Opinion

Whatever will become of KPFA? On the one hand, I feel a moral responsibility to form an opinion on the latest uproar, and yet I haven’t been able to bear to listen to the station much at all for many years now, so what do I know?

I know a number of seemingly intelligent and politically savvy people on each “side” of the on-going controversy, and when I’m talking to any of these people I’m inclined to “believe” what I’m being told at the moment. I know a lot more people with various shades of politics who roll their eyes when KPFA is mentioned and say “I can’t listen to it”, though various family and friends still tune into specific programs that they like and trust.

Many of these, in all categories, still adore Amy Goodman, whose main Bay Area outlet is KPFA, though she’s on NPR-type stations elsewhere. Many of them have been looking to the Planet for guidance about which faction is “right”. But it’s not an easy call. -more-

It is High Time to Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell; Don't Ask;
Silence of the Press: US media turns blind eye to RT crew arrest;
Black Friday; Black Friday; Nuclear Madness -more-

There is currently an ongoing crisis at KPFA. The KPFA union on their website, KPFAworker.org, portrays the crisis as one of union busting political purges by top heavy bureaucratic Pacifica. However, the real problem is the KPFA finances over the past ten years. -more-

As a librarian recently retired from the Berkeley Public Library, I want to respond to Peter Warfield's recent commentary in the Planet on the lawsuit against the Library’s plans to replace South and West branches with new buildings rather than renovating and expanding the existing structures. -more-

There seems to be a growing consensus about education reform in this country, at least a consensus about how we have a serious problem. Unfortunately, education is a complex affair, made up of many components. Many of the diverse small problems that make up the large one require leadership skills, buy-in from a diverse group of stakeholders and revised curriculums. There is, however, one area that isn't complex and would go a long way toward true reform, even though it would be hard to implement.

Tenure is a relic from long ago, perhaps a good idea 100 years ago, but a disaster now. Eliminate tenure and start improving education immediately. -more-

Oakland’s Blight Ordinance was enacted during the administration of Mayor Elihu Harris. Most community activists supported it at the time, hoping some of the most glaring and intractable instances of blight could be corrected: vacant lots or front yards with dead cars and refrigerators, illegal dumping, empty and deteriorating buildings. But, as the cliché goes, be careful what you wish for. Your prized landscaping, important to you for screening, aesthetics, and habitat has also come to be, in unexpected ways, defined as blight. Because of the extraordinary powers of the City to collect heavy fines and fees on seemingly open-ended blight investigations and massive City deficits, the ordinance has been redefined. -more-

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available. -more-