Rollercoaster accident in Knott's Berry Farm By Nikky Raney

NBC Los Angeles reports that 10 people were injured in a rollercoaster accident Thursday, October 7, 2010 in Orange County at Knott's Berry Farm:

Knott's spokeswoman Jennifer Blazey told the Orange County Register that a train leaving the station didn't make it over the first hill and rolled back into another train. One person who was getting into a waiting train and nine people on the train that rolled back were injured.


The ride, known as the "Pony Express" covers a route of 1,300 feet and goes from 0-38 mph in less thn three seconds.

The cause of the accidents is still being investigated, and the six victims were taken to the hospital.

Interview: Dr Cornel West on Bishop Eddie Long, Immigration And Midterm Elections

It’s always enlightening to catch up with Princeton Professor and author Dr Cornel West . Many of us know him for his books ‘Race Matters‘, ‘Democracy Matters’ and ‘Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America’ to name a few.

Cornel West always has some keen insight to loan and he’s good at breaking down complex issue for us to understand. He also comes from a place of love and compassion. He truly wants to see us do better.

We caught up with him the other day and spoke to him about his recent projects. Currently him and long time friend and fellow author/ activist Tavis Smiley are doing a radio show they just launched called Smiley and West.He also finished up his autobiography. He’s also doing some work on an academic book about Jay-Z

During our interview Dr. West spoke to him about his recent trip to Arizona. There he met with leaders in the Chicano & Mexicano community who have been on the front lines fighting the Draconian Law racial profiling, anti-immigrant law SB 1070.

During our convo we spoke about the oppression facing Black & Brown communities and how some have tried to hijack the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. West noted that some have erroneously asserted the Civil Rights movement was only for Black people when in fact it was a movement for justice that included all oppressed people.

A Conversation w/ Cornel West pt2

We continue our interview w/ Professor Cornel West who goes in on President Obama and his lack of policies toward poor people… Cornel talks about the public spat they had where Obama stepped to him and let him know he didn’t like what he said about him in a Playboy magazine interview..

According to Cornel, Obama was upset that he was being criticized for not being progressive. West felt Obama was out-of-order and wish the two could sit down and discuss the matter behind closed doors.

Cornel talks about the state of poverty in this country and why he’s been critical of Obama who he feels has been too cozy with corporate interests. He says he will not silence himself for Obama and that too many leaders bow down after getting a phone call from the White House.

Cornel also talks about the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King and challenges president Obama to be more King-like with his policies

We ask Cornel if folks should vote in the mid-term elections and whether or not Democrats have been too passive. He gives some keen insight as to how we should see the election and deal with groups like the Tea Party

We continue our interview w/ Professor Cornel West.. Here Cornel goes in on the Black church and how its been severely compromised. He also talks about the controversy surrounding Bishop Eddie Long.. Here he explains the difference between Prophetic and liberation theologies and the current wave of Prosperity Gospel teachings. He talks to us about what we as Christians and members of a Black Church should ideally be doing during these times.

Professor West also talks about the new album he’s been working on with funk legend Bootsy Collins.. He says he’s taking it to the next level..

Below is a link to the full podcast where you can also hear the dope songs Cornel has on his last two albums “Sketches of My Culture”, “Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations”. The songs feature everyone from KRS-One to Andre 3000 to M-1 ofDead Prez to name a few.

Here’s the link to the Full Interview…

Full Interview w/ Dr Cornel West

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Tim Lincecum, SF Giants' 14-Strike Outs, Beats Braves 1 - 0 NLDS Game 1

San Francisco Giants Pitcher Tim Lincecum is amazing and amazingly cool. This blogger just returned home from the most incredible baseball defensive display ever personally witnessed.

The scene was tonight at AT&T Park for game one of the NLDS.  The Giants won a shutout, 1 to 0, and Lincecum played nine innings.

It all started with a text from this blogger's friend Emily, who hails from Atlanta, and is a big Braves fan. What we witnessed, great for me, not so for her because it was a loss for the Braves, was a 14-strike-out performance by perhaps the greatest pitcher of our generation.

Tim Lincecum played the entire game and with an ice-water cool such that it seems he was in a studio instead of a record crowd of over 43,000 people. Even Emily, the die-hard Braves fan, said Tim Lincecum's game was on another level. His 14-Ks (strike outs) was a SF Giants franchise record.

Buster Posey Catches A Break

One of the turning point plays involved Buster Posey, who singled in the fourth, then stole second. Or so we thought. According to The Sporting News, Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad tagged him, but second-base umpire Paul Emmel missed the tag and called Posey safe.

Posey eventually scored to make it 1 - 0.

Interesting, because in witnessing the play, it looked like he was tagged out, only to be called safe. So the assumption was that the tag was missed. It wasn't.

That news doesn't make Braves fans happy.

Just ask Emily.

Game two is Friday night in San Francisco.

Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity : another 99er opportunity to be heard

Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity may well be another golden 99er opportunity to be heard, and is sure to be a ton of fun.

Do you live in the NYC area, or can you get to NYC for a free bus ride to the rallies? If so, Huffington Post is offering free bus rides from NYC. Kian Fredrick of UWAG, who also organized 99er transportation from NYC to the One Nation rally, is also organizing 99er transportation to the Rally to Restore Sanity.

If you are a 99er and you want to join other 99ers for this rally, follow the directions below from Kian:
Next Rally in DC: Sat.,10/30: DEADLINE to sign up: This Friday, October 8.

1. Sign up for free buses from NYC to DC for 10/30 Jon Stewart “Restoring Sanity” Rally:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/03/huffpost-sanity-bus-offic_n_745313.html

*Please note: General sign-up at HuffPost is for a seat on a bus only; they make no distinction between who is/is not a 99er. You MUST sign up at HuffPost for a free seat on a bus. DEADLINE: THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8.

2. Let us know you are going so we can include you in the 99er group:
http://flashmobs4jobs.blogspot.com/p/10210-sign-up.html

*Please note: FlashMobs4Jobs sign up is NOT for a bus seat, but to be included in the 99er group and receive special information and instructions for 99ers only. Unless you also sign up at FlashMobs, the 99er group will have NO WAY of KNOWING you will be there. For the next few hours, the FlashMobs site may still say 10/2 Sign-up; we’ll be updating it very soon. Sign up anyway; it is time-stamped, so we’ll know which list to put you on.

You must sign up at BOTH sites to have a seat on a bus and to be included in the 99er-only group. All information is kept strictly confidential.

3. Please help to get this information out to any/all 99er social networking sites ASAP!

If anyone hears of buses from other parts of the country, please post that info on the FlashMobs Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/FlashMobs4Jobs/140646149305185

I’ll also see if I can find info re: cheap places to stay in DC and post it there. Thanks, Kian.

As Kian states, “We must take advantage of any opportunity to spread the 99er word.”

Followers of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are likely advocates for the long-term unemployed and will be supportive of 99er efforts. Stephen Colbert is promoting his own Keep Fear Alive rally that will be held alongside the Rally to Restore Sanity.

Confirm your feed

Greetings, You have chosen to receive email updates from the following sites and/or feeds: Zennie62.com To CONFIRM your subscription, please click the link below: Confirm Subscription To cancel your subscription, please click the link below: Uhh no thanks! To create an account and manage your sites, click the link below: Create Account 2 Quick Tips 1. Add updates@feedmyinbox.com to your address book, so that future emails from us don't end up in your spam filter. 2. Once confirmed, you can expect to receive your first update in 24 hours or so if the feed has any entries. QUESTIONS?? If you have any, simply reply to this email for help. Your friends at, FeedMyInbox.com help@FeedMyInbox.com

CNN Fired Rick Sanchez: Poll Favors Rick; Apology To Jon Stewart On Facebook

In the Zennie62.com / Pollsb poll, a near-clear majority, of 458 votes, 44.78 percent as of this writing, claim CNN should not have fired now-former CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez. This in the wake of Rick's firing for his comments calling Jon Stewart a bigot and saying that CNN was owned by Jews.

Here's the Zennie62 YouTube video:



And here's the poll:

create a free poll on pollsb.com

CNN immediately fired Sanchez last Friday, removing his website profile. Then CNN enlisted Howard Kurtz to talk badly about him on Kurtz' show, Reliable Sources.  A move this space called "Classless."

Also, Rick Sanchez has apologized to Jon Stewart via his wife's Facebook page (his Facebook page, used for his CNN shows, has been removed).

Still A Hot Issue

Rick Sanchez' firing is still a hot issue, and threatens to reach this blogger's 12 day time span for important Internet stories. Thursday, the day that Rick's comments surfaced one week ago, marks seven days. Tuesday of next week will be 12 days.

 According to Google Insight for Search, as of this writing, "Rick Sanchez" went from just below "20" in search intensity October 1st, to almost 100 by October 2nd, then dropped to 40 the next day, and gradually fell to 30 on Tuesday, October 5th. The prediction here is that by next Tuesday, Rick's name will return to it's "pre-scandal" levels of intensity.

Not Fueled By Television

All of this isn't fueled by television, but by the Internet. While the issue started with Rick being removed from a TV show, with the exception of Howard Kurtz' show, and ABC's The View's discussion on Monday, there's been little on television about the issue. But one weekend television program that invests 15 minutes of it's time to the matter of Rick Sanchez' CNN firing could boost the search numbers, yet again.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Pican / Grand Marnier / Zennie62 Female Bartender Event A Success, BUT!

The first Oakland All Female Bartender Competition at Pican and by Grand Marnier and Zennie62 was held Tuesday night, and by all accounts, was successful. Well, except for this blogger, who's Zennie62 name was given as a sponsor - online marketing work was provided - yet, from the impression I received, no one at the event knew that I sponsored it.

That even with the emails exchanged where I did agree to sponsor it, and also agreed to put up the Grand Manier logo on the blog posts.  Plus, I agreed to make a blog about the event and did so.

But for all this, didn't even get a bottle of Grand Marnier.

United 747 Flight Delayed

What was vexing was that my United 747 Flight 973 from Chicago was delayed over three hours, which hampered my plan to show up at 6:30 PM PDT, which was when the event started. Instead, the flight was delayed two hours, then we sat on the tarmac at the gate for another hour. I called and emailed Josh at Pican to explain I would be late; I guess he got the message.

At any rate, I arrived at Pican at 9:15 or so, and to find the Oakland All Female Bartender Competition was history. A duo from Luka's won, followed by Pican's Britt Peterson, and then I later learned a bartender from Era Art Bar. Great.

But what was not great was it seems my blog's name wasn't even mentioned during the event. Also, when I arrived, it was as if I was some Joe who walked in, and not the event sponsor. I had to pay for what I ordered; there was no dinner, as we agreed I would receive.

And Michael Le Blanc, the owner of Pican, didn't even bother to come over and thank me for my sponsorship. And when I mentioned this to him (uh, I had to walk over to him) he said thanks for "helping."

Helping. Helping.

Helping. Like I'm the bus boy or something.  

And Josh, who contacted me about the idea for the event,  just came over and gave me a pat on the shoulder.  

Nice.

So by the end of all of that crap, I wondered what the hell I was doing there. It would have been better to have just went home or even not to have tried to return on Tuesday. Everyone - Pican, Grand Marnier, the event participants - were helped. And now, Pican shows up in Google News searches because of this blog and my work. My sponsorship. What Michael Le Blanc calls "my help."

Sponsorship Is A Business

Folks, I'm not taking comments on this. Not interested in snarky responses from rude people who don't get that sponsorship is a business. Sponsorship is a business or person lending their name and efforts to help promote an event. For that, they expect their name to be mentioned, to get what's called "logo exposure," and to have special treatment as the sponsor. That's business.

The only logo and name exposure, it seems, was what this blogger generated on his own. That's it. I'm really unhappy with Pican Restaurant. Moreover, I'm even more unhappy that the people I was around who I thought were my friends, but turned out to be anything but that.

I'm glad the event went well, but that's not how it was supposed to go for this sponsor.

Tired Of Rude People In Oakland

Maybe this experience is related to the overall epidemic of rudeness that's plaguing Oakland. People doing things to you without regard for your opinion or permission. Like the guy at the bar The Layover, who, even though I'm standing up over my chair with my cocktail on the bar in front of it, walks over and tries to sit down in the chair as if I'm not even there!

I asked him what he was doing and explained that he was being rude. He said "Well, you weren't sitting in the chair." And it never entered his head to ask if he could sit down!

Or how about the woman on the right, who decided to start talking past me to the guy on the left, without saying excuse me and as if I wasn't there. I pointed out that she was being rude as well.

Or how about the really ass-hole people who insist on walking over from your left to pass you on the right, even if you happen to be next to a wall, only to have no explanation for what they did when asked. (Note: stay on your right, and leave me alone!)

In all cases, people are just thinking about themselves without regard for anyone else, in this case me.

Just like at Pican. No one thought about anything other than themselves, and certainly not me. Maybe now, they will. It seems people only pay attention to bloggers when the blogger is upset, never when the blogger does something good for them.

Sad.