Posted on 06/23/2006 10:24:16 AM PDT by 45Auto
There’s a new reason why northern California’s Bay Area should be sawed off and allowed to drift out to sea.
That part of the state already has two cities that, to quote Reagan administration official Dick Darman’s description of the Democrats in 1984, have moved so far left they’ve left America. Now that former radical leftist Congressman Ron Dellums has been confirmed as the new mayor of Oakland, the city will join Berkeley and San Francisco in the loony left camp.
Last October, Dellums entered the race unexpectedly. He quickly became the favorite, though it was unclear whether he would be able to win more than 50 percent of the votes, thus avoiding a runoff in November. It was not until last Friday, a week and a half after the election was held, that the official tally revealed he had won 50.18 percent of the votes.
Dellums represented California’s 9th district in Congress, which includes both Berkeley and Oakland, from 1971 to 1998, winning his last election with 77 percent of the vote. While his mayor’s race turned out to be a lot closer than observers expected, a runoff would merely have postponed the inevitable. Bay Area voters can’t resist blame-America-first candidates.
Since Fidel Castro is not eligible to run for public office in the U.S., Dellums is probably the next closest thing. A socialist darling all his public life, the radical left-wing movements he has embraced include the Community for New Politics in Berkeley, the National Peace Action Coalition, and Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda’s Campaign for Economic Democracy.
In 1977, referring to Dellums joining the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, the magazine Mother Jones wrote, “For the first time in more than a century, a dues-paying socialist is also a member of the U.S. Congress.”
In 1982, when the communist island of Grenada was building an airport believed by the Reagan White House to be for the purpose of accommodating Soviet military aircraft, Dellums visited the Caribbean country on a “fact-finding” mission. In a subsequent report to Congress he said it was absurd to believe the airport was for any purpose other than economic development, despite the fact the runway capacity was far beyond anything necessary for civilian use.
Following the U.S invasion of Grenada in 1983, a letter from Dellums’s chief of staff Carlottia Scott to Grenadian dictator Maurice Bishop was discovered in which she had written that “Ron” did not want anything to jeopardize the building of the “Revolution.” She conveyed the congressman’s admiration for Bishop, adding, “The only other person that I know of that he expresses such admiration for is Fidel.”
In addition to his support of Bishop, he voted in 1980 to send $75 million in U.S. aid to Nicaragua’s Communist Sandinista regime. No wonder his nickname is “Red Ron.”
And if Will Rogers never met a man he didn’t like, Dellums never met a U.S. weapons system he could support, opposing both the MX and Pershing missiles and other national defense initiatives.
Dellums suddenly bailed out of Congress in February 1998, and although he said it was to concentrate on his personal life, it probably had more to do with frustration over the GOP takeover four years earlier and the loss of his position — won by seniority — as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. (He was probably miffed that the committee’s name couldn’t be changed to “Unarmed.”)
An economically struggling city like Oakland needs a socialist mayor like New Orleans needs another hurricane, but that’s what it now has. If I owned a business there I’d be planning to get out, fast; Dellums makes former leftist mayors of San Francisco look like Ronald Reagan.
Oakland’s voters, though narrowly, have said “Viva Ron,” and the city will soon earn the name “Havana North.”
I think this would have been news if he had not been elected Mayor of Oakland.
It will be a true Communist's paradise.
The Marxists in the Gay Frisco area will grow even more strident in their demands. Any left over Black Panthers will flock to Oakland and start roaming the streets to prey on any innocent blacks left in that hell hole.
I believe that it is more dangerous to live in Oakland than Baghdad, and that danger will become even worse under the Marxist Dellums.
It's too bad. Oakland really is a beautiful city.
My bet is Dellums owes back dues on his "socialist" membership. Though his looney left status is secured for life.
Look for Brown to be the next State AG.
I grew up in Oakland. I remember Dellums used to rail against the Military (as a member of Congress). Then, one day, they shut down all the militarty and Navy bases in the Bay Area (including the Presidio and Alameda Naval Base). Dellums gave a speech lamenting the loss of jobs. Basically, he just loves to hate this country. It's his reason for waking up in the morning (Danny Glover and Belefonte are also like that). These men came of age during segregation and they just can't let it go.
Many Oakland residents think of themselves as victims so now they have a spokesmen for that cause. I think it's sad. I grew up next to all these 'victims.' But, while they were whining about 'Reaganomics,' I was working, going to college, getting a PhD. Today they still whine. I, myself, have season tickets to the Raiders, a tee time this Sunday, two wonderful kids and a beautiful wife. I never bought into being a victim. I wanted to have a happy and meaningful life instead. I will say, though. Being a victim is a lot less work.
You may be off by a few years, Grampa.
Oakland has had a surprising resurgence in some regards, and a large reduction in crime (Down 30% over seven years). Surprisingly, Brown has done a decent job and brought a lot of visibility to the city, that they might not have otherwise gotten.
Here's some folks with better hygiene and manners than Raiders fans.
More corruption, likely. Jerry Brown, an outsider, was quite good at cleaning up Oaklands reputation. Dellums is plugged into the old political machine of the area, and is pretty much certain to indulge it.
Urban decay is going to be tough to increase. The whole Bay Area is too expensive. Its gentrifying rapidly. Poor people can't afford to live here, Dellums or no Dellums. He could try to put some roadblocks down to preserve urban decay, but he would be swimming against the tide.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5253429&ft=1&f=1003
Nation:
Oakland Suffers from Rising Rates of Violent Crime
by Richard Gonzales
Morning Edition, March 9, 2006 · A spike in violent crime and homicides in Oakland, Calif., comes at a time when the city says it can't attract enough recruits for its police force. Residents of Oakland's most crime-plagued neighborhoods say they're caught in the middle.
So you don't live in Oakland anymore. I'm guessing Central CoCo.
What statistic reveal are of interest, but what they conceal is vital.
Your artical talks of a recent spike, vs. my reference being to an overall reduction in crime compared to previous years.
Here is another link: Oakland 33% reduction in murder rate
October 2004 is the date of your article.
A son of a couple who are among our best friends was hired back in 2003 as a homicide detective to clean up Oakland. He had left in 2001/2 because no one wanted to really identity, arrest and put the murderers on trial.
It was done right as per this article.
From what I gather from him, the rate is back up. I'm sure that this mayor change will force him and others to find jobs elsewhere in N California.
Seems like the oakland Mayors office is becomeing a bone yard for used up Dem's.
I think titles like the above article demonstrate perfectly why the recent media labelling of the GOP as "red", as we discussed the other day, is so patently absurd. The bright red troika of Newsom-Bates-Dellums is the epicenter of hell in California.
I will *never* get used to the upside-down use of the Red/Blue labels.
I have to think twice and reverse logic every time I see the use of the label.
Completely counterintuitive
"In 1977, referring to Dellums joining the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, the magazine Mother Jones wrote, “For the first time in more than a century, a dues-paying socialist is also a member of the U.S. Congress.” "
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