Public Comment

Whitman Deceives 

With her stance on Prop 23, Whitman is trying to have it both ways! I was lucky enough to win tickets to the 1st debate between Brown and Whitman at UC Davis. While Whitman has come out against Prop 23, her decision to put a hold on AB 32 after taking office goes completely against her job-creation goals. 

Whitman said that she wanted to make California a business-friendly state. But green technology is the future! Brown recognizes this. His plan for creating jobs is based on promoting clean energy and green jobs that will attract the type of businesses that will not only bolster California’s economy, but allow it to continue leading the way in the fight to stop global warming. 

Proposition 23 is a deceptive measure funded almost entirely by two Texas oil companies that are trying to trick Californians into voting against their own interests. Whitman may be a “No” vote on 23, but her plan for AB 32 shows that this is all political strategy. She may not be openly supporting Texas oil, but if she puts California’s global warming law on hold she might as well be. 

Katherine Lockwood 

UC Sports 

Some surprising wisdom actually appears in this announcement, at least two pieces. One, the Faculty Senate, belatedly but there, still runs this place. Two, in the worthy search for the "third way," the Chancellor discovered the model that should apply to all of Cal sports, not just the rugby team; and to all universities, not the least my first, which has also gotten too serious about athletics. 

Still when earlier this year the University decided to disband the Water Resources Archives at Berkeley, that seemed to rank as the dumbest decision my second university could make. But this one comes close. As with addressing our nation's financial distress, this solution represents at best a band aid, at worst hitting the least-deserving targets (the true student-athletes), and a missed opportunity for transformative change. 

And by the way, as one who encounters them on Strawberry Canyon runs past those "temporary" football quarters that most colleges would envy as permanent facilities, just how many guys remain on the football payroll? 

Tony Rossmann 

Tea Party 

It is still possible for Democrats to retain majorities in both Houses of Congress. Why? Because the Tea party will either defeat mainstream Republican candidates in the primaries (which they've already done) or Tea Party politicianswill split the conservative vote thus giving Democrats victories in November. 

A good example of the latter case is the recent election in an upstate New York district where the Tea Party put up a candidate and the conservative vote was split thus giving the Democrat the win. 

This should have been a lesson to Tea Partiers. It wasn't. In Nevada's Republican primary the Tea Party's candidate Sharron Angle pushed aside a bunch of moderate Republicans. Sharron Angle, who is to the right to Ghengis Khan was the winner. 

Most Americans are middle-of-the-roaders, not extremists. Extreme candidate are going to lose every time. In this election season, Republican and the Tea Party fringe can't be reasoned with, only defeated. 

Ron Lowe