http://www.dogtowncommons.com provisional notes and haphazard observations Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:48:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Thank you. Bye. http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/03/11/closing-time/ If any of you aren't regular readers of the City Farmer blog, in which an Oakland urban farmer chronicles the trials and tribulations of farming on a vacant lot next to her house, then you're missing out. From today's installment: It's really Edith who decides when to do the nasty. She ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/28/gobble-gobble/ Since I've compared the murder rates of Oakland and Newark recently, I thought I would pass on the sad news that Newark's long stretch of time without a homicide has ended: A 43-day stretch without a homicide in Newark — the city’s longest such period in decades — came to an ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/27/a-murder-in-newark-nj/ This Sunday, 60 minutes will air a story on Chauncey Bailey, the Oakland Post reporter killed in broad daylight on 14th Street in downtown Oakland last summer. It sounds like typical television news magazine fare -- a dramatic "exclusive" interview with accused shooter Devaughndre Broussard by celebrity anchor Anderson Cooper, ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/23/60-minutes-on-the-chauncey-bailey-case/ So common these days that I almost have trouble keeping up. The Bay Area News Group, which includes the Oakland Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Contra Costa Times, announced a voluntary buyout program today, and warned that if not enough employees opt for a buyout, then some ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/19/more-newspaper-jobs-disappearing/ You just never know what you'll bump into on Youtube: (This was created by Bob Franklin, one of BART's Directors. His website is www.bobforbart.com) http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/18/for-all-the-bart-fans-out-there/ I was thinking about drive-by campaigning, as I mentioned in a post yesterday. And I was thinking about Ron Dellums's frequent absences and disappearing acts, and the recall Dellums talk that seems to get louder and louder with every week and month. With drive-bys and Mayor Dellums on my mind, ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/17/drive-by-governing-by-dellums/ If you've been paying attention to the Wisconsin Democratic primary campaign, you've probably heard that Clinton has been running ads arguing that Obama is scared to debate her in Wisconsin, and he has run counter-ads saying that his priority is getting out and meeting the voters directly, and he has ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/16/drive-by-campaigning/ I wrote last week about the historical similarities between Oakland, CA and Newark, NJ -- and the dramtically different paths they seem to be on right now, with Oakland's murder rate soaring while Newark's plummets. Well, a week later, the contrast looks even starker. While Oakland just had its most violent ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/15/oakland-vs-newark-the-sequel/ We're hearing a lot about the 796 Democratic Party superdelegates these days, since it is possible that they will end up acting as a kind of tiebreaker. Assuming that neither Clinton nor Obama will be dominant enough in upcoming contests to win the nomination on elected (or "pledged") delegates alone, ... http://www.dogtowncommons.com/2008/02/11/this-is-a-party-elder/