Columnists

Column: The Public Eye: Campaign 2006: Sweet 16 Congressional Races

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday June 13, 2006

Democrats appear to be gaining momentum in their bid to wrest control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans. According to veteran D.C. prognosticator, Charlie Cook, there are now 46 House seats in play. -more-


Column: Contributing to the Democratic Process

By Susan Parker
Tuesday June 13, 2006

My friend Ronnie Caplane ran for Assembly representing Oakland’s 16th District. -more-


The Bottlebrush Tree: Cheerful Aussie Ragamuffin

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday June 13, 2006

Bottlebrush trees are one of the bright, amusing notes on our streets, sporting those funny flowers shaped like, yes, bottlebrushes with perky little green-leaf tufts at their ends. They’re tough and not pest-prone, and easy enough to find in nurseries. Their hard little leaves and shreddy bark give them a ragamuffin air to match the spiky inflorescences. The red flowers attract birds—hummingbirds of course, but I’ve seen a stray Cape May warbler, a nectar-seeker in winter, using them too. -more-


Column: Dispatches From the Edge: Afghanistan and the Ghost of Kipling’s ‘Kim’

By Conn Hallinan
Friday June 09, 2006

“He sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher—the Wonder House as the natives called the Lahore Museum. Who hold Zam-Zammah, that ‘fire-breathing dragon,’ hold the Punjab; for the great green bronze piece is always first of the conqueror’s loot.” -more-


Column: Undercurrents: Reporting on Alameda County’s Election ‘Delay’

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 09, 2006

The job of the news media is supposed to be to report on the news as we find it. -more-


Film Details the World of Wild Butterflies

By Steven Finacom
Friday June 09, 2006

It’s a tough world for the seemingly fragile butterfly. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Maurice Curtis Brought Brief Splendor to Berkeley

By Daniella Thompson
Friday June 09, 2006

In 1881, Irish-born playwright George H. Jessop wrote a minor comedy-drama titled Sam’l of Posen, the Commercial Drummer whose lead character, a shrewd Jewish peddler with a heart of gold, attains bourgeois respectability by means of little wiles interleaved with honesty. -more-


About the House: Global Warming Begins (and Ends) at Home

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 09, 2006

Although I am generally sympathetic with the varied plights of the home buyer, I have to admit, in all my curmugeonitude that I have no tears to shed for anyone in Berkeley that has to meet the requirement of our RECO ordinance. -more-


Garden Variety: The Jewel Box Dazzle of Broadway Terrace Nursery

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 09, 2006

Broadway Terrace Nursery is a tad off my regular circuit, and it had been too long since I’d dropped in when I dashed there last Saturday. It was just before closing time—a good time to watch the staff get its collective mettle tested. I was as impressed as I’d been on the regrettably few occasions I’d visited before. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week: Will Your Home Survive?

By Larry Guillot
Friday June 09, 2006

Area governments say that 150,000 homes in the Bay Area are going to be uninhabitable after the Hayward Fault ruptures, the fault about which USGS seismologist Tom Brocher says, “It’s locked and loaded and ready to fire.” -more-