East Bay Conservative

My favorite Oakland conman is a gentleman who plies his trade in the afternoons by the West Oakland Bart station.

Nattily dressed in a suit and loafers, he approaches commuters as they hurry to their cars. To those who will listen, he weaves a tale of woe, ending with an explanation as to why he needs a few dollars to get his car back home from work.

I miss this man, and not only because of our most recent encounter which ended with a knowing grin and the words, “Wait a minute! I’ve done you before, haven’t I?”

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Why is there such a strong correlation between living in a liberal city and being a con-man?

I mean, sure, I perpetrate minor cons from time to time – driving a little too fast on the freeway or calling in sick to stay home and watch television – but there’s no overarching objective to it all.

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Let me warn readers in advance — this post promises to be pretty dry. But I read a commentary piece in the Berkeley Daily Planet today that I felt I had to spend some time refuting.

I’m not sure who selects these pieces, but I want to renew my call that this paper seek some kind of balance. These pieces make all sorts of unrebutted assertions — many of which range from the nonfactual to the downright uneducated.

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I had a good laugh this weekend as I relaxed at House of Curries in Elmwood and read the latest “UnderCurrents” column in the Berkely Daily Planet. Apparently author Allen-Taylor can’t figure out why people don’t find Mayor Oswald Bates‘ actions on policing to be sufficient.

I’ll explain this conundrum in a minute, but first I’d like to challenge the Daily Planet to include some semblance of balance in its coverage. And, I’d like to formally offer my services as a columnist to balance out Mr. Allen-Taylor. I do live in the area, and I’m willing, ready and able to write if the Daily Planet is interested. I even have journalism experience!

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Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums appears intent on digging the hole he’s standing in as deep as possible.

Today, this man claimed that the recent rash of restaurant-takeover robberies should be blamed on people desperate due to economic circumstances, not on the real culprit: anti-social men with no sense of normal human decency (sound familiar?).
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Readers have come to expect me to poke fun at Oakland’s city government, but even I base my commentary on the assumption that they are at least trying to do what’s best for those who elected them.

Now I’m starting to question that very basic assumption.
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Ok, I admit it. My “crystal ball” consists of an old Coke can wrapped in a piece of paper that says “taxes will rise.”

I agree with V Smoothe that this summer has been a pretty bleak time for Oakland, but I’m going to go ahead and address our taxation future.

I do this as a public service to help my readers discern their financial future, even as Oakland resolutely refuses to plan rationally for its own.
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I was disappointed, though not terribly surprised, to read today that the governor has proposed raising sales taxes by a penny to deal with the state’s budget deficit. He’s characterized the increase as temporary, but anyone who has paid any attention to politics in the past couple decades knows that’s a complete joke.
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Back from an oh-so-brief brief respite from the Bay Area lunacy, I immediately noticed that our Assembly speaker claims to want to “solve” the state’s chronically unbalanced budget by reviewing the tax system.

When I first read the headlines about this suggestion, I became somewhat excited, thinking maybe people were coming to grips with the harm done to California’s economy by its ridiculously high tax rates of all stripes.
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Apparently, Mayor Dellums decided he didn’t want to allow Oakland City Manager Deborah Edgerly to delay her retirement. The Oakland Tribune is reporting he fired her today.

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