And about the issue of discrimination?

"All Waste Management, has to say to the discrepancy is that the irregularities are no fault of the company's and to "have patience." Yeah? Tell that to the RACCOONS hanging out outside our houses at night. " Liz, this is Oakland, and talking about coons hanging out, your use of a Southern expresseion, could be highly offensive to some folks. Lets try to be more culturally sensitive. Another point Liz, many people think that raccoons are the most attractive of all animals and they feed them at night and watch them play. Please try to be more sensitive to animal lovers and others in your blog.

Erica, your comments offensive, not Elizabeth's. First, Elizabeth used the word RACCOON, not the colloquial contraction, 'coons. Your presumtuous request is condescending paternalism (perhaps "maternalism" might be more appropriate) at its worst. Should someone understand what Elizabeth wrote in the fashion you suggest, the onus is on them, not Elizabeth, and speaks to a mind-set disposed to perceive offense where none was given. You are certainly engaging in the worst sort of political correctness, not cultural sensitivity.

Another point, Erica: your suggestion that wild animals should be fed and observed like household pets is wrong; you do wild animals a disservice in numerous ways by treating them thay way. In effect you are endangering the raccoons for your own amusement.

Paul, dear, who elected you to be the judge on what creatures humans can befriend and what creatures they can not befriend. Feeding the starving children in Darfur Sudan offends some people because they say that these children will only produce other children who will need to be supported as well. A never ending cycle. There are some people, like the infamous nobel prize winner, Dr. Watson, who states that the planet is over populated with humans and that we need to drastically reduce the human population(such as not feeding the starving children). I think that I am a better judge of what is politically correct then you are. If I want to feed the starving children and the raccoons(in addition to my dogs, cats,and parrots), I can do it and it is not for you to state other wise. I think that you and Liz are raccoon haters.

I think Erica is either a troll or completely nuts. Oh wait, I can hear it now:
"Nuts are as important a source of protein as meat, you nut hater! I object to you being so insensitive about nuts, Paul. I suppose you like macadamia nuts more than black walnuts because they're pale, is that right?"
Cats and dogs, when developing their relationships with people and becoming pets, naturally provided services to humans that made the benefits mutual. Raccoons tear open garbage cans, are aggressive if approached while feeding and generally are not pets. And when they become reliant on a surplus of garbage that will eventually not exist when the strike is resolved, they will have to adjust to earlier circumstances anyway, so the argument is silly. You are, too, Erica.

Erica, I hardly know where to begin. I was going to leave off our exchange with your reply, but several readings of it have disturbed me deeply enough to change my mind.

Erica, your use of the "...starving children in Darfur Sudan..." as a rhetorical device with which to attack me and my point regarding wild animals is, simply, despicable. You should be ashamed of yourself. You no doubt think yourself clever in attempting to divert attention from the point of my post by introducing the starving children, and equating and conflating raccoons with them. Do you seriously believe that any sane reader of this blog is going to accept your attempt to equate the two? Do you truly think that people will be anything other than repulsed that you would choose to exploit the horrible tragedy of these children in support of your tawdry attempt to defend your selfishness in "befriending" the raccoons?

It is telling that your reply makes only oblique reference to my point. You have inverted the importance of the blog posting and my response: the behavior of Waste Management and your taking Elizabeth to task for an imagined insensitivity was the point, not feeding raccoons!

I could go on about the numerous childish touches inj your rant, from the opening gambit of attempting to condescend to me by using "dear" as a salutation, to the ending salvo (no doubt nuclear, in your estimation) of accusing Elizabeth and I of being "raccoon haters," but I suspect my words would fall on deaf (or tinfoil-wrapped) ears. Please get in touch with a local animal shelter for some instruction on interacting with wild life, and good by for good.

Paul, some members of The Society consider all of us(homo sapiens, raccoons, dogs, cats and etc.) to be God's creatures, no better nor worse than the others. I suggest that you read PETA's web page for starters and perhaps go on to read the Vedanta Society of Southern California to understand that we all live on the same planet. May be the Earth First web page could be useful. I understand that you are a victim of your linear western mindset so I do not hold any animosity towards you.

Thanks to Erica, and those who deemed it necessary to reply to her, this conversation has become totally off the topic. Neat Strategy,and one that works 100% of the time.

"But trash is piling up in poor neighborhoods. West and East Oakland have been the most neglected (two of our editors live in East Oakland, myself included), with garbage cans overflowing and bags stacking deep and wide from block to block. This, despite the fact that the monthly fees we pay are exactly the same as those in Piedmont, Oakland's Bel Air."

The complaint here is the Wealthy get their services even in the worst of times, The rest of us make do. "Replacement workers" (scabs) do as they are told, and it appears that they are being told to keep the schedule in Castro Valley and Montclair, and they are ignoring the rest of the rate payers.

Karl, take your complaints to the Oakland city council and the Mayor. Under Mayor Moonbeam, were you happy? Your problems just go to show you that under Democrats, the poor suffer even more due to mismanagement. Oakland is only 24% white, so you can't blame "whitey" for this. Instead of playing the role of "victim", do something about it. Why doesn't Oakland city employees pick up the trash like a real city? Have you ever heard of the concept of "local control." Oakland city schools also stink, but that is another subject, I will not be like Erica(I am not being judgmental Erica, so please don't reply).

Oakland's mayor is the notorious eccentric Dellums who describes himself as a socialist., former vice-chair of the Democratic Socialist of America. How is life in the workers paradise of Oakland? The most basic city service is the pick up of trash. The pinko's can't even manage this. Oakland is a good example of what happens to a city when the Socialists run the place. Give me Texas any day.

Oakland is so mismanged that the State of California had to take over the schools. It is no wonder that they are also incapable of providing basic city services like trash pick up. Compton CA was the other city that the State of California took over their school district due to mismanagement. So much for the "workers paradise". Until the city can get control of their own trash services, the problems will continue. Marin is the place to live.

Am I the only one who cares about you in the whole USA. I can imagine how difficult it is to live in a smelly city that does not have proper trash pick up. It is good that the ocean wind keeps it away from us. Oakland is known as the Zimbabwe of the west coast and the mayor has too much in common with Mugabe. Flee. Come to Marin.

"Flee. Come to Marin."
OMG, hilarious! As if all the fine folks in Oakland (or Compton!) could afford to live in Marin.
Marin is the richest county in California, the per capita income is almost $45,000, and it contains Belvedere, which is the highest income place in the United States with a population over 1,000: their per capita income is $113,595!
(Think their trash ever goes uncollected?)
Oakland's per capita income (including wealthy Piedmont's $70,539) is $21,936.
(Compton? $10,389.)
DAMMIT! I just wasted my time: Joyce from Marin is pretty obviously troll-tastic Erica T.
Seriously, stop trolling; go pick up some trash or something.

thanks