Columnists

The Public Eye: After Hillary: Bitterness

By Bob Burnett
Thursday May 01, 2008 - 09:59:00 AM

In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a nine-point victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And the struggle between Clinton and Obama left a trail of bitterness. -more-


First Person: Thank You, Barbra Streisand

By Dorothy Snodgrass
Thursday May 01, 2008 - 10:01:00 AM

There was a time, many years ago, when I was embarrassed to admit that most of my clothes came either from second-hand stores or thrift shops. -more-


UnderCurrents: Obama Must Trust His Campaign, Forget About a Knockout Blow

Thursday May 01, 2008 - 10:03:00 AM

If the junior United States senator from Illinois—Barack Obama—is seeking guidance from the life of Illinois’ most famous politician in his quest for the presidency, replicating Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War “knockout blow” is the wrong place to look. Instead, it is the Civil War’s “terrible math” that is a better guide for this particular moment. -more-


East Bay, Then and Now: Westenberg House: The Grande Dame of Benvenue Avenue

By Daniella Thompson
Thursday May 01, 2008 - 10:38:00 AM
The Westenberg House in it early years. The Claremont Hotel is visible in the distance.

Old Berkeley may have been solidly Republican, but it never lacked for colorful and even eccentric characters. How else to explain the flights of fancy some early Berkeleyans commissioned when building their homes a century ago? -more-


Wild Neighbors: UC and Strawberry Canyon: The Harvestman Paradox

By Joe Eaton
Thursday May 01, 2008 - 10:43:00 AM

My two previous columns provided background on planned major construction by the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in undeveloped areas of Strawberry Canyon, and discussed a state and federally listed species, the Alameda whipsnake, which very likely inhabits the area to be developed. (Since last week I’ve received a credible report of a whipsnake sighting in the UC Botanical Garden, near the proposed site of the Helios Facility.) -more-


About the House: ‘But It’s Still Working!’

By Matt Cantor
Thursday May 01, 2008 - 10:45:00 AM

Some days I feel like I’m juggling so may balls that I ought to be on the Ed Sullivan show (this is an age test, folks). You remember that guy who had a dozen plates all spinning high in the air on little wooden dowels? Perhaps that’s a better analogy, since I’m quite sure that, if I were to rest for a minute or two, I’d be surrounded by shattered china. I’m sure you know the feeling? -more-


Column: After Hillary: Bitterness?

By Bob Burnett
Monday April 28, 2008 - 03:36:00 PM

Posted Mon., April 28—In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a nine-point victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And the struggle between Clinton and Obama left a trail of bitterness. -more-


Dispatches from the Edge: Paraguay’s Election: Opportunity and Danger

By Conn Hallinan
Friday April 25, 2008 - 09:41:00 AM

The recent victory of Fernando Lugo in Paraguay’s presidential election not only broke the right-wing Colorado Party’s 61-year monopoly on power, according to journalist and author Richard Gott, it signals “that the new mood in Latin America is not just a creation of a competent economist in Ecuador, a charismatic colonel in Venezuela, or a couple of union leaders in Brazil and Bolivia, but the result of a heartfelt and deep-rooted desire for change.” -more-


UnderCurrents:Sleaze Factor Suddenly Emerges in Oakland Campaigns

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday April 25, 2008 - 09:43:00 AM

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been engaging in a political-difference dialogue with one of the candidates for Oakland City Council At Large, Charles Pine. I’m not going to go into the details of that dialogue; it’s all on-line, and you can look it up, if you haven’t been following it. I only raise it because I hope this serves as an example of how political dialogue ought to take place. Mr. Pine put his political positions out on his campaign website, following that up with public statements at a candidates forum. I wrote my criticisms in my column about those positions, signing my name to the criticisms. Mr. Pine answered those criticisms in a letter to the editor of my newspaper and liked his answers so much, apparently, that he posted them as well on his campaign website under the link “Exchange With Columnist About Law And Order.” -more-


Understanding the Virtual World of Home Price Fluctuations

By Jane Powell
Friday April 25, 2008 - 10:11:00 AM

If your house disappears from zillow.com, does that mean it no longer exists? Because that’s exactly what happened last month. -more-


Garden Variety: Flowers on Display, Plants For Sale in Sunol Now

By Ron Sullivan
Friday April 25, 2008 - 10:13:00 AM
Dunsinane: Thataway. Lisa Arnold, a hands-on owner, totes Japanese maples to a new display.

I’m sure there’s a reasonable rationale behind it but to a posyhugger, the stretch of road leading into Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park is an instrument of torture. All along the roadcut on your right, if you’re on time for it, you’ll see a fine display of paintbrush, the occasional blue dicks and bindweed, and the first flush of Calochortus albus, the subtly gorgeous white fairy-lantern, much of it conveniently near eye-level as you pass. -more-


About the House: X-Ray Vision and the Developed Basement

By Matt Cantor
Friday April 25, 2008 - 10:16:00 AM

If you get to know anyone well enough, you’ll eventually find out which super-power they have. Most super-powers are fairly innocuous while a few are more apparent and seemingly heroic. My ex-girlfriend could find a parking place in front of coliseum Rock & Roll events. Right smack in front. Stunning. Clearly a super-power. Some people know just when to buy the 24 pack of toilet paper and never run out. For some, this is inconceivable. Some can find the screw they dropped in the grass, while I’ve been forced to leave many behind. Next time you pass some little balding guy on the street, remember, he has a super power. See if you can guess which one he has. It might be a doozy. -more-