The residents of Redwood Gardens are experiencing a disruption in their lives that they seem to be powerless to affect. Redwood Gardens at 2951 Derby Street is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing complex of 169 apartments for low income seniors and people with disabilities. The management company, CSI Support and Development, has been making decisions and taking actions and ignoring any input from the residents. Complaints, questions, requests are often simply ignored. They have converted a popular community room into offices for their staff. They are changing garden areas against the residents' wishes. Most recently they have converted a pleasant sun room into a laundry in spite of vehement protests by the residents. One long-time resident commented bitterly, “There is increasing enmity between the residents and management.”

Now they have embarked on a huge project that will disrupt the residents' lives for a long time to come. With a zero interest loan from HUD, CSI will do major renovations throughout the complex. The process will certainly be extremely long and stressful. And it is not at all clear what, if any benefit there will be for the tenants. It appears to be more in the interest of the management. Board member Eleanor Walden suggests that “The only reason for this renovation is to raise the value of corporate owned multi-family low income housing because the senior/low income population is the fastest growing population and as such it is potentially a highly profitable commodity in the future.” It turns out that similar projects are also going on in other HUD housing complexes. -more-

Two police officers are gunned down in New York City and everyone is searching for meaning in these two senseless deaths; talking about everything but the obvious - the elephant in the room - It's the guns stupid! -more-

The same day Taliban gunmen attacked students in Peshawar my youngest sister received an honor roll award. I was wondering if this brutal incident happened to my sister, my heart would have been torn and she would not be standing at the podium cheerfully while holding the certificate. Instead, she would be lying on the ground in a pool of blood. -more-

This issue of the Planet has gotten off to a slow start because our server was down for much of the past 24 hours. There are still some excellent pieces waiting to be posted, which will happen in due time, whenever that might be, given the holiday crush. Check in from time to time to see what's happening. -more-

A recent Pew Research poll found that only 24 percent of Americans trust the government in Washington. This says a lot about US politics, but it doesn’t answer the question: which politicians can we trust? -more-

I, for one, applaud the release of the Senate Torture Report and urge those responsible be held accountable. Kudos to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, for getting the executive summary released to the public.

The Report is available online. The print version is available for purchase at GPO’s retail and online bookstore.

The Senate Torture Report found, among other things, that the CIA misled Congress, the Justice Department and President George W. Bush about the “effectiveness” of torture methods used, including waterboarding, shackling detainees in painful positions, prolonged sleep deprivation, rectal feeding and slamming detainees against walls. The report also found that those abuses did not help locate Osama bin Laden or thwart any terrorist plots, and were in fact counterproductive. -more-

For people with mental illness, thinking in terms of miracles can worsen an already difficult predicament. When someone has suffered from psychosis, it is a step forward to think in terms of cause and effect and not to see oneself as immune to the repercussions of mistakes. Pragmatism can be healing. It is valuable to think in terms of our actions and words as often but not always creating the results we obtain. It is also useful to refrain from blaming anyone, including oneself, if a bad circumstance that we did not cause creates hardship. -more-

Oh, Joy… Jocelyn Ferguson, that is… and Kim Brewer too, staffing the reception desk, welcoming people as we entered the North Berkeley Senior Center recently. These two are old old-timers. There are other volunteers of course. -more-

Handel’s Messiah, that old chestnut (roasting on an open fire), has been performed in Grace Cathedral every Christmas season for the last 15 years by American Bach Soloists under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas. This year, once again, ABS brought together at Grace Cathedral four eminent singers, a choir of 36 choristers, and 34 orchestra members playing period instruments, all led by conductor Jeffrey Thomas in three performances of Handel’s Messiah, December 16, 18-19. -more-