The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai used to be a place filled with happy memories for Anil Thakkar and his family. Not anymore. -more-

MUMBAI, India — It’s been a long day at work and you just need to unwind by having a couple of beers with your friend from college who is in town. He wants to go to Leopold’s, the popular pub at Colaba. You think about the beef chili out there for a moment, then refuse to yield to temptation. For some reason you don’t want to travel today. You meet him at a sports bar close to the office and have a great time talking about old times and catching up with each other’s lives. -more-

Despite the bleak economic scenario, Berkeley’s winter homeless shelters have reopened for the winter, with a couple of them reporting a slight boost in funding and one witnessing record turnouts. -more-

The latest chapter in one of Berkeley’s more hotly contested buildings will unfold on the courthouse steps in Oakland at high noon on Dec. 16. -more-

With the Berkeley City Council scheduled to look at two cell phone antenna facility applications over the next two weeks, the significance of the Berkeley Planning Commission’s failure to agree on changes to the city’s Wireless Telecommunication Facilities Ordinance may become clear. -more-

The battle over the legal settlement that ended the city’s lawsuit against UC Berkeley’s plans for massive growth off-campus is headed for a higher venue. -more-

The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission will review a nomination Thursday to place the Donald and Helen Olsen House in Berkeley on the National Register of Historic Places and will prepare a report on whether or not the property meets the standards of the list. -more-

Berkeley resident Arlene Blum, founder of the Green Science Policy Institute and leader of the first American expedition, comprised entirely of women, to climb Annapurna, will receive $100,000 for her work mobilizing scientists, government, industry and consumers to protect health by reducing toxins in our homes and the environment, as one of the 15 winners of the 2008 Purpose Prize, according to Civic Ventures, which awards the prize. -more-

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Golden Gate Fields will be up for sale under terms of a corporate reorganization announced last week by corporate owner Magna Entertainment (stock symbol MECA). -more-

Looney’s burglary -more-

Dies in crash -more-

I worked as a stable cleaner when I was 23 years old, medicated on Prolixin, and underweight. The work was heavier than I was prepared for. It was a joyless and unrewarding job for the brief two weeks that I held it. It ended with me on bad terms with the ranch owner; I had to threaten to sue to get my paycheck. The rancher sent me a $15 check that was dirtied with manure, and a nasty note about how badly I had done. -more-

By Stevanne Auerbach -more-

It’s time to submit your essays, poems, stories, artwork and photographs for the Planet’s annual holiday reader contribution issue, which will be published on Dec. 23 (that’s right—a Tuesday!). Send your submissions, no longer than 1,000 words, to holiday@berkeleydailyplanet.com. Deadline is 5 p.m. on Mon., Dec. 15. -more-

SAN PABLO CONDOS -more-

GOLDEN GATE FIELDS -more-

On Dec. 9 the Shared Governance Council at Berkeley High will consider a proposal for restructuring the high school. The redesign plan includes an alternating block schedule with four 80- or 90-minute class periods a day, a 30-minute advising period twice a week, and a daily “Academic Support and Community Access Period” for most students. The goal of the plan is to increase personalization. If it is approved by Shared Governance, the proposal will move to the School Board for consideration. -more-

I was dismayed but not surprised to see the large group of privileged parents descend on the community meeting at St. Joseph the Worker’s Church to consider the Berkeley High school redesign proposal. It’s a familiar pattern: the school community spends years reflecting and considering ways to make BHS more successful for all students and, when it comes close to a vote, the predictable group pours out in a vocal campaign of opposition. -more-

Superman flies like a buzzard -more-

A quietly-revolutionary document that changed our world for the better, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, turns 60 this year. -more-

Probably more people in Berkeley and the Bay Area will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10 than in most other communities in the United States. Many of us spend some time every month working for human rights in the United States or somewhere in the world. Many of us have complained that the United States does not live up to the Universal Declaration, even though Eleanor Roosevelt played such an important role in getting it set down in print. Even in Berkeley relatively few folks have learned from lecturers that the declaration was a declaration, and was not The Law. -more-

Many believe that Obama will be the “savior” who will rescue us from the political direction begun by the Bush regime. But so far his choice of top staff does not indicate positive change. Obama chose Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff. -more-

Considering the reams of bad publicity I’ve read regarding the Addison Street Window Gallery, I’d like to check in with my two cents regarding this wonderful enterprise. Back in 1993, the great Brenda Prager invited me, and fellow artist B.N. Duncan, to host our own gallery showing in the window, “Berkeley Artists on the Fringe”—a collection of oddball art by Berkeley street people. We couldn’t have asked for a more gracious host. In fact, it was the first public acknowledgment that my artwork had ever received from the town of Berkeley (whether this is a good or bad thing I’ll leave to you to decide). And it led to several other fruitful collaborations with the magnificent Berkeley Civic Arts program, including the recording of the “Telegraph Avenue Street Music” CD in 1994, with a big assist from Bonnie Hughes. -more-

Civic Arts Commissioner Stephanie Anne Johnson wrote a commentary in the Daily Planet supporting the restrictions on free speech imposed on the city-run Addison Street Windows Gallery. Commissioner Johnson deserves a response and the First Amendment a robust defense. -more-

The Arts Commission’s response to the artist’s complaint of censorship thus far has resulted in a set of written restrictions on artists called “Guidelines for the Addison Street Windows.” These guidelines circumvent the artists’ First Amendment rights to free speech and can be summed up by the following excerpt from the new Addison Windows document: “Art must exhibit a high degree of consideration for citizens’ sensitivities to violence, sexual expression and negative portrayals of diverse populations.” -more-

A little more than a month ago, four U.S. Blackhawk helicopters cros-sed the Syrian border from Iraq and attacked a civilian farmhouse near the town of al-Sukkariyeh. The U.S. claims the farmhouse was an al-Qaeda way station and the eight men killed during the raid were terrorists, including a major al-Qaeda leader, Abu Ghadiya. The Syrians say the dead—five of them members of the same family—were building a house and had nothing to do with terrorism or al-Qaeda. A BBC report found that most of the dead appeared to be construction workers, including a night watchman, which suggests the raid may have been botched. -more-

Oakland, in the Jerry Brown years, practiced an unofficial policy of what might be called “community cleansing.” This is not to be confused with “ethnic cleansing,” the horrific activity in parts of, say, Eastern Europe or Central Africa where whole ethnic populations are violently and bloodily removed, either through exile or actual genocide. No, Mr. Brown’s “community cleansing” policies were far more genteel, involving little violence (though some—that’s what the whole Oakland Riders police scandal was about) and targeting not whole ethnic groups, but rather portions of the population that were considered as being “undesirables.” Part of this involved harassment, part of it deliberate neglect of certain population segments and entire neighborhoods. In their place, Mr. Brown sought to attract more “desirable” (in his opinion) Oakland residents. Thus, while whole neighborhoods wasted away in the Brown administration, havens for crime and violence and poverty, Mr. Brown put millions of dollars of city funds into shiny new neighborhoods (the famous “10K plan”) that sought to attract people to live in Oakland who had previously looked down upon the city. -more-

In dealing with Sudden Oak Death, we’re trying to limit or cope with an enormous wide-ranging biological change, the sort of thing we can’t quite map let alone stop. Its outlines are almost fractal; one complication leads to more and those to more still, and that’s true at whatever scale we see it. But fractals can be calculated, and we don’t quite have the knowledge to calculate this stuff precisely. -more-

‘Tis the Season ... with an abundance of shows to keep you jolly, both traditional—Christmas Carols, Nutcrackers—and what might be called antidotes to too much cheer, or when the cheer gets cloying, and something quieter (or, on the other hand, more caustic) is called for as a restorative. -more-

Comedians were a dime a dozen in the days of silent film, but great comedians were precious and few. The judgment of history has left us maybe a half-dozen top-notch talents, and just a few of those names are much remembered today. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd are the heavy hitters of course, the names that immediately come to mind, with perhaps Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Charley Chase, and a few others lagging not so far behind in name recognition. Still others, like Laurel and Hardy, did well in silent films but are today best known for their sound work. -more-

Why do so many people have horror stories about remodeling and the contractors who perform this work? Is there a direct line from the Mafia to the remodeling industry? Do they post notices in High School locker rooms reading “School not working out? Why not try contracting? Anyone can qualify!” As a recovering contractor and one who inspects the work of contractors, I have had occasion to see both sides of this curious and often heated area of commerce. -more-