Extra

Press Release: UC Goes Corporate:
"University of California proposes creation of new venture fund to invest in UC innovation"

From Shelly Meron, University of California Office of the President
Wednesday September 17, 2014 - 06:54:00 PM

The University of California today (Sept. 15) announced the creation of UC Ventures, an independent fund to pursue investments in UC research-fueled enterprises, subject to the approval of the UC Regents. The Office of the Chief Investment Officer would make an initial commitment of up to $250 million to the fund. -more-


UC Berkeley Employee Robbed on Campus

Jamey Padojino (BCN)
Wednesday September 17, 2014 - 08:00:00 AM

A 33-year-old man was robbed at the University of California at Berkeley campus on Monday night, campus police said Tuesday. -more-


Press Release: Congresswoman Lee Speaks on House Floor against another War in the Middle East

Wednesday September 17, 2014 - 07:51:00 AM

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee recently spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives against arming Syrian rebel groups. -more-



Page One

Two Women Injured in Berkeley Apartment Fire

Hannah Albarazi (BCN)
Saturday September 13, 2014 - 06:39:00 PM

Two women escaped from a fire in a Berkeley apartment building this morning, a deputy fire chief said.

Shortly after 9 a.m., firefighters received a report of a blaze in an apartment building in the 3100 block of King Street, about three blocks west of the Ashby BART station, Berkeley fire Deputy Chief Avery Webb said.

Reports of people trapped on the top floor of a three-story building, prompted a two-alarm response, Webb said. -more-



Press Release: Berkeley High South of Bancroft Construction Completed Under Budget and Ahead of Schedule

Mark Coplan, Public Information Officer, BUSD
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:22:00 PM

The BUSD Board of Education received a report at Wednesday night’s board meeting on the completion of the South of Bancroft Project at Berkeley High School. Superintendent Donald Evans was pleased to announce that the project finished approximately two weeks ahead of schedule, and $6,600,000 under budget. -more-



Press Release: Four Year Anniversary of Berkeley Murder Approaches

From Ofc Jennifer Coats, BPD
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:24:00 PM

Friday, September 12, 2014 will mark the four year anniversary of the murder of Adolfo Ignacio Celedon Bravo, known to his family as “Fito”. -more-



Public Comment

Press Release: UC Berkeley Student Senate Does Not Pass Resolution Condemning Israel Academic Boycott

UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine
Wednesday September 17, 2014 - 07:54:00 AM

Tonight, the External Affairs Committee of the Associated Students of the University of California, Berkeley voted unanimously to indefinitely postpone a bill condemning the academic boycott of Israel. -more-


Response to Coverage of Measure D Westbrae Biergarten Event

Beth Gerstein, Berkeley Healthy Child Coalition Events Committee
Tuesday September 16, 2014 - 01:52:00 PM

Below is a response to the coverage on the upcoming Soda Series event mentioned in this post:

Thanks for your coverage of our upcoming Westbrae Biergarten event -- every little bit helps and we hope you can join us for some additional coverage that night. We will be showing several very powerful Youthspeaks videos related to the topic which will be sure to stimulate discussion. With respect to your statement regarding the ironic nature of the location I would like to raise several different points: -more-


Scottish Vote on Staying or Separating from the UK

Nicola Bourne
Saturday September 13, 2014 - 10:43:00 AM

Next Thursday, Scottish voters will be voting on whether or not to remain a part of the United Kingdom. That very fact saddens me. As I see it, it marks a dramatic failure of politics, for which my present inclination is to blame the Westminster government. -more-


New: Let's Take It Again from the Top: Chancellor Dirks’s second message on civility

By Public Affairs, UC Berkeley | September 12, 2014
Sunday September 14, 2014 - 12:01:00 PM

UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sent this message to the campus community today:

Every fall for the last many years, we have issued statements concerning the virtue of civility on campus. This principle is one of several that Berkeley staff, students, faculty and alumni themselves developed and today regard as “fundamental to our mission of teaching, research and public service.” To quote further from our “principles of community”: “We are committed to ensuring freedom of expression and dialogue that elicits the full spectrum of views held by our varied communities. We respect the differences as well as the commonalities that bring us together and call for civility and respect in our personal interactions.” For a full list of these stated principles, please see http://berkeley.edu/about/principles.shtml. -more-


Israel Seizes More Palestinian land

Jagjit Singh
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:49:00 PM

With its recent announcement of seizing another 1,000 acres of Palestinian land, Israel has forever dispelled the last lingering doubts that it is serious in allowing a Palestinian State to exist This is another slap in the face of US stated policies which has vigorously opposed the theft of Palestinian land. -more-


Happiness for the Needy

Romila Khanna
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:50:00 PM

People who are well placed often look down on those who are needy. Right now we are in the middle of a tense debate over the minimum wage. The Democrats want the minimum wage to rise soon so fewer indigent people will need to depend on government subsidies. But our Republican friends hate this idea. -more-


Statement of the Consulate General of Chile in San Francisco

CONSULADO GENERAL DE CHILE EN SAN FRANCISCO
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:29:00 PM

Friday, September 12, 2014 will mark the fourth anniversary of the murder of the Chilean citizen Adolfo Celedon in a crime committed by unknown people. The Consulate General of Chile in San Francisco regrets the tragic death of an innocent young person, which occurred in Berkeley, California, when he was walking home with his fiancee on the day of his 35th birthday. -more-


Ukraine

Tejinder Uberoi
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:52:00 PM

The ceasefire comes at a time when the Ukrainian military has suffered a number of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Russian-backed rebels. 2,600 people have been killed and over one million displaced. -more-


An Open Letter About Free Speech to Chancellor Dirks

The Board of Directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives, and the 50th Anniversary Organizing Committee
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 04:13:00 PM

Dear Chancellor Dirks,

The Free Speech Movement Archives and the Organizing Committee for the FSM 50th Anniversary would like to thank you for generously supporting our efforts to commemorate the Free Speech Movement, and to keep the memory of those events alive. We look forward to seeing you at our reunion. In the spirit of civil discourse, we would like to bring to your attention some history regarding the question of what the Free Speech Movement was about, what we won, and what it means for the campus today. -more-


Obituaries

Entrepreneur-Humanitarian
Rudolph Hurwich Dies at 92

Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:37:00 PM
Rudolph Hurwich

Rudolph Hurwich – serial entrepreneur and mentor, international businessman, inventor, philanthropist, investor and a behind-the-scenes supporter of numerous liberal causes and creative endeavors – died peacefully at his Oakland home on August 2, 2014. He was 92. -more-


Wolf von dem Bussche, 1934-2014

Lewis Dolinsky
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:32:00 PM

Wolf von dem Bussche, a longtime Berkeley resident whose photographs are in many public and private collections, died in Mission Viejo CA on August 12 at age 80. -more-


Editorial

Chancellor Dirks Upholds a Berkeley Free Speech Tradition

Becky O'Malley
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 03:03:00 PM

U.C. Berkeley’s Chancellor Nicholas Dirks has been kind enough to spice up the imminent Free Speech Movement reunion which starts next week. You can get all the information about the innumerable talks, movies, panels, dinners and especially the new play about the FSM (by Joan Holden with music by Bruce Barthol and Daniel Savio, Mario’s son) here.

It’s a full plate of reminiscences and inspiration, but the part that the chancellor might enhance is the kickoff happy hour on Friday (for registered attendees only.) According to the published schedule: “the new(ish) Chancellor, Nicholas Dirks… will stop by for a few minutes.”

Why might that be big fun, if he’s not afraid to show up? Well, he’s been catching a fair amount of flack online and in the press since September 5. The focus is a smarmy memo he emailed that day, reprinted here in full: -more-


The Editor's Back Fence


Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE: What Do Republicans Want?

Bob Burnett
Friday September 12, 2014 - 11:16:00 AM

Although negative political ads take a toll, in most elections voters respond to positive messages. 2014 may prove to be an exception to this rule, as Republicans have waged a relentlessly negative campaign. Their strategy is to fire up their base, drag in a few independents, and win based upon voter turnout. Republicans are assuming that most Independents and many Democrats won’t show up because they are turned off by politics. Suppose this strategy works and Republicans control both the Senate and the House of Representatives. What can we expect?

The core Republican message is paradoxical: elect us because we don’t like government. This was Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign pitch: “As President… I will cut marginal tax rates across the board for individuals and corporations... I will repeal burdensome regulations, and prevent the bureaucracy from writing new ones… Instead of growing the federal government, I will shrink it.” Romney’s blanket solution to America’s problems was a reprise of the discredited maxims of Reaganomics: government is the problem; helping the rich get richer will inevitably help everyone else; and markets are inherently self correcting and therefore there’s no need for government regulation – whether the problem is bank fraud or polluted water. Republicans have continued these same themes in 2014. -more-


SENIOR POWER: A crone is… a noun

Helen Rippier Wheeler, pen136@dslextreme.com
Friday September 19, 2014 - 11:40:00 AM

What’s a crone? I’m referring to the word variously used in the contexts of religion, spirituality, and witches. Ye olde Oxford English Dictionary (OED) informs that ca 1386 Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) first considered crone, and that it is rarely applied to an old man. By 1844, crone was applied contemptuously when used about an old woman. -more-


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: The Difficulty of Resolving Delusions

Jack Bragen
Friday September 12, 2014 - 02:20:00 PM

If you have chronic mental illness, as I do, and if it includes low-level psychosis that persists despite taking plenty of medication, it helps to periodically do cognitive exercises in which you recognize, identify, and dismiss delusions. -more-


Odd Bodkins: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? All of you! (Cartoon)

By Dan O'Neill
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 03:13:00 PM

Arts & Events

A Glorious NORMA at San Francisco Opera

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean
Saturday September 13, 2014 - 06:42:00 PM

Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto NORMA occupies a special place in my heart, for on May 21, 1965, as a very young man I heard Maria Callas sing this role at the Paris Opera in what was Callas’s last good performance of this or any operatic role. Eight days later, her voice strained to the limit, Callas had to withdraw after the scene with Adalgisa that concludes with the duet, “Mira, Norma,” (which closes Act III when NORMA is played in four acts). Callas then canceled the final Paris performance. Weeks later she retired, and never sang in live opera again, although some years later she made a concert tour with tenor Giuseppe DiStefano. In any case, to have heard Maria Callas sing “Casta diva” live onstage in relatively good voice remains one of my most treasured opera experiences. -more-


Press Release: An Evening with Living Legend Barbara Dane & Producer Ian Ruskin

Thursday September 11, 2014 - 02:57:00 PM

Barbara Dane: folk singer, blues singer, jazz singer, social activist, wife, mother, world traveler, feminist, record producer, chronic truant, maverick and general troublemaker. She sang with all the greats, from Pete Seeger to Lightning Hopkins to the Chambers Brothers to Louis Armstrong and more, and travelled the world as an independent woman and musician. The radio documentary A Wild Woman Sings the Blues takes the listener on a journey through this amazing life, from a childhood in Detroit to an eighty-fifth birthday concert at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. Join us to pay tribute to the legendary Barbara Dane! -more-


God Help the Girl Opens September 12 at the Roxie in SF, the Camera 3 in San Jose and iTunes video-on-demand

Reviewed by Gar Smith
Thursday September 11, 2014 - 01:39:00 PM

If you like MTV videos, God Help the Girl is your treat – a feature-length, head-nodding toe-tapper drenched in popsicle colors and punched up with hip-hop editing that blends evocative background shots of Glasgow (looking like Hogwarts-by-the-Clyde) with loving, kissably large close-ups of Emily Browning as a terminally cute Glasgow indie-popper. -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Chancellor Dirks Upholds a Berkeley Free Speech Tradition 09-11-2014

The Editor's Back Fence

Krugman on Civility 09-14-2014

Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? All of you! (Cartoon) By Dan O'Neill 09-11-2014

Public Comment

Press Release: UC Berkeley Student Senate Does Not Pass Resolution Condemning Israel Academic Boycott UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine 09-17-2014

Response to Coverage of Measure D Westbrae Biergarten Event Beth Gerstein, Berkeley Healthy Child Coalition Events Committee 09-16-2014

Scottish Vote on Staying or Separating from the UK Nicola Bourne 09-13-2014

New: Let's Take It Again from the Top: Chancellor Dirks’s second message on civility By Public Affairs, UC Berkeley | September 12, 2014 09-14-2014

Israel Seizes More Palestinian land Jagjit Singh 09-11-2014

Happiness for the Needy Romila Khanna 09-11-2014

Statement of the Consulate General of Chile in San Francisco CONSULADO GENERAL DE CHILE EN SAN FRANCISCO 09-11-2014

Ukraine Tejinder Uberoi 09-11-2014

An Open Letter About Free Speech to Chancellor Dirks The Board of Directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives, and the 50th Anniversary Organizing Committee 09-11-2014

News

Press Release: UC Goes Corporate:
"University of California proposes creation of new venture fund to invest in UC innovation"
From Shelly Meron, University of California Office of the President 09-17-2014

UC Berkeley Employee Robbed on Campus Jamey Padojino (BCN) 09-17-2014

Press Release: Congresswoman Lee Speaks on House Floor against another War in the Middle East 09-17-2014

Two Women Injured in Berkeley Apartment Fire Hannah Albarazi (BCN) 09-13-2014

Press Release: Berkeley High South of Bancroft Construction Completed Under Budget and Ahead of Schedule Mark Coplan, Public Information Officer, BUSD 09-11-2014

Press Release: Four Year Anniversary of Berkeley Murder Approaches From Ofc Jennifer Coats, BPD 09-11-2014

Entrepreneur-Humanitarian
Rudolph Hurwich Dies at 92
09-11-2014

Wolf von dem Bussche, 1934-2014 Lewis Dolinsky 09-11-2014

Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE: What Do Republicans Want? Bob Burnett 09-12-2014

SENIOR POWER: A crone is… a noun Helen Rippier Wheeler, pen136@dslextreme.com 09-19-2014

ON MENTAL ILLNESS: The Difficulty of Resolving Delusions Jack Bragen 09-12-2014

Arts & Events

A Glorious NORMA at San Francisco Opera Reviewed by James Roy MacBean 09-13-2014

Press Release: An Evening with Living Legend Barbara Dane & Producer Ian Ruskin 09-11-2014

God Help the Girl Opens September 12 at the Roxie in SF, the Camera 3 in San Jose and iTunes video-on-demand Reviewed by Gar Smith 09-11-2014