Columnists

U.S. Secretary Of State Condoleeza Rice’s recent visit to Jakarta was the concluding act in the Bush administration’s five-year drive to whitewash the Indonesian military’s sordid past, green light Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua, and forge another l ink in Washington’s plan to ring China with U.S. military bases and allies. -more-

My grandfather Ellis was a dreamer, a visionary who always had more ideas and plans carried around in his pockets than he had room in his life to complete. The house he and my grandmother once had off of Seminary Avenue in East Oakland was full of his projects—gardens and sheds and walkways—in various stages of completion and uncompletion. Once, he decided he wanted to add an upstairs bedroom to the house and immediately began to build it, starting with an outside staircase. The staircase was completed and then my grandfather got distracted by other things, so that for the longest it hung there on the side of the house by itself, a stairway to noplace. -more-

The following is an excerpt from Richard Schwartz’s Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees. The Daily Planet will run two more excerpts in the coming weeks. -more-

If you’re a fan of Bob Dylan, you’ll remember his anti-boxing song, “Who Killed Davey Moore?” This song ponders the death of world featherweight champion Moore, who died of head injuries incurred in a bout on March 21, 1963. -more-

I told my parents not to see the movie Brokeback Mountain. “You won’t like it,” I said. -more-

I’ve never heard anyone call Jews lovable. The Irish are lovable, and the Italians. The French are admired for their savoir faire, the English for their gentility—still, “some of my best friends are Jews.” -more-