.

Frank Newport has this nasty habit of ignoring college-age voters, which have been so important in this election. College-age voter turnout increased by as much as 20 to 25 percent during the 2008 primaries, and there's no reason to think this will not continue into the November election.

But Newport and his Gallup people misses this group. For example, this Gallup article on Obama and the highly educated focuses on adults out of college -- that's people who are older than 26 years old and more likely in their 40s and 50s and 60s. That's where McCain sees gains.

But it's wrong.

Obama Election Victory Predicted By Economic Models

AOL -- the conservative place on the Internet -- ran this article reporting three separate economic models predicting November election victory for Senator Barack Obama. The reason is that the Economy is in terrible shape and it's a subject Obama scores better than McCain on in polling.

But of course, AOL being well, Southern (based in Virginia) and stupid (because they appeal to racist-tendencies) they had to run a poll asking who viewers wanted to win.

Most of the AOLers picked McCain by ten percent or so. But then AOL's known for being racist and having racist viewers, so go figure.

Commission Junction: Never Made Money Off CJ.Com; Now I Know Why

Commission Junction: Never Made Money Off CJ.Com; Now I Know Why

Class action lawsuit reveals abuses of the affiliate marketing industry.

Yep. Commission Junction, the pioneering affiliate marketing company, is involved in a nasty lawsuit. Here are the details:

If you joined or were a member of the affiliate marketing networks operated by ValueClick, Inc., Commission Junction, Inc. and/or Be Free (collectively, “Defendants”), between April 20, 2003 and the present, you may be a class member in Settlement Recovery Center et al. v. ValueClick, Inc. et al., No. 2:07-cv-02638-FMC-CTx, a lawsuit which is pending in the Central District of California. The Settlement Notice informs you of the Court's certification of a class for settlement purposes; the nature of the claims alleged; your right to participate in, or exclude yourself from, the class; a proposed settlement; and how you can claim an award of advertising credits under the settlement or object to the settlement.

The proposed settlement will resolve claims that Defendants failed to adequately monitor Commission Junction’s Network for the use by third parties of software that does not comply with Commission Junction’s (“CJ”) Publisher Code of Conduct and that is intended to steal or divert commissions from publishers on CJ’s network (“Non-compliant Software”), failed to adequately monitor or prevent third parties from engaging in the theft or “hijacking” of commissions from Advertisers and Publishers on CJ’s Network, and failed to make sufficient disclosures regarding the existence of Non-compliant Software and commission theft, resulting in losses to both advertisers and publishers on the CJ Network.

The proposed settlement will provide a monetary recovery to eligible class members. For class members that currently maintain an account on the CJ Network will receive payment through payments or credits deposited or applied to their CJ accounts; eligible class members that no longer have accounts on the Commission Junction Network will receive a check for an equal amount.

Back From Denver and Invesco Field Tour and New Protestor News

Ok. I'm back from Denver and Invesco Field and a great tour and also meetup and walkthrough with Oreo of the great blog DemConWatchBlog.com Lots of news to report, which I will do in a separate blog.

But some teasing.

I learned that the total convention schedule is not finalized and that the media's premature in what it's reporting -- not that the Hillary Clinton speak date is wrong -- there's more to come.

Invesco Field itself is a huge and well-equipped facility that makes me wish Oakland would wake up and rebuild the Oakland / Alameda County Coliseum. It has miles of storage space, wide cooridors, and a new smell -- still.

I also learned that protest groups have filed suit to be closer to the convention than they are. But as you will see in my upcoming video from my trip, they're pretty close already!!

I also discovered that the best Spinach Salad's at Brooklyn's bar and grill next to Pepsi Center, and that the facility will become "The Politics Grill" by CNN. And while the link is informative on this matter, it does not do it justice as a video would. I even discovered folks working on turning it into the "CNN Grill."

Theu should have bloggers in it. Like us.

Stay tuned for that.

Zennie62 On The Way To Invesco Field For DNCC Walkthrough

As I write this I'm wating to board United Flight 1184 to Denver for my second media walkthrough. This time at Invesco Field, where Senator Barack Obama will give his acceptance speech for the nomination as the Democratic Nominee for President Of The United States.

Washington Post Gets What Charles Krauthammer Missed: Obama Is American Symbol

A week or so back, I got after conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer for missing the fact that Barack Obama is a symbol of America and what's possible here. I wrote:

You miss what leadership is about. Your column demonstrates that your don't get it. And it shows that you don't know or intellectually understand what kind of role the President of the United States serves. That person is considered this: LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD.

Do you understand? Ok. I'll repeat it.

LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD.

That means to most people, the SYMBOL of freedom. That is what Senator Obama represents to many. To ho-hum or sigh or cringe at the presentation of this mear fact is to show a true ignorance of the intense desire many people in the World have to rid ourselves of the true mentail illness that is racism.

Charles. The bell's ringing. Time to get with the program.

Now it seems the Washington Post understands. Reporting this in the form of an article, the Post explains that Obama is a person who for others have become a symbol for America.

Thank you Rep. Steve Cohen

Yesterday, the House passed H.Res 194, an apology for slavery and Jim Crow, originally introduced by Tenessee Rep. Steve Cohen. The Resolution was cosponsored by 120 House members, including members from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. The Resolution does exactly what it says: apologize to African Americans for the institution of slavery, the Jim Crow establishment, Congress' role in each, and the legacy of each. Please read the full text of the Resolution below. Click here to see who cosponsored the Resolution. And then click here to thank Rep. Steve Cohen for his efforts and, if one of the cosponsors happens to be your Rep., thank that person, too. An apology may not seem like a whole lot, but it is a critical first step. We must first officially recognize the wrong doing, harm, and lasting legacy before anything else can be done. Here is the text of the Resolution:

RESOLUTION

Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.


Whereas millions of Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and the 13 American colonies from 1619 through 1865;


Whereas slavery in America resembled no other form of involuntary servitude known in history, as Africans were captured and sold at auction like inanimate objects or animals;


Whereas Africans forced into slavery were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage;


Whereas enslaved families were torn apart after having been sold separately from one another;


Whereas the system of slavery and the visceral racism against persons of African descent upon which it depended became entrenched in the Nation's social fabric;


Whereas slavery was not officially abolished until the passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865 after the end of the Civil War, which was fought over the slavery issue;


Whereas after emancipation from 246 years of slavery, African-Americans soon saw the fleeting political, social, and economic gains they made during Reconstruction eviscerated by virulent racism, lynchings, disenfranchisement, Black Codes, and racial segregation laws that imposed a rigid system of officially sanctioned racial segregation in virtually all areas of life;


Whereas the system of de jure racial segregation known as `Jim Crow,' which arose in certain parts of the Nation following the Civil War to create separate and unequal societies for whites and African-Americans, was a direct result of the racism against persons of African descent engendered by slavery;


Whereas the system of Jim Crow laws officially existed into the 1960's--a century after the official end of slavery in America--until Congress took action to end it, but the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day;


Whereas African-Americans continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow--long after both systems were formally abolished--through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity and liberty, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity;


Whereas the story of the enslavement and de jure segregation of African-Americans and the dehumanizing atrocities committed against them should not be purged from or minimized in the telling of American history;


Whereas on July 8, 2003, during a trip to Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave port, President George W. Bush acknowledged slavery's continuing legacy in American life and the need to confront that legacy when he stated that slavery `was . . . one of the greatest crimes of history . . . The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times. But however long the journey, our destiny is set: liberty and justice for all.';


Whereas President Bill Clinton also acknowledged the deep-seated problems caused by the continuing legacy of racism against African-Americans that began with slavery when he initiated a national dialogue about race;




Whereas a genuine apology is an important and necessary first step in the process of racial reconciliation;


Whereas an apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the wrongs committed can speed racial healing and reconciliation and help Americans confront the ghosts of their past;


Whereas the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia has recently taken the lead in adopting a resolution officially expressing appropriate remorse for slavery and other State legislatures are considering similar resolutions; and


Whereas it is important for this country, which legally recognized slavery through its Constitution and its laws, to make a formal apology for slavery and for its successor, Jim Crow, so that it can move forward and seek reconciliation, justice, and harmony for all of its citizens:


Now, therefore, be it


Resolved, That the House of Representatives--


(1) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;


(2) apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and


(3) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future.



Cross posted to AshPolitics.

1-Maria Ayerdi Has Pelli Clarke Pelli Design For SF Transit Center

Maria Ayerdi Has Pelli Clarke Pelli Design For SF Transit Center

Maria Ayerdi on Flickr

I have to admit I liked the Skidmore Owings and Merrill design, even if their architectural renderings imply they forgot Black folks existed. But the Pelli design focused on a "green" theme and addressed several pressing flow issues that the others did not. Now, Transbay Terminal Joint Powers Authority Executive Director Maria Ayerdi has Pelli Clarke Pelli to work with.

What will we get in San Francisco? This video series holds a clue:

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Overall the design is breath-taking. Let's see how much of this design remains as the process of building the structure in a weak economy commences.