Public Comment

No Assurance for Life Insurance?
I seem to have reached that stage of life where an increasing number of friends and family are, well, dying. Prompted by intimations of mortality, I dug out the life insurance policy I purchased a couple of years back. To my surprise, I noticed the policy caries the warning: "Contract is only void if the client misses a payment." So if you die suddenly and miss the "next payment," you're outta luck? 

Credit Where Credit Is Due
The Cooperative Credit Union recently asked members to vote on a merger with a larger entity called Nuvision Credit. One of the seeming advantages boasted about in the information sheet circulated in advance of a vote was that the merger would grant access to "26 additional locations.' A majority of the Coop's customers voted in favor of the merger. 

Last week, during a visit to the Coop HQ at the corner of Ashby and San Pablo, I asked one of the clerks how many of those 26 new outlets were in the East Bay. The answer surprised me. "None," said the young lady behind the desk. "But there's one in LA. 

Fashion Plates
2SEXY4U (Needs no translation)
THEYTHM (Personal pronouns get plated)
HAAS DOC (Earned a doctorate from UCB school of business)
2BR82B ("To Be or Not to Be"—with 8 being pronounced "aught")
Confession: There was a deficit of personalized plates spotted this week so I made up that last one. 

Bumper Snickers
I Am Woman. Watch Me Vote
Condoms Prevent Minivans
I'm Probably Late for Something
Here I Go Again in My Gay Little Car
A Good Bumper Sticker Makes You Think
Is There Life After Death? Touch My Car and Find Out 

Bumper Stumpers 

Planet reader phil allen recently checked in with the following lament: 

"My wagon's bumper will not take to 'stickers, and I want a message about the way the state is dealing with the lack of affordable housing—by 'death' threats to every city and town—with something all could see.  

"The message is brief. RHNA #'s. ARE FALSE! 

'Either those seeing it will know what it means (no horns, shouts or cut-off's yet) or not, and some of the not's may choose to find what RHNA is. RHNA stands for Regional Housing Needs Allocation, which is a formula for determining how many units a municipality must build that is based on wildly false predictions and virtually arbitrary figures."  

A Taxing Time in America 

Brad Wolf has authored a timely piece for Peace Voice titled "Tax Day and War Resistance." Here's a key sentence: 

In fiscal year 2023, the Pentagon received $858 billion for the preparation of war. This doesn’t include hidden costs for intelligence services, veterans' benefits, Homeland Security, or the Department of Energy which oversees the nation’s nuclear arsenal. All totaled, over $1 trillion a year is allotted for warmaking. By comparison, the 2023 budget for the US Department of State, this nation’s department tasked with making peace across the globe, was a relatively miniscule $63 billion. 

Best Political Fund-raising Letter of the Month 

Like most folks, I get a lot of campaign fund-raising pitches in my daily deluge of email but a note from Montana Democrat Senator Jon Tester stood out. Here's Tester's plea: 

"I grew up in a twenty-four-by-thirty-six foot house. I lost three fingers on my left hand in a meat grinding accident when I was a kid. I am and always will be a farmer, like my folks and like my grandparents. In fact, I’m very proud to be the US Senate’s only working dirt farmer. 

"Every spring, I spend a lot of weeks working the stubble, getting equipment ready for planting, and out in the field seeding. Come summer, I am out there harvesting. I maintain my own heavy equipment and deliver my grain in a truck that’s a bit bigger than what any of my colleagues drive. I buy grease by the case and seeds by the ton. I butcher my own beef. My wife, Sharla, and I work the farm hand-in-hand. 

"The task of scheduling my work in the Senate around the inflexible timing of farm responsibilities drives my staff crazy—but they know my farm work is non-negotiable. It keeps me, quite literally, grounded. 

"Thank you so much for sticking by me. I promise to spend every ounce of time fighting for you and your families (when I’m not out in the field, of course)." 

Pot Off the Presses
While copying tax-returns at Copy World on University Ave. recently, I happened to glance at a huge industrial-grade color printer that was rumbling nearby. About as long as a Toyota Prius, the machine was grinding away producing a four-foot-wide full-color banner for an event called "420 Carnival." 

The easy guess was the banner was to be used to promote a pro-marijuana festival on April 20 (i.e., 4-20). So what does it take to enjoy a round of reefers these days? Here's what the banner-in-progress offered: "Deals All Day. Mechanical Bull. Photo Booth. Free Food. Raffles. Music. Carnival Games and Prizes." 

And, if that's not enough crowd-bate, the banner also promised the "First 50 People Through the Gate" would get a trophy bag filled with $200 of merch. Alas, the one thing that wasn't visible on the poster was the line that contained the time-and-location of the event. Bummer. 

Signs of the Urban-Rural Interface
On my Sunday morning run to the Berkeley Rose Garden I took a detour to explore Glen Avenue, a neighborhood street at the bottom of the Rose Garden. Discoveries included a host of supersized multistoried homes, a shared driveway that was so long it included a posting that lead to two different addresses and, further down where Glen met Spruce, a bright metal sign that read: "Slow Down. Kids. Pets. Wildlife. Fawns in the Road."