Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

In the At-Large Oakland City Council race,  Kerry Hamill's switch from supporting to opposing Measure NN to establish a new tax for police may have been the nail in the coffin of her backing from some persons and news groups. That's certainly true for the East Bay Express, which backed Hamill in the primary but then switched to Kaplan for the general election.  The Express also backed Tom Bates for Mayor of Berkeley.   I will make my video explaining my endorsement choices on Saturday.   

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.  

Assemblyman Mark Leno lays out the case for supporting both state Proposition 8 and San Francisco Proposition H, the SF clean energy initiative on the ballot.  Leno, a former SF supervisor explains refutes many of the fears that PG&E will be "taken over."

Say, remember my post on how I was not supporting the state proposition 1A calling for High Speed Rail because the route did not come through Oakland as I worked to have done when I represented then-Mayor Elihu Harris?   Well, I waa able to partcipate in a debate on the matter at The Commonwealth Club's SF Debate program Tuesday night, and where the prop started out with more yes votes than no votes.  But after my insistance that it was not the right plan and that there were CalTrain plans that were rejected for no good reason , the initiative lost 10 to 7 with a number of undecided observers. The basic problem is that the plan is the plaything of politics -- whoever cries the loudest gets the route and that trumps a system that rightly serves the state in way where poor communities are represented. But what bothered me was the claim by a supporter involved in the project that Oakland's Ron Dellums and staff had done nothing to argue for Oakland. What the hell were

This video presents Day One of the case of Bowoto v. Chevron at U.S. District Court, Northern California, San Francisco. Here Larry Bowoto from Nigeria is accusing Chevron of harming him and his mates and violating their civil rights, and Chevron's counter is that Bowoto and his mates entered there oil production facility and attempted to kidnap Chevron employees. In calling the Nigerian Military police, a skermish unfolded where Bowoto and his mates were alledgely harmed. In this video Chevron's Don Campbell presents Chevron's side of the case; there was no spokesperson for Botwoto's side available.

In my video i observe that Ted Stevens conviction does not mean he was a bad elected official. I also say that America itself is socialist and explain why

The Oakland Raiders are a team in dire straits. There is no need to reproduce the win loss record that is haunting the Raider Nation. It is starting to seem like the losing is bothering the fans more than it is bothering the team, and that is a huge problem. read more | digg story

There was a protest at a Mormon temple yesterday, and I was hoping that the SF Chronicle would tell us about it! So that the GLBT community could see that we aren't letting religious legislation that will destroy families, be proposed and sponsored by a faith. We protested and they should have reported it. Instead they called DKos witch hunters. read more | digg story

I read about the stabbing of Elnora Caldwell today. This is such a horrible story. OAKLAND — An Oakland woman who was stabbed to death Saturday evening had taken out a restraining order against her estranged husband, who was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of her slaying, authorities said.... Read the full story here.

Why does PG&E oppose clean energy and Proposition H in San Francisco?  The SF Clean Energy Gal asks that very question.  See the many guises of Mary, the Clean Energy Gal here and support Clean Energy in San Francisco.

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

  http://zennie62.com This is a video capturing two warring factions - Oaklanders in support of "Proposition 8" which would make Gay Marriage illegal, and those in opposition to the measure. On CNN iReport

Most people don't know that prostitution has only been criminalized in modern times. Selling sex is not a crime. Sex is sold everyday through corporate and independent mediums. Like drugs, legalizing it, allows you to control it, keep it safe, and free up law enforcement resources for more pertinent, non controversial criminal activities. Take the example of Nevada, where some prostitution is legal. It is controlled, reduces the need for pimping, and keeps the girls tested often. Furthermore, who the hell says you can't sell your body for money?? Bodies are sold all the time for money. Look at the porn industry, look at television. Sex is a sold product. Why cant we allow women to sell it for themselves for their own benefit. If corporate America could get between the prostitute and the sale they would. Market forces have no problem making money off sex. Let's understand and move closer to legalizing prostitution.

The question here is where should we put our tax dollars?? Do we put our money into reacting to a crime? Or making sure that crime doesn't happen in the first place? I think we should put our money into preventing crime from happening in the first place. For example, Oakland's new program; Green Jobs Corps. has the right idea. The aim is to offer these training programs in the inner city and in forgotten rural and once-industrial towns where idleness and crime have replaced factory work. There are many programs, not to mention our broken education system, where money is needed to stablize our community which in turn will reduce crime for the long hall. Yes, we need to tax and invest into Oakland but measure NN funnels our money into treatment and not a cure. So Vote 'NO' on Measure NN.

Just a few days removed from beating the New York Jets 16-13 on Sebastian Janikowski's 57-yard field goal in overtime, the Raiders turn their attention to the Baltimore Ravens and their vaunted defense. Oakland will travel cross country to face the top ranked D at M&T Stadium on Sunday as they look to inch closer to first place in the AFC... read more | digg story

Police Preparing For Election Day Unrest "Are we anticipating it will be a riot situation? No. But will we be prepared if it goes awry? Yes," said Oakland Police Department spokesman Jeff Thomason.Wednesday, October 22, 2008 read more | digg story

While the $700 billion bailout and presidential election have dominated the news, the U.S. House passed a major piece of credit card reform legislation. The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008 passed the House on Sept. 23 by a vote of 312-112 (with nine members not voting). read more | digg story

My commentary on the RNC's expenditure of $150,000 for Governor Palin and her family, and my assertion that the McCain / Palin Campaign's charge that Senator Obama is socialist is a racist claim that has it's basis in American civil rights history.

Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. In response to a question sent to the network by a third grader at a local elementary school "What does the Vice President do?", Palin erroneously argued that the Vice President is "in charge of the United States Senate". Reporter asked her... read more | digg story

The rare appearance by the Apple CEO produces a few more pithy quotes than you would usually hear on an earnings call. Here are a few... read more | digg story