Columnists

Green Neighbors: Elderberry Tree Stands in the Margins

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Elderberry is a bit more a tree than last column’s rose is, but we usually see it as a shrub: multi-trunked, relatively small. But the wonderful natural history writer Donald Culross Peattie called it a tree, and I’ve seen western pewee and other tree-nesting birds make themselves homes in tall specimens; that’s good enough for me. -more-


Column: The Public Eye: On a Collision Course Over Iraq

By Bob Burnett
Friday June 01, 2007

Here on the left coast, there’s such strong opposition to the war in Iraq that the May 24 Democratic capitulation to President Bush came as a shock. We thought that Dems won back control of Congress because of their opposition to the war, so we didn’t understand why they pulled the requirement for troop deployment timelines out of the military appropriations bill. Fortunately, this isn’t the last vote on the war; it’s merely another skirmish in an extended battle between Congressional Democrats and the warmonger-in-chief. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: The Deepening Crisis of the Iraq War

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 01, 2007

One of the old lessons we are relearning through the Iraq war experience is that in any conflict, the faction which is less concerned about catastrophic consequences resulting from their actions has a decided advantage over the faction which has those worries. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: The Slater-Irving Connection Was Sealed in Paraffine

By Daniella Thompson
Friday June 01, 2007

When Captain John Slater died in January 1908, a newspaper obituary declared him to have been “part owner in steamship companies with Captains Dudreau and Miles [sic]” and his family “among the largest property owners in the north end.” Slater’s employers were captains Boudrow and Mighell, owners of the California Shipping Company and residents of 1536 and 1533 Oxford Street, respectively. The writer of the obituary may have exaggerated Slater’s role within the Boudrow & Mighell company, just as Slater’s land holdings appear to have been inflated beyond their actual extent. -more-


Garden Variety: Getting to Know Your Neighbor’s Garden

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 01, 2007

It’s summer—a month from St. John’s Eve, but no longer quite the juvescence of the year—and time to take a deep breath. If you’re more organized than I am, as most humans are, you’ve got almost everything in the ground and watered and fertilized, at least sufficiently for the time being, and things are hinting at bearing fruit. -more-


About the House: The Trouble with Damp Basements

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 01, 2007

Some things are always a bad idea. Karaoke with your boss, bell bottoms on chain driven motorcycles, long-haired thoracic surgeons or pesto-flavored ice-cream. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday June 01, 2007

“Triangle of Life” – Watch Out! -more-