Under the tarp last night at "general assembly" for anti-Wall Street protest
Ted Friedman
Under the tarp last night at "general assembly" for anti-Wall Street protest

Page One

Flash: Power Outage Closes Downtown Berkeley BART Station

By Bay City News
Tuesday October 11, 2011 - 05:21:00 PM

BART has closed the Downtown Berkeley station after a PG&E power outage was reported, a utility spokeswoman said. -more-



Day 3: "Occupy Berkeley" Emerging as Berkeley Version of Anti-Wall Street Movement

By Ted Friedman
Tuesday October 11, 2011 - 04:45:00 PM
As rain returned, forcing protesters to huddle under a tarp, you can't tell from this photo, but the crowd for night three of Berkeley's anti-Wall Street protest reached nearly fifty

What do you do when your demo is overshadowed by San Francisco's and Oakland's, if not more than 240 anti-Wall Street protests across the nation?

If you are clever young activists, you brand yourself, and that is exactly what Berkeley's version of the growing national movement is trying to do. And doesn't Berkeley have a few moves when it comes to protest?

"Occupy Berkeley," is the first branding step. Pending approval by the protest's communication committee (the protest is governed by committees open to all--even provocateurs.) -more-



Protestors Begin Day Two of "Occupy Oakland" Demonstration

By Hannah Albarazi (BCN)
Tuesday October 11, 2011 - 01:02:00 PM

"Occupy Oakland" demonstrators who converged on Frank Ogawa Plaza on Monday afternoon remained camped out in front of Oakland City Hall this morning.
Dozens of tents dotted the lawn, and about 75 people gathered under a large tarp at the camp to discuss logistical plans for the open-ended protest.
A homeless protester who gave his name only as Adam explained that there is no one in charge of the movement or the camp. He said that about 1,000 people attended Monday night's general assembly. -more-



Glover, Mayors of Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond to Speak at "Jobs not Cuts" Rally on Saturday

By Zipporah Collins
Tuesday October 11, 2011 - 04:14:00 PM

Actor and activist Danny Glover has accepted an invitation to speak at a “Jobs Not Cuts” march and rally in Oakland on Saturday, October 15.

In addition to Glover, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, and community leaders will add their voices to the public outcry for government to invest in jobs and stop cutting needed programs for the poor and middle class. -more-



Public Comment

AB 292 and SB 900: Both Bad for the Environment;
Why Did Skinner and Hancock Vote for Them?

By Antonio Rossmann
Tuesday October 11, 2011 - 09:58:00 AM

Enactment of these two bills represent the culmination of a perfect storm, which runs the risk of repetition often in the days ahead. But first explanation of what they are.

SB 292 was the special interest bill to facilitate approval of a new NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The project proponent is AEG Enterprises, Philip Anschutz' empire that includes many of the world's major sports and entertainment stadia, and ownership of several professional sports teams in hockey, basketball, and soccer. AEG claims they need special treatment under CEQA in order to bring an NFL team to Los Angeles; the asserted fear is that a lengthy CEQA lawsuit would delay the arrival of a team they acquire from elsewhere, leaving that team stranded in its present location. AEG also claimed discrimination because two years ago the Legislature gave a competing Southern California promoter categorical exemption from CEQA. AEG built a political consensus for its project and CEQA exception by touting the tens of thousands of jobs that would be created by stadium construction. -more-


Local Activists Join New National Movement to “Take Back the American Dream”

By Ken A. Epstein
Tuesday October 11, 2011 - 04:17:00 PM
Van Jones

Twenty-three- year old Nelini Stamp became an activist at the age of 17 when her family was evicted from their apartment in New York City. She is one of the young generation of organizers who responded quickly to the call of the Occupy Wall Street protests.

“I went down there and didn’t realize it was going to change my life,” said Stamp, who is a member of the Working Families Party. “I started sleeping on cardboard (and began) pressuring labor organizations and community organizations to come on down and check it out.”

“We don’t need demands,” she explained in response to mainstream press criticisms. “If we tell them demands, it’s saying they have the power. And we have the power because we have strength in numbers.”

Stamp was among the 2,0000 veteran and newly emerging leaders from around the country who came together recently in Washington, DC to spark what they hope will become a national coalition and movement to “ Take Back the American Dream” from bankers, corporate CEOs and the lobbyist-owned politicians who have turned that dream into a nightmare. -more-


Editorial

"Occupy Wall Street" Comes to Berkeley

By Becky O'Malley
Wednesday October 05, 2011 - 12:26:00 PM

As Jimmy Durante used to say, ever’body wants tuh ged in tuh duh’act. (If you’re too young to remember him and/or don’t come from Brooklyn, Everybody Wants to Get into the Act.) After a frustratingly slow start, the Occupy Wall Street action finally has legs.

Over the weekend, it became front page news in the big national papers. They all ran approximately the same story, recounting how the previously invisible campers took to the road and were arrested in impressive numbers while trying to cross the Brooklyn Bridge in the auto lane. Most of the stories featured approximately identical quotes from various Poli Sci professors at second-tier institutions, ones easily located in the metropolitan areas where the newspapers were published, on the order of “If they want to accomplish anything, they’ll need a program and identified leaders.”

Well, no. The most useful analysis of what seems to be going on could be found on the front page of yesterday’s New York Times Science Section, in a fascinating article about slime molds. Here’s the basics: -more-


Columns

My Commonplace Book (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.)

by Dorothy Bryant
Tuesday October 11, 2011 - 01:04:00 PM

The advantage of the melting pot is that it undermines tribalism. One gains a distance from one’s own national folly. Fashionable present-day multiculturalism, with its naïve call for ethnic pride, sounds to me like an attempt to restore me to precisely that state of mind my parents ran away from in Europe. The American culture is a strange concoction prepared and cooked by each individual in his own kitchen. It ought not to come in a package with a label and a fake list of wholesome, all-natural ingredients.

—Charles Simic, poet, NY Times Book Review, 12/20/03 -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

"Occupy Wall Street" Comes to Berkeley 10-05-2011

The Editor's Back Fence

This Is the Weekend Issue: Good until Monday 10-09-2011

Hancock Bill Extends Berkeley Solar Finance Scheme to State: Was it a Success or a Failure? 10-06-2011

Public Comment

AB 292 and SB 900: Both Bad for the Environment;
Why Did Skinner and Hancock Vote for Them?
By Antonio Rossmann 10-11-2011

Local Activists Join New National Movement to “Take Back the American Dream” By Ken A. Epstein 10-11-2011

New: Occupy Berkeley Report By Steve Martinot 10-09-2011

New: Hancock's Senate Bill 555 Release is Wrong: Berkeley's Solar Program Went Up in Flames By Nigel Guest 10-08-2011

A Nurse's Viewpoint By Berit Block, RN 10-07-2011

Beware the Hurry to Build at Haste and Telegraph By Carol Denney 10-05-2011

How Berkeley Employee Costs Eat Up the Rest of the City's Budget By David M. Wilson, Berkeley Budget SOS 10-04-2011

News

Flash: Power Outage Closes Downtown Berkeley BART Station By Bay City News 10-11-2011

Day 3: "Occupy Berkeley" Emerging as Berkeley Version of Anti-Wall Street Movement By Ted Friedman 10-11-2011

Protestors Begin Day Two of "Occupy Oakland" Demonstration By Hannah Albarazi (BCN) 10-11-2011

Glover, Mayors of Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond to Speak at "Jobs not Cuts" Rally on Saturday By Zipporah Collins 10-11-2011

Day Two: As Occupy Wall Street Movement Builds in Berkeley, How Berkeley Will it Be? By Ted Friedman 10-10-2011

Occupy Oakland Starts Today at 4 at Oakland City Hall By Scott Morris (BCN) 10-10-2011

Berkeley Meeting Introduces Ashby Village By Dorothy Snodgrass 10-10-2011

New: Berkeley Dodges End of the World, Joins National Anti-Wall Street Revolution Saturday at Bank of America Plaza Downtown By Ted Friedman 10-08-2011

U.S. Prosecutors Announce Crackdown on Medical Marijuana Stores By Julia Cheever (Bay City News Service) 10-07-2011

Berkeley's New Smart Boot System: The Potential for Abuse (News Analysis) By Thomas Lord 10-06-2011

Steve Jobs: Arab-American By Shirin Sadeghi (New America Meda) 10-06-2011

Parking Ticket Scofflaws Take Note! Berkeley's About to Boot Your Car By Thomas Lord 10-04-2011

Mumps Outbreak on UC Berkeley Campus Prompts Call for Vaccination Boosters By Patricia Decker (BCN) 10-05-2011

Charles Rawson Collier, 1935-2011 10-05-2011

Columns

My Commonplace Book (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.) by Dorothy Bryant 10-11-2011

It’s the Water, Stupid: The Perils of Clearcutting By Bob Burnett 10-07-2011

On Mental Illness: Smoking, Obesity and Type II Diabetes By Jack Bragen 10-09-2011

Senior Power: The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune. English proverb. By Helen Rippier Wheeler 10-06-2011

American Pie: A Cautionary Tale About Three Sixth Grade Misfits By Ruth Rosen 10-06-2011

Dispatches From The Edge: Why The Drone Wars Threaten Us All By Conn Hallinan 10-04-2011

Arts & Events

Berkeley Arts Festival Continues By Bonnie Hughes 10-06-2011

American Teacher Has a Lesson: Superman Is a Myth; Teachers Are the Real Heroes Review by Gar Smith 10-04-2011

Theater Review: Patience Worth by Symmetry Theatre Company By Ken Bullock 10-05-2011

Friends of Negro Spirituals Heritage Day is Saturday By Ken Bullock 10-05-2011

Press Release: Afghanistan Peace Day: On the 10-year anniversary of the US war in Afghanistan, the Afghan and American people call for peace. From Adam Hudson and Fatima 10-04-2011