Features
Letters to the Editor
SCHOOL FUNDING
Editors, Daily Planet:
I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Berkeley Public Education Foundation, which has voted unanimously to support Measure B.
California is more diverse than any state in the union—yet for 30 years we have stubbornly stayed at the bottom in funding our schools to teach all students well. We are 45th in the nation in per-student spending, dead last for school libraries, and $22 per student for textbooks.
Since 1986, Berkeley has risen above this sorry state. The Berkeley Schools Excellence project (BSEP), a tax based on square-footage for homes and business properties, adds $10 million each year—10 percent of the School District’s budget—to fund specific priorities including smaller classes, books, and music instruction.
In recent years, however, the will of Berkeley voters—more than 80 percent of whom have supported BSEP every time it’s on the ballot—has been thwarted. Skyrocketing costs and devastating state cuts have enlarged our class sizes and forced painful cuts everywhere.
Measure B is a two-year emergency response to the educational needs of today’s students and teachers. Its governance is based on BSEP which, with its specific direction for use of funds and its duly elected Planning and Oversight Committee, stands as a model of responsible fiscal management.
We commend our School Board Directors for their leadership in presenting us with the choice between watching our schools fail because of forces outside our control, or once again coming together as a community to provide all our children with a decent education.
Trina Ostrander
Executive Director,
Berkeley Public Education Foundation
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DERBY STREET
Editors, Daily Planet:
“If you don’t think that the city should donate Derby Street to BUSD to build a ball field for varsity athletes, should you vote against funding measures, and if so, for city or school district? It’s confusing.” And made more so by the editor of this newspaper when no councilmembers, school board members, school or city staff or any organized sports group I am aware of is suggesting the city donate anything to BUSD to develop a ball field at this location. Is there a source for this idea or just something the editor made up to sell newspapers?
Doug Fielding
Chairperson, Association of Sports Field Users
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FREE SPEECH
Editors, Daily Planet:
The coverage of the week of FSM events last week—before, during, and after the event—was wonderful, and the planning committee thanks all of you, especially Richard Brenneman, for their good work. This hometown icon of free speech was well served by our terrific hometown newspaper.
Joan Levinson, for the FSM Planning Committee
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MENTAL HEALTH
Editors, Daily Planet:
Concerning Proposition 63; There may be hundreds of misrepresentations by those who want their opinions in print. You’ve heard the expression “opinions are like assholes‚ everyone has one”? I particularly refer to those who forward insensitive, probably unread, mail on the Internet.
Investigation of the other side of an opinion (in other words, keeping an open mind) is usually not considered.
I’ve been interested in mental health since age 20 when I was hospitalized as manic-depressive. Fortunately, I had excellent care and recovered.
Never having been asked for money as with other diseases, I’m disturbed by arguments against Prop 63 which could provide a portion of money necessary to help repair the contributors of physical disease, as well as our minds. Please consider the vets, your neighbors and family who suffer mentally—then dig deep in your hearts and pockets for them, as well as the National Alliance for Mental Health. While you’re at it, vote YES on Prop 63.
Joy A. Flaherty
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ELECTION READING
Editors, Daily Planet:
If you would like to read about fraud and deception on the California electorate with respect to some of the state propositions on the Nov. 2 ballot, read the joint letters to the California Secretary of State and the Contra Costa County election officer dated Oct. 1, 4 and the Oct. 6 letter to said election officer.
For example, Sec. 19(f), Art. IV of the California Constitution authorizes the governor to negotiate and conclude Tribal-State gaming compacts. The governor is the person designated as a matter of law. At present there is no such person in office and that creates a real problem with respect to propositions 68 and 70 on the Nov. 2 ballot, both of which deal with time limits with respect to amendment of existing compacts.
With respect to Proposition 68, under present circumstances it is impossible for the Indian tribes to know with whom to negotiate within 90-day period set forth in that proposition. The lieutenant governor is a possibility except for the fact that there is proof that Gray Davis was improperly recalled. Also, it is impossible for Indian tribes to know with whom to negotiate with respect to the 30-day provision in Proposition 70. For this and other reasons the demand was made to remove said Provisions from the Nov. 2 ballot.
In the aforementioned letters you can also read about fraud and deceit with respect to propositions 1A, 60A, 66 and 69.
Raymond Hawkins
Kensing
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CANDIDATE FORUM
Editors, Daily Planet:
Recently at a candidates’ forum, the choice for District 3 was made abundantly clear. Max Anderson is clearly the right choice.
Here’s what happened: While Max Anderson was listening to and answering questions, his opponent, Laura Menard exhibited behavior common in adolescents. Max’s intelligent and thoughtful answers showed he knows the issues, has more experience than his opponent, and wants to include a broad range of residents in his decision-making process. When it was Laura Menard’s turn to answer questions, Max listened attentively to what she had to say.
In stark contrast, when it was Max’s turn to speak, what did Laura do? She giggled and held side conversations with her supporters. She did anything but listen. It was quite disruptive. Does Laura think she knows all the answers? Or is she simply rude and disrespectful? The display of rudeness was offensive and appalling. It reflects a lack of respect and concern for her potential constituents.
Before attending this forum, I barely knew either candidate. But I sure learned a lot from their behavior. One of them is respectful toward others, even if their views might be different than his. The other candidate apparently doesn’t care to listen to differing opinions or views; only to opinions and views that are similar to her own.
Now, if you live in District 3, who would you want representing you? Someone who listens? Or someone who will shut you out? Someone who will address your concerns, or someone who will only address concerns she shares? What if your concerns are not the same as Laura’s?
We’ve had quite a few years in South Berkeley of no one listening to our concerns. It’s time for us to be represented by someone who listens. Let’s not waste any votes or the next four years on someone who won’t listen. I learned many important reasons to vote for Max, but this one stuck out above all the rest.
Marcy Greenhut
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BROWER LEGACY
Editors, Daily Planet:
I am writing in support of the Spaceship Earth Memorial to David Brower.
This stone and bronze sculpture will enhance the proposed location at the Berkeley Marina. It will encourage tourists and visitors to the area.
As a member of Earth Island Institute, I became aware of the project when the sculptor, Eino, met with David, members of his family and leaders of Earth Island Institute in the year 2000. All gave their enthusiastic support. A private donor also met with David and his family, and agreed to underwrite the cost of the monument, as well as the site preparation and development. The sculpture is being donated to the City of Berkeley as a gift.
David Brower was born in Berkeley. He had a profound impact on creating numerous national parks and seashores, preserving millions of acres of America’s wild lands for future generations, and raising world consciousness about the fragility of our ecosystem. Through this unique sculpture David Brower’s message will be carried to this and future generations.
I foresee that the Berkeley community will be proud to have this monument to David Brower on the proposed site.
The pieces of precision-cut stone used to create the globe are remarkable because of their blue color, which resembles the earth as seen from outer space. This stone and the bronze figure of David Brower reaching protectively over the globe reminds us of his words: “We are all together on spaceship earth. There are no connecting flights, no stops, infinite destinations, and no passengers—only crew.”
I hope the Berkeley community embraces the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy to the internationally acclaimed environmentalist David Brower.
Sheila Maxwell
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FUTURE DOWNTOWN
Editors, Daily Planet:
I always enjoy your editorials, agreeing with some points, not with others. However, “Sending a Message to Officialdom” (Daily Planet, Oct. 12-14) has a glaring error, and I would like to set the record straight.
You stated that the Economic Development Department was responsible for axing Edy’s Ice Cream Parlor. Not true. The Edy’s I loved when I went to Berkeley High School and afterwards had long-departed years before the Eddie Bauer proposal came on the scene. There were other owners that had taken it over, changed it from a wonderful ice cream parlor to an aging sandwich shop, and couldn’t make a go of it. Finally the very last owner went out of business before the Eddie Bauer store deal was finalized. The agent for the building’s owner offered this last owner another location in the Downtown, but he refused saying he didn’t have the customers and sadly didn’t know where he would find them. If the real, beloved Edy’s had been around, I would have moved heaven and earth for it to stay at their original corner location, and Eddie Bauer would have had to wrap around it.
This whole issue shows how hard it is to attract retail to a struggling downtown. A few stores like Eddie Bauer were willing to take a chance on an historic downtown instead of a mall surrounded with loads of free parking. However, no one anticipated the economic downturn that closed retail outlets and placed a greater reliance on Internet sales for which the city receives no sales tax revenue.
I hope that you keep raising issues about development in Berkeley. There are few to none willing to stand up and say the time has come to take a good, hard look at where this city is headed. It seems much too dense to me and that the conversation about our future has been delayed for far too long. It isn’t good for our neighborhoods, or for our economic future.
Shirley Dean
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HOMELAND HEALTH
Editors, Daily Planet:
There’s more to “homeland security” than invoking patriot acts‚ and swaggering across the globe wreaking havoc in the name of freedom.
The systemic problems involved in the production of the flu vaccine found by the BMHA (British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) at the Chiron plant are a case in point and indicative of our current administration’s broken philosophy regarding healthcare. Not only does this debacle reflect on the Bush-Cheney laissez-faire approach to healthcare, but it illustrates their visceral lack of concern for the American people. The very least they could have done was to ensure that the high priority patients were, in fact, given such access to the limited supply of vaccine now available.
Instead, what we now have is virtual bedlam. Just locating a place that is administering the shot is like trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. There is virtually no centralized listing anywhere helping those in most critical need of the inoculation locate a nearby store or medical facility where the vaccine is available. Yesterday, at a Safeway in Alameda, there were 500 people lined up at nine in the morning to the tune of 200 available flu shots!
The government has an obligation to make sure that clinics dealing with high risk patients have the vaccine on hand before it is served up to anyone at our supermarkets. But most clinics don’t have the buying power of these mega-corporations and have been “outbid” for the meager supply of the vaccine. Apparently, this president and his cronies are content, once again, to let “market forces” rule the day—as if we were talking toothpaste or cereal here. After all, they probably have received their “high priority” vaccinations. Unfortunately they are inoculated not only against the flu, but against any credible concern for the well being of the American people. After all, homeland security starts with homeland health!
Marc Winokur
Oakland
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HILLSIDE CLUB
Editors, Daily Planet:
When Mrs. Maybeck, Mrs. Keeler, and other women founded Berkeley’s Hillside Club in 1898 they hoped to encourage a creative integration of manmade and natural environments. Nobody could ever have been more sensitive to preserving trees, creeks and hillsides than these women and their husbands. As Berkeley grew, they envisioned a city that would resemble an Italian hill town—streets would curve to accommodate the natural terrain and houses would be sited and designed as integral parts of the landscape. The city wisely followed their lead. For example, in laying out our streets, a section of Le Roy Avenue was divided to preserve what has come to be called Annie’s (Mrs. Maybeck’s) Oak: now a City of Berkeley landmark.
Much of Berkeley’s beauty and charm comes from the legacy of the Hillside Club. Berkeley’s cookie cutter, one size fits all approach to legislating a building’s relationship to an urban creek seems more appropriate to the shopping mall or development tract than to our very beautiful hill town. The fact that in Berkeley today Frank Lloyd Wright would be denied a permit to build the Kaufmann House, Fallingwater, should encourage us to think more carefully about the wording of our creek ordinance. Berkeley should have guidelines for development near waterways. But an ordinance that respects the natural environment, the built environment and the spirit of man’s creativity should have flexibility. It should welcome creative, well engineered, and well-designed projects that define their own relationship to their unique settings.
Robert Kehlmann
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ROSE/ HEMPHILL
Editors, Daily Planet:
As a teacher in the Berkeley Schools for the last 18 years, I strongly urge people to vote for Kalima Rose and Karen Hemphill for the Berkeley School Board. The Berkeley Teacher’s Union (BFT) has endorsed Kalima and Karen.
After listening to a couple of presidential debates and a couple of school board debates, I am left with a sense of Alice in Wonderland-ness. It seems that people can say whatever they want and because of the constraints of the debate there is no way to challenge the truth of what anyone is saying! I mention the debates because we have heard many statements from the incumbents that are just not true. We in the district have not been able to change the state of education in this city. The children who are poor, and/or of color still do not succeed. The high school is perhaps more separate and unequal than before (certainly not less). There are serious problems of violence and disengagement at the middle schools. At all levels school teachers are struggling to meet their children’s academic needs, be their advocates in times of crisis and generally help them to cope with a world which at best ignores them and at worst purposely blocks their progress.
Kalima and Karen will bring a welcome presence to the Berkeley schools. They understand the issues, not only because they are parents in the school system, but also because they are thoughtful, intelligent people who ask questions and listen to the answers. They are part of a movement to transform our schools beyond test scores and beyond rhetoric by looking at the realities of the children, their families and communities, at the data and research that we have so much of and don’t use. Perhaps no one here has maliciously placed our children at such risk, but it is time to step away from business as usual and bring onto the board and into our system, two people who recognize the urgency of the situation and give us hope that we can do better. We need to start uniting around specific issues that we have carefully analyzed. We need to act, with the scary understanding that it is not going to be safe or easy. We know that many of our students are at severe risk of failure. They are beautiful, they are smart, they are full of energy, they are deep and wise and hurt and angry and black and brown, and many of them will not make it. On their behalf all of us need to vote for Kalima Rose and Karen Hemphill and to be there after they win to support them in supporting our children.
Liz Fuentes
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NO NEW TAXES
Editors, Daily Planet:
I’ve always found it amusing that the City of Berkeley uses a segment of a mural featuring the facial features of four men as its unofficial logo, a rather sexist image for this liberal bastion. However, if the city’s mural now on national tour is worth a reported million dollars, perhaps its sale could be a nice chunk of change for this city’s own artfully designed budget coffers. Sadly its sale would still not alleviate the burden the city’s power elite thirsts to place on the backs of working and retired residents with their bold brush strokes of new tax measures in the upcoming election. But who cares. At least they have fashioned them under a banner of library books and ambulances. Indeed, the city power structure might think about marketing its skill of financial irresponsibility with Bush and his puppeteers in Washington.
Bruce McMurray
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BUSH’S RECORD
Editors, Daily Planet:
The majority of white evangelical Christians are supporting President Bush for re-election because they feel that he is a good Christian. What is so good about this president being a Christian when he wants to drill oil on the Arctic National Wildlife in Alaska, which is home of the G’wish people? What is so good about him being a Christian when he wants to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which is home of the Western Shoshone people?
What is so good about this president being a Christian when he wants to relax both the “Clean Water Act” and “Clean Air Act” which preserve both clean water and clean air around the country? His actions will result in both dirty water and dirty air around the country. Finally, what is so good about this president being a Christian when he put in a segregationist judge, Charles Pickering to the 5th Circuit Court, which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi?
In conclusion, when the majority of white evangelical Christians are supporting President Bush for re-election because they feel he is a good Christian, it doesn’t surprise me. These same white evangelical Christians had been using their religion to commit violent acts against other people who don’t share their belief. They are following the path their ancestors did against American Indians for more than 500 years ago.
Billy Trice,
Oakland
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UNFAIR ORDINANCE
Editors, Daily Planet:
As I read the comments in the paper, the emails and attend the meetings, I am struck by the attempts to legitimize an illegitimate creek ordinance. One that was passed without proper notice to the stakeholders (those of us who are stewards of the creeks as they cross our private property).
The Creek Ordinance should be rescinded with respect to private property. The Planning Department and Commission can then re-consider the issues affecting the city, its creeks and the citizens. The Planning Director has proposed a phased approach to re-consideration to that sounds fair and reasonable. That work, completed under the oversight of the Planning Commission, would allow the creation of a creeks ordinance that permits all interested parties to participate.
Among other outcomes, such a process allows a full and fair evaluation of the city’s waterways, including the cost to maintain them.
Mischa Lorraine
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DUGAR FOR SELAWSKY
Editors, Daily Planet:
I told myself that I was going to stay a neutral party during this year’s school board race as only one candidate truly amazes me. But after reading your article “Incumbents Face Stiff Challenge In School Board Race” by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor (Oct. 15-18) I know I just can’t do that. The school board is single handedly the most important elected position that our citizens elect. It is a position that directly effects the youth of our community for at least the next 50 years.
The thought of Karen Hemphill on the school board terrifies me. I have sat down with her several times to try and convince myself that she is what is needed on the board. But I cannot and will not vote for someone just because they are black. Karen has values and thoughts that change like the wind.
While we are faced with the lesser of several evils I had to voice my opinion and let the world know that I am endorsing and voting for Kalima Rose and John Selawsky.
With Berkeley High School headed towards small schools we need a board member who is truly involved and dedicated to small schools and seeing them further develop into a tool that can be utilized by all races and classes of students. Kalima Rose is that person.
While I have not agreed with a lot of what John Selawsky has done on the board, we know where he stands. We know what positions we must place pressure on him to support. We know that he is someone who is visible in the schools and in the community. He brings to the board the views and values of the Green Party, which in “progressive Berkeley,” are needed to bring a sense of ideas from all sides.
Finally I will not be voting for Karen Hemphill because, if we are going to be asked to elect someone to the school board because we need a person of color on the board let’s make sure that they represent our black staff. Let’s make sure that they have met with the black teachers who feel they are not represented by the BFT.
If we are going ahead with small schools we need someone on the board who is not wishy-washy on small schools.
Finally I am not voting for Karen Hemphill because our community cannot afford to have someone we cannot trust on board.
Sean Dugar
Former Chair, City of Berkeley Youth Commission
Las Vegas, NV
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CALL FOR REVISION
Editors, Daily Planet:
As a concerned citizen and property owner in Berkeley who very much cares about the community and the environment in which it is situated, I would like to see the Berkeley Creek Ordinance revisited and revised.
I would like to see this revision reflect the best science and ecological knowledge available to preserve and responsibly maintain our creeks and the habitat they support. I do not believe that this kind of considered, intelligent stewardship should be a threat to our own properties as has been so misleadingly suggested by certain council members but, on the contrary, it would best preserve and maintain them as well.
To this end, I want to see an independent commission formed that would utilize the most knowledgeable and dedicated talent we have. The Berkeley Planning Commission does not have the full range of expertise or the overall breadth and depth of perspective to meet this end.
Christine Walter
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NEW CREEK ORDINANCE
Editors, Daily Planet:
I am writing about our existing Creeks Ordinance and the need to update it. Such update should be handled through an independent city-wide task force that includes stakeholders from all the interested and affected members of our community.
Clearly, the Planning Commission has neither the expertise nor the credibility to shepherd this process.
Please then appoint an independent task force to revisit and update our Creeks Ordinance.
An observation—Councilmember Wozniak has unnecessarily inflamed this discussion by intentionally distorting the positions of others. It makes civil discourse that much more difficult when someone in his position resorts to misrepresentation. Most of us are involved in this issue because we hope to shape a good outcome for the city and not because we have hidden personal agendas, as apparently does Councilmember Wozniak. Would that he could rise to the occasion.
John Murcko, Esq.
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PUBLIC ENDORSEMENT
Editors, Daily Planet:
I was surprised and disappointed to read of Kalima Rose’s unfair and inaccurate criticism of School Board member John Selawsky (Daily Planet, Oct. 15-18.)
When Kalima called me to see if I would be an endorser of her campaign in the ballot handbook, I told her that I thought Selawsky had done an outstanding job. She told me that she agreed with my assessment and that Selawsky was supportive of her running. I publicly endorsed Kalima because I thought she would be an excellent replacement for incumbent Joaquin Rivera, giving Selawsky another strong ally on the Board.
Kalima’s attempt to blame John Selawsky for budget problems that preceded his tenure and whose responsibility lies at the state and federal levels is simply wrong. To the contrary, John has done everything in his power to keep our school system afloat in the face of drastic funding cuts to the district.
I saw John Selawsky’s commitment to kids firsthand when our children were both at Oxford School, and I have closely followed his work at the School Board. His dedication to the children of Berkeley is unsurpassed, and we should feel grateful that John has been willing to put in so many hours in what in these budget times has truly become a thankless job.
In the School Board race, voters can select two candidates. John Selawsky should be every voter’s first choice.
Randy Shaw
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DISTRICT 3 CHANGES
Editors, Daily Planet:
As a District 3 resident and new homeowner, and long-time Berkeley citizen, it is truly disappointing to see City Council District 3 candidate Laura Menard attempt to make activities of the homeless and poor at Berkeley Drop-In Center an election issue this year. Once again a conservative running for the council is drumming up animosity toward those most vulnerable--for political gain.
This is reminiscent of the “bad old days” of former mayor Shirley Dean’s ugly 1998 campaign where the Telegraph Avenue homeless were targeted and arrested in large numbers because it was politically popular to do so—and win. Shame on Menard for stooping to these tactics.
District 3 is by any stretch of the imagination going through changes. A long-standing African American neighborhood, anyone can see that gentrification is quickly resulting in the sale of many homes of black families who have lived in the community for generations to white families. On our block at least three houses were sold in 2003/04, ALL to young white couples. As one of those couples, we bought our home from an African-American family who had owned it since 1944—sixty years.
With all of the change this district faces, it is truly a time for careful listening by any District 3 City Council candidate. Listening to long-time residents, listening to lower-income people struggling to stay here in the face of higher and higher costs of living, listening to the plurality of all who make up this area now. From this deep listening a candidate might develop a positive and inclusive vision for moving the district forward in its present context.
Yet, with all due respect, when Menard came to our house precinct walking, she spent nearly 30 minutes talking AT US about her views. She had many opinions (she said she had lived in District 3 a long time) but never took the time to LISTEN to our concerns, or thoughts, or to get a sense of how we viewed the neighborhood. Instead, she went quickly to her agenda: the need to close the Berkeley Drop-In Center, arrest the dealers and criminals, and implied, more or less sweep the unsightly poor out of the area. She voiced her belief that the neighborhood had for too long been a dumping ground for special needs populations—without exploring our views on homelessness and poverty. She even referred to those who supported Tom Bates (ourselves!) as the “Bates Machine.”
Prior to Menard’s visit, I had not given a lot of thought to whom to support for District 3’s council seat, and felt truly quite open to learning about the candidates. But afterward I felt genuinely AFRAID. Not afraid of the drug dealers, or of the homeless and poor who are active in the Berkeley Drop-In Center...I was afraid of what might happen to District 3 if someone like Laura Menard actually won. I was appalled by her political opportunism in attempting to appeal to the fears of home owners (myself included) and by her inability to listen at a time so filled with change for this neighborhood. Laura Menard would be a truly frightening choice as District 3 City Council Person.
Sally Hindman
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TEST SCORE PROGRESS
Editors, Daily Planet:
On behalf of the progress and the wonderful work made by our students and staff, I am compelled to respond to the article by J. Douglas Allan-Taylor (Daily Planet, Oct. 15-18) regarding the school board race. Mr. Allan-Taylor asserts that my statement at a recent forum that African American and Latino students have made “humongous progress” in test scores is an exaggeration. At the forum, I clearly indicated that I was referring to the growth at our elementary schools over a five-year period (1999, the year the state started its accountability system, to 2003, the last year for which we have disaggregated data); Mr. Allan-Taylor misleadingly uses only the last two years of data to refute my claim. The data from 1999-2003 show that the test scores of African American, Hispanic and socio-economically disadvantaged students have increased at a faster rate than those of their white and Asian counterparts at almost every elementary school in the district. In most cases the growth for these three groups has been more than 100 points, and in some schools more than 200 points. As I stated at the forum, this proves that we are in fact closing the achievement gap.
Although the term “humongous” can be open for interpretation, minimizing this growth is a disservice to the students that have made measurable progress and to the hardworking teachers that have helped in this accomplishment. I urge the readers and Mr. Allan-Taylor to look at this data that is available at the California Department of Education web site, the district office or by contacting me at jrivera2004@pac
bell.net.
Despite this progress, the challenge to eliminate the achievement gap remains. Now that the board has balanced the district’s budget and strengthened our financial systems I am looking forward to our focus, once again, on improving student achievement. We must expand the successful programs that we have implemented at the elementary schools to the middle and high schools. I wholeheartedly pledge to continue working hard, as I have done during my tenure on the board, to improve the achievement of all students and to bring the scores of all students to a higher, equal level.
Joaquín J. Rivera, School Board Director
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LIBRARY MEASURE
Editors, Daily Planet:
I read David Wilson’s and Dean Metzger’s letter on Measure L with great astonishment. How can these two men continue to attempt to misinform the community about the city’s audit of the Berkeley Public Library after the City Auditor told them clearly and specifically that their statements were wrong?
The Library Board has managed the library carefully and well. Berkeley has one of the finest public libraries in all of California. When the renovated library opened in 2002, the Library Board did not request one additional cent to run a building twice the size of the old library. They maximized their resources in order to be responsible to the public. Now, statewide economic problems have forced them to cut Sunday hours, evening hours and to reduce the book budget. Measure L would restore the hours and the book budget at the cost of $41 to the average taxpayer.
If Mr. Metzger and Mr. Wilson are concerned about increases in taxes, let them argue that. But to continue to provide misinformation, to continue to use what they have been informed is false, is not in the best interests of the voters of Berkeley.
Marian Drabkin
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PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
Editors, Daily Planet:
The creek advocacy groups in Berkeley have in the past plied that advocacy quietly, if not secretively, with little public awareness or involvement. There can be no doubt, however, that they have useful contributions to make to the city’s further planning about creeks, in terms of knowledge, resources, and helpful contacts. The Planning Commission will be free ask for those contributions in open, public meetings, where they may be heard and considered by all interested parties—especially by the homeowners of creek properties who ultimately must be, as they are now, the custodians of the creeks. The Planning Commission
should be the venue of this open process. The City Council will decide this at the 10/19 meeting. Be there.
Jerry Landis
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NO ON MEASURE B
Editors, Daily Planet:
I’m opposed to Measure B, because it’s seems like a bait and switch tax measure.
We give the school system more and more money, but the programs, such as small class size, libraries, music, etc. never have a net gain. Instead, the school system just cuts the money it now uses to fund libraries and small class size, and uses that money for something else, like $30,000 a year pay raises for administrators. And then they come back and say, the schools need more money.
This type of bait and switch happened with the lottery. We were told that the money would go for education. Well, the lottery money went for education, but the legislature used their general fund money which used to go for education, for something else, so education never really had any real benefit.
Class sizes in Berkeley have increased because the school district has cut its contribution for small class size, libraries, and other programs.
Right now our current extra school taxes pay for almost 17 percent of all teacher salaries, and even so class sizes are large because the school system has used their share of the general fund money to pay for things like the food service director a six figure salary and paying the $3 million dollars of budget deficit in food services she keeps creating.
I don’t want to vote for Measure B, which will double our school taxes, and end up with nothing improved. For even higher taxes for the Berkeley school system I want to know that the Berkeley school district guarantees to maintain its share of the funding for class size reduction, and libraries and music. How many more teachers will be hired with higher taxes? What is the guaranteed class size? How much music will students get?
The school district needs to rewrite Measure B and answer these questions. Include elected parent and teacher participation and oversight in budget decisions at all levels. Get rid of the cut for overhead. And include a guarantee of no bait and switch. Until then, vote No on Measure B.
Peter Dumas
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BART ALTERNATIVES
Editors, Daily Planet:
The recent article titled “Commute looks bleak minus BART” poses an impossibility to supposedly make the point for voting to support the current BART bond issue on the ballot.
The article disregards the ability of buses to take up the slack by using HOV lanes. Before BART, AC Transit was carrying 58 percent of the peak hour passengers on the Bay Bridge with 300 buses per hour that were traveling 12 seconds apart, using 1/5th of a lane. (Lane capacity is 1500 to 1800 vehicles per hour.)
This article also overlooks the possibility of spontaneous carpools forming everywhere with people holding up signs showing their destinations and offering to pay.
I believe other studies have shown that BART has had minimal impact on freeway traffic in general.
All this disregards the benefit of the many Tranportation Systems Management (TSM) alternatives which would have major impacts on traffic congestion:
One study by Vince Desimone of the use of a four-day week, with staggered weekends (Mon-Thurs., Tues-Fri. & Wed.-Sat.) would wipe out the congestion on Los Angeles freeways. Just staggered working hours, and or peak hour tolls could work wonders.
Better facilities for buses, with bus stops at each freeway interchange; a bus transfer facility at the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza; with buses picking up passengers near their homes, batching up at the Toll Plaza, and running right straight to destinations would form a whole network of buses that would be far more convenient than BART.
BART has so many problems it really needs to be completely rebuilt. The top priority should be for a flood gate where the BART tunnel enters San Francisco ninety feet below Market where water may run as far as the 16th Street station if the tunnel is breached.
Charles Smith
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BART PARKING FEE
Editors, Daily Planet:
At a BART meeting in April, BART operations committee director Joel Keller stated that the wishes of Berkeley, or any local community served by BART, could definitely influence BART board parking policy in the future.
But now we know how far that influence goes before it stops. Even though the Berkeley City Council subsequently endorsed converting all free parking at the North Berkeley and Ashby stations to paid parking, BART staff has rejected such a move, even though a premature fare increase is coming in 2005 to help cover rising costs that include parking.
BART staff takes the position that any new parking fees should be accompanied by some increased value or service to motorists. But non-motorists could pay the tab for new parking services as well. In early 2005, staff is planning on implementing a new parking validation program at North Berkeley, yet plans to provide this service free to motorists, passing along the entire cost of this service to all riders, instead of directly to motorists who would benefit from the program. Even though the North Berkeley BART station fills up every weekday and certainly would continue to do so with parking charges in place for every space.
For more details on this recently-revealed BART staff position, see www.groups.yahoo.com/
group/bart-parking-charges.
I would hope this becomes an election issue within Berkeley. There’s too much talk from the BART District 3 candidates of using any new parking revenues to add new services, and not enough talk about using new parking revenues to cover the existing (rising) costs of providing parking at BART.
Scott Mace
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YES ON MEASURE B
Editors, Daily Planet:
When many high school classes have upwards of 40 students, or that our elementary and middle classes have 35-plus, we cannot ignore why Berkeley’s Measure B parcel tax was written. When we know that the library and music programs support the curriculum and that teacher-training and parent-outreach is essential, we cannot deny the importance of Measure B to our families. Measure B is the community’s grandest bake sale and your “yes” vote will raise money for our community’s children. Consider your own school experiences: was class size important? We cannot afford inadequately prepared students. It is our responsibility, as members of this village, to raise our children.
Measure B is a Berkeley parcel tax measure designed to serve our public school students for two years. Measure B will benefit the school district by $8.3 million for two years and will pay for:
• reducing class size—$5.6 million (68 percent)
• staffing libraries at elementary schools, adding more librarians to middle and high schools—$1.3 million (16 percent)
• expanding music programs & reducing class sizes—$600,000 (7 percent)
• teacher training hours; evaluating learning programs; parent outreach—$750,000 (9 percent)
Measure B will be controlled by an independent Planning and Oversight committee, comprised of school, staff, community members, very similar to the oversight required by the BSEP Measure. As with the BSEP measure passed almost 10 years ago, this community-governed committee structure serves as a model for the nation.
For two years only, Measure B will tax residential property owners 9.7 cents per square foot (about $8/ month or $97/ year based on 1000 sq. ft. of house size) and 14.7 cents per square foot for commercial property owners. Exempt from the tax are our low-income senior citizens.
On behalf of our children, and as a Berkeley property owner, my vote on Measure B is an unequivocal “yes” and I hope you, too, will value the preparedness of our children.
AnaLuisa Quiñonez
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NO REGRETS
Editors, Daily Planet:
My endorsement of John Selawsky for re-election to the Berkeley School Board is based on my direct experience working with him. Four years ago I endorsed John for election, and I do not regret it. John has proven himself to be an excellent school board director.
I know that John’s highest priority in the district is academic excellence for all children, but his vision and energies do not end there. John authored the nation’s first ban on irradiated foods in school lunch programs and has worked with Children’s Hospital and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation to address the epidemic of child obesity and diabetes in school-aged youth.
As School Board President John has been invaluable in assisting me and others in building a solar energy curriculum in the Berkeley Schools. He has also been in discussions with CAFA, Community Action to Fight Asthma, and the EPA, to develop a better, more effective District response to the growing incidences of childhood asthma.
John is dedicated to working with the community. When the School District announced it was moving the Adult School to the
Franklin School site, it was John who worked patiently with my constituents, for months, to address their concerns. John is
always well informed, listens carefully, and has been an excellent partner working with the city, county and state agencies. He can be relied on to make sure promises are delivered. I hope you will join me in supporting John Selawsky for a second term, so he can continue his work for our children and our community.
Linda Maio
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HATS OFF TO GORDON
Editors, Daily Planet:
At last, an upbeat and reasonably objective article on the city’s downtown. Gordon’s one of the few knowledgeable real estate professionals that has put his money where his mouth is, by repeatedly investing in and restoring rundown properties in Berkeley. He has done a lot to enhance the slow but increasingly visible renaissance of the downtown. My hat’s off to him.
Michael Yovino-Young
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REGRESSIVE MEASURE
Editors, Daily Planet:
Measure Q promotes the sex industry under the cynical guise of helping women. However, the real beneficiaries of Measure Q are johns, pimps, and traffickers. Measure Q preys on the progressive impulse to assist women in prostitution in a deceptive ploy to profit johns, pimps, and traffickers. Decriminalization of this sort is not the solution to helping women in prostitution and rather, exacerbates and worsens the problem resulting in an increase in illegal, hidden, street and child prostitution as well as sex trafficking. This has been well documented in other countries where prostitution has been decriminalized and legalized.
Measure Q would not provide women in prostitution with greater opportunities, safety, and resources nor would it reduce stigma, sexual violence and coercion, or health risks. There are $0 in this measure for programs that protect and serve women. Rather, this measure would expand the scope of harm and normalize the paid sexual exploitation of the most vulnerable and victimized in our communities.
It’s time that Berkeley progressives support and promote a real and truly progressive alternative! Decriminalize the women in prostitution and arrest the perpetrators—pimps, johns, procurers, and traffickers! Let’s offer women and children in prostitution real choices. Persons in prostitution need housing, social services, medical treatment, and job training. That’s what they should receive—not decriminalization of their exploiters. The enactment of a 1999 Swedish law criminalizes pimps, brothels, and other sex establishments, but does not punish or criminalize women in prostitution. This law has been successful in decreasing the number of women prostituting by allocating extensive funding for social services and decreasing the number of men buying and selling human beings for sex and profit. Measure Q will not do this.
Measure Q is regressive, not progressive! Vote no on Measure Q on November 2nd!
Garine Roubinian, Oakland
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CUTS AND RAISES
Editors, Daily Planet:
Shirley Issel’s letter to the editor exhorting the necessity of Measure B, made some very odd points. Issel stated that the Board of Education has deliberately cut funding for libraries, music, and teachers. Perhaps these cuts were designed to specifically create the shortfalls that they claim are the reasons we need to pass Measure B. Curiously, during this period of cuts, the Board of Education gave the administrators large raises. The superintendent’s raise totals $30,000 a year, about what a starting teacher earns in one year. I guess it would be hard to justify a parcel tax measure to give the superintendent a raise, so music, libraries and teachers were put on the chopping block. Seems rather underhanded. Vote No on Measure B.
Marta Diaz
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THOU SHALT NOT KILL
Editors, Daily Planet:
Bush and Cheney are Unchristian!
As we move into the final days of the presidential campaign, Bush and Cheney are struggling to recover from their debate losses and to portray the debacle of Iraq as a victory. Due perhaps to an excess of charity, Kerry and Edwards have not attacked the hypocritical attempts of Bush to curry the favor of Christians and the fundamentalist right. How can Bush and Cheney claim to be Christians while they conduct an immoral and unjust war against Iraq and trample upon the needs of the sick, the young, and the poor of the USA? Does any Christian still believe that there was a verifiable basis for an unprovoked attack upon a sovereign nation with the resultant death, maiming, and suffering of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, and children and brave USA and Coalition service men and women? Bush and Cheney have forgotten the sacred commandment: “Thou shall not kill.”
But there is more. Bush and Cheney have financially gutted our already pitiably inadequate federal aid programs in support of the health, education and welfare of the most needy among us. In place of governmental responsibility, Bush and Cheney wish the sectarian private sector to step into the breach. This is an egregious mischaracterization of the role of our religious institutions. Our country is a democracy, not a theocracy. The chief executive cannot foist his social responsibilities upon our religious institutions. The appeal for faith based initiatives is a callous device to deny our citizenry the federal assistance to which they are entitled.
Bush says that Jesus talks to him. I suspect the voice he hears is the greed of the super-rich or something/someone far more sinister.
Michael S. Esposito
Richmond
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A BERKELEY HERO
Editors, Daily Planet:
It is encouraging that the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission is moving in the direction of accepting the gift of the Spaceship Earth sculpture. They should. I am a Berkeley resident and was a very close associate of David Brower. I’ve also worked closely with the Brower family on ways to recognize the legacy that Mr. Brower has left.
I’ve met the sculptor, discussed the detailed plans of the work, and seen the quartzite stone that the sculpture will be made of. It is a deep-blue color and a beautiful surface. The sculpture conveys an inspiring message and provides a phenomenal opportunity for interpreting Dave’s life and what he stood for to the public. It is particularly fitting that the sculpture should be in Berkeley.
I’ve recently seen commentary criticizing the size and weight of Spaceship Earth, and think this is off the mark. Who really cares how much it weighs? And as for height, there are many places in and around the parks and waterfront of Berkeley where the trees are sixty or seventy feet tall and the 15-foot piece would hardly be dominant.
Let’s give the okay for Spaceship Earth to recognize one of Berkeley’s true heroes and the planet he fought for.
David C. Phillips
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CANDIDATE STATEMENT
Editors, Daily Planet:
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been grateful for the Daily Planet summaries of November election issues, and especially for the publication of local candidates’ statements. I’ve been here over thirty years, and I can’t remember the last time the local Council candidates and we citizens were given this opportunity. Thank you!
As you know from a Commentary by me that you printed in May, I am, as a resident of District 3, concerned about BUSD proposals to close Derby Street in order to fence and lock up what WAS TO BE a multi-purpose field for several schools and many children. The field, including Derby Street, would become a hardball field SOLELY for the use of the Berkeley High School team.
This would mean, not only fewer through streets in our heavily impacted traffic area, plus obstructed access from the firehouse on Derby and Shattuck, but dazzling night lights, a blaring sound system, and constant use of the field by outside teams renting it when it is not in use by the Berkeley High team.
I understand from Laura Menard’s statement in the Daily Planet that she is against closure of Derby Street, and has an alternate plan.
I understand that Maudelle Shirek has consistently opposed closure of Derby Street.
I did not learn, from Max Anderson’s statement in the Daily Planet or from any of his campaign literature, what his position is.
If Mr. Anderson is willing to give you a brief statement on this specific issue, I’m sure everyone in District 3 would be grateful to see it in the Daily Planet before election day.
Dorothy Bryant
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ROOMS TO LAST CENTURIES
Editors, Daily Planet:
Any serious proposal by the planning firm hired currently to take public input and document a reasoned set of ideas for BHS south campus must include (at least) an alternate plan which will save the two large pool rooms and upgrade/remodel them. Two quite reputable structural engineers have told me the two pool room structures look good...look well-designed as building structures, ignoring superficial appearances and some needed new quake bracing for the moment. Two major BUSD structural studies—one flawed, the second more carefully detailed—supply me with added support for my belief they (the big pool rooms) should be saved.
The structure of a building is the most expensive thing about it. It would be tragic to tear down two valuable two-floor high rooms, one with brand new wood roof on existing steel trusses and the second with new roof work soon to be underway (by the city). At about 12000 square feet, and several hundred dollars per square foot for new construction, maybe you get my drift.
Steel frame buildings are easy to upgrade and add on new work. I’ve worked on several steel frame buildings from very large to medium-sized, new and old, as an architect. This is the best type of structure available today, and if well-maintained and braced, should last for centuries, not just a few decades. A little rust and a few broken windows are not sufficient reason to tear down this neglected part of the old gym building complex at BHS.
Terry Cochrell
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PROBLEMS WITH 71
Editors, Daily Planet:
I favor embryonic stem cell research and federal funding for additional research beyond that approved by President Bush. However, I strongly oppose Prop 71 amending the Constitution to require the State of California to incur $3 billion in new debt (plus $3 billion in interest) for a “start-up” stem cell research institute. My reasons are as follows:
1. California is in extreme fiscal distress having borrowed billions of dollars just to balance the state budget.
2. The state is currently “stealing” property tax revenues from the cities and counties who are suffering their own fiscal shortfalls to pay for education, police and fire protection as well as a host of other community necessities.
3. Proposition 71 has no provisions for accountability to the state government or to the taxpayers.
4. The University of California, as one of the great research universities in the nation, is dependent on federal fudning for non-stem cell research and many other essential research programs. Under current federal law, the University risks the loss of all federal funding if it engages in embryonic stem cell research. A loss of or significan reduction in federal funding could do irreperable harm to the University.
Finally, we should be careful what we wish for.
Robert Nagle
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BUSH NOT “CONSERVATIVE”
Editors, Daily Planet:
When George Bush need to, he presents himself as a moderate conservative. But he has consistently governed from the far right. We can see this by comparing his deeds with the words of Edmund Burke, the father of modern conservativism.
Bush tells Americans to live in fear. Burke wrote: “No pasison so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”
Bush encourages us to distrust Moslems and their religion. Burke wrote: “I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people.”
He rushed to war. Burke wrote: “Our patience will achieve more than our force.”
He encourages the clergy to play a role in politics for which they lack training and competence. Burke wrote: “Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. No sound ought to be heard in the church but the healing voice of Christian charity.”
Finally, Bush is actively hostile to our domestic institutions, and treats government as an enemy. Burke described government as “a contrivance of human wisdom” to provide for human needs, and wrote that people have a right to expect it to provide for human needs, and wrote that people have a right to expect it to provide services experience has shown they cannot provide for themselves.
Phil McArdle
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DOWNTOWN DISCUSSION
Editors, Daily Planet:
I’m wondering why John Gordon excludes those of us who live “below” Sacramento St. from his downtown Berkeley marketing area? Many of us do dare venture as far east as Shattuck Ave. , and (gasp) sometimes even farther.
Karen Ball
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EXPLODING STEREOTYPES
Editors, Daily Planet:
It was great to see a preview of Somewhere Elsewhere in the weekday Daily Planet (Oct. 19-21). The topic the exhibition addresses is timely. An examination of stereotype and its role in the perpetuation of racism is important, especially in the United States now. Social criticism is particularly resonant when it comes from artists. Their perspectives are often nuanced and complex.
A related exhibition is on view at the Berkeley Art Center. “Death Bird,” “Fear Booth,” “Christian Soldier,” “Power to the People,” “Rainbow of Terror: Yellow Alert” are some of the provocative titles of artworks in the exhibition that runs through November 6.
Topics addressed in the exhibition include the machinery of war, the manipulation and manufacture of fear, religious hypocrisy, racial profiling, as well as messages of peace. San Jose resident Dio Mendoza’s “Death Bird” is a large, ominous-looking and convincing replica of a rusted stealth bomber made mostly of paper. San Francisco’s Olof Aspelin has constructed a “Fear Booth,” into which the visitor steps and is confronted by imagery that the artist collected during his visit to the Republican Convention in August. Textiles are represented by Dixie Brown of Kentfield, whose soft sculptural bombs seduce and repel at the same time, and Thelma Smith of Arizona whose quilt “Salvation Navy” advises recycling.
Remedios Rapaport of Portland, Oregon reminds us in her piece, “Power to the People,” that we have agency and strength when we unite. The three dimensional work, elaborately painted in the style of a 19th-century carousel, provides the viewer with a peep-hole through which we can view a vast crowd of protesters. Safai and Smith, two artists who work collaboratively, have constructed “Soupcart.” Last year they offered soup from it to everyone they encountered in downtown San Francisco, and produced the video that accompanies their piece.
Nuala Creed was invited to make an ornament for the White House Christmas tree in 2002. Artists were asked to make a native bird from their state. Although Creed was “honored to be invited to submit [her] work,” she wished she could send a message describing her feelings about the President’s policies, but was afraid “my name could have ended up on some list other than the guest list.” Her nine ceramic hummingbirds suspended from the gallery ceiling represent the ornament she wishes she could have sent to the White House.
The exhibition is free of charge and the public is invited to bring posters, flyers and ephemera to the gallery to post on the windows and walls of the lobby. The Berkeley Art Center is located at 1275 Walnut Street, gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
Robbin Henderson
Director, Berkeley Art Center
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MITCHELL RESPONDS
Editors, Daily Planet:
Re Douglas Allen Taylor’s article (Daily Planet, Oct. 15-18) on the Berkeley School Board candidates: It is not up to Mr. Taylor to decide who is a viable candidate. It is up to the voters. I expect most voters will read my statement in the Voter’s Handbook, or my flier, or website, or go to a debate, or see one on BTV. Berkeley voters need to know that I am running against a political machine, and that I am the only independent candidate in the School Board race.
Mr. Taylor wrote a very long article skipping my candidacy and issues entirely and unfairly for two reasons. One is that I have no financial contributors. I wanted none because I am an independent and intend to remain one. I needed none because my campaign is affordable. My flier is half a page on white paper, message, slogan, picture, phone number, website, and costs a penny each!
The other reason Mr. Taylor dismissed my candidacy was his assumption that I have no endorsements. But that is untrue. I have been endorsed by neighborhood leaders such as Martha Nicoloff, author of the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance; Laurie Bright, President of the Council of Neighborhood Associations; John Denton, beloved former City Councilmember; Martha Jones, education and neighborhood activist; and other wonderful people from all parts of town.
A “glitch” in my filing papers similar to the one that kept Maudelle Shirik off the ballot happened to me. In my case my endorsers were not permitted but I got on the ballot. I moved on thinking that issues matter most, and knowing Berkeley endorsement processes are cold old controlled machine politics. My website, www.merriliemitchell.org, has a new page on this subject, and you may click on “Greens” for a look behind the scenes.
I am the only Berkeley School Board candidate endorsed by the statewide “Cops” organization, probably because I emphasize the connection between safe schools and neighborhoods in the Voter Handbook. I am a strong advocate for “Peace Officers” in Berkeley but under the political machine their numbers decrease and we lose community - friendly officers - walking, bike, and traffic cops, detectives, and crime prevention specialists.
My campaign is about considering the needs of the children first, and politicians, last.
Merrilie Mitchell
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RIVERA FOR BOARD
Editors, Daily Planet:
As former Berkeley School Board members we are supporting Joaquín Rivera for re-election to the Berkeley School Board on November 2, 2004, and we urging the community do so as well.
We recognize the importance of maintaining strong leadership and stability in our district within a city that has a long history of dedication to public education. Our district must have school board members who are not only intelligent, experienced and well-rounded in the field of education, but also passionate and committed to meeting the educational needs of our diverse student body. Joaquín has these qualities, and that is why he has earned our support.
During Joaquín’s tenure on the board over the last eight years, he has worked to balance our district’s budget during difficult times of decreasing funding from the federal and state governments, meanwhile maintaining high standards for our students. Joaquín has distinguished himself on the board for his commitment to improving student achievement. He played an instrumental role in the implementation of early literacy and dual-immersion/bilingual programs, pushed for reliable student assessments, quality professional development for teachers, and a variety of new strategies to improve the academic performance of all students. These efforts have resulted in a significant reduction of the achievement gap at our elementary schools.
Under Joaquín’s leadership, the board hired an outstanding high school principal who has brought stability and a new sense of optimism to the school. They also approved a small schools policy to meet the diverse needs of our students.
Berkeley is fortunate to have such a devoted, competent and committed person leading its schools. He will help the district to implement a strategic master plan in order to improve the academic performance of all of our students, provide fiscal accountability, and adopt innovative programs unique to our community. Please join us in support of Joaquín to keep our district moving in a positive direction. Joaquín is the proven leader that our children – and our community – need.
Pamela Doolan
Lloyd Lee
Miriam Rokeach (Topel)
Ted Schultz
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NO FUNDS FOR TREE CENSUS
Editors, Daily Planet:
Read the measure before voting.
I guess lots of people will see that Berkeley’s Measure S is about trees and think it must be a good idea. Everybody likes trees. But please read the whole thing. In this time of budget crises and job cut backs someone wants to create two full time staff to keep track of the city’s trees. Do we really need a “tree census”? Who comes up with these ideas?
Gary Herbertson
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HOW TO HELP KERRY
Editors, Daily Planet:
A lot of readers want to support Kerry, but don't know how to help him. They think they have to leave the state to help register voters, or go spend the afternoon doing a phone bank. But that is just absolutly not true.
I have three suggestions: (1) you can register as a volunteer on johnkerry.com, (2) you can register as a volunteer at america coming together and (3) you can go to democratic underground.com
Each of these sites have an amazing number of tools for writing letters to the media, sending email reminders to friends and family to vote or to register, and tools to help you make phone calls to voters in swing states from your own home. You can help in as little as five minutes, with almost no effort. There really is no excuse not to be involved anymore.
Clement Roberts
Oakland
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NADER’S MAD CHASE
Editors, Daily Planet:
Whenever Ralph Nader is interviewed these days, I think of Melville’s mad Captain Ahab who, in his ultimately catastrophic pursuit of the white whale, declared “All my means and methods are sane: my purpose is mad.”
Nader has added to his extensive enemy list those progressives who, he feels, have betrayed him because their fear of the Bush agenda exceeds their former loyalty to him.
We who believe that a medieval theocracy has no place in the U.S. disagree with Nader that there is little difference between the two major parties this time, and so Nader wants to harpoon us along with his old corporate adversaries.
If he and his supporters succeed in throwing the election to Bush once again, he will succeed in making his name an obscenity around the world, while sharing the fate of Ahab who took the ship down with all hands on board.
Gray Brechin
