Opinion

Well, I almost went to yesterday’s City Council hearing on the future of West Berkeley. For a retired serial entrepreneur like me, the glib discussion by the council majority and their complacent staff of the marvels of what we’re now supposed to call “spinout” businesses is galling. It makes it all sound so easy and natural, just take your campus research project, rent a cute little incubator space and voila! No figures sought or offered as to the probability of success of such ventures or their chances of producing long-term steady jobs for Berkeleyans (slim to none, I’d wager, based on experience). -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is entitled to its opinion. But we don't have to agree with it, and we don't. -more-

Angela Hill laments the demise of the Olde Bezerkeley in the Trib.

George Lakoff reveals What Conservatives Really Want on the Truthout website.

Josh Kosman in the Chronicle outs the Vienna Philharmonic, coming soon to U.C. Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium, as being STILL a notorious bastion of racism and sexism--and I thought they'd reformed! -more-

Global Warming; Book Vans: Mental Illness; The Role of Aladdin? In response to your op-ed re: the Berkeley Public Library; In Response to the Letters about the Libraries -more-

UC Berkeley has unceremoniously announced its intention to wire "properties owned, leased, or controlled by the campus" for video surveillance. The campus policies website (campuspol.chance.berkeley.edu/newpolicies.cfm) has been updated with the pdf file titled "Video Security Applications". As listed on the document, the responsible executive behind the surveillance plan is the [now former]vice-chancellor. Oddly though, he left his name off the form. The man who wants to scrutinize everybody, didn't want his name on a publicly scrutinized document. For the record his name is Nathan Bromstrom. If people want to take video footage of him (fair is fair), he lives on Canyon Road (thanks Google). -more-

Today was the fifth day of KPFA’s annual major winter fund drive. In a previous article I wrote with great concern for the future—the financial viability--of the station and the Pacifica Network of which it is a part. My concern has not lessened as both the network and KPFA remain close to insolvency, and so the outcome of this present fund drive is particularly important, although a mini-fund drive in December was a great success bringing in 150% of projections. -more-