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"Yes We Can" is the new musical and video tribute to Senator Barack Obama for President by Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt. I was asked to co-produce and distribute the video on behalf of Maria Muldaur and Joel Jaffe of Studio D Recording in Sausalito , CA. It's not to be confused with the first great "Yes We Can" video and song by Will-I-Am, which is a terrific and pioneering work of its own. Also see www.yeswecanthevideo.com "Yes We Can" - Tribute to Obama By Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt Press Release: Singing Legends Team Up For Obama Tribute Song and Video Here's the video: > On Metacafe. > On Google > On My Space > On Crackle > On Sclipo > On Viddler > Dailymotion > On AOL "Yes We Can" by Zennie Abraham is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License . Based on a work at www.yeswecanthevideo.com . Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.yeswecanthevi...

This video is nothing less than a monologue on how some remaining female supporters of Senator Clinton for President are, in pointing out sexism, being sexist themselves. I point to Salon.com's Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh as a main example and as one who looks the other way when Michelle Obama is the target of sexism and racism, but not Senator Clinton, followed by Harriet Christian, the terrible and outwardly racist Clinton supporter who gained national attention for her racist and sexist rant against Senator Barack Obama at the DNC Rules Committee Meeting of May 31st..... click for the rest at Zennie's Zeitgeist .

Long time Oakland Tribune reporters Bill Soliday and Dave Del Grande were two of the 24 Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times reporters let go for "financial reasons" as the newspaper industry continues to fall with the steady transfer of ad dollars from print media to online sources. I leaned of the two reporter's demise while out with friends. This story on the blog Mediafade, fills in some blanks. One reporter thinks their layoffs have to do with support of the union, The Newspaper Guild. Ha. She does not get it. Many old media folks don't get it. Just last year, the top ad buyers shifted $1 billion away from print and TV and to the Internet . It giving way to publicaions like, for example, Zennie's Zeitgeist , which is rounding up sponsors for its DNC Convention coverage. The times are a changin.

According to ResistRacism and SF Gate , the City of Oakland will pay $2 million to settle a case where Oakland Police Officer Richard Valerga sexually harrassed 16 Asian American women under the color of his role as police officer. Hopefully, the officer spends six-months in jail at least. But here's his lawyer's argument against that: When Valerga entered his no contest plea, his criminal defense attorney, Paul Brennan, said he could ask that Valerga not receive any jail time because he has no criminal history and had distinguished records as a police officer for six years and as a member of the U.S. Navy. The problem with this argument is the officer's admission of "no contest" is that it throws open to question just what he was doing during his six years of police work, and how many other women were harrassed -- I don't mean comments, but GROPING -- over that time? Come to think of it. What was he doing in the U.S. Navy?

Earlier this week I flew to Denver for the DNC Convention Media Walkthrough, which was more of a briefing on various issues concerning the facility than just a walkthrough of Pepsi Center. The video's here: And you can read about my trip here > DNC Convention Media Walkthrough

Someone's watching my blog posts about Chevron and its battle to clear its name in Ecuador and Nigeria, and sent an email I can't trace, but it provides a good counter to the East Bay Express' article which reads as a clear attack piece on the oil giant. This is what the person who calls themselves "Blind Emailer" -- anything but -- sent to me: The Richmond City Council has an excellent opportunity to improve the quality of life for its residents on July 15. That’s the day when it will meet to decide whether to allow Chevron to make important improvements at its Richmond Refinery. Chevron is proposing to make upgrades to its machinery that will enhance environmental controls, reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency and increase the amount of gas produced that meets California’s tough environmental standards – all without expanding the refinery or increasing the overall amount of fuel it produces. One would think that any responsible elected official w...

Oakland City Attorney John Russo and Oakland City Auditor Courtney Ruby held a press conference calling for reforms in City of Oakland personnel and ethics policies on Wednesday, July 9th in Hearing Room Two at Oakland City Hall. Russo and Ruby (sounds like a law firm) put together a press package that's quite extensive and calls for more study than most press people will give it. But the initiatives are broken down into the following categories: 1) Strengthen Anti-Nepotism Rules 2) Reform Personnel Department Procedures 3) Fix Records Management 4) Protect Whistleblowers 5) Establish Employee Ethics Program Press from KGO Radio, KTVU, KPFA Radio, NPR, and others were there. But this is the only full video of not just the press conference speakers, but the questioners as well. The press conference was well-attended, and even drew people like Pat McClough, who ran against incumbent Councilmember Jane Brunner in this year's election battle for the Oakland District One City Coun...