President Woodrow Wilson, also former president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey, a Democrat, once observed: “The history of liberty is the history of the limitations on the power of government.” And the provenance of government usually expands on federal, state and local levels.
In a Dec. 6, 1962, speech in New York City, then-assistant secretary of defense stated: “I think the inherent right of the government to lie to save itself when faced with nuclear disaster is basic.” The California High Speed Rail Authority’s Northern California Regional Director Boris Lipkin in the San Mateo Daily Journal’s Nov. 17, 2022, edition applied such falsity doctrine to that failed project. (I have publicly pleaded guilty of creating such state body with 1996 legislation as a then-state senator.)
On April 19, 1972, John B. Connally, Jr., then-U.S. secretary of the treasury, declared at the American Society of Newspaper Editors meeting in Washington, D.C.: “A democracy unsatisfied (by support of the people] cannot long survive…. We live in )robably the most turbulent and tormented times in the history of this nation. Criticize … disagree, yes, but also we have as leaders an obligation to be fair and keep in perspective what we are and what we hope to be.”
It has been a new year at City Hall where Supervisor Aaron Peskin from Telegraph Hill was elected president after 11 roll call votes by our district heroes, almost tying Congressman Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield for roll call votes. This columnist wishes President Peskin two years of leadership achievement. My hero, U.S. President Harry Truman, once reminded Americans: “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, imagination and all the unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
As San Francisco – after spirited Nov. 8 local, state and national elections – begins to celebrate Chanukah on Dec. 18 (for eight nights) and Christmas on Dec. 25, nothing destroys the holiday spirit faster than not finding a place to park. You know how holiday gift packages say: “Open Here”? What should you do if the package says “Open Somewhere Else”? I hereby cease and desist my strident ripostes.
Please do not allow Quentin Kopp to be denied his say. I always look forward to his column in your paper.
Editor: I’m writing in response to Quentin Kopp’s column in the May issue “Equity Does Not Mean Equality.” In it, Mr. Kopp refers to Webster’s Dictionary to define “equity” in a way […]
The language destroyers decry “equality,” as in “equality of opportunity” (long an American virtue), replacing it with “equity,” which means a result, not simply opportunity.
Such capriciousness by the School Board invites recapitulation of events leading to the 1971 San Francisco Charter amendment changing mayoral appointment of seven members to electing citywide all members. I plead guilty.
Since San Francisco’s public schools have been closed for one year already, why doesn’t the San Francisco Unified School District refund taxpayers their money?
Whether or not another impeachment of the lying, cheating, draft-dodging Donald Trump is inarguably warranted, its mootness reassures more antics by the one-time television performer who borrows money and doesn’t repay it.
As is generally true of conservatives who have one finger in the pot of fiscal probity, Quentin Kopp gets some things right and others wrong.
City officials have treated taxpayers’ dollars as their own slush funds, distributing public works contracts to cronies and other corrupt persons, disregarding solemn ethical duties to use public resources for San Francisco residents and taxpayer needs pursuant to a clear and creditable public process.
As many Americans cogitate whether President Donald Trump (who was thumped) will appear on Jan. 20 for the installation of Joseph Biden as president, we should be satisfied with a customary American national election, ignoring the pollsters and mainstream media who diminish elections.
It’s been said that you can’t fool all the people all the time, but politicians figure that once every four years is good enough.
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 