Columnists

In the latest example of privatizing profit and nationalizing risk, the Bush administration has proposed bailing out Wall Street’s investment houses, hedge funds, and all the commercial banks by giving away $700 billion of taxpayers’ money. The total cost of the ad hoc bailout of financiers may eventually exceed $1 trillion. And the administration’s Treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, says we must give him the power to use this $700 billion any way he sees fit. And, by the way, Congress has to give it to him right now! -more-

If most Americans think Iran and Georgia are the two most volatile flashpoints in the world, one can hardly blame them. The possibility that the Bush administration might strike at Teheran’s nuclear facilities has been hinted about for the past two years, and the White House’s pronouncements on Russia seem like Cold War déjà vu. -more-

A little over a year from now, Oakland city staff will recommend—and the Oakland City Council will thereafter make a decision on—the master developer for one of Oakland’s largest and most important development projects in decades: the 108-acre Gateway Project on the old Oakland Army Base. -more-

The black phoebe is an admirable bird in many ways. What I appreciate most about it is its identifiability. No other California bird is anything like it: small, black with a white belly, short crest, upright posture. This is remarkable in a member of the tyrant flycatcher family, many of whose species are cryptic in the extreme. -more-

I confess to some iconoclastic tendencies. I’m probably more geek than rebel but I certainly don’t like to run with the pack. One way in which this is true is that I’m a big fan of antique wiring. It might seem obvious that very old wiring systems are inherently dangerous but it ain’t necessarily the case. Some of these are in great shape and can serve your need handsomely and some are either inherently inadequate by design or have been ruined by any of the armies of despoilers that roam the country. -more-