As this week marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, there is increasing demand for a full accountability of why so many first responders suffered serious life-threatening health problems. A stunning new documentary, “9/11 Unsettled Dust” describes the impact of cancer-causing smoke and dust that hung over ground zero and how the EPA put Wall Street’s interests before public health and told people the air was safe to breathe. 

Prominent officials from the New York’s offices, most notably “America’s mayor” Rudy Giuliani, downplayed the risks fearful that it might adversely impact the stock market. ”Film director Lisa Katzman says she made the film because she was a resident of Lower Manhattan who saw the attack and its aftermath up close and wanted “to address the lack of accountability” from city and federal officials. The documentary is scheduled to air on PBS stations this week. 

What is particularly galling is the blatant denial of health benefits to the heroes of 9/11, the first responders, who along with their families made many trips to Congress to demand relief from the crippling health costs. Jon Stewart, the former host of “The Daily Show” made an impassioned plea to Congress demanding full medical coverage for the “first responders. There are a long list of guilty state and federal agencies who were derelict in their duties, most notably the EPA, OSHA and the mayor’s office. Even students at Stuyvesant High School were told that the air was safe to breathe.

Part 1 of a series.

Once upon a time, in Berkeley, California, …

No no no. This story is going to be a saga, not a fairy tale.

It is the saga of a man, a family man, an Army veteran, a tax payer, who got stomped on by the city of Berkeley. 

Oh, go on, no one gets stomped on in that little town, that wears its humanitarianism on its sleeve. 

Well, don’t be so sure. He had a house, 6 kids, and a wife to whom he owed his life (she had rescued him from the juice). He loved her more than anything. When she came to him, she brought 5 kids whom he welcomed with open arms, and gave him a sixth kid after they were married. They all lived in that house for 40 years, raising kids, watching grandkids grow up. He paid the house off, owned it free and clear, and paid the taxes on it. It was just an urban family, living an urban life and minding their own business. 

Then, one day, the cops show up, looking for someone who didn’t live there. While they are searching the house, and questioning the man, and arresting the one who didn’t live there because they had found him a couple of blocks away already, another man, this one in a suit and tie, shows up. He and the homeowner know each other. But when the suit passes the owner in the front yard, he gives no salutation, and offers no sign of recognition to the owner. He just goes in the house, looks around, comes back out, and walks away. 

That man in the suit worked for the city. He was a pretty big man, politically speaking. A few weeks later, some official inspectors show up. Then a list comes in the mail, a list of code violations, something a contractor could handle for around $150,000. But by the time the city gets finished with what it was doing, three years later, it has managed to saddle this homeowner with a debt of over $750,000. 

It took 3 years to do it. But the city was able to transform a house owned free and clear into a debt of three-quarters of a million dollars. 

How could they do that? 

How they could do it is becoming a big question in this little town, because the case is going to court in a couple of months. Did the city create a huge debt for this family in order to take it to court. No. the city took the family to court in order to create this huge debt for it. Is that the secret of what the courts are for? Ask some of the people who have gotten caught in Probate Court. You get a similar stomping. 

But the other question, the real one, is, Why would they do that? 

Ahh. I left out a small detail – well, maybe it’s not so small. The homeowner and his family are black, that is to say, African American. In other words, the lid to the box of official shenanigans was lifted, and then left open. 

Those in the know, who have been following this story as it has unfolded, know that it is the story of Leonard Powell, and the story of his house on Harmon St. in south Berkeley.  

When the cops arrived during the summer of 2014, they were looking for a member of Leonard Powell’s large family, one who didn’t live in that house with Mr. Powell. He was a young man, and lived elsewhere with his parents. The cops knew that, yet they raided the house anyway. Why raid Mr. Powell’s house if the person they are looking for doesn’t live there? What were they really looking for? 

They searched the house and found "stuff" in an upstairs room – you know, the kind of "stuff" that later on gets called "evidence." Did they charge the kid they said lived where he didn’t live? No. They held him for a couple of weeks and let him go. Did they charge the owner of the house, Mr. Leonard Powell, since the "evidence" was found in his house? No. They knew he had nothing to do with it. They already knew where it came from. That’s not why they were there. 

Their whole thing was for show. It was simply to provide a cover for something else. For the man in the suit, perhaps? Were they just creating an opportunity for him to take a look around? Did the man in the suit know that his visit was going to come close to costing Mr. Powell his house? But then, why was he there? 

How did the city of Berkeley do this? How did it manage to impose a huge debt on this family? We have a bunch of fancy words, like civil suit (a court process), receivership (another court process). But these just restate the problem. A word the city doesn’t use is "impoverishment." 

The real question is, once they had Mr. Powell in court, how did they make their extravagant impoverishment of his family look reasonable or legitimate? 

And why would the city be expending resources to deprive a family of its home when entire neighborhoods are clamoring for affordable housing? Housing was being built, but it wasn’t the kind that people who had grown up in Berkeley could afford any more. Is the city just creating a roll model for how landlords should be treating black people? 

One way to answer these questions would be to go to the computer in the city court building (next door to the BPD) and read the court records of the case. The case number is RG15762567. See if you can figure out how the city did it. A second way would be to call your city councilmember and ask him or her, how did the city get away with putting a poor family in debt for three-quarters of a mil? They’ll know, since the case was actually discussed in City Council at one point. But don’t bet on them telling you. 

Better yet, wait a week; in the next chapter in this saga, we will address the city’s machinations. It’s not pretty. 

Notice: Mr. Powell will be defending himself against this travesty of justice in Alameda Superior Court on Dec. 3.

Leading Off the Week

Best Lead Sentence of the Week honors go to Mort Rosenblum for his Reader Supported News article "Afghanistan: Why and What Next?"—an analysis of culpability for the "fall" of Afghanistan that begins with this sentence:
"European newscasts have focused for weeks on a violent nation cursed by a pandemic, where armed fundamentalists hostile to Western values want one-party rule, a cowed press and kangaroo courts. And besides America, they also talk about Afghanistan."  

Best Wildfire Headline of the Week 

The San Francisco Chronicle is infamous for posting headlines that contain cringe-worthy puns—like the following prizewinner from the front page of the September 9 edition. The headline topped a report on the successful application of metallic sheaths to protect structures in the urban-wilderness interface from going up in flames. The headline read: "Aluminum blankets help houses foil fire damage." [Emphasis added.] So stock up for fire season with a home-sized stash of Reynolds Wrap. 

GOPsmacked 

Republican quote of the month (if not the era): Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Il):
"I think if we're going to be in charge and pushing conspiracy and pushing division and pushing lies, then the Republican Party should not have the majority." 

DEMonstrative 

Lucas Kunce, a 13-year Marine officer who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has become the latest of three Democrats hoping to replace Roy Blunt, Missouri's retiring US Republican Senator. Kunce grew up in poverty but managed to win a scholarship to Yale. After his stint in the military, Kunce joined the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit fighting to reduce the power of corporate monopolies. 

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has vetted this vet and is backing his run. Meanwhile, Kunce continues to weaponize his military experience to serve the cause of fighting poverty and inequity. As he recently stated:
“I see us spending, it turns out to be trillions of dollars building up those other countries, basically for nothing, and me and my buddies risking our lives, to build up places like Fallujah, Habbaniyah or, in Afghanistan, Lashkar Gah, when we should have been spending that money here in towns like Independence,… which has been forgotten by globalization." 

The Smartphone Man 

It was an apocalyptic scene as Afghans surrounded a massive US C-17 cargo plane rolling down the tarmac at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. Some among the crowd running alongside managed to lift themselves onto the tops of the retractable metal housing over the C-17's landing gear. In the videos of the event, nearly a dozen men appear to be holding on to the side of the moving plane. But, after viewing the footage several times, I noticed something odd. I printed a screenshot to be sure and showed it to several people who confirmed my discovery: One of the men attempting to flee Afghanistan by hitchhiking a ride on a moving plane appears to be hunched over and starring intently at a smartphone cupped in his hands while the plane is preparing for take-off. That's a case of taking texting to the limit. 

Billboard Chalks Up a Victory for Feet Speech 

There appears to be a new space for raw political speech in the agora of downtown Berkeley. The steps and sidewalk in front of the Berkeley Main Post Office have recently served as "greyboards" for chalk-scribbled protests by people POed about the City's seeming lack of concern for protecting Peoples Park and the homeless. 

If you want to send a political message to Berkeley's leaders, this is a perfect location—it's right across the street from City Hall. 

The message on this week's Sidewalk Billboard reads:
"UNMASKEd MAYOR MAKES 'FECES' COMMENT ON TV TO FALSELY DISCREdit UNHOUSEd." 

The Ignobel Peace Prize Goes to … Beards 

On September 9, a panel of judges at MIT's prestigious institute of Improbable Research announced the winners of the 31st Ig Nobel Prize. The group's credo explains their mission simply: "Research that makes people laugh and then think." 

The full slate of 2021's winners (in Biology, Ecology, Chemistry, Economics, Medicine, Physics, Kinetics, Entomology, Transportation and Peace) is now posted online — along with a video of the virtual ceremony. Here are two selections of particular interest. 

• PEACE PRIZE (USA). To Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier, for testing the hypothesis that humans evolved beards to protect themselves from punches to the face.
REFERENCE: “Impact Protection Potential of Mammalian Hair: Testing the Pugilism Hypothesis for the Evolution of Human Facial Hair,” Integrative Organismal Biology, vol. 2, no. 1, 2020, obaa005. 

• TRANSPORTATION PRIZE (NAMIBIA, SOUTH AFRICA, TANZANIA, ZIMBABWE, BRAZIL, UK, USA): To Robin Radcliffe, Mark Jago, Peter Morkel, Estelle Morkel, Pierre du Preez, Piet Beytell, Birgit Kotting, Bakker Manuel, Jan Hendrik du Preez, Michele Miller, Julia Felippe, Stephen Parry, and Robin Gleed, for determining by experiment whether it is safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside-down.
REFERENCE: “The Pulmonary and Metabolic Effects of Suspension by the Feet Compared with Lateral Recumbency in Immobilized Black Rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis) Captured by Aerial Darting,” Journal of Wildlife Diseases, vol. 57, no. 2, 2021, 357–367. 

The Write-ins Are Not Right-on 

Weeks after the start of the State Recall Election, Sacramento still had not identified the "qualified write-in" candidates cleared to receive valid votes in the September 14 ballot. According to the Alameda Country Registrar of Voters, that information was supposed to be available at ACVOTE.ORG. But this website remains a useless dead-in. It took a web-search to track down the Qualified Write-in candidates. Here are their names and party affiliations (if any) of the Special Seven:
Roxanne [no last name] (Democrat), Stacy Smith (Democrat), Major Williams (Republican), Thuy E. Hugens (American Independent), Miki Habryn (No Party Preference), Vince Lundgren (No Party Preference), Vivek B. Mohan {No Party Preference). 

Curious about their backgrounds, skills, platforms, financial donors, endorsements, and political goals? Sorry, folks, while they've been certified as approved to govern the state, we aren't privileged to access any essential information about their qualifications or financial conflicts. 

Here's a theoretical question: If "Roxanne" were to win the recall, how many Roxannes might step forward demanding the keys to the Governor's Mansion? 

Check the Appropriate Box 

UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies recently sent out a political survey to a random group of registered voters to solicit feedback on the upcoming gubernatorial recall. To sweeten the deal, IGS offered participants a chance to win an Amazon gift card worth $200. This seems a bit tacky—offering a financial bribe that enriches one of the wealthiest corporations on Earth. 

But at least the IGS can't be accused of age discrimination. The online form from Berkeley.qualtrics.com invited respondents to indicate their age by clicking on a preset scale that ran from 18 years to the overripe old age of 120. 

Speaking of Aging 

Kaiser Permanente recently invited me down to the Oakland headquarters to take a "treadmill test" to assess my health and stamina. I doffed my shirt and was soon hooked up to so many wires I looked like an abandoned marionette. With the wires hooked into the cardiology equipment, I was left to await the attending physician. The only item of interest was the computer screen, which displayed several lanes of peaking lines quietly marking the beats of my heart. Watch the screen and slowing my breathing to control the pulses, was both mesmerizing and deeply relaxing. If there's one form of meditation that's more relaxing than contemplating one's naval, it may well be contemplating one's aorta. 

The last time I took a treadmill exam was several years ago. The presiding docs told me I was "healthy enough to join the Oakland Fire Department." This time, however, I found myself struggling to run while puffing through a face-mask. No treadmill trophy, this time, but I didn't embarrass myself by collapsing. I was deemed healthy enough to seek work as a crossing guard. 

Another disappointment: I was hoping to meet one of the Third Floor physicians. When I called to make my appointment I offered to spell my full name, Garwood, since "you've probably never seen that name before." The response surprised me: "No surprise. We've got a Garwood here already." Alas, Dr. Garwood Gee wasn't on duty that day. 

Fanciful Fonts that Bring Letters into Focus  

People with dyslexia have difficulty reading print. So Christian Boer designed a special font to fill the need. Boer named his font "Dyslexie." 

Dyslexie is based on a pre-existing open-source font called déjà vu sans—which may be appropriate since the initial font's name can be translated as "without the ability to recognize something you've seen before." 

When viewed by readers with dyslexia, the letters in regular fonts can appear to jitter on the page—to turn, flip, mirror, and swap positions. The solution? A new font that (1) fattens the bottoms of letters, (2) turns "flippable" circles into asymmetrical hoops, and (3) replaces the uniformity of the vertical "sticks" in the alphabet's letters with vertical lines of varying length. There are six other ways the font is tweaked to make it more visually unique. If you want to see what the font looks like, here's a link to the Dyslexie homepage. In the meantime, the other fave fonts for dyslexic readers are Courier, Arial, Verdana and—the leading choice for many—Comic Sans. 

Up and Autumn at the Chavez-Huerta Memorial Sundial 

With the Equinox approaching, fans of the Cesar Chavez-Dolores Huerta Solar Calendar—which sits atop a prominent hill at the Berkeley Marina—are marking their calendars to mark the Calendar. 

After all, where else—and when else—can you stand on a hill halfway between the Golden Gate bridge and the Berkeley Hills and watch the sun set in the West at the same time the moon rises in the East? 

It's a photograph's dream. (One trick is to snap a photo showing the setting sun reflected in a friend's sunglasses as the full moon rises in the background.) 

Guest lecturer David J. Cooper will share lore on the history and functions of calendars in the pre-modern age and ponder some age-old questions: "Did ancient calendars follow the rhythm of the moon or the sun or both?" "What role did pre-modern observatories play in the establishment of today's calendar-time?" 

As is the custom, revelers will align themselves to cast a single shadow while standing between two of the site's signature boulders and will listen to a shofar being blown as the sun sets over the Marin headlands. 

DIRECTIONS: Take University Ave. toward Berkeley Marina, turn right toward DoubleTree Hotel, then left on Spinnaker Way. Park at end of Spinnaker Way. Follow path up to the Memorial Solar Calendar. Time: 30-40 minutes before sunset. 

The Empire Strikes Out 

At the same time Washington is contemplating adding Brazil to its list of NATO allies around the world, some members of the US Imperium are starting to have second thoughts. The collapse of Afghanistan's US-supported puppet government (and it's US-trained-and-equipped puppet army) has shaken the myth of "American Exceptionalism" to the core. Slowly, as the blinding bright light of American Triumphalism has suddenly begun to dim, people inside the US media echo chamber are beginning to blink their eyes and starting to question the whole dark history of America's deadly, costly, illegal, and failed foreign aggressions. 

Case in point: Activists in Australia have just posted a Change.org petition calling for an end to the ANZUS Treaty that binds the US and Australia in a military alliance. 

The petition reads in part: 

"Successive Australian Governments have committed our Defence Forces to follow the US into Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Vietnam, culminating in millions of deaths, untold suffering, and environmental devastation. Tens of billions of dollars have been wasted on destructive war machinery while depriving much needed expenditures at home for better schools, hospitals, roads, public housing for the homeless and addressing climate change." 

The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) adds a further critique of the US-Australia military alliance. "For Australia to keep out of these US wars and be independent and live in peace with our neighbors, this alliance with the United States needs to be seriously questioned." 

Let a thousand petitions bloom!

As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, as a Sikh American, I recall the senseless murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi as e attended his duties at a Chevron gas station, he owned in Mesa Arizona. Sodhi died on 15 September 2001, a victim of a hate crime in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He paid the ultimate price for adhering to the articles of his faith, a turban and beard and more importantly leading a life of selfless service to his community. Sodhi was profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by 42-year-old Frank Silva Roque, a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility who held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California.

One of the most humiliating jobs I've tried was done in conjunction with a mental health agency whose role it was to assist me in knowing how to be a busboy at a Denny's. I recall wearing the unform and watching as the job person at the mental health agency hobnobbed with the restaurant manager. Not only was I in the lowest of entry level positions, at the same time I was the token mentally disabled guy. This was a giant step down from the time I was assistant manager, trainer, and technician at a television repair shop in Pinole, California, or later a valued technician who repaired televisions and VCRs at an established shop. In both positions, which I held in my early twenties, I did not reveal a mental illness. And in both positions, supervisors complimented my work. 

Such jobs could bring respect. Busboy doesn't. I was good at electronic repair in my early twenties. However, I wanted to try other things, partly because there is a lot of pressure in the repair industry, and the vast majority of the jobs are full-time, which I could not do. 

Bus persons should not be considered low, because bussing dishes is genuine work and a valuable service. Yet social norms have never been fair. 

A job should not humiliate. It must be a source of increased self-esteem, and if it is not, why do it? Certainly, other jobs can be found if the issue is to earn money. Certainly, methods of coping with a job situation can be found, other than having a job coach who will, among other things, show you how to retrieve and bring back shopping carts in the parking lot of Target. (I've witnessed scenarios like this for mental health consumers other than me.) 

The same agency destroyed my chances of snagging a great television repair job at a family-owned TV repair business. Most people in business when wanting to hire someone for something requiring brains, do not want to deal with a person who cannot represent themself. Having a mental health person as an intermediary is a total disqualifier for most skilled positions. 

You can't really force an employer to hire someone they don't want-- that's just reality. You can bring up the Americans with Disabilities Act all you want, but a company owner does what they believe will work for their company. Remaining closeted concerning a disability may work better for a mental health consumer much of the time. That's the only way we can feel as though treated as a normal worker. And that method lends self-esteem, as opposed to being hired because you are fulfilling a quota of disabled people so that the hiring company can look charitable and maybe get a tax break. 

If you are your own agent and do not receive assistance from the mental health treatment systems in your efforts to find and do work, and if you then have some level of success, it brings in genuine self-confidence, self-value, and healing. When you continuously behave like a broken machine in need of the repairs to the operating system, through therapy, then you become only part of a person and not a whole person. 

The above is not to say there isn't a place for therapy and help--there indeed is. I'm receiving help at this phase in my life because the life circumstances I am up against are very hard. 

When we are in crisis, help from the mental health treatment system is often very welcome. There are a lot of things they can do, they have a lot of resources, and they are usually motivated to get us out of a crisis. Yet, beyond that, when we are seeking to take the next step, that of becoming a success, they may get in the way. In many instances, the mental health treatment system is only another obstacle we must clear on our path toward succeeding at something. 

At the point where we feel ready to take the next step, sometimes it seems as though individuals in the treatment system are hanging on to you as though you stepped on a mound of bubble gum on hot asphalt. 

The standards and milestones that constitute success for someone with a major mental condition are not the same as for a neuro-typical person. I'm a big success because, despite being diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Paranoid-type at age eighteen, I've made it past 50 years old, I'm not incarcerated or living in an institution, and I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach. (As I write these words, I have food in my stomach--I just ate lunch.) 

I write for newspapers and for some magazines. This fact does not seem to compute with individuals in the mental health treatment system. This does not compute when many people deal with me. I must come across in person as a person of normal to low intelligence. I don't know what the explanation is. 

On the other hand, the greatest obstacle to success for many Americans and people of other cultures, could be our own fears, our own self-doubt, and the belief that we do not deserve success--also the belief that we can't do it. Thinking of success as a distant thing, relegated to greater people than oneself, almost as though from another planet than Earth, could be a misconception that blocks many people from taking even the first steps. It is easy to blame the mental health treatment system for creating impediments to success, yet, if we fully intend to be successful, and mentally well, the mental health treatment system will not stop us from that. 

Many thought we had turned the corner on the Covid plague, but it turns out we only just went around the bend. Still pulsing in my memory is this image, reported by a doctor: an idiot in his final hours, dying of this disease while still denying that it exists. We could write that denial off to febrile delirium, but that same excuse cannot obviate the blame he deserved for eschewing proper healthcare and thereby assisting the virus to thrive and mutate, delivering Delta to darken our doorway, every one of us.  

Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare's contemporary and for a brief time, his rival, created a dramatic protagonist called Tamberlaine, a medieval Asian empire-builder and monster, who arrived at the end of his life, feverish, hallucinating Death as a personal presence creeping up on him, and, still burdened by the delusion of his own physical invincibility, imagined that so long as he kept his imperious attention on that apparition, Death would not dare approach him. You can imagine how that turned out. But the people -- let's face it, the Republicans, for so they mostly are -- who now face an impersonal, invisible death, creeping up on millions of Americans, are now, as they have been for almost two years, burdened with a delusion savoring very much of Tamberlaine -- a symmetry of Tamberlaine: if we imagine, if we believe, that the Covid plague is not real, then it dare not approach us. How do we imagine that will turn out?

On this 20th anniversary of 9-11, we remember what happened in order to heal, and also to learn from the experience to avoid future catastrophes.

We've learned about our strength in unity and also the dangers of rigid group-mind thinking. We've learned about the limits of our power and the power of division. Still, we haven't learned enough. We need answers to these questions:

Why were Saudi nationals airlifted out of our country when all other airplanes were grounded? Did the 18 Saudi-born terrorists have a connection to the Saudi government?

Why did Vice President Cheney distort our invasion of Afghanistan into an invasion of Iraq on spurious "Weapons of Mass Destruction" charges?

Why did Defense Secretary Rumsfeld redeploy military resources from Afghanistan to Iraq just as our commandos were trying to surround Bin Ladin in the Tora Bora mountains?

Why do Republicans blame President Biden for quote "losing Afghanistan" unquote, when it was trump who agreed in 2020 to surrender to the Taliban?

Does the Supreme Court’s refusal to enjoin the latest Texas anti-abortion law (Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson) foreshadow a reversal of Roe v. Wade or its complete evisceration in the Mississippi case (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization) now pending before the Court? Probably. 

I was born and spent my early years in Massachusetts when abortions there were illegal, birth control was prohibited, and unmarried mothers were stigmatized. I remember stories about pregnant women sent ostensibly to visit relatives but really went to New York where abortions were legal. Those without means oftentimes resorted to self-induced abortions by using a coat hanger or other object causing serious injury and even death. The coat hanger became a symbol of “self abortions” for those women who went to desperate lengths to terminate a pregnancy because they lacked access to an abortion. 

Anti-abortion laws disproportionately affect minority and low income women. Abortion rights are about equality, restrictions on abortion are the latest in a long history of treating women as second-class citizens. 

Reversing Roe v. Wade won’t change the number of women who will seek abortions; it will just block their access to getting it safely. 

RBG, we need you.

Please, if you haven’t turned in your RECALL ballot voting NO on the recall of Governor Newsom, stop, find it, check NO, complete it and head over to the ballot box at the Civic Center at 2180 Milvia. Elections have consequences and there are a long list of screwballs that could end up as governor if too many of us think our vote doesn’t matter. We need to crush this recall and we have only a few hours left to cast our vote. Polls close at 8 pm. Tuesday, September 14. 

Don’t forget the other ballot action, KPFA. KPFA is having a station board election and the deadline will arrive on October 15, 2021. To vote in this election you must have donated to KPFA between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. If you donated and cannot find your electronic ballot (I couldn’t find mine), the website https://www.kpfaprotectors.org/ (the candidates I am supporting) has the information and links. 

My week started and ended around the Rights of Nature and native plants. I got a call at the beginning of the week from a member of the Peace and Justice Commission on the Rights of Nature. It was my article in the Planet on Cheryl Davilla’s Rights of Nature resolution that attracted the attention of the documentary filmmakers of the Invisible Hand and things rolled on from there. My analysis of the referral to the Peace and Justice Commission was covered in the April 3 Activist’s Diary. https://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2021-04-03/article/49114?headline=A-Berkeley-Activist-s-Diary--Kelly-Hammargren 

The question to me was what I thought of a Guardianship for the Rights of Nature, a commission of sorts. My answer was long and not to the question. I was also asked what I thought about density versus development of open space. As to density, in a previous Diary, I quoted from a conversation I had years ago with H. Smith a Harvard educated city planner who said, “We can’t survive as a nation if we continue to cover our farmland with housing.” My thoughts on this now after reading Edward O. Wilson and Douglas Tallamy are, “We can’t survive as a species if we continue to cover open land. We can and must learn that our survival depends on learning to live with nature.” And, that doesn’t mean we move to the forests that are burning up. 

Douglas Tallamy in his continual delivery of the bad news of what will happen if we persist down the path of destruction of our ecosystems also gives us the steps to restoration and that is exactly what he did again on Thursday in his talk celebrating California’s Biodiversity Day. Tallamy is so positive and hopeful in addressing the decline of ecosystems. He tells us to shift our thinking and approach to life and each other. “I have a right” needs to be replaced with “I have a responsibility.” He emphasizes that we can absolutely live with nature, in fact, we need to develop a personal relationship with nature. Here are his four steps: 1) Shrink lawns by at least ½ and cover that land with native plants, 2) Choose keystone native plants, the plants that support the most species, 5% of plants support 75% of the caterpillars we can find them at https://calscape.org/, 3) control light pollution, turn lights off or use motion detectors and use yellow lights, yellow LEDs where light is necessary, and 4) landscape in a way that allows caterpillars complete development, use plants around trees not grass and do not mow around trees. 

There is the other piece to this and that is there are still members of commissions who believe the mayor and council are actually interested in their work. I find that to be magical thinking. The suggestion of a Guardianship after the council has just demolished almost half of the commissions falls into that same space, but I am always ready to be surprised.  

Surprised is exactly what I have been in what is coming from Councilmember Taplin. Taplin’s proposal for a native plant ordinance is in the agenda packet for September 28. He has also taken a strong hand in proposing amending BMC (Berkeley Municipal Code) to restrict trucks from detouring through residential neighborhoods to avoid traffic. Enforcement will be the next challenge if his proposed changes pass council. Thursday at the Land Use Policy Committee is his proposal for an affordable housing overlay. It hasn’t been updated since it was first submitted in February. I’ll report in my next Diary what happens to all of these. 

On to the city meetings. I only watched one hour of the Independent Redistricting Commission. These meetings always feel like a zoom of commissioners being fed mundane material that could have been handed out for reading without bothering with a meeting. The big decisions for as much as I listened are: the majority believes they should develop a slogan to capture our interest and the deadline for the 2020 realignment of districts needs to be completed by March 1, so it can be passed by council and submitted to the Registrar of Voters by April 17. I’m waiting for the discussion of shifts in population. If that has happened I missed it. 

I left the Redistricting meeting to attend the Parks and Waterfront Commission. The Echo Lake Camp survived the Caldor fire untouched, the Parks Commission will respond to the council’s consolidation of commissions and the resulting heavy workload for commissioners all of whom volunteer their time, Scott Ferris reported the commissions will resume meeting after the first of the year in the new consolidated configuration and the best was saved for last, the presentation on the progress of the pollinator gardens. Erin Diehm had a host of fabulous pictures of flowering native plants, native bees, butterflies and skippers. 

The Police Accountability Board and Homeless Commission were running simultaneously with the Parks and Waterfront Commission so I missed those. 

The Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting had an uneventful agenda so I opted for the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force. The Copwatch presentation videos of Berkeley Police were hard to watch, the overhead baton striking by police of a man at a traffic stop and a mentally ill man wanting medical care being, surrounded, handcuffed and put in a police car to be taken away to some unknown place of detention. We don’t like to think these kinds of things actually happen in our city, but they do. 

It seems like the consultants would rather continue forward on what feels like a predesigned plan rather than integrate the reports on the ground. The meetings up to this point have been orchestrated in a way that fills the evening with flowery sounding reports from the police department and stifled commission discussion. The Task Force is adding more meetings so not all hope is lost at this point. 

A podcast I find refreshingly informative is Criminal Injustice. This week in episode #142 http://www.criminalinjusticepodcast.com/blog/2021/09/07/142-public-safety-alternatives-cahoots the discussion was with journalist Rowan Moore Gerety on CAHOOTS a public safety program alternative to policing that has been in operation in Eugene, Oregon for thirty years. Gerety has an article on the same subject, “ An Alternative to Police that Police Can Get Behind” https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/12/cahoots-program-may-reduce-likelihood-of-police-violence/617477/ 

There are a couple of statistics in the article that are fascinating. Eugene, Oregon with a population of 175,000 has a police force of 126 community-safety positions 2/3 of which are police. That is a city with at least 55,000 more people than Berkeley and what sounds like a police force of sworn officers that is just a little more than 1/2 the size of BPD. 

This certainly needs a lot more investigation. And, it doesn’t sound like Eugene was even in the consultant’s list. There is a down side, downsizing. There were some pretty fat incomes that were noted in the Copwatch presentation and it is doubtful that BPD officers raking in around $500,000 with overtime are going to be willing to give up that kind of cash. 

Now for COVID. It is long past time to stop coddling the don’t want to be vaccinated population. Public health is just that, the health of the public. This pandemic would be over if every eligible person stepped up and got vaccinated. We should be vaccinating the world instead of concerning ourselves with the feelings of the vaccine hesitant. There is very little that anyone can do without having an impact on others and not being vaccinated has an enormous impact on everyone. We are interdependent. And, once a week testing is wholly inadequate as a substitute for being vaccinated. 

As usual, I like to finish with what I’m reading. When I started reading I Alone Can Fix it, I remembered why A very Stable Genius sits only a third completed in the stack. The two books are by the same two authors, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonning , Washington Post journalists and the text just doesn’t flow in a cohesive manner. I switched from a “book in hand” to an audiobook after clawing through the early chapters. I Alone Can Fix It is one of those books that really works better as an audiobook. 

The journalists filled in gaps left by other books. The beginning had a bit too much from players in the Trump administration trying to rescue their fraying reputations. Then it got better. The last chapters with the descriptions from General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff were eye opening. He frequently used the metaphor “we’re going to land this plane safely” for getting through the election to the transfer of power and the inauguration. There was also the inside scoop of bolstering Pence to accept the electoral college votes.

Worth Noting:

Summer is over and City Council returns from summer recess on Tuesday. Most commissions continue to be prohibited from meeting. As reported by Scott Ferris at the Parks and Waterfront Commission las Wednesday, the plan is for commissions to resume meeting in the new configuration/consolidation of commissions after the new year.



Monday the Agenda and Rules Policy Committee meets at 2:30 pm, the Youth Commission meets at 5 pm and the Police Accountability subcommittee meets at 7:30 pm.

Tuesday the City Council has a closed session at 4 pm and the Regular Council meeting at 6 pm with action items 35. Baseline Zoning Ordinance and 36. Objective Standards Recommendations for Density, Design and Shadows.

Wednesday the Human Welfare & Community Action Commission meets at 6:30 pm.

Thursday the Land Use, Housing & Economic Development Committee meets at 10:30 am on Councilmember Taplin’s proposal for an affordable housing overlay. The Design Review Committee, The Fair Campaign Practices Commission and the Transportation Commission all meet at 7 pm.



The full agendas for the council agenda committee and the regular city council meeting are posted at the end after the list of meetings by day of the week.



Sunday, September 12, 2021

Berkeley Equity Summit Series 5 – It’s Time to Empower Tenants at 7 pm

Register at https://bit.ly/3gvYQu9

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9RuIsT0Xmlw-x1UN8w09TggvqOlhh5_2GSPsbGWBVQb7NiQ/viewform



Monday, September 13, 2021

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85429927302 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 854 2992 7302 

AGENDA: Public comment on agenda items 1 – 7, 2. Review and Approve Draft Agenda for 9-28-2021 Council meeting – (proposed agenda follows list of city meetings or use meeting link), 3. Berkeley Considers, 4. Adjournments in memory, SCHEDULING: 5. Worksessions Schedule, 6. Referrals for Scheduling (kitchen exhaust hood ventilation, Surveillance Technology Report, Berkeley Street Maintenance and Rehabilitation Policy), 7. Land Use Calendar, REFERRED ITEMS FOR REVIEW: 8. Impact COVID-19 on meetings, 9. Return to In-person meetings, UNSCHEDULED ITEMS: 10. Strengthening and Supporting Commissions 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/Policy_Committee__Agenda___Rules.aspx 

Police Accountability Board subcommittee at 7:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82281228507 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 822 8122 8507 

AGENDA: 4. a. Develop plan for producing permanent Regulations for handling complaints against members of Police Dept, b. Begin reviewing and writing regulations. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=162752 

Youth Commission at 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85925075321 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 859 2507 5321 Passcode: 621930 

AGENDA: 10. Recognition of indigenous history of the land under Berkeley, 11. Approval of letter for School Board Regarding Youth Vaccine Mandate, 13. Reimagining Public Safety Task Force. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Youth_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Tuesday, September 14, 2021 

City Council Closed Session at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89434002712 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 894 3400 2712 

AGENDA: 1. Pending Litigation WCAB Case Numbers: ADJ13215643, 2. Conference with Labor Negotiators, Employee Organizations: IBEW, Local 1245, SEIU 1021 Community Services and Part-Time Recreation Activity Leaders, Berkeley Fire Fighters Assoc Local 1227, Berkeley Police Association, SEIU Local 1021 Maintenance and Clerical Chapters, Berkeley Fire Fighters Local 1227, I.A.F.F./Berkeley Chief Fire Officers Assoc, Public Emplees Union Local 1, Unrepresented Employees. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

City Council Regular Meeting at 6 pm, 

Email: council@cityofberkeley.info 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84315527586 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 843 1552 7586 

AGENDA: agenda follows list of city meetings or use meeting link toreview agenda 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Outreach Committee at 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87002886857?pwd=cHpCYzZMbjJvam1TMTl4Y2hVYytYQT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 870 0288 6857 Passcode: 493431 

AGENDA: 5. Tenant Survey, 6. Website Redesign, 7. Fair Chance Ordinance Status, 8. Eviction/COVID-19 Relief. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Human Welfare & Community Action Commission at 6:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/4863098496 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 486 309 8496 

AGENDA: 5. 2022 Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), 6. Review of Berkeley Free Clinic program and financial reports, 7. Presentation from Youth ALIVE, 8. Rent Relief Program, 9. Improvements to HWCAC, 10. HWCAC Priorities, 11. How Community Agency Complaints are addressed, 12. 24-hour emergency homeless shelter at 742 Grayson, 13. Pathways, 14. Easy Does It, 15. Homelessness in Berkeley, 16. Air Quality. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Human_Welfare_and_Community_Action_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Thursday, September 16, 2021 

City Council Land Use, Housing & Economic Development Committee at 10:30 am, 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81800472998 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 818 0047 2998 

AGENDA: 2. Taplin co-sponsors Bartlett, Robinson – Affordable Housing Overlay (written March 9, 2021) table created 3-18-2021 comparing the Taplin overlay to Cambridge, MA affordable housing overlay https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2021-03-14/article/49067?headline=Affordable-Housing-Overlays-Cambridge-vs.-Berkeley--Kelly-Hammargren 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Land_Use,_Housing___Economic_Development.aspx 

Design Review Committee at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81724336296 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 817 2433 6296 

AGENDA: IV. 1. 2650 Telegraph @ Derby – Final Design Review – demolish 1-story existing commercial building, construct 5-story mixed-use building with 45 units (including 4 very low-income units). 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/designreview/ 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission (FCPC) and Open Government Commission (OGC) at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84423295185 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 844 2329 5185 

AGENDA: 6. Proposed Amendments to Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA) and FCPC Regulations for 2022 Election Cycle, 7. Council action on prohibition or regulation of officeholder accounts, 9. Council consideration of OGC recommendation regarding public participation in meetings held via videoconference. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/FCPC/ 

Transportation Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81180579783 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 811 8057 9783 

AGENDA: B. 2. Southside Complete Streets, 3. Transportation and Infrastructure Commission, 4. BerkDOT. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Transportation_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Friday September 17 & Saturday, September 18 & Sunday, September 19 

No City meetings or events found 

_____________________ 

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm, Monday September 13 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85429927302 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 854 2992 7302 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/Policy_Committee__Agenda___Rules.aspx 

RECESS ITEM: Contract $175,900 with CA Constructores for Construction of Pedestrian Improvements at California & Dwight, CONSENT: 2. Contract add $120,000 total $321,900 with QuickCaption, Inc. for closed captioning, 3. Accept grant $10,525 from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to protect affordable spaces for the arts, 4. Formal Bid Solicitations, 5. Contract $1,974,457 with Genasys for Citywide Warning System, 6. Contract add $100,000 total $300,000 and extend to 6-30-2024 with BOSS for services, 7. Contract $150,000 7-1-2021 – 6-30-2024 with Berkeley Free Clinic for Laboratory Services, 8. MOU $491,933 with Alameda County Behavioral Health Care for Mental Health Wellness Center, 9. Donation $3400 for Memorial Bench (Nancy Park) at Cesar Chavez Park, 10. Donation $3400 for Memorial Bench (Michael, Anna and John Wyman) at Greg Brown Park, 11. Donation $3400 for Memorial Bench (Dixie Lewis) at Jane Hammond Softball Field at Corodonices Park, 12. Donation $3400 (Shay M. Finnegan) at Shorebird Park at Berkeley Marina, 13. Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with Innovation Properties Group for 199 Seawall Drive, 14. Contract add $125,000 total $425,00 and extend 12-31-2023 with Ben Noble, City and Regional Planning for Zoning Ordinance Revision Project, 15. Contract $2,900,000 FY 2022 – 2026 with Bruce’s Tire, Inc for new tires for city-owned vehicles and equipment, 16. From Disaster and Fire Safety Commission recommends all Berkeley Fire Dept overtime be properly coded to assist in determining what is eligible for Measure GG funding, 17. Appointment of Tommy Escarega to Mental Health Commission, ACTION: 18. ZAB appeal 2943 Pine, 19. Response to Short Term referral for amendments to ADU ordinance to address Public Safety Concerns, 20. Resolution and Ordinance for Shared Electric Micromobility Permit Program, 21. Bartlett co-sponsors Arreguin, Taplin – Refer to staff to work with the Ashby Recreation and Community Housing (ARCH) Consortium to develop planning grant for Ashby BART East Parking Lot, 22. Approval of Interim Regulations for the Police Accountability Board and Office of Director for Handling Complaints Against Sworn Officers, 23. Kesarwani – Referral to City Manager to establish procedure for enhanced review of use permits in manufacturing zone for industrial facilities to ensure public health and environmental impacts are appropriately mitigated, if appropriate installation of 3^rd party air quality monitoring devices, 24. Taplin – Amend BMC 14.56.070 for 3-ton Commercial Truck Weight Limit on Berkeley’s Bicycle BLVD and At-Risk West Berkeley Residential streets (Ninth between Dwight and Heinz, Addison, Allston, Bancroft, Channing, & Dwight between San Pablo and 6^th, Camelia between 8^th and 9^th, 8^th between Jackson and 9^th, Virginia between Sacrament and MLK and Shattuck and Euclid, Channing between MLK and Piedmont, Heinz between 9^th and San Pablo, Russell between San Pablo and Shattuck and Telegraph and Claremont, California between Hopkins and University and Dwight and Russell and Stanford, Milvia from Dwight to Russell, Bowditch from Bancroft to Dwight, Hillegass from Dwight to Woolsey, 25. Taplin - Native and Drought Resistant Plants and Landscaping Ordinance Referral to City Manager amending BMC to require that plant materials be (1) native to Berkeley and Northern California and (2) resistant to drought conditions and shall be used exclusively in designing, planting, maintaining and managing landscape features of all City roadsides, parks, public area and other City properties and facilities, 26. Taplin & Arreguin - Resolution in Support of Afghan Refugees, 27. Wengraf – Resolution Renewing and Re-affirming Wildlife Prevention and Safety, 28. Wengraf – amend BMC 14.56.040 to reduce commercial vehicle weight limit from 4 tons to 3 tons, INFORMATION: 29. Sanctuary City Contracting Compliance for FY 2020, 30. Auditor - Financial First Aid Kit: A Guide to Emergency Financial Preparedness for Berkeley Residents. 

City Council Meeting at 6 pm Agenda for September 14 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84315527586 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

RECESS ITEMS: 1. Contract $700,000 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2023 with Berkeley Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (downtown business association) to support tourism, 2. Contract add $245,000 total $637,778 thru 6/30/2022 with BUSD for Mental Health Services, 3. Revenue Grant Contract: FY 2021-22 Alcoholic Beverage Control Grant, 4. Contract $1,038,103 (includes 10% contingency) with ERA Construction for 1322 Glendale Ave. Retaining Wall Project, 5. Contracts total $350,000 with TBWBH Props and Measures - $175,000 and V.W. Housen & Assoc. - $175,000 for Vision 2050 Implementation Services, 6. Contract $220,000 9/1/2021-5/31/2023 for Recreation Online Registration Payment Processing, CONSENT CALENDAR: 7. Resolution Reviewing and Ratifying COVID-19 Local Emergency, 8. Establish 2022 Council Meeting Schedule, 9. Minutes, 10. Contract add $9,812 total $116,966 thru 9/14/2022 with Paw Fund for Spay and Neuter Services, 11. Adopt a Resolution Authorizing MuniServices, LLC to examine the local sales or transactions and use tax records on behalf of the CoB (City of Berkeley). 12. Formal Bid solicitations, 13. Amendments to BMC 19.44.020 Housing Advisory Commission oversight of Measure O bond-funded housing initiatives, 14. Amend Contract add $34,736 total $137,914 and extend thru 6/30/2021, 15. Mental Health Services Act FY 2021-2022 Annual Update, 16. Revenue Contract $26,035,194 Dept of Health, 7/1/2021-6/30/2024, 17. Revenue Contract $235,572 FY 2022 Aging Services Programs, 18. Classification and Salary Range: Communications Specialist with hourly range $47.33 - $56.18, 19. Amend Contract add $40,000 total $194,285 from 3/16/2015 – 12/30/2021 with Government Finance Officers Assoc for business processes review services, 20. Amend Contract add $19,250 total $121,275 from 12/13/2020 – 6/30/2022 with RevolutionCyber, LLC for professional services for implementation of City’s Data Safety Program, 21. Amend Contract add $250,000 total $1,190,000 and extend term to 12/24/2023 with West Coast Arborist for Tree Removal and Pruning Service, 22. Contract add $900,000 total $2,600,000 with ELS Architecture and Urban Design for on-call architectural services, 23. Contract add $300,000 total $800,000 and extend to 5/28/2023 with Bay Area Tree Specialists for as-needed tree services, 24. Contract add $300,000 total $500,000 extend term to 5/28/2023 with West Coast Arborists, Inc, for as-needed tree services, 25. Contact add $1,400,000 total $8,844,000 extend to 6/30/2022 with Diesel Direct West, Inc for fuel for City Vehicles and Equipment, 26. Transfer two property parcels to Sate of California for Ashby-San Pablo Intersection Improvements Project, 27. Energy Commission - Recommendation for Fleet Electrification Policy and Financing, 28. Letter of Support for SB-459 Political Reform Act of 1974: Lobbying, 29. Recommendation to retain current structure of Zero Waste Commission, 30. Arreguin – 2022 UC Berkeley Chicanx Latinx Legacy Event, Mayor’s discretionary funds $1000, 31. Arreguin – Annual Appropriations Ordinance (AAO) Referral: Supply Bank $25,000 for services providing essential school supplies for Berkeley families, 32. Arreguin - Expansion of Berkeley Fair Elections Program, 33. Kesarwani, co-sponsor Harrison – Support of Observance of August 20, International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances in El Salvador, 34. Wengraf, Cosponsor Arreguin – Resolution Expressing Conceptual Support for an East Bay Wildfire Prevention and Vegetation Management Joint Powers Agency, ACTION ITEMS: 35. Adoption Baseline Zoning Ordinance (BZO – 522 pages), 36. Objective Standards Recommendations for Density, Design and Shadows from JSISHL, 37. Amend Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA) relating to officeholder accounts, 38. Referral to Zero Waste and Energy Commission (or successor commission) to hole joint meetings to conduct community outreach and education events with regard to proposed ordinance regulating use of carryout and pre-checkout bags and make recommendations to FITES (Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation Environment and Sustainability), 39. Open Government Commission recommendations to Council regarding teleconferenced meetings, INFORMATION REPORTS: 40. Implementation of CA SB 1383 Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, 41. Mental Health Services Center Renovation Project Wins American Public Works Assoc. (APWA) National Award, 42. Fair Campaign Practices Commission FY 2021-2022 Work Plan, Open Government Commission FY 2021-2022 Work Plan, 44. City Auditor Fiscal Year 2022 Audit Plan. 

_____________________ 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

2943 Pine (construct a 2^nd story) 9/28/2021 

1205 Peralta (conversion of garage) 10/12/2021 

Notice of Decision (NOD) and Use Permits with End of Appeal Period 

1141 Addison 9-23-21 

256 Fairlawn 9-16-2021 

2809 Fulton 9-23-21 

2808 Ninth 9-28-2021 

840 Page 9-28-2021 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications_in_Appeal_Period.aspx 

LINK to Current Zoning Applications https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications.aspx 

___________________ 

WORKSESSIONS 

September 21 – 1. Housing Element (RHNA) 

October 19 – 1. Update Zero Waste Rates and Priorities, 2. Berkeley Police Department Hiring Practices (referred by Public Safety Committee), 3. Crime Report 

December 7 – 1. Review and Update on City’s COVID-19 Response, 2. WETA/Ferry Service at the Marina, 3. Presentation by Bay Restoration Authority 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Alameda County LAFCO Presentation 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

If you have a meeting you would like included in the summary of meetings, please send a notice to kellyhammargren@gmail.com by noon on the Friday of the preceding week. 

This meeting list is also posted on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

http://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet under activist’s calendar http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

If you or someone you know wishes to receive the weekly summary as soon as it is completed, email kellyhammargren@gmail.com to be added to the early email list. If you wish to stop receiving the Weekly Summary of City Meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com 

As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, as a Sikh American, I recall the senseless murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi as e attended his duties at a Chevron gas station, he owned in Mesa Arizona. Sodhi died on 15 September 2001, a victim of a hate crime in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He paid the ultimate price for adhering to the articles of his faith, a turban and beard and more importantly leading a life of selfless service to his community. Sodhi was profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by 42-year-old Frank Silva Roque, a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility who held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California.

"It has no precedent for how we've done things in the past," states Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio September 2, 2021 about Texas's new anti-abortion restrictions, considered the most restrictive so far from the creative Republican toolbox.

Totenberg may be correct regarding the Texas law's effort to grant near-universal "standing" as an enforcement mechanism to people wishing to sue anyone assisting women in obtaining abortions now illegal after six weeks of pregnancy, a circumstance during which most women have not yet noticed a pregnancy. If unchallenged, these parties may collect $10,000 from anyone who even gives information to a patient attempting to obtain an abortion if it in fact violates the new restrictions.

This seemingly universal standing appears to be unique to one local Berkeley Law School professor, who stated, " I can’t think of any other arena in which there is universal standing. It seems designed to create vigilantes, something Texas is already quite good at. It places the highest possible value on human embryos" adding "I would like to propose universal standing for police misconduct and all civil rights violations." “Standing” is a legal term used in connection with lawsuits and a requirement of Article III of the United States Constitution. Having standing does not mean that a party will win the case; it just means that the party has alleged a sufficient legal interest and injury to participate in the case.

But Totenberg wasn't considering the precedent set in SLAPPs, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, which uses civil, as opposed to criminal courts, to harass and punish people for simply speaking up about public matters, as four people did over UC's plans for People's Park in 1991 when the university tried to convert the park into a sports facility for sand-pit volleyball. 

David Nadel, owner of Ashkenaz, Mike Lee, local organizer, Bob Sparks, housing activist, and Carol Denney (writer of this article), folk musician/church secretary, were sued in civil court for "tortious interference" and $250,000 in compensatory damages. Tortious interference is a common law tort allowing a claim for damages against a defendant who wrongfully interferes with the plaintiff's "contractual or business relationships." 

It took years for UC to finally drop the damage charges based in my case on outrageous allegations of violence by parties, including two football players, who ultimately refused to testify against me. But I'm still bound by a raft of pointless, insulting legal injunctions. The case against the four of us wasn't the point. The point, as is the case in Texas's law, is to frighten and bewilder people, to make simple discussion dangerous and potentially so expensive that speech itself is chilled. 

Laura Prather, a member of the Public Participation Project Board and the Texas attorney instrumental in getting the Texas anti-SLAPP law enacted states, "If the lawsuit is over communications concerning getting an abortion, then I think it would be subject to the TCPA (Texas Citizens Participation Act ) because it is both a communication likely to qualify under our definition of 'exercise of right to petition' and because it would constitute an 'exercise of the right of free speech,' which protects communications made in connection with a matter of public concern. 'Matter of public concern' includes any matter of political, social, or other interest to the community or a subject of concern to the public.” 

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, in his rush to shake Chancellor Christ's hand over what most a raw deal for Berkeley, neglected to protect the public from Berkeley's continuing interest in intimidating critics' speech. As easily as he could have protected our parks and landmarks, he could have restored the safety of those with critical views of what Judge Seligman clearly agreed were outrageously inadequate environmental impact statements regarding UC's Long Range Development Plan. 

As the last living named SLAPP defendant, I call upon the Berkeley City Council to take up the issue of the use of SLAPPs and courts to avoid the open discussion the Council has avoided so far. The inappropriate, potentially illegal use of a closed session side-stepped the discussion our town needs to have about our own future, given UC's admission of fudged enrollment numbers and record of illegal special admissions for wealthy and regent-connected students. 

Nothing in Mayor Arreguin's deal stops the council from taking up SLAPPs, or the truth and reconciliation moment we've been deprived of by a Long Range Development Plan short-sighted and inaccurate in both its assumptions and its logical results, according to the courts so far. Has the entire Berkeley City Council turned its back entirely on our parks, our landmarks, our commitment to natural settings and open space, to rent-controlled and affordable housing? 

Ask them. Make sure they answer. There is an underlying racism in abandoning these commitments for communities who can't hop to Tahoe for their leisure or a glimpse of the sky. Don't re-elect anyone who claims that this deal, this handshake between butter-for-brains ambition and predictable corporate greed is a good thing. 

President Joe Biden has shown more political courage and backbone than some previous Presidents have, in that he's had the guts to do the right thing in Afghanistan. We don't belong there. The war has cost billions of dollars and countless lives of American soldiers. Our presence there hasn't served U.S. interests. It began because George W. Bush wanted to go after Saddam Hussein. He used the attack on the twin towers as a justification for this aggression. A fiction was created that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. 

If you have experienced a bad relationship in your life with a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, you should know that getting out of such relationship is very messy and very difficult. But you have to get out, because living without end under those conditions will ruin your life. 

Getting out of an unwelcome occupation of a country that deserves to be sovereign is analogous. 

A conservative said to me, at a time when Bush was getting ready to bring the U.S. into Afghanistan, that we could "install a government." The underlying assumption is that the people of a country other than the U.S. will cooperate with that, because only the U.S. has an extreme level of patriotism. There are countries in which citizens might want things to change. However, the people in most countries probably perceive an external, invading force as criminal. 

The U.S. will benefit economically because of not paying for this costly war. The U.S. will gain more friends internationally. Conditions for Americans will be better as a result of us not being in endless war. 

In the short term, Biden is getting raked over the coals by the mass news media. However, if Biden perseveres and ignores this sensationalism, and if he moves forward in his agenda to make things better for Americans, he will be reelected--and we may see the Democrats do well in the midterm elections. 

Let's not forget that Trump wanted to bring the U.S. out also, and might have done that, (God forbid) he'd won a second term. 

At the very least, Biden will be on the correct side of history.

This letter responds to public statements made by Mayor Arreguin and those of various city council members (collectively the “Council”), concerning the recent settlement agreement (SA) with the University of California, Berkeley (“UCB”) in which the City waived all objections to UCB’s expansion plans. Those statements substantially misrepresented both the content and legal effect of that agreement and the power of the Council to endorse the settlement. Notably, the Council admitted in these statements that it failed to oversee the proper collection of city taxes and fees from UCB and the tenants of UCB. That failure is a direct violation of the City of Berkeley Charter and state law, and cost the City millions of dollars that should have flowed to the City’s General Fund.

The Council must immediately set aside its approval of the SA, work cooperatively with Chancellor Christ to remove the illegal clauses of the SA in a new or amended SA, and then follow the legally mandated public process before your Council approves a new SA. We do not envision that this should be a problem given the Mayor’s representations that the SA is an “historic agreement” that “paves the way for a new era of cooperation between the City of Berkeley and UC Berkeley.” Surely, under these circumstances, UCB will fully cooperate with the Council in removing the provisions that are illegal and unauthorized under the Berkeley Charter or involve improper “predetermination.” We anticipate that UCB will also cooperatively leave its financial obligations in place although they do not come close to compensating Berkeley’s taxpayers for UCB’s utilization of public infrastructure and services. 

Your Council’s view that people reading the SA or comments about it must be “confused” is an interesting rationalization. The fact is that there have been several clear-thinking commentators who have pointed out just how “bad a deal” the SA is for Berkeley. Mr. Metzger, for example, went through the numbers of the SA and showed in great detail how the residents of Berkeley are losing out, despite the meaningless and unproven claim by your Council that UC is paying more money to Berkeley than any other host city. 

Contrary to your Council’s dismissive attitude toward Berkeley’s residents, they are very clear about the SA and their concerns are well justified. The SA reflects that our current Council members and mayor are progressives by convenience, not values. When the opportunity came along to make some (not much) money and partner with UCB, suddenly your progressive values disappeared. Your former Resolution supporting the tenants of 1921 Walnut from being evicted by the university, the CEQA litigation your Council entered over environmental abuses by UCB, the refusal to settle short of obtaining the annual $21 million desperately needed for public services, including caring for the disenfranchised and homeless persons in Berkeley, and concerns about the students having lower cost housing – all disappeared. 

With the exception of Kate Harrison, when the pretenses fell, you and your Council appeared through the SA as elected officials who were pro-development for money, anti-rent control, anti-environmental safeguards, against preserving Berkeley’s unique historic resources, and fine with students being over-charged for rent by UCB through use of luxury apartments, instead of standard dorms. The turnaround was shocking and the video of the mayor and the Chancellor congratulating each other did nothing but bolster the image of opportunists the voters inadvertently elected to handle the City’s affairs. Put another way, your Council includes only Kate Harrison “with the heart of a public servant.” 

That is why your Council is hearing such a flood of valid criticisms about the SA and your performance. The tens of thousands of dollars your Council recently approved out of taxpayer money for public relations gimmicks will not solve the problems. The courts also cannot fix many of the problems reflected in the SA. As appellate courts have explained over the years in written decisions to litigants unhappy with the decisions of their elected officials, the solution is not to look in the courthouse for help but instead “throw the bums out.”  

The Council’s statement that the SA “brings the University into compliance with the City’s Parking Space Rental Tax provisions in a way that treats similarly situated entities (the University, the City, and BART similarly” is untrue. The SA makes clear that the only way UCB will make efforts to collect parking taxes is if the City first collects from its own parking lots and requires BART to pay parking taxes as well: 

4.8 The University will cooperate in good faith with City efforts to collect and 

remit the City Parking Space Rental Tax from University-owned lots. The University will make best efforts to collect the tax from users by the date that the City begins collecting the tax from City-owned lots and demands collection by BART. The City acknowledges that the administrative processes between the City and the University related to collection of the tax must be established and that such establishment could preclude collection of the tax on behalf of the 

City prior to January 1, 2022. (Emphasis added.) 

The terms “cooperate in good faith with City efforts to collect” the taxes and the City acknowledging that there first needs to be “administrative processes” established between the City and UCB are vague and unenforceable requirements. Further, this strange arrangement violates the City Charter’s requirement that the City collect taxes it is owed. Berkeley’s Charter does not authorize the Council to dilly-dally around with UCB over taxes it owes for its parking lots. It requires collection. 

Article X, section 51 of the Charter states: “Tax system. The Council shall by ordinance provide a system for the assessment, levy and collection of all City taxes not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter.” The ordinance for collecting parking taxes, pursuant to the Charter is section 7.48.070 of the municipal code. It requires that “for the privilege of occupancy of any space for the parking of a motor vehicle in a parking station, each occupant is subject to and shall pay a tax in the amount of ten percent of the rent charged by the operator of the parking station.” The section continues by describing exactly how the taxes are to be collected and paid. 

The Council’s statement that the City has very little local control over UC does not extend to collecting parking taxes. We have repeatedly provided your Council with the recent California Supreme Court case in which the Court required UC to pay parking taxes to the City of San Francisco. (City and County of San Francisco v. Regents of University of California (2019) 7 Cal.5th 536.) Therefore, SA section 4.8 should be stricken and the Council should immediately start collecting the parking taxes. 

SA section 4.9 also runs afoul of Berkeley’s Charter. This section leaves it up to UCB to “determine in good faith whether a [building] space is leased to carry out its programs or exclusively to generate income.” Only then, will UCB have to obtain permits and pay impact fees. While in this section, the City can disagree with UCB, there is no provision for how the disagreement will get resolved. Like all city charters, the idea is to collect taxes so that the City’s expenses listed in its annual budget can get paid. The Berkeley Charter makes that purpose clear in its requirements for an annual budget and how to balance it. Accordingly, SA sections 4.8 and 4.9 must be deleted or rewritten to require UCB to pay the impact taxes it owes. 

Illegal “predetermination” occurs when a city council makes a decision today that locks in how it will use its discretion in the future, that is, before appropriate process or review. It is an abuse of discretion to enter contracts, such as the SA, that make budgetary, and environmental litigation decisions for the future, which is exactly what occurred here. ( Redevelopment agency of the City of Huntington Park v. Norm’s Slauson (1985) 173 Cal.App.3d 1121.) 

Here in the matter of the SA, Council member Kate Harrison objected to the SA and voted against it, in part, she has reported, because it has the City collecting money from UCB and then committing to, at a later time, giving the money back to UC for wildfire prevention on its own property. (SA 3.6.2 – “Amount to be determined for wildfire risk management and fuel reduction on UC owned property” as part of sections directing how the City will spend the money it receives from UCB. That is an example of both violating the Charter and predetermination. Charter Article X, sections 52-54 state in detail how the City is to prepare its budget and handle its expenditures. Nowhere does it authorize the Council to hand over any part of this function to an outside agency such as UCB. Accordingly, sections 3.4 – 3.8 must be deleted from the SA. 

SA section 6.4 also is a form of predetermination. There, the City contracts not to litigate or oppose a host of future projects for which there is not even an application pending before the Board of Regents. This section also must be stricken. 

These examples are by no means the only problems with the SA but they are sufficient to make clear the many important shortcomings of the document. We look forward to the City setting aside its approval of the SA, and working with Chancellor Christ to revise or remove the illegal sections of it. Afterwards, the Council must hold a public hearing and take a vote in open session, not in a closed and clandestine meeting.

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This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! 

The people of Afghanistan have suffered enormously from 28 years of foreign invasions. The Soviets suffered a humiliating defeat after 8 bloody years and the US soon followed, ignoring the important lessons of history. NATO forces were drawn into the conflict suffering similar causalities and defeat. This has emboldened Islamic terrorist groups around the world in a bizarre Olympic jihad competition as to see which group can commit the most barbaric crimes. The US invasion has united the disparate Taliban groups aided by rage against the US backed corrupt Afghan army which routinely demanded hefty bribes for safe passage. 

The Afghans have also suffered a terrible drought for two years, a third wave of COVID, amid a collapsing economy. Crushed by the devastating ISIS-K suicide attack, Biden ordered the US military to launch a hasty drone attack. The drone attack appears to have missed its ISIS-K target, killing 10 members of an Afghan family including 7 children. Meanwhile, Daniel Hale, is languishing in prison for revealing the uncomfortable truth that 90% of the time drones did not hit the intended victims. This will cause more acts of revenge and retaliation and bloodshed.

Rummaging around in dusty file boxes is one of the more accessible entertainments in the COVID II period. Since us old folks can’t decide which medico-pundit we should believe, we mostly stay home.

Here’s a normal dialogue with self:

Well past 65, do we need a third shot? Or would that be disgracefully First World, when there are whole countries which haven’t had any shots?

Maybe it could be restated: do we deserve a third shot? But the operative word is still need. And must we stay home forever?

We’ve been watching University of California San Francisco medical school’s COVID Grand Rounds religiously online on Thursdays in search of guidance, but the professors have mostly taken off for the summer. The head honcho, one Dr. Bob, tweets, but it’s nothing like the same. Our fave, jocular and avuncular Dr. George Rutherford, is no tweeter (of course not).

Dr. R. earned my eternal gratitude when I was laboring over the momentous decision of whether to use our balcony tickets to see Tosca at the San Francisco Opera after they announced that they were abandoning socially distanced seating. He is listed on the opera’s website as their adviser on matters medical.

Would the benefit of three hours of pleasure be worth the risk? 

I decided to go straight to the source. Dr. R.’s email address is right there on the UCSF website, so I emailed him, and much to my amazement (he doesn’t know me) he wrote right back: 

Yes, I think it will be safe. Everyone will have to have to be fully vaccinated (and prove it) and will be masked unless eating or drinking. The ventilation meets CDC standards. So, while it may be stuffy (especially with masks), I think it will be safe. If you really wanted an added layer of safety, you might wait until later September after you receive a third dose of vaccine (which you should). Cases are going down in the City, and I’m comfortable (as is SFDPH) with the precautions the Opera is taking. 

I forwarded his letter to my daughter the soprano, and she replied that it was like getting email from a rock star. 

I decided reluctantly to return the tickets, for that added layer of safety. I will wait until the magic date of September 20 to decide if I need an indoor music experience.. Tosca, alas, will be over, but I did see Faye Carol outside in Martin Luther King Park last week. 

As of now, Kaiser tells me (via online pronouncement) that just being old is NOT enough to qualify for a booster shot. I expect Kaiser and the CDC will change their collective minds at least twice more before September 20. That’s science for you—that’s the way it’s supposed to work, despite too many Americans preferring necromancy or prayer for advice.. 

So I’ve still got plenty of time for research into lost times in my old files. 

What I can’t help noticing is how themes repeat. The principal concern in my blessedly long life is symbolically illustrated by the character who appeared from time to time in the New Yorker cartoons of my childhood, when I was still too young to read the long-winded articles. He was an old guy with white hair and beard, dressed in prophetic robes, carrying a sign that said something like “the end of the world is at hand.” All my life we’ve worried about that. 

I remember seeing in the New Yorker’s Talk of the Town section when I was a bit older the quip that the problem with the modern world is that there are going to be too many people on earth in the long run or too few too soon. 

We still worry about over-population vs. nuclear holocaust, but meanwhile we’ve had a steady stream of OMG moments with persistent themes: racism, environmental disaster, climate change, foreign wars, terrorism, disease including pandemics, religious conflict, human rights abridgement...same old, same old. Eruptions of such problems are like the flying embers in wild fires we’ve been hearing about later. You extinguish them in one location and they flare up in another. With concerns like these, a decision about whether to risk hearing Tosca indoors seems trivial indeed. 

Over the years, as I experienced some major end-of-the-world moments of fear and many minor ones, I’ve been tempted to invoke these lines from Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach: 

“Ah, love, let us be true 

To one another! for the world, which seems 

To lie before us like a land of dreams, 

So various, so beautiful, so new, 

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, 

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; 

And we are here as on a darkling plain 

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, 

Where ignorant armies clash by night.” 

But though these words are compelling, we still seem to be here, mirabile dictu. There have been lots of bad times before this in the history of the human race, but we’ve gotten past them 

A treasure I unearthed in my rummage is one of the beautiful broadsides that the wonderful Cody’s bookstore used to produce. At the bottom of the page it says: 

"January, 1991: In these darkening times, Cody’s offers this poem to our community." 

The poem’s title is appropriate for this week: W.H. Auden’s September 1, 1939. 

That September date was a real end-of-the-world moment, but Auden’s vision was not Arnold’s. You should really read the whole poem, but here’s the last verse: 

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
“Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.” 

Now, without the internet, I couldn’t even remember exactly what we were all upset about in January of 1991. I looked it up, and I did figure out that it was the very beginning of the Endless War in the Middle East, against which people like us started marching on January 25 of that year. It’s been 30 years and many more marches since then. 

This was not the first Thirty Years War in the history of the world, nor will it be the last. but for now the armies are no longer clashing in Afghanistan. President Biden has announced that The War (including the last and longest act) is Over. 

The Important Persons (Auden’s words and caps) complain that they could have managed the exit much more elegantly. Whiners include not only the usual suspects in the right wing media but the New York Times and the Washington Post, who should know better. 

In the face of all the tensions which continue everywhere and which will always be with us, we might instead keep in mind more lines from Auden’s poem: 

There is no such thing as the State 

And no one exists alone; 

Hunger allows no choice 

To the citizen or the police; 

We must love one another or die. 

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

If you’re wondering why this is a new issue, especially if you get an emailed list of links because you’ve registered as a subscriber, the answer is because the previous issue was long enough after a couple of weeks. I’m experimenting with eliminating deadlines, a process our aged software makes challenging. Do remember that you can always see what’s current by going to berkeleydailyplanet.com, and once there you can back up by clicking on “previous issue” at the top of the page, as many times as you want, to see what you’ve missed.

Is Mother Nature Taking Her Last Bow?

Have you noticed that our neighborhood bushes and flower gardens are all growing like gangbusters? From sidewalk groundcover, to backyard gardens, we're seeing more leaves, brighter flowers, taller plants, quicker growth. The backyard milkweed plants that were shoulder-high last year are now close to topping six feet.

It shouldn't come as a surprise—especially since the increase in plant growth is part of something called "The Greenhouse Effect." Plants grown inside a greenhouse thrive because of the added warmth.

It's happening all over the world, wherever plants are growing. Climatologists have been tracking the phenomenon for years. In 2002, NASA noted plant growth serves a stabilizing response as new plant growth cools the atmosphere by stimulating rainfall and capturing carbon from polluted skies. In 2007, the journal of the American Meteorological Association noted our warming atmosphere "can extend the growing season." A 2020 Boston University study confirmed that the unprecedented "boom of vegetation"—prompted by CO2-hungry bushes, plants, trees and flowers—is "slowing global warming. 

But there are downsides. Larger plants need to draw more water from the drought-desiccated soils. Ultimately, if human-caused warming continues, we'll reach a point where vegetation is no longer able to capture and retain atmospheric carbon. When temperatures reach the point that vegetation begins to wither, the dead and dying plants will begin to release massive amounts of stored CO2 back into the atmosphere, accelerating massive shifts in the planet's habitability. 

So the bright beauty of a year that's seen an abundance of larger-than-life vegetation may actually be a foreshadowing of a much darker future. 

In short, we may be watching Mother Nature taking her last bow. The mass extinction that is claiming creatures large and small—from whales and polar bears to bees and butterflies—may be closer than we think. 

If we fail to replace carbon fuels with solar power, halt chemical and plastic pollution, renounce overconsumption, end wars, and a learn to live within nature's limits, our days are numbered. 

Perhaps there's some small solace in the lines of a doomsday poem that advises: 

"Let there be no crying at the dying of the Light 

For the sun's most brilliant, in the hour it sets." 

Rise of the Ed-bots 

With fall classes about to begin, teachers at Berkeley City College and Oakland's Laney campus were surprised to see a surprising last-minute surge in student registrations. But a few instructors began to suspect something was awry. Many of the names of prospective enrollees looked peculiar and many of the applicants appeared to be residents of other states. 

Across the US, thousands of colleges have reported being besieged by a similar torrent of bogus, last-minute applications. Some instructors saw classes that were about to be cancelled for under-enrollment suddenly jump from 15 students to 60 in the course of a single day. 

The explanation came as a shock. The wannabe students were bad actors trying to defraud the community college system. As one campus official told EdSource, the scammers were likely after financial aid, pandemic relief grants, and even .edu email addresses "to get discounts on various products." 

San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton identified 425 phantom students and determined that 275 had been accepted. One Delta College instructor was startled to learn that a scheduled class consisted of "four actual students and 40 bots." 

California's 115 in-person community colleges have been swarmed by "phantom students." In August, the State's 73 school districts discovered that 65,000 enrollment requests—20% of all fall applications—were "malicious and bot-related." Beating the system is made easier by an online enrollment system that does not require a home address, a driver's license, nor a social security number. Many phone numbers and emails were found to be phony, varying by a single letter or a single digit. 

The US Department of Education is investigating. 

Pentagon Millions 'Flushed Down the Toilet' 

A few weeks back, Progressive Memes posted an animated message designed to portray the Defense Department's waste of taxpayer money. The animated meme showed a steady stream of bundled bills falling through the open center of a floating Pentagon and falling into an open toilet. The message was: "The Military-Industrial Complex is flushing billions down the toilet." 

It was a powerful message, but some people in-the-know claimed it was misleading. 

As Tarak Kauff, an activist with the New York City chapter of Veterans For Peace, pointed out: 

"The money did not disappear down the toilet. It went directly into the pockets of the military-industrial-complex and that is an important distinction. Billions of dollars were made by CEOs and weapons manufacturers.
"The money did not just disappear down toilets, it paid for luxurious and obscene mansions, jet planes, pleasure boats, etc. for the already obscenely wealthy. People need to be reminded constantly who profited from these wars."  

Tarak's tough talk left me wondering if the cliché of government money being "flushed down the toilet" might have been intentionally created as a media manipulation designed to obfuscate the real flow of war-machine riches. If the CIA could come up with the phrase "conspiracy theorists" to undercut its whistleblowers and critics, might the image of "flushed money" also have been crafted as an intentional distraction? 

After listening to the critiques, Progressive Meme's Donald Smith spent several days working to create a new design that turned the focus directly toward the Masters of the Military-Industrial Complex. The new, revised meme can be seen here. 

Meet Mr. & Mrs. Warbucks  

Has anyone compiled a list profiling the top US corporate war profiteers? Who are today's Daddy Warbucks? 

There was a long spell when few people had heard of Charles and David Koch, (let alone seen a photo of the secretive siblings). The Koch Brothers were worth an estimated $40 billion. Koch Industries operation included energy, chemicals, agriculture, finance and electronics, producing, in the words of the BBC, "everything from toilet paper to steak." The Kochs wielded their wealth to steer legislation and pour hundred of thousands of dollars into conservative programs that benefited their libertarian leanings. 

But, at a certain point, the Kochs lost their anonymity. Their photos began to appear online and on air. There faces started to appear in magazines and memes. And The Koch Brothers became a matter of public debate. 

I'd like to see the same thing happen to the Masters of War. I'd like to see their faces on the telly and see them caricatured in editorial cartoons. I'd like to know their names, see their mugshots, divine their net worth, assess their number of mansions, armies of lobbyists, inventories of executive aircraft, and fleets of luxury yachts. 

There are many potential candidates for this Warbuck's Rogue's Gallery. Here's a start: 

The Big Winners from the Afghan War:
America's Leading Weapons Profiteers
Greg Hayes, CEO of Raytheon
Conrad Chun, CEO of Boeing
Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed-Martin
Kathy Warden, CEO of Northrop Grumman
David E. Constable, CEO of Fluor Corporation
Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics 

I'd like to see posters of these Kriegsmeisters matching their photos with stats on personal income, corporate profit, lobbying expenses, federal taxes paid, profits received from federal contracts, etc. And, speaking of Federal contracts: it turns out that the Pentagon is required-by-law to publish a daily list of its corporate handouts (not all, just the ones that are "really" costly). 

According to the Pentagon website: "US Department of Defense contracts valued at $7.5 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m." Here's just one snippet from August 30, 2021: "Lockheed-Martin awarded a $53,100,635 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract…" 

Biblical Slavery: The Old Testament Lays Out the Rules 

Human slavery condoned in the Holy Bible? Yes, it's codified and demarcated right there in Exodus 21: 20-21: 

“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.  

Here are some more rules for God-fearing, would-be slave-masters. 

“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 

If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. . . . 

“If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do . . . . 

The Old Testament also offers guidance on the practice of homicide, as follows: 

“Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death. . . . 

“Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. 

“If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed. 

“Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property. 

“An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth." 

Tooning Out the News: Keep Wars Alive!

Having reviewed a recent column submission, one that may not find its way into publication, it seemed to be the work of a brainwashed, "good" mental health consumer. It was not the work of the normal, anti-establishment persona that I normally might project. Some young Berkeleyans might feel that the Berkeley norm of anti-establishmentarianism isn't anti enough. I don't know; I live in Martinez and have not gone to Berkeley in a long time because of my agoraphobia. When I do go to Berkeley, I'm not trying to talk to college students or others, except maybe to order an iced coffee from a cafe that is or was on College Avenue. Me and my wife would go there, and she would visit the pet store across the street from there. The parking necessitated carrying a lot of quarters, and I don't know if the meters have switched since then to accepting debit cards.

But it seemed when I went there as though I was perceived as an unclean Martinez resident, and not looking very high I.Q. at all. I'm wide in the shoulders, big in the gut, and my appearance doesn't draw unwanted attention in Martinez. 

I don't play chess. My father once played it in chess tournaments decades before the first Macs or PCs came into existence, either of which could have won every tournament. Nothing about the game makes me feel as though it is worth playing. I prefer less mentally strenuous games such as Scrabble (my favorite), and Monopoly. 

I am unhealthy in that I do not try to enjoy things enough. You don't die right away from that, but you can die from it. But people who have fun get sick, too. Doctors cannot cure everything. Sometimes they resort to attempts at making a person more comfortable while they are still around. Mentally ill people aren't considered important enough to draw a lot of time and expense toward fixing us. 

When social fears are dominant, rather than the fear that you may not survive, you are a successful person, in my view. Doctors don't provide food, shelter, housing, or a means of paying for their expensive visits. I have medical conditions, but I do not feel safe enough to spend time on them, or to be vulnerable after a surgery. I'm postponing dealing with the medical issues until I feel safer; it may never happen. 

I'm in my late fifties and many people with my condition don't make it this far. Many who knew me when I was young would have predicted I'd be long gone by this time. 

When doctors can't fix you, they might give you a narcotic to keep you feeling better and to prevent you from complaining too much. Or, they might throw up their hands and tell you "there is nothing more I can do." I haven't actually seen the latter happen--that part is my speculation. 

The worst drug I've taken in terms of shutting down the faculties isn't an antipsychotic; it is a very old antidepressant: Trazodone. Results may differ with other people. Antipsychotics are often promoted as treating depression. When you have altogether fewer thoughts, it means you will have fewer negative thoughts. Negative thoughts are the seeds of much of the depression that people get. Or maybe you will just be so out to lunch that you can no longer speak up about how miserable you are. 

Doctors can't fix a person who doesn't take care of his or her health. They can't eradicate addiction to drugs or food. They can't necessarily fix numerous other afflictions. They end up making a lot of profit from maintaining people who are chronically ill with something. They can make you more comfortable in the short term. The human condition persists: Birth, Old Age, Sickness and Death. This means that you can't get through life without at least some level of suffering. If you can find enjoyment in your life--something you enjoy--you should do that, and not postpone it until you've established security or fixed whatever else it is that keeps you terrorized. Social fears? Low self-esteem? Struggling through school? This is not the same realm as housing insecurity, food insecurity, expensive habits, or being threatened by violent people. Doctors can't fix any of this... 

In 2010, my wife and I visited New Orleans about five years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We had a guided tour of the devastation caused by these hurricanes. Now Hurricane Ida has devastated the City again with similar destruction..  

New Orleans is on a sinking delta below sea level and due to human and environmental factors, the City is sinking about two inches per year and is projected to sink three feet lower than it is today if present trends continue. The City is surrounded by two large flood-prone bodies of water — the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. To maintain the Mississippi River through New Orleans to the sea, levees have to continually be maintained along the river from well above New Orleans. As the City is below sea level, water cannot flow out but has to be pumped out. 

Climate change compounds the problem. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivered a doom and gloom report on climate change predicting that we can no longer stop global warming from intensifying over the next 30 years and the role of human influence on the climate system is undisputed. The report is described as a “Code Red for Humanity.” The best we can do now is slow climate change down and prepare to deal with its effects such as intensified storms, wildfires, droughts, flooding, heat waves, rising sea levels, etc. The City can expect more intense and frequent tropical storms. 

After Katrina and Rita, then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) had the temerity to suggest that New Orleans not spend the billions necessary to rebuild but just simply abandon the City. But as New Orleanians Judy Deck told us during our visit, “If there was no New Orleans, America would just be a bunch of free people dying of boredom.” Of course, New Orleans will try to rebuild. 

On August 30th, The United States military left Afghanistan. This departure ended the longest war in our history, the 20-year US presence in Afghanistan. Our military command announced: "Over an 18-day period... U.S. and coalition aircraft combined to evacuate more than 123,000 civilians." There are ten takeaways from this experience.

1. The US presence in Afghanistan began with national unity and ended with divisiveness. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States was traumatized. Congress wanted to do something and therefore passed the "Joint Resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States" -- an authorization that led to the US military operation in Afghanistan. On September 14, 2001, when Congress considered the joint authorization of military force, only Representative Barbara Lee opposed it.

20 years later, the United States is divided. The latest Pew Research polling (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/31/majority-of-u-s-public-favors-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal-biden-criticized-for-his-handling-of-situation/) indicates that the majority of Americans (54 percent) support the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, but 42 percent oppose this, and 4 percent are not sure. (Not surprisingly, attitudes about Afghanistan are split along Party lines.) 42 percent of respondents feel that Joe Biden has done a poor job "handling the situation in Afghanistan." 

The national Republican leadership opposed the evacuation. Speaking on Fox News, Senate Minority Leader McConnell called the decision to withdraw the U.S. from Afghanistan "one of the worst foreign policy decisions in American history... We leave behind exactly what we went in to solve 20 years ago." Republicans continue to be the party of No: no evacuation, no vaccination. 

2. The War in Afghanistan has ended but the War on Terror continues. The US went into Afghanistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and the others responsible for the 9/11 attacks. In May of 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. Most of the other original Al Qaida leaders have been captured or are dead. 

On August 31st, Biden observed (https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-speech-transcript-the-war-in-afghanistan-is-now-over ): "This is a new world. The terror threat has metastasized across the world, well beyond Afghanistan. We face threats from al-Shabab in Somalia, al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and the Arabian Peninsula, and ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates across Africa and Asia." In the last couple of weeks, we've seen an Al Qaida variant in Afghanistan, ISIS-K; on August 26th, they took credit for the huge suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. Biden said, "We will maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries. We just don’t need to fight a ground war to do it. We have what’s called Over The Horizon capabilities, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground, or very few if needed." 

It will take a while to determine whether our total withdrawal from Afghanistan was the right step to take in the ongoing war on terror. I think it was, but many Republicans disagree. 

3. The US evacuated most but not all critical evacuees. In his 8/31 speech, President Biden touted the effectiveness of the evacuation. He indicated that more than 5500 Americans had been evacuated and somewhere between 100-200 remained in Afghanistan, Biden explained, "Most of those who remain are dual citizens, long time residents, [who] earlier decided to stay because of their family roots in Afghanistan." 

Republicans are apoplectic that some Americans remain. It will take a while to determine how effective the evacuation actually was. 

4. We've taken a critical step towards a new foreign policy. In his August 31st speech, Joe Biden talked about ending "the forever war." He said, "As we turn the page on the foreign policy that has guided our nation in the last two decades, we’ve got to learn from our mistakes. To me there are two that are paramount. First, we must set missions with clear, achievable goals. Not ones we’ll never reach. And second, I want to stay clearly focused on the fundamental national security interest of the United States of America." 

This is potentially a big deal: a policy shift that will see a reduction in Us foreign bases and a reduction in the DOD budget. 

5. The US may have lost prestige. There's been a lot of talk suggesting that the United States has lost international prestige, because of the tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Perhaps, but to the best of my knowledge, all of our allies pulled out before our last troops left. (Politico reported that our additional support of UK evacuations set up the August 26th suicide bombing.) Hmm. These same allies were already pissed off by Trump's unilateral deal with the Taliban. 

6. This was Trump's fault. Biden said, "By the time I came to office the Taliban was in it’s strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country… So we were left with a simple decision, either [carry] through on the commitment made by the [Trump] administration and leave Afghanistan, or say we weren’t leaving and commit another tens of thousands more troops going back to war. That was the choice, the real choice between leaving or escalating. I was not going to extend this forever war and I was not extending a forever exit." 

7. Biden conducted a level-headed cost-benefit analysis: "I refuse to continue to war that was no longer in the service of the vital national interest of our people... After more than $2 trillion spent in Afghanistan...And most of all, after 800,000 Americans served in Afghanistan, I’ve traveled that whole country, brave and honorable service. After 20,744 American service men and women injured. And the loss of 2,461 American personnel, including 13 lives lost just this week. I refused to open another decade of warfare in Afghanistan" "We see it in the grief born by their survivors. The cost of war, they will carry with them their whole lives. Most tragically, we see in the shocking and stunning statistic that should give pause to anyone who thinks war can ever be low grade, low risk or low cost, 18 veterans on average who die by suicide every single day in America." 

8. This was not the disaster Republicans predicted: On September 29th, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham said: "The parade of horribles are about to unfold ... We're leaving thousands of Afghan allies behind who fought bravely with us. We're going to leave hundreds of American citizens behind. The chance of another 9/11 just went through the roof." Graham is wrong. 

On August 31st, conservative commentator Ann Coulter tweeted: "Trump REPEATEDLY demanded that we bring our soldiers home, but only President Biden had the balls to do it." She described Trump as a "Wuss." 

9. The 20-year Afghanistan War was marked by Intelligence failures. It shouldn't come as any surprise that we've seen massive intelligence failures for the last few months; the entire war has been marked by intelligence failures. Late in November 2001, Osama bin Laden and many Al Qaeda fighters were cornered in the remote Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. Then President George W. Bush made the decision to capture bin Laden by relying upon Afghani mercenaries. This didn't succeed, because of bad intelligence. And on and on. 

In July. Joe Biden said this about the withdrawal of American troops: "it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country. Together, with our NATO Allies and partners, we have trained and equipped... nearly 300,000 current serving members of the Afghan National Security Force... We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry.... But most critically, as I stressed in my meeting just two weeks ago with President Ghani and Chairman Abdullah, Afghan leaders have to come together and drive toward a future that the Afghan people want and they deserve." At the time US intelligence believed that the Afghani forces would withstand the resurgence Taliban. Our intelligence was wrong. 

10. Biden's approval rating has taking a hit, but it won't last. The latest 538 poll summary shows that 46.2 percent approve of Biden's performance and 47.9 percent disapprove -- the first time, since taking office, that Biden has been "underwater." 

BB prediction: Joe Biden is a leader. He will weather this storm, and his approval ratings will go up.