Columnists

Berkeley’s zoning ordinance is such a badly written mess that very few people read it unless they must, and those who do struggle to understand what it means. We should probably thank former Planning Director Carol Johnson for getting the City Council to hire a consultant to make the ZO at least readable. Making it workable and equitable is a Herculean task but we’re off to a good start. -more-

I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea more than ten years ago. I did not comply with doctor's orders to wear a CPAP machine, and I returned the machine. I thought at the time that it was nonsense. The sleep doctor at Doctor's Hospital in the Richmond area were quite upset with me for wasting their efforts.

Then, more recently, I would wake up every morning feeling as though a truck ran over me. This was about seven years ago.

I had a second sleep study done in Concord, and the physician, who I knew and trusted, essentially said that if I didn't use the machine, I was going to die.

Apparently, actor Carrie Fisher died in part due to sleep apnea at age 60. Had I not gone on the machine several years back, it is likely that, by now, I would be deceased. -more-

Writing in Politico, Bruce Bartlett complains the Republican Party has lost its way because it has ceased to champion ideas; he says the GOP has become the Party that panders "to the lowest common denominator in American politics." What Bartlett says is true, but the Democratic Party has also lost its way. Not because its ceased to champion ideas but rather because Democrats have forgotten who they are, they've lost touch with their soul. -more-

The U.S. finds itself in a schizophrenic Syrian war. Russia supports Syria's president Bashar al-Assad; the U.S. wants him removed. We have, or at least had, a sort of alliance with Russia to share intelligence. Then we attacked a Syrian air base because Syria allegedly using chemical weapons; Trump threatens more such attacks. -more-