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I finally got the chance to edit, compress, and upload this boat ride I took with my friend Phil Tagami on August 31st of this year. Phil's a real estate developer and managing partner of California Commercial Investments / California Commercial Group.  He also has his own video show here called "Tagami Vision." He successfully redeveloped the Oakland Rotunda, in downtown Oakland, CA, and is now working on the recreation of the Oakland Fox Theater. Listen to this video because Phil gives a great view of the economic state of development not just in Oakland, but in the United States. Also, keep in mind this video was before the election and just after John Edwards annouced that he had been in an affair. Tagami supported Edwards, but later and through the election threw his support to now President-Elect Barack Obama.

I visited Tony West of Obama for America and the law firm Morrison and Forrester on Monday of this week to talk about the campaign and why it worked so well and West's future. West is well known in the San Francisco Bay Area as an excellent plaintiff's lawyer.   But West is also known as a friend of President-Elect Barack Obama. West met Obama in 2004 and offered to help him should he elect to run for President. When Obama did, he called West and thus began West's role as Chair of the fundraising committee for Northern California. It also started a round of basketball between the two that's gone well enough for Obama to give West a pair of his shoes to wear for games.   Since Obama's election win, West's name has been floated for Mayor of Oakland, a position in some capacity for Obama, and Alameda County District Attorney. West himself says his future may include remaining with Morrison and Forrester as a lawyer. West's wife Mia was just recently

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

  Paul Cobb is a long-time Oakland, California writer, activist, community organizer and now publisher of the Oakand Post. I met Paul at his office in Downtown Oakland to talk about a wide range of subjects, but the two I was most interested in talking about were who killed Chauncey Bailey and what Paul thought about the current Mayor of Oakland, Ron Dellums.   Bailey was an Oakland journalist who was supposedly murdered by people associated with Your Black Muslim Bakery (YBMB) on August 2, 2007.  But Cobb and others believe that the chain of events that led to someone, perhaps Devaughndre Broussard of YBMB,  murdering a journalist in the line of duty is more complicated and may lead to people and institutions one would not expect. Cobb's assertions regarding the relationship between Bailey and members of the Oakland Police Department would seem to match the concerns expressed in this website article by the Chauncey Bailey Project .  The person who shot Bailey was wearing a s

This is an update of my first video on a clash between supporters of state Prop 8 and those opposing it. I went back to the same MacArthur and Lakeshore corner featured in the first video.  

The elections fast approaching and the campaign to elect Senator Barack Obama for President is heating up with a great GOTV effort.  You can early vote and find an "early voting" rally near you with a click here:  http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/caearlyvote