The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 83 to 79 in perhaps the most dramatic game in NBA Finals history. But even more dramatic was the after-game-seven celebration in LA, as riots broke out and taxi cabs were set on fire.
This video below, posted at CitizenTube.com, shows the scene just a reported two blocks from Staples Center where the NBA game was played:
According to The Associated Press, 38 people were arrested for "public intoxication, vandalism or inciting a riot."
Between that and the New York City rap riot, I wonder what's going on at times.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The 49ers Santa Clara Stadium issue: an interesting email
On June 8th 2010, election day, and the same day of the Angry Luxor Cab Driver incident, the San Francisco 49ers scored and important and this blogger thought impossible victory in getting Santa Clara County to give the go-ahead to build the 49ers new stadium.
But in the wake of the victory, knifes are coming out from all over because of the very valid claim that Santa Clara can't afford to pay their share for the stadium. This email, the name withheld, and which will be expanded on in the coming weeks, is telling:
As I say, stay tuned...
But in the wake of the victory, knifes are coming out from all over because of the very valid claim that Santa Clara can't afford to pay their share for the stadium. This email, the name withheld, and which will be expanded on in the coming weeks, is telling:
Hi Zennie,
Re: your interview with Mr. (Don) Perata and that both of you were surprised that the 49ers won the stadium vote. I live in Santa Clara and I'm on the board of the grassroots organization that was opposed to the stadium subsidy.
If you want to know how they won, you can contact me. They spent >$4.1 million on a saturation campaign of misinformation to tell the voters that the stadium won't cost residents anything. We have a mayor and 4 city council members who campaigned heavily for the 49ers, and our schools superintendent and entire school board did too.
All of their names, faces, and titles appeared repeatedly in campaign materials.
We've had a virtual media blackout here on what the true costs of the stadium are, because both the SJ Mercury and the Santa Clara Weekly wanted the stadium so badly, they were both unwilling to make a fair presentation to the voters of the costs, loss, debt, and risks. The TV news was just as bad or worse. The Chron was better, but not many people here subscribe to the Chron compared to the SJ Merc, and the Weekly is delivered for free to every house in the city.
Then the 49ers conducted a TV, Radio, and mail saturation campaign with misleading information
(no cost to residents, no general fund impact, no new taxes for a stadium-ever, etc.).
The 49ers took away our right to vote on a city charter change by going to Sacramento.
They took control of the ballot language through the initiative process and thus we had a ballot with no cost disclosure other than $40 million in RDA funds. The remainder of the $444 million that Santa Clara and its agencies are responsible for was not included on the ballot. In CA, there is no law that requires financial disclosure on city ballot measures like there is on state ballot propositions. The 49ers paid big bucks to an attorney who specializes in - wait for it - initiatives!
I'm sure he knew that if they wrote their own initiative they could control the language and not disclose costs, as well as not be subject to CEQA challenges.
If your interested in the real story of what happened here, contact me. I've tried for months to get print or broadcast media to tell the truth about what's been happening here, but all of the print and broadcast media are too concerned about their relationships with the 49ers to write about what really happened.
As I say, stay tuned...
Arnold Schwarzenegger Bergdorf Goodman NYC by Suzannah B. Troy
The staff at the men's store Bergdorf treated me like gold so I had to stifle my activism and behave myself when Arnold made his presence felt... I have to add I was dressed in a men's under shirt less than attractive baggy shorts and they treated me like I was wearing an Armani suit. I was impressed. I can't say that for Barneys. Barneys staff are nice but with attitude and some are not nice.
Way back when I thought Arnold was a super hottie but now I know he was steriod user, cheater and rumored to be a sexplotier. From what I have heard using a term for his anatomy called the helmet....
In my opinion he is just gross. He is a lot older than me but like so many celebrities -- Holly woo woo types he has had everything done to turn back the clock. I can't tell you how badly I want to run up to him and video tape him as I asked him about California's budgetary crisis! I did yell at Mike Bloomberg from the steps of City Hall, "Oust the king!" and king Mike gives me the thumbs up. But Bergdorf's men's department is not City Hall!
The people including youngsters got excited when they saw Arnold but not as excited as he got by their attention....it is clearly still a high for him -- the attention....
His idea of the American dream is to cheat your way to it and marrying a Kennedy was like getting a Cadillac.
If Mike Bloomberg had simply showed me his plans to tear down our historic neighborhoods and make them into bad xeroxes of Dubai also causing mass displacement as well as endangering our lives I would have fought against him from the get go.
I don't want king Mike or steroid Arnold in The White House and it took all my self control to not run up to Arnold with my iphone and nail him on the massive budget crisis in CA governor and put his response on YouTube.
The gracious and golden treatment by the staff of Bergdorf helped me to find some impulse control.
Besides TMZ showed Arnold and his wife living beyond large in Hawaii as the budget crisis looms larger than New York's which is hard to believe.
Arnold is not as smart as Mike Bloomberg and at least Mike did not use steriods to make his fortune but both do not belong serving the people.
Arnold vacations in Hawaii and Mike in Bermuda as the budget crisis grows like a giant axe about to drop on people's jobs, cuts and closing that people have not yet begun to understand.
Miley Cyrus will not press Perez Hilton, but ABC's The View drops ads
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| Perez Hilton |
Perez Hilton, put the photo up for view via a Twitter link, then took it down after a hue and cry from the Internet grew rapidly. The problem is Perez Hilton broke a rule that you don't show sexually revealing photos of a minor. Miley Cyrus is 17 years old, which, even if she's a mega star, puts her in minor status.
While Miley Cyrus and her parents Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus say they will not press charges, Perez Hilton's actions caused ABC to drop ads for The View tv show from his blog at PerezHilton.com. What Perez either did not know, or forgot was that it's one thing to show Miley Cyrus doing something sexually suggestive fully clothed, it's way out of bounds to show her in a state that goes too far. Miley wasn't doing anything in the way of performing a "pole dance" or grind dancing with Adam Shankman as reported here:
PerezHilton's blog is worth so much money, a reported $20 million, you'd think he doesn't need to stoop to such actions as the Miley Cyrus dress stunt, but he did it.
But now that The View is off Perez' blog and it's lost an estimated $28 million in value in just two years, perhaps Perez Hilton will reconsider his actions.
Perez Hilton's blog worth $20 million or $32 million or $564?
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| Perez Hilton |
First, just how much a blog is worth is a controversial subject because the methods used to estimate it are all over the place. While Perez Hilton was offered $20 million for PerezHilton.com, it was worth $32 million in 2009 and $48 million in 2008.
But if you use Technorati.com's blog value app, Zennie62.com is worth more than Perez Hilton.com. Zennie62 is http://zennie2005.blogspot.com, which is valued at just over $10,000; Perez Hilton's blog clocks in at $564, and that's it.
Obviously the Technorati.com blog value app has some problems. It's based on estimated link value, and not on any assumption or information on ad value. Zennie62.com as of this writing has no major add because I have not shopped it around for sponsors. With that, it's cool to know it's worth five figures, but it's throwing off fairly good monthly revenue from Google Adsense via YouTube alone. Also, our overall stats are more impressive than a $10,000 value would imply. I'd add a zero for $100,000.
(And that's just one blog; there are 102 blogs in the Zennie62.com network.)
As Douglas A. McIntyre writes at 24/7 Wall St, the blog that produced the Perez Hilton estimate of $32 million, a blog is worth what a person will purchase it for. But even with that fact, what Perez Hilton's blog is valued at has dropped a almost $30 million between 2008 and 2010. That should give Perez Hilton pause, but not so much.
Consider that today there's an estimated 126 million blogs and that in 2008 there were 112 million blogs; so between 2008 and 2009, a gigantic 14 million more blogs were added to the blogsphere. What that means is less natural market share for all blogs, PerezHilton.com included. That should translate to less value. There are more blogs competing for add dollars than ever before.
As I've said before, the best answer is for media companies to buy large chucks blogs. Apparently Avid Life Media is doing just that.
Koman Coulibaly: USA Slovenia World Cup ref blasted on blogs
Koman Coulibaly moved from being the most hated man on Twitter for Friday, to the most hated man in the blogsphere.
Coulibaly, the World Cup Soccer referee, well-known in Africa before today's match pitting the USA v. Slovenia, erased from official record a goal scored by USA player Maurice Edu off a free kick by Landon Donovan that would have given the USA a 3-2 lead with just about 4 minutes remaining.
The non-call, call, an assumed offsides penalty that Coulibaly did not verify by a named team or player, and was not explained to the USA team, launched a torrent of outrage that first appeared on Twitter and is now all over the web.
And the blog posts are blistering.
Koman Coulibaly's call "makes it difficult to control one's rage" writes blogger Josh Dean in New York Magazine. Dean, comparing USA Soccer Coach Bob Bradley to the cartoon character Skeletor, blogs, Coulibaly flat out stole the game. His instincts were terrible for the entire 90 minutes, but his decision to disallow the U.S. team's third goal — an easy tap-in by Edu off a beautiful free kick from Donovan — was one of the worst calls I've ever seen in a game."
Will Brinson, writing for AOL's Fanhouse Blog, offers a complete understatement: "Koman Coulibaly quickly had his Wikipedia page defaced following the US v. Slovenia 2-2 draw. Right now, he's not a very popular man in America."
Danny Lopez at the Houston Press Blogs, calls Koman Coulibaly "the Jim Joyce of Soccer", which means, if that comparison is taken to its logical end, we should expect Koman Coulibaly to apologize for the call come Saturday in America.
Jim Joyce is the MLB umpire who took away Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga's perfect game, then apologized for it a day later.
One can only hope.
Coulibaly, the World Cup Soccer referee, well-known in Africa before today's match pitting the USA v. Slovenia, erased from official record a goal scored by USA player Maurice Edu off a free kick by Landon Donovan that would have given the USA a 3-2 lead with just about 4 minutes remaining.
The non-call, call, an assumed offsides penalty that Coulibaly did not verify by a named team or player, and was not explained to the USA team, launched a torrent of outrage that first appeared on Twitter and is now all over the web.
And the blog posts are blistering.
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| Koman compared to Jim Joyce |
Will Brinson, writing for AOL's Fanhouse Blog, offers a complete understatement: "Koman Coulibaly quickly had his Wikipedia page defaced following the US v. Slovenia 2-2 draw. Right now, he's not a very popular man in America."
Danny Lopez at the Houston Press Blogs, calls Koman Coulibaly "the Jim Joyce of Soccer", which means, if that comparison is taken to its logical end, we should expect Koman Coulibaly to apologize for the call come Saturday in America.
Jim Joyce is the MLB umpire who took away Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga's perfect game, then apologized for it a day later.
One can only hope.
Tila Tequila Is Obsessed With Perez Hilton - By Nikky Raney
The pot has called the kettle black.
I was working on my blog entry about Skype for the Future of Journalism, but I got a bit distracted and went on Twitter. I received a direct message from one of my favorite followers informing me that Tila Tequila held a contest for her fans/army to make videos protesting "Piggy Perez."
I don't know if anyone remembers back when Tila & Perez their twitter war, but during that time Perez told Tila that he would never write or speak of her again. He has kept his word, but Tila seems determined to get some attention from Perez. She will do ANYTHING she can to get his attention.
And, her latest stunt is just cruel. For someone who promotes positivity and claims that she is not a hater, she seems to be advocating the hatred of Perez Hilton. Especially by continually calling him "Piggy Perez."
"TilaOMG: Posting up winner for PIGGY PEREZ PROTEST CONTEST later today on www.MissTilaOmg.com Piggy going DOWN! xxox"
Wait, what? A CONTEST? Really? She goes so far as to hold a CONTEST? Honestly, I used to have some issues with Perez, and even wrote an editorial about how upset I became when he called himself a columnist, but the more Tila hates on Perez, the better he looks to me. This is because he has NOT spoken of Tila or responded to her in any way, shape, or form. She talks about him on her site on a daily basis and is always saying she will "dethrone" him.
Tila's Rot Spot's most recent entry "Special Pets" by Rotty discusses Tila's attack on Perez Hilton for being a "pedophile" and ends with :
"So even though I am no fan of Perez Hilton I can certainly tell you that if ANYONE should or will be spending time in ol' county it would certainly be Titla Tetwatla!!"
So, I decided that after reading TRS & Twitter I would go to MissTilaOmg.com and see for myself what this whole "contest" was all about.
First I saw that there were two "Hater of the Week" posts done within 24 hours of each other, and I wonder if I was misinformed. I thought that weeks were 7 days long, and a "something-of-the-week" could only happen once a week. She posts:
"Listen up TILA ARMY! So for the past 5-6 years Piggy Perez has built his career off of talking shit about people, and making their lives miserable and he’s always trying to ruin celebrities careers. For years, he has been sitting on his fat ass talking shit about people who are better then him so he has been SPEWING HATE and DEGRADING celebrities who has never done anything wrong to him. Well guess what? NOW IT IS TIME FOR PAYBACK!!! I am doing this for ALL THE CELEBRITIES PIGGY PEREZ HAS HURT AND KARMA HAS CAUGHT UP TO HIM, because as you all know, Miss Tila reported that Piggy Perez May face up to 15 years of Jail time for posting up Miley Cyrus’ upskirt pictures!!! Seeing how she is still a minor, that is AGAINST THE LAW! Not only is he possibly facing 15 years in jail, one of his BIGGEST ADVERTISERS DROPPED HIM! OUCH! We here at OMG has found out the major advertiser that was advertising on his site was the people affiliated to ABC! WOW THAT IS A HUGE SLAP IN THE FACE! All this drama with Piggy Perez, well I call it KARMA!
Now about my contest. This is going to be FUN and will raise A LOT of awareness in this industry!"
And then there is a cut where she continues to speak all about Perez. I don't understand how she can yell point and laugh at Perez for losing advertisers when her entire site doesn't even have a single advertisement on it. She just made a long blog post a few days prior basically begging for advertisers. The only ads she has are ads for HERSELF.
"Now about my contest. This is going to be FUN and will raise A LOT of awareness in this industry!!! PIGGY PEREZ MUST NOT GET AWAY WITH ALL THAT HE HAS DONE THESE PAST YEARS! From mocking Michael Jackson’s death, to calling my BFF Will.I.Am a “THUG” and a “FAGG*T” yea way to go PIGGY! Ugh! He needs to be blacklisted from Hollywood, as he is already slowly being blacklisted already!"
How on earth is this going to CREATE AWARENESS? Honestly? I know that it's difficult to prove defamation for public figures/celebrities, but I am pretty sure this is Tila openly encouraging others to defame Perez. She claims he is an ADVOCATE for child porn. I am pretty sure that isn't a true statement, and I am also quite sure that she is maliciously attempting to get everyone on board to hate Perez. This is truly sad.
I continued to read on. She claims that this contest is all about FUN... I read on and learned about the rules of this FUN contest:
"OK HERE IS THE FUN CONTEST WE CAN ALL DO:
- MAKE A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF WHY YOU HATE PEREZ HILTON AND WHY HE DESERVES TO SERVE SOME JAILTIME FOR BEING AN ADVOCATE FOR CHILD PORN AND BEING SO UN-APOLOGETIC ABOUT IT!
- IN YOUR VIDEO, YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING YOU WANT ABOUT WHY YOU HATE PIGGY PEREZ AND/OR ANY SPECIFIC CELEBRITY THAT YOU LOVE THAT HE HAS BASHED ON
- YOU CAN ALSO TELL THE WORLD WHY PIGGY PEREZ NEEDS TO GO AWAY AND HIS TIME IS UP!
- EXPLAIN WHY MISS TILA’S WEBSITE IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN PIGGY PEREZ!
- YOU CAN ALSO PLUG YOUR TWITTER OR FB OR MYSPACE SO PEOPLE CAN FOLLOW YOU!
- THIS CONTEST AND PROTEST IS TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR ALL THE HORRIBLE THINGS PIGGY PEREZ HAS DONE AND THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WILL SEE THIS AND IT WILL CATCH ON AND THE JUDGES WILL START TO NOTICE AS WELL AND HOPEFULLY WILL MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION. PIGGY PEREZ NEEDS TO PAY FOR HURTING CELEBRITIES NON-STOP FOR THE PAST 6 YEARS!!!!!! HE EVEN PICKS ON KIDS! WTF! UNESSESARY!
- ONCE YOU ARE DONG MAKING YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEO, SEND ME THE LINK OF YOUR VIDEO! SEND YOUR VIDEO TO: SUPPORT@MISSTILAOMG.COM
- EVERY SINGLE DAY, I WILL PICK OUT THE BEST VIDEO’S AND POST THEM UP UNTIL THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY CAN SEE THAT NOBODY LIKES PIGGY ANYMORE AND THEY NEED TO PUT HIM AWAY!
- TILA ARMY, START MAKING THOSE YOUTUBE VIDEO’S! PIGGY PEREZ NEEDS TO PAY FOR WHAT HE DID AND WHAT HE DID TO MILEY CYRUS AMONGST EVERY CELEBRITY, MAKING LIES ABOUT THEM, HURTING THEIR CAREERS!
SO TILA ARMY OR ANYONE ELSE WHO HATES PIGGY PEREZ, START MAKING YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEO’S RIGHT NOW AND STARTING TOMORROW AND EVERYDAY AFTER THAT, I WILL POST UP MY FAVORITE VIDEOS AND LINK BACK TO YOUR PAGE SO MORE PEOPLE CAN FOLLOW YOU! LETS GO! NOW IS THE TIME!"
Is this a joke? Seriously? This has to be a joke. Tila is HOLDING A CONTEST for people to defame and ridicule Perez while at the same time talking about how much BETTER she is than him? Honestly? This is sad. Tila does not care about the pedophile charges - Tila cares that it is PEREZ HILTON.
Miley Cyrus said that she was wearing underwear in the photo that Perez posted, and since Tila has ALSO posted photos of Miley in her underwear.. should she really be doing this?
The ALL-CAPS seems so obsessive:
"EVERY SINGLE DAY, I WILL PICK OUT THE BEST VIDEO’S AND POST THEM UP UNTIL THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY CAN SEE THAT NOBODY LIKES PIGGY ANYMORE AND THEY NEED TO PUT HIM AWAY!"
EVERYDAY? She is going to post a video of someone saying mean things about Perez on her site EVERYDAY? What on EARTH is this going to accomplish. Well, apparently, it is going to accomplish showing "the entire industry" that "nobody likes Piggy anymore."
Honestly.
She is almost 30 years old, and she is doing this?
I can't even understand why anyone would do this.
This contest is not a protest or any way to get awareness of child pornography. This contest is her way to make herself feel like people like her more than Perez.
"TILA ARMY, START MAKING THOSE YOUTUBE VIDEO’S! PIGGY PEREZ NEEDS TO PAY FOR WHAT HE DID AND WHAT HE DID TO MILEY CYRUS AMONGST EVERY CELEBRITY, MAKING LIES ABOUT THEM, HURTING THEIR CAREERS!"
Tila. You have done exactly the same things he has done if not to a farther extent. At least Perez doesn't post all about himself all the time. He actually goes out and does interviews and *gulps* I never thought I would be defending Perez.
"Ok everyone, we can GET THIS FUCKER! START SENDING ME YOUR VIDEO’S NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Seriously? I think that there is a limit as to how many times you can attack someone in a single post. And, for the "TILA ARMY" who reads my posts. I have mentioned numerous times that I do not "hate" Miss Tila. I actually was one of her fans back in the days of "Shot of Love," and I still LOVE her song "Paralyze."
"Change Tila" left a comment to Tila saying:
"Talk shit about celebrities? LIke who? Megan Fox? Paris Hilton? Gaga, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, the Kardashians, etc... the list goes on and on... Oh wait a minute... YOU DO THAT TOO! But guess who he doesn't talk about? YOU! That's because you're not a celebrity. You're a hypocrite. And you know what else? Maybe someone reading this will forward the pictures of young Paris Hilton your posted, as well as the panty shorts you posted of Miley to the D.A., as well as the pics of you wearing next to nothing and videos of you stripping, as well as the info of the main demographic you're targeting... minors!
POW!"
But there are some who agree with Tila. Like the comment posted by "TamaraJadee:"
"what perez did is so wrong. all he ever does is degrade innocent people and ruin their careers. tila is on the celebritie's side because she knows what it's like to go through that. i say perez should go to jail because what he id was absolutely horrible and disgusting. his a theif, a liar, a fake, and a pedophile."
I had to make this blog post; which interrupted my writing of my skype blog post, because it shocked me.
Miley Cyrus isn't pressing charges against Perez, and she sure as hell doesn't need help from Tila Tequila to make Perez "pay for what he did." Miley says that she wants to move on, and that shows that the 17-year-old is more mature than our 28-year-old Mogul.
---Nikky Raney
p.s. you may have missed my latest youtube video where I directly address that I do NOT "hate" Tila.
Koman Coulibaly: USA Slovenia World Cup ref linked to BP Oil on Twitter
To say that Koman Coulibaly - the World Cup Soccer referee for the USA v. Slovenia match who made the now infamous non-call, call, eliminating what would have been the United States go-ahead score for a 3-2 win - is the most hated man on Twitter is a massive understatement.
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| Koman Coulibaly |
But, on second thought, it could be said BP stuck it to the USA twice. If, of course, such news as a BP payoff were true. As of this writing, it's not true.
Here's a sample of the tweets, and there are a lot of them:
Jesus_M_Christ
Rumor has it BP paid off idiot referee Koman Coulibaly to distract everyone from the oil spill. #WorldCup #BPcares
about 3 hours ago via web
Top Tweet 100+ Retweets
andrewgooding
In a historic first, FIFA referee Koman Coulibaly accepted today's Man of the Match award for his defensive efforts for the Slovenia squad
about 4 hours ago via web
Top Tweet 100+ Retweets
williamfleitch
I think Koman Coulibaly should be happy his awful call went against the U.S., rather than, say, Colombia.
about 4 hours ago via web
Top Tweet 100+ Retweets
Jesus_M_Christ
Rumor has it BP paid off idiot referee Koman Coulibaly to distract everyone from the oil spill. #WorldCup #BPcares
about 3 hours ago via web
100+ Retweets
JigmeUgen
IRONY ALERT: Koman Coulibaly, the referee who didn't award that last goal to #USA was born on 4th of July, 1970. #worldcup
That last tweet is true. Koman Coulibaly was born on July 4th 1970, US Independence Day. With that bit of information, it's only appropriate the USA call independence from Koman Coulibaly's bad call.
USA vs. Slovenia World Cup - fire Koman Coulibaly!
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| Landon Donovan leads comeback |
That the USA's third goal scored by USA sub Maurice Edu, after Landon Donovan's initial kick, wasn't counted by referee Koman Coulibaly, who called a mysterious penalty accusing the USA for being offsides when there was no evidence to back such a claim, has sent many Americans into an angry lather.
I overhead one woman say to another at Merritt Station, an Oakland cafe, that she wasn't even a fan of Soccer and didn't start paying attention to it until today's game. She was so upset over the non-call, call, it was all she talked about to her friends.
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| The 3rd USA Goal |
Who is Koman Coulibaly?
While Koman Coulibaly is not known to the casual American soccer fan, Coulibaly's well-known in World soccer circles. Koman Coulibaly has been a referee since 1993. According to The World Referee, Koman was selected for the Africa Cup of nations in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. In 2010 Coulibaly was selected for The World Cup. while Koman's resume is impressive, that does not mean he's incapable of a mistake. This was a huge one.
As the video above shows, while Koman Coulibaly called an offside on the USA, there was no evidence of such. Moreover, the USA's own players were not told officially just what the call really was. Nothing. Zip.
The outcry against Mali-resident Koman Coulibaly is so loud, it has resulted in a brief revision of his Wikipedia page to read "Scientifically proven the worst referee of the century. The worst" according to The Sporting News, with a screen shot of Koman's Wikipedia page.
The non-call, call cost the USA a World Cup win. Now, the USA must beat Algeria and hope that England defeats Slovenia.
FIFA website fix?
You'd think the comments on FIFA's website about the USA v Slovenia match would reflect the outrage expressed by many Americans, but not one as of this writing concerns the call. I've got to believe FIFA's eliminating any comment that would call the outcome into question. That's the only reason for such a development and that's outrageous in itself.
Instant Replay for World Cup
The World Cup Soccer system and contest should have an instant replay provision. These matches are too important to the World to allow games to be marred by such developments as the one today.
Stay tuned.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The Alley Oakland and the apartment fire next door
If you live in Oakland, or were just visiting from San Francisco on Wednesday night, perhaps you saw the flames coming up from a building on Grand Avenue, just up the street from the Grand Lake Theater.
What happened was an apartment unit at 3323 Grand Avenue and in the same building as the famed bar and grill called The Alley, caught fire. While the flames rendered the renter of the unit without an apartment, the good news is The Alley is still open, operating, and undamaged. It's a blessing because the fire could have spread to The Alley itself; it did not.
How the fire started is not certain, but sources told this blogger, who visited the establishment last night three hours after the fire, the unit was owned by a patron who allegedly has a drinking problem and was drunk before the fire started.
Once the fire was discovered patrons of The Alley worked with others who lived in the building to quickly put out the fire. All that remains is for fans of The Alley to come down and buy a drink or two and celebrate that it's still with us.
The Alley is at 3325 Grand Avenue in Oakland, California. It's known for Rod Dibble at the piano.
World Cup Soccer Scores: Mexico beats France 2-0
Fans of Mexico, watching the World Cup Soccer match against France on a big screen in front of San Francisco's City Hall, were going totally nuts as their FIFA Soccer team made their first goal to tske the lead Thursday.
Mexico eventually won, upsetting the higher-ranked France team 2-0, giving a new look to World Cup Soccer Scores, giving them 4 points, placing them into a Group A tie with Uruguay and setting up what should be an epic battle, while pushing any hope France had for a World Cup out of the window. Here's France second and final goal of the match:
Mexico, ranked 17th versus 9th for France, reportedly missed four goal attempts before connecting for the fifth time. The Christian Science Monitor reported that France's offense was "slow to develop" and were out-hustled by Mexico.
With matches like Mexico - France, it's becoming harder than ever to predict the World Cup Soccer winner.
Don Perata Interview - Oakland Mayor's Race
Of all the candidates in the Oakland Mayor's Race, Former California State Senator Don Perata, a Democrat, is the one who has the mosts: most experienced, most talked-about, and most controversial.
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| Don Perata |
I've known Don Perata for at least 17 years, and have seen a different side of Perata than what's painted elsewhere. When I was a columnist for The Montclarion, Don Perata was an Alameda County Supervisor, and before that he was a school teacher. Then, as I worked for the last two Mayors of Oakland before Ron Dellums, Perata became California Assemblyman, then California Senator. Over that period of time, Perata has always been a friend.
To my mind, the next logical place for Perata was Congress and the Senate, so I was shocked that Perata instead ran for Mayor of Oakland and not the Senate. (That takes nothing away from U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer; it speaks to Perata's overall experience.) That was why I did not come out and immediately support Perata for Mayor. Don Perata as Mayor was just different from the World view I have of Don Perata.
A long talk with Perata
Because of our history, Perata and I talked a his campaign office for 31 minutes on camera, and 40 total off of it. We could have talked for three hours. What follows is a summary of the total interview, which is in the video above.
Why did Don run?
We got right to the question of why Don Perata is running for Mayor of Oakland. "I've always wanted to be the Mayor of Oakland," Perata said, "it's kind of ironic. The last thing i'm gonna do politically is be elected mayor of the city. It's just because I love the city. I think it's got, unlike the State of California, which am now persuaded is not governable with its current structure, Oakland is. It's large enough to make a difference; small enough to get your arms around. And I can. I'm in a position in my life right now where I can do it."
Perata also points to the murder of four Oakland police officers by Convicted Felon Lovell Mixon in 2009 as the other reason why he decided to run for Mayor of Oakland.
Why is California ungovernable
Perata's statement is based on the loss of tax revenue due to the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. Prop 13 reduced California property tax rates, which were as high as 16 percent in some counties, to a uniform 1 percent state wide. The resultant loss of revenue has wrecked California's public service and education system for the last generation.
Perata also points to the 2/3rd majority needed to pass tax and revenue initiatives, which he says gives "one third of the population control over the future of the state." He says 18 to 20 percent of the California electorate can control what happens to the majority.
Perata's disappointed in California GOP Governor and Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger, who Perata says came in from the "outside" and "unprepared" "kinda like Meg Whitman," Perata said. Whitman is the EBay chief who's the GOP representative running for Governor of California against Jerry Brown.
Perata, of course, supports Jerry Brown, and talks as if he thinks the election will be a cake-walk for Brown, saying "I hope Jerry can fix the place. He certainly knows Sacramento. He proved in Oakland when he was Mayor that he could certainly feel the pulse then act on the pulse. But I'm telling you, it's a killer."
Don Perata on The Mayor of Oakland as a "black seat"
I do not duck from racial conversations and am delighted that my practice upsets some people, but race is a part of life that can't be ignored and is always there in our face. Oakland, for years, has been considered a "black town" and because of that, it was thought that the Mayor of Oakland should be black. Oakland's history until the 70s was that of a small town ran by a few white business men and blacks were in the background.
All of that changed when Lionel Wilson became Oakland's first black mayor in 1976, taking office in 1977. Given Oakland's mostly black demographic at the time, and the passage of the Civil Rights Amendment the decade before, and the overall more intelligent evolution of race relations in America, Wilson's rise was logical.
But Oakland's population has changed and is moving toward that perfect racial balance I predicted would happen in The Montclarion in 1994. Institutional investor racism, which caused development dollars to leap-frog Oakland, relaxed when Jerry Brown was elected Mayor of Oakland in 1998.
Since that time, and Brown's effort to develop more market rate housing units in Downtown Oakland as part of something called "The 10K Project," Oakland's population has been altered dramatically. So much so that, again, Oakland faces the prospect of having its second white Mayor in three terms. I asked Perata if the idea that some in Oakland considered the Mayor's office a "black seat" gave him pause, because blacks may not know the white Don Perata.
Perata said "I've been white all my life....Three out of the last four Mayors have been African American. And I think people will speak to that, themselves, whether or not they were happy or disappointed. I've found - and I've represented Oakland my entire career - I've never found that anyone asked first what color I was. They wanted to get something done. They really want: don't con me. Don't push me off. I don't care if it's your job or not. I elected you; I want your help. It's never, ever, and I've told my staff that; if someone calls, has a problem, help them solve it."
How has Oakland changed?
Don Perata says the good side of Oakland's change is that "it's become more pluralistic. We have a lot more of an integrated community." The bad side of change is in education, something of concern to a person who was, for 16 years, an educator. Perata blames Prop 13 for an edcuation system that he says "is failing us." How does Oakland fix that?
"I do not think there's a political will to fix Prop 13," Perata said. He points to the action of what he called "Devolution": sending revenue raising power for education back to California cities and away from Sacramento. Perata thinks Oakland's historic generosity will cause it to pay more for education. Don says the job is to convince the Oakland Hills people to help those in the flatlands.
Maintaining Oakland safety
Don Perata quotes Woody Allen, who said "half the part of life is just showing up." Perata applies that view to his belief that the Mayor of Oakland must be out to show up where crimes have been committed to show Oaklanders that the mayor cares. "When we had the takeover robbery as we did in Piedmont Avenue. The Mayor goes in with his staff to show that Oakland is a safe community..You go where things are happening to show that the Mayor cares...This is a city in dire need of leadership."
On the Leadership Vacuum in Oakland
In one of our many inteviews, Oakland City Attorney John Russo said there was a leadership vacuum and that Don Perata and Jean Quan recognized that. We picked up on Russo's claim that essentially, there's no run running the City of Oakland and getting the City Council to do anything is like herding cats.
Perata says the Mayor of Oakland must set the pace and can do so because its a strong mayor system that was installed by Jerry Brown. The Mayor is accountable: "You appoint all the department heads...You prepare the budget...You have to have; politicians are lousy at forward planning, but that's what we have to do."
Don Perata said he'd talk to the Oakland City Council more often, which he says is something Jerry Brown did not do when he was mayor. "Then you can communicate the plan for this administration," he said. "We're not going to have seven districts where they are sovern and they can say 'this project is not going into my district.' Those days are over with," he says.
Perata disagrees with Greg Harland on Police salaries
Mayoral opponent Greg Harland thinks Oakland police and fire officials make too much money compared to other cities and the only way to control the budget is to reduce their compensation. Don Perata says that its important to have well-compensated police officers to keep the city safe. He disagrees with the idea of reducing police and fire compensation, although he did not mention Harland by name; I did.
Perata pointed to the current Oakland City Council public meetings on the Oakland budget as a sign of the City Council not wanting to address the budget problem head on: It's a little late in the game to be having budget hearings," Don said. "I think that what they're doing right now is an avoidance tactic. I think they don't want to make a decision, so have a lot of meetings. They should have been working on this thing for the last 10 months. They got concessions - good concessions - from police and fire a year ago. We knew, when those were made,they never bothered to have any ongoing discussions. Then they start jamming people from the dais. And I'm getting a little tired of picking on the guy that does the work."
The impact of Carjacking on Perata
I asked Don Perata how being carjacked effected him. In December 2007 Don Perata was the victim of an attempt to take his car while he was in it at gunpoint - a practice called carjacking. He was unharmed, but the experience was a traumatic one. "I haven't changed the way I drive or where I drive. But it was a life experience. This kid went on an eight day crime spree. I was the only guy he didn't shoot at." Perata says it resonates with people who say it can happen to anyone.
I think the incident helped to frame Perata's emphasis on safety, because from my question he launched into a talk on the need to control the parolee population in Oakland. Oakland has about 6,800 parolees in Oakland according to Perata. He wants the population to be controlled and "we have to help them adjust and adapt" to society after jail.
Perata on Economic Development and cocktails
Perata thinks helping small businesses like restaurants thrive is the key to Oakland's economy. He pointed to restaurants as one example, stating that Oakland needs more waiter and waitress and bartending jobs that they provide. But humorously, Perata informed me that he "loves my alcohol" and that his favorite drink was whiskey (Wild Turkey) and an Old Fashioned, something of a preference I share with him. Don Perata says it's no trick to mix a good drink; having more restaurants provides the chance for more bartenders to be employed.
Perata wants to have walking beat cops to help restaurants, which, if you think about it, goes back to his concern for safety in Oakland.
Sports in Oakland
Don Perata and sports in Oakland share a long history, the recital of which, in this segment, is so extensive it would be unfair to other candidates to give a full view of it. Perata was one of the first elected officials to work to bring the Raiders back to Oakland and has a long standing and good relationship with Oakland Raiders Manager of The General Partner Al Davis. Perata has long been a pro-Oakland sports fan, so I asked him about the Oakland's A's efforts to leave the city.
"I've been dismayed," Perata said. "I don't know who's right or who's wrong, but I know when you start actively going to another city and doing press conferences and things of that nature, that's out of bounds." Perata said that Oakland is a city with a rich sports tradition, "We should not have a team taken from us." But that does not mean Perata thinks we have a blank check to build a stadium.
Both Perata and I were surprised the San Francisco 49ers won the stadium vote. He thinks it's going to be hard for Santa Clara to afford to build an NFL Football stadium.
Ending the Coliseum Joint Powers Authority?
Don Perata said something that was music to this blogger's ears: changing the awfully managed and terrible Coliseum Joint Powers Authority. The "JPA" as, it's referred to, was established in 1996 really as a legal seat for the issuance of the $290 million in bonds that paid for the upgrade of the Oakland Coliseum to cause the Raiders to return to Oakland.
Oakland Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente directed an effort that resulted in the expansion of the JPA from two people, the Oakland City Manager Craig Kocian and Alameda County Supervisor Susan Muranishi, to eight elected officials, 50 percent city and 50 percent county.
During that process, De La Fuente engineered the ugly ouster of then-President and Peerless Coffee Boss George Vukasin, Coliseum head Bob Quintella, and a great staff of operations people.
With that, the days of the Coliseum being ran as a private corporation were over and replaced by the hyper-political and massively secretive and inefficient organization that presides over the Coliseum today. An organization which hired SMG to run its operations under a maintenance-deferred contract that has not been completely reviewed by the Oakland City Council yet, as of this writing.
Perata wants to change the JPA from its current form. "I we have to get out from under that," Perata says. "We can still own it," but he favors a private ownership structure.
Perata on The Golden State Warriors and San Francisco
The Golden State Warriors are for sale and some media type have been beating the drum for the organization to move to San Francisco. While the reality is that's not going to happen officially, there's enough talk about it to have some Oaklanders concerned. Perata said "If I were in Sacramento right now, and they were talking to San Francisco like they're talking, I'd figure out some way to womp um." San Francisco, he says, does not have the corporate base they used to have. Perata thinks we have to fight for what we have and start talking to the 49ers owners, the Yorks, about having the 49ers share the Coliseum with the Oakland Raiders.
The Mayor's Office under Perata
Perata says he and his staff will spend time in the community. He wants the best department heads working in Oakland. He wants to be a mayor who's, as he says "present." He wants to know every morning what his department heads are going to do every day. There no chance of Robert Bobb returning to Oakland because, as Perata observed, he's outgrown Oakland and become a celebrity in his work to fix the Detroit school system.
Again, Don Perata and I could have talked for three hours. For the entire conversation, make a good meal, mix a stiff drink, sit back, watch the video, and make your own decision on Perata for Mayor of Oakland. His website is Perata4Mayor.com.
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