Picture from the DEA website, with caption: ‘The cash profits from illicit drug sales help fund a wide variety of drug-related activities and violent crimes.
Picture from the DEA website, with caption: ‘The cash profits from illicit drug sales help fund a wide variety of drug-related activities and violent crimes.

Extra

Berkeley Candidates File for November Ballot

Sunday August 08, 2010 - 11:41:00 AM

Friday was the last day for candidates for Berkeley city offices to file the requisite paperwork to appear on the November ballot. -more-


Caregivers Replaced After Nursing Home Strike

By Dan McMenamin (BCN)
Saturday August 07, 2010 - 02:43:00 PM

A group of at least 37 caregivers at two Oakland nursing homes found out they had been replaced after a five-day union strike that ended this morning, a union spokesman said. -more-


Famed Deaf Sculptor Died 75 Years Ago in Berkeley

By Steven Finacom
Friday August 06, 2010 - 10:24:00 AM
Tilden in 1903, when he was near the height of his success and popularity.

California’s most pre-eminent sculptor of the late 19th century was both a disabled Berkeley man and one of the first artists from the then-young state to earn international attention and acclaim. -more-


Press Release: Community’s Help Needed To Find Developmentally Disabled Woman

From the Berkeley Police Department
Friday August 06, 2010 - 02:39:00 PM
Heather Erin Bloom 10/12/1976
                      White Female Adult, Brown, Blue, 5’7”, 140 lbs

Members of the City of Berkeley Police Department (BPD) are asking for the community’s help in locating a developmentally disabled woman whose name is Heather Bloom. In June of 2009, Bloom’s mother, who lives in New York called BPD after she had not been able to contact her daughter and Heather’s adult caretaker since 2005. -more-


Ceremony on Saturday to Commemorate Hiroshima Bombing

By Cheryl Slayton
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 08:55:00 PM

In memory of the 1945 U.S. led atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hundreds of bay citizens will gather at Aquatic Park in Berkeley Saturday night for the annual Bay Area Peace Lantern Ceremony. -more-


MacHomer is at Cal Shakes This Week Only

By Steven Finacom
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 09:34:00 PM

For the remainder of this week Canadian actor Rick Miller is in town reprising his one-man, many-character, comic farce “MacHomer” at the California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda. If you are a “Simpsons” fan it’s a do not miss production. -more-


Berkeley Couple and Co-Plaintiffs Celebrate Win with Lawyers

By Dan McMenamin (BCN)
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 08:03:00 PM

Two couples, one of them from Berkeley, who challenged Proposition 8, California's voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriage, joined their attorneys and other supporters in San Francisco today to voice their approval shortly after a federal judge overturned the initiative. -more-


Kriss Worthington Reacts to the Proposition 8 Decision

By Thomas Lord
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 07:49:00 PM

Between meetings today,Councilman Kriss Worthington told the Planet about his reaction to today’s decision to overturn Proposition 8. -more-


Flash: Judge Overturns Prop 8 But Grants Stay

By Julia Cheever (BCN)
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 03:20:00 PM

A federal judge in San Francisco today overturned Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said the voter-approved initiative violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of equal treatment and due process. But Walker also issued a temporary stay suspending the ruling until he has had time to consider a request by the supporters of Proposition 8 for a longer-term stay while they appeal his decision. -more-


BAMNA Joins 55 Other Berkeley Neighborhoods for National Night Out

Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 07:52:00 PM

The Blake and Mabel Neighborhood Association (BAMNA) in West Berkeley was one of the 56 Berkeley neighborhood associations which took part in the 2010 National Night Out on August 3rd. -more-


Press Release: Moore Commends Prop 8 Victory

From the Office of Councilmember Darryl Moore
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 02:58:00 PM

As the chair of the National Black Justice Coalition and an openly gay City Councilmember in Berkeley, I am elated with the federal court’s decision to overturn Proposition 8. I hope - this ruling demonstrates that this is a matter of basic civil, and human, rights. While this truly is a victory for the LGBT community, I realize that the fight for same-sex marriage will continue and that there is still a long way to go to achieve equality in our society, but I will continue to strive for this goal. -more-



Page One

AC Transit Will Follow Judge’s Ruling to Honor Old Contract

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:50:00 PM

AC Transit is beginning to comply with a judge's ruling that the bus agency must honor its old contract with workers while the two sides engage in binding arbitration for a new contract, district officials said today. -more-



Using Our Heads: What's Happening with New East Bay Pot Laws?

By Thomas Lord
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 05:49:00 PM
From the Dea website: proceeds of drug deals

The legal status of medical marijuana, and marijuana generally, is changing in these parts. Richmond, Berkeley, and Oakland all have recently made or initiated significant changes in marijuana legislation. November’s state ballot includes Proposition 19, the “Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010”. Where do these changes lead? -more-



Judge Ford Issues Injunction against New AC Transit Contract

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 10:31:00 PM

A judge issued a preliminary injunction today against AC Transit overturning a new contract that the bus agency imposed on its employees on July 18 after contract negotiations collapsed. -more-



Oakland’s Cop-out: Equal Opportunity Abasement

By Gar Smith, News Analysis
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 05:49:00 PM

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


— The First Amendment to the US Constitution

In a democracy, how can there be such a thing as an “illegal assembly”? -more-



U.C. Berkeley Student Dies in Pakistan Crash

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 10:12:00 PM

A 19-year-old University of California at Berkeley student died in an airplane crash last week while she was traveling to a soccer tournament in her home country of Pakistan, a school spokeswoman said today. -more-



Worker Co-ops Descend on Berkeley

By John Curl
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 02:20:00 PM

A shadow is hanging over America, the shadow of a wrecked economic system. Tens of millions of unemployed remain despondent about ever finding a job again, an entire young generation despairing of any hope for a good life, while corporate market pundits pontificate that our system creates the best of all societies, and no alternative is possible. A nationwide group gathering in Berkeley this coming weekend is putting the lie to the pundits. -more-



Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 10:31:00 PM

A Note On Yiddish; Scapegoating; Syria; Meg Whitman; Spay and Neuter; The History of BP; Country or Empire; Send Them Home -more-


The Pepper Spray Times

by Grace Underpressure
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 08:33:00 PM

Union Did Little for Mina

By Walter Ballin
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:10:00 PM

As a former janitor and member of SEIU Local 87 for 19 years from 1980-1999 including my having been a shop steward, I found Teresa Mina's story "This Law is Very Unjust!" about the feds removing her from her job very heartbreaking. I am strongly opposed to immigrant bashing. I support legislation to allow undocumented immigrants to pay their fine and to become American citizens, and the process for people to become citizens must be speeded up. However I do believe that Local 87 and I suppose other unions are doing very little to encourage their members to learn English, to become American citizens, register to vote, and learn about the unions that they belong to. I certainly found this to be the case with Local 87. Why didn't the Local 87 officials help members like Teresa Mina fill out their employment applications with the contractors, and see to it that they had the documents that they needed to present? -more-


Branch Library Renovations

By Christopher Adams
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 02:39:00 PM

As the editor of the Planet has pointed out on several occasions, the “greenest” building project is a renovation, not a replacement. This is exactly what will happen with two of Berkeley’s four branch libraries with the money from Measure FF. But two of the branches must be replaced. Here is why: -more-


Carly Fiorina: A Global Warming Denier

By Ralph Stone
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:33:00 PM

On July 27, California Watch reported that Senator Wannabe Carly Fiorina accepted $25,000 in donations from Murray Energy Corporation of Cleveland, a major coal producer, whose CEO Robert Murray called global warming "hysterical global goofiness." Murray has an economic interest in the global warming debate because global warming legislation will probably restrict the burning of coal and thus, effect his economic interests. -more-


Why Rabbi Lerner's Move of his Synagogue from San Francisco to Berkeley is Hard News

By Mike Godbe
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:45:00 PM

When Rabbi Michael Lerner started Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in San Francisco, it was a featured news story in the S.F. Chronicle. Rabbis who thought his brand of critique of Israel might be destructive to the Jewish community, while others thought it more appropriate to welcome him. -more-


Editorial

File Now Before the City Council Races Close on Friday

By Becky O'Malley
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 03:42:00 PM

Heads up! According to the pundits slavishly following the statewide races, we’re within 100 days of the November election. The question in everyone’s mind is whether two recycled female executives, one a definite loser, both with histories of ignoring the political process, can buy state and national office with the ill-gotten proceeds of a career in corporate crime? It’s a puzzlement. -more-


The Editor's Back Fence

Permit Parking Tickets Suspended until October 1? Don't Count on It.

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 03:43:00 PM

No tickets are supposed to be given for expired residential parking permits in Berkeley until October 1, according to a notice on the city of Berkeley’s web site. -more-


Hot Links

Saturday July 31, 2010 - 11:27:00 PM

An LA Times business columnist wonders why Berkeley lets BP get away with it.

-more-


Columns

Dispatches From The Edge: The Great Myth: Counterinsurgency

By Conn Hallinan
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 11:37:00 AM

There are moments that define a war. Just such a one occurred June 21 when Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry helicoptered into Marjah for a photo op with the locals. It was to be a capstone event, the fruit of a four-month counterinsurgency offensive by Marines, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, and the newly minted Afghan National Army (ANA) to drive the Taliban out of the area and bring in good government. -more-


The Public Eye: Afghanistan: America’s Failed Project

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 07:27:00 AM

The summer of 2010 found most of the US wilting from a blistering heat wave and the Obama Administration withering from bad news about Afghanistan. Writing in Rolling Stone Michael Hastings concludes: “There is a reason that President Obama studiously avoids using the word ‘victory’ when he talks about Afghanistan. Winning, it would seem, is not really possible.” -more-


From Jane's Web Log: There goes the Judge: CA's scary court-closing epidemic

By Jane Stillwater
Monday August 02, 2010 - 07:31:00 PM

Next Friday I'm going to be the plaintiff in a small claims court trial — at least that's the plan. But according to a judge who recently spoke before the Berkeley-Albany Bar Association, there's a rather good chance that I might show up for the trial but there might not be a courtroom left to hold it in. -more-


Blogbeat: The Straight and The Marrow

By Thomas Lord
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:42:00 PM

This week: Two nifty blogs on opposite sides of some spectrum or other: -more-


First Person: Schizophrenia From the Inside Out

By Jack Bragen
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:42:00 PM

Most Americans seem to view those who are mentally ill as a bit less than real human beings. After all, people with mental illnesses seem to lack basic social skills, may have poor grooming, and may come across to you as not having the same basic awareness that seems to make a person a whole person. That person smoking in front of a building and talking to himself might be one of them. That person sitting on a bench eating a sandwich while rocking her upper body forward and back also might be one of them. Mentally ill people might seem like a crude and ill-formed version of our species, a defect. -more-


Senior Power: End Elder Abuse

by Helen Rippier Wheeler
Wednesday August 04, 2010 - 09:01:00 AM

“If you want peace, work for justice.” -more-


Wild Neighbors: Meet the Pacific Wren (and Other Brand New Birds)

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 07:31:00 PM

A tip of the hat to John Westlake for alerting me to the recent publication of the 51st Supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union checklist, essential reading for any active or recovering birder. As happens every year, the AOU has voted to accept or reject a number of proposed changes in bird nomenclature for the Western Hemisphere and Hawai’i. This includes the recognition of new species (splits), the demotion of old ones (lumps), taxonomic reshufflings at various levels, and changes in common and Latin names, sometimes just to correct the gender of the Latin. The process is an incidental boon to publishers, who can justify new editions of Peterson, Sibley, National Geographic and the other standard field guides. -more-


Restoration Comedy- DC Or Not DC

By Jane Powell
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 03:43:00 PM

Washington DC is a swamp in more ways than one. But an estimated 30,000 desperate homeowners have or will be coming to DC in the middle of a heat wave to attend the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America’s Save the Dream event. (NACA is one of many HUD-approved housing counseling agencies trying to help homeowners modify their mortgages under HAMP.) These events bring together housing counselors and representatives from lenders and mortgage servicers in one place so homeowners can meet face to face and attempt to work out a modification and avoid foreclosure. Homeowners started lining up Thursday night outside the Convention Center, though the event didn’t open till Friday morning. -more-


Whahahahahahaha

Odd Bodkins: Whahahahahahaha

Dan O'Neill
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:17:00 PM

Arts & Events

Theater Review: Blythe Spirit at Actors' Ensemble

By Ken Bullock
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:29:00 PM

"Nobody would ever call you the ethereal sort!" An arch gathering of English types, intent on having fun at a medium's expense—while one hopes to pick up a few quotable mannerisms for his book—prove the conduit from the beyond, as author Charles Condomine (Stanley Spenger) finds himself a flesh-and-blood bigamist when his late wife Elvira (Erin J. Hoffman) is summoned by Madame Arcati (Chris Macomber), making an unwitting menage-a-trois that seriously challenges his second marriage to Ruth (Shannon Veon Kase), in Noel Coward's preternaturally funny Blithe Spirit by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley at Live Oak Theater (1301 Shattuck at Berryman), Fridays and Saturdays at 8 through August 21. ($12-$15; 649-5999; aeofberkeley.org) -more-


Theater Review: A Real Dream in Midsummer Performance

By Steven Finacom
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 01:26:00 PM
A muddy Puck faces off against one of Queen Titania’s camouflage-attired fairies in front of a portion of the audience.

A group of current and former UCLA students, living locally during the summer, provided Berkeley with a most charming and vigorous dramatic interlude this past week. -more-


In and About the Bay Area

By Ken Bullock
Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 02:28:00 PM

This week, normally the high summer layover, will see a slew of activity onstage. Shotgun's opening The Norman Conquests, Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy, directed by Joy Carlin, on Friday, and Woodminster mounts that perennial summer favorite, The Music Man, in the glades of Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland Hills, directed by Joel Schlader, with choreography by Harriet Schlader (Sadly, her husband James, co-founder with Harriet of Woodminster musicals almost a half-century ago, died in May). -more-


Arts Listings

Classical Music-San Francisco Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:17:00 PM

Classical Music-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:17:00 PM

Galleries-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:14:00 PM

Stage-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:06:00 PM

Readings-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:06:00 PM

Galleries-San Francisco Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:14:00 PM

Museums-San Francisco Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:10:00 PM

Museums-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:10:00 PM

Professional Dance-San Francisco Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:07:00 PM

Stage-San Francisco Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:04:00 PM

Popmusic-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:08:00 PM

Events Listings

Dance-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:16:00 PM

Exhibits-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:15:00 PM

Highlights-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:12:00 PM

Kids-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:11:00 PM

Outdoors-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:09:00 PM

Exhibits-San Francisco Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:15:00 PM

General-East Bay Through August 15

Tuesday August 03, 2010 - 08:13:00 PM

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

File Now Before the City Council Races Close on Friday 08-03-2010

The Editor's Back Fence

Permit Parking Tickets Suspended until October 1? Don't Count on It. 08-03-2010

Hot Links 07-31-2010

Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: Whahahahahahaha Dan O'Neill 08-03-2010

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 08-03-2010

The Pepper Spray Times by Grace Underpressure 08-04-2010

Union Did Little for Mina By Walter Ballin 08-03-2010

Branch Library Renovations By Christopher Adams 08-03-2010

Carly Fiorina: A Global Warming Denier By Ralph Stone 08-03-2010

Why Rabbi Lerner's Move of his Synagogue from San Francisco to Berkeley is Hard News By Mike Godbe 08-03-2010

News

Berkeley Candidates File for November Ballot 08-08-2010

Caregivers Replaced After Nursing Home Strike By Dan McMenamin (BCN) 08-07-2010

Famed Deaf Sculptor Died 75 Years Ago in Berkeley By Steven Finacom 08-06-2010

Press Release: Community’s Help Needed To Find Developmentally Disabled Woman From the Berkeley Police Department 08-06-2010

Ceremony on Saturday to Commemorate Hiroshima Bombing By Cheryl Slayton 08-04-2010

MacHomer is at Cal Shakes This Week Only By Steven Finacom 08-04-2010

Berkeley Couple and Co-Plaintiffs Celebrate Win with Lawyers By Dan McMenamin (BCN) 08-04-2010

Kriss Worthington Reacts to the Proposition 8 Decision By Thomas Lord 08-04-2010

Flash: Judge Overturns Prop 8 But Grants Stay By Julia Cheever (BCN) 08-04-2010

BAMNA Joins 55 Other Berkeley Neighborhoods for National Night Out 08-04-2010

Press Release: Moore Commends Prop 8 Victory From the Office of Councilmember Darryl Moore 08-04-2010

AC Transit Will Follow Judge’s Ruling to Honor Old Contract By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN) 08-03-2010

Using Our Heads: What's Happening with New East Bay Pot Laws? By Thomas Lord 08-03-2010

Judge Ford Issues Injunction against New AC Transit Contract By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN) 08-03-2010

Oakland’s Cop-out: Equal Opportunity Abasement By Gar Smith, News Analysis 08-03-2010

U.C. Berkeley Student Dies in Pakistan Crash By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN) 08-03-2010

Worker Co-ops Descend on Berkeley By John Curl 08-03-2010

Columns

Dispatches From The Edge: The Great Myth: Counterinsurgency By Conn Hallinan 08-03-2010

The Public Eye: Afghanistan: America’s Failed Project By Bob Burnett 08-03-2010

From Jane's Web Log: There goes the Judge: CA's scary court-closing epidemic By Jane Stillwater 08-02-2010

Blogbeat: The Straight and The Marrow By Thomas Lord 08-03-2010

First Person: Schizophrenia From the Inside Out By Jack Bragen 08-03-2010

Senior Power: End Elder Abuse by Helen Rippier Wheeler 08-04-2010

Wild Neighbors: Meet the Pacific Wren (and Other Brand New Birds) By Joe Eaton 08-03-2010

Restoration Comedy- DC Or Not DC By Jane Powell 08-03-2010

Arts & Events

Classical Music-San Francisco Through August 15 08-03-2010

Classical Music-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Galleries-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Stage-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Readings-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Galleries-San Francisco Through August 15 08-03-2010

Museums-San Francisco Through August 15 08-03-2010

Museums-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Professional Dance-San Francisco Through August 15 08-03-2010

Stage-San Francisco Through August 15 08-03-2010

Popmusic-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Theater Review: Blythe Spirit at Actors' Ensemble By Ken Bullock 08-03-2010

Theater Review: A Real Dream in Midsummer Performance By Steven Finacom 08-03-2010

In and About the Bay Area By Ken Bullock 08-03-2010

Senior Power: End Elder Abuse by Helen Rippier Wheeler 08-04-2010

Wild Neighbors: Meet the Pacific Wren (and Other Brand New Birds) By Joe Eaton 08-03-2010

Restoration Comedy- DC Or Not DC By Jane Powell 08-03-2010

Dance-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Exhibits-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Highlights-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Kids-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Outdoors-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010

Exhibits-San Francisco Through August 15 08-03-2010

General-East Bay Through August 15 08-03-2010