nah. it's blowback. berkeley has a history of boycotting the hell out of all kinds of things itself. IIRC, they resolved not to buy gasoline for city vehicles from each major supplier who sold gasoline until they'd boycotted them all. they had to drive to the next city to get gas--at a boycotted gas station. some of it was possibly generated by the fact that the conservative station FOX featured the story about three or four weeks ago. O'reilly Factor. So, some of the nasty letters are probably coming from viewers: it doesn't take much to whip off an e-mail these days.
but ask yourself something: why is Shirley Dean doing interviews with the media at all? why was she on the O'Reilly Factor? why is she flapping her gums like this: "In criticising her colleagues who forced through the resolution, Mayor Dean says: "The council did not think through what impact or consequences there might be from their actions and that's unfortunate."
i'm guessing there's more beneath this than what the BBC or FOX reports.
maybe berserkeleyites can fill us in on Shirley Dean. Smells like Chamber of Commerce whining to me. I see she serves on a lot of orgs/committees related to zoning laws and revitalizing downtown berserkeley? she seems to think that she's teaching the boycott crowd a lesson. yes? no? seems that way from her statement in the BBC.
i have a friend who lives in Madison, Wisconsin. I spoke of possibly moving there and he tried to entice me by saying that it is frequently called a haven for socialists. A couple of weeks ago I related an incident wherein it was claimed that communism had been wiped off the planet, save for North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba. Funnier still was the next comment from someone else: "What about Madison?" My friend chuckled at that, but also revealed a bit of disgust. Seems that he's been taking some 'good natured' Madison-bashing from clients and colleagues across the country who think that, in his words, "my living there were an exhibit of complicity in some sort of treasonous underground movement."
some of it's just normal USer knee-jerk rejection of KKKommies.
kelley