The Opinion Pages

In the mail this week, a flood of glossy brochures, soliciting votes for the upcoming election. If you’re confused by them, you’re not alone. -more-

Over the summer I read What’s the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank. Kansas voters regularly vote to humiliate and destroy their state, enriching and empowering the privileged class, and weakening and impoverishing regular folk. We Berkeleyans are too smart to fall into that trap. Or are we? -more-

Lately there has been much discussion about how to help the Berkeley public schools thrive. -more-

The administration is in denial. The “dumb” growth advocates are into defeatism: “... nothing we do in Berkeley’s land use will have any noticeable impact on climate change.” (Sharon Hudson, Daily Planet, Aug. 8). It is an easy type of excuse that is too sweeping in its scope. Why protest the war, when nothing you personally can do will stop it? Why not cheat on your taxes? Lots of people do it and your taxes are probably insignificant in the total budget. -more-

Since the war on drugs began some $47 billion a year is reserved from federal, state, and local treasuries to combat the so-called menace that encompasses the trafficking, sales, and use of drugs directly affecting the citizens of the United States of America. This obviously reflects the government’s view on the subject of drug abuse and related activities as very grave indeed. It is apparently serious enough to lawmakers who deem it necessary to spend that insane amount of tax money, and commit entire agencies of human resources annually in an attempt to try and bring the problem to a halt. The trouble is that through all the searches and seizures, television campaign ads, and mandatory minimum sentencing there is no end in sight and it seems to have fueled a kind of evolution in the world of mind altering substances. -more-