Contemplating

mymisery-yourcompany: pardon-my-tits: butnobodyknowsme: Sex...

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:57:26 -0800

pardon-my-tits:

butnobodyknowsme:

Sex workers are human beings…. from cam models to strippers to porn stars. It may not be your cup o’ tea (mmm, tea), but it doesn’t give you the right to disrespect or shame them.

Reblogging this again because people think that just because someone is a sex worker, means that they are not intelligent, can’t have normal lives, and treat them like complete shit.

Anyone that disrespects anyone working hard to achieve anything is stupid people are people they choose their career, or their way of life, any others opinion does not matter you do your do chica power on.

oaklandcommune: UC Berkeley Currently Occupied: Students of...

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:44:14 -0800

oaklandcommune:

UC Berkeley Currently Occupied:

Students of color are occupying Eschelman Hall in Berkeley. Doors are locked with chains. Students are demanding equity from new chancellor (who received a $50k raise from the regents, btw: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/11/pay-raise-approved-for-new-uc-berkeley-chief-despite-governors-criticism.html ). Support needed! Please pass on information to friends in the area.

https://twitter.com/OccupyCalCampus

Asa Dodsworth's 2012 Berkeley Ballot Endorsements, with notes on Oakland, Albany & SF

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:35:17 -0800

*** November 2012 Election Endorsements!

Here’s my local, state & national recommendations.
If you’re an absentee/vote-by-mail voter then its too late to mail your ballot, bring it too your polling place on election day, Or drop it off at the Registrar of Voters Drop Box. .

———————————————————————————————————

This is Berkeley’s 2nd election with Ranked Choice Voting (aka Instant Runoff Voting) , and our first Ranked Mayoral Race!! This means that in a few races you’ll be able to vote for more than one candidate, and rank them in order of preference. You do NOT have to rank more than 1 candidate, but you can rank as many as 3. If you don’t want someone to win, don’t rank them at all.

1. Overview

2. Berkeley Races
3. State Ballot Measures
4. Oakland Races
5. Albany Races
6. Alameda County Wide & Special Districts
7. San Francisco Races
8. Background on Berkeley recommendations:
9. National and State Candidates, a bunch of safe seats.
10. Voter Resources

2. Berkeley races: the Major political splits this year in Berkeley are developer giveaways, whether to further penalize the homeless & an well funded but under-reported attack on rent control.

Rent Stabilization Board: Soto-Vigil, Shelton, Tregub, & Dodsworth. Tenants Rights are under attack in Berkeley from a faux tenant landlord funded slate for Berkeley Rent Board, TUFF. TUFF raised/spent $40,000 in four weeks, 97% of which was from big landlords and their lobbies. Vote just for the Tenants Convention Slate; SOTO-VIGIL, SHELTON, TREGUB, & DODSWORTH!!, they are the first two candidates, and the 5th & 6th candidates, Vote for the first two candidates, skip two candidates, then Vote the next Two Candidates. Protecting tenants rights is easy, VOTE TWO, SKIP TWO, VOTE TWO!

*The progressive slate, was chosen at the Berkeley Tenant Convention by 200 tenants, homeowners, labor organizers, & a few small property owners. We will protect rent control, increase earthquake safety for everyone, bring fire safety to student tenements, expand composting & recycling to all multi-unit complexes, build on our growing outreach to Small Property owners and Tenants.

City Council Districts

City Council District 2: Denisha Delane #1, Adolfo Cabral #2, and no one else.
City Council District 3: Max Anderson, and no one else.
City Council District 5: Sophie Hahn, and no one else.
City Council District 6: Unfortunately this is an uncontested race, proof Berkeley Activists need to organize. Don’t vote for Susan Wengraf, she thinks a successful referendum on a Developers Give away is “Too Much Democracy!” There is a Write candidate, if you want a protest vote Write in Phoebe Sorgen.

Mayor: Vote Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi 1st Choice, Kriss Worthington 2nd Choice, & 3rd Choice Jacquelyn McCormick. I’m very glad that we have ranked-choice voting. I’m voting for Kahlil number one, cause its a ranked choice race, and I want a Candidate with Local Roots to show a percentage in the race. I’m voting for Kriss number two, he’s the hardest working council person, and has mentored many young leaders. Jacquelyn is my Hail mary to beat Bates, though I distrust the anti tax rhetoric that comes from many of her followers I believe that us Liberals need to take stronger positions on fiscal accountability. No vote for Bates, he is out of touch with his own “legacy.”
I ranked them 1. Kahlil, 2. Kriss, 3. McCormick

Berkeley School Board: vote for two, I’m definitely voting for Judy Appel, she’ll make Berkeley Schools far safer for LGBTQ youth. I’m not sure who to place for my second candidate as I don’t have much experience the school board issues, or race. I like both Tracy Hollander & Beatriz Leyva-Cutler.

Berkeley Ballot Measures:

Measure M: Yes — Streets & water sheds, We should stop letting our infrastructure crumble.
Measure N: Yes — Pools bond. Yes, It’s a very inexpensive way to contribute meaningfully to public health.
Measure O: Yes — Pool special tax. Funds Measure N. Yes
Measure P: Yes — Reauthorize taxes (Gann override). Yes
Measure Q: Yes — Utility Users Fee Legal Language correction to close loop hole.
Measure R: No — Redistricting. Vote No on Granting council the power to Jerry Mander the districts.
Measure S: No — Sit-lie ordinance. Vote No on ineffective criminalization of the homeless.
Measure T : No — West Berkeley Project. Vote No on Developers Giveaways with out clear benefits, they must be negotiated together. Also breaks our Protections for Arts and craft, & light industrial zoning.
Measure U: Yes — Sunshine Ordinance. Yes. It may be in some ways tougher then necessary, but council could have provided an stronger alternate; and without their compromise, I’d rather have too much rather then too little transparency. We need open government!!
Measure V: Yes — Biennial Financial Reports, if not submitted, no tax increases (FACTS initiative). Yes

3, State Propositions: Allot of good reasons to vote on the state wide side of the ballot.

Proposition 30: Yes — Tax the Rich to Pay For Education (K-16) - Yes
Proposition 31: No — Two-Year Budget Cycle- No
Proposition 32: NO! — Corporate Attack on Unions - No
Proposition 33: No — Car Insurance Scam - No
Proposition 34: Yes — End the Death Penalty - YES!!
Proposition 35: NO — Would Criminalize Prostitutes Families, Partners and Children - No (this is a facebook millionaires ballot initiative)
Proposition 36: Yes — Reform “Three Strikes” Law - YES!!
Proposition 37: Yes — Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food- Yes
Proposition 38: No — Molly Munger’s State Income Tax Increase- No. Vote 30 instead. (this is another millionaires ballot initiative)
Proposition 39: Yes — Multi-State Business Tax equalization - Yes
Proposition 40: Yes — State Senate Redistricting Plan - Vote Yes to oppose the legislature’s Gerrymandering

4. Oakland: Check Green Voter Guide they do some of the most in depth explanations of positions.

Rebecca Kalplan, Oakland City Council At Large, never vote for De La Fuente
D1: Donald Macleay #1 to encourage our third party candidates; Dan Kalb #2 he’s our winner.

D5: Mario Juarez,
Assembly District 18. Abel Guillen

5. Albany: The Occupy The Farm movement this year injected a lot more energy to the campaigns & a lot more attention to development issues. I encourage voting for City Council (Sheri Spellwoman & Ulan McKnight) and School Board (Byron Barrett). Check the Albany Patch & Green Voter Guide links for more info about the other candidates in those races. ((this is a direct cut and past from Jesse Townley, he said it well)

6. Alameda County & Special Districts:

A1. no position, Expands Oakland Zoo to do more wildlife rehabilitation!!! Into Knowland park protected area. I don’t know enough about the issue to make a position.
B1. YES YES YES!!! Public Transit Money we desperately need!

AC TRANSIT AT LARGE: Chris Peeples is Awesome, though I disagree with him on the attempted implementation of BRT in Berkeley,

I think its his responsibility to advocate for exciting public transit models like BRT to make public transit more effective and therefor accessible. Additionally BRT lays the ground routes for future light rail. Furthermore I believe the blame for BRT not working with Berkeley’s needs rests on Incumbent Mayor Bates shoulders. Bates I believe was interesting in railroading through a policy that justifies denser zoning, rather then defending the struggling Telegraph businesses. If you’re railroading, there’s no room for dialog and problem solving,

AC TRANSIT, WARD 1: Joe Wallace the incumbent is a transit dependent Richmond resident endorsed by Sierra Club, & Democratic Party of Alameda County.

BART BOARD, DISTRICT 3: Rebecca Saltzman

BART BOARD, DISTRICT 7: Maria Alegria, is the only Bart Board candidate placing Police Accountability and Freedom of Speech as priorities in her platform.

7. San Francisco, I haven’t followed any races here.

Get the SF League of Pissed Off Voters (http://theleague.com/sf) or the SF Guardian’s endorsements http://www.sfbg.com/category/topic/endorsements-2012, or in ready to print version here: http://www.sfbg.com/2012/10/30/guardian-clean-slate-2012

8.Background on Berkeley recommendations: (this is directly cut and pasted from Jesse Arreguin’s endorsements, he says it well)

This election is critical not only for the future of our country but also for Berkeley’s future.

Wall Street, corporations, and SuperPACs have spent millions trying to get Mitt Romney elected. Unfortunately in Berkeley, the bastion of liberal politics, the same is happening. Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent by large landlords and corporate interests in local races. Berkeley is at a crossroads and this is an election that will define the future of the City. Will we move in a direction of transformative change guided by the needs and values of our citizens, or will it be defined by politicians and corporate interests?

This is what is at stake. So its no wonder landlords, real estate interests and business are spending so much bankrolling campaigns.

Who are they backing? They’re backing a deceptively named slate called “Tenants United For Fairness”, who is really a pro-landlord slate (two of the candidates are landlords, and only one is a rent controlled tenant). They are running on a platform of attacking the Rent Board using a discredited Grand Jury Report, claiming something is wrong with how the Rent Board is being run. Their platform of lowering registration fees will result in less enforcement and pave the way for more evictions and rent increases. We saw what happened when a landlord slate took control of the Board in 1990 - rents increased 33% in just one year! Big landlords and business interests have already pumped $40,000 into the TUFF slate with the goal of electing candidates who will undermine important protections for renters.

Big developers, landlords and corporations have also given thousands of dollars in contributions to support City Council candidates Laurie Capitelli and Darryl Moore and have supported two divisive ballot measures. Measure S, the proposed ban on sitting on commercial sidewalks has been bankrolled by over $100,000 in contributions from commercial landlords, developers and businesses.Measure S would criminalize sitting on sidewalks, without providing any increase in shelter, services or Ambassadors.

Measure T, the measure to rezone a large part of West Berkeley has been primarily funded by one developer who would like to change existing rules for his benefit. This illustrates what Measure T is all about - changing the rules allowing for out of scale development that will overwhelm Aquatic Park and harm existing residents and business - all for the benefit of a few corporate developers.

We cannot let big business buy this election. We need to support candidates who will put the needs of residents first and defend Berkeley values. Please support these candidates and measures when you cast your absentee ballot or at the polls next Tuesday. For more information on my endorsements please email me at this address.

9. National and State candidates,

Donate to Barack Obama, we gotta win the swing states, I donated $50. Obama’s an awesome democrat president, who finally got us healthy care. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was trying to get us health care 79 years ago way back in 1933 with the New Deal. Obamacare may have started as Heritagecare, the Proposal brought by the Heritage Foundation to undermine the Clinton’s attempt to establish Single Payer Health Care 16 years before; But that was before Obama put caps on the profits Insurance Companies could charge, and extended the age for coverage for teenagers on their parents plans. If we re-elect Obama, and defend healthcare, Americans will begin to understand what we have and could have, and in four to eight years I think we’ll successfully fight for Single Payer.
If you live in a safe state, feel free to vote for a third party candidate as a protest, I’d encourage voting for Rosannarchy!! I think the greens should have picked Rosanne to bring attention to their party, which could have provided the momentum to elect greens to local offices. Though I am an unapologetic democrat, I firmly believe that Greens and other third parties can be awesome allies for social change. And here in Berkeley, SF, & Oakland we are blessed with Ranked Choice Voting, so that Greens and Democrats can work together to elect solidly progressive elected officials.
Loni Hancock & Nancy Skinner: Both supports criminalizing the homeless(Measure S), and giveaways for developers(Measure T). If they faced real chances of loosing to someone more conservative, I’d support there candidacies. Feel free to vote for a third party.
Barbara Lee still Speaks for me, thought her local endorsements are often terrible, I blame the Hancock-Bates Machine which I believe she lets handle the Berkeley business. And I blame local voter apathy, for the lasting success of the Bates regime.

10. Additional Voter Info Resources

City & County races:
Albany Patch http://albany.patch.com/topics/albany-2012-election-guide
Berkeley Voters Edge http://votersedge.org/berkeley
Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-10-05/article/40307

Local & State races:
SF Bay Guardian http://www.sfbg.com/endorsements2012 (Best recommendations I’ve seen yet)
Green Voter Guide https://acgreens.wordpress.com/voter-guides/ (very informative)
www.smartvoter.org, www.ballotpedia.org, www.votesmart.org, www.Wikipedia.org, www.DailyCal.org, www.Berkeleyside.com,

Keep up the Fight,
Asa Dodsworth
Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner
5104233440

Medical Marijuana in Berkeley Landlord Tenant Law

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:59:42 -0700

Today I spoke with with a constituent who legally grows Medical Marijuana, in her back yard, cooperatively with her neighbors in her Duplex. They had verbal permission to plant and landscape their back yard for years, but now their Landlord says he’s sent a handyman to cut down their plants. However they’ve been doing this with at least five years of documentation. It would be better if it was specifically included in their lease or in written communication by letter or email, but their photo documentation, with their notes and Medical Marijuana Scripts should be enough to assert their verbally contracted right to landscape their yard as they choose.

In searching for advice I found that the Berkeley Rent Board might need to bone up on Medical Marijuana Law or find good Marijuana law advocates to refer their clients to. My constituent was dismayed by her first contact with a Berkeley Rent Board counselor who told her that she was breaking the law and had no rights. My constituent was upset, but knew better, and took a breather then called back and asked to speak with a different counselor. This counselor was very tentative, but did inform my constituent that if she had a right to garden, that the Landlord had no right to dig up or cut down her plants. This is closer to my understanding of the law, and upon consulting with different tenant advocates I confirmed to the best of my ability that: medical marijuana is legal in Berkeley; a tenant who has right to garden his/her yard can grow up to the legal quantity of Medical Marijuana proscribed by local law; that local, state, & federal police are not interfering with patients growing their own legal quantity of medically proscribed marijuana; that tenant at times have had to bill their landlords for damage done by handymen to there gardens; and that tenants with landlords interfering in their right to legally grow should consult with Medical Marijuana Advocates.

Medical Patient be warned, there are landlord attorney’s who assert that there is no legal right to grow marijuana as it is a federal crime. These are they type of Lawyer that might encourage Landlords to take actions the skirt the law, or find other ways to criminalize their tenants. Though the only ones I’ve seen speak to this matter, caution their potential clients to not waste time on simply smoking a joint. That a successful Marijuana prosecution will likely be based on establishing in the eyes of the law, that what is in fact happening is a nuisance, and or drug dealing.

The one referral I got for a medical Marijuana advocate is for Jeffery Jones at the Patient Id Center, 510-832-5346 . If you have others referrals, please post responses as comments. Thank You and I hope this information is useful to you.

Kriss Worthington is running for Mayor of Berkeley!!!

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:43:28 -0700

Incumbent Mayor is a tool for development, thats why Kriss Worthington is joining Kahlil Jacobs Fantauzi(green party!) and Jacquelyn McComrick to challenge Bates history of nonsense. I’m glad there are so many real candidates interested in taking Berkeley in a new direction, I’m glad I can stand back and demand No More Bates!!!, knowing there will be three different strong candidates to hold point in the fight to make that change.

here is Kriss Worthington’s press release on the subject!!!

———————————————————————————————-

Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington

announces run for Berkeley Mayor

today at noon at 2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley

(510)548-8796 kriss@krissworthington.com

A Practical People’s Platform- Things a Berkeley Mayor could accomplish

1. FAMILY FRIENDLY COUNCIL MEETINGS: City Council meetings should

be moved to a larger room when a controversial proposal is likely to

attract a

large crowd. This will reduce the frustration factor of people forced to

wait outside or in the hallways. People with children, people with jobs

the next morning, and disabled residents will be less likely to give up

and go home. Any small cost for live television broadcasting is worth it

to promote democratic participation.

2. MORE MEETINGS ORGANIZED MORE EFFECTIVELY: Planning Department

Public Hearings on ZAB appeals should be scheduled at special meetings

with

nothing else on the agenda. Staff and management from other departments

should not be subjected to hours of unnecessary delay. The number of City

Council meetings per year has been decreased. The convenience of hundreds

of members of the public is more important than the convenience of nine

City Council members. Increasing the number of Council meetings to what

they used to be is not an unreasonable burden.

3. PARLIAMENTARIAN: when a Councilmember (or anyone else) insults

other Council members, the Chair or a designated Parliamentarian should

point out this is not the place for such behavior. Max Anderson defended

himself, but the chair should have intervened promptly.

4. EQUAL TREATMENT FOR THE PUBLIC: Speakers should not have arbitrary

requirements made up on the spot limiting their ability to speak, and the

rules should be enforced fairly.

5. POSTING UPDATED AGENDA LIST: It is difficult for the public in

the room or on tv to know what items have been completed, and what items

are

left to be discussed. Items are added to or removed from the Consent

Calendar or withdrawn or postponed but it happens so quickly that the

public may be sitting there waiting for the item for hours. After the

Consent Calendar is voted on, a list of remaining items could be posted in

the room and given to the television broadcasters.

6. DIVERSITY: The splendid diversity of our City should be

reflected in who gets appointed to City Commissions. The Mayor has been

elected

citywide for ten years, but every diversity study shows a lack of fair

representation of Asian, Latino and/or African American commissioners in

who he has appointed. Out of thirty four possible appointees, there are

many talented people of all races qualified to be Commissioners.

7. PROFESSIONAL SUPERVISION: The City Council should conduct an

annual evaluation of the City Manager. This has only happened a few times

in the past ten years. It is an important step to provide praise as well

feedback. In some ways it is the most important job of the Mayor and City

Council and it is being neglected year after year.

8. FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: If the City Manager were to be fired for

horrible job performance, they would still receive a one year severance

package of almost a quarter of a million dollars. This is not an incentive

for good performance. It is also the wrong message to send to the social

service programs that have suffered painful cuts, and employees who have

been laid off or sacrificing to save the City money by taking unpaid VTO

(voluntary time off) days.

9. NOT JUST TRICKLE-DOWN DEVELOPMENT: If you have not participated

in a development debate you probably think Berkeley is on the right track.

Many hundreds of residents who have encountered a neighborhood development

issue become frustrated with the incumbent’s starting point that benefits

automatically trickle down from development. In reality, development that

pays its fair share can be great, but development which fails to pay for

fair labor policies, parking, traffic impacts, affordable housing and open

space can be very problematic.

10. COST-EFFECTIVE PROGRESSIVE POLICY: Many other City Councils have

eclipsed Berkeley in adopting practical progressive policy. Graduate and

undergraduate students have numerous innovative ideas, but are denied

their seat at the table. When we adopted the Climate Action plan, with

hundreds of possible implementation policies, I repeatedly requested a

cost effective analysis of what actions would contribute to the most

greenhouse gas reduction. City actions have not achieved significant

greenhouse gas reductions, in part because we have yet to receive that

analysis and therefore are not prioritizing cost effective strategies.

Please consider these and numerous other ideas I will introduce during the

candidate forums. Public policy is more important than personalities and

politics. I am running for Mayor to have a platform to alert people to

what is happening and to advocate common sense solutions.

Berkeley attracts a talented team of City Staff, Department Heads and City

Management, then we subject them, and the public, to poorly organized

Council meetings that waste their time and leave them tired for the next

day’s work. We can facilitate maximum public participation with respect

for the public and city workers as well.

Berkeley is an incredible beautiful diverse city populated with people

providing innovative ideas and leadership on environmental and countless

social issues. We can do more to channel their enthusiasm into a dazzling

display of democracy in action, if we make some positive practical

changes.

Some say this is a David and Goliath battle where the incumbent will have

overwhelming money from corporate developers. Many will be afraid to stand

up against the “machine”. Still others fondly remember their former

Assembly member and are unaware of current issues.

As I walk and talk with residents of Berkeley I hear again and again that

they want a choice. I run to offer ideas, and an alternative choice.

My middle name is David and I have tackled many difficult and seemingly

insurmountable challenges in my life. I welcome this new challenge.

There is plenty of room in Berkeley for many opinions. I appreciate anyone

and everyone who takes the time to consider these ideas.

Things to Do with others, mostly free Things

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 04:16:00 -0700

Daily———————————————
PreDawn: Venus Rising* rising, then sunrise..
Wakey Time: Smell things, it makes your brain juicy;
Morning: court is a strange and sketchy thing to watch, go back to sleep, or get up early to meditate, brush your teeth
MidDay: Mid day sunbathing 5-30min between 10a-2pm is the safest & most effective way to get your daily dose of vitamin D, therefore it is a requirement..
DayTime: puppy walks & kitten cuddlin at the Berkeley Animal Shelter requires orientation
Afternoon: MA dojo, Tea Sampling Vital Tea SF,
Evening: PokeSmot, drink beers, get CannaCards, cocktails, swing dancing,
Post Dusk: Venus Setting* if the moon was daytime bombing you can now watch as its shadow slowly appears
Night: ‘dinner & a movie,’ drive through theater in concord, Stargazing, Tapas Not Bombs at Odesso served 10pm,
Bed Time: Brush your Teeth, Say Goodnight to things

Weekly—————————————-
Sunday: Karma Kitchen, Thai Temple($10/plate), Golden Gate Fields Horse Races ($1 bets, beers & hot dogs), KRSNA meal, Bloddy Mary w/chunk of beef at Acme Bar.
Monday: Circus Night with Clown Snot Bombs 4t & Harrison Berkeley
Tuesday: Half Price Movies at Jack London Theater All Day, 5-6pm Ninja Class with Don Hughes at Temescal’s Aikido Institute, Lindy Hop & Balboa Swing Classes & Dancing at Verde Club 8pm-2am,
Wednesday: Ladies Night at Bullseye Shooting range 6-9pm
Thursday: 5-6pm Ninja Class with Don Hughes at Temescal’s Aikido Institute, Balboa Swing Class 200Grand;
~ Museum Nightlife: SF Academy of Sciences 6pm-10pm; Contemporary Jewish Museum ($5) 5pm-8pm, MOMA ($9) 6pm - 845pm; Exploratorium After Dark 6pm-10pm
~ Arm Chair Geography: Sea Shanties at Quinns Light house8-10pm
Friday: Oakland Museum of California Night Life ($6) 5pm - 9pm; Chabot Space Science Center till 10pm; Secret Pinball Palace..
Saturday: Chabot Space Science Center till 10pm,
~ Chabot Rifle Rage, weekdays 10-5, weekends 9-5

Monthly—————————————-
1st Sunday: AZN ART http://www.asianart.org/, Oakland Museum of California 11am-5pm
1st Tuesday: MOMA 11am-5:45pm; YBCA; Contemporary Jewish Museum 11am-5pm; De Young; SF Flower Conservatory doors 10 am-4:30pm, closes 4pm; Legion of Honor.
2nd Tuesday: SF Arboretum doors open 9am-6pm, park closes an hour later (Doors close early in fall 5pm & winter 4pm);
1st Wednesday: Exploratorium till 5pm
1st Thursday: Berkeley Art Museum & Berkeley Botanical Gardens till 5pm.
1st Friday: Art Murmer Oakland
3rd Wednesday: SF Academy of Sciences

Months of special—————————————-
~ Museum of the African Diaspora, MOAD is free all february
~ Full Moons, at the ends/beginings of the month: July 3rd Thunder Moon 2:52pm, August 1st Sturgeon Moon 11:28pm, August 31st Blue Moon 9:58am, September 29th Harvest Moon 11:19pm, October 29th Hunter’s Moon 3:50pm, November 28th Beaver Moon 9:46am, December 28th Cold Moon 5:21am,

Whenever:—————————————
mental clarity: read a book, start or write in you diary, meditate, square breath, Yoga to the People (YTTP)
physical exertion: jogging, swimming, Pilates to the People, Hike (Albany Bulb, Sibley Park, Point Richmond, Brick Yard Cove)
Feed: grateful bowl at Gratitude

etcetera???——————————————-
~ i wanna know what these musems are called: ~~Jewish Musem in SF???~~ Jewish Museum in Berkeley??

~ do you know other museums with free days..?

*seasonal

Berkeley Rent Board Chairwoman responds to Scathing Grand Jury Report

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:18:00 -0700

The AC County Civil Grand Jury slammed the Berkeley Stabilization Rent Board BRSB with a largely fact free report. I’m now very curious about the Civil Grand Jury process, as their critiques of the rent board are simplistic, lack citation of relevant data, and suggest a Bias. I should be clear here, I sit on the Berkeley Rent Board, but the processes they critique were established long before I was elected, so they aren’t a critique of policies I’ve enacted. That being said, I’m disappointed at their apparent limited ability to understand a semi complex issues.

For example they state the BRSB registration fee’s are unfairly high, and to prove this the compare BRSB’s fee’s to very different rent controlled jurisdictions. Different types of jurisdictions produce very different effective regulation of the landlord tenant relationship. In 1980 Berkeley voters chose an enforcement driven Rent Stabilization Ordinance, yet the cities they compared us too chose complaint driven ordinances. Outreach & Enforcement driven dept’s like Berkeley, East Palo Alto and Santa Monica’s require higher registration fee’s fund($150-$194), yet yield higher success rates. And the proof is in the pudding, only 5% of Berkeley tenants pay illegally high rents, Where as in complaint driven municipalities like Los Angeles 25% of tenants are paying illegally high rents.

For a fact based response to the Grand Jury report, read Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Chair Lisa Stevens Press Release & detailed response

Press Release, which is a brief overview, http://www.scribd.com/doc/98329427/12-June-25-Grand-Jury-Report-Cover-PRESS-RELEASE-FINAL-2

Detailed response, with references to studies & reports.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/98329468/12-June-25-Grand-Jury-Detailed-Response-FINAL

…

If you’d like to take action to help, we need help debunking the BS,
start with commenting on these news article about the subject.

SF GATE: http://blog.sfgate.com/inberkeley/2012/06/26/grand-jury-slams-berkeleys-rent-stabilization-board/

Berkeley Side: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/06/26/grand-jury-criticizes-berkeley-rent-stabilization-board/

Mehserle Appeal Denied by First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:39:00 -0700

Mehserle Appeal Denied by the First District court of Appeal in San Francisco, the decision was filed and released today, June 8th 2012. Mehserle’s lawyer, Dylan Schaffer, stated the purpose of this appeal is to allow Mehserle to return to “police work” which is not possible with this conviction on his record. If they are unsuccessful in their appeal, they WILL continue(appeal) all the way to the state & US Supreme Court.

Oscar Grants family was “outraged” that they were not notified of Mehserle’s hearing. They claim they have filed all the necessary paperwork to be notified of any proceedings regarding Mehserle. The state AG office says they will notify the family of all future proceedings.

Notable Quotes from the Judicial Decision,

“Bitch-ass nigger, right. Bitch-ass nigger, right. Yeah” ~ Officer Pirone yelled in Grant‘s face, Grant was kneeling on the ground.

”I can‘t breathe. Just get off of me. I can‘t breathe. I quit. I surrender. I quit.” ~ Grant protested, (Grant on his stomach. Pirone used his knees to pin Grant‘s neck to the ground.)

Grant was still conscious and exclaimed, “Oh, you shot me, you shot me.” Defendant(Mehrserle) handcuffed Grant and searched him for weapons. Grant was unarmed.

Later, at the station, he [Mehserle] cried and told a support person, Officer Foreman, that he thought Grant was going for a gun. He did not say he mistook his handgun for his taser.

here is the whole decision, as filed by the 1st district appeals court of SF, https://docs.google.com/open?id=1HQjJhoJXGwUbe-ZBtEYRvql6PFJ_G2bfnSIrOJJlcOHpGkcumKcItCikm8wD

the Cops use BS charges to Criminalize us

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:05:57 -0700

F#ck the Police! They enforce corrupt and abusive laws, if I was a police officer, the first thing I would do is organize to throw out all the BS citations that exist only to criminalize “undesirables.” Then I could honestly begin work as a “Good Cop” fighting to protect my community from crime. In a system as corrupt as ours, there are no good cops; at least not for long, the unfortunate souls that have a true sense of justice and become cops are quickly dealt with.

Fortunately for myself I’m not a cop, cause if I was I’d be one of those officers “accidentally” shot by another cop during a routine traffic stop; or thrown in an insane asylum like the NYPD officer who taped and proved to the public that the Dept was using quotas and under reporting crimes to juke the stats. And if I was fortunate enough to be a lucky “good cop” and escaped execution, I’d still get punished & fired: like the rookie that exposed West Oakland’s Criminal Cop Gang “the Riders,” he didn’t last a year; or I’d get demoted and then fired like Oakland’s Community Policing Lt. who was followed Community Oriented Policing Policy when he began sharing real police statistics with his crime watch groups.

BS charges are personal to me, as tomorrow I go to court to fight “a biking without a headlight ticket” (21201(d)).

The People of the State of California V. Asa Dodsworth

Dept 102, Wiley Manuel Court House

2pm May 24th, 2012

I was stopped and cited when Berkeley Police Ofc R. Murray (formerly of UCPD) recognized me as an activist. I was biking to friends house in 2009 when I thought I saw a UCBerkeley Cop in a City of Berkeley squad car. I slowed down to look closely when Ofc Murray recognized me, flagged me down, searched my pockets, ran my license number for warrants, and then ticketed me for riding a bike without a headlight. BTW, Biking without a headlamp (21201(d)) is not a fix it ticket, its an unfixable $276 fine.

“Biking without a headlamp,” is one of 12 BS charges cops use on the “undesirables” when they are biking, there are many more citations for walking, sleeping, and most notoriously for Driving, here’s list of the biking crimes, http://moped45.tumblr.com/post/23643087113/12-citations-only-activists-homeless-immigrantsTen of these are charges I regularly violate while safely operating my bicycle. Typically I’m in violation of 4 of them as soon as I mount my bike, and I violate 3 more within a blocks distance of safe travel. These laws are never enforced equally, nor were they made to be, they are not for health and safety, they are to criminalize the undesirables: whether hippie, activist, homeless, immigrant, queer, person of color, etc. F#ck the Police!! As long as they keep in their toolkit, BS charges with which to Criminalize undesirable minorities, they are agents of oppression, and must be handles as such!!!

14 Citations only Activists, Homeless, Immigrants, People of Color, Queers, and other undesirables are charged with, while riding a bike.

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:00:00 -0700

I started a list of BS charges cops throw at undesirables on bikes, but this isn’t a complete list of BS charges for riding a bicycle. Neither is it a complete list of BS charges; it doesn’t address citations relevant to ‘Driving While Black’ (ex: not stopping for 3 complete seconds at every stop sign, signaling 100 ft before turning) or while walking down the street (jay walking); or crimes of poverty like walking your dog in downtown area (its against the law for 3 different dog walkers to talk to each other at the same time on the street in Downtown Berkeley), or falling asleep on public transit or in a park. If you are interested in Justice, please fight to eliminate all BS Charges.

Citations for Biking while Undesirable, scraped from CHP webpage http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/bicycleriding.html, how many do yo violate

Passengers

Carry no passengers unless they ride on a separate seat. cvc 21204(a)
no riders on handlebars. (21204(b))

Seats

Bicyclists must ride on a permanently attached seat.
must ride upon or astride a regular permanent seat. cvc 21204(a)

Equipment

Lights - During darkness, every bicycle operated on a public street must be equipped with a headlamp that can be seen for over 300 feet to the front and sides of the bicycle. (21201(d))
Pedal Reflectors - A white or yellow reflector on each pedal, shoe, or ankle visible from the front and rear of the bicycle from a distance of 200 feet.
Bicycle Frame Reflectors - A white or yellow reflector on each side forward of the center of the bicycle, and a white or red reflector on each side to the rear of the center of the bicycle, except that bicycles that are equipped with reflectorized tires on the front and the rear need not be equipped with these side reflectors.
Brakes - must have a brake that permits the rider to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement. (21201(a))

Cultural

No Tall Bikes - Must not be so big that operator can’t stop bicycle upright with at least one foot on ground.
No Ape Hangers, Handlebars must be positioned so the bicycle operator’s hands are not elevated above the level of his or her shoulders when grasping the normal steering grip area. (21201(b))
No hands free riding, Keep at least one hand on the handlebars. - (21205)
Music - cannot wear headphones over both ears. (27400)

Traffic

A bicycle rider must ride with traffic. (21202)
A bike must stop at stop signs. (21200)

Twelve of these are charges I regularly violate while safely operating my bicycle. Typically I’m in violation of 6 as soon as I mount my bike, and violate 3 more within a blocks distance of safe travel. These laws are never enforced equally, nor were they made to be, they are not for health and safety, they are to criminalize the undesirables: whether hippie, activist, homeless, immigrant, queer, person of color, etc. F#ck the Police!! As long as they keep in their toolkit, BS charges with which to Criminalize undesirable minorities, they are agents of oppression, and must be recognized & handled as such!!!

14 Citations only Activists, Homeless, Immigrants, People of Color, Queers, and other undesirables are charged with, while riding a bike.

christopherkkim: 0rdinaryy: Congressman Bobby Rush dons a...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:14:54 -0700

christopherkkim:

0rdinaryy:

Congressman Bobby Rush dons a hoodie in support of Treyvon Martin, violating House dress code.

I had to reblog this, this is what I call a boss.

i believe he was kicked out after this.. video’s intense, this guy is awesome

Jurors Need to Know That They Can Say No

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:05:00 -0800

by PAUL BUTLER, with commentary inserted by Yours Truly, Asa Dodsworth.

IF you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, I recommend that you vote “not guilty” — even if you think the defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who helped make our laws fairer.

The information I have just provided — about a constitutional doctrine called “jury nullification” — is absolutely true. But if federal prosecutors in New York get their way, telling the truth to potential jurors could result in a six-month prison sentence.

Earlier this year, prosecutors charged Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor, with jury tampering because he stood outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan providing information about jury nullification to passers-by. Given that I have been recommending nullification for nonviolent drug cases since 1995 — in such forums as The Yale Law Journal, “60 Minutes” and YouTube — I guess I, too, have committed a crime.

The prosecutors who charged Mr. Heicklen said that “advocacy of jury nullification, directed as it is to jurors, would be both criminal and without constitutional protections no matter where it occurred.” The prosecutors in this case are wrong. The First Amendment exists to protect speech like this — honest information that the government prefers citizens not know.

Laws against jury tampering are intended to deter people from threatening or intimidating jurors. To contort these laws to justify punishing Mr. Heicklen, whose court-appointed counsel describe him as “a shabby old man distributing his silly leaflets from the sidewalk outside a courthouse,” is not only unconstitutional but unpatriotic. Jury nullification is not new; its proponents have included John Hancock and John Adams.

The doctrine is premised on the idea that ordinary citizens, not government officials, should have the final say as to whether a person should be punished. As Adams put it, it is each juror’s “duty” to vote based on his or her “own best understanding, judgment and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.”

In 1895, the Supreme Court ruled that jurors had no right, during trials, to be told about nullification. The court did not say that jurors didn’t have the power, or that they couldn’t be told about it, but only that judges were not required to instruct them on it during a trial. Since then, it’s been up to scholars like me, and activists like Mr. Heicklen, to get the word out.

Nullification has been credited with helping to end alcohol prohibition and laws that criminalized gay sex. Last year, Montana prosecutors were forced to offer a defendant in a marijuana case a favorable plea bargain after so *many potential jurors said they would nullify that the judge didn’t think he could find enough jurors to hear the case. (Prosecutors now say they will remember the actions of those jurors when they consider whether to charge other people with marijuana crimes.)

Commentary: The Author Paul Butler then wrote a disclaimer here about the use of Jury nullification by all white Juries who would refuse to convict Klansmen for their hate crimes against African Americans.. But these cases happened in the times of the landmark 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Decision, which enshrined Jim Crow Segregation with “Constitutional Protection,” They happened at a time Amerika cherished segregated Court Houses &Juries, African Americans could only watch court proceedings from separate galley. These Segregated, ie All White Male Juries were standing in judgement of communities that had a super majority of African Americans, in the 80 & 90 percentiles .. The Juries shouldn’t have been all white, they should have been all black. Mr. Butler’s comments are included here with strike through.

There have been unfortunate instances of nullification. Racist juries in the South, for example, refused to convict people who committed violent acts against civil-rights activists, and nullification has been used in cases involving the use of excessive force by the police. But nullification is like any other democratic power; some people may try to misuse it, but that does not mean it should be taken away from everyone else.

How one feels about jury nullification ultimately depends on how much confidence one has in the jury system. Based on my experience, I trust jurors a lot. I first became interested in nullification when I prosecuted low-level drug crimes in Washington in 1990. Jurors here, who were predominantly African-American, nullified regularly because they were concerned about racially selective enforcement of the law.

Across the country, crime has fallen, but incarceration rates remain at near record levels. Last year, the New York City police made 50,000 arrests just for marijuana possession. Because prosecutors have discretion over whether to charge a suspect, and for what offense, they have more power than judges over the outcome of a case. They tend to throw the book at defendants, to compel them to plead guilty in return for less harsh sentences. In some jurisdictions, like Washington, prosecutors have responded to jurors who are fed up with their draconian tactics by lobbying lawmakers to take away the right to a jury trial in drug cases. That is precisely the kind of power grab that the Constitution’s framers were so concerned about.

In October, the Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, asked at a Senate hearing about the role of juries in checking governmental power, seemed open to the notion that jurors “can ignore the law” if the law “is producing a terrible result.” He added: “I’m a big fan of the jury.” I’m a big fan, too. I would respectfully suggest that if the prosecutors in New York bring fair cases, they won’t have to worry about jury nullification. Dropping the case against Mr. Heicklen would let citizens know that they are as committed to justice, and to free speech, as they are to locking people up.

Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor, is a professor of law at George Washington University and the author of “Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice.” This was first published as an opinion piece in the New York Times, I’m reposting to include my perspective on Segregated Juries , a link to the Missoula Montana Jury Mutiny, and further actions!!

further actions,

Read the Missoula Montana Jury Mutiny!!!
tell you friends in person, and on the internet: twitter, book of face, etc…
peruse Fully Informed Jury Associations(FIJA) website about Jury Nullifcation, and explore how you can get the word out better,
Re-write a FIJA flyer and flyer your local court house during jury selection times.. http://fija.org/document-library/activism-organizing/
Explore the Rich History of Jury Nullifiacation, Free Speech came from the trial of Publisher John Peter Zenger, Freedom of Religion in the Trail of William Penn, Jury Nullification from Bushel’s case, in ending the Fugitive Slave Act , and its limits in Civil Law cases..
Collaborate: hit me up when your working on something like this and I’ll help cross promote!!! best way to reach me is to @message me on the twitter, @asadodsworth, or @moped45 if response is very urgent..

Also this link,...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:09:00 -0800

Also this link, http://www.salon.com/2011/12/14/my_37_hours_with_the_nypd/

okayallright:

Who is a journalist?

Boing Boing on treatment of press at OWS demonstrations.

News is Dead! Long live the new News!

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 01:12:00 -0800

#Crowdsourcing News On twitter is the Future of News,

Can you feel the quickening? Neither can I, lets speed it up.

I made a blurb, one that can easily be re-posted in the book of faces etc..,

If you hate Corporate News Media and want it to Die, then please consider joining me in using twitter to get the news. Here’s a very short summary of how that works, and how to use it. http://moped45.tumblr.com/post/14256776133/crowdsourceing-news-on-the-twitter

#CrowdSource your News on the #Twitter

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:55:00 -0800

Twitter is a functioning alternative to corporate news media. Its strength works off the fact that users can select specific Corporate NewMedia articles they like, and blend in stream with pictures, statements, and blog posts created by other users. Also the distribution is controlled individually by the users, so if an article seams like HorsePoop, it doesn’t get distributed. This forces corporate newsmedia to give their writers more discretion, and less censorship, to win over larger and larger discriminating audience on twitter.

Finding News: The main trick to finding, producing, comenting, and redistributing crowdsourced news is to use the tags. Tags identify the subject(s) of a post. They started on Youtube to help people sort through all the videos people posted. Tags are anarchistic in that no one controls them, they are a reflection of their usage. If I run across a tag I don’t understand, I look it up on TagDef, if the y don’t have a definition, I google it, http://TagDef.com . My favorite tags right now are #OO #OWS #AnonOps #opBART #muBARTek, all protest tags I use to follow specific actions. For posting news to share with other progressives is use #dsot & #p2. [ex: https://twitter.com/#!/AsaDodsworth/status/139079014856933376]. When I feel like trolling conservatives with rags #tcot & #tlot. For them I post facts &stories that develop and explain liberal prespectives, but I post them with Conservative Sounding headlines or phrases.

Making News, On twitter you directly interact with your audience aka “followers”, there’s no publisher or editor in the way so you can produce your own news. And if your break the story first, your story breaks out like the News.

ex: When the Corporate News Media was pretending BART made ammends for shutting down the cell nets, and limited the times they would shut down cell nets to rare circumstances, I posted an article on Tumbler, http://moped45.tumblr.com/post/13605993680/bart-board-approves-authoritarian-cell-shutdown-policy?ref=nf Tumbler allows easy integration with twitter,https://twitter.com/#!/AsaDodsworth/status/142374249590571008

Cause Corporate was busy lying, my post became the breaking news. It was taken and reposted more then 100 times. I’ve never been RT’d like this before. I was at 40 RT’s when a bigger player like @OccupyOakland Retweeted it and it blasted past, 100+ RT’s, twitter stops counting your RT number after 100 and it just shows as 100+ retweets..

Do something about it, get on the twitter, and then Share the Concept:
I made a blurb that can easily be re-posted in the book of faces etc..,

If you hate Corporate News Media and want it to Die, then explore using twitter to get your news. Here’s a very short summary of how that works, and how to use it. http://moped45.tumblr.com/post/14256776133/crowdsourceing-news-on-the-twitter

bump! wordupnerdup: oh, you’ve never played bank before..?

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:12:13 -0800

bump!

wordupnerdup:

oh, you’ve never played bank before..?

Lunar eclipses are worth seeing, If your in the SF Bay Area...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:13:41 -0800

Lunar eclipses are worth seeing,
If your in the SF Bay Area then, Mount Diablo almost always has clear enoug skies to see the stars, Briones Park is another excellent Star Gazing spot„ often find people with scopes there..

My friend says if you can put your binoculars on a tripod you can see Jupiter, and the moon is awesome through any magnification.. But you’ll need a mono or tripod to keep em steady..

wordupnerdup:

save the date. Dec 10th 2011.

Waking up before sunrise can be tough to do, especially on a weekend. On Saturday, Dec. 10th, you might be glad you did. A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible in the early morning skies of western Northern America.
The action begins around 4:45 am Pacific Standard Time when the red shadow of Earth first falls across the lunar disk. By 6:05 am Pacific Time, the Moon will be fully engulfed in red light. This event—the last total lunar eclipse until 2014—is visible from the Pacific side of North America, across the entire Pacific Ocean to Asia and Eastern Europe

This is an all day event, RSVP and invite friends on FBook,...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:12:00 -0800

This is an all day event, RSVP and invite friends on FBook, bring friends snacks, drinks, and esp water!! And its not too late for you and your kin to plan something, We’ve still got six days till go time, if your friends have a band, then they could plan to drive their gear down to the port to be able to set up and perform when people arrive.. Or to perform at the staging grounds… Either way they’ll have to drive early as traffic doesn’t work so well when the action is going.. Unless you have a big truck with Banners & Signs etc to transport the elderly, or bump the good music.

There will be massive amounts of people at all these actions!!! So bring tall signs or flags to find your friends with, or charge your phone up all the way and keep it on vibrate.. If your feeling up to it, it helps a groups stick together if they all have similar color clothes or scraps of fabric tied to them.. I did Taiko, a traditional form of Japanese Drumming, as a kid and I’ve always liked the “Samurai flags.” Remember that heavy things get real tiring to carry after a few hours. Bike Karts if you got them are a great way to pack gear if your going with friends, but a shopping cart might work. I recommend the Bikes at Work Kart, they’re sturdy enough you can pack a Couch & a sound system on them, but typically take a while to order, as the business seems under-capitalized and hard pressed to meet market demands for their awesome product..

reminder fuckyeahmarxismleninism: A visual history of European...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:28:05 -0800

reminder

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

A visual history of European colonialist land-grabs (a.k.a. the U.S.A.)

Photo

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:12:35 -0800