I began my campaign for Berkeley City Council District 8 in April, but my reasons for running go back a lot further than that.

Like many people, I started out not being very active politically. I voted and sometimes I donated a little money. I watched the news and tried to pay attention to what was going on. Then things happened that made me get involved. -more-

Dr. Phil, the affable problem-solving TV host, has a catch phrase he uses when defensive participants exhaust themselves telling him and the TV audience why they do things the way they do. He listens patiently. And then he says, "how's that working for you?"

It's time for Berkeley, and any city with a "business improvement district" or BID, to ask the same question. How's that working for you? Getting anything out of the special tax you're paying to, for instance, the Downtown Berkeley Association to improve your business or community?

Because a recent report from the UC School of Law report examining 189 BIDs suggests that not only is the answer "no", it raises the possibility that BIDs are counterproductive. And it uses the City of Berkeley and more specifically the Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) more than once as a case in point.

From their inception, the local business improvement districts have lobbied locally and state-wide for anti-panhandling, anti-sitting, and anti-belongings laws and sidewalk restrictions which primarily target the poor. The most recent Berkeley City Council agenda featured just such a new set of "enforcement priorities" from the Mayor for the renovated BART Plaza which was, at least temporarily, withdrawn due to the 9th Circuit's Martin vs. Boise decision and its implications regarding such laws' constitutionality. -more-

Unable to effectively blunt the damaging testimony of Dr. Ford and sensing their beer drinking and alleged sexual predator’s nomination slipping away, Trump and his morally bankrupt posse of bullies went on the attack. At a Mississippi campaign rally, Trump mocked Dr. Ford credulity regaling the crowd with his cruel taunts. Sadly, the FBI investigation turned out to be a complete sham, narrow in its scope with tight parameters established by the White House. It was designed to be a spectacle and fail. Key witnesses were ignored including 2,400 law professors who opposed Kavanaugh’s confirmation. -more-

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This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! -more-

The confirmation process for Brett Kavanaugh began on September 4th, quickly devolved into a demolition derby, and finally has reached it's ultra-partisan conclusion. Kavanaugh will be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. Republican actions will live on in infamy. And Democrats are united in righteous anger.

This 33 day process established several things. First, Brett Kavanaugh is unfit to be a Supreme Court Justice. At first, many of us opposed him because we thought his views were too extreme -- he will, I'm sure, oppose Roe v. Wade and any other law that lets women make their own health decisions. (And he is a corporatist who will side with corporations, and the wealthy, in cases that pit these interests against working folks.) But, as he we got to know Kavanaugh -- through the determined efforts of Senators like Cory Booker and Kamala Harris -- we realized that he's a liar; that he had lied to Congress (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/five-times-brett-kavanaugh-appears-to-have-lied-to-congress-while-under-oath/ ) And then, because of the courageous efforts of Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and other women, we learned that Kavanaugh had (or has) a drinking problem and, when he drank to excess, assaulted women. -more-

It was a sad day when the U.S. Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh, a partisan, intemperate, accused sexual predator, to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s courage, like Anita Hill’s before her, was not enough block his confirmation. Senators Susan Collins and Jeff Flake teased us with the possibility of voting “no,” but at crunch time voted “yes.” And what’s with Democrat Joe Manchin’s “yes” vote? -more-

Adapting to changing life conditions is one of the hardest things that people face. It is especially hard for those who have the limitations brought about by living with a psychiatric condition. -more-

CLICK HERE for a comprehensivve calendar of arts and cultural events in Berkeley and beyond, today and in the future. -more-

Worth Noting

Election Campaigns are in full swing. The last day to register to vote in California is Oct 22, you can register or check your registration online https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/upcoming-elections/general-election-november-6-2018/ To help with campaigns outside our borders go to Indivisible Berkeley and Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club for information. -more-

From Wednesday, October 3 through Sunday, October 7, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale presented concerts throughout the Bay Area of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s early religious music. Included on this program were Litaniae Lauretanae, K. 195, Exsultate jubilate, K. 165, and the Mass No. 15 in C Major, K. 317 “Coronation.” I attended Saturday’s concert at Berkeley’s First Congregational Church. -more-

On Sunday, October 7, under the aegis of Cal Performances, world-renowned tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das brought to Hertz Hall the HUM Ensemble, a group of four musicians who performed music that, as the concert was dubbed, spanned from “Delhi to Damascus.” Sandeep Das, who often performs with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble, here traced the musical and linguistic interchange between India and Syria. It is indeed a rich heritage, one that includes a Syrian origin of the ancient Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Sanskrit language. Musically, the nod to Syria came in the form of the oud, played here by Syrian artist and composer Issam Rafea, who chairs the Arabic music department at the High Institute of Music in Damascus. The other members of the HUM Ensemble were, in addition to Sandeep Das on tabla, Suhail Yusuf Khan on sarangi, and Rajib Karmakar on sitar. The sarangi is of the same family as the Persian kamencheh. It is held upright and bowed, producing an eerie, often ethereal sound. Suhail Yusuf Khan is from a musical family in India, and he is an eighth generation sarangi player. -more-