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Famous stylist and restauranteur B Smith and Dan Gasby are the hosts for a major party to be held in Washington D.C during Inauguration Weekend, Saturday, January 17th at the lovely B. Smith Restaurant in Union Station, which can be seen in this video: There's a great list of Oaklanders and even former Oaklaners who now live in Washington DC, like former City Manager Robert C. Bobb, To attend, you have to fill out a form, which you can obtain here: REGISTRATION FORM  . Tickets are $150 per person. For more information, call 510-562-5560.

Today, as I was attending the memorial service for Dr. C. Diane Howell, the Oakland City Council selected Councilmember Jane Brunner (D-1) as its new President, replacing and breaking the long string of Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente (District 5) serving in that role. Frankly, I say "Congratulations" to Jane, who was rewarded for her long term of service to her North Oakland constituents.   But I can't help but feel that Councilmember Larry Reid should be the President.  But then one has to have the votes for that to occur, and perhaps Larry counted heads and saw they weren't there.   Regardless of who the head of the helm is, the City has a laundry list of large problems.  According to my friend Tom Guarino of Pacific Gas and Electric, Oakland City Attorney John Russo gave what Tom called an "incredible speech" about how Oakland needs to improve and what to do.    Sorry I missed it.  The City Council has it's first meeting every year, I'

"Phishing" is the act of sending a "safe" looking email that asks you to give out sensitive information: your username and password. That practice has found it's way to Twitter. Here's what you should do if it happens to you.

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Bay Area Women Against Rape, the nation's first rape crisis center, held a house party recently to raise money for programs and services that could lose out on thousands of dollars in state and federal funding in the coming year. About 50 turned out at the home of State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Nadia Davis-Lockyer, executive director of the Alameda County Family Justice Center and a supporter of Bay Area Women Against Rape, the Oakland-based crisis and prevention organization that was founded 38 years ago. The group raised $2,050 for direct client services, which includes about 4,000 calls for rape crisis services annually and the education of another 11,000 people annually through its programs. But BAWAR officials said they also raised awareness about restorative justice programs conducted inside state prisons — some of the "most compelling rape prevention work that the agency has done since its inception in 1971," said Marcia Black

More at Inside Bay Area : “The Raiders dismissed an ESPN report Sunday that said managing general partner Al Davis is negotiating to sell part of the team to a group with designs on moving it to Los Angeles. The report was written by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, who Davis called "a professional liar" on Sept. 30 for his penchant for writing stories about the Raiders without attributing them to named persons employed by the Raiders. On Sunday, Mortensen wrote that Davis and chief executive Amy Trask are negotiating a transaction with a group led by C. Dean Metropoulos a transaction that would turn over at least 10 percent of the Raiders. Mortensen attributed the story to unnamed "league sources." Raiders senior executive John Herrera spoke with Davis on Sunday morning and characterized Davis' reaction to the report as "incredulous." He also vehemently denied the report.”

To say that the year of 2008 was tumultuous for the Oakland Raiders would be in the running for the understatement of the decade. The year started and ended with questions about the head coaching situation, and saw a wide receiver beat up along the way. In fact, for much of the year the actual team on the field was more of an afterthought. read more | digg story

Disturbing home video obtained and broadcast by Bay Area television stations Saturday evening shows the killing of an unarmed 22 year-old Hayward man by a San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Police officer at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, Calif. during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. read more | digg story

This is the first of several videos that are literally flying around the Internet. This one shows the actual clip that has an unarmed BART rider, 22 year old Oscar Grant, shot apparently by accident by a BART police officer. It's followed by the explaination of Karen Vargas who made the video. On Saturday, January 3rd, this newspaper account in the San Jose Mercury News has BART police claiming that Mr. Grant had scuffled with them. But the video does not show this. Here's the newspaper: Oscar Grant was unarmed when he was shot by a BART police officer who was standing over him at the Fruitvale station early on New Year's Day, said Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris, who has been hired by the victim's family to investigate the death. Grant, 22, of San Leandro, was fatally shot on the BART platform shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday, police said. BART officers were called to the station in response to reports of fighting between two groups of men on board a train bou

"Brighter colors, brighter future," were the words Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis used to preface his call with reporters early Sunday morning... read more | digg story

Yes, there are Oakland Apartments in safe places! You can indeed find them, especially if you use our Oakland Apartments Blog. You can give us tips on the best landlords too! read more | digg story

According to the family's lawyer, it sounds like there is a lot of gaps and holes in this story. This is a very sad story, and I can't imagine the frustration and agony that this family is going through trying to piece together exactly how their loved one died in such a public place on one of the busiest nights of the year. VIDEO COMMENTARY: full story on the Oakland Tribune.....

More at SFGate.com : “(01-02) 23:22 PST -- McClymonds senior guard Will Cherry didn't score until the second quarter, but he provided plenty of buckets when the defending state champions finally awoke from an early slumber Friday night. Cherry poured in 26 points and host McClymonds, The Chronicle's top-ranked team, beat Fairfield 66-45 in a physical, turnover-laden game between Division I schools. It was the 45th straight victory for the Oakland school, which improved to 13-0.”

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — The trial of Devaughndre Broussard, charged with murder in the August 2007 killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey, is unlikely to begin until late March, it was decided Friday. Broussard's attorney, LeRue Grim, said during a brief appearance in Alameda County Superior Court that he was not yet prepared for trial and asked for a postponement. Judge Joseph Hurley set another hearing for Jan. 30. "Hopefully, we set a trial date at that time," Hurley said. Prosecutor Christopher Lamiero did not object. Broussard, who was working as handyman at the now defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, stands accused of gunning down Bailey on Aug. 2, 2007. He recanted a confession he now says was false to protect bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV. Broussard is the only person charged in the Bailey case. Bey IV is jailed awaiting trial in an unrelated kidnapping and torture case for which he and three co-defendants face life sentences if convicted. They are also exp

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Henry Chang didn't want a job as an Oakland City councilman. He had served on the Planning Commission and Board of Port Commissioners, but a job on the city's legislative board seemed unappealing. "I always told myself before that I would never be a council member, because it was crazy to be a council member," he said. "You know, people beat you up, all these things. I would rather be on the other side and know the council members ... but I sure did not want to be on their side." That changed when a dying Frank Ogawa made it clear he wanted Chang as his replacement as the city's citywide council representative. Chang was appointed in 1994 to fill the seat when Ogawa died. Fast forward to 2009 and Chang, 74, is retiring after a 14-year stint in the chamber. Voters sent him to City Hall three times following his appointment. Chang will be replaced Monday by Rebecca Kaplan, who, at 38, is barely half his age.” -- Henry C

More at Inside Bay Area : “RICHMOND — News this week of arrests in the Dec. 13 gang rape of a lesbian brought relief to many in the community, some of whom were so outraged that they led police to breaks in the case. But even as the resolution is lauded, gay-rights advocates and local and national crime statistics portray a gloomy truth about hate crimes against people based on their sexual orientation. Until the root causes of bias toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are addressed, "we'll continue to have hate perpetrated against us," said Shawna Virago, a program director for the San Francisco-based advocacy group Community United Against Violence. The group reported 304 crimes against Bay Area gays in 2007, the latest year for which complete statistics were available. That amounted to an approximate 6 percent increase from 2006.” -- What I want to know is who's doing this and why? What's the deal?

I made this 12Seconds.tv video as a quick response to the Brooklyn (Oakland) blogs assertion that John Russo should run for Mayor of Oakland: on 12seconds.tv

More from "BIG VINNY" : “MASS LAYOFFS AT BAY AREA TV/RADIO TO BEGIN NEW YEAR; TED ROBINSON AS NEW 49ER VOICE: CLOSE HAPPY NEW YEAR? AS 2009 hITS, A "HUGE" AMOUNT OF INDUSTRY PINK SLIPS WILL FLOOD THE SF-OAKLAND RADIO/TV MARKET, THE NATION'S 4th LARGEST. AN INDUSTRY SOURCE SAYS RADIO WILL GET THE BRUNT OF THE HITS, PARTICULARY THE "SECONDARY" SOURCES STATIONS USE, LIKE METRO TRAFFIC. KGO RADIO, OWNED BY CITIDEL, WILL SEE SIGNIFICANT LAYOFFS, AS WILL KNBR, OWNED BY ATLANTA'S CUMULUS BROADCASTING. THE SOURCE OF THE LAYOFFS? CONTINUING AD REVENUE SHRUNK TO RECORD LOWS DUE TO A STRUGLING ECONOMY. WATCH FOR DETAILS” Richard Liberman, AKA "Big Vinny", has done a great job covering the Bay Area Media scene. Visit his blog at bigvinnysbayarea.blogspot.com

More at The Oakland Tribune From the Trib: "OAKLAND — Barring any deadly New Year's Eve revelry, Oakland is poised to finish with 124 homicides in 2008, three fewer than the 127 recorded in 2007. Regarding numbers, it is not much of a change. But in a city where homicides seem to get more public interest than other crimes and in a city looking for any kind of good news when it comes to crime, it was reason for optimism. "I'm the eternal optimist," Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said Wednesday. "Three less is better than three more. But we are not satisfied with that, and we will work harder to get those numbers down to double-digit reductions." There were eight homicides in December, six fewer than in December 2007. One of the eight was a man who died from a beating in April. Another was a determination through new evidence that what had been considered an accidental killing in July was actually a homicide."

This video by YoutTuber rebeccabelin1 was created at ACote restaurant in Oakland on College Avenue New Year's Eve. It's just people -- hey, no one of color? -- saying some funny things. The camera holder says she looks like a Transvestite. A man says that the Flip Video camera she is using -- I use one -- looks like a cream sickle. I must agree. The only misgiving I have about this fun time is that all of the people in the video are, well, White. And I wonder what goes on where some folks in Oakland don't have racially diverse friendship bases. Undoubtely the person would say they have friends of color, but are they more acquaintances than friends? Friends are people you invite to join you at events like that one. They're the people you make a call to, not just see on the street. I hope the folks in the video make a concerted effort to have a friendship base that's racially diverse in the future. That's the real strength of Oakland, or at least it was.

This is another great "JibJab" video, this one on our California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As JibJab put it: "This funny video has Arnold Schwarzenegger going after the governor's office, and he won't take no for an answer. Part political satire, part action movie block buster, all hilarious. Hasta La Vista, Davis!" It's a funny retrospective as we head toward the 2010 race for California Governor, one that's paced by California Attorney General Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.