Opinion

Editorials

Further Blips on The News Screen Portend...What?

By Becky O'Malley
Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 01:35:00 PM

More milestones this week in the big ongoing quest for The Future of Journalism. Arianna Huffington leapt gleefully into bed with AOL.com, prompting a friend, a journalist with long experience who has been covering environmental issues from the Midwest for HuffPo’s Green Page, to write “Bummer, really, and somewhat disgusting that Huffington et al have made millions on the unpaid work of HuffPo bloggers....”

She has a point, and yet the discussion could be turned on its head:

Only some of these writers, the ones who are paid for work published elsewhere, are providing something of value for free. But the Huffington Post has been providing hundreds of otherwise unpublished writers with a platform at absolutely no charge to them. Just sayin’.

And there’s a third, often ignored, perspective, that of the readers, also known as the seekers after information. They don’t need to care who’s making and who’s losing money as long as the information (or entertainment) continues to flow in their direction. -more-


The Editor's Back Fence

Check Out These Links

Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 10:45:00 AM

Reader Victor Herbert suggests three new links, and we found more:

The Daily Cal looks into Berkeley's very slow start getting pot measures S & T into action.

Have we succeeded in keeping those Rapid Transit buses out of Berkeley? In the East Bay Express, J.Douglas Allen-Tayor thinks so.

Anna McCarthy tells where all those Berkeley bingo "non-profit" millions ended up. A sordid story, indeed, from the Express.

And here's a scary story from the El Cerrito Patch: Albany high school kids have ended up in the hospital after eating cannabis brownies—and the proposed new Albany pot super-store hasn't even opened yet.

From Nate Pitts::The man who brought down the tree sit is in Santa Rita awaiting trial for battery. Austin White, the accuser of the People's Park tree sitter Matt Dodt, was arrested in People's Park on Monday Jan 8th. He had threatened violence towards three people, and punched and punched a fourth man in the head, mere feet away from UC police. The entire case against Matt is based on the testimony of this violent individual, who claimed he was a peacekeeper. Austin White claimed he was almost murdered by Matt, a story which the judge did not believe. Dodt faces an assault charge, not attempted murder as White and the UC police had requested. Indymedia has an account. -more-


Cartoons

Cartoon Page: Odd Bodkins, BOUNCE

Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 12:39:00 PM

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 03:36:00 PM

Library Branch Van; Football Injuries; Wood Burning; Modern Art; Affordable Care; Control the Insurance Companies -more-


This Jew Supports the Struggle of the Egyptian Opposition to Mubarak

By Julia Ross
Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 12:39:00 PM

The explosion at the end of January 2011 in Egypt is raising huge identity crises for Jews. And it should be. -more-


An Open Letter to the Berkeley City Council about West Berkeley

By Jesse Townley
Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 03:09:00 PM

I lived for 10 years at 6th and Gilman, and have spent 21 years volunteering at 924 Gilman Street, the all ages volunteer run art space/music venue at 8th and Gilman.

My wife has worked at Berkeley East Bay Humane Society for years, and I have recorded at many West Berkeley recording studios, including Fantasy Studios. I was an enthusiastic patron of the original Berkeley home of The Crucible art & educational space, as well as many other current & former art spaces, screen-printing shops, and artisan workshops across West Berkeley. Uniquely Berkeley landmarks like Urban Ore, the skate park, Ashby Lumber, and the Sculpture Garden have added to the neighborhood's singular mix of industry, creativity and green businesses.

Two words- economic diversity- have been key to West Berkeley's successes. Unlike the rest of Berkeley, there is more than just residential and retail zoning available. -more-


Never Mention Tree Sit Trojan Horse again: A Grander Vision for the Heart of Parkness

By Wendy Schlesinger
Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 02:01:00 PM

Let's be kind and say the unwanted tree sit was an unwitting Trojan horse that brought bad juju to People's Park temporarily. It started by muddled minds seeking publicity ostensibly to avoid harm to the park, but the violence and weapon and damage involved clearly brought much more harm to the Park's reputation than would have happened if they just let it be. -more-


Pharmacists Behind the Scenes

By Anna S. Jan, Student, UCSF School of Pharmacy
Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 02:01:00 PM

“You’re going to have it so easy. Don’t you just sit around counting pills?” I cannot even come close to counting the number of times I have heard this comment. It’s a remark I hear often during a nice brunch out with friends or a casual dinner with the boyfriend’s family. I was so irritated at first. How could people not understand what I do for a living? I am simply offended to hear how little my loved ones think I am capable of. Was it not obvious? I then realized the answers to my own questions. The public really has a hard time seeing beyond the image of the pharmacist in the white coat, behind the counter at their local Walgreens or CVS. -more-


Protest to Resistance, and Rebellion to Revolution?

By R.G. Davis, Ph. D.
Wednesday February 09, 2011 - 03:56:00 PM

To hear descriptions of yet another demonstration, especially in foreign Arab countries, why, who cares? Tunisia's 500,000 or Egypt’s million, all over the country if not in the main square, so what? What has that to do with anything in the U.S.? The U.S. had a million-man march organized by the Black Muslims and others. The U.S. had a million people on the streets protesting the Republican and Democratic Party's invasion Iraq. (Everyone voted for it except one other person. Or was that the Patriot act?) A million person protest on the street in the U.S.: so what? -more-