Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Jean Quan and her supporters put together a video about her work with youth, neighbors, and merchants on how to take Oakland back and lower crime and violence block by block. About Pamela Drake- I'm one of Jean's supporters. We urge you to call her campaign office at 444-Quan or go to jeanquanforoakland.org. Jean will be the hardest working mayor Oakland has ever had!

Anyone that opposes the West Oakland Eminent Domain Project is invited to sign the online petition. City Council meeting for public comment is October 5th, 6:30 PM City Hall

Oakland Mayor's Race Forum first take. (Which means, there's going to be more of these posts on last night, because a lot was happening.) This just in: The Oakland Tribune's out of touch with Oakland. A number of attendees of the 450 estimated said they learned of the Oakland League Of Women Voters via "the newspaper." All of the people who made that statement were over 50 years old. Still, the forum, which attracted every candidate except Dr. Terrance Candell, was a success. The auditorium at 300 Lakeside Drive seats 380 people, so if you do the math, it was about 70 over capacity. The crowd was a happy mix of supporters of candidates and long-time observers of the Oakland political scene. The one complaint they had was there wasn't enough time to hear what the candidates were about. That wasn't because there were too many candidates, but due to the format. Either Oakland Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds or the League of Women Voter...

Oakland Mayor Candidate Terrance Candell The Oakland Mayor's Race gets crazier. In 90 minutes something is about to happen that's never went down in Oakland's history. At 6:30 PM, three Oakland Mayoral Forums will take place at the same time. One, the "first planned" one, is the infamous Oakland League Of Women Voters Forum that was going to have just two candidates, then opened it to all of them. The other, the "counter-forum" as this blogger calls it, is being produced by Terrance Candell.  The third is the "other candidates" forum at Calvin Simmons Theater at 10 Tenth St. The Oakland LWV Forum is being held at The Kaiser Center Auditorium at 300 Lakeside Drive; Terrance's one-man Q&A is being held at the Laney College Tower Forum. And the "other candidates" forum is at The Calvin Simmons Theater across from Laney College. All three start, as mentioned, at the same time. Dr. Candell's forum started in re...

( First on Zennie62.com ) Meg Whitman , the California gubernatorial candidate and former eBay CEO, already loathed in this space for her passive-agressive Oakland campaign headquarters, is under fire now for a statement she made about Fresno, California, saying "It's awful..it looks like Detroit." The comment was ill-considered in several ways: First, she made it before the Editorial Board of The San Jose Mercury News. Second, she insulted a not one but two cities: Fresno and Detroit. Third, it's the second time she's dissed a California city in some way. The first time was in Oakland, when Whitman's staffers set up an office on Lakeshore that looks like a fortress and at one point had signs that reported 24-hour surveillance, but with the word misspelled! Here's the video : Jerry Brown Fails To Capitalize Meg Whitman's many shortcomings and history of issues have not been drilled into the collective conscious of Californians. The on...

( Post originally at Zennie62.com ) Obama Terror Attack Quote: the definition of "absorb" - keep that in mind. The Internet's ablaze with news, blog, and soon video and audio chatter about President Barack Obama's quote in Bob Woodward's new book Obama's Wars . The Right Wing of the blogsphere's especially excited over the so-called statement by the President that America "could absorb" a Terrorist attack. The right, looking for whatever edge it can get politically, is prone to great leaps in misjudgement. Want an example? Look no further than Senator John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Not to digress, the problem of Couch Potato Conservatives rests in their lack of desire to think. Thus, failing to ask one simple question: what's the definition of "absorb." Here are all of the possible definitions: 1. To take (something) in through or as through pores or...

Are NFL Head Coaches Benching Black QBs Faster Than White QBs? It's a pattern that's starting to emerge, though not in a neat way. On Sunday, Tennessee Titans QB Vince Young (black) is benched after a 3 interception one fumble performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers for Kerry Collins (white). Oakland Raiders QB Jason Campbell (black) is sent to the sidelines after lackluster first-half play against the St. Louis Rams, and replaced by Bruce Gradkowski (white). The Philadelphia Eagles trade Donovan McNabb (black) to make room for Kevin Kolb (white), who doesn't play because of a concussion last week, and gives way by need to Michael Vick (black). Vick, even though he's playing lights-out football, is forced to be humble and say "This is Kevin Kolb's team" because Andy Reid says so, even as Vick's proved in two straight games (and in preseason) that he's a better quarterback. The point is that many NFL head coaches seem quick to pull t...