Opinion

Why shouldn’t public universities welcome big grants from big corporations? After all, times are tough, and they need all the money they can get to keep tuition costs down, right? Well, maybe, but let’s take a look at the real costs of inviting the fox to sleep over in the henhouse. -more-

Last week the Planet carried a story about the Barnes and Noble store on Shattuck closing, including interviews with managers of other bookstores who expressed satisfaction at the impending departure. With all due respect, we’d like to differ with their analysis, even though one of them is a much-valued long-term Planet advertiser. -more-

NORTH SHATTUCK PLAZA -more-

Let us first set aside the potential ad hominem attacks against BP Amoco PLC. So what if it is the corporation that pleaded with Washington and London to remove the democratically elected prime minister of Iran from office which resulted in a violent coup d’etat in 1953 because of concerns over control of Iran’s oil resources? So what if it is the corporation that deliberately failed to adequately maintain its Alaskan pipeline so it could drive up the price of oil, and which, upon discovering the whistle blower, hired a CIA operative to break into the employee’s office? So what if it is the corporation who, along with oil giants ExxonMobil and Shell, heavily influenced the new Iraq Oil and Gas Law which would give Big Oil a 75 percent concession to Iraq’s oil resources in a so-called “Production Sharing Agreement”? Yes, let us put BP’s past (as well as its recent past) behind us and look towards the future of renewable energy so that, in the words of Berkeley National Laboratory’s Steve Chu, we can “help save the world.” -more-

I write in response to J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s recent column about the infamous slur word that is America’s pride and joy. The ignoble word that bigoted, racist, vulgar, people will continue to use. They use it in secret and public to try and make inferior a certain group of American and world citizens. -more-

BARNES & NOBLE -more-

It’s no longer a secret that the Bay Area housing market is in freefall, and that this downturn is spreading nationwide. But this doesn’t seem to have occurred to the investor community. Consider a recent front page of the San Francisco Chronicle business section: “Hershey’s Transfers Production to Mexico.” “Bay Area Housing Market in 24 Month Decline,” “Business Expects Rosy Economic Outlook.” Please go back and read this again, and than ask yourself if there isn’t a massive case of denial happening here. But never fear. For there is a solution to this housing crisis. In a word: condominiums! -more-

Many people are attracted by North Shattuck Plaza, the idea of a park-like area where people can sit and eat, have coffee, or read a book or meet their friends in the heart of our neighborhood shopping area (the proposed location would be on the east side of Shattuck between Vine and Rose streets). Some opponents to the plaza idea are so aggressive that they forget or discount the history of the concept. When they do this, they ignore or twist facts. In addition, they make personal attacks on the supporters of the North Shattuck Plaza concept. -more-

Bush administration accusations that Iran is supplying roadside bombs that are killing American soldiers in Iraq are all too reminiscent of pretexts used by half a dozen previous administrations to justify acts of war. -more-