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Hey, if you've never visited Saul's at 1475 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley, this week's the time to do it.  They've got a Hanukkah Dinner special I'm told is really great.  It has: Goat stroganoff (Niman's Ranch goat), Matzo crusted rock cod with fish from Monterey Market and a local fishery, Moroccan chicken tagine with organic chicken from Petaluma Farms, vegetarian tagine, spinach cumin latkes, traditional potato and onion latkes, and Niman Ranch braised. It's through December 28th.    

As of this writing, NORAD tracked Santa in Baltimore! Check out http://www.noradsanta.org for the latest Santa siting!

This is the second day of my Denver flight delay story. After not making UAL 7515, I managed to get a free room at the Marriot Residents Inn in nearby Aurora, CO. The next morning, I got up to get back to Denver Airport. This is that portion of the ordeal.

More at SFBG Politics Blog : “As the year winds down, I’d like to note what I consider to be the most politically courageous act of 2008: Attorney General Jerry Brown’s decision to reverse his position and urge the California Supreme Court to overturn Prop. 8. This was a deeply principled decision that went against Brown’s political self-interest considering the fact that he’s planning to run governor in a state where a majority has approved Prop. 8. And that political danger was exacerbated by Brown’s post-election statement saying he would defend Prop. 8, as attorneys general are generally required to do, opening him up to the dreaded flip-flopper label. But his new position is consistent with important constitutional principles (as I outlined in the Guardian almost a month before Brown adopted his new stance) and well-worth taking a gamble to do what’s right, the kind of act that is all too rare in modern American politics. ” -- And I second that award. Jerry Brown did act in a way

More at MashGet : “A federal court in Northern California has awarded Verizon $33.15 million in what the company is calling the largest cybersquatting judgment ever, Verizon announced Wednesday. Verizon filed the case against OnlineNIC, a San Francisco-based Internet domain registration company, claiming it used Internet names--663 to be exact--that were chosen to be easily confused with legitimate Verizon names, according to Verizon. It might hard, however, for Verizon to actually collect on the judgment, which was a default ruling, or one entered against a defendant who fails to answer a summons. No one appeared in court on OnlineNIC's behalf or in its defense, Verizon said.”

This is the second day of my Denver flight delay story. After not making UAL 7515, I managed to get a free room at the Marriot Residents Inn in nearby Aurora, CO. The next morning, I got up to get back to Denver Airport.

Well, after all that, the flight was so overbooked, and I was on standby, I did not get on. So, I've got to get a hotel room and stay in Denver for the night.

As I upload this new video I am still at DIA - Denver International Airport - and Gate B56 where the flight to Atlanta, United 7515, was to have departed at 6:56, but will not leave until 10 PM. The reason: bad weather in Iowa

More at SFGate : “Dellums said the city's deficit, which was $42 million this year, could balloon by 2012 to nearly $113 million, with revenues that year projected to be $456 million and expenditures at $569 million. The city has relied heavily upon property transfer taxes which have dwindled with the mortgage meltdown. Retail sales taxes are floundering while the costs of providing police and fire service and maintaining parks and other basic city services are rising.” -- This is a great time to create new Redevelopment project areas, if only to capture whatever property tax revenue we can, otherwise it had to be shared with BART, AC Transit, and other entities. Regardless, the zero-sum game is not fun and will lead to their loss. The end answer is a going to be a total bailout by the Federal Government, in some kind of way.

Tails Of The City : Budget crises threatens lives of Oakland shelter animals : “CORRECTION: Oakland Animal Services will now be exempt from the holiday closure and will remain open in order to protect the welfare of animals. More than 180 adoptable animals at Oakland Animal Services may be euthanized during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day because of a City-ordered shutdown. Because no animals can be adopted during the mandatory shutdown, and stray animals will not have completed their state-mandated holding period, the shelter will be forced to euthanize more than 20 adoptable animals daily from December 26 through January 2.”

California Lt. Gov. adviser pleads guilty in child porn case - Inside Bay Area : “SAN DIEGO — An adviser to Lt. Gov. John Garamendi has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer. The U.S. attorney's office says Wade Sanders admitted Monday in federal court in San Diego that he possessed a computer with more than 600 sexual images of minors. The computer also had a 21-minute sex video depicting prepubescent girls. The 67-year-old Sanders was Garamendi's senior adviser for veterans and military affairs at the time of his arrest. He also served as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy under President Clinton.” -- All I ask is why do that?

/More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — An emaciated-looking California sea lion that wandered to the edge of an Oakland International Airport runway was sent to a marine animal hospital Tuesday. Marine Mammal Center workers recovered the animal by 1:30 p.m., after airport workers had noticed it a few hours earlier. "Our rescue workers waded through the water and found the animal acting pretty lethargic until they netted it," Marine Mammal Center spokeswoman Mieke Eerkens said. "It doesn't appear to have any other major injuries, but we'll check it out when it arrives in our Sausalito hospital."”

Contrary to Dave Winder, I think President-Elect Barack Obama's choice of Rick Warren was brilliant in that it's forced a dialog America's not had, and will cause Warren to move to the center on the matter of Gays and Lesbians ans Gay Marriage.

I have to write with more than the usual amusement regarding the postings I've seen on the recently-held " Oakland Blogger Get Together  " because this blog you're reading is the only one that's updated daily, gets more traffic than the others, and doesn't ignore parts of Oakland, and has the only writer who actually worked in Oakland politics -- me.   So, as they do, they formed their own meeting -- an entire "White's only" gathering.  That's sad.  Perhaps I'll host my own gathering, but it will be of a different kind to be sute.  First, racially mixed.  Second, reflective of those who are at the cutting edge of New Media in Oakland, and that's beyond the small group of bloggers that got together.  As I said to Paul Cobb  , there's a "White Blogger group" and true to form, these folks proved it.  And its not as if they don't know who I am; they do and could have invited me.  In fact, that's the problem: they

Visit Spot.us : “What's really wrong with OPD? The reported failings of the Oakland Police Department are serious and well-known. Cops lie to obtain search warrants. Brass assign detectives with known ties to the suspects they are investigating. On any given day, the department has an absentee rate of 30 percent. Morale is in the cellar. The current chief has taken a leave of absence, and from the outside, it's not clear who's running things at 445 7th Street. By interviewing current and former Oakland police officers I hope to arrive at a deeper understanding of what ails OPD, what internal culture gives rise to the failings described above. This is not the sort of reporting that is likely to turn up evidence of concealed wrongdoing, but rather it seeks to shine a light on problems that are hiding in plain sight.” -- Only $31.73 to go to raise money for Alex Gronke and The Oakbook to cover this story. It's part of a new website company called "Spot.us" where

Happy Holidays! I'm Zennie Just saying 'hello' to the Seesmic Community! After months of thinking about doing it, I finally did it: contributed a video on Seesmic.com  , Loic Lemur's video conversation venture, featuring my friend Cathy Brooks, who was one of his first staffers. I remember when Cathy was totting around a laptop showing Seesmic at work; that was last year, 2007 at a STIRR Founder Hacks Meetup! Wow, how time flies!

This gem of a video presents the trash and pollution problem around Oakland's Lake Merritt, and what people like Dr. Richard Bailey are doing about it. Bailey explains that storm drains put trach into the Lake and says that we should ask if the drains are regularly cleaned to prevent this from happening. For more information go to http://www.lakemerrittinsitute.org, or help Bailey clean the Lake!

In this CBS5 video interview with Sherry Hu and Phil Matier, Oakland City Attorney John Russo talks about Barack Obama's victory in the November election and the matter of how Prop 8 passed.

More at Oakland Tribune : “The Raiders' all-around impressive 27-16 victory over the red-hot Houston Texans on Sunday had those who braved the cold and rain at the Coliseum roaring their approval and likely wondering if this was a one-game aberration or a harbinger of things to come.”

More in SFGate : “(12-20) 23:34 PST RICHMOND -- Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of four men who allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped for nearly an hour a 28-year-old Richmond woman, who was left naked when they fled in her car.”