There are buildings in America named after Richard Nixon, famous for the Watergate scandal.
There are buildings in America named after Bill Clinton, famous for the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
There are buildings in America named after Ronald Reagan, famous for the Iran-Contra scandal, promoting torture and death squads in Latin America and giving Saddam Hussein access to American-made weapons of mass destruction.
There are buildings in America named after George H.W. Bush, the man who made "Gulf War Syndrome" a part of the English language.
There are buildings in America named after J. Edgar Hoover, a professional blackmailer and alleged cross-dresser.
Yet Congress in its wisdom has officially refused to name a post office in Berkeley, California after Maudelle Sherik, a long-time City Council member who has fed the hungry, fought injustice, fixed our potholes, set us an example of courage and graciousness, funded our libraries, inspired our children and generally made our city a better place.
If instead of serving on the Berkeley City Council, Maudelle had been President of the United States or head of the FBI, America too would have been a better place -- and we wouldn't be struggling with debt, unemployment, senseless "wars" that are draining our country's wealth, corruption in high places, stolen elections and a tarnished world image.
Maybe that's why Congress balked at naming a post office after Shirek. She's not corrupt enough or hypocritical enough or blood-thirsty enough. And she's too honest!
PS: the Berkeley City Council just passed a resolution naming the City Hall after our Maudelle. But I still want the post office named after her. It's the principle of the thing -- that sleazy Congressman King from Iowa can slander Shirek's good name in the House of Representatives, claim Joseph McCarthy was a "hero for America," call Shirek a commie of all things (she's not), block the post office naming and get away with it. Two buildings named after Maudelle instead of just one? Works for me.
