Nine residents and a cat who were displaced in a three-alarm fire in downtown Berkeley last Friday have not yet been able to return to their homes, the Berkeley fire deputy chief said today. 

The fire was reported at 2:24 p.m. at a two-story building in the 2500 block of Shattuck Avenue, according to Berkeley fire Deputy Chief Avery Webb. 

Webb said there were eight units in the upper part of the building and two business spaces on the ground floor with only one occupied as a hair and beauty supply store. 

The MG Enchanez Hair Shop is listed at that location. 

The store also remains closed today, he said. 

Residents who were home when the fire broke out were able to get out of the house safely before firefighters arrived, he said. 

One resident was "very distraught" until firefighters brought a cat safely out of the building, Webb said. 

Crews had the fire under control at 2:54 p.m., he said. 

It appears the fire started outside the building in a gap next to the neighboring edifice. 

There was a build up of debris in the space and someone had dropped a cigarette butt in between the buildings, which ignited the blaze, Webb said. 

It is being considered an accident, he said. 

The fire caused $75,000 of damage to the building and led to the damage of $25,000 of contents, he said. 

Most of the damage was on the north side of the building. 

 

/www/bcn/general/01/newsclip.14.01.13.16.43.00.1.txt

Crews have controlled a three-alarm fire in downtown Berkeley this afternoon, fire officials said. 

The fire was reported at 2:24 p.m. at a two-story building in the 2500 block of Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley acting Deputy Fire Chief Avery Webb said. 

The fire was declared under control at 2:54 p.m., Webb said. 

The blaze appears to have started in a lower level of the building, which has residential units over a commercial space, Webb said. 

Eight residents and one pet were displaced in the fire, Berkeley Fire Chief Gil Dong said. 

No injuries were reported, Dong said.

Berkeley police announced today that a Pittsburg man has been arrested on charges of murdering a 26-year-old Berkeley resident who was fatally shot on July 17. 

Police spokeswoman Jennifer Coats said Antiown Ramon York, 25, was arrested in Daly City Monday on charges of murdering Jermaine Davis. 

On July 17, police responding to reports of gunshots at 6:52 p.m. in the 1800 block of Derby Street in South Berkeley found Davis suffering from gunshot wounds. Davis was rushed to a hospital by members of the Berkeley Fire Department and pronounced dead a short time later. 

York, also known as Antoine Ramon York, has been charged with murder by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.  

He is due to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland at 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to the court docket.  

The criminal complaint says that York has a previous felony conviction in Alameda County Superior Court in 2007 for sale or transportation of marijuana and received a sentence of probation. 

In a declaration of probable cause filed with the complaint, Berkeley Police Officer Shan Johnson wrote that phone records show that on July 17, York and Davis had "multiple phone calls between their cellphones, including the last phone call the victim makes."  

Johnson also said an eyewitness allegedly saw Davis and York arguing on the street and saw York shoot Davis with a handgun. 

Davis's death was allegedly the motive for the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Alaysha Carradine in East Oakland about four hours later. 

Alaysha was at a friend's apartment in the 3400 block of Wilson Street for a sleepover when a gunman opened fire into the apartment at about 11:15 p.m., killing Alaysha and wounding three others. 

The gunman was identified as 22-year-old Darnell Williams and he was allegedly assisted in planning the attack by 27-year-old Joseph Carroll. The two targeted the apartment in retaliation for Davis's murder, according to prosecutors. 

A preliminary hearing in the murder case against Carroll and Williams began today.

Faith Geer was born in Holland, NY, January 13, 1919. She passed away at Salem Lutheran Home in Oakland, CA, December 15, 2013, just shy of her 95th birthday. 

Born to modest circumstances and raised in a small town, early on Faith became an avid filmgoer. Inspired by actresses she admired, Faith resolved to become an actress herself. 

As a young actress, Faith gained valuable experience in the New Deal WPA theater project. In 1946, while in summer stock, Faith met her husband, Robert Weston. Her long career in film stretched from 1954, appearing in “Executive Suite,” to “Town and Country” in 2001. Other film and TV work included “Wall Street,” “Fatal Attraction” and “Sex in the City.” Faith also appeared in numerous theatrical productions 

During the 1960s and 1970s Faith worked as a theatrical press agent for The Public Theater and Lincoln Center. She was an active member of the Ensemble Studio Theater, as well as the “Screen Actors Guild,” “Actors’ Equity” and ATPAM. 

Faith is survived by her daughter Caskey Weston of Piedmont, California, brother Keith Wilson of Berkeley, sister Joan McDermott of Blaine, Washington and grandchildren Ariel Hirsch of San Francisco and Alex Hirsch of Los Angeles. 

Faith was a bright and determined woman, with a delightful and irreverent sense of humor. She is greatly missed.

Over the holidays I encountered an enormous number of people who are not at all happy with the way things have been going in Berkeley. What’s interesting about them is that they seldom agree with one another about what’s wrong (this is Berkeley after all). In fact, it’s close to miraculous that a crowd of them can assemble in the same room at a party and no fist fights break out (well, almost none).

At my house the closest we came to an altercation was a heated dispute between two men seemingly associated with the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist church, in which one shoved another and invited him outside. Nothing more happened. I have no idea what the beef was, though an observer reported hearing the word “Palestine”.

World peace aside, the main issue on which Berkeleyans agree is that things are a mess right now. All of our commercial districts except Fourth Street are pockmarked with vacancies and beset with impoverished beggars. Driving across town is difficult, parking to shop downtown is nigh unto impossible, bicylists feel that they’re taking their lives in their hands and pedestrians face being bowled over by vehicles of every description both in the street and on the sidewalk. Phone-snatching is endemic, attracting thieves from all over the Bay Area who know that students on cells are apt to be available for the picking at all hours.

Then there’s Berkeley’s moribund downtown. This week’s New Yorker has a funny piece by Calvin Trillin about another metropolis that sounds a bit like Berkeley: Greenville, Mississippi, and its Hot Tamale Festival.

He says that “I would guess that any number of cities have tried celebrating a local food specialty as a tonic for a lagging downtown, just after it became obvious doing some prettying up on a block or two that’s been closed to traffic—what I’ve always thought of as the hanging-basket approach to downtown revitalization—didn’t work.”

Substitute “Gourmet Ghetto” or “Food Trucks” for Hot Tamales, and it’s Berkeley all over again. The Downtown Berkeley (or Business) Association just recently tried the hanging-basket ploy, didn’t it? And I’d take any bet that it hasn’t worked and won’t work. Downtown problems everywhere are deeper rooted than that.

Griping about land use is always fun. Complaints range from the proliferation downtown of tacky luxury dorms disguised as market rate apartments to the difficulty of getting a permit to convert a garage into a workshop. All agree that the city’s Planning Department employees are effectively but ineffectually running the city, with next to no interference from the Electeds on the Berkeley City Council.

Which brings us to What You Might Do to Save Berkeley in the next two weeks, if you’re one of the many who think we’re not in Nirvana yet, Dorothy. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the gormless Berkeley City Council majority has hatched a gerrymandering scheme to silence the loudest progressive voice on the council. It will take a referendum to reverse it. 

Admittedly, it’s a clever ploy. The conservative councilmembers and their advisors managed to capture a movement to re-draw the council district boundaries to guarantee a student-majority district and impose a new map which excludes the students who are most likely to vote for progressive candidates. The obvious target is incumbent Councilmember Kriss Worthington, consistently the intelligent voice of reason in a group of patsies who often don’t even seem to have read the material in their packets before voting.  

People with too much time and not enough information who comment on local blogs habitually blame Worthington for the many woes of his district, which includes Telegraph. In fact he and those in his district are not the cause of their own problems but the victims of the majority’s impotence. If the gerrymander which has been passed by the council is allowed to stand, the city of Berkeley’s ineffectual governance, with its longstanding neglect of the campus area, can only get worse. 

Mayor Tom Bates’ actions and the votes he controls have been deployed mostly for the benefit of the University of California’s expansion plans. People’s Park is neglected and commercial vacancies proliferate as the University takes over more and more of the South of Campus area. If Worthington is knocked off, things will surely get worse. 

How can you help with the referendum? According to the organizers: 

“Proponents of the redistricting referendum have 30 days to gather 5,275 signatures to stop the ordinance from going into effect. If we are successful the Council will have to reconsider the ordinance or put it on the ballot. The Berkeley Referendum Coalition is working over this holiday season to gather signatures so that the City Council can reconsider its decision and do the right thing - come up with a fair and inclusive plan that unites neighborhoods, students and the entire community.” 

Now there are just 14 more days to get enough signatures. To get more information or to join the effort, you can go tomorrow to this event:  "14 Days Left" Rally

Berkeley Referendum Coalition 

Saturday, January 4, 2014 @ 11am 

Mudrakers Cafe 

2801 Telegraph 

 

If you can’t make this meeting, to get petitions or information contact: (510) 423-3004 or berkeleyref@gmail.com.  

If the council’s do-nothing majority is able to snag yet another seat, the city of Berkeley will probably be doomed to another 10 years of civic decline using the clearly failed hanging-basket theory of urban planning. You might think things couldn’t get worse, but this just in—they could. 

 

 

 

From the Berkeley Tenant's Union Newsletter:

"The Redistricting Referendum is now supported by BTU and The Council of Neighborhood Associations, SEIU Local 1021, East Bay COPE, former Berkeley Mayor Gus Newport, the Alameda Green Party, the Cal Dems, and former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean."

Who would ever expected to see all these people on the same page? Must be something going on!

 

Dan O'Neill

 

 

Dan O'Neill

 

In the early 1980s, General Motors embarked upon an enormous investment in automation. In 1985, it opened its showcase: the new Hamtramck factory in Detroit, Michigan, had 50 automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) to ferry parts around the plant, and 260 robots to weld and paint. It turned out not to be such a good idea. 

The production lines ground to a halt for hours while technicians tried to debug software. When they did work, the robots often began dismembering each other, smashing cars, spraying paint everywhere, or even fitting the wrong equipment. It takes time to get new systems up and running correctly.  

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) had a rocky start but give it time and it will be as dependable and efficient as the other government programs Medicare and Social Security.

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

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.  

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! 

New revelations by the German publication, Der Spiegel have provided details of a super secretive unit inside the National Security Agency, called the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO (no connection to the Chinese spiritual path). TAO has developed new ways to invade our privacy, courtesy of Microsoft, by gaining access to WINDOWS users who report technical problems (a frequent occurrence). In addition, new computer orders are intercepted in transit and special malware is implanted to monitor all activity of unsuspecting users all with a wink and nod from Federal Express and United Parcel Service. Two federal judges have harshly admonished the NSA for its dragnet surveillance vastly exceeding its mandate and thus violating the Constitution.  

A panel appointed by President Obama issued a strong indictment calling for a major overall of the agency. The Congressional oversight committee has clearly failed in its mission and its chairman, Senator Dianne Feinstein should resign. It is not surprising that her approval ratings have plummeted following her vigorous support for the NSA’s highly questionable activities. We need more whistle blowers like Snowden. Remember how thousands of Iraqis and Americans died based on false claims of WMD’s or the release of the Pentagon Papers which exposed the massive deceit of our government and halted the war in Vietnam? 

In a landmark editorial, the New York Times has called for “some form of clemency that would allow Snowden to return home.”

In 2010, the Cap and Trade bill died in the Senate. That same year, Republican incumbent Bob Inglis lost his seat to a Tea Party challenger in a landslide, after publicly admitting he believed the scientific consensus on man-made climate change was correct. Since then, Republican politicians have viewed it as political suicide to talk about climate change as anything other than a liberal hoax. As a result, those concerned about climate change have largely put their hopes for meaningful national climate legislation on the back burner. While many wait for a break in the clouds when large scale climate action once again becomes plausible, communities across the country have found a way to move forward, however modestly, to address the climate crisis without waiting for legislation. 

This way forward is called “Solarize,” a model for organizing community bulk purchases of solar installations. Pioneered in Portland, Oregon, in 2009, the Solarize model’s success has been replicated in communities across the country as disparate as Plano, Texas, and Washington DC. Led by grassroots community organizers, Solarize projects leverage community networks and bulk purchasing power to help facilitate the spread of the adoption of solar energy in communities across the country. With solar already able to provide immediate savings in many cases even without a bulk discount, the Solarize model both simplifies the process of going solar and makes the savings from from doing so larger and therefore more difficult to pass up. The discounts Solarize projects have been able to get typically amount to thousands of dollars in savings per home on top of the standard savings that can come from going solar without a bulk discount. 

My hope is to help the East Bay join the growing number of communities that have employed the Solarize model to help do what can be done at this point to contribute to the global effort to mitigate the climate crisis. It may feel insignificant when it is just your house going solar alone. It may not even feel like anything significant when you and 100+ other houses in your community go solar at once. But if you and 100+ houses in your community go solar at once as part of a growing movement across the country, and the success of your community’s project helps to enable the success of future projects in other communities, as is surely the case, it becomes no longer absurd to feel you are making a meaningful contribution toward mitigating the climate crisis. 

Each time another Solarize project succeeds, it makes the viability of other Solarize projects more plausible, encouraging organizers to invest their time and energy into these projects. Further, it adds to the number of successful organizers who can serve as a resource to others considering initiating projects of their own. The Solarize East Bay project has benefitted hugely from enlisting the willing support of several Solarize organizers from around the country. I hope to be able to play this same role for other organizers in the near future. 

The model itself is fairly simple, yet effective. First, the organizer must form a committee of participants to select a contractor for the bulk purchase. It is important that the selection be made by such a committee so that the selection process is transparent. This serves to assure participants that the project is independent of any solar company and due diligence has been performed in selecting one. This generates confidence that the deal you get by participating is genuinely better than what you could get otherwise, and provides the wider group of participants the option of trusting the committee’s due diligence so that they do not have to do that legwork themselves. This simplifies the process for those who wish to go solar with as little hassle as possible, while preserving the option of checking the committee’s work for those who prefer to take a more hands-on approach to their decision. For those would like to be even more engaged, the option is still available to join the selection committee. Once the committee is formed, the organizer drafts and issues a Request For Proposals to interested solar companies based on criteria of the selection committee’s choosing. Once interested solar companies submit their bids, the committee assesses these bids and makes a selection.  

The RFP asks contractors to submit bids with a tiered pricing structure. Each tier is based on the number of households participating and each successive tier provides a larger discount. This means that the more households to participate, the bigger the discount. This is meant to further incentivize participants to help spread word of the project to their friends and neighbors. The more we all pitch in to help the project succeed, the more we all benefit, both in terms of our contribution to mitigating the climate crisis as well as in terms of savings on energy costs.  

If you have an average monthly electricity bill of $80 or more and an unshaded roof, please have a look at the project website: http://solarizeeastbay.wordpress.com/. I also encourage you to fill out the sign-up sheet and questionnaire. Doing so does not represent a commitment to participate in the bulk purchase, it merely signs you up for updates on the project and helps to determine whether participating in the project will make sense for you. Once we select a bid, which will not be for a few months, you will have the option to sign up pending the project reaching whatever tier necessary for you to be willing to participate. Other next steps you can take are laid out on the website. 

Last, if you are not in a position to participate, but would like to help the project succeed, there are a number of things you can do. You, of course, can tell friends and neighbors whom you think might be interested, or better yet, contact me with community networks to tap into, to get the word out. If you rent, it can make financial sense for landlords to get solar installations for their properties, and in effect become the utility for their tenant. I encourage renters to talk to their landlords about the project if they wish to help it succeed. All it will take for the project to achieve this success is a decent number of people making a small effort on its behalf.

The current corruption crisis zeroing in on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyio Erdogan has all the elements of one of his country’s famous soap operas that tens of millions of people all over the Middle East tune in to each day: Bribes, shoe boxes filled with millions in cash, and dark whispers of foreign conspiracies. 

As prosecutors began arresting leading government officials and businessmen, the Prime Minister claims that some foreign “ambassadors are engaging in provocative actions,” singling out U.S. Ambassador Frank Ricciardone. The international press has largely dismissed Erdogan’s charges as a combination of paranoia and desperation, but might the man have a point? 

The corruption story is generally being portrayed as a result of a falling out between Erdogan’s conservative brand of Islam and the Gulen Community, a more moderate version championed by the Islamic spiritual leader Fethullah Gulen, who currently resides in Pennsylvania. Both are Sunnis. More than a decade ago the two men formed a united front against the Turkish military that eventually drove the generals back to the barracks and elected Erdogan’s Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002. 

There are differences between the two currents of Turkish political Islam. Erdogan’s brand comes out the “National Outlook” tradition that tends to be suspicious of the West and democracy, cool to wide-open free market capitalism, and more socially conservative. Erdogan has recently told Turkish women how many children they should have—three—and railed against abortion, adultery, coed housing, public kissing, and alcohol. The AKP is also closely allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, and Erdogan was a strong supporter of the Brotherhood government in Egypt that was overthrown by a military coup this past July. 

In contrast, Gulen’s brand of Islam is pro-West, strongly in favor of a free market, and socially flexible. Gulen supporters were active in last summer’s demonstrations against Erdogan, although their commitment to democracy is suspect. For instance, Gulen has a more hard-line nationalist approach to the Kurds, Turkey’s largest ethnic minority, and only recently began challenging the AKP’s authoritarian streak. 

Gulen was also critical of Erdogan for breaking relations with Israel following the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, when Israeli commandos killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American trying to deliver aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. Gulen accused Erdogan of provoking the clash. 

The current falling out came to a head when Erdogan proposed closing down one of the Gulen Community’s major sources of financing, the “dershanes” or tutorial schools that prepare Turkish students to take exams. The Community has expanded such schools to over 140 countries, including the U.S. The schools also serve as effective recruiting conduits for his movement. The Russians recently closed down the schools, accusing them of being fronts for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. 

Gulen called the move against the dershanes a “dagger stabbed in our hearts.” 

But the timing of the corruption investigations suggests this is more about regional politics—with global ramifications—than a spat over influential schools and interpretations of Islam. 

Erdogan’s supporters charge that the investigation is coming from Gulen-dominated prosecutors and judges, and that it is little more than a power play aimed at bringing down the Prime Minister and damaging the AKT on the eve of local elections scheduled for March. “It is clear that I am the real target,” Erdogan told the media. 

Gulen supporters counter that corruption is widespread, and that the Erdogan government has alienated former allies throughout the region. 

There is certainly truth in that charge. From a former policy of “zero problems with the neighbors” Turkey finds itself embroiled in the Syrian civil war, and feuding with Israel, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran. Even what looked like a breakthrough peace accord with the Kurds appears to be turning sour. 

But this past fall, the Erdogan government began reversing course and patching up relations with the locals. 

Turkey and Iran jointly agreed that there was “no military solution” to the war in Syria, and Ankara expelled Saudi Arabian intelligence agents, who it had accused of aiding the more extremist elements fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad. 

Turkey also buried the hatchet with Iraq. Instead of setting up a separate oil and gas deal with the Kurds in Northern Iraq, Ankara has agreed to work through the central government in Baghdad and is pushing to increase cross border trade between the two countries. Of course much of this is practical: Turkey needs energy and Iran and Iraq can provide it more cheaply than anyone else. 

These recent policy turnarounds make the timing of the corruption charges suspicious. For two years Erdogan’s government has played spear-carrier for the U.S. and its allies in Syria and courted the reactionary Gulf Cooperation Council. The latter consists of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and newcomers Jordan and Morocco. 

But the Syrian civil war has not gone as planned, and, despite predictions that Assad would quickly fall, his government is hanging on. It is the forces fighting him that are spinning out of control. Ankara’s allies in the Gulf—in particular Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—are funding Islamic extremists fighting in Syria, who are turning the war into Sunnis Vs. Shiites. The Assad government is dominated by the Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Those groups are now also destabilizing Lebanon and Iraq by attacking Shiite communities in both countries. Most these extremists are contemptuous of Turkey’s Islamic government. 

From the U.S. point of view, Turkey is no longer a completely reliable ally. It is quarreling with Israel, Washington’s number one friend in the region. It has fallen out with Saudi Arabia and most of the GCC—the new government in Qatar is an exception—and has essentially broken off relations with the U.S.-supported military government in Egypt. Most of all, it is developing ties with Iran, and both countries are suddenly issuing joint communiqués calling for a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian civil war. 

Rather than joining in the newly forged Saudi-Israeli-Egypt alliance against Iran, Turkey is feuding with all three countries and breaking bread with Shiia-dominated governments in Teheran and Damascus. 

In short, from Washington’s point of view, Erdogan has gone off the reservation. 

Seen from this perspective, Erdogan’s suspicions do not seem all that bizarre. Despite denials that the U.S. and its allies are not involved, and that the corruption issues is entirely an internal Turkish affair, Washington and its allies do have a dog in this fight. 

For instance, one target of the corruption probe is Halkbank, which does business with Iran. “We asked Halkbank to cut its links with Iran,” U.S. Ambassador Ricciardone reportedly told European Union (EU) ambassadors. “They did not listen to us.” Did the U.S. influence Turkish prosecutors to single out Halkbank? 

If Erdogan falls and the Gulen forces take over, it is almost certain that Turkey will re-align itself in the region. If that happens, expect Ankara to patch up its fight with Tel Aviv and Cairo, chill relations with Iran, and maybe even go silent on a diplomatic solution in Syria. The free market section of the Turkish economy will expand, and western investments will increase. And the current roadblocks in the way of Turkey’s membership in the EU may vanish. 

Whether this will be good for Turkey or the region is another matter. The Gulf monarchies are not nearly as stable as they look. The military government in Egypt will always be haunted by the ghost of the Arab Spring. Israel’s continued settlement building is gradually turning it into an international pariah. And, in the end, the West does not really care about democracy, as the U.S.’s endorsement of the military coup in Egypt made clear. 

Erdogan’s political instincts seem to have deserted him. His brutal suppression of last summer’s demonstrations polarized the country, and his response to the corruption investigations has been to fire or reassign hundreds of police and prosecutors. He has also gone after the media. Turkey has jailed more journalists than Iran and China combined. 

There is little doubt but that the Prime Minister has played fast and loose with zoning laws and environmental regulations in order to allow his allies in the construction industry to go on a tear. But Erdogan hardly invented corruption, and the question about the investigations is, why now? 

Maybe the charge that this Turkish corruption scandal is orchestrated is just paranoia, but, then, paranoids do have enemies. 

---

Conn Hallinan can be read at ;http://dispatchesfromtheedgeblog.wordpress.com and middleempireseries.wordpress.com 

 

 

 

 

 

With the exception of Senator Elizabeth Warren, American politicians had a terrible year. President Obama’s approval ratings plummeted along with those of Congress. Indeed, the most popular “politician” in the United States was a non-American, the new head of the Catholic Church, 77-year-old Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis. 

Beginning with his March 13th election to the papacy, Francis has been singular. He’s the first Pope from the Americas – the first non-European Pope since 731 – and the first Jesuit. Jorge Mario Bergoglio chose the papal name Francis – another first – in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. It wasn’t a cavalier choice of name. Like many Jesuits, Francis cares deeply about social justice. 

In his illuminating NEW YORKER article, journalist James Carroll noted that in his first week as Pope, Francis said, “How I would like a church which is poor and for the poor.” Francis’ commitment to social justice can hardly have come as a surprise to the College of Cardinals who elected him in March. Carroll notes: 

By the time Bergoglio was named a cardinal, in 2001, his simplicity of style had already set him apart from other prelates. He preferred a small apartment to a palatial residence and travelled by public transportation instead of chauffeured car. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he encouraged his best priests to live in the slums, joining them for Mass and often walking through the shantytowns… he also was strident in his denunciations of neoliberal economic policies that condemned many to abject poverty.

As Pope, Francis has continued his pattern of simplicity by choosing to live in a two-room apartment instead of the Apostolic Palace and wearing a plain white cassock instead of fur-trimmed velvet capes. 

For many progressives, Pope Francis first came onto our radar on November 24th when he issued his Evangelii Gaudium, explaining his liberation-theology-influenced morality. Chapter 2 regards his assessment of inequality in the modern world: “We have to remember that the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences… The joy of living frequently fades, lack of respect for others and violence are on the rise, and inequality is increasingly evident.” 

After condemning the “idolatry of money,” the Pope said, “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality.” He observed, “[In contemporary society] Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded.” 

Pope Francis attacked the prevailing conservative economic ideology: 

Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system... To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed.

Francis identified the core ethical problem: 

The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! … Behind this attitude lurks a rejection of ethics and a rejection of God… With this in mind, I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: ‘Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs.’

Pope Francis concluded with a strong appeal for social justice: 

A financial reform open to such ethical considerations would require a vigorous change of approach on the part of political leaders… Money must serve, not rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and to the return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favours human beings.

In 2013 there was a resurgence of populism in the US, with the enormous popularity of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and the victory of Bill De Blasio in the New York mayor’s race. And populists gained a powerful ally in Pope Francis. 

Populists believe the true backbone of America is the middle class; not the elite one percent. We believe in a level playing field and government as a force for good. Populists believe the government must provide a social safety net to protect Americans’ human rights. 

Populist values emphasize empathy, compassion, and fairness. Those are the very same values that Pope Francis has highlighted the past nine months. That’s why he was the 2013 “politician” of the year. 

---

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bburnett@sonic.net

Ralph E. Stone’s December 16^th Planet column, “Eclectic rant: Protect yourself from scams this holiday season,” was right on. And I would add, especially senior citizens and year-round and everywhere. As a former Federal Trade Commission attorney and currently a volunteer for Consumer Action and Seven On Your Side, the consumer hotline for ABC-TV Channel 7, he has heard a wide range of scams that separated unsuspecting consumers from their money, especially during the holiday season. 

In many cases, charlatans pretending to represent a securities company approach the senior citizen who may have family but is living alone. Invasion of an elder’s home is not considered elder abuse. Many forms of elder abuse are recognized as types of domestic violence. It does not include general criminal activity against older persons, such as home break-ins, muggings in the street or distraction burglary, where a stranger distracts an older person at the doorstep while another person enters the property to steal. 

Stone describes a number of scams consumers should be aware of and things consumers can do to protect themselves. Financial scamming of a senior citizen is elder abuse. Most investment cheaters aim at older people because many senior citizens have the characteristics they are looking for-- sizeable savings accounts and the inclination to trust effortlessly. Investment fraud (also called brokerage fraud) usually occurs when an advisor, a brokerage firm, or a stockbroker advises a client against the rules and regulations as decided by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Never sign any document without the presence of a legal representative you trust, particularly if you are not learned in legalese and technical documentation. Especially if you are reluctant to hire a lawyer, you should do your homework in advance. Fraudulent companies use the fine print of their contracts and agreements to deceive you. The most common trick is use of so-called Prime Bank Instruments. 

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In Japan, fraud cases targeting the elderly are rapidly increasing. By 2060, 40+% of the population is expected to be over age 65. Falling birth rates, almost no net immigration, one of the highest life expectancies in the world -- 81.25 years of age as of 2006 – make Nihon the world's tenth most populated country. (The expected life span at the end of World War II, for both males and females, was 50 years.) The aging of Japan is thought to outweigh all other nations, as the country is purported to have the highest proportion of elderly citizens; more than 20% are over the age of 65 today. This aging of the Japanese population was brought about by a combination of low fertility and low mortality. Since the late 1970s, the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime has been fewer than 2. Family planning was nearly universal, with condoms and abortions the main forms of legal contraception.  

The leading causes of death are cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease, a pattern common to industrialized societies. As in other nations (to varying degrees), nursing home facilities and nursing care are fraught with problems. A fire in 2009 at a nursing home in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture claimed 10 residents’ lives. The Maebashi District Court sentenced a former director of the facility to two years' imprisonment after finding him guilty of professional negligence resulting in death. At the time of the blaze, only one caretaker was on duty, the ruling said. Both the Japan Times ("Making senior facilities safer" February 19, 2013) and Yomiuri Shimbun ("Ruling should serve as warning for better nursing care facilities" Tokyo, January 21, 2013) editorialized.  

Nine months later, the Japan Times reported that the ministry was going to “push nursing robots to aid caregivers” (November 26, 2013).  

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NEWS 

Medicare has begun tracking the outcomes of hip and knee replacement surgeries by identifying 95 hospitals where elderly patients were more likely to suffer significant setbacks, experiencing difficulties after the operation. Of the 9 hospitals having both high readmissions and high complication rates, none was in California, 4 were in the South. 

The government also named 97 hospitals where patients tended to have the smoothest recoveries and the hospitals did better than average in avoiding either readmissions or complications. The 25 were rated as being better at both measures included some big hospitals such as Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento, California.  

Here’s a reminder: Medicare has a “hospitals compare” website. You can select up to 3 at a time. 

A "normal" person can become psychotic under certain conditions such as sleep deprivation or taking narcotics. However, many newly, correctly diagnosed people with schizophrenia, as a form of denial, will decide that their problem was just due to the drugs they took or to lack of sleep.  

When it is due to the brain being wired incorrectly (such as in schizophrenia), psychosis can be a lifelong condition. Thus, at no point could you accurately say, "I'm past my mental illness and from now on I will always be totally normal." Constant vigilance is required because even without repeat hospitalizations, lower level problems could recur.  

Probably due to my paranoid condition, I find it hard to trust anyone or anything. This interferes with nearly all of the relationships in my life. My medication and therapy help me not go into an acute mode of paranoid psychosis, yet I constantly have a little bit of it on a more tolerable volume level.  

Some fear is a life preserver and will make a person prudently cautious. However, some fear is irrational and can ruin a person's life. Distinguishing which type of fear you have, (e.g., useful fear or irrational fear) can be difficult.  

When paranoid, you might feel that a possible mishap lurks around every corner. And when something on occasion does go wrong, it only adds fuel to your belief of constant danger.  

Other people can't always detect one's paranoia and fear, since sometimes there are no external signs. Paranoia usually isn't anyone's fault, and is caused by the way in which someone's brain misdeveloped. It is not a sign that the bearer is weak or unintelligent.  

The part of the brain responsible for paranoia is a primitive area left over from prehistoric reptilian ancestors. The part of the brain responsible for higher functions, the cerebral cortex, is often left perfectly intact and functional. Thus, someone could have a paranoid disorder and could be normal or even exceptional otherwise.  

When paranoia takes over the mind, it is as though the mind has been hijacked. It blocks proper usage of the higher functions of the mind that could otherwise more effectively deal with a real life challenge.  

When I attempted work at various jobs, sometimes the work attempt was successful, and I stayed with some jobs for a year or so. In other instances, I was unaware of it, but paranoid perceptions made me feel threatened by the work environment. Some jobs were quite unbearable because of this, and I resigned from some jobs without notice. In the jobs where I felt closer to being comfortable, it was because I had a rapport with coworkers and supervisors.  

I can recall in my teen years and in fact back to early childhood, there were a lot of environments in which I didn't feel safe--particularly in the public school systems. Other students seemed big, mean and dangerous. They talked loud, laughed meanly and spat "loogies" on the pavement. Some of them were assaultive.  

In the development of the schizophrenic mind, something may go wrong very early in life in which the brain doesn't grasp how to defend oneself and feel safe.