Oakland Endorsements: Obama, Kaplan, Yes On N, No on 8

My endorsements are "right down to the wire" but here they are and I explain my selections in my video above and I will update the text with my reasons.


Barack Obama / Joe Biden - President of the United States
Barbara Lee - Congressperson District Nine
Loni Hancock - California State Senator
Sandre Swanson - California State Assemblyperson
Dennis Hayashi - Alameda County Superior Court Judge
Rebecca Kaplan - City of Oakland At-Large Council Seat
Chris Peebles - AC Transit Board
Greg Harper - AC Transit Board
Proposition 1A - NO on High Speed Rail
Proposition 2 - NO
Proposition 3 - Yes
Proposition 4 NO (What about homeless kids)
Proposition 5 - Yes
Proposition 6 - Yes
Proposition 7 - NO
Proposition 8 - BIG NO
Proposition 9 - NO
Proposition 10 - YES
Proposition 11 - NO
Proposition 12 - Yes


Oakland Measures


Measure N - Yes
Measure MM - Yes
Proposition OO - Yes
Proposition VV - Yes
Proposition WW - Yes

Oakland-Born Skakir Stewart, Def Jam VP, Died From "Self-Inflicted Gun Shot Wound"

This is said.  Only 31 years old, Skakir Stewart, the 31 year old vice president of Def Jam Records, died outside of Atlanta, GA of a "self-inflicted gun shot wound."  Why he would do that is anyone's guess.  He seemed to have the World on a string.


This is a kind of bio on him:

Shakir Stewart was born in Oakland, California and realized very early that the music "business" was his destiny. In 1989, Shakir worked the neighborhood music scene as a club promoter. Recognizing that his flair for marketing and promoting had limitless potential, Shakir enrolled in Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia and in 1996, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing.

During his years at Morehouse, Shakir became known in the then, budding, "dirty south", as a concert promoter; promoting for top notch talents like Luke, Scarface, Nas, Too Short to name a few. Immediately after graduating, he incorporated the art of negotiating into his marketing & promotions arsenal, partnered with a few acquaintances and started a promotions company. The company's success led to the opening of a just as successful recording studio, Noontime Music. It wasn't long before Shakir Stewart found himself forming a joint venture with Epic records.

His accomplishments at such an early age caught the attention of Hitco Music Publishing, signing Shakir as their Creative Director. It was during his time at Hitco, that Shakir's A&R talents were unearthed, as then President of Arista and Hitco's owner, Antonio "L.A." Reid offered him an A&R consultant position with LaFace Records, of which he was the CEO.

After a triumphant run at Hitco, Shakir resigned and was hired as Vice President of A&R at Island Def Jam Music Group. And in October 2006, after only eighteen months onboard, Shakir Stewart was promoted to Senior Vice President, A&R, Island Def Jam Music Group, by Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio "L.A." Reid, and President of Island Def Jam, Shawn Carter, B.K.A, Jay-Z.

To his credit, Mr. Stewart is responsible for signing such talent as R&B sensation Ciara, rap stars Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, publishing the successive no# 1 hits in Billboard's Hot 100 Chart as Destiny Child's "Survivor", Outkast's "The Way You Move", both Beyonce's "Crazy in Love", and "Baby Boy" and assembling and organizing Usher's massive hit "Yeah" on the twelve time platinum album Confessions.

Obama goes to GOP territory:Can he unite Red & Blue America?

Senator Obama in the last stretch of his nearly two years campaign goes back to his message of uniting America between the Red States and the Blue States. It won't be an easy task, especially after the divisive campaign of Sarah Palin. She has being on the trail calling her supporters " real Americans ". The healing process will take time.

read more | digg story

Want a Free Education? A Guide to Free Online Video Lectures

The rise this year of a host of new Web video sites targeting high-minded, edifying content suggests that today's marketplace of ideas is rapidly moving online. From interviews with obscure geniuses to splashy marquee names and hoary conference proceedings, an entire back catalog of cerebral Web video is steadily accumulating online.

read more | digg story

Mayor Dellums Lousy YouTube Channel - Dellums Needs New Media Training

I feel I'm more qualified than most to make this assertion: Mayor Ron Dellums YouTube page channel is a year late and lousy.  Why a year late?  Because I'm the person who told the Mayor's communications staff they needed a YouTube channel, among other things.  This came at a lunch I had last year with one of Dellums' communcations staffers who would regularly contact me.  


I had considered writing a proposal for my company to be their new media consultant, but then thought better of it when I realized I may be giving up this blog's ability to write what it pleased unless I contractually asked for it.  Then I also pondered that writing such a proposal may just give them basic answers for free.  So I pulled back.  


But over lunch, this YouTube page is one idea I said was basic.  But it's not enough to have one, and there's a lot of problems with the channel. For example the video on Dellums speaking at the Cathedral of Christ the Light has only 101 views in one month as of this writing.  Many of my videos get that -- or more -- in one day. The video's about to get a boost because it's here:





The other problem is that the effort, is...selfish. You can figure out what I mean yourself. Look, it's good that the Mayor finally gave his staff rhe go-ahead to do this, but I know I'm the catalyst for it. But now that they've done it, I have to explain this is one part of a more complex whole and they're not getting it. It's not "having" a channel that's the answer. It's what you do with it, and that's a riddle for them to solve.


Of course, my company's services are still available, but I must reserve the right to get on your guys butt via these blogs when necessary. The channel/s a start -- a lousy one -- but a start.

Oakland Raiders historically pathetic against Atlanta Falcon

After getting beat physically on the road by the Baltimore Ravens, the Raiders came home to face the Atlanta Falcons. The results were even worse. The Raiders offense put up a performance worse than anything conjured up during the heyday of the Tom Walsh "Bed and Breakfast" offense.

read more | digg story