Public Comment
Letters to the Editor
NEXT TIME
Editors, Daily Planet:
I think the Daily Planet-sponsored mayoral debate was a great idea. Next time, do it earlier so it makes a difference to the mail-in voters.
Brian Reinbolt
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NEO-NAZI SKINHEAD THREATS
Editors, Daily Planet:
The thought has occurred to many of us—a thought so disturbing we try to put it out of our minds. Then comes newspaper and television accounts of the neo-Nazi skinheads’ threat to behead 80 people and murder Barack Obama!
I’m appalled by these stories, given the sick people and copycats in our society who might pick up on the assassination plot. In making public such demonic threats, the media are doing this country a disservice. To repeat, many of us do have fear of the unimaginable, but we keep those fears to ourselves. I would hope the media will show more restraint and publish no more sensational stories of the skinheads.
Dorothy Snodgrass
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TRANSIT-BASED GROWTH
Editors, Daily Planet:
An older person expressed concern to me yesterday about the “transit-based growth” article in the Daily Planet, and she asked me to send a comment. I just checked out the city’s website, set up an account for posting comments, and read a good part of Chapter 3, Sustainable Transportation and Land Use. Well, my comment didn’t appear to get posted. I’ll give it to your readers here, just in case.
Two issues with the transportation/land use section:
I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of detail in this part of the city’s plan. But two issues occur to me.
1. BRT is an example of favoring public transportation over “regular” multi-lane thoroughfares. If this trend continues, how are drivers supposed to manage? Suppliers of food and other items for sale in farmers markets and stores are included in that category, as are car-share drivers. It seems certain that hybrid and zero-emission vehicles will get snatched up as soon as they become cheaper and more widely available. But how will they fare on the streets of Berkeley?
I watched a travel show recently, and noticed that the EuroEuropean city featured had both pedestrian-friendly areas and really wide thoroughfares for vehicles.
2. Personal vehicles will be around for a long time. I’d love to buy a Smart Car, but I live in a multi-story dwelling (no place to plug in). Has the city explored the idea of making metered electric-charging stations available for apartment-type dwellers? I’m not saying the city would necessarily pay for such stations—although such stations might conceivably benefit the city, as in providing power to the grid.
Thanks for listening.
Jean Hohl
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ZIONISM
Editors, Daily Planet:
After all the ridiculous vituperation that rained down upon the Planet and myself following my Oct. 2 commentary on the shenanigans of Zionist promotions of the Jewish State of Israel, I was convinced that my Power Point presentation at the Unitarian Fellowship last night would be at least picketed. Sad I was that no Israeli flags appeared, no picketers, no provocative questioners, and the Planet controversy even failed to energize a sizeable audience. There were about 25-30 people present when I asked how many people attending were Jewish. About five hands did not rise. An almost all-Jewish 100 percent sympathetic audience. I’ll tell you, dear reader, you missed a good presentation. Invite me to your school, church, community center and you’ll see.
I’m writing this letter, as I did my commentary, to make a simple point. Jews who oppose Zionism and its mythology and dishonesty had better begin to make themselves known and heard not just as individuals but as Jews. How else can other Americans know that Zionism does not represent the Jewish people? Zionism has no right to take away our voices, no right to intimidate us with their brazen accusations of anti-Semitism and self-hatred. Certainly the Zionists do represent most of the powerful and institutional sectors of the Jewish people, but very many Jews without power do not approve of this. We do not accept that Ashkenazi European, American and Russian Jews lay claim and lay waste to the land and subjugate the indigenous Palestinian people.
Marc Sapir
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PEOPLE’S PARK ANNIVERSARY
Editors, Daily Planet:
We are beginning to organize the 40th Anniversary of People’s Park, which is this April 2009. Talk of a week of events and a larger concert than usual are afoot. What would you like to see? Can you add your visions and energy to manifest this relevant reunion revitalizing revolution and responsibility through revelry?
Please get involved. The first organizing meeting is on Sunday Nov. 9 at noon at the Cafe Med on Telegraph Avenue between Haste and Dwight.
We are hoping to have a vibrant diversity of activities and encourage anyone interested in helping this manifest to come share your ideas and energies.
Please come on Sunday or get back to us with your ideas and desires! Let us know if you want to be noticed for future meetings.
Terri Compost
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LONG HAUL RAID
Editors, Daily Planet:
How about a story detailing updates on the Long Haul Raid and the UCPD investigation that ensued? It’s been over two months and many of your readers would like to see an update on this seemingly illegal raid.
Liz Dellums
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ROBO CALLS
Editors, Daily Planet:
I got a call last Saturday from former President Bill Clinton. So did a few thousand other people. It was an automatically dialed recorded political message. If I am sure of how I am going to vote on the particular issue, I immediately hang up. If I am not sure, I listen to the message. Then I vote against the position of the calling organization. I figure that this is the surest way of stopping this intrusive practice.
Robert Gable
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CURATORIAL CENSORSHIP
Editors, Daily Planet:
I’m adding my voice to the chorus of those complaining about misguided curatorial censorship at the Addison Street Windows Gallery. I understand that the person in charge believes that she is exercising good ethical standards, but she fails in at least two areas. First, guidelines for participation in a public gallery should be transparent and open to review, and it appears that her control is neither. And more important, the notion that eliminating any images of weapons encourages a peaceful citizenry misunderstands the value of socially engaged critical art. The examples that have recently been censored in no way glorify violence, but in fact are good examples of art that challenges the acceptance of violence as public policy.
This sort of private control has no place in Berkeley public art spaces. I suggest that such an approach is indefensible, and can easily be carried to the absurd level of prohibiting such imagery as the Seal of the State of California.
I encourage city officials to review this matter and seek a swift and just solution.
Lincoln Cushing
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ELECTION RESULTS
Editors, Daily Planet:
Headline: “Enthusiastics Thump Ecclesiastics.”
Arnie Passman
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BERKELEY AT ITS BEST
Editors, Daily Planet:
For quite some time I have been thinking about that attractive sign that says “Berkeley at its Best.” It is a great slogan but what does it refer to? The city as a whole or the city as an agency or the land or the buildings? It is not clear that this slogan includes the people, most particularly the people of Berkeley.
Mabel Clark
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SCULPTURE
Editors, Daily Planet:
The new sculpture on the Pedestrian Bridge is a public sculpture, yet none of us can see it while walking or riding on the bridge, unless we happen to be 10 feet tall. We are instead assaulted by four large, unattractive poles hoisting “our Berkeley statement” high above our heads.
wrought but inappropriate in its present use and context. It would be better seen at eye level.
If the intent of this sculpture is more for freeway-traffic viewing than for pedestrian viewing, then bold high-looming simplicity is in order so that people in cars can “get it.”
Please, let us not have yet another piece of work hoisted high above our heads to that no one—pedestrians or drivers—can easily take it in. Please place the second piece somewhere down at eye level. No more ridiculous poles.
But many overdue thanks to the city and designer for the great pedestrian bridge.
Sara DeWitt
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THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DISTORTED
Editors, Daily Planet:
The featured article by Matthew B. Stannard in a Insight section of San Francisco Chronicle did good by connecting a contemporary phenomenon with a similar pattern in the era of our founding: tracing today’s divide between elitists and populists back to the time of our founding when Federalists, elitists of the time, argued to keep the mob (demos in Greek), populists of the time, out of politics. Such historical perspective is enlightening but Mr. Stannard over does it.
He did bad by implying that today’s media-exploited elitism/populism divide adequately characterizes the body politic of today. Far more typical of our era is the widening gap, egged on by the Bush administration’s tax cuts, between the very rich and the rest of us.
In 1973 the wealthiest 20 percent of household accounted for 44 percent of U.S. total income but by 2002 the percent of the wealthiest 20 percent had increased to 50 percent (Census Bureau, reported by Associated Press, August, 2004). Two generations ago the ratio of the pay of CEOs to the hourly wage of production workers soared from 93 times that of workers to 419 in eleven years (Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips, Broadway Books, 2002, Chapter Three).
Mr. Stannard’s account is distorted and simple-minded, if not simply false, because it rests in his depiction of our government as a two party system. It is not. It is a one party system, the party of business, with two factions, Democratic and Republican. (Thank you Prof. Chomsky.)
For every Washington elected legislator there are 60-some registered lobbyists, 535 of the former and over 30,000 of the latter. Out of 435 members of the House of Representative 123 are millionaires and in the Senate one-third are millionaires (2003). By comparison less than one percent of Americans earn seven figures.
The prepositions “of,” “by” and “for” that used to connect government to the people have been erased, or more accurately, overwhelmed by the power of riches.
Marvin Chachere
San Pablo
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IRISH OBAMA
Editors, Daily Planet:
Thank you for your story regarding the song “There’s No One as Irish as Barack O’Bama,” recorded at the Starry Plough, your local favorite public house bar just down the road from your office. My rendition of the song now has almost a half million hits on YouTube, and continuing publicity in Ireland has ensured that the hits are increasing by many thousands daily. Your report told the story of some disagreement between the writers, the Corrigan Brothers in Ireland, and myself regarding the authorship of the words. To clarify, I did get permission to write some extra verses, but it seemed that some lazy bloggers used the shorthand of “a song by Shay Black” to mean “a song (sung) by Shay Black.” I attempted to contact many websites and bloggers to correct the attribution, but many did not see a problem and continued to call it “a song by Shay Black.”
My reluctance to remove the song was based on the fact that once taken down from YouTube, it would disappear from thousands of links and forwarded e-mails. Many people had written to me to say that it was new information to them that Obama claimed Irish ancestry on his mother’s side. Hard nosed Irish Republicans (of the American ilk) found in the song yet another reason to identify with him, rather than the lies they were fed regarding him being Muslim, “Arab” and possibly a terrorist.
The good news to all this is that after a clarifying trans-Atlantic phone call with The Corrigans in County Limerick, we resolved all our differences, and they withdrew all objections to the extra verses that were included in the Berkeley version. To see this version, go to YouTube and search for “O’Bama Shay.” On Sunday Nov. 2, at the weekly Irish music session, all 21 verses were sung with gusto by a packed Starry Plough house. The Corrigan Brothers have re-written and re-recorded the song to include new verses and references to “President O’Bama,” and also have sent an invitation for me to join them to perform at the Irish Democrats Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C. in January.
The Berkeley O’Malleys will be glad to hear we intend to substitute the “O’Reilly” reference for an “O’Malley” mention.
Shay Black
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B-TECH HONORING
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
Editors, Daily Planet:
For several weeks, the Youth Together group and the rest of Berkeley Technology Academy planned a Day of Celebration for Dia de los Muertos on Oct. 30. As school began, a few of the students wore their Rest In Peace shirts and sweaters.
My fellow students had mixed feelings and were unsure of what to expect, but when 5th period started, students got seated for the performance that was awaiting them. As each student got seated, one of the Berkeley Danza Azteca groups, let by Adriana Betti, opened the assembly with two prayer dances. One of the Danza dancers started beating the drums and another dancer blew a shell horn. The dancers made this assembly a great event to remember. Following the Danca Azteca, one of our very own teachers, Miss Dawn Williams welcomed energy into our space through libations. There were students singing and reciting poetry in remembrance of their loved ones who have passed. Our West African dance group also performed one of their dances that they have been practicing after school.
We closed this powerful performance with one of Bay Area’s very own Spoken Word artists, D’Andre Johnson. Throughout the performance, students took time to reflect and remember those who have passed. The overarching theme is: Live life to the fullest in honor of those that have passed!
After the performance, students came up to the front and spoke about the people in their lives who passed away, and how they are never going to be forgotten. At the end, students came up to our community altar to place candles, flowers and names in honor of the loved ones. The B-Tech community found this event as a time to heal, remember, and to love life. Many emotions came out. One of our alumni mentioned that, “many people are feeling relieved and at peace because this event provide a space to do so.”
Kevin Sarat-Guzman
Berkeley Technology Academy student
Student organizer, Youth Together
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MEASURE FF: HISTORY REPEATS OR AT LEAST RHYMES
Editors, Daily Planet:
Circa April of 1998, I met with the then mayor, representatives of the Library Board and staff, and their engineering consultants with the objective of forcing public review of the library retrofit plans for the Central Library to be funded by a $50 million bond measure (Measure S). The context for this meeting and request for increased transparency was the repeated failure of the library to present any meaningful plans, structural performance objectives, reliable cost data, or indeed any of the information relevant to an effective review of a costly public safety initiative to the Seismic Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the city, which panel was chartered to do exactly that. From one perspective, the refusal of the library to cooperate with the STAP was surprising, if not even astonishing, in that STAP review of other seismic programs in the city (Public Safety Building and Civic Center) had already resulted in millions of additional funding for the city as well as an award for innovation in seismic policy from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. From the more realistic if sorrowfully sordid perspective of the library, the refusal to admit light to their seismic plans through a prize-winning peer review process was perfectly understandable. Their objective was neither a cost-effective seismic program for the Central Library nor the even more public-spirited goal of providing an objective comparison of the library’s seismic retrofitting costs with other (perhaps more urgent and life-critical) seismic retrofit needs of the city (e.g. soft-story buildings, reinforced masonry buildings, high occupancy movie theaters, etc.). Indeed, their objective was to suppress discussion of these considerations in the fear that their special interest would lose in an open informed debate. Like all true believers they could not tolerate competition—even in a situation where lives are at stake.
Now with Measure FF we are confronted with a reprise of the same arrogant (or is it fanatic) behavior by the library with its conceit that its needs trump all others. A rational seismic policy would provide detailed peer-reviewed seismic plans for not only the actual branch library retrofits (including cost and safety trade-offs of replacement with retrofit) but also a comparative analysis of the opportunity costs of allocating vast sums to library retrofit in the context of the other life-critical and economic-critical seismic needs of the city. For too long the library has diverted excessive resources from the public purse without rigorous and objective review of its own efficiency much less of the very-substantial (if not devastating) opportunity costs to the city’s safety and fiscal capacity. Once again it seeks to grab substantial funds through appeals to fear and sentimentality. Voters of Berkeley should not be ashamed to refuse to be duped once again. Indeed, in my opinion they should be ashamed to once again turn away from the hard task of objectively allocating resources where truly many lives are at stake. Let the library get the funds it needs in informed competition with all the pressing needs of the city and not through one more sentimental appeal.
Robert Krumme
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POST-ELECTION CHATTER
AT THE LOCAL COFFEE SHOP
Editors, Daily Planet:
The coffee shop was abuzz this morning with new hope and exuberance. The foregone conclusion was that John McCain and Republicans made the blunder of all blunders counting on the Palin factor (the white religious vote) to carry it to another victory. All vice presidential picks of the past pale in comparison to the Palin misstep. Republicans got hammered.
Best comment of the morning: “I voted my conscience because I knew we (Obama) had it in the bag.”
One can only hope that the country has learned its lesson from years of GOP divide and conquer politics.
Ron Lowe
Nevada City
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CLIMATE ACTION PLAN
Editors, Daily Planet:
In a message dated Sept. 26, Alan Tobey writes, “But make no mistake about the real core of the Climate Action Plan (CAP)— the very much changed transportation and land use chapter. It does say as recommendation number one that we must ‘increase density near transit corridors’—something we should be actively working toward, not just passively accepting. It even uses the phrase “zoning changes” more than once.”
In other words, my accessible, already dense neighborhood shall bear the burden of offsetting the energy profligacy of others?
Hmm. What sacrifices are other neighborhoods making while mine is being asked the Ultimate—to “die” upon the cross of activist-mandated density?
I am uneasy not with density but with the process by which it arrives. Twenty-six years ago my family passed up more “chic” but less accessible neighborhoods to buy a house near Telegraph Avenue and Ashby BART. We valued lessened dependence upon automobiles over “chic”-ness. We knew that the oil would run out eventually. (On this maybe we jumped the gun.) We don’t love cars. We expected such a neighborhood to grow denser.
Never did we dream that our neighborhood would one day fight for its self-determination not against “bad guy” developers but against activist city officials and citizens with time to spare who reside in neighborhoods of higher per-capita energy consumption.
It goes without saying that my neighborhood is not a carbon-offset colony but possessed of rights of self-determination equal to those of other neighborhoods of Berkeley. My compliments to the activists who have devised schemes such as “Climate Action,” Bus Rapid Transit, “Transit Village,” etc. in which my neighborhood is to play the pivotal role. We consider these virtuous proposals. We will decide what works for us.
Bruce Wicinas
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SUSPECT EVENT
Editors, Daily Planet:
A well-attended program, sponsored by College Republicans, with hundreds of students waiting in line in vain to get tickets for the sold-out event, took place Oct. 29 at UC Berkeley. It featured two speakers, Walid Shoebat and Kamal Saleem who claim to be former Arabs/Muslims terrorists who saw the light, converted to Christianity and now present themselves as insiders on a holy mission to warn the world about Muslims’ design to wipe out Christians and Jews. No one was informed of an important detail: the two men are known frauds. The Jerusalem Post investigated claims by Shoebat, a Palestinian who grew up in Bethlehem area, and established that his claims
are lies.
Following a similar event by the same two speakers, and a third cohort, at the Air Force Academy last February, journalist Chris Hedges called the speakers “the three stooges of the Christian right.” Hedges adds, “These men are frauds, but this is not the point. They are part of a dark and frightening war by the Christian right against tolerance” and that, “These three con artists are not the problem. There is enough scum out there to take their place. Rather, they offer a window into a worldview that is destroying the United States.”
Why do Jewish and Christian Zionists pour money into the fraud called Shoebat foundation? Are hate, incitement and intolerance protected by free speech? Should lies and fraudulent claims be perpetuated at an institute of higher education? What does the program say about the sponsors and the university administrators who approved the event?
Hassan Fouda
Kensington
(The author serves on the Board of Directors of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition
