The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. -more-
Monday’s big news was that Apple might finally be making the Beatles music the company has purchased available to iPod users. Speculation was that there would even be a “Yellow Submarine” iPod which would come pre-loaded with Beatles tunes. This all sounds like a successful money-making plan, but I’d like to give Apple, absolutely free of charge, some marketing advice which they’re going to need if they go ahead. -more-
Looking upon his alma mater from his place in the heavens, Mario Savio would likely be filled with a mixture of confusion and disappointment. If he was lucky enough to peer onto the UC Berkeley campus on one of the few days each semester that students demonstrate, he would witness a small band of outspoken, ostracized activists struggling to be heard amid throngs of passing iPod enthusiasts, its message drowned out by cell phone conversations. -more-
I share Steve Geller’s vision of prioritized bus rapid transit that moves faster than the cars on our major arterials. But the extent to which this will replace personal vehicles is an open issue, and I believe Steve is applying more wishful thinking than science when he asserts that “people will flock to ride it instead of drive.” -more-
Nancy Keiler writes (Letters, March 27) castigating KPFA for not covering Barbara Lee-Ron Dellums-Sean Penn at Grand Lake Theater on Mar. 24. I sympathize with Kieler. The current lethargy in coverage of events—government hearings and such—by KPFA results from the tenacious battle that has been going on inside KPFA and Pacifica since listeners and staff defeated the self-perpetuating Pacifica National Board attempted coup under the infamous Civil Rights Commissioner Mary Frances Berry. Berry had every intention of moving the network away from its radical populist roots. Ironically she might still get her way, as the following memo attacking advocacy journalism reveals: -more-
Good grief! Iraq is just brimming with news. I don’t even know where to begin. At 4 am this morning, a huge armored vehicle moved us from the Baghdad airport to the Green Zone in a convoy composed of vehicles that looked like they had just came out of a Toys R Us catalog. -more-
Mayor Bates recently introduced at City Council an initiative to improve the quality of life for all Berkeley residents and visitors. He named this “Public Commons for Everyone” initiative. If one only listened to a few critics, one would think that this is some sort of absurd assault on the homeless. Rather, all one needs to do to realize the absurdity of that exaggeration is to read the initiative. Note the following: -more-
It is unfortunate, but not surprising, that Oakland City Attorney John Russo, in the pages of the Montclarion and the Oakland Tribune, has chosen to blame the Oak to Ninth Referendum Committee for the problems he has with the referendum petition. Shifting the blame to someone else is a common political ploy to avoid taking responsibility for one’s mistakes; and mistakes by city staff and Mr. Russo’s own office are the real culprit behind the objections Russo has raised to the petition. -more-
The second court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada is set for July. This brave officer who refused deployment to Iraq faces six years in prison on three charges: “missing movement,” “conduct unbecoming an officer,” and “use of contemptuous words for the president.” -more-
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