.Backpedaling in the East Bay

The City of Berkeley says never mind to its strict new greenhouse gas rules, and ex-Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb may not run for mayor after all.

There’s an old tradition in politics. If you say or do something you
later regret, there’s only one tried-and-true course of action —
backpedal. Fast. Witness the string of Republican politicians who
earlier this year dared to criticize right-wing radio overlord Rush
Limbaugh. Nearly all of them later went to Limbaugh, on their knees,
and apologized. They didn’t mean to say that he’s an idiot
blowhard who wants President Obama, and thus the country, to fail.
Their words were misconstrued.

Last week, we had our own little version of the Limbaugh backpedal
here in the East Bay. First, there was the City of Berkeley and its
plans for strict new standards to deal with global warming. The San
Francisco Chronicle
ran a page-one story, saying that the rules
could require homeowners to spend more than $30,000 each remodeling
their houses to make them more energy efficient — everything from
buying new appliances to installing new white roofs that reflect
sunlight.

But after the story came out, top city officials backpedaled big
time. First, they blamed the newspaper, saying it got the story
“wrong.” These were just “goals” not new regulations, they maintained.
There was only one problem: Berkeley’s global warming document, known
as the Climate Action Plan, says the city will “require” residents to
meet new standards. Councilwoman Linda Maio later said there would be
less “confusion” if the city changed “require” to “set a goal.” That
certainly would result in less confusion because then it would no
longer be a new regulation.

Confusion also reigned in Oakland after ex-City Manager Robert Bobb
told the Chron that he was preparing to run for mayor in 2010.
“We’re working on a plan of entry” into the mayor’s race, Bobb
declared. But then for some reason, Bobb started to backpedal, too. The
next day he told the Chron: “I want to weigh all my
opportunities and running for mayor is an option.” Then he went even
further, telling the Oakland Tribune: “The speculation that I
have somehow made some official announcement is not true at all.” So
why is Bobb backpedaling? It’s not clear. GOP politicians later begged
Limbaugh for forgiveness, because he’s got a huge audience and some
serious political influence. Same with Berkeley and its new global
warming rules. The Chron front-page story created quite a stir.
But Bobb? Why would the respected former city manager decide to take
back his comments?

Why We Tortured People

For years, Bush-era officials, including UC Berkeley law school
professor John Yoo, have defended “enhanced interrogation techniques,”
saying they were trying to stop another 9/11. But several recent
reports have shown that the effort failed because we disrupted no
terrorist plots as a result of torturing prisoners. Then, late last
week, we learned that one of the primary reasons for torture had
nothing to do with protecting innocent people from terrorism. Instead,
it was all about getting us into the Iraq War.

According to a newly declassified bombshell, Major Paul Burney, a
United States Army psychiatrist assigned to interrogations in
Guantanamo Bay in the summer of 2002, told Army investigators about the
other reason for torturing prisoners: “A large part of the time we were
focused on trying to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq and we
were not being successful.” So as top Bush officials got more
“frustrated” at the inability to prove this connection, the major said,
“there was more and more pressure to resort to measures” that would
provide the connection.

In other words, we tortured Al Qaeda prisoners so that they would
tell us there was a link between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein
— a link that we eventually learned never existed. And why would
we do that? Because the Bush administration was desperate at the time
to go to war with Iraq, and figured the best way to do it was to
torture prisoners into saying there were ties between Iraq and the
people responsible for September 11. Sure enough, it worked. The
prisoners gave their torturers what they wanted — because that’s
what happens when you torture people; they tell you anything to get you
to stop. And then, once the Bush administration had obtained its
completely bogus “intelligence,” we launched a horrible, unnecessary,
and costly war.

Three-Dot Roundup

Speaking of backpedaling, both President Obama and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi said they would support “a truth commission” that would
investigate Bush-era lawbreaking, but then the president inexplicably
changed his mind. … The electric car is making a comeback. Nissan and
several other automakers said they plan to start selling electric
vehicles next year. … A swine flu panic swept the country as Obama
attempted to calm people down. … San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is
officially taking on state Attorney General Jerry Brown in the race for
the Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination. … Lieutenant Governor
John Garamendi is running to replace Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher. …
The state budget deal is in serious trouble because the Democratic
Party refused to endorse Proposition 1A in the May special election.
… The Oakland City Council wants to tax medical marijuana, but not
raise the city’s sales tax. … Four Oakland cops were fired for
falsifying search warrants. … State overseers missed another $15
million budget problem in Oakland public schools. … The Contra Costa
County District Attorney announced that he would stop prosecuting some
misdemeanors because of budget cuts. … The murder of Sandra Cantu of
Tracy must have been horrific because a judge has refused to release
her autopsy results for fear of “public outrage” over the “heinous”
nature of the crime. … And speaking of backpedaling, the owners of
the El Cerrito Speakeasy Theater said they were going to close and then
didn’t.

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