Extra

Fire on UC Berkeley Campus Forces Evacuation

By Bay City News
Thursday March 01, 2012 - 05:35:00 PM

A small fire at the University of California at Berkeley this morning forced the evacuation of Etcheverry Hall, fire officials said. -more-


Bay Area Campuses, Including U.C. Berkeley, Participate in National Day of Action for Public Education

By Scott Morris (BCN)
Wednesday February 29, 2012 - 03:33:00 PM

Bay Area students are gathering today to protest rising tuition costs and state budget cuts to public education in a wave of demonstrations at U.C. Berkeley and other campuses up and down California. -more-



Page One

Press Release: UC Berkeley Faculty Join “99 Mile March” to Sacramento

From Eric Hayes, U.C. Faculty Association Staff
Wednesday February 29, 2012 - 12:55:00 PM

Approximately two dozen UC Berkeley faculty will join the “99 Mile March for Education and Social Justice” on Friday, March 2nd. The march departs Oakland on Thursday, March 1st, and will arrive in Sacramento on Monday March 5th for a rally on behalf of public education at the State Capitol Building. -more-



Berkeley School Safety Officer Charged with Identity Theft

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Tuesday February 28, 2012 - 12:55:00 PM

A Berkeley High School safety officer has been charged with one count of felony identity theft for allegedly stealing bank account information from a special education teacher and using it to pay his utility bills.

William "Billy" Keys Jr., 41, was arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court on Friday and is scheduled to return to court Monday to enter a plea. He is free on $10,000 bail.

Keys, who graduated from Berkeley High and has worked for the school for about 20 years, was arrested Thursday after he allegedly admitted to Berkeley police Officer Darren Rafferty that the account numbers that he used to pay his bills were not his own. -more-



Public Comment

Is Progressive Zionism Possible?: a Response to Wendy Kenin

By Joanna Graham
Tuesday February 28, 2012 - 01:02:00 PM

In her article, “People with Potential” (Daily Planet and ACCESS blog of the American Jewish Committee, Friday, Feb 17), Wendy Kenin provides brief reports on the activities of four people, two Palestinians and two Israeli Jews, who, she avers, “speak sanely about how to move forward” with respect to what she describes as “Palestine-Israel peace.” I have been trying to think deeply and respectfully about Kenin’s piece, since I believe her underlying assumptions to be far more serious in their implications than her cheerful, bouncy tone suggests.

Kenin is not careful with language. The “meaning” range of many of her words tends to be broad and blurry and thus open to multiple interpretations. Therefore, I will start by deconstructing the title of her piece, which, in full, on both websites (and, therefore, I will assume, provided by her) is “People with Potential: Providing Sanity to the US’ Struggle for Israel’s Peace” (note the parallel with “speak sanely,” above).

Just in passing, “sanity” is a word that rings bells for me; we all, I’m sure, remember John Gertz in the pages of the Daily Planet promising to restore “sanity” to the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission (a commission on which by what I am sure is total coincidence Kenin now serves.) “Sanity,” one comes to realize, is reserved to those who support Israel. Critics are medicalized as “insane” or sociopathologized as “anti-Semites” or, as the case may be, “self-hating Jews.” In either case, obviously, no considered response is required from any sane or nonsociopathic person.

Anyway, what exactly does Kenin mean by “the US’ [sic] struggle” or, for that matter, “Israel’s peace”? She is not addressing potential actions by the U.S. government or even by any organized nongovernmental bodies nor, with one partial exception to which I will return, is she addressing possibilities for peace in Israel—not, I might mention, that Israel really needs any help on the issue, let alone “struggle,” since the country is at peace and has been so (with the multiple exceptions of its many wars of choice) since 1973, the one and only time in its existence Israel has ever been attacked. As for internal terrorist attacks, for what are probably multiple reasons they stopped years ago; recent Israeli polls show security concerns to rank far below other issues, such as housing or the ultraorthodox, which are far more pressing for ordinary Israelis. -more-


A Step on the Road to Protect Civil Rights

By George Lippman, Coalition for a Safe Berkeley and Chair, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission (for purposes of identification only)
Tuesday February 28, 2012 - 01:47:00 PM

Last week, Berkeley moved forward a small step forward towards new civil rights and civil liberties protections. In this note I will share some of my personal reflections on this accomplishment. This is not a statement of the Coalition for a Safe Berkeley or the Peace and Justice Commission. -more-


My Thoughts on the Berkeley Hills Murder

By Jack Bragen
Tuesday February 28, 2012 - 12:57:00 PM

When someone with mental illness is presumed guilty of a crime, it's all over the news, and this promotes the misconception that mentally ill people are automatically criminals and that criminals are automatically mentally ill. Persons with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of crimes than perpetrators of them. -more-


Editorial

The Berkeley Hills Murder Could Have Been Predicted

By Becky O'Malley
Friday February 24, 2012 - 07:44:00 AM

Anyone who has ever tried to help a friend or a family member connect with appropriate mental health services must feel for the two East Bay families who have been caught up in the tragic death of Peter Cukor. Despite the best efforts of the modern media equivalent of yellow journalism, there are no villains to be found in this story, just a whole list of victims of circumstances unforeseen and unforeseeable. -more-


Columns

EATS, SHOOTS 'N" Leaves: Occupy Education Rally at UC Berkeley on Thursday

By Richard Brenneman
Wednesday February 29, 2012 - 12:55:00 PM

Forwarded by a friend:

Thursday, March 1 begins a series of nationwide actions around public education coordinated by Occupy Education. At UC Berkeley, March 1 will include a daylong student strike, an Open University, a noon rally on Sproul Plaza, and a march to Oakland where we will converge with other East Bay schools at Oscar Grant Plaza. While the massive cuts to public education in California have clear roots in the systemic failures of our state government and financial system, we cannot ignore the active role upper administrators at the UC continue to play in the privatization of our university. Nor can we afford to forget that administrators like Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Provost George Breslauer have repeatedly ordered the brutal criminalization of Cal students, faculty, workers, and community members. We will kick off March 1 at UC Berkeley with a protest against the UC administration for its mishandling of university resources and repression of campus activism. Please join us at 7:30am to begin this protest outside of California Hall—where much of the upper administration works (including Chancellor Birgeneau). -more-


Odd Bodkins: The Skunk and The Loan (Cartoon)

By Dan O'Neill
Wednesday February 29, 2012 - 05:30:00 PM

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

The Berkeley Hills Murder Could Have Been Predicted 02-24-2012

Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: The Skunk and The Loan (Cartoon) By Dan O'Neill 02-29-2012

Public Comment

Is Progressive Zionism Possible?: a Response to Wendy Kenin By Joanna Graham 02-28-2012

A Step on the Road to Protect Civil Rights By George Lippman, Coalition for a Safe Berkeley and Chair, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission (for purposes of identification only) 02-28-2012

My Thoughts on the Berkeley Hills Murder By Jack Bragen 02-28-2012

News

Fire on UC Berkeley Campus Forces Evacuation By Bay City News 03-01-2012

Bay Area Campuses, Including U.C. Berkeley, Participate in National Day of Action for Public Education By Scott Morris (BCN) 02-29-2012

Press Release: UC Berkeley Faculty Join “99 Mile March” to Sacramento From Eric Hayes, U.C. Faculty Association Staff 02-29-2012

Berkeley School Safety Officer Charged with Identity Theft By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN) 02-28-2012

Berkeley High School Safety Officer Arrested for Identity Theft From Sgt. Mary C. Kusmiss, Berkeley Police Department Public Information Officer 02-27-2012

Press Release: Berkeley Police Report that Young Man Injured in Fall From Building From Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, Berkeley Policce 02-27-2012

Head of Security at Berkeley High School Accused of Identity Theft 02-26-2012

New: Judge Orders Competency Report for Berkeley Murder Suspect By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN) 02-24-2012

Berkeley High Student Shot in Oakland is Recovering By Scott Morris (BCN) 02-24-2012

Immigrant Steel Workers March in Berkeley Against Unjust Firings By David Bacon 02-23-2012

Columns

EATS, SHOOTS 'N" Leaves: Occupy Education Rally at UC Berkeley on Thursday By Richard Brenneman 02-29-2012

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE: Iran, Israel & the U.S.: The Slide To War By Conn Hallinan 02-24-2012

THE PUBLIC EYE: The Republicans’ Rick Santorum Problem By Bob Burnett 02-24-2012

WILD NEIGHBORS: A Lot of Gall By Joe Eaton 02-23-2012

SENIOR POWER: Conferences on Aging By Helen Rippier Wheeler 02-23-2012

ECLECTIC RANT: SWIFT Pressured to Ban Iran Over Nuclear Ambitions By Ralph E. Stone 02-23-2012

Arts & Events

Theater Review: Central Works' 'Mesmeric Revelation' at the City Club By Ken Bullock 02-24-2012