[Peace-discuss] Patently false article

[C. G. Estabrook]

Berkeley was not "the first city in the nation to put a referendum on 
the Nov. 7 ballot to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President 
Dick Cheney."  Champaign and Urbana did that in April.


John W. wrote:
> At 05:28 PM 6/28/2006, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> 
>> [The crass ignorance of left-coasters is once again on display.  This 
>> article appeared in the Oroville Mercury-Register [sic] at 
>> <http://www.orovillemr.com/news/bayarea/ci_3990270> and has been 
>> circulated on the web.  We should write an account of our local 
>> referenda and supply it to those websites.  --CGE]
> 
> 
> 
> If I may ask, Carl, where are the factual errors in the article below?  
> A bit of hubris, perhaps.  And the headline is misleading.  But what is 
> the "crass ignorance" of which you speak, for which it would be 
> difficult to excuse Kristin Bender?
> 
> John Wason
> 
> 
> 
>> Article Launched: 6/28/2006 12:00 PM
>> Berkeley votes to impeach Bush
>> By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER
>> Inside Bay Area
>> BERKELEY - The People's Republic of Berkeley has done it again.
>>
>> The liberal, left-leaning city has become the first city in the nation 
>> to put a referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot to impeach President George 
>> W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
>>
>> Anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan and Daniel Ellsberg, a Vietnam 
>> whistle-blower who in 1971 released the Pentagon Papers to the New 
>> York Times, both spoke in favor of the resolution at Tuesday's City 
>> Council meeting.
>>
>> ``Berkeley is a place where things begin,'' said Mayor Tom Bates. ``It 
>> was the first place in the nation that called for divestment from 
>> South Africa, it was the first city in the nation to have curb cuts 
>> for disabled people, we were the first city in the nation to have dog 
>> parks and the first city in the nation to really protest the Vietnam 
>> War,'' Bates said.
>>
>> Let's not forget banning Styrofoam take-out containers in restaurants.
>>
>> ``What happens in Berkeley people need to pay attention to because it 
>> travels, it has legs... what happens in Berkeley today is conventional 
>> wisdom in the rest of the country tomorrow,'' Bates said.
>>
>> Although the referendum is largely symbolic because only the United 
>> States Congress can impeach a president, city leaders don't see it 
>> that way.
>>
>> ``I don't see it as just symbolic, I see it as educational,'' said 
>> Councilmember Kriss Worthington.
>>
>> Dozens of cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, have already 
>> approved resolutions calling for impeachment, but Berkeley is the 
>> first American city that will ask voters to decide.
>>
>> It will cost the city roughly $10,000 to add the item to the November 
>> general election ballot.
>>
>> Tuesday's resolution also had widespread support from a group called 
>> Constitution Summer, which originated on several university campuses, 
>> including UC Berkeley. Constitution Summer represents a coalition of 
>> students and young people dedicated to defending the constitution by 
>> launching a campaign to impeach the president.
>>
>> It also had the support of the city's Peace and Justice Commission, 
>> which drafted language for a referendum. Specifically, supporters say 
>> the effort is being made based on Bush's handling of the Iraq war, 
>> federal wiretapping and other issues.
>>
>> ``We hope this is going to raise a national debate on the issues of 
>> the Bush administration shredding the U.S. Constitution, trampling on 
>> it,'' Bates said. ``We hope that this will be a debate about what the 
>> Bush Administration has done to our civil liberties and rights.''
>>
>>         ###
> 
> 
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