Features

FROM ARROGANCE  

TO INSULT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Topping the news in the first week of the 109th Congress were dozens of items about the president’s choice to be the new attorney general. Democrats, liberals and progressives had their say: Alberto G. lacks experience and stature, he holds a twisted view of due process, and his sense of what’s right contradicts the American sense of justice. 

Democrats typically attack the president for rewarding special interests and favoring the wealthy. Liberals zero in on his arrogant way of interpreting the Constitution—due process, legislative oversight, state/church separation, and such. Progressives aim their attack at the immoral or unethical consequences of executive power; a president who is unable to admit his mistakes will never know the great harm flowing from his policies. 

It disturbs me that Democrats, liberals and progressives fail to attack the president’s second-round draft choices from the perspective of ordinary, politically literate citizens like me.  

Naming Gonzalez for attorney general and Spellings for education secretary, a legal quisling and a schools nobody, does not reach the implosion achieved when he named “good man” Kerik for Homeland Security. Nevertheless, the choice of Gonzales and Spellings typifies 43’s executive arrogance, and although they will most likely be confirmed, we the people can’t help but feel offended and deeply insulted. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

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WAR IN IRAQ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bob Burnett’s special to the Planet, “Iraq: American Reality,” (Jan. 7-10) emphasizes some important facts: The occupation “isn’t going to script,” the media have framed the consideration of the occupation in very narrow terms, and there has been no national discussion of exit strategies. But contrary to Burnett’s take on this, there is no reason to suppose that this has happened because the Bush administration “controlled the discussion,” or strangled and “bullied” the media. From the New York Times and National Public Radio to Fox News the media have willingly gone out of their way to limit and distort the whole story of the invasion and occupation and, as for the lack of national discussion, if the Democrats had truly had views different from Bush’s and had come out strongly for them, the media would have been unable to withhold it all from the public. 

Richard Wiebe 

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ACTIVIST JUDGES 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I applaud the commentary by Paul Glusman regarding the activist judges that President Bush is appointing (“Activist Judges Approve Sex Stereotypes,” Daily Planet, Jan. 4-6). Through these activist judges, the right wing fringe seeks to rewrite our laws and our constitution. Glusman’s suggestion that we make our opposition to these judges known to the White House is well timed. I would add that we also should write to Senators Feinstein and Boxer (senator@feinstein.senate.gov and senator@boxer.senate.gov) to let them know we support them in stopping the confirmation of these right wing judicial activists, through filibuster and all other legal means.  

Robert C. Cheasty  

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CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In my article, “The Stealth Plan to Bicycle-ize Marin Avenue” (Daily Planet, Dec. 10-13, 2004), I stated that “[t]o my knowledge, there was no announcement [of the Transportation Commission’s Oct. 21 public hearing on the proposed changes to Marin] in any newspaper.” City of Berkeley Transportation Planner Heath Maddox just reminded me that he’d told me that his office had noticed the hearing in the Berkeley Voice.  

Zelda Bronstein  

• 

BUS RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Sharon Hudson writes: “the more rapidly buses transit ouf of my field of view, hearing, and smell, the better I like it,” and then she explains that she is against Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Telegraph because of “the possible diversion of traffic into the unbarricaded Willard Neighborhood.” (“Final LRDP Shows UC’s True Colors—And the City Sees Red, Not Blue and Gold,” Daily Planet, Jan. 7-10). 

In a previous letter, Hudson wrote about how offended she was by the term NIMBY. But this latest opinion piece, she is against buses in general and against BRT purely because of the immediate impact on her delicate sensibilities and on her neighborhood.  

She does not mention that better bus service is needed to help cope with global warming and fossil fuel depletion, because these issues are not in her back yard.  

We should deal with the immediate local impacts of bus service. We can add barriers or traffic calming to protect the Willard neighborhood from the unlikely eventuality that BRT will cause spill-over traffic there. We can urge AC Transit to follow the lead of Seattle and buy General Motors’ new hybrid buses, which create little noise and air pollution and which are cheaper than conventional buses in the long run because of their fuel savings.  

But we should also think about the global impacts of our actions. Berkeley should set an example of environmentally sound planning. We certainly should not listen to people who go beyond opposing BRT and run a hate campaign against buses in general.  

Charles Siegel  

• 

ALBERTO GONZALEZ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the Alberto Gonzalez confirmation for attorney general, not only does torture give permission to the enemy to reciprocate in kind, not only do we give licence for the most base brutal instincts to be expressed, but, does anyone who foolishly believes that such “encouragement” can beget reliable information, deserve to be our attorney general? 

Gerta Farber 

• 

TREE PLANTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One rainy day in October, a magical event took place in my neighborhood. Neighbors, assisted by cheerful staff members of our city’s Parks and Recreation Department, planted over 70 trees along our streets. I have lived here in South Berkeley for over 40 years, and the previous street trees had gotten old, died and been removed. Just having the concrete removed and the dirt revealed, made a significant change in how our streets feel. Now everyday, as I walk my dog, I marvel at all these new trees, and look forward to the promise of fresh oxygen, flowers and fall colors. 

What was more remarkable, was that this took place in the rain. Dozens of neighbors appeared, apartment dwellers, young couples, people I met for the first time. Everyone was so happy at the prospect of planting all these trees, they enjoyed the rain, which was good for the trees. People who said they had only planned on volunteering for two hours, ended up staying for eight. So, it wasn’t just trees that were planted, but a much stronger sense of community. 

Bravo to Yolanda Huang, our community organizer, bravo to all the intrepid tree planters and the Halcyon Neighborhood Association, and thank you so much to Jerry Koch and Betsy Reeves of the Forestry Division. 

I strongly encourage every neighborhood to organize a street tree planting. Call Betsy Reeves at 644-6566. 

Ahna Stern 

• 

MAKE WAR, NOT LOVE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

“Make war, not love” seems to be a slogan of the Bush administration. As it turns out both Cheney and Rumsfeld have been lying and war mongering since the days of Nixon. BBC did a very revealing documentary detailing this, more information on all this can be found at: www.rense.com/general61/ddoc.htm. Also the Bush administration spent an unbelievable $900 million of tax payers money on teaching teenagers sexual abstinence, in another words to just say no to making love before marriage. Anyhow it is just incredible that the Bush administration is spending such huge amounts of taxpayers hard earned money on not making love but making war as the Iraq war is costing us more than $150 million dollars a day along with many lives. This all sounds real crazy to me but I have a feeling four more years of Bush and it is going to get even crazier. For an in depth analysis of the roots of this craziness go to: www.awakeninthedream.com/gerogews.html. Well anyhow, God bless America, we are sure going to need it for the next four years! 

Thomas Husted 

Alameda?