Donald Trump Gets Roasted

Tonight on Comedy Central will be the roast of Donald Trump, previews show that Mike Sorrentino aka The Situation will probably be getting it worse than The Donald.

Watch it tonight at 10 pm after Tosh.O

posted from Bloggeroid

99ers Hungry & Homeless NOT an Emergency - But Japan Is?

I cannot understand how 99ers being hungry and homeless is not an emergency, but Japan Is?

I believe that anyone going hungry or homeless should be an emergency that must be tackled and resolved immediately by the powers that be - after all which is worse:

• Acute hunger and homelessness knowing that help is on the way?

or

• Prolonged hunger & homelessness knowing there is no help in sight?

The disaster and tragedy playing out in Japan is horrendous and every available resource must be used give aid and comfort to those effected. On the other hand, the USA who has yet to address the hunger and homelessness of millions of it’s own people must take care of the crisis on it’s own shores.

It makes me sick that our President, who has yet to utter the term “99ers” in public for more than 1 year now has mentioned Japan several times over the past week. Congress has focused it’s ‘post Japan disaster rhetoric’ on how “safe” nuclear power is in this country. The terms: Safe Nuclear Power or Clean Coal always strike me as intentional myths, like the term: Virgin Whore - exactly who are they trying to kid?

Fact is, the only thing these members of the US Congress or the current Administration care about is the campaign contributions the big power companies put into their pockets and NOT the Safety of the US population. They lie and twist the facts and claim they are doing the “will of the American people” when nothing could be farther from the truth. If Wisconsin showed us anything at all it is that the “Will of the People” is one thing the Republicans couldn’t care less about and neither does Obama. For all his campaign promises to “march on the side of the workers” the first time the opportunity presented itself during his presidency - Obama was a no show!

Anyone who believes that our government or the Japanese officials for that matter are giving us the straight scoop on the nuclear portion of the current disaster - is only fooling themselves. The thing is, if the governments were honest about what is really happening due to the failed reactor incidents in Japan - the stock markets would crumble.

So we can infer from this intentional omission of the real facts that the US and Japan care far less about protecting the masses of poor, now in the path of huge radiation exposure and the resulting health consequences and care far more about protecting the wealth of those heavily invested in the markets. In other words, “Business as Usual” for our greedy leaders.

Perhaps this will finally wake up the world about the consequences of continuing to serve the needs of the few and risk the well being of the masses. Germany seems to be getting the message.

On Saturday, March 12, at the protest in southwestern Germany, demonstrators formed a human chain between the Neckarwestheim nuclear plant and the city of Stuttgart, which are 28 miles (45 kilometers) apart. Some waved yellow flags with the slogan "Nuclear power — no thanks." Organizers put the number of protestors at over 60,000.

The demonstration was planned long before the post-earthquake blast at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, but the fears of possible disaster gave an added focus to opponents of the technology in Germany.

So why can’t the US seem to get the message? Most of the nuclear power plants in California are said to be able to withstand a potential quake of up to 7 on the Richter Scale. With approximately 20 quakes in the last decade over the threshold of 7 - the present state of safety of these structures is in extreme jeopardy. Now is NOT the time to cut funding or repeal regulations that could further imperil our populations near these sites and around the world. Something the Republican Congress needs to be reminded of daily.

Another thing the Congress needs to be reminded of on a daily basis is the continuing effects of the man made 99er disaster playing out in every state of the union, unabated and unresolved with nobody coming to the rescue.

Before anyone condemns me for criticizing the USA’s rapid aid response to Japan - DON’T - I believe that every bit of help is needed to assist the Japanese at this terrible time of vulnerability for their country.

I simply cannot fathom how the US Government and main stream media can continue to put the suffering of Millions of American 99ers - for more than a year now with no help in sight - on the back burner yet again in favor of the latest “crisis of the month” - Remember the BP oil spill nearly one year ago?

From 20 April through 15 July 2010 for hours on end the media constantly showed the gushing oil from the bottom of the gulf. Had they featured the suffering from one 99er family each hour in addition to that gushing broken oil well - we might have already by now resolved the 99er issue and I’d have nothing more to write about....a development I look forward to with immense, happy anticipation - however it isn’t bloody likely to occur anytime soon.

Oakland Ranked Choice Voting Complaints An Insult To Mayor Quan

There's still discussion over the new Oakland Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) system, with the latest article suggesting that a number of voters didn't understand it. Well, that's wrong headed and an insult to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan that's starting to sound like that high-pitched whine journalists make over the sale of The Huffington Post to AOL. Look, the November election's over and Quan won.

Moreover, Jean Quan won because a healthy number of voters did understand RCV - enough to product an incredible outcome.

In our election recap, Oakland City Attorney John Russo actually explained how Quan could win over Don Perata, who scored about 35 percent of the first-choice votes, before she won, then said that the possibility of Quan getting three-quarters of the second-place and third-place votes was so remote, it wouldn't happen. See this video:



But guess what? It did happen. Russo actually called it. Moreover, it means, once again, that Quan and Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan's gamespersonship worked. That's right. They smartly gamed the RCV system in telling their supporters to vote for the other person's candidate. Nice work.

And before you get upset over my use of that term gamespersonship, which was deliberate, calm down and consider the reverse. Don Perata didn't play the game. He failed to use a campaign strategy of working a deal to make sure even his supporters knew who to pick for second and third choice. Think of what may have happened if none of his supporters picked Quan as their second choice?

Now you see the point.

Even if all voters understood RCV, it would not have translated into a different outcome. The playing field was open to anyone willing to apply a little game theory and marketing. That's what Quan and Kaplan did.

Now Quan's the Mayor of Oakland. Get over it, please. We have too many problems and still not enough jobs for Oakland residents. We need more than a new retail store; we need a manufacturing plant. Our focus should be on Oakland's economic development, and not on ranked choice voting.

The Fighter: Irish Pat Lawlor: Boxer On Beating Roberto Duran, Boxing Poem

Today, while with my friend Thomas Bonk at a bar called La Rocca's at Chestnut and Columbus in San Francisco's North Beach, and making the first videos of what will soon be the Thomas Bonk Show, I had the pleasure of meeting a boxing legend. The Fighter: Irish Pat Lawlor, a San Franciscan who fought, on-and-off, between 1987 and 2005, and in some of the most memorable matches in boxing history.

Irish Pat Lawlor's career was marked by three major victories over fighters Roberto Duran, Wilfredo Benitez and Rene Arredondo. But separate from the joy of winning and fighting 12 boxing champions, was the grind of being a career boxer. Someone who fought to make the rent.

But, even while posting what became a 23-16-1 (7 KOs) record, Lawlor's never-say-die attitude and winning personality carried him through. His determination allowed him to later (in my video) describe his win over the intimidating Roberto Duran as "easy." It also caused him, at one point, to run for San Francisco Mayor on what was described as an "arch-conservative, anti-gay platform."

But all of that, some 20 years ago, seems well in the past, and Lawlor's a far more willing to go-along to get-along today. The kind of guy who will buy the bar a round and engage in friendly banter, as he did today.

Of late, Lawlor's become known for "The Boxer's Poem," that he recited in the video without a break and for just over 3 minutes. It's a riveting poem Lawlor delivers in a riveting way, and starts like this:

Sometimes I think it's a lowdown shame
the way I try to hang in this rough, crazy game
My body is aching, my hands and feet are sore.
And I'm getting really tired of pulling myself up off the floor
It all started as a tribute to a friend ...

From my research my video is the first to have Lawlor actually speaking a poem only written about before.

The variation of the poem Lawlor tells today is different from the one recorded in text in 2001. It focuses more on the loss of a friend than the prostitute that the boxer sometimes is. This version, the 2011 version, is softer and more touching that before, but packing no less of a punch.

Irish Pat Lawlor's still got it, just in a different way.

Gilbert Gottfried Fired By Aflac For Tsunami Jokes On Twitter

Gilbert Gottfried, best known as the voice of the duck in the now-famous Aflac commercials, has ducked up. Aflac, the insurance company, wasn't too secure with his Twitter tweets about Japan and the Japanese in the wake of the worst natural disaster in that nation's history. So, Aflac fired Gottfried.

Apparently Mr. Gottfried knew he was wrong and wanted to maintain his job because he removed the offensive tweets. But that was too late, as they were picked up by a number of blogs, of note, The Huffington Post. Here are the Twitter tweets of concern:

I just split up with my girlfriend. But like the Japanese say, "They'll be another one floating by any minute now."

Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them.

One thing's for certain, Gottfried is out of a job. But this blogger has to question Aflac, because from reading his remaining Twitter tweets, it's OK to insult black men! Witness:

RealGilbert Gilbert Gottfried
@.@LisaLampanelli Black convicts are RMAO (ramming my ass off)!
11 Mar

RealGilbert Gilbert Gottfried
@.@LisaLampanelli Maybe no more black convicts for you, but I constantly visit Rikers Prison for a good ass fuck.
11 Mar

RealGilbert Gilbert Gottfried
.@LisaLampanelli You married a white cop! Does he mind you fucking black convicts?
11 Mar

RealGilbert Gilbert Gottfried
@Abner_Malitee What did he say this time?
10 Mar

RealGilbert Gilbert Gottfried
My doppelganger or my Sammy Petrillo, which ever you prefer. Marlee Matlin's interpreter, Jack Jason. #Roast http://twitgoo.com/20owp2
10 Mar

RealGilbert Gilbert Gottfried
Me backstage at the #DonaldTrump #Roast with a very large black gentleman. http://twitgoo.com/20obop
10 Mar

Good for Gilbert Gottfried getting fired, but couldn't Aflac have been more comprehensive in its reasons?

Oakland Marathon and Running Festival 2011: Gene Brtalik Interview, Lake Chalet, Oakland

Gene Brtalik and this blogger got together again and for the second time in a year to talk about the Oakland Marathon and Running Festival 2011 to be held March 26th and 27th 2011. We met for lunch on a beautiful Friday on the dock at The Lake Chalet; a perfect lake shore backdrop to talk about the running race that will pass by it on March 27th.

Gene's the Director of The Oakland Marathon, and has settled in to being a Bay Area resident and head of a successful event that promotes the city. He moved here two years ago, noticed that Oakland didn't have a race, and talked to the head of Corrigan Sports Enterprises back east in Maryland about starting one in Oakland. The result was the 2010 Oakland Marathon that drew 6,300 runners. A good 20 percent of them from outside the Bay Area.

The race course they run, as Gene points out on the video, takes in much of central Oakland, from Jack London Square, to Lake Merritt, then the Oakland Hills, and finally downtown Oakland; 26.2 miles for the full run, 13.1 for the half marathon. And all along the course, music groups played, and will be there again.

Changes For 2011

Gene says that many of the Oakland Marathon's changes for 2011 center around making the course more "driver friendly." For example, last year they went down Fruitvale; this year they're going down Coolidge. And this time the course avoids Bellevue for those who want to go to Children's Fairyland.

The Runners Expo is bigger this year, and the 5K this year is at Jack London Square, where as it was at Lake Merritt in 2010.

Registration At 7,000 Runners

Already there are more runners registered this year than last year: 7,000 as of the writing of this blog post. You can still register at the website here: www.oaklandmarathon.com

Oakland Marathon: The Best Of Oakland

Gene reports that a post- 2010-race survey revealed that 90 percent of people surveyed said that they left with a positive image of Oakland.   One person saw Lake Merritt and loved it so much, he bought a house there.  That's the best news of all because, as Gene says "Oakland's not as bad as members of the media have made it to be."

Atlantis Found in Spain

Time magazine online reports that researchers are claiming that they may have found the lost city of Atlantis in Spain:

"The new proposed site of Atlantis is 60 miles inland, submerged in the swampy Dona Ana Park north of Cadiz, Spain."

Discovery Channel's show Finding Atlantis aired last night, Sunday, showed that the city which was swamped by a tsunami may be found. Reuter's reports that the U.S. led research team used satellite images:

""This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.

"It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a University of Hartford, Connecticut, professor who lead an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.

To solve the age-old mystery, the team used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multi-ringed dominion known as Atlantis."

It will be interesting to see what more is found as the series progresses.