Damp Memorial Stadium was only about half filled when the Golden
                              Bears came on the field for the final home game of the season. The student rooter
                              section, at right, was especially sparse, given the Thanksgiving weekend timing.
Steven Finacom
Damp Memorial Stadium was only about half filled when the Golden Bears came on the field for the final home game of the season. The student rooter section, at right, was especially sparse, given the Thanksgiving weekend timing.

Page One

Flash: Concerned Library Users and City of Berkeley Reach Partial Agreement in Library Demolition Lawsuit

By Becky O'Malley
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 03:29:00 PM

Susan Brandt Hawley, attorney for Concerned Library Users, has informed the Planet that a tentative settlement has been reached between her clients and the City of Berkeley regarding one part of a lawsuit filed in September which challenged some aspects of the city’s plans to demolish and rebuild two of the city’s four branch libraries.

The proposed settlement affects plaintiffs’ contention that the City amended the municipal code to allow demolition of libraries with a use permit instead of a variance, without carrying out the environmental study required by the California Environmental Quality Act because the changed language would enable significant environmental impacts. -more-



It's the Last Game for U.C. Berkeley's Memorial Stadium

By Steven Finacom
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 08:51:00 PM

After drying out from last weekend’s rain and hail beset final home game at present day Memorial Stadium, here are some observations, recollections, and speculations on the end of the Cal football season, the temporary pause in 2011 while Memorial Stadium is renovated, and seasons to come in 2012 and after. -more-



Updated: Man Dies in Fall from KPFA Tower at 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day

By Becky O'Malley
Monday November 29, 2010 - 10:20:00 AM

The Alameda County Coroner’s office has confirmed rumors that a young man fell to his death from the KPFA antenna tower at 4 a.m. on the morning of Thanksgiving day. The office identified him as Steven Tassell, 25, of Antioch. -more-



Up a Limb: Trying to Understand Latest People's Park Tree-Sit

By Ted Friedman
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 10:24:00 AM

Once you take crazy off the table, you'll find it hard to understand the tree-sitter encamped in the branches of a 40- foot tall Redwood in near-freezing People's Park. -more-



Toys for the Times

By Gar Smith
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 10:23:00 AM
The Angry Mob Playset.

Shopping in a local Berkeley toy story yesterday, I came across three options that are uniquely suited for this holiday season. (Note: I'm not making these up. Photographs are attached as evidence.) -more-



Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 11:30:00 AM

It is High Time to Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell; Don't Ask;
Silence of the Press: US media turns blind eye to RT crew arrest;
Black Friday; Black Friday; Nuclear Madness -more-


New: Another View on the Library's Plans

By Jane Scantlebury
Thursday December 02, 2010 - 03:20:00 PM

As a librarian recently retired from the Berkeley Public Library, I want to respond to Peter Warfield's recent commentary in the Planet on the lawsuit against the Library’s plans to replace South and West branches with new buildings rather than renovating and expanding the existing structures. -more-


A Response to KPFAworker.org

By Akio Tanaka
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 09:22:00 AM

There is currently an ongoing crisis at KPFA. The KPFA union on their website, KPFAworker.org, portrays the crisis as one of union busting political purges by top heavy bureaucratic Pacifica. However, the real problem is the KPFA finances over the past ten years. -more-


Got Plants in Oakland? Watch Out!

By Robert Brokl
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:39:00 PM

Oakland’s Blight Ordinance was enacted during the administration of Mayor Elihu Harris. Most community activists supported it at the time, hoping some of the most glaring and intractable instances of blight could be corrected: vacant lots or front yards with dead cars and refrigerators, illegal dumping, empty and deteriorating buildings. But, as the cliché goes, be careful what you wish for. Your prized landscaping, important to you for screening, aesthetics, and habitat has also come to be, in unexpected ways, defined as blight. Because of the extraordinary powers of the City to collect heavy fines and fees on seemingly open-ended blight investigations and massive City deficits, the ordinance has been redefined. -more-


Educational Reform Starts with Tenure Reform--Or Does It? An Exchange of Views

By Meade Fischer and Mathilde Rand
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:03:00 PM

There seems to be a growing consensus about education reform in this country, at least a consensus about how we have a serious problem. Unfortunately, education is a complex affair, made up of many components. Many of the diverse small problems that make up the large one require leadership skills, buy-in from a diverse group of stakeholders and revised curriculums. There is, however, one area that isn't complex and would go a long way toward true reform, even though it would be hard to implement.

Tenure is a relic from long ago, perhaps a good idea 100 years ago, but a disaster now. Eliminate tenure and start improving education immediately. -more-


Pepper Spray Times

Grace Underpressure
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 09:59:00 PM

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available. -more-


Editorial

Can KPFA Be Saved?

By Becky O'Malley
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 09:39:00 AM

Whatever will become of KPFA? On the one hand, I feel a moral responsibility to form an opinion on the latest uproar, and yet I haven’t been able to bear to listen to the station much at all for many years now, so what do I know?

I know a number of seemingly intelligent and politically savvy people on each “side” of the on-going controversy, and when I’m talking to any of these people I’m inclined to “believe” what I’m being told at the moment. I know a lot more people with various shades of politics who roll their eyes when KPFA is mentioned and say “I can’t listen to it”, though various family and friends still tune into specific programs that they like and trust.

Many of these, in all categories, still adore Amy Goodman, whose main Bay Area outlet is KPFA, though she’s on NPR-type stations elsewhere. Many of them have been looking to the Planet for guidance about which faction is “right”. But it’s not an easy call. -more-


Columns

New: Eclectic Rant: Remembering on World AIDS Day

By Ralph E. Stone & Judi Iranyi
Thursday December 02, 2010 - 03:20:00 PM

December 1st was World AIDS Day, which brought back memories of the death of our only child Michael, who died of AIDS in November 1984, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Michael was 19 and a senior at U.C. Santa Cruz. He would be 45 today. We received a call on Saturday morning from a physician at a Santa Cruz hospital, who said that Michael had been admitted to the hospital with a serious illness. The physician indicated that if we wanted to see our son alive, we had better rush down to Santa Cruz. -more-


Dispatches From The Edge: Kashmir: Obama & the Vale of Tears

Conn Hallinan
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 08:51:00 PM

There are lots of dangerous places in this world: Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Bolivia, Iran, Palestine, Yemen, and Somalia to name a few. But there is only one that could destabilize a goodly part of the globe and end up killing tens of millions of people. And yet for reasons of state that is the one place the Obama administration will not talk about: Kashmir. -more-


Real Men Don’t Move to the Middle

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 05:21:00 PM

Since the midterm elections, there’s been speculation that the Democrats’ shellacking, coupled with the rightward shift of the Republican Party, would force President Obama to “move to the middle.” That’s a terrible idea! There’s no longer a halfway point between Democrats and Republicans and any further Obama movement to the right would label him a wimp. -more-


Wild Neighbors:Avostilts, Goldansers, and Others

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 05:01:00 PM

Last week’s column on hybrid birds requires a correction. I wrote that some years ago an American avocet mated with a black-necked stilt at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, producing a hybrid offspring which was nicknamed “avostilt.” Wrong. According to the Aquarium’s Ken Peterson, the event did not happen there. “Our birds rarely breed, and when they do they breed true,” writes Peterson. -more-


Senior Power: Boomers

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 05:18:00 PM

“Boomer” may refer to a place in North Carolina, an adult male kangaroo , several sports personalities, and numerous fictional creations. A baby boomer is someone born during the period of increased birth rates and economic prosperity in many nations following World War II. -more-


On Mental Illness: An Introduction

By Jack Bragen
Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:31:00 PM

You have probably heard the statistic that mental illness affects one in five adults in the U.S. Most people who are affected by mental illness are in hiding about it for fear of public shame and because a disclosure about it could cause them to lose their jobs.
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, also known as NAMI, is an organization of the family members of persons with mental illness. At one time, the slogan of NAMI was; “Open your mind—mental illnesses are brain disorders.”
-more-


Cartoon Page: Odd Bodkins, BOUNCE

Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 09:54:00 PM

Arts & Events

Press Release: Improvised Opera about John Brown in Berkeley for 2 More Sundays

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 09:50:00 PM

John Brown's Truth , by William Crossman, is a multi-genre, musically improvised opera with classical and jazz singers and musicians, dancers, and spoken-word artists. It is a radical departure from traditional opera format and, as such, is truly an opera for the 21st Century. Its most innovative feature is that while its script (libretto) is written, its music is not. -more-


Mathematics, Love, and Death

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 09:47:00 AM

Landmark's Shattuck Cinemas will host a special screening Wednesday, Dec. 1, of two short films: Rite of Love and Death (30 minutes) by Yukio Mishima and Rites of Love and Math (26 minutes) by Reine Graves and Edward Frenkel. The 7 p.m. screening is presented by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and the Berkeley Video and Film Festival, and will include a Q&A with Edward Frenkel. -more-


Press Release: Pacific Mozart Ensemble in Concert on Friday

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 08:03:00 AM

The Pacific Mozart Ensemble, acclaimed for performances of music ranging from Mozart to Meredith Monk, presents a special L@TE program this coming Friday at 7:30 pm at the Berkeley Art Museum, with new commissioned works by Amy X Neuburg and Sanford Dole, as well as vocal gems by Meredith Monk and Gabrieli. The singers will position themselves around the acoustically resonant Gallery B, and listeners are invited to sit or recline on the BAMscape sculpture and on the floor. A limited number of chairs are available. -more-


Eye from the Aisle: Impact’s THE PLAY ABOUT THE NAKED GUY--“Jolly Good Fun” at La Val’s

By John A. McMullen II
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 05:02:00 PM
Steven Satyricon and Jai Sahai

When I acted in a theatre company down on 20th St. in NYC’s Chelsea district in the late 70’s, some twenty actors who all shared one dressing room would perform a bad rewrite of Candide or Bartleby the Scrivener for no pay. We sometimes lured our audience with a bottle of muscatel (“just don’t rattle the paper bag”). -more-


Around & About the Performing Arts

By Ken Bullock
Tuesday November 30, 2010 - 02:23:00 PM

Musica De Amor, Berkeley Symphony's concert this Thursday, at 8, will see the premiere of Mexican composer Enrico Chapela's Private Alleles, the Symphony's first commission under the music direction of Joana Carneiro. Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs (composed for his wife, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson), sung by resident artist, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, and Manuel de Falla's 1915 El amor brujo (originally composed for flamenco singer-dancer Pastora Imperio), complete the program. -more-


Press Release: Becoming Julia Morgan: Bay Area Premiere

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:18:00 PM

Architect Julia Morgan, widely admired in the Bay Area, remains surprisingly little known. And those who do know of her are curious about her private side. She remains elusive, even to her most ardent admirers. Berkeley playwright Belinda Taylor addresses this conundrum in Becoming Julia Morgan, exploring Morgan’s determination to stay out of the limelight – “I’m not one of those talking architects!” – and the equal determination of one young San Francisco Examiner reporter to persuade her to give up her secrets. -more-


Press Release: Help the Children of Chile Have a Merry Christmas

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 01:33:00 PM

A benefit concert for Chilean children victims of the February earthquake -more-


Arts Listings

Stage-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:56:00 PM

Stage-San Francisco Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:56:00 PM

Professional Dance Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:55:00 PM

Readings-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:55:00 PM

Classical Music-San Francisco Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:47:00 PM

Classical Music-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:39:00 PM

Popmusic-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:54:00 PM

Events Listings

Museums-San Francisco Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:53:00 PM

Museums-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:52:00 PM

Highlights-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:51:00 PM

General-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:50:00 PM

Exhibits-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:49:00 PM

Exhibits-San Francisco Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:49:00 PM

Tours And Activities-East Bay Through Dec. 31

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:57:00 PM

Outdoors-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:53:00 PM

Kids-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:52:00 PM

Dance-East Bay Through December 12

Wednesday December 01, 2010 - 12:48:00 PM

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Can KPFA Be Saved? 12-01-2010

Cartoons

Cartoon Page: Odd Bodkins, BOUNCE 11-30-2010

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 12-01-2010

New: Another View on the Library's Plans By Jane Scantlebury 12-02-2010

A Response to KPFAworker.org By Akio Tanaka 12-01-2010

Got Plants in Oakland? Watch Out! By Robert Brokl 12-01-2010

Educational Reform Starts with Tenure Reform--Or Does It? An Exchange of Views By Meade Fischer and Mathilde Rand 12-01-2010

Pepper Spray Times Grace Underpressure 11-30-2010

News

Flash: Concerned Library Users and City of Berkeley Reach Partial Agreement in Library Demolition Lawsuit By Becky O'Malley 12-01-2010

It's the Last Game for U.C. Berkeley's Memorial Stadium By Steven Finacom 11-30-2010

Updated: Man Dies in Fall from KPFA Tower at 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day By Becky O'Malley 11-29-2010

Up a Limb: Trying to Understand Latest People's Park Tree-Sit By Ted Friedman 12-01-2010

Toys for the Times By Gar Smith 12-01-2010

Columns

New: Eclectic Rant: Remembering on World AIDS Day By Ralph E. Stone & Judi Iranyi 12-02-2010

Dispatches From The Edge: Kashmir: Obama & the Vale of Tears Conn Hallinan 11-30-2010

Real Men Don’t Move to the Middle By Bob Burnett 11-30-2010

Wild Neighbors:Avostilts, Goldansers, and Others By Joe Eaton 11-30-2010

Senior Power: Boomers By Helen Rippier Wheeler 11-30-2010

On Mental Illness: An Introduction By Jack Bragen 12-01-2010

Arts & Events

Stage-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Stage-San Francisco Through December 12 12-01-2010

Professional Dance Through December 12 12-01-2010

Readings-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Classical Music-San Francisco Through December 12 12-01-2010

Classical Music-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Popmusic-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Press Release: Improvised Opera about John Brown in Berkeley for 2 More Sundays 12-01-2010

Mathematics, Love, and Death 12-01-2010

Press Release: Pacific Mozart Ensemble in Concert on Friday 12-01-2010

Eye from the Aisle: Impact’s THE PLAY ABOUT THE NAKED GUY--“Jolly Good Fun” at La Val’s By John A. McMullen II 11-30-2010

Around & About the Performing Arts By Ken Bullock 11-30-2010

Press Release: Becoming Julia Morgan: Bay Area Premiere 12-01-2010

Press Release: Help the Children of Chile Have a Merry Christmas 12-01-2010

Museums-San Francisco Through December 12 12-01-2010

Museums-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Highlights-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

General-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Exhibits-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Exhibits-San Francisco Through December 12 12-01-2010

Tours And Activities-East Bay Through Dec. 31 12-01-2010

Outdoors-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Kids-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010

Dance-East Bay Through December 12 12-01-2010