DBD 7.22.08 I welcome the eternal slumber

For I have achieved my life's work!  There is nothing left for me to accomplish in this world or the next.  Yes, thanks be to YHWH for the following Berkeley Daily Planet Letter To The Editor:

LET'S FIX BERKELEY

Editors, Daily Planet:

I love Berkeley. Berkeley has been good to my family and I'd like to think I've been good to it. My dad moved there in the '60s. My mom in the '70s. I was born at Alta Bates, as were my brother and sister. My brother, sister, and I have all lived in Berkeley for years at different times. My wife lived in Berkeley. As did her mother and father decades back.

So, you can imagine my frustration at seeing Berkeley's current condition. Roads, falling apart. The downtown, crumbling. Businesses, fleeing. Education system, in shambles. These are tough times for us all, but I trust the Berkeley City Council to work on behalf of all Berkleyans to solve the problems that they all face.

I feel it is important to focus city resources on important problems and not focus them on leer important problems. I speak, in specific, about the Cal gymnasium project. And look, I don't know too much about the court case. It is very confusing; I'm no lawyer. My vague understanding is that, going in, all the City Council could accomplish was a delay. Just a delay.

What I do know strongly is that the City Council could help return Berkeley to one of the finest cities in our country. We could be the leaders in the modern environmental movement. Berkeley's potential is unlimited. But when Berkeley is facing all these naive problems, the council needs to efficiently distribute its resources to biggest problems first. Is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for a judge to tell us that Cal had it right 98 percent of the time the most efficient means of spending Berkeley's limited taxpayer resources? I might not know a lot about the court case, but I know the answer to that question is a resounding no.

And is spending hundreds of thousands more to lose at another court level, the most prudent distribution of city resources? I again feel strongly the answer is no. This is not about saving 40 lovely trees. This is not about protecting a sacred grove. This is about ensuring limited city resources focus on Berkeley's biggest problems first. I call on the City Council to use its taxpayer money to work to put stores back on Shattuck Avenue, to fix potholes all across Berkeley, to improve facilities at all levels of the Berkeley public school system.

Council, I call on you to end this lawsuit by not joining in any appeal. Please, focus city resources where they matter most. We all love Berkeley; let's get to fixing it. Let's make Berkeley the utopia we all know it can be. Let's return Berkeley to its prior glory!

T. Nathanial Hook.

San Francisco

YUS!   YUS!  YUS!  For some reason they changed the word "massive" to "naive" in there.  No idea why.  SCORE!  Bee Tee Dubya, the T. Nathanial Hook is my "pretentious" name.  It's like M. Knight Shamamamamayamama.  Take your first initial, middle name, and last name and BLAM! there's your pretentious name.

And, as noted in yesterday's DBD, even The Woz got back to me, being all Wozzy with fantastic Woztasticosity:

I agree with you that an appeal will be a waste of the City's monies and only further delay the project.  I don't believe that the Council will appeal, since we seem to have lost on all counts.  However, you can never tell what the Berkeley City Council will do.

Gordon

 

So, don't think you can't accomplish anything.  Don't think you can't make your voice heard.  MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!  Whether you email the Council, get Letters To The Editor's published, or attend Council meetings.  Of course there is one today and it is of the utmost importance that you (yes, you!) attend.

Given that they happen at 5 on a weekday, it can be difficult for the average worker to attend.  Which is why its usually chock a block full of the tree-sit supporting hippies and Grandmamas, palming basketballs and the like.  If that vocal minority is all the Council sees, then it is not too difficult to see why they make the decisions they make. 

If you do go, try to be respectful.  Focus on issues that affect them.  Not wasting more city resources.  Restoring Berkeley to its greatness.  Be positive, not demeaning of the other side.  When the other side has SO many bad facts, all you have to do is put them out there without further negative comment or insult and you can generally achieve your goals.

If you are a constituent, make that ABUNDANTLY clear.  Constituents are their bosses and there are many coming up for re-election this fall (including noted newspaper shot-putter Tom Bates).

This is not some passive world we live in, let's do our part to change it!

And now on to some links:

The Cal Rugby camp just finished up on campus. 

BERKELEY - Young ruggers from seven foreign countries, 18 states and the nation's capitol have wrapped up two weeks of rapid improvement at the Cal Rugby Summer Camp on the University of California campus.

Campers, coaches and parents from all over the U.S. and abroad raised their rugby IQs under the instruction of head coach Jack Clark, fellow former National Team coach Tom Billups, current members of the national championship Golden Bears and special presenters spanning topics from academics and health to advanced techniques and the changing laws of the game.

Q+A with Cal Olympic swimmer Jernej Godec.  Yeah, I can't pronounce that name, either.  I believe there is more information in the next installment of Better Know An Olympian, due out tomorrow.

CalBears.com: When did you first dream of the Olympics or know when you wanted to become an Olympian?

Godec: "The Olympics always seemed something unreachable; they were out of my comfort zone. When I actually saw myself going there was after I was already qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was a sense of relief; it is a mixture of excitement and relief."

 

CalBears.com: How has Cal helped you attain this dream?

Godec: "The training here is excellent, the facilities, the coaching staff, the swimming, the weight room is the [best] you can get. That helped. My ambitions to pursue my academic paths, I think I wouldn't be as happy if I just stayed at home training. It'd be in the back of my head haunting me that all I'm doing is swimming, which would be unfulfilling for me. At Cal I was able to combine both at an exceptional level."

via grfx.cstv.com

Josh Childress, former Stanford afro marvel, speaks Greek, apparently.  How far the dollar has fallen that he might take a Greek team over a NBA team.  But then again, the Hawks shouldn't really count as an NBA team.

Wilner says "Bet the house on Cal, immediately!"

The win total for Cal absolutely blew me away: 5.5.

I was stunned it wasn’t higher — at least 6.5.

Obviously, the oddsmakers and betting public are down on the Bears after last season’s collapse.

But I’ve looked at Cal’s roster and schedule and don’t see any way the Bears won’t win at least six games, and more likely seven or eight.

Hmmmm, maybe Cal should put some money down here and try to recoup some of the money lost on the trial and whatnot.

Not only does water flow backwards in Australia, but time goes slower, too.  I just ran across this article from apparently yesterday detailing Marshawn's plea.  They are like a month behind there!

Here is an editorial from FoxSports saying "Trading Rodgers is the only way to achieve the dual goals of getting Farve back to the Pack and allowing Rodgers to start his career." TRADE HIM TO THE NINERS!

Ok, that is probably a pretty good start.  Get out to the Council meeting tonight, if you can.  Make your voice heard!  Yes!  We can!  Dump away.  GO BEARS!