It's too bad the Krohn City Council and the Wormhoudt Supervisorial Resolutions didn't come months ago in the middle of the attack on Afghanistan or the war on America's civil liberties, when the Berkeley City Council stood largely alone.
The fact that they come so late unfortunately does not show a "sea change" in the Coucnil or the Supervisors locally. It's the traditional rush to "get in front of the crowd".
Krohn's constant excuse for doing nothing about rent control, civil rights for the homeless, the Sleeping Ban, the Tidelands Seaside Company giveaway, the huge police budget, etc. etc. is his mantra "when the people lead, the leaders will follow." What that really means is that neither he nor other local politicians will take any risks until it's a risk not to come out on an issue, such as the war. His most recent grandstanding on the Medical Marijuana issue is typical--instead of introducing a Medical Marijuana Emergency law, provision for grow areas (as is being done in San Francisco), specific guidelines for what can be grown, or directives to the police to withhold any support to DEA terrorists, we have more money for the police on today's Council agenda (item #20).
It's important to understand this in the context of the on-going War Against the Poor downtown where the Downtown Ordinances are being enforced in all their ugliness against homeless people and political activists--with Wormhoudt, Primack, Rotkin, Fitzmaurice, and Matthews all supporters of this noxious laws and the new Ashcroftian "leave it to the police" policies.
What will eventually turn the tide on the War against Iraq, as well as the War against American Civil Liberties, and our own local War against the Poor is massive protest that forces amiable leaders to act, even though it antagonizes their financial backers, their West-side friends, and the powerful staff that really runs local governments shielded from any public input or control.
That's our job, and it's a delusion to believe the politicians and