February 2008

 

members of an all-black fighter squadron:ALICE-JO is a P-51 Mustang, USAAF's hotest WW II fighter

I believe this photo to be of Tuskegee airmen.

 

 

"Enthusiasts give club a stamp of approval:Philatelic group brings together collectors, who enjoy the history
and learning behind the hobby" reports Marta Yamamoto of our Times.

"Stamp collecting loomed large as a childhood hobby in the 1950s and 1960s. Stamp kits featuring an album, packets of stamps, tongs and hinges were sold everywhere; even department stores had stamp counters.

Stamp collecting was a rite of passage.

Once school years morphed into college, career and family, stamps and their accouterments were packed away and forgotten, memories of a more carefree life. Today, many collections are coming out of the closet, thanks to groups such as the East Bay Collectors Club, which meets each month in Kensington."

 

some of

my stamps

 

 

 

 

 

2/1/08

In the style and tradition of Forbes and the Wall Street Journal , Richard Brenneman of our Planet reports "Feds Say Teece Must Pay $12 Mil for Tax Dodges."

"David J. Teece, the UC Berkeley professor and until recently perhaps Berkeley's richest private landlord, used illegal tax dodges and owes Uncle Sam millions, says the IRS."

Damn, Brenneman can write just like a financial reporter.

 

 

On 1/24/08 I posted

"Tuesday evening, Berkeley Mills, Acme Bread, The City of Berkeley, Uncommon Grounds, The Bread Project, and others hosted a meeting about green collar jobs. It was based on the report by Professor Raquel Pinderhughes, Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green Businesses to Provide High Quality Jobs for Men and Women with Barriers to Employment.The report was funded by the City of Berkeley Office of Energy and Sustainable Development. The meeting was held at Berkeley Mills from 5PM to 8PM. It opened with our Mayor's introduction, proceeded with a presentation by Professor Pinderhughes and a presentation by Ian Kim of the City of Oakland Green Collar Job Corps, and closed with discussion. About 50 people were present, many from Berkeley businesses, including Berkeley Mills CEO, Gene Agress. Our Councilman, Darryl Moore was also present. It was covered by Channel 7 NEWS. Gene Agress contributed to this report.

I'd like to know what the report cost."

 

Though I am sympathetic to the report, Green Collar Jobs, it is terminally flawed. A beautifully presented study with color-photos, charts, graphs and text, I initially asumed it accurately presented the issues. Sadly, it may or may not. As conceived, it is simply the author's opinion. For such a survey to be really relevant, it must use random sampling of an accurately defined population--it must select at random the people interviewed and it must make sure those talked to are somehow involved with the issue. The twenty-one employers interviewed were self-selected from a group of originally over two-hundred, and just how the thirty-six interested employees were selected is unclear. Really bad social -science!

Several calls to City Hall asking for the study's cost have remained unanswered.

 

In The Day, I was a sociology grad-student at Cal and worked at the Survey Research Center.

 

According to the report, it is available on line at a City of Berkeley page here.

 

 

"It's really not that easy being green" writes Ilana DeBare in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Despite the increased hype about companies going green, American business isn't making much of a dent in major environmental problems, according to a new report card on the state of corporate environmental initiatives."

 

 

And Ms DeBare reports "Clorox introduces green line of cleaning products. Clorox bleach and Liquid-Plumer will gain some unlikely siblings today - a line of green cleaning products. The Clorox Co., the Oakland firm that introduced bleach to American households a century ago, is adding a series of natural, biodegradable household cleaners called Green Works to its $4.8 billion family of cleaning and household products. "

 

"The Marines don't belong here, the shouldn't have come here and the should leave:Berkeley council tells Marines to leave" writes Doug Oakley in our Times.

"Hey-hey, ho-ho, the Marines in Berkeley have got to go.

That's the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted 8-1
Tuesday night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. And it officially encouraged the women's peace group Code Pink to impede the work of the Marines in the city by protesting in front of
the station.

In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m.

Councilman Gordon Wozniak opposed both items."

 

At a time when the Democratic Party of our Nation is choosing between a European-American woman and an African-American man as their candidate for President of the United States of America, our City Council is giving free parking and free sound equipment to anti-war demonstators clothed in pink.

Why am I surprised.

Recently, when west-Berkeley could have made a real difference by challenging the constitionality of Benefit Districts in court, where a victory would have wide-ranging effect for citizens of California, our re-Activists chose to build their opposition around a pathetic-pocket-book-issue, sugar-coated in unfair-representation.

Well, Ok then.

 

Oh, f%*k it!

 

"We some sorry-a## mutha-f%*kers"

A quote from The Original Kings of Comedy

 

 

 

"Low-income bank accounts proposed" reports the San Francisco Chronicle's Ilana DeBare. "Building on a San Francisco program that has become a national model, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced plans Thursday to help tens of thousands of low-income Californians open their first bank accounts. Schwarzenegger said his office will bring together bank officials, mayors and community groups in five to seven cities to create and promote starter checking or savings accounts."

 

 

Listener supported Jazz station, KCSM-FM is having a pledge drive now. You can contribute here.

 

 

"Severed cables disrupt internet" reports BBC NEWS. "Internet outages have hit businesses and home use
Internet services have been disrupted in large parts of the Middle East and India following damage to two undersea cables in the Mediterranean.

There was disruption to 70% of the nationwide network in Egypt, and India suffered up to 60% disruption."

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/2/08

Here is the complete editorial from today's Times about our City.

Berserk in Berkeley

There's a reason they call it "Berserkley." The East Bay home of UC
Berkeley has long been a venue for odd protests and bizarre politics.

In one more leap into the absurd on Tuesday, the City Council voted
7-2 to tell the U.S. Marines that its recruiting station "is not
welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as
uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

Too add to its mean-spirited and insulting policy of anti-military
extremism, the council also decided to officially encourage the
radical women's peace group, Code Pink, to disrupt the Marine
recruiters by loudly demonstrating in front of the station.

For the last four months, Code Pink has been protesting, well within
its rights. But now the City Council has given that particular
protest group a free sound permit and parking space for protesting.

Some local businesses near the recruiting station are none too
pleased about Code Pink protests. The loud, aggressive protesters
border on harassment.

They take up parking places and block the sidewalk and doorways.

Yet the Berkeley City Council has decided to grant special privileges
to a favored group -- so much for free and fair speech, which too
often has been abused in Berkeley.

A dissenter on the council, Gordon Wozniak, rightly pointed out that
it looks like the council is showing favoritism.

No kidding.

He said, "We have to respect the other side and not abuse their
rights." That should be obvious to any fair-minded
person. But there are a lack of such people in city government in
Berkeley, including Mayor Tom Bates.

Bates said the Marines don't belong here and they should leave. Why?
A university town is a natural place for military recruiters.

It makes no sense to belittle the military because one is opposed to
the war in Iraq. But the Code Pink women don't care to think things
through. That's the group's right as a private organization.

But it is clearly wrongheaded for a government body to favor a single
protest group while insulting an essential branch of the government.

The Berkeley City Council vote is an act of meanness, stupidity and
arrogance."

 

I would add after some quiet contemplation "Have we finally,
completely, lost are f@*king minds?"

 

 

Our Berkeley PD Site with crime statistics and more is here.

 

Our Planning Department is here.

 

 

Our Heddy emails

The Center on Institutions and Governance, UC Berkeley presents

Ambassador John Bruton 
Head of Delegation of the European Commission in the United States

speaking about

California and the European Union:An emerging partnership

on

Wednesday, February 13, 10:30 a.m.

in the

IGS Library, 109 Moses Hall
http://igov.berkeley.edu

Ambassador Bruton will speak about how a bi-directional partnership between the EU and California is evolving and what chances there are for future regulatory cooperation, learning, and emulation between them. California has been a regulatory trendsetter at the national and international levels. Recently the European Union has become a global regulatory leader, while California has become both a launching pad for American versions of European regulation and an innovator that influences Europe.

Heddy Riss
Program Director
Center on Institutions and Governance
http://igov.berkeley.edu
UC Berkeley
130 Moses Hall, MC 2370
Berkeley, CA 94720
643-4487

 

 

"Web disturbances set to continue" reports BBC NEWS. "Internet outages have hit businesses and home use.Disruption to internet services in south Asia and the Middle East is continuing the day after Mediterranean undersea cables were damaged.

Operations outsourced to India from the UK and US are badly hit, said an industry body, adding that 50% of India's bandwidth was affected.

Egypt has about 40% of its internet capacity, following damage to a cable thought to be off its northern coast.

It could take a week or more to restore full services, say experts.

Further disruption has been reported in Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka."

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/3/08

Geralyn's Potter Creek rain-gauge showed .7 inch from Thursday through Friday morning.

 

 

David Snipper emails his thoughts on my 1/24/08 post--my paragraph follows

"Recently, when west-Berkeley could have made a real difference by challenging the constitionality of Benefit Districts in court, where a victory would have wide-ranging effect for citizens of California, our re-Activists chose to build their opposition around a pathetic-pocket-book-issue, sugar-coated in unfair-representation."

 
 
David's email continues

"For the average home owner or small non-residential occupant in southwest Berkeley the hit on our pocket books would clearly have been less than a drop in the annual bucket. The authors proposed removing most of us small players. . . . The objections didn't go away.
 
This was and is still a very strong negative response to our being cut out of the decision making process thereby leaving us with little or no say-so in determining the future of our neighborhood.
 
Challenging this issue in court as being un-constitutional may be an admirable alternative but I believe it would have less than a fifty-fifty chance against the combined money and legal might of the big players  . . .  and we would be looking at very large pocket-book hits for a long, long time. . . .
 
David"

After reading David's remarks, I would replace my "sugar coated in unfair-representation" with a more specific "and unfair representation."

 

 

Berkeley Mills CEO, Gene Agress emails his response to our Times' editorial

I agree [with the editorial]. It's not the Marines or the military that are the problem. The city has no right to ask [the Marines] to leave.

 

 

 

a time for vision

It is my sense that now is a time for the new, for sweeping change, for vision. But neither our recent city council decision on Marine recruiting or the recent west-Berkeley opposition to the Benefit District embrace that.

This is, I believe, a moment of real opportunity and great possibility.

But at this moment of accelerating change, Berkeley is moving backward to a place that, though comfortable, is already "in the dust bin of history."

Lenin's phrase not mine.

 

 

 

"Berkeley mayor offers to help Marines leave" reports Doug Oakley of our Times.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates offered Friday to help the U.S. Marines leave town by negotiating an end to the lease for their recruiting station, even as he backpedaled on a City Council resolution declaring the Corps 'uninvited and unwelcome intruders' in the city.

In the face of an onslaught of pro-military criticism from around the country, Bates, a retired Army captain, also issued a statement that said the City Council's resolution Tuesday night 'did not adequately differentiate our respect and support for those serving in the armed forces and our opposition to the Iraq war policy.' He said he would ask the council to modify the resolution at its next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 12."

I recommend all our council members toke-up and watch Queens of Comedy before this meeting.

 

Al Braver was the owner of Campus Records in The Day and was my Mentor

On 11/9/03 I posted

And just what is it that Albert's smoking in that pipe?

 

 

 

Crackerjack Planet reporter Richard Brenneman toots his own horn in "Bush Sub-Prime Collapse Echoes Reagan Disaster.

When 60 Minutes tackled the FBI investigation of the mortgage implosion Sunday night, producers looked to Stockton, 'ground zero for the current financial crisis and a microcosm of everything that went wrong.'

But their coverage of the current crisis overlooked another foreshadowing crisis for which Stockton was also Ground Zero-another national financial disaster under another Republican president.

The link was there, early in Steve Kroft's opening remarks. 'A few years ago, it was one of the hottest real estate markets in the country; today it is the foreclosure capital of America.'

A few years before that, Stockton had given birth to a hometown S&L that rocketed into the deregulated stratosphere of the early Reagan years to become the nation's largest, and the darling of Wall Street.

State Savings And Loan transformed itself into American Savings, the linchpin of Financial Corporation of America (FCA), with its vast network of mortgage funds bankrolled by double-digit uninsured jumbo CDs.

The eventual collapse of American Savings is still the largest-ever bank failure in the country's history. What is less well known was that its crimes were known to the same law firm that produced the two federal prosecutors in charge of the case: the local U.S. Attorney in Sacramento and U.S. Attorney General-and for years Reagan's personal attorney-William French Smith. Another senior attorney from the same firm sat on FCA's board.

The collapse was completely predictable to someone on the outside, too.

I know this as an absolute fact, because I did predict it, and I got exiled to the night cops' beat at the Sacramento Bee because I refused trying to write about it. I still have the letter of reprimand I got when I shouted at my editor. 'You insisted we were missing a national story,' he wrote. I give him credit for that. And night cops is the rookie's beat, the same one I took when I hired on at the Las Vegas Review-Journal at age 19."

 

I guess Brenneman hasn't yet figured out that "being right" ain't what's hard. What's hard is convincing others.

 

 

 

 

 

2/4/08

Berkeley PD Community Crime Alert

Thefts at Berkeley Restaurants

City of Berkeley Police 
Department Property Crimes Detectives are warning the community about a 
significant crime trend involving thefts that is making it's way throughout the city. 
Thus far, crimes have been reported from businesses on College, Telegraph and 
Shattuck Avenues.  
 
A suspect or suspects goes into restaurants, café's and other eateries and surveys the 
business for customers who have left their purses, bags, laptops, backpacks or other 
valuables unsecured and/or unattended. In some cases, the suspect will go virtually 
unnoticed as he/she reaches into a purse and removes a wallet. Most victims will not 
notice the theft for some time. In others incidents, the suspect will wait until a 
customer goes to the counter to order food, pick up coffee or use the restroom and 
make off with a purse, laptop or backpack.

 

 

The report Green Collar Jobs cost us $8,000--$3,000 for the work and $5,000 for printing. It is my understanding the work is on-going.

Read my 2/1/08 post for background.

 

 

Times columnist, Nilda Rego writes "Classic radio shows brought laughs, shivers.

There wasn't much to crow about in 1933. Five thousand banks had collapsed, sending 9 million bank accounts down the drain. The steel industry was operating at 12 percent capacity, and a lot of people were out of work.

But there was hope. The new president, Franklin Roosevelt, told us 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'

Money was too scarce to spend on entertainment, but there was always the radio. And by the time of the Great Depression, Bay Area listeners could tune into KGO, KFRC, KYA and NBC to hear music, adventure serials, news and 15-minute comedies such as 'Lum and Abner,' jawing away in their Jot 'Em Down Store, the 'Easy Aces,' 'The Goldbergs' and Vic and Sade.'

At 5:45 p.m. (every night except Sunday), every kid on our block stayed glued to the radio to listen to "Little Orphan Annie." Near the end of the program, with pencil in hand, we waited for the announcer to give us the clues that we could solve with our decoder rings."

Pete Hurney et al have put together a radio drama-group for KALX, the Barrow's Basement Radio Players. Now made up of about a dozen players, its first script is a children's story. They hope to broadcast a 15 minute show once a week.

 

 

Not necessarily my, but our Times Endorsement

"For the first time in decades, California voters are going to play a crucial role in selecting a presidential nominee. In both the Democratic and Republican parties, whoever wins the most votes in this state Tuesday will take a giant step toward nomination this summer.

The Times strongly believes that the nation is in dire need of a president who has the vision, ability and desire to reach out to all Americans in a positive manner.

We need a leader who listens to the views of others, domestically and abroad, and who truly embraces bipartisanship at home and cooperation internationally.

Fortunately, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have such leaders this year. They are Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama."

This does remind me, however, that we have municpal elections this year and it would be good to elect those who have "the vision, ability and desire to reach out to all . . . in a positive manner."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/5/08

I talked to Gino at Moe's yesterday--I worked with Gino at the store in the early days, he's now a manager-- and asked him why they, Moe's, were successful in a time when other brick-and-mortor book-dealers were regularly going out of business. He said that one of the reasons is that as a used-dealer they can set their own resale-prices, and, perhaps more important, set what they pay for books, also that their active Internet sales were becoming a more important part of the business--then added "We know what we're doing, do a very good job at it, and people like us."

Well, Ok then!

 

Also yesterday, I talked to a young friend, a woman in her early 20s. She characterized herself as a post, post-feminist. When I asked what that was, she said "I sewed this flowered apron but also eat granola" and then whispered "I'm bi-sexual, too."

Very Twenty-First Century Berkeley, I'd say. Hmmm, . . . actually, she lives in Oakland.

 

 

A female reader from the South of France emails

vive la France!

 

 

"US service sector in sharp fall" writes BBC NEWS.

"The fear is that Americans will stop spending as job losses increase:The US service sector contracted in January for the first time in almost five years, a survey has shown.

The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) index of service sector business activity fell to 41.9, from 54.4 for the previous month.

The dividing line between growth and contraction is 50. The unexpectedly weak reading stoked fears that the US would fall into recession.

Wall Street shares tumbled on the news, while the UK's FTSE 100 fell 2.6%.

This is the first contraction since 2003 of business activity in the service sector, which accounts for two thirds of US economic growth, and the lowest level of activity since October 2001, the month following the 11 September terrorist attacks.

The ISM report also showed a steep decline in inventories, employment and new orders, while operating costs increased."

For years now, I've had a fantasy that as more and more businesses join the service economy, sometime, later-than-sooner in the future, they will make up the entire business community which will serve only the few dozen left that are wealthy enough to afford sevices. We will then have achieved a service-economy with really no-one to serve.

 

 

"The FBI is concerned about mortgage fraud" reports BBC NEWS.

"The FBI is investigating 14 companies embroiled in the sub-prime mortgage crisis as part of a crackdown on improper lending.

It did not identify the companies but said the investigation encompassed developers, sub-prime lenders and investment banks.

FBI officials said the agency was looking at instances of accounting fraud and insider trading.

The cases could lead to potential civil or criminal charges, the FBI said."

 

 

 

 

 

2/6/08

"In Berkeley, push to rescind letter to Marines" writes Carolyn Jones of the San Francisco Chronicle. "Mayor Tom Bates, a former Army captain, said it probably wouldn't hurt if the council clarified its position."

 

 

"Electricity in the air at Tesla's unveiling: Ballyhooed Roadster rolls out at company's San Carlos headquarters" reports our Times' Matt Nauman.

"Electric cars can be eerily silent, so it was no surprise that when the first Tesla arrived in America Friday, company employees cheered, but the car was quiet."

 

 

 

 

2/7/08

The San Francisco Chronicle's Debra J. Saunders opines about "Berkeley's Marines offensive

'I guess they've never heard of free speech,' Berkeley City Councilwoman Dona Spring told The Chronicle as she defended the council's 8-1 vote to tell Marine recruiters that they are not welcome in Berkeley - and that if the Marines stay, they will 'do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.' The council also voted 6-3 to give the anti-war Code Pink organization a designated parking space directly in front of the U.S. Marine Corps' 64 Shattuck Ave.
recruiting office and encouraged Code Pink to 'impede' Marine recruitment.

It's pretty clear that Spring has heard of free speech, but she has no idea what it is.

. . . the Berkeley vote was the antithesis of free speech.

When government officials pass a law to impede the political expression of nonbelievers, as the Berkeley pols did on Jan. 29, they are wielding the club of government to suppress dissent. They are abusing their authority. . . .

Code Pink is the anti-war equivalent of anti-abortion protesters barring women from access to abortion clinics - a crime compounded by the City Council's support of this suppression. . . .

[Finally] . . . consider Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's answer to a question posed by NBC's Tim
Russert at a debate last month. 'There's a federal statute on the books which says that, if a college or university does not provide space for military recruiters or provide a ROTC program for its students, it can lose its federal funding. Will you enforce that statute?' Russert asked.

Both Clinton and Obama answered that they would enforce the Solomon Amendment, which first passed in 1994 when Bill Clinton was president."

 

 

"Berkeley goes to war" opines the San Francisco Chronicle.

There's nothing surprising - or objectionable - about an anti-war protest outside a Marine Corps recruiting office in Berkeley. Bullhorns, locked arms, chanted slogans: Bring it on if that's the way demonstrators want to oppose the Iraq war.

But what is the Berkeley City Coucil doing by endorsing statements denouncing these recruiters as 'uninvited and unwelcome intruders' and reserving curb space for the convenience of weekly protesters?

Berkeley's leaders have taken the worthy notion of political protest and shoved it over the cliff. While playing up arguments of free speech and organized protest, the council has loaded the deck with insulting language that denigrates the military and embarrasses the anti-war cause.

The motion approved by the council includes a number of remarkable statements: 'The United States has a history of launching illegal, immoral and unprovoked wars of aggression' and 'The military recruiters are sales people known to lie to and seduce minors.'

The move has provoked an uproar. South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint wants to yank some $2.1 million in Washington money bound for Berkeley schools, food programs and ferries. Sorry senator, we don't see the connection - or sense of fairness.

Two Berkeley City Council members, Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli, are hurrying a resolution for the council's Feb. 12 meeting to paper over the harm done. Their idea is to state Berkeley's opposition to the Iraq war and support the troops, no-brainer notions in local politics. The measure would also attempt to undo the damage by also dropping the offending rhetoric of the original resolution that singled out the Marine recruiters. That would be a welcome ending to a foolish crusade."

 

In the spirit of post, post-feminism I propose some post, post-radicalism.

Organize and send care-packages to our enlisted-men and -women posted to Iraq and Afghanistan. For just what to best put in them, go to the Marine recruiting office and ask what our enlisted men and women want and need. Enclose some CDs, DVDs, comic-books*, mags, and books--no heavy political s&%t, please.

Encourage and support ROTC programs. They are a way to civilianize our increasingly isolated, professionalized military.

*graphic-novels

 

What to include in care-packages to our enlisted men and women? I'm told they need silly-string to test for booby-traps when entering buildings--they shoot it in before going in--and handi-wipes to keep themselves clean. Then are are those old-fashioned Berkeley stand-bys, brownies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/8/08

Bob Kubik emails

I was told this afternoon by a business tenant that another block in Potter Creek is being sold to Wareham Development. It is the entire block between 9th and 10th and Pardee and Carleton. As you know Wareham recently bought the entire block of Fantasy Records and almost the entire block just east of that. 

the south east corner of the Wareham purchase

 

I'm told that indeed these properties are in contract.

 

 

 

 

Our Councilman's aid, Ryan Lau emails

Happy Lunar New Year!!  This is the year of the Rat.

We have a few annoucements for upcoming events...
 
Community Meeting
We are holding a community meeting on Wednesday, February 20th in the Multipurpose Room at Rosa Parks Elementary School, 920 Allston Way.  The meeting was originally organized around the situation at U-Haul, with the revocation of their use permit and the day laborer situation, and around graffiti and general crime issues, but we thought that this would be a great time to have a community meeting that would be a bit broader.  We will be discussing the Be Fit Berkeley campaign (a city-wide health initiative), summer youth employment through Youth Works, and Lamont will be discussing some of the programing that the Rosa Parks Collaborative will be doing this semester.  Hope you can make it. 
 
Be Fit Berkeley Events
As you may know, we have instituted a citywide effort known as Be Fit Berkeley to promote healthy living. This is a City sponsored public-participation program designed to encourage citizens to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly. The program was kicked-off on October 1, 2007 with a weigh-in of myself and Councilmember Darryl Moore in front of the Civic Center Building. A final community event in May (including a final weigh-in for Councilmembers!), will end the 8-month program. In the coming months, we hope to make this a fun and life-changing competition for Councilmembers and their constituents.
 
With this in mind, we would like to invite you to a few of our upcoming activities with Councilmembers. We encourage you to participate in as many events as possible. Free Be Fit Berkeley T-shirts will be provided at every event!
 
            Exercise in the Park: Saturday, February 23rd, Civic Center Park, 10 am-11 am
·            Includes:
    Exercise activities with Councilmembers; low-impact aerobic exercises led by YMCA instructor
     Raffles for YMCA memberships and other prizes
     Meeting with Public Health interns for more information
            Wear comfortable clothing and tennis shoes!
            Note that rain on this day will cancel the event.
 
Day at the Farmers' Market: Saturday, March 8th, Center Street (Downtown
Berkeley), 10 am-1 pm
Includes:
     Cooking Demos with Councilmembers
     Guided shopping tours of the market
     Hypertension & diabetes screenings by City's Public Health Department- Please fast beforehand!
 

Local Fundraisers for Worthwhile Causes

*
Lifelong Medical's 12th Annual Crab Feed
LifeLong is known as the primary "safety net" provider of medical services to the uninsured and those with complex health needs in Berkeley, North Oakland, Albany and Emeryville.  Enjoy an evening of delicious crab, music, and a chance to win some great items through a silent auction and raffle.  Tickets are $40 and the event will be on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 5:00 PM at St. John's Presbyterian Church Center, 2727 College Ave.  To purchase Crab Feed tickets, go here
*
Berkeley Youth Alternatives' Fourth Annual Crab Feed
Berkeley Youth Alternatives provides a variety of program that helps to nurture Berkeley's youth, particularly at-risk youth.  Please help support their efforts by coming to their Annual Crab Feed.  Tickets ar $40 and the event will be on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at Berkeley Youth Alternative, 1255 Allston Way. 

 

 

Don "Ukulele Don" Yost emails an opinion

Comment by Allan J. Lichtman, Professor of History, American University
Super Tuesday: The Big Picture 

Perhaps the most gratifying outcome of the Super Tuesday primaries was that they once again proved that the conventional wisdom was entirely wrong. Just a few months ago the pundits assured us that with five strong candidates the Republican contest might not result in a clear nominee on Super Tuesday and could produce a deadlocked convention. In contrast, they said that Hillary Clinton would likely sweep to victory in the Democratic contests. Instead, Super Tuesday has all but anointed John McCain as the Republican nominee and left Democratic contest as clear as mud. The next few weeks will witness trench warfare between Clinton and Barack Obama as they battle for every delegate in their party's proportional -- not winner-take-all -- primaries.
There is a deep significance to these primary results; they signal the end of the conservative era that began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  Conservatives have been so vitriolic in their assault on John McCain because they don't have a viable candidate in the race and because they don't believe that McCain will keep the conservative flame alive within the GOP. However, as we learned from the liberal collapse in the late 1970s, political movements usually succumb to contradictions within their own traditions. That is precisely what has happened to conservativism in the era of George W. Bush and the impending McCain nomination is but a symptom of a more serious malady. For example, conservatives have backed limited government, fiscal responsibility and states rights. Yet George W. Bush has arguably built the biggest, most expensive, and most intrusive federal government in the history of the United States. Similarly conservatives have vehemently opposed social engineering by government. Yet they have taken on history's most ambitious and costly social engineering project: to pacify, rebuild, and democratize Iraq, a land with alien culture and traditions, no history of democratic practice, and deep sectarian divisions.  In addition, conservatives are caught between their business allies who will expect billions in payback for the millions they invest in campaigns and the party's religiously conservative base voters.
Thus, 2008 could be a turning point election like 1932 or 1980 that marks the end of one political era and the beginning of another. Ironically, this could be the case even if the candidate of the incumbent presidential party wins the White House.

 

 

"Vote against Marines may cost Berkeley" reports our Times' Doug Oakley. "City institutions could lose $2.3 million in federal funds in bills introduced by six GOP lawmakers."

A thought on my Berkeley and our Marines. If we were a family we'd be in therapy for self-worth issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/9/08

Bob Kubik emails

The Condos at 2700 San Pablo are undergoing repairs to the new stucco siding already. Apparently, the recent rains caused leakage around the windows - very common with the new stucco treatment. In this picture you will note the sales office in a trailer with balloons in front - just above the balloons is where they have been chipping away the new plaster Thursday afternoon.

 

Our today's Times features some guest commentary about our City Council's recent Marine recruiting decision.

Michael Steinberg writes "For first time, I am ashamed of my city

While I'm sure Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates' intentions were just and honorable, I write to discuss my opposition to the anti-U.S. Marine Corps position taken by him and the City Council.

I have lived in Berkeley for 31 years, and never in that time have I been ashamed of my city. Today, I am."

Stacie Sebring comments "The City of Berkeley as well as its residents continually fought for their cause of peace, justice, fairness for some, and most of all liberal causes of any kind.

This is their right -- given to them by our Constitution and upheld by the people for the people.

So, why do the members of the Berkeley City Council and their ilk feel that they have the right to pass resolutions that are in direct conflict with what they are trying to portend?

These people have created a nuance for themselves known all over the world. And they are proud of it.

After harsh criticism from their fellow liberals, they now want to 'modify' and 'clarify' their position/resolution regarding telling the Marines they are not welcome in 'their town.'"

And Susan Finlayson writes "City Council has taken away freedom of choice.

I am and have been for many years an anti-war advocate. I am not a huge fan of the military. I don't think we should be sending our children to Iraq or anywhere to fight wars.

I worked for the city of Berkeley for many years and in those years I came to be liberal in my thinking and supported many of the war and other protests.

I am all for peace.

I have a 17-year-old grandson who wants nothing more than to join the service as soon as he graduates from high school. I can't tell you how many conversations I have had with him trying to convince him not to join the service and fight wars.

But he has the freedom of choice and it is his to make.

How dare Mayor Tom Bates allow protesters to stand in front of the Marine recruiting office and push people entering.

How dare he allow protesters to be issued a free parking space once a week.

How dare he insinuate the recruiting office has disrupted the whole block. There was no disruption until the protesters arrived."

 

After decades of rationalizing our Beserkely behavior with

"Maybe there was acid in the water" or with the "insight" of Dustin Hoffman's character in Little Big Man that "most white people are crazy"

I can no longer excuse acts such as our irresponsible Marine recruiting decision with "Well s&%t, . . . this is Berkeley."

This recent decision by our City Council calls into question the basic competence of our leaders.

 

 

"San Ramon lawmaker enters Marine office fray: Berkeley mayor reverses course as Houston looks to withhold $3.3 million in state road funds" reports Steve Geissinger in our Times.

 

 

"City may declare firm's smell a public nuisance" writes Doug Oakley of our Times.

"Berkeley is hoping to force Pacific Steel Casting to change its smelly ways by declaring the company a public nuisance after 25 years of complaints about the Second Street foundry.

City councilwoman Linda Maio said Thursday that she's waited long enough for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, a state agency, to pressure the company to stop showering the city with a
burning plastic smell.

To do that, she will bring an item before the council at Tuesday's meeting asking the city's Zoning Adjustments Board to declare the company a nuisance and attach conditions to its operating permit spelling out actions and dates of compliance."

 

 

"Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat" reports Elisabeth Rosenthal of the New York Times.

Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these 'green' fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded."

Potter Creek car-guy and business owner, Jerry Victor hipped me to this possiblity years ago. Check way-back posts.

 

 

"Missouri city baffled in wake of rampage that left five dead" report Laura Bauer and Jason Noblein our Times.
"But when Thornton was done shooting Thursday night, two police officers, two city council members and the town's public works director lay dead. Two others, including the town's mayor, Mike Swoboda, were injured."

 

 

 

 

 

2/11/08

Our Claudia of The Bark emails

Ron
Channel 7, KGO is coming to our office tomorrow to do a LIVE segment on their View From the Bay show (which airs at 3). Did I say it was going to be LIVE? "View from the Bay" is here.

The Chicago Tribune wrote an "opinion" piece about us today. Pretty cool, perhaps Obama might actually read it! Check out "That's 70 in Dog Years." 
Claudia

 

 

 

 

 

2/12/08

Post, post-radical thoughts.

Work with artists, artisans and crafts-workers to form co-operatives now--organize to buy affordable-property in industrial Bay-Area areas for immediate use as studios, lofts and storage. Make sure to buy in areas that will appreciate. As proprties increase in value use as leverage for other investment, equipment, furnishings, , real-estate, etc.

 

Work with the business community to set up small business classes addressing the needs of artists and crafts-workers.

 

 

In a different area, work with the business community to set up programs of micro-loans in low-income-areas.

 

 

 

 

Certainly not an in-depth report, still, John King's appreciation of our Potter Creek, "West Berkeley Builds Community" is worth reading.

"By their nature, cities and neighborhoods change. Buildings rise and fall, people come and go. Longtime businesses move away or close shop.

If we're lucky, the evolution includes a moment when all the different elements slide smoothly into place - as is the case today in a pocket of West Berkeley known to locals as Potter Creek. Poised for the moment between hard-edged and hip, it's a reminder that the best change is incremental."

 

"You've got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative. Don't mess with Mister In-Between" Bing Crosby.

 

6:38 AM--irritant in front room, cough, wear mask.

 

 

 

2/13/08 and following are here

 

 

Eternally useful links

In our rainy season you can find more information about our current weather conditions than is good for you at www.wunderground.com

Want to see weather coming in, going out, beautiful sunsets, and much, much more? Check out http://sv.berkeley.edu/view/ This very hip site was in an email from reader and contributor, Tony Almeida. Read Tony's Jimi Hendrix story on the only page that routinely gets more hits than Scrambled Eggs.

 

Richmond Ramblers' motorcycle club member, Cliff Miller emails A very

useful link

If you ever need to get a human being on the phone at a credit card company or bank, etc., this site tells you how to defeat their automated system and get you to a human being within a few seconds.

http://gethuman.com/us/

 

Markets is not just a reference for Berkeley-Hills radicals with 1.5 mil homes and considerable portfolios.

 

Our Planning Department is here.

 

Our Berkeley PD Site with crime statistics and more is here.

Crime Log for 94710 is here

This site is NOT affiliated with Berkeley PD.
Take time to report crime!

All reports of crime-in-progress should first go to Berkeley PD dispatch--911 or non-emergency, 981-5900. THEN make sure you notify EACH of these City people.

The contacts are below:

Officer Andrew Frankel, Berkeley PD - 981-5774 AFrankel@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Angela Gallegos-Castillo, City Mgr Off - 981-2491 agallegos-castillo@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Ryan Lau, aid to Darryl Moore - 981-7120 rlau@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Darryl Moore, City Councilman dmoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us

 

More Scrambled Eggs & Lox, here

and

Stories about Berkeley and stories about recorded-music

are at

Journal of Recorded Music 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

 

ronpenndorf@earthlink.net

The original owner of all scanned material retains copyright. The material is used only to illustrate