Columnists

The Public Eye: Wrapping Up the Democratic Convention

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday September 02, 2008 - 04:58:00 PM

As Democrats left Denver, there was an overwhelming consensus that the 2008 Convention was extraordinarily successful. Dems united behind Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Here are a few final thoughts about the week. -more-


The Public Eye: Democrats Fight Back

By Bob Burnett
Thursday August 28, 2008 - 03:06:00 PM

Wednesday: So far, all of the Democrats' Denver convention objectives have been met: the convention logistics have been flawless; Michelle Obama's speech argued effectively that she and her husband are Americans, "just like you"; Hillary and Bill Clinton gave Obama the resounding support required to unify the Party; and Democrats began to explain why Obama is the right choice for America while John McCain is not. -more-


Undercurrents: ‘Crisis’ Management Not the Solution to Oakland Crime, Violence

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday August 28, 2008 - 09:30:00 AM

Oakland is facing a chickens-coming-home-to-roost summer, where years of official and unofficial neglect of the root causes of crime are now surfacing into what some members of the public, politicians, and elements of the media are labeling a public safety “crisis.” -more-


Wild Neighbors: Mudflat Menu—Biofilm with a Side of Clamworms

By Joe Eaton
Thursday August 28, 2008 - 09:46:00 AM

This is the season when the mudflats of San Francisco Bay swarm with southbound migrant shorebirds: willets, godwits, curlews, dowitchers, plovers, and, outnumbering all the rest, western sandpipers. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, scientists from the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (now PRBO Conservation Science) attempted to estimate the birds’ year-round numbers. For western sandpipers, they came up with average fall and winter counts of over 100,000 individuals and spring counts of over 500,000. The peak spring count exceeded 700,000. That’s a lot of avian biomass, even at nine-tenths of an ounce per bird. -more-


About the House: Taking Green Measures to Illuminate Your Home

By Matt Cantor
Thursday August 28, 2008 - 09:45:00 AM

We’re all trying to do our part to be a little greener these days. I see you down at the market with your cloth bags, you Prius drivers (not to mention drivers of 25-year-old cars, another very green tack). Many of us, nay, most of us, are trying to do something and studies have revealed in the recent past that most Americans are even willing to pay more for items such as organic produce and cleaner energy. -more-