Oakland needs superheroes

Nobody's put it out there yet, so I'm going to go out on a limb.

We need superheroes in Oakland. A Watchmen-like troupe would suffice. A seething mass of face-punching justice wranglers who can instill a sense of loss and mortality in the d-bags who are robbing local restaurants in the Oakland area. Most people have eaten at least one of these restaurants in the area. I can't back this up on e-paper...I don't have the results of a properly structured social study...but there some discrete quantitative data points numbering three or more (indicating a trend) that concisely tell us that this phenomena is increasing.

We don't need to arm the populace. We just need superheroes.

We need a few people who know what's going down, and where it's going down, so they can be there when it goes down, and twist fools. Someone, somewhere knows where the next round of robberies is going to be. Someone knows who's going to do it. That means the heist is avoidable, or, shall we say, conducive to bringing the proper big scary people who knock down doors and beat/maim/kill...fine...apprehend the bad guys.

We need people who can roll through to Ron Dellums' pad, sneak into his room, nudge him awake from his cozy Depends fortified slumber, whisper in his ear: "You are not doing your job Mr. Mayor...the Edgerlies of your city are running it...do something now, or we will."

We need Chip Johnson to be granted superpowers, so he can bust on fools who pistol-whip workers and patrons, package them for pickup for the cops, then take pictures of the perps, and then post them in his column where he'll expose their names and addresses.

Then...once a semblance of safety is returned to the streets of Oakland, we can turn our attention to the rotting, decrepit, desiccated, and corrupt zombie-like corpse we call City Hall and perform some major reconstructive surgery.

So far I haven't been able to find any postings on Craigslist offering superhero services (although someone's selling a superhero suit). If anyone finds one, please comment with the contact info, so I can get in touch with the person and discuss the role and compensation.

Mayor Dellums: Flaccid Impotent Bookend from the Past and His Crazy Adventures in Oakland

Way to go Dellums!

Whoo-hoo! The FBI issued subpoenas for current and former Oakland City Hall non-elected officials in connection to fiscal tomfoolery and crusty backhanded shenanigans enacted upon Oakland's coffers.

One of the recipients is Deborah Edgerly. She was the top non-elected official in Oakland since former Mayor Jerry Brown, and boy did she like to stick it to the man! Er...the taxpayers of Oakland.

I no longer live in Oakland, after departing to suburbia to raise a family, but I still love the city. Say what you will, Gertrude Stein, but there is plenty of 'there' there.

I do work in Oakland, and like other residents, we're all well aware of the embarrassing state of the public school system, increasing crime (hello robbers in the hood), and ineffectiveness of the current Mayor.

He's been living up to his moniker: The Quiet Mayor. He's staying out of the limelight, avoiding the press, and not saying much. He's also not doing much to improve the situation. What the hell? Does he think that the edifice of the eponymous Federal Building is going to be able to hide his ineffectiveness in managing his staff and the city?

Let's just take the case of the recent spree of 'takeover' robberies. Granted the state of the economy is somewhat to blame for the increase in crime, and that doesn't excuse the perps, but it does beckon the Mayor to step up and get serious about cleaning up City hall and improving the safety of individuals who are directly responsible for providing income for the city: namely local restaurateurs and related business owners.

I never saw the appeal in Dellums. He seemed pleased with himself for his past accomplishments, and thought that it'd be cool to chill in pseudo-retirement in a city that was so corrupt and mismanaged that it wouldn't make matters worse for him to stroll into office, pronounce some vapor policy, and then fade into the woodwork all the while touting his new 'political transparency' model.

Is this the same guy who voiced so much opposition in the 80s against arms development and the refocusing of federal budgetary expenditures and was lauded by Nancy Pelosi and other high-ranking dems?

Oakland's Project Mayhem

I'd just ported over my blog to wordpress, and have been tinkering with stuff over there, when just today I find that Google has finally put some effort into enhancing Blogger...so I'm going to try it out.



Meanwhile, I came into work today (it's been busy, hence no postings) and found that the 12th St BART Station was closed because of 'police activity'. Normally this means the cops had to lay the beatdown on someone who was acting a fool, but SFGate reports the presence as a result of a 'suspicious device'. Sheriffs, OPD, BART po-leece, and helicopters were in full force. Still, my money's on the real Oakland gangsta pictured at left.



Who dat, you ask? That's Deborah Edgerly. She alledgedly interfered in the police towing her nephew's car, and threatened them to call Internal Affairs, while also warning her nephew about an increased police presence because of his affiliation with his rough riders. Her nephew, rolls with some other thug-lifas in Oakland. What is it with this city? Ron Dellums is sitting in his office, drinking his Ensure, while the city continues to crumble.



If I didn't know better, I'd think Project Mayhem was running afoot in my hood.



Regardless, things are looking good on the horizon, once we can clear the air from all the fires, weather a drought, and squeak through a $5/gal gas summer. Truly, now when you see someone rolling an H3 or some other Earth Destroyer 2009 model, it's textbook conspicuous consumption: I drive this because I can afford the shitty gas mileage...or I'm too dumb to care that the cost to fill the tank rapes my bank account.



But seriously people, the light is at the end of the tunnel...and let's hope it's not another train. We're going to be shedding Bushco, and although we're going to be collectively paying for its mistakes through our lives and possibly the lives of our grandchildren, it'll be better.



It's almost like we had to hit rock-bottom to know what we had to do. How bad could it get? Pretty bad. We had to feel it before we could even be ready for the possibility of Obama. Is he going to take it? I think so. Will he be able to prevent people from thinking a 40oz wrapped in a paper bag is a 'suspicious device' inside the BART terminal? Probably not, but it's a start.

Get tickets for Obama rally in Oakland and march in Walnut Creek

Want to go to the Barack Obama rally in Oakland this Saturday?
RSVP to get your ticket: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/oakland0317

In addition, tickets are also available at several Bay Area locations (see below). The current locations are below and additional ticket distribution locations will be available by calling The Obama Rally Hotline at 510-444-4710 ext: 306.

In addition, there's an earlier rally in Walnut Creek. That's right, Walnut Creek. Check out the rally's website for details. The theme is "Starve war, feed peace". Who said bridge and tunnel people care more about SUVs than truth, justice, and the American way?

It starts at 11:00 AM at the Walnut Creek Bart station and will end up in downtown Walnut Creek at Civic Plaza for a rally and a number of speakers will be there, notably Louise Clark, who owns the land on which the Lafayette crosses are positioned, and my friend Mike Robbins, who's been working locally and nationally to support the creation of a Department of Peace. He's on the Board of Directors for The Peace Alliance, and is also the organization's Secretary.

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City Lights Bookstore
261 Columbus Ave. (at Broadway and Columbus)
San Francisco
10:00 am-12:00 am, Mon-Sat
(415)362-8193

Modern Times Bookstore
888 Valencia St.
San Francisco
10:00 am-9pm, Mon-Sat
(415) 282-9246

Pen Dragon Books
5560 College Ave
Oakland
9am-10pm Mon-Thurs
9am-10:45 Fri, Sat
(510)652-6259

Pegasus Books Downtown
2349 Shattuck
Berkley
9am-10pm, Mon-Thurs
9am-10:45pm, Fri, Sat
(510)649-1320

Pegasus Books
1855 Solano Ave
North Berkley
9am-10pm, Mon-Thurs
9am-10:45 pm, Fri, Sat
(510)525-6888

The Book Shop
1007 B St.
Hayward, CA 94541
(510) 538-3943
10-6 Mon-Fri, 9-5 Sat

Willow Glen Books
1330 Lincoln Ave.
San Jose, CA
(408) 298-8141
10-9 Mon/Thurs/Fri
10-6 Tues/Wed/Sat

PowerPac
201 Spear St. @ Howard
Suite 1650
San Francisco
(415) 947-0730
10-5 Mon-Fri