Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday March 30, 2007

GROCERY BAGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I never cease to be amazed at how many presumably environmentally conscious people at places like Monterey Market and the Berkeley Bowl I see put two onions into a plastic bag, or three potatoes or other small amounts of items which obviously do not need them, the whole mess goes into more plastic or paper or both. I take a cardboard box. Everything goes into the box which rests in the trunk without danger of falling over or sliding. Do so many people really not care? 

Then there is the matter of so many people gullibly and glibly buying water in endless cases of plastic bottles. Do they have any idea of the toll on the environment the manufacture of these bottles takes, along with disposing of them (Nestle being the biggest producer)? The water from my tap is more thoroughly tested while blind taste tests show that most people can’t tell the difference, and if they can detect a difference they tend to prefer tap water. Ask Alice Waters if the water she serves is inferior to the silly costly bottled water! 

SL Rennacker 

 

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RESPONSE TO DAVIDSON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Lynn Davidson’s March 23 letter supporting taxpayer financing of political campaign propaganda and junk mail as the only way to fight political corruption and enact single payer health insurance makes no more sense than did invading Iraq to fight al Qaeda. 

Her contention that the lack of an “affordable, universal health care system” is evidence of political corruption in California is much less plausible the two alternative explanations: potentially huge cost overruns, and the complications from overlapping federal programs (e.g. ERISA, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.).  

Ironically, it seems that Ms. Davidson and Assemblywoman Hancock want to corrupt the democratic process themselves by reviving AB 583 in the Legislature, giving legislators another chance to use taxes to pay for their reelection campaigns. Voters rejected this legislation’s twin, Prop. 89, by a 3-to-1 margin, in last November’s election.  

Let me suggest an alternative means of financing political campaigns that may not be as objectionable to the voters. Suppose candidates for a particular office were required to pay a fee equivalent to at least half of the expenditures they made in excess of a specified limit, based on the number of registered voters eligible to vote for them. This fee would be redistributed equally to all political candidates for that office. This alternative financing mechanism would avoid involuntary financing by taxpayers since only candidates and their donors would end up paying for it. It would help level the political campaign playing field. And last, but not least, it would provide an incentive for candidates to reduce their expenditures, to avoid contributing to their rivals’ campaigns. Your readers who like this idea should e-mail Ms. Hancock and let her know she needs to change her course of action.  

Keith Winnard 

 

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UC-BP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I find it interesting that Cal is the proposed recipient of this great new project with BP for alternative fuels since it appears Cal does not understand the importance of preserving one of the only living things that uses carbon dioxide—their stand of oak trees near the athletic field. One would think some of the great Nobel scientists up there on the hill would speak up. While it may appear to be a bunch of “nuts” sitting in those trees, the loss of those trees will affect quality of life in Berkeley. Those people care. I cannot personally estimate how much CO2 the leaves of those trees use, but when they are gone, I do know that the CO2 in that area will hang in the air for the students to breathe. Geez, don’t they get it either? 

Jackie Fay 

 

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BERKELEY ICELAND 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m writing to make sure the public knows about the efforts to save historic Berkeley Iceland, due to close after 67 years at the end of the month. This is a beloved community resource for recreation and socializing used by every type of Bay Area citizen, literally generations of children, teens and adults of all ages from young to seniors. Most of the press seems to have Iceland dead and buried without a mention of how much people care or even that there is any sort of effort to save it (on-going even after the 31st). Iceland is a very special place and it would be a true shame if the community permanently lost this unique and irreplaceable treasure. Here is the website to find out more: www.saveberkeleyiceland.org. 

M.J. Bernal 

 

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JFK’S LEGACY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A recent letter criticizing the Iraq war mentioned that President Kennedy used good judgment and patience in successfully handling the Cuban Missile Crisis. That is ridiculous. Kennedy CAUSED the Cuban Missile Crisis. His very presence caused it. The Soviets regarded him as a light-weight nobody and immediately took steps to move their agenda. In 1961 they built the Berlin Wall. No reaction. JFK proved them right again by mishandling the Bay of Pigs fiasco. They confidently followed by putting missiles in Cuba. They withdrew them but at a great price, including our removal of similar missiles in Europe and our agreement to allow the cancerous communist infestation in Cuba to remain on our doorstep where it distributes its venom in Latin America to this day. A miffed JFK, out to show the communists they could not push him around, quickly put 16,000 troops in Vietnam thereby getting us into that stupid war. In summary: the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War and the Berlin Wall are the true legacy of JFK. None of them would have occurred if Eisenhower had remained president.  

John Locke  

 

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LOOKING FOR RELATIVES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to get in touch with my cousins and their families in Berkeley. All I know of my Uncle Cyril Gray is that he emigrated to California in the 1930s and took American citizenship. He died in the 1960s. His wife Elizabeth was a Scotswoman. I last heard from her in 1985, when she was living in Berkeley. Cyril and Elizabeth Gray had two sons, Donald and Peter who were born in the 1930s. I believe that my cousins both had sons. 

I have been doing some family history on the Gray family and would be pleased to share it. If anyone reading this knows where my cousins are then please could you get in touch with me at 4 Aylestone Road Cambridge CB4 1HF England. 

Joan Gray 

 

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THE MYTH OF API SCORES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sometimes the lumbering train of bureaucracy runs into the brick wall of human nature. Such, I fear, is the saga of API scores. These are the scores, based on standardized tests, that determine if a school has succeeded or failed. They have again been made public, reminding the schools of how they rank. 

We believe all students can do well, that they are all basically smart. They are. There are, however, different nuances of smart. All students have basic smarts, sometimes known as “street smarts.” Using these smarts, students conclude that these tests don’t affect their individual grades, that it has something to do with the school, the state, and the feds. 

Some students in high achieving schools have been made to understand the ramifications of their school coming out on top. There’s perhaps a bit of the competitive thing going on, along with the knowledge that success comes with money for the school. These smarts may prompt them to try a bit harder on these tests. 

At other schools that level subtlety may not be completely understood. There are few things more boring than sitting around, bubbling in answer sheets, particularly when the questions are dull and unconnected with your own life. Add to this that some students are not fluent in English and have to work harder to understand the questions. Now, going back to the knowledge that these scores don’t determine if you pass English or Math, why rack your brain trying to do a good job. Why not bubble in any answer, turn the miserable test in, and get it over with? When you’ve seen answer sheets with bubbles tracing a regular zig zag pattern down the page, you know that this really does happen. After all, these kids are smart enough to know they’ll never compete with the uptown kids who have two professional, well educated parents and their own college fund at age 10. This is the human nature brick wall. 

Naturally, a whole industry has built up around creating these tests, norming them, printing them, giving them, scoring them, and plotting the results. Then there are the people who use them to decide who gets money. This is the lumbering train of bureaucracy. In any collision involving enough mass, inertia and force, something gets vaporized. In this case it may well be the true spirit of education. 

Meade Fischer 

 

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CALL IT WHAT IT IS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My dictionary tells me treason is an action against one’s country but it doesn’t help me decide whether a program against one’s country is also treason.  

The program I have in mind looks like politics as usual, that old “king of the mountain” game. The Republican Party, while representing a minority of voters, leaped into the majority in the 1994 Congressional elections. This stunning victory sprang from a comprehensive political statement titled “Contract with America” followed shortly by “The K Street Project,” a clever solidarity game plan that secured power atop the mountain. Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay shared MVP honors but they couldn’t have won without star players Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and others.  

After Bush was appointed, the Republican Party sought ways to make its power permanent and seized upon the confusion and fear following 9/11 as an opportunity to do whatever it wanted. Often it pushed reality aside and created a reality of its own which it did with superb theatrical flair on May Day, 2003 with “Mission Accomplished,” a drama starring Bush II as Viking co-pilot Commander-in-Chief. Following that high jinks the Republican majority stumbled and began a bumpy downhill slide prompting it to react with crude and illegal defensive measures—manipulating the press, punishing critics, wire-tapping, suspending habeas corpus, skipping due process, dis-ing allies, disregarding international conventions and trampling on human rights.  

Today, Party leaders struggle to survive a relatively minor miscue involving the firing of eight pesky uncooperative federal prosecutors.  

Therefore, to make their power permanent the Republican program ignored checks and balances, blurred the separation of powers and invested the president with wartime powers based on a bloody and costly military action that can be called war only in the metaphorical sense because the deadly un-uniformed enemy has no chain of command and carries no flag. Thus, these actions are, collectively, a program against constitutionally established government.  

Call it what it is. Treason!  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

 

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ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S 

AUTOPSY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The list of drugs found in Anna Nicole Smith’s body during her autopsy is awe-fully sad: anti-anxieties, pain relievers, muscle relaxants, sleeping pills, and anti-smoking medications. Apparently, she was wracked by pain, anxiety, tension, nervousness, and disease. Beautiful, rich and famous, Anna seems to have found no happiness, just increasing pain. The need for buzzing paparazzi, to always wear a public face, the desire for expensive gee-gaws, surrounding attendants and supplicants that comprise such a “lifestyle” cost her an awful toll to maintain.  

What does her death tell us about our ideal of “celebrity?” What are the personal characteristics, acquisitions, and achievements that we “celebrate?” 

Perhaps the satisfactions of being present in each moment, of being authentic in relationship with others, and of caring for and repairing our world are more celebratory. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

 

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MITT ROMNEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Has Mitt Romney, GOP presidential contender for 2008, sold his soul to gain the support of conservative activists and religious right-wingers? Romney is sporting a new anti-abortion look, has shifted his language on gay rights and has become less green. Why do all Republican presidential hopefuls have to pass a fundamentalist litmus test? 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley