A surreptitious stalker slashed the robust rodent outside Berkeley Honda at high noon Thursday, briefly deflating the colorful symbol of striking union members. -more-

A publicly-financed election reform concept introduced two years ago to Berkeley voters by Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates—and soundly rejected by those voters in the 2004 election—has been reintroduced in the state Legislature by Assemblymember Loni Hancock, with Hancock’s chief of staff saying that “the time is now right” for the issue. -more-

January -more-

Planning commissioners will take a West Berkeley tour Saturday morning, looking at sites close to the freeway that could house car dealerships. -more-

The fate of a popular after-school tutoring program housed at a contaminated former chemical plant site dominated a Wednesday night meeting in Richmond. -more-

Revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has engaged in warrantless eavesdropping in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act prompted President Bush to admit last month that in 2002 he directly authorized the activity in the wake of 9/11. -more-

www.jfdefreitas.com? -more-

UC PARKING -more-

At the end of each year, Dispatches gives out its annual IDBIAART (I Don’t Believe I Am Actually Reading This) Awards for special contributions to international relations during the past year. -more-

The Oakland Tribune published an interesting story earlier this week on Oakland police foot patrols. -more-

Police Sting Captures Taggers, -more-

Many of us in the peace movement are praying for Ariel Sharon’s recovery even though we still see him as an obstacle to peace in the Middle East in the long run. While we would never wish for the death of anyone, even our enemies, we might have hoped that people like the president of Iran, or Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, or even President Bush would be peacefully removed from office quickly. Yet the developments of recent months have made many peaceniks hope that Sharon would stay in office at least through the completion of the next half-year. -more-

Just as a stone dropped into the middle of a calm lake produces concentric waves one after the other, so press reports emanate from Katrina. They range from the mundane like the effect of dislocation on Tulane’s football season to the momentous like the tens of billions of dollars needed to remake the levee system so as to restore the wetlands. Daily news ripples of culpable neglect and blatant hypocrisy reduce me to tears. -more-

Our planet’s climate is changing rapidly as greenhouse gas pollution accumulates in the Earth’s atmosphere. There is no longer any doubt that human activity (i.e., the production of gases from the combustion of fossil fuels, combined with an increasingly consumption-oriented human population and rampant deforestation) lies at the heart of climate change. All of us—from individuals to governments, and everyone and every institution in-between—must drastically reduce the greenhouse gases that we are responsible for producing, or we will experience increasing changes in the climate that will cause significant ecological, economic, and social upheaval. -more-

My friend and fellow former Berkeley City Councilmember Ira Simmons recently forwarded me the Daily Planet story from last summer on the return to the City Council Chambers of the mural by famed artist Romare Bearden. I appreciate the story in noting the genesis of the Bearden project when Ira and I challenged the council to modify its all-white picture display in the council chambers. We did this shortly after we were elected in 1971. -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 6 -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 6 -more-

When winter skies open up and drench the ground, thoughts of an outdoor weekend getaway pale. That’s the time for an indoor adventure—one that will take you places far removed from everyday life. Journey to other cultures, other times, while being awed by incredible architecture and outstanding art. In short, visit San Francisco’s de Young Museum. -more-