East Bay Conservative

Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve pointed out several times the ridiculous number of cars parked all day long on city streets with disabled placards.

This wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that they apparently are allowed to park there all day, and naturally they are not required to pay a dime.

To add insult to injury, my experience has been that when I do see someone retrieving or parking a car with the placard, 75 percent of the time the person has no apparent disability.

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By Mark Ross, Contributing Writer

I used to have a friend who was very politically involved, as an Anarchist.

He was a Wobbly — a dues paying member of the International Workers of the World, the IWW. History books call them an anarcho-syndicalist labor organization. He was radicalized in the Army during the Korean War, as an enlisted Army Intelligence operative. When the war ended he joined the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA).

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By Mark Ross, Contribuing Writer

Is it me… or does anyone else think that it’s sort of curious that mayoral candidates are lining up in Oakland… as if the incumbent has announced his retirement… which he hasn’t? Talk about foregone conclusions.

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This week’s edition of the Berkeley Daily Planet really was chock full of commentaries on racism (all from the predictable point of view), so I thought I’d continue with the same theme today.

The Daily Planet published an opinion piece by Cecil Brown entitled “Racial Profiling and Swimming While Black.” I encourage you to read it, but the gist of it is that Brown, a Black UC Berkeley professor, was hassled by the police at the UC swimming pool apparently because some other Black guy had earlier caused trouble at the pool.

Someone called the cops mistakenly thinking Prof. Brown was the troublemaker. This was obviously very embarrassing and troubling for the Prof. Brown.

Prof. Brown then decided the police were racists who hated Black people, so he wrote a rap song about the experience.

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I guess this might come as a surprise to Black people, but in my experience white men spend essentially zero time thinking about race and race relations. It’s just a total non-issue.

A reasonable response to this fact might be something like, “It’s easy to say you don’t think about something when it isn’t a big problem in your life.”

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The state released results today from the annual student achievement tests. As has been the case for the past few years, the gap between Hispanic/Black students and everyone else failed to narrow significantly.

And, as in prior years, the educational establishment decries the situation as “unacceptable” and racist, but then all the solutions that it offers will accomplish nothing.

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By Mark Ross, Contributing Writer

I’ve never been a serious hawk on the immigration issue. However, I side with the right on two important aspects: We need to control our borders in order to maintain our national identity. And, the immigrants who come here through proper channels need to become Americans… not remain as foreigners in enclaves.

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Word came out today that the union which represents the Bart’s station agents and train operators plans to strike starting at midnight on Sunday.

This comes after the union’s negotiators concluded an agreement with Bart management, which the union’s membership proceeded to vote down by a three-to-one margin.

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By Mark Ross, Contributing Writer

OK class, put down your pencils and pick up your latest East Bay MUD bill. You may need a calculator… especially if you’re not all that good at gauging proportions. You should notice a subcategory under “Water Charges” called “Drought Surcharge.” This surcharge is assessed in “units” or 738 gallon increments. Should you be so profligate in your consumption as to “over consume” almost 1,500 gallons of water you will be dinged a whopping $4.00 on your bimonthly statement.

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It sounds as if Oakland’s plan to play brinkmanship with the Obama administration over laying off cops may be falling on deaf ears.

From the sound of things, the federal government’s willingness to pay for local cops may top out at 50 officers, far short of the 140 Oakland would like to receive. Worse yet, receiving funding for 50 officers will not meet the minimum staffing requirement to collect Measure Y, so the city may well wind up short more like 200 officers.

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