Opinion

The question of how to provide a sustainable information source for a small city in a metropolitan area is ongoing around here. It’s a subset of what now constitutes news, since even on a national level the main “news” outlets are increasingly aggregators (an insider word meaning collectors) of news stories created in other media. The ratio of “new news” to repeats on sites like the Huffington Post is small. -more-

This is one busy week for the civic-minded amongst us. I had originally thought to do a preview, without comment, in the news section, of some of the wide selection of meetings that the conscientious Berkeleyan who wanted to be influential or just well informed could attend this week, but I find that I am constitutionally unable to comply with the “without comment”stipulation, so as we move through the week you’ll find some notes on what’s happening and why you should care. -more-

04-30-10 Letters to The Editor -more-

Everyone's celebrating the Governor's "pledge" to save the Cal Grant... everyone except for students, that is. The pledge to save the Cal grant doesn't save anything at all. In fact, it hurts low income students and their families. -more-

I remain shocked, furious, and appalled by what's been done to the American people and how impervious the banking system and others who aren't living where and how we are in the age of job loss, rising prices, home losses, all the outcomes of the banks' cavalier disregard of those who don't hold the same priivilege--especially legal privilege. -more-

Will Arizona’ s draconian immigration law prompt Congress to act soon on immigration reform? Unlikely. The Democrats have too much on their plate right now -- financial reform, global warming legislation, selecting a Supreme Court nominee, selling health care reform to the public -- to tackle the difficult job of comprehensive immigration reform, including a way for undocumented immigrants to become legal. -more-

When will the University of California stop funding war crimes against Palestinian civilians and the occupation of Palestinian land? How much longer will grieving mothers have to wait for justice? -more-

Rapid Bus Plus (RB+) is Berkeley's answer to the environmental disaster that is Bus Rapid Transit(BRT). The RB+ Coalition has been working on this plan since AC Transit's Draft EIRs came out and it became clear that the number of new transit riders on BRt would be negligible and the reduction in greenhouse gases with BRT would be miniscule. We believe that RB+ will provide 80% of the projected benefits of BRT for 20% of the cost and virtually none of the detriments. Beyond that, RB+ can be implemented immediately with the current funds AC Transit has on hand. We don't need to wait another 5 years, or longer, for BRT to be fully funded. We need better public transit today! -more-

Ending corporate dominance of our government is key to most of what we want whether climate justice, fair trade, food security, affordable quality healthcare, or -- in many cases -- peace. The "CITIZENS UNITED" Supreme Court ruling against the Federal Elections Commission lifted corporate limits on buying elections, so Berkeley's Peace & Justice Commission recommends that the City Council again call for constitutional amendments saying that a corporation is not a person and may not claim constitutional "rights" (such as corporate financing of election ads being defined as free speech.) These resolutions are researched/vetted by volunteer commissioners, cost the city almost nothing, and have more weight than individual lobbying. Corporations may operate by privilege, the way they did historically, and can more easily be held accountable, when needed, if they no longer have human rights. -more-

In a stunning victory for environmental groups, the California Court of Appeal rejected most of Chevron’s challenge to a lower court decision that stopped construction on a $1 billion refinery upgrade. -more-

Berkeley -- During July 1944, when famed Lieutenant C.D. "Lucky" Lester of the Tuskegee Airmen shot down 3 Nazi enemy aircraft over Europe in a brief span of 4-6 minutes with his P-51 Mustang while on a mission to protect some B-17 Flying Fortresses on their way to bomb a German airfield in southern Germany, he probably had no idea then that his actions would lead to the day he became one of the founders in 1969 of a small venture capital firm called the Inner City Fund, that was later renamed ICF International. It now plays a direct role in the scheme of some high priced consultants who desire to grab Section 8 funding from the poor, to finance their master plan to privatize Berkeley's 75 public housing units. -more-