Columnists

Column: The Public Eye: ‘In the Valley of Elah’ an Honest Look at the Toll of War

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday October 02, 2007

Judging from the small audience at the screening of In the Valley of Elah I attended, and its limited release—326 theaters—Paul Haggis’s masterpiece isn’t going to be around very long. Perhaps Americans are put off by the title—Elah is the valley where David fought Goliath—or maybe we’re not ready for such an unsparing look at the consequences of the Iraq war. But don’t worry, if you don’t get to see In the Valley of Elah before it closes, you’ll probably get another chance early in 2008, after the Academy Award nominations are announced. -more-


Wild Neighbors: Birds in Berkeley: Doves, Hawks, Crows and the Long View

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday October 02, 2007

A few weeks back I got a nice e-mail message from Fran Haselsteiner (and belated thanks to you), which read in part: -more-


Column: Dispatches from the Edge: Errant Nukes Over America; a Mystery in Syria

By Conn Hallinan
Friday September 28, 2007

Loose nukes sink…” well, just about anything. The official story is that on Aug. 30, the U.S. Air Force (AF) “mistakenly” loaded six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles on a B-52 at Minot, North Dakota and flew them to Barksdale, Louisiana for decommissioning. The mistake was discovered and the munitions officer at Minot was suspended pending an investigation. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: Tribune Trips Over the Facts in AB45 Analysis

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday September 28, 2007

Our friends at the Oakland Tribune published an editorial this week with the opinion that “Oakland Not Ready For Control Over Schools” and urging, therefore, that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger veto Assemblymember Sandré Swanson’s AB45 bill that might speed up a return to local school control. -more-


The Berkeley-Oakland Neighborhood Name Game

By Steven Finacom, Special to the Planet
Friday September 28, 2007

Would a neighborhood by any other name still sell as sweet? An entertaining aspect of reading real estate listings in Berkeley has to do with the identification of neighborhoods. -more-


Garden Variety: Water, Water Everywhere — Or Not

By Ron Sullivan
Friday September 28, 2007

One of the limitations, frustrations, confusions, and overall learning experiences any gardener encounters here is water. Understand that I use “learning experience” as an expletive. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday September 28, 2007

How Do I Love Thee? -more-


About the House: A Small Do-It-Yourself Job You Can Tackle

By Matt Cantor
Friday September 28, 2007

I know you’re out there: you who fear tools. Confirmed abdicators of all things mechanical. Live prey to all members of the Phylum Contractazoa. You who hide in corners until the power is brought back on again by mysterious means. I am here to help but there IS a price. Immersion therapy is not easy but it is simple and you can only change if you really want to change. -more-