The Opinion Pages

“It’s been a long time coming,” said the president-elect on the big screen. From the back of the packed room at Bobby G’s Pizzeria, an earnest youthful voice: “Twenty months!” -more-

The legal secrecy surrounding police misconduct and discipline is all but absolute, but not quite as strong as the free speech tradition championed in Berkeley. -more-

I am proceeding with the filing of multiple complaints against officers of the Berkeley Police Department. I don’t think it will help. The Berkeley Police lack cultural sensitivity and by all evidence common courtesy and sense. They are, by and large, an incendiary gang in blue that should be curtailed in Southwest Berkeley. -more-

For those who care about the University of California and its relations with our broader world, the catalyzing opportunity for real change is for distinct groups to find common cause and democratize the UC. Collectively, can we reverse the widening chasm between a concerned public and an aloof, unaccountable Board of Regents composed of elite, wealthy businessmen. The Phoenix Project for UC Democracy aims to build a coalition to democratize the UC Regents, and our kickoff event will be Tuesday, Nov. 18, 7 p.m. at the Hillside Club in Berkeley (www.UCdemocracy.org for more info). -more-

It will work, as a certain number of mantra recitations bring a desired outcome, so at 1 million it’s a given….I am getting close. -more-

I grew up in this city and I am so disappointed in it I could just spit. How its citizenry can keep electing someone as mayor who quite obviously doesn’t care about their wants, needs or rights escapes me. -more-

By the time this story hits print, either Tom Bates or Shirley Dean will have won the election for mayor in Berkeley. The Berkeley voters will be able to count on one thing for certain; a back burner for civil rights, police accountability, and honestly affordable housing. -more-

As a resident of Albany, I have read Sharon Hudson’s series on the problems created with Berkeley’s electoral system with fascination. Her commentaries, published in the Oct. 9, 16 and 30 issues of the Berkeley Daily Planet, present a brief history of Berkeley’s previous “at-large” system of electing the City Council, the current district system of election, and the problems created by each. -more-

The election of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States is a benchmark event in African American’s long, long history in this country. However the overwhelming support Obama received from the nation’s black communities, support that saw unprecedented numbers of African Americans marching as one to the polling booths, stemmed from emotions and events far removed the world of modern politics. -more-

As Jesus says in Matthew 26:52, “those that take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” In the case of just-defeated initiative Measure KK, the “sword” its proponents took up was their conviction that the issue would be considered an up or down vote on one specific Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project—AC Transit’s proposal to run dedicated-lane buses on Telegraph Avenue and on into downtown. As mayoral candidate Shirley Dean said at a neighborhood meeting early in the campaign, “Measure KK is the best way we have to stop the BRT in Berkeley.” -more-

In her book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein posits that Israel’s embrace of disaster capitalism has diminished the need for it to engage in meaningful peace negotiations with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors. For years, it was conventional wisdom that you needed political stability to have steady economic growth. However, Israel has turned this conventional wisdom on its head. Israeli occupies Gaza and the West Bank, engages in violence with the Palestinians, is experiencing political turmoil, yet the country is experiencing an economic boom. How? -more-

The first of the 388 workers arrested in the immigration raid on the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, were deported in mid-October, having spent five months in federal prison. Their crime? Giving a bad Social Security number to the company to get hired. Among them will be a young man who had his eyes covered with duct tape by a supervisor on the line, who then beat him with a meathook. The supervisor is still on the job. -more-