Opinion

What kinds of limits should be put on corporate expansion in urban neighborhoods? That’s the question posed by the Safeway Corporation’s ongoing drive to turn the many sites they’ve acquired in city neighborhoods for, traditionally, local grocery stores into mini-mall destinations reminiscent of what you might see in the suburbs, complete with florists, pharmacies, delis, you name it. The company moved to Oakland in 1929 and was there for most of the 20^th century, and it therefore owns a big chunk of Oakland real estate, though headquarters are now in Pleasanton. -more-

See the whole show tonight at 7 at the Frances Albrier Center in San Pablo Park. -more-

Myth of the "impartial" press; Disappointed Obama Fans; University Matters; Sports Basement at Berkeley Iceland is an Abomination; Altruism; Peace Lanterns; Malaise; Nasty, Brutish and Short: Found on the Freecycle Site -more-

First of all I wish to point out that there has taken place over the last 30 years or so what I have been calling "a radical devaluation of music and the arts" and that a major problem has been the lack of acknowledgement of this problem on all sides. If there is to be any "blame" I must point the accusational finger toward both those who hire and those both hired and unhired musicians who have complacently settled for less and less and less and opted out for no pay at all and who have no sense of solidarity among each other. Here solidarity desperately needs cultivation. -more-

We must resist what the Mad Tea Party and the RepubliKlan are trying to do in Washington and across the nation. We must fight them and resist before it is too late. -more-