More racist graffiti on campus...

Police are investigating a third instance of racist graffiti on signs and buildings around the city's fraternity house district.

So far, detectives don't know who is spray-painting the hate symbols around the campus community and have no leads or witnesses to the crimes, said police Sgt. Steve Odom.

Police discovered a swastika and Celtic cross, associated with the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, on an apartment building near campus. The words "White Power" were beside the symbols.

Earlier this week, the same symbols appeared on a garage four blocks away, the same street where a sign for an African American student cooperative was covered with similar racist graffiti.

Four blocks away would place it near Telegraph, assuming it's near campus. Anyone know exactly where this is?

Disturbing that this is a pattern, rather then an isolated incident.
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The new banner is courtesy of Phil from Phatutopia.Email This Post!

BREAKING:

Nazi graffiti, including a swastika and Aryan Nation symbology, have been spraypainted on buildings on Prospect, including the African-American co-op house.

Berkeley Police Sgt. Steve Odom said someone spray-painted a swastika and a symbol for the racist prison group Aryan Nation -- a cross inside a circle -- on a housing sign outside the African American Theme House, a Berkeley student cooperative association residence on the 2300 block of Prospect Street.

Earlier, police were called to investigate similar graffiti spray-painted on a garage door on the 2400 block of Prospect. In that case, the house is occupied by a white family, who had no idea why they were singled out, Odom said.

I live on 2422 Prospect, about two houses away. It's always nice to turn on the TV at home and see your street on the News.

Everyone in the African-American house is pissed, but few clues as to who did the spraypainting. If found, whoever did it will be prosecuted.

Odom said the spray painting definitely is a hate crime and the perpetrator will be prosecuted. This goes far beyond a fraternity prank, he said. Both incidents apparently occurred shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Interesting how precisely the spray painting is timed. That might indicate that police have some idea who was in the area at the time or someone might've seen something. Prospect is a very quiet street anyway, and it's even more so around Winter Break.

Also, whoever did this did their homework. The African-American house is not something a bunch of skinheads would stumble upon. It's fairly out of the way, up by the stadium, where few people go. To know about it either means someone went looking online for prominent African-American targets in Berkeley, or knows the area.

Hateful stuff.
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Links:

Calwatch has an e-mail with complete coverage of the Regents meeting that ended with higher student fees, including voting record, points of discussion, and so forth. Scroll one down, past the 'stories of the year' piece.

Critical Mass has been covering the Dwyer incident extensively. I can't speak to her theory that it's all a plot to institute gender diversity and sexual harassment policies. But she does have interesting stuff on Berdahl's involvement in the new search for a new Dean.

It was a blogger, incidentally, who revealed the name of the woman accusing Dwyer, Jennifer Reisch. Here's his summary of her career. You'll remember Steven Sharansky as the guy who had his camera ripped from him by a particularly clueless guy during the Barak speech. Email This Post!

Coach Tedford has signed a new Contract to keep him at Cal until 2007.Email This Post!

It's been confirmed that Ms. Chin will continue as the Sex on Tuesday Columnist.Email This Post!

Calstuff's winter plans:

I'm home from the 20th to probably the 28th, then going to LA for a week or so. (Woohoo!) Should be back in Berkeley by the 5th-6th, having moved into my new room at the House. I'll keep an eye on the Trib and Chron for all of ya.

Calstuff's one year anniversary is on January 3rd. Email This Post!

The Planet will be back next semester, under the aegis of Berkeley politicos the O'Malleys.

Disturbing, revealing sentence:

Other papers, including the Bay Guardian, will serve as role models for the new Berkeley Daily Planet, the O'Malleys said in a press release.

Three alt-weeklys to choose from. There's the local East Bay Express, an excellent alt-weekly, with consistent investigative journalism and insider scoops. There's the SF Weekly, which has a quirky political voice and great Arts/Entertainment coverage. Then there's the Bay Guardian, the absolutely boring Progressive agitprop rag that put 'Public Power' on the cover for about five weeks leading into the election. The Weekly mocks the Guardian every week for being tedious + falling circulation numbers.

Also revealing: this isn't a business, it's a 'public service.'

Ruh-roh.Email This Post!

Word on next semester's Daily Cal Columnists...

I'm Thursday. We knew that. I'll also be writing about HUMOR THINGS on rare occasion because I get tired of bitching about something every week, and students seem to enjoy them.

Looks like Ms. Chin will continue to be the Sex on Tuesday girl, mainly for lack of anyone very good applying. As I've said before, I always enjoy watching potential women get excited about doing it, then realize this'll be the number one hit for their name on Google for years to come.

More interesting is the potential new political Columnists. The Daily Cal is considering both Mr. Jose Lopez, former AAVP and ASUC Presidential Candidate, and Mr. Andy Katz, City Commissioner and District 8 Candidate. The question behind Mr. Katz is if he'll turn his wealth of City and State contacts into an insider network of information, or if he'll use a Column as a Progressive propaganda front. The former would be fantastic. I haven't seen Mr. Lopez's writing, but he could be the next Arian White, who I always thought was one of the DC's best columnists. Been awhile since the DC had an intelligent Progressive/activist writer, either way.

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Word is that the Regents agreed to raise Student Fees to cope with the brutal budget shortfall.

Meanwhile, UC regents meeting in San Francisco took a similar action, raising student fees by $135 per quarter starting this spring. For the year, that means an increase of about $400, or just over 11 percent. Undergraduates now pay about $4,000 a year.

Not sure how that translates for cool people like us who're on the semester system. Vice-President Kashmiri of the Graduate Assembly lobbyed against it, as did Mr. Katz.

In San Francisco, Mo Kashmiri, a student at UC Berkeley's Boalt law school, said he didn't know how he'd come up with the $400 increase he'll be facing next year.

"Obviously we're really upset," he said. "This is the worst time for them to possibly raise fees. I have no idea how I am going to pay for this."

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I'm working on Daily Cal Column Topics for Spring. Any suggestions? Ideas so far:

ASUC Elections
Peer Advising/ Regular advising sucks?
Grade inflation
Asian political involvement
Tom Bates: wanker?
City, University relations
State funding stuff
Leadership Clique
Daily Cal bias
Housing-- Frat thing
Funny Piece
Funny Piece
Whatever outrage happens along
Lack of prominent alumni 4 Cal

I kinda feel like I'm running out of things to go off on without repeating myself. I can't really do any more pieces on Jews/Palestinians/Left Wing folks unless something new comes along. Maybe one more on how Demographics has killed activism at Cal.Email This Post!

GO BEAR!


This is what a naked bear looks like.Email This Post!

Here's an interesting archive of Berkeley's homepages, from the early days of 1996. The switch to the current 'superyellow' version apparently happened around March/May of 2000. Email This Post!

Can you believe it's supposed to rain through TUESDAY?

For many of you, I'm sure this is just a mild inconveniance. I, on the other hand, sleep in the attic of a Frat House. There's two little flue/window things that cannot be closed, so the wind is always moving through it. And I'm about two yards from the roof, so the pitter-patter of rain sounds like a steady, loud drumbeat.

Buh.Email This Post!

Jon Carroll has a column on Mayor Bates in the Chron. It's pretty lame.Email This Post!

Progcal reports that my boss, former AAVP Catherine Ahn, will be the new AAVP of the Graduate Assembly. Cool!Email This Post!

A Cal student double majoring in EECS and Business has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. First Cal win since 1989.Email This Post!

Mr. and Ms. O'Malley are planning to bring back the Daily Planet, possibly very soon. I'd jump for joy, except these are not people I trust. Ms. O'Malley is on the Berkeley Landmarks Commission, also known as a pit of pure evil where anti-Developers plot ways to slow development by other means. Here's a story-- from the Planet-- about the famed Flower Shop house renovation blocked by the BLC.

But here's the truly amazing statement, but a Commission member:
Tim Kelly, an architectural consultant hired by the developers, agreed with a previous historical resources report that said the Victorian failed to qualify as a “structure of merit” because it had undergone so many changes.

“It’s history, but not significant history,” said Kelly, who pointed out that stucco had been laid on the building and that much of it had been rebuilt after a fire in the 1940s.

Commissioner Becky O’Malley, on the other hand, said the renovations added to Victorian’s significance.

“If you have a building that has changed over time, it in itself is part of the historical record,” she said.

The first problem with that: it's a complete Catch-22. Don't renovate your old Victorian? Then it's an old landmark and certainly worthy to be frozen. Renovated it extensively? Shoot, that just makes it even more historical! Landmark that puppy!

And if Ms. O'Malley feels that renovations and changes to historical structures make them even more valuable, then why shut off any possibility of changing it by designating it historical? By her own logic, wouldn't she want the building to be a living, breathing piece of architecture instead of putting it in stasis forever?

Amazing people.

Ms O'Malley's plans for the Planet are:

The new paper would focus on a creating a wide community base, covering city issues, local high school sports and expand city arts coverage, Wagley said.

Ms. Wagley-- last seen screwing Mr. Katz over by not endorsing him to preserve her own political purity-- is also involved.

Not to say that this paper will become an anti-Developer Patrick Kennedy screed. There are encouraging signs, such as ending the pointless AP wire stories. But I'm cautious.Email This Post!

More on the Bates restitution. It's not stingy. $250 fine to the DA. $500 to the Daily Cal, which well covers any purely financial loss the paper suffered. On the ethical level, he'll be pushing for legislation to codify the consequences of newspaper thefts.

In response to the recent theft and a request by Lin, Bates agreed to propose a city ordinance and support state legislation specifically making the theft of free newspapers a crime.

And speaking to schoolchildren about it, although no one will care about that one.

Furthermore, Bates said he plans to speak to Berkeley public school students to help them understand that "impulsive actions have lasting consequences that can profoundly affect the rest of their lives."

"I want to help students understand the importance of their decisions, and that they are responsible for their actions," Bates said in a statement Thursday.

If this was just Bates throwing the papers away, this would probably do it for me in terms of restitution. But now there's a much more serious charge levelled against him: that he conspired with political allies to spin this story several weeks before the police confronted him. That's worse then the actual thefts. If you want to be conspiratorial, you could say that these restitutions are designed to pull attention away from that other charge. So I'm still a skeptic.

I think I'm going to ask Bates for an interview for next semester's Kevin-column.

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I take one damned Final and all of Berkeley goes out and does stuff. Email This Post!

See you later.

My stint on Calstuff has come to and end, at least for a while. Over break and next semester I will post on Potatochucker, and during finals I won't be posting at all. If Kevin grants me access, however, I make some cameos.

I just posted on PC about Trent Lott a post which I hope utterly proves he is a closet racist and should step down.

So, I'll leave Calstuff with this gloomy note. Have you seen the latest Jack in the Box commericals? They feature Jack's son asking him the scary question: what makes boys different from girls. The problem? Little jack is wearing a Stanford hat! Little bastard.

-McMikeEmail This Post!

The Patriot sends word that Bates has been charged with an infraction: $250 fine.

That's it.Email This Post!

Team Squelch narrowly won last week's Bear's Lair Trivia night, besting Team Rally Comm by one point and beating Team Grad Students in a tiebreaking drinkoff. After tonight's match, the 12.18 Finale will be for a $100 cash prize!

Teams need five people. See you there!

UPDATE: Team Squelch narrowly lost tonight to a viciously tough field. Fourth place by two points. The Bartenders were wishy-washy about whether or not there'll be one next week after all.. I'll let you know.Email This Post!

The East Bay Express has a stinging attack on Bates, making two points that Defenders of Bates haven't really addressed. The first is that the appeal of Bates was that he was better then Dean, better then all of the dirty Berkeley politicos. The second is that the problem isn't that Bates stole the papers so much as he lied about it for a month afterwards.

The EBE also has explosive allegations that Bates not only told his political allies about it, but formulated a media spin plan for the eventual day when the cops would confront him(!)

According to a source close to the Bates organization, the mayor contacted key campaign supporters three weeks ago and warned them that, sooner or later he would have to own up to what he did. His eventual apology displays a Clintonesque bad faith that seems the very essence of calculation. Note the passive language in his admission that "a number of Daily Cal newspapers were placed in recycling and trash bins during the day." Or his obvious effort to spread the blame around when he says, "I apologize on behalf of myself and my supporters for our involvement in this activity." These aren't the tactics of an exhausted man losing control of his brain's impulse center.

The first level of badness was stealing. Then lying. But surely there's a place in moral purgatory for an 'honest politician' whose first response to doing something illegal and wrong is to say to himself 'How can I get out of this without consequences by manipulating the media and my own supporters?'Email This Post!

Looking for somewhere to live next semester?

Think about the Alpha Delta Phi boarding house!

Rent for the semester is a cheap $3300, or approximately $750 a month. And where in an apartment this would just get you lodging and a few utilities, at ADPhi this gets you:

1. Professional cook five days a week! Breakfast/lunch to order. Sample dinner: Salmon with almond glaze.
2. Free, fast DSL line
3. Access to one of the few pools/hot tubs in Berkeley
4. Dryer/Washer
5. ALL utilities paid for
6. Interesting living environment
7. Quiet library/study room
8. FREE Parking

All this just three blocks from campus, on quiet Prospect Street. (2422 Prospect)

Interested? E-mail me at ked@uclink.berkeley.edu or call 510.206.3709

Act now! Rooms going fast!Email This Post!

The Chron says the DA will decide on Thursday or Friday whether or not to go after Mayor Bates.Email This Post!

The Patriot has their coverage of the first Bates Council meeting up within 4 hours of the event, along with zoomable, non-crappy pictures! Ten points to Patriot!

There's three stories emerging from this, as far as I can tell. The first is the remarkable level of shoulder shrugging from Bates and his political allies about the 'unfortunate matter.' The Patriot saves the money quote for last, but I'll give you it first.

Bates added that although his lawyers suggest that a free paper can be legally thrown away, he “(doesn’t) want to argue that.”

“I may have been legally correct, but I have not been morally correct,” he said. “Whatever the (Alameda County) District Attorney comes up with, I will live by.”

The hell you will. If the DA decides to spank you good, you'll most likely come back with lawyers and argue fair usage of free newspapers. His reaction should be a wakeup call to all those who've been arguing that Mayor Bates will make restitution somehow, because he's that kind of guy. He's going to do nothing of the sort. In fact, he's been arguing that serving as mayor is somehow is punishment; his way of making things right. To continue the boring GWB parallel, if G-Dub got to serve as President to recompense his electoral shadiness, wouldn't we all be so pleased.

Bates' allies-- with the very notable exception of Mr. Worthington-- have been very vocal in how comfortable they are with all this, and how they'd probably do the same thing.

“Everyone that’s running for election has done the same dirty things; he just got caught. Why should he have to pay?” said Councilmember Margaret Breland.

Councilmember Linda Maio said of the theft that “everybody makes mistakes,” adding she considers Bates “a partner in my work for affordable housing.”

There's also yesterday's Shirek aide quote that 'I stole thousands when I thought they were going to attack Maudelle.'

The second story is how the Moderates have decided not to press this too harshly. Probably they're waiting for the DA to act, as Councilmember Wozniak states. But former Mayor Dean was nowhere in sight last night. Although I may've been looking too high.

The final story may be nothing, or it may be everything. The Progressives are backing away from Bates' proposal of a 'Rules Committee' to decide what gets put on the Council agenda. Since this was virtually Bates' only platform item, besides the pointless Education summit, perhaps the Progressives have decided that it's time for Mayor Bates to learn who still calls the shots on the City Council. Councilman Worthington backed down from running for mayor, but 'interest in defeating Shirley Dean' is not the same thing as 'interest in giving up control of the City Council to some new guy.' Time will tell if this is the case.Email This Post!

I'm back from the Bates protests. Arrived at 6:20, all decked out for journalism. Had my camera, santa hat, flask, and everything. (I don't actually drink from the flask, but I feel like a war-hardened correspondant when I have it with me.)

Two separate protests. One was organized by about 20 or so middle-aged white people. They looked like experienced protestors, queuing up to give statements to the news folks and all carrying various signs. That one broke up by 6:45 or so to get some of the few remaining seats in the City Council room. That's a tiny room, incidentally.

The other protest was Students for Ethical Leadership. SEL was organized by Mr. Arsen Kitch, widely known as the blonde, dreamy looking member of Berkeley College Republicans. Hence, most of the attendees were Republicans, about 20 again.

Here's some crappy pictures I took. Why are these things always at night, when my photography skills are at their most meager?





News media dominated the attendance. All major local networks were there, plus **CNN**. Both the Patriot and the Daily Cal were there, with almost all of the latter's Editorial Board attending. Fun moment when the dapper Channel 5 guy directed the SEL protest to get on the steps behind him 'if they wanted to be on TV.' I saw Councilman Wozniak walk in, and an upbeat Mr. Katz hanging around outside. The meeting was so packed that Mr. Worthington had to push through to get in the doors, which were closed to anyone new coming in.

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I got an e-mail from 'Students for an Ethical Leadership.' It was sent to a diverse but oddly chosen group of 'student leaders.'

This isn't about politics. This isn't moderates vs. progressives. Students of all political persuasions are coming together to demand justice- and demand Mayor Bates resign. If he doesn't do the honorable thing- we'll be inaugurating a petition drive to recall the Mayor.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

We will be having a kick off protest tomorrow evening at Mayor Bates first city council meeting.

Please start to gather at City Hall tomorrow, Tuesday, December 10th, (ON MLK across from the Civic Center Park) around 6 - 630 PM. There will be signs and other materials provided.

The meeting begins at 7 PM, we'd like as many of us to pack the chambers and address the council, demanding resignation.

We know it is during finals, but if you can, please spare an hour or two to affect positive change in our community. Please do your part to get the word out.

Just please e-mail this out to your lists and help get people involved. We can't stand by idly while Mayor Bates tramples our free speech.

We will be joined by many members of the community, from Dean to former Bates supporters. Please take the time to get people involved, and get students out there!

Media will be there to help spread our message and make it resonate

Any questions, e-mail back and we'll get them answered!

-STUDENTS FOR ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

I just have one: who the hell are you people? My best guess is they're outsiders to Berkeley, since anyone wanting to actually build a protest has to do better then e-mail a few 'student leaders' anonymously urging them to show up. Esp. when that group includes both the heads of BAMN and IAC.

But who wants to go as independent observers? It'd be fun to get a blogging crew together to see Mayor Bates in action.Email This Post!

ASUC Elections Chair and Squelch Webmaster Tommaso Sciortino has succeeded Kenny Byerly as Squelch Editor-in-ChiefEmail This Post!

Mr. Sexton's account of Daily Cal bias made the WSJ's Best of the Web Today, under the title 'Sharia, Berkeley style.'

The Daily Cal has reacted to these charges in usual style: officious silence, in a 'We shall not deign to respond to the scandalmongering Republican press' sort of way. Alright, not my style, but a time-honored strategy. Especially when the real motivations, in my opinion, hardly do credit to the Daily Cal either. (To recap, a complex mixture of distrust of Sexton, worries over only Republicans witnessing the stealings, and fear of libel.)

But of course, this strategy is only useful when the Daily Cal truly maintains silence. Instead, there've been sniping e-mails, anonymous blog comments, etc. All of which undermine EIC Lin's ability to shape the Daily Cal's response if he chooses to do so. It also leads to newsroom controversy, as everyone plays whispered guessing games over which staffer or alum wrote which anonymous opinion piece. Email This Post!

The LA Times has a sympathetic but hardly exculpatory portrait of former Boalt Dean Dwyer. Gist: he's a hard-luck child, a dazzling intellect, and also an overly charming walking disaster in relationships with a history of seducing younger women and bragging about it.

Dwyer's marriage to Beltran ended in divorce when "he fell in love with someone else," Beltran said softly. She said she did not know whether his new interest at the time was a student. Beltran referred to herself as Dwyer's second wife, and his colleagues at Boalt also said she was his second wife, but she was actually his third. His brother Andy said that John's first marriage was to a Kentucky women he met in college. Asked about this Sunday, Beltran said John had implored her to keep his short first marriage a secret. The second wife declined to be interviewed.

The underlying parallel is with Clinton, which appears to be reasonably accurate.

Of course, none of this says all that much about the allegations made against him. Still waiting for more details on that one.Email This Post!

Patriot EIC Sexton has a long j'accuse against the Daily Cal's handling of the Bates story. Most interesting part: someone in the News Room is apparently leaking to the Patriot... a big no-no.

What’s more, when the news team returned to the newsroom on November 4th, after a cursory investigation of the crime, they speculated that my Republican friends and I had orchestrated the whole thing to try and bring down the liberal Bates, a source inside the newsroom tells the Patriot.

Regardless of Sexton's conclusion-- probably correct!-- that the Daily Cal screwed up by not printing the Bates accusation, any article about the Daily Cal's handling of the Bates story that doesn't mention the big glaring influence that Mr. Sexton was is useless.

In subsequent conversations, the editors have stated fear of a libel suit also factored into the decision. But even the most freshman reporter knows the defense for libel is that reported information be “provably true.” Certainly that four witnesses said they saw Bates do it was provably true. As a police officer said on Nov. 4th, rarely are there four eyewitnesses to a crime.

In not reporting Bates’ theft of the newspapers in a timely manner, the Daily Cal let its readers down, and lost credibility as a source of reliable, timely news.

Why doesn't Mr. Sexton mention his own role in the Daily Cal's decision? It doesn't necessarily reflect badly on him, or largely distract from his charge that being Republican was a prime factor. Certainly it's a complicating factor, but considering the big role it played, it needs to be mentioned for the story to be correct...Email This Post!

Interesting discussion on KALX about Axe Rally stuff. Mano has it. Interesting parts: Rally Comm has not been notified of any investigation, as is standard practice. The Administration's cooperation with the Rally was extensive. SJP, which has handled this parallel very skillfully, is allying themselves with Rally Comm's position while at the same time making sure this stays in the news. Very impressive job by SJP in helping to create this big headache for the University. Email This Post!

Dancing Bear-- wasn't I supposed to have killed that one?-- is back, with several new posts and feedback options.Email This Post!

The APPLE party had their midyear conference. On the agenda: a long-discussed possible merger with Student Action, advanced by former Senator Frankenstein and cautiously supported by myself.

Not to overly bore readers with the minutae of party politics, but the essence of the deal was this: Student Action was interested in removing the irritation of a 'Reformist party,' distracting voters as well as gaining an effective Engineering party with actual ties to the Engineering community. APPLE would hypothetically gain some votes on slating decisions at the Executive level, plus two APPLE members running for Executive spots this spring. SA would promise to reform some of their shadier practices, and the Engineering party would be run by APPLE loyalists insulated from SA higher-ups.

The major worry from APPLE was that SA would quickly take control of all major decisions and absorb the Engineering part back into the fold. I argued that since Party Chair Mills had no serious interest in building the party and commanded little loyalty from APPLE Senators, this was a next-best option to probable death, especially since we would probably have APPLE people in Exec spots next year.

Long story short on the negotiations: they foundered on the rocks of old mutual distrust. By the time the vote was held on Saturday, it was generally a dead issue. The party instead pushed for a third option: handing the party over to Mr. Paganini, who established the Engineering party. Email This Post!

TooCool has the rap songs of SJP's Will Youmans. Too cool.Email This Post!

Back from Tahoe.

I haven't been able to track how the Bates story is moving Nationally, but it at least made the NY Times. Presumably a bunch of other places, too.

Some dumb Columnist claims we don't have a student newspaper anymore. It's the PLANET that folded. (Midway down)

Good blogging commentary all around. Calwatch, Clam, Bearly, Beetle esp...Email This Post!

Mayor Bates has:

1) Committed theft of a thousand or so papers because they endorsed his political opponent.
2) Told his political allies, who conspired to keep quiet about it.
3) Lied about whether or not he did it.
4) Tried to keep students from reading something he disagreed with.
5) Only apologized when he was caught.

How can this be considered 'a strike against him?' This is a combination of larceny, lying, arrogance, and censorship. And yet his political allies are going to defend him, when anybody else doing this would've been hung from the highest tree.

Bates' strongest political ally in the run up to the election, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, called the newspapers' destruction "stupid behavior." But Worthington stood by Bates.

"Getting rid of the mayor because of this would basically be the same as capital punishment," Worthington said.

Way to be ideologically pure, Mr. Worthington. And bravo on the analogy. The hypocrisy of the Progressives in advocating Free Speech but standing behind their man is blatant. This is especially so in a Candidate who presented himself as an honest, nonpartisan alternative to the dirty, anything-goes battle of Berkeley politics.

Email This Post!

Mayor Bates has admitted to stealing about a thousand Daily Cals. The Patriot had the story first, but it has omissions.

“When we went to the Daily Cal with the story, the editor told us that they could not print the story with only four witnesses, since we are all Republicans. He told us that we weren’t credible since we presumably had an ideological bias against Bates,” explained Irvin. “I’m agitated that the Daily Cal implied that just because I’m a Republican I would lie to further my own beliefs.”

This wasn't it at all, although the real reason is hardly to the Daily Cal's credit either.

Mr. Sexton, at the time a Patriot staff writer, called in the paper thefts, which immediately put the Daily Cal on edge. (To remind everybody, Mr. Sexton lost a bitter battle to become Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Cal last year, and has been a vocal critic of them since moving to the Patriot.)

Down on the scene, nobody but the Republicans seemed to have seen these thefts. This includes those who were much nearer the trash can the Daily Cals were found in, as well as students like the ROTC recruiters that would hardly have a reason to love Mr. Bates. Not only that, but only Mr. Sexton was really firm on seeing Daily Cals go in the trash at the hands. The Daily Cal felt the other three were kinda wishy-washy on if they actually saw Bates throw them away. Bates denied it.

There's no end to how insane the idea is that Bates would throw away stacks of Daily Cals. He was in the middle of a very crowded Sproul Plaza, where hundreds of students could've spotted him. He was in the middle of a very tough election fight with Dean, where any issue he gave her she would've beat him into the ground with. Also, anyone with any knowledge of Berkeley politics knows that the Daily Cal almost always picks the loser in any close election race. Being endorsed is the kiss of death. So its not like Dean getting their endorsement would've swung thousands of student votes her way.

In fact, Bates' supporters can only explain him tossing the papers as a moment of temporary insanity.

Spring said she believed Bates was overwhelmed by the stress of the campaign.

"He was very exhausted from the election, getting very little sleep, and he just blew it," Spring said. "He let his emotions take over."

Faced with a crazy situation, the Daily Cal considered an equally crazy one: that this was a deliberate plot by Mr. Sexton and his Republican cronies to embarass the Daily Cal by libeling Berkeley's likely next mayor, as well as trash a political opponent of theirs. Almost all Republicans supported Dean. A libel suit is not something a financially strapped newspaper looks forward to. 'After all,' the Daily Cal thought, 'how could the Republicans be the only ones to see this in crowded Sproul Plaza? Bates is tall. He draws the eye.'

Both were crazy, so the Daily Cal gave up, noting only that papers were thrown away in a 'News in Brief.' Lin filed charges with UCPD, but they batting 0/100 on solving paper thefts, so that was little hope. It was left to UCPD and the Patriot to pursue the story. And now we're here.Email This Post!

Column.

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BREAKING NEWS: The Administration revealed that they are starting an investigation into possible class disruptions by Rally Committee during the Axe Rally.

When the Daily Cal does a story on this, keep in mind that Calstuff broke it.

I'm not surprised by this, although I'm sure many are. It's the logical extension of the University's maybe/maybe not zero tolerance policy, as was noted by Mano in his account of yesterday's forum.

Anyway, the only question one should now ask about ZT is whether or not its a ZT for SJP, or a ZT for disruption of classes in general, as the University maintains. Folks at the forum talked some about Rally Com. From the reaction, my guess is SJA will go after Rally Com (Berdahl left that option open and made it seem likely) to make themselves look consistent. I still contend that the logical inconsistencies in the new code (the professors did a really good job pointing these out), the harsh enforcement by the administration (they are already punishing roberto and he hasnt been found guilty, and this is one example of many) and the acknowledgement of outside pressure on the administration (urging a crack down on the pro-Palestinian message) is more than enough to suggest that ZT was aimed - originally - at hurting SJP.

However, important note: Dean Kenney argues that there hasn't been a shift in policy at all, and that disruption of academic yahda yahda has always been harshly prosecuted. The main difference with the SJP case, in her view, is the severity of it and that the University had a chance to warn the participants beforehand. In saying there was a new policy, 'Berdahl misspoke.'

Of course, it's very possible that the investigation won't result in charges. There are several differences between the two incidents that could hold weight in a hearing. First, Rally Comm sought permission from the University beforehand, and was operating under the assumption that this was an 'approved presentation,' if that means anything. Heck, berkeley.edu has a positive writeup of the rally. In contrast, SJP was acting knowing that they were breaking the rules. They may also get credit for lesser severity of possible disruptions, and even unstated credit for this being historical. Politically speaking, prosecuting Rally Comm for displaying the axe would be an absolute disaster in terms of alumni and PR.

They could also drop the investigation for lack of evidence: unless Professors both come forward and name names, it'll be difficult to accurately identify exactly who entered lecture halls.

Of course, all these things could also be ignored. Who knows?Email This Post!

Mr. Yim might be quoting me today. I'm not sure.

As described by columnist Kevin Deenihan in "________," UC Berkeley's public image as some hotbed of political protest and radical activism is a misconception.

This is probably a ref to my 'Berkeley and the Media' column.. Best guess is that he couldn't remember the column title, left the blank spot as a placeholder for the editors to catch, and they didn't.

UPDATE: Mr. Hillman writes in that the line is actually a joke that all my columns are the same. Oh. A prize of $1 and a hug to anyone who got that when they first read it.

So far I've written:
1 on racial self-segregation
1 on the Greek alcohol moratorium
2 on the media's perception of Berkeley
2 on aspects of the ASUC
1 on the District 8 campaign
1 on Literary funding
1 on how I'd run the University
1 on Stanfurd sucking
2 on the Hernandez case

Overall, 4 columns of 12 dealing with activism at Berkeley. Of those, one is a straight humor piece. One has more to do with Republicans manipulating the media. Two are about the Administration's 'protestor policy.' And one of those two hasn't been published yet.

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It's over. CalWatch has commentary.Email This Post!

Rory reports that Mr. Manley has resigned as BCR President, effective as of the end of this semester.Email This Post!

Hugo publishes the bi-annual Hugo Awards for Achievements in Cal Blogging.Email This Post!

Former Planet staffer Wolf whines a bit about the Planet folding. He blames readers.

A professor at UC Berkeley's journalism school rattled off the barrage of frustrated e-mails she got from Berkeley "intelligentsia" when the Daily Planet closed. This is horrendous, they said. We need a rag of our own, they said.

But how many of these folks trundled down to the corner to pick up a copy of the Daily Planet five days a week? Maybe the five who were quoted therein on a given day. Otherwise, these people drove their Volvos over bridges to San Francisco or down Telegraph Ave. to Oakland where they cracked open the real newspaper to read about Gov. Gray Davis and President Bush and Jacques Chirac and the Philippines and Iraq.

How about the Planet's shoddy journalism during the Devona Era, including poor writing, copy editing, and the occasional story run twice in the same paper? Or a local paper that covered only three things: zoning fights, High School battles, and City politics? Or a local paper that inexplicably ran boring wire National stories in a town used to reading the New York Times? Mr. Wolf only gives one sentence to these things, and refuses to consider the idea that they might be the reasons readers aren't reading.

Blame advertising or editing or bad design or the lack of home delivery for the demise of daily city journalism in Berkeley. But don't forget to throw in the readers.

Hey, maybe readers are connected to these things. Yow.
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The Patriot has a new Editor-in-Chief. Mr. James Gallagher has handed the reins over to Mr. Steve Sexton.

UPDATE: Former Daily Cal Rebel Ben Barron has signed on to head up the Patriot's News department. He pledges a strict focus on news, with ideology kept on the other side of the wall. Mr. Barron:

I admire Fox News' style: a separation of news and opinion... I will not let bias of any kind alter the content of our news articles, which means I'll give fair weight to all sides. I'm here to offer reliable news articles and to train patriot writers, and I'll let the rest of the publication take over from there.

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A blogger and Cal Alum has been researching the Dwyer case. So far she seems convinced that this is merely an excuse to change Boalt's sexual discrimination policy. But she comes up with some interesting background on the laywer involved, Laura Stevens.

I have been wondering what the goal of the accusation, made two years after the fact, truly is. And I have been wondering, too, what the lawyer hopes to gain by feeding the media prurient detail in order to discredit the dean's claim. The story is that the student did not file charges while she was still enrolled at Boalt because she wanted to preserve anonymity and feared retaliation. Okay--but what makes her think her identity is going to stay secret when her lawyer is encouraging the press to circulate graphic details of Dwyer's alleged assault? What is she really after? If she wanted justice, it would seem that she got it when Dwyer resigned in a cloud of repentant shame. If she wanted anonymity, it would seem that she would not use the media to press the point about whether the encounter was or was not "consensual." Dwyer is out of a job, he is humiliated, and somehow, miraculously, the identity of the accuser is still not public. And yet, she and her lawyer press on.

A clue to what they are after appears in Florida's Herald Tribune this morning. Here is the lawyer, Laura Stevens:

Stevens said Berkeley is obligated to "train and educate the whole community about this social phenomenon of sexual abuse and heighten people's interest in the subject in a positive way to prevent it, to create an environment that is likely to prevent it and likely to aid a victim in a positive way if it still does occur. That has not happened and that's what we want to have happen."

Next on the docket: a push for mandatory sensitivity training at Berkeley.

Hardly seems proven, although the 'what does she want?' part raises an interesting question. Perhaps this will fade away now that Dwyer has been punished. Perhaps the former student will sue.

But I doubt their tactics have been designed to elicit changes in sexual harassment policy. Perhaps it's a pet project of the lawyer tacked on to this case, but sexual assault of the rape-variant that the person describes does not lead to 'This is due to poor sexual culture training for incoming Deans.' I just can't imagine, with the severity of the charges, that that would be the objective. Especially when considerable cash damages and multiple lawsuits could be in the offing.

However, claiming that the University's poor policies are partly responsible for the attack makes the University culpable.. and this would be a very lucrative drum to bang in any lawsuits. I doubt Dwyer has all that much money, but Boalt Hall certainly does, and who could fault an assaulted law student for taking the Institution that sheltered Dwyer to the bank? I would.Email This Post!

This Berkeley High semi-blog is interesting.Email This Post!

The Chron has the scoop on the other side of the 'consensual sex incident' in the Dwyer scandal. (Thanks to Calstuff Correspondant RP). It's lurid.

But Stevens, a Berkeley lawyer who was in Amsterdam on Sunday night, said in a press release and phone interview that there was nothing consensual about what happened that night two years ago. She said Dwyer hooked up late one night with a group of students who had spent a celebratory night drinking. After the woman got separated from her friends, Dwyer offered to give her a ride home to her Oakland apartment, Stevens said.

While he used her bathroom, the woman, who was intoxicated, passed out on her bed, Stevens said. When she woke up, she discovered that her panty hose had been removed, her skirt pushed up around her waist and her shirt pushed up to her neck. Dwyer was on top of her with his hand inside her vagina, the lawyer said.

Ew.

On the legal side, there's details on why the woman waited so long to file

Stevens said the student decided to withhold lodging a formal complaint until after she graduated in May.

After graduating and completing the bar exam, she hired an attorney and filed a formal complaint with the university on Oct. 11 under the school's faculty code of conduct.

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Cookie Goddess locates the stolen IAC banner.Email This Post!

Debra Saunders has a column on the Hernandez case. (Link thanks to Rory.) The meat is in the discussion of the Student Conduct rescheduling, which she supports.

Hernandez claims the Alameda County District Attorney's office exonerated him when it dropped criminal charges. The "factual finding of innocence" has a "higher burden of proof than an acquittal," Hernandez wrote.

That's news to Deputy District Attorney Stuart Hing. Hing didn't see any public interest in the county paying to try to jail Cal students. When the students grow up, Hing wants them to be able to tell prospective employers that they have clean records. He arranged a plea bargain whereby the students could make that claim -- after paying a fine that shows that they did wrong. There were three levels of fines, Hing noted; BUT only one student -- Hernandez -- paid the highest fine, because he "bit (one police officer) and tried to bite another officer."

Hernandez denies biting a cop. He says he paid the highest fine because "my case involved assault and battery charges, which entail more work and court costs."

U.C. attorney Mike Smith said because of the plea bargain, the Student Conduct Committee has to hold new hearings. Smith acknowledges that it's not easy politically to enforce the rules.

But this has nothing to do with the issue at hand, which is whether or not SJA bungled the case and violated Hernandez's rights as a student. That'll be the topic of Friday's column.

Oh, speaking of which, it looks like I'll be a Columnist next semester after all. My Mom put the situation best. 'Kevin, even if you have more free time because you aren't a Columnist, do you really think you'll use it to study?' Touche, Mom.


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It's the Holidays, which means I have an excuse to wear my Santa hat every moment of every day. This year's Santa hat is graciously provided by the ASUC.

Since the Calstuff Trivia Contest is on hiatus, we'll have a different challenge. The first person to catch me not wearing my Santa hat gets a Calstuff favor. You actually have to come up and tag me to win. Email This Post!

I'm back from vacation.

No new word on the resignation of Boalt Hall Dean Dwyer. The best article is actually in the Chron, which gives a little bit of the background behind the scandal.

Professor John Dwyer issued a statement saying he will leave his posts as dean and professor at the school "with profound sadness" because of the harassment complaint filed Oct. 11 by a female former law student.

His resignation is effective Jan. 1.

University officials said they began an internal investigation as soon as the charges were brought to their attention. They declined to give any details about what the woman alleged.

Remarkably, it appears the University successfully kept the allegations quiet since they were originally brought in early October. At least Mo Kashmiri, a Boalt student and Graduate Assembly officer, didn't seem to have any inside scoop. (Or he didn't want to say anything.)

Mo Kashmiri, a Boalt third-year student active in campus politics, said he was relieved Dwyer had resigned. "He's been very resistant to diversifying the faculty and the student body."

If someone in his position was unaware, then it's pretty safe to assume nobody had any idea.



So there's a host of unanswered questions: why is Dwyer only resigning now? Who brought the allegations? Why were they only made now?

UPDATE: Yeah, the Times story is better. Although it requires an incredible pain in the ass registration to read.Email This Post!

Progcal responded to a comment of mine with a long piece. I respond to him on my blog. I debunk his claim that there is a zero olerance policy for political protest.Email This Post!

>From: Michael Froehlich

hey folks,

Were you in class on Monday afternoon, Nov 25th, in VLSB, Dwinelle, or any other building? Did the Rally Committee come into your class showing off the Axe (won from Stanford in the weekend's Big Game)?

As you know, the University is currently trying to suspend 32 SJP students for allegedly disrupting classes in Wheeler Hall back in April. If your class was disrupted on Monday by the Axe-touting Rally Committee, we would be interested in talking with you.

Please email Mike Froehlich, at michaelrfroehlich@yahoo.com as soon as possible.

Clever! Drawing a parallel between yelling by axe-bearing Rally Commers and the Wheeler protest last Spring. Email This Post!

Courtesy of CalWatch, a link to some superb Big Game photos.Email This Post!

Mr. Bennett has a nice critique of the Hitchens speech.Email This Post!

ESPN has a columnon enthusiastic celebrations involving goal posts at college football game. First he indulges in the common myth that 'Cal = lack of fan base.'

Of all the places in which a field was charged, goal posts were torn down and fans imperiled, the strangest might have been Berkeley, Calif.

Bleah. If you want a weak fan base, check out that junior college down the peninsula. He also takes a slap at one of our distinguished ASUC Senators.

Nobody was hurt. In fact, the one yahoo who rode the north goal posts like Slim Pickens riding the nuclear bomb down to Moscow in "Dr. Strangelove" (and who seemed to be having an unusually good time in that position, we might add) dismounted after a few minutes and was neither arrested, pepper-sprayed or even cursed.

But go back to Ratto's column on Berdahl's strangely forgotten remark that Cal Athletics should be more like Stanfurd's:

This kind of cheap justification is simply wrong. We want fury. We want Cal fans taking to the streets. In fact, we want them to take the streets of Palo Alto, emptying the Starbucks of frappucinos and the Sharper Images of plutonium-powered Palm Pilots. We want them surrounding Berdahl's office and demanding his resignation, lobotomy and a stern talking-to after that....

We want what we would get in Tallahassee or Starkville, College Station or Columbus, Westwood or Los Angeles ... for that matter, we want what we would get in Bosnia or Herzegovina.

When is rioting okay? Ray Ratto has no easy answers.

Incidentally, Senator Leybovich was one of those who charged the field, so he might be the mysterious 'Second Senator' being investigated by SJA.

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Sadly, the Police Log is only online today. It has all the Saturday stuff.

4:00 PM: Vandalism to Memorial Stadium, including destruction of goalposts. Under investigation.

4:33 PM: Male cited for battery on a peace officer, Memorial Stadium. Case Closed.

6:14 PM: Police Vehicle damaged by crowd, Memorial Stadium. Under investigation.

8:04 PM: Carrying goalpost, Ridge Road and Euclid Avenue.
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Here's a little mystery: University Officials announces that two ASUC Senators may face student conduct charges for post-game celebrations, but we only know the name of one: Senator Patel.

Students, including two ASUC senators, were seen swinging from the goalposts after the Big Game, university officials said.

"I was very disappointed in the behavior of our students," said Dean of Students Karen Kenney. "We're very fortunate that no one was hurt."

This raises the interesting question of: who was the other student? Why wasn't their name released?
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Some pictures from the Axe Rally. For those cringing over my lack of photography skills, I'll be studying how to use my camera over the Break.



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Despite the Daily Planet's sudden death, their website is still up and functional.

I wonder what's going to happen to it. They have an excellent archive that is basically a compendium of the past three years in Berkeley. Hate to see that resource go.Email This Post!

The post-game celebrations are over, and a young Cal student's mind turns to thoughts of Student Conduct charges. Anyone involved with the celebratory goalpost tearing down and security guard bashing could hypothetically be in big loads of trouble. The poster boy for this would be Senator Tas Patel, who was videotaped/photographed/quoted as flying 30 feet in the air clinging to the goalpost before sliding to relative safety.

No word yet on whether charges will be forthcoming, but Berdahl and crew are known to be very harsh on anything smacking of school spirit. Email This Post!

Columnist Anne Benjaminson gloats over the death of the Daily Planet.

Personally, I enjoyed this newspaper for its misspelling of reporters' names (OK, we've been known to do that too), theft of classified advertisements and headlines such as "The Jews are Attacked Near Campus." Really? All the Jews?

So say what you will about having a two-newspaper town, but I say, "So long, suckas

What was so bad for the Daily Cal about having the Planet around? The two were hypothetically competitors for ad money, I suppose, but in truth they largely went after different markets. The DC went for National advertisers and student-focused ads, the Planet for a wider range of local stuff. Their news coverage only overlapped on city politics, and that wasn't much of a beat to get worked up about. On the other hand, lots of people just lost their jobs, there are less reporters covering everything, and city residents have fewer news sources.

In fact, the only really 'good' reason for celebrating the Planet's death from a Daily Cal person's point of view is that it gives the Daily Cal a virtual monopoly on day-to-day Berkeley news. And that sucks for everyone else.Email This Post!

The Stanfurd Daily's article on their loss.

“This is one of the worst feelings I’ve had,” senior tailback Kerry Carter said. “[The Axe] is something we’ve had for so long, and we cherish it, not just this team but anyone who’s ever put on a Stanford uniform. We feel like we’ve let them down.”

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In honor of our victory, the first Axe Rally in seven years will be on Sproul at Noon on Monday. The Axe will be paraded around campus, and classes are not to be attended. See you there!

The Axe will reside in the Axe Case in MLK once all the excitement dies down. I don't think anyone remembered anymore where we keep the darn thing.

However, the case has to be renovated for security reasons first.Email This Post!

I took a hike around 7 to see the remains of the post-game celebrations. With me was some Frat Boys and a few Calstuff readers.

All was calm inside the stadium. Much less wreckage then you'd probably think. The South goalpost is resting quietly right behind its usual spot, so if any enterprising Frats want a piece, now is your chance. There's also a ton of shoes and sandals littering the field, no doubt lost by trampled students.





The North goalpost was brought all the way down to in front of Sproul Hall, a walk of about 7-10 minutes. It's resting comfortably right in front of the doors. Looks good! Much praise to the mighty Cal students who took it all that way.

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BEARS WIN!



30-7 crushing of foolish trees...
Stanfurd Basketball player hurt in final minutes...
Axe taken back, students jublient...
Goal posts torn down for some reason...
AP's Account...
Quotes...Email This Post!

Jesus Crap!

2:01 p.m.—The Berkeley Daily Planet printed its last issue today.

Employees arrived at work this morning only to learn the newspaper's board had decided to shutter the paper because of continuing financial losses.

"It's unfortunate because the editorial content has improved drastically over the last six months but the ad revenues have come down," said Berkeley Daily Planet Editor Kurtis Alexander.

The Daily Planet's sister paper, the San Mateo Daily Journal, will continue to publish, Alexander said.

This leaves Berkeley without a paper extensively covering city political issues. Email This Post!

Column. Go Bears!Email This Post!

The Opinion page after the Barak event, and both sides are having a hissy fit over it. The IAC/Hillel people are upset that the Daily Cal gave reasonably heavy coverage to the Protestors.

Secondly, I think that it is disappointing to see that the nature of the Daily Cal's article seems to be focused on protesters rather than Ehud Barak himself. The point here is that rather than acknowledge those who are cowardly and not willing to sit and listen to their opposition, the Daily Cal should spread Barak's message in order to educate the public as to what he said—that is why Chancellor Robert Berdahl, among other people, sponsored his coming here.

I liked the Daily Cal's coverage well enough. I'm much more interested in the controversy and drama surrounding the event then what Barak said. If I wanted to know what Barak was going to say, I could've read it just about anywhere; it's a stock speech. The Daily Cal covers, primarily, events at Berkeley, not geopolitical debate.

Although they do have a valid point that the line about people applauding the 30- walkout is misleading. Most of the applause was directed against the protestors from the very start.

Those pissed also do a fine job discrediting themselves by accusing the Daily Cal of being anti-semitic.

A new Cal Blog seems to have been started specifically for that purpose. Whoever it is-- anonymous-- makes the charge that the Daily Cal is blacklisting those who signed the pro-IAC petition.

Well now, for their own justification and rationalization purposes, they're cross-listing the names of people complaining about the coverage with the names on the IAC's full page pro-Israel petition from Tuesday. Effectively, they've decided that if you are pro-peace and anti-terrorism, and have signed on to the IAC's petition, your opinion on the Daily Cal is inconsequential.

Since this includes me, and I'm in print today, I'm not too worried.

Since this is 'Kevin comments on the Daily Cal' week, let me add that today's banner headlines are prone to confirm the stereotypes of our visitors from down the Bay.Email This Post!

Christopher Hitchens will be speaking at Pauley Ballroom tonight at 7:30. I'll be there, camera in hand. Naturally, the Indybay folks want to protest him as betraying Mario Savio's memory.Email This Post!

Here's some pictures from the Barak protests.

But more interesting are the comments farther down. The Indybay folks have decided that Mr. Sharkansky, who had his camera ripped from him and broken, was in fact responsible for the attacks himself. Apparently, he racistly approached the mass of Protestors, attacked the Asian/Palestinian girl who yelled at Barak, then threw his camera on the ground to frame Mr. Chaikhouni and get the cops to arrest him. They've also decided on a policy of harassment towards him by posting his phone number and address, and filing complaints against him with UCPD. As Mr. BaraksLies commented,

Now millionaire neonazi Mr Shark wants to lock up a Palestinian student at Berkeley for damaging a disposable camera?
Hopefully the charges are dropped but I guess the rightwing proIsrael crowd wont be happy until all people of color are behind bars.... I dont know why he is so angry when he lives in the whitest most conservative part of SF where he never has to face real problems...

Here's hoping Mr. Chaikhouni gets what's coming to him.



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I've heard charges that news coverage under the Meyers regime has been too subjective and opinionated. Frankly, I like reporting with a bit of opinion, so long as it can be backed up with facts and a bit of wit. A good example would be today's excellent Stanfurd piece, which captures the 'I don't care because I'm rich' feeling on that campus nicely.

For 105 hours, they will sit inside an open cage at the center of campus—but not without the comforts of home. With couches, gourmet sandwiches and wireless Internet, some students said it's better than being in the residence halls.

An example of that being done badly would be the opening sentence of the ASUC piece, which declares boldly

Campaigning for ASUC elections began early this year.

No it didn't. Moving Senate meetings to Unit 3 was a bipartisan move designed to give students a look at how student government works. No ASUC politician would possibly consider it campaigning.
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Senator Costa attacks Senator Primm for having six family members dead of cancer.

"I feel somebody in the senate is using a very sensitive matter to myself and to other senators to further their own political agenda," said Student Action Senator Cliff Costa, referring to fliers posted around campus with a picture of Aloha Independence Senator Kris Cuaresma-Primm and a caption reading "Six Members of my Family Died of Cancer."

The flier promotes "Relay for the Cure," an event that Primm is organizing at UC Berkeley.

"This is a very important issue to me and my family" Primm said, adding there was a miscommunication in production, and the fliers in question were being taken down.

The idea that Senator Primm is using family cancer deaths to further his own probable rerun for the Presidency pretty much tests the farthest bounds of sick. Senator Costa had to look at the picture, consider what he knew about Senator Primm, and conclude that this was a deliberate political tactic designed to win elective office in April.

It's probably a sign that no one takes Senator Costa seriously anymore that this charge passed without too much comment.
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The Hernandez trial has turned into a farce. Not really because of what anything SJP or Hernandez has done, but due to the complete incompetence of the University. I'd say more, but this'll be my last Column of the semester.Email This Post!

Some Trees wrote this little op-ed entitled 'Cal (Still) Sucks.'

I'll be running my own piece on why Stanfurd sucks on Friday.Email This Post!

Fun article on the Play, albeit blatantly pro-Arbor.Email This Post!

Mr. Yim complains about being criticized.

You know, once a week I write this stuff. And who knows how it gets down on paper or even why it's printed. The critics, meaning those restless bugging bloggers who seem to think that the Daily Cal is worth spending their free time exorcising, have awarded me with the "worst columnist" ever placard (and this was only after my first two submissions, no less). The truth is, I'm no less flabbergasted (maybe even to some extent offended).

I've always maintained that Max isn't a 'bad' columnist. He's just writing for himself, whether he knows that or not, and it happens to be published in the Daily Cal. Email This Post!

Went to the Barak speech last night, tickets kindly provided by IAC Chair David Singer. Fifth row. I've said it a million times: writing nice things about Jews pays off.

I went straight to the Eshleman entrance, nicely decked out. Took some pictures of the 'checkpoint.'





Lower Sproul was a lonely forest of cops nervously eyeing everyone. I walked over to the Bearcade side of Lower Sproul and took some other pictures, which made a cop very nervous. I squeaked 'Press!', but because Daily Cal Columnists having press passes would destroy the paper, I didn't have any proof. So I was semi-guided over to the coat check and dropped that off. So no more pictures for you.

Protest numbers were fairly impressive outside. Large numbers out there. I didn't actually get to see the walkout, but it seemed designed to walk the fine line between getting coverage of local protest and being blatantly anti-free speech. So kudos to Mr. Cantor for pulling that one off successfully and getting sympathetic coverage.

From there I was invited to the post-speech reception at the Alumni House. I was honestly most interested in the guest list: what exactly constituted a 'student leader?' Most of the crowd was exultant IAC/Hillel folks, including Ms. Puddle. Also there were the heads of AAA, BCR, Cal Dems, the ASUC Execs and some Senators, IFC, Panhellenic, and probably a few others that I didn't recognize. I left right after Barak did, after a lengthy Q-A session. Impressively, word of the after-speech thing either was never leaked to the Protestors or they didn't care. Either way, very quiet.

Strangely enough, I actually saw the camera incident written up here.

At that point the young man who was later identified as Omar Chaikhouni grabbed the camera out of my hands using physical force, and thereby committed an act of felony robbery as well as interfered with my right (as a freelance journalist, no less) to take photographs (of a newsworthy subject) on public property. I then started shouting Police! Police! of which there were several a few dozen yards away. The group of five or six student protesters got all agitated. Some of them started walking toward me with menacing expressions. Others told me that I was breaking the law by taking their pictures without permission, which of course was nonsense. Moments later the alleged robber hurled my camera against the ground, shattering it into pieces and trashing the film.

Sharkansky gives more credit to the cops then is due. Despite his yelling 'Police! Police!' pretty darn loudly, it took a passing audience member to get some cops near the parking entrance to take note.

Nothing special to report on the actual speech, although it doesn't appear that the many empty seats made it into the Daily Cal's account. Although there was a great slip when Berdahl accidentally referred to Cal as the 'Berlin Campus.' Telling.Email This Post!

Mr. Gabriel, Ms. Quindel and Mr. Bryant have a nice editorial on the possibility of raising student fees. Their gist is that Cal has a standard cost of living when housing/living expenses are factored in, so that costs are plenty high already. Hence, students shouldn't be first on the block to pay for UC.

As the Nov. 18 UCLA Daily Bruin editorial states, students should not be responsible for funding UC.

But they don't take a crack at the actual problem: where's the money going to come from? This isn't just a budget crisis. We're looking at the possibility of 10-20% cuts across the board. Mrs. Gabriel and Bryant write

For the future of California, we must fight to maintain the accessibility, affordability and quality of UC. Fee hikes, however "modest" they may seem, will only serve to make higher education a privilege instead of our right.

it's entirely possible that two of those goals have become opposing. Quality may depend on squeezing money from the only source left untapped for ten years: a fee hike. This is probably the choice facing Mr. Bryant's lobbyists, and attempts to have it both ways may backfire. Email This Post!

New Cal Activist magazine online, the Mic. Doesn't look like the articles have been uploaded yet.Email This Post!

On Rush this morning...

Today, on Rush Limbaugh's morning update:

Preschool Protest

November 18, 2002


For conservative students attending the University of California at Berkeley, yes such students really do exist folks, the California Patriot is the newspaper of record. On their website is a disturbing report of a recent antiwar protest on the steps of Berkeley’s City Hall. I know antiwar protests are the norm at Berkeley, but this one featured preschool kids.

They stood around a peace bell made from melted guns. One child-activist, Celia, told the crowd that President Bush wants to make war because he wants oil. When asked if she could name the president of Iraq, the six-year-old asked a friend, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Her friend said, "I think it's a boy." Skyler Johnson, five, shrugged and said, "My mom might know." After his mother gave him some coaching, Skyler said, "We don't want war. Oil kills lots of people." Other preschoolers went to the microphone to say, "We can't keep killing each other. Then we will all die and suffer."

Berkeley City Council member Linda Maio told the kids, "We heard your message loud and clear. Bush needs a time-out." Officials then pledged to call on the President to use words to resolve conflicts.

None of this is made up my friends, I swear to you on a stack of dollar bills. These children are being taught by their own parents and elected officials to believe the worst about their country, and that defending this nation and its values are immoral. You want to define child exploitation, look no further than this story.

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New Squelch comes out tomorrow. The cover contains the Deenihan family antique manger scene, plus some judicious additions. If you can't wait till tomorrow, read the PDF now.Email This Post!

The NCAA has upheld the Bowl Ban on Cal for this year, but given back the scholarships that were revoked. CalWatch has the complete coverage.

Considering we could only hope for some piddly-tink untelevised Bowl Game this year, this is pretty darn good.Email This Post!

The Daily Cal is looking for new Columnists. If they're anything like last time, you'll need to write two 700 word sample columns along with some miscellaneous biographical stuff.

Getting to be a Columnist is probably even more difficult then you might think, potential writers. Lets assume you want to be a mostly-political writer like I've been. There's 5 spots. One is already taken for Sex on Tuesday. Another will go to the 'Slice-of-life' columnist, like Josie is now and Suzanne Blais was in the years past. Another spot will go to whichever slumming Daily Cal editor calls in a favor, possibly even two spots. So you're talking one or two spots a most, for which a whole bunch of people apply. There's also a couple of red flags that will probably get you axed right off. Working for Student Action is one.

I'd love to reapply, but I need 4 Econ A's next semester and will be heavily occupied by Frat and Squelch stuff. Don't think it's gonna work.

But this doesn't mean I can't have a hand in next semester's columnists! If you're interested, I'd be more then happy to help you put together some sample columns and an application. E-mail or IM me if you want advice.Email This Post!

CyberBears has a great page on upcoming Big Game stuff, especially on the twentieth anniversary of The Play.

They also have a clip of the glorious moment when the Simpsons mocked Stanfurd.Email This Post!

From Res:

The California First District Court of Appeal is set to hear oral arguments on Berkeley's policy of singling out the Sea Scouts for punishment because of their affiliation with the Boy Scouts and the Boy Scout policy against admitting atheists and acknowledged homosexuals. Pacific Legal Foundation has submitted a brief in defense of the Scouts' First Amendment right to be free from Berkeley's punitive action. A PLF discussion of the case will be carried on the Morning Show of San Francisco's KSFO (am 560), on Monday, November 18 at 7 a.m.

Berkeley has been singling out the Sea Scouts for punitive treatment since 1998, when it started to charge the group to dock boats at the Berkeley marina -- explicitly because of their affiliation with the Boy Scouts, and the Boy Scouts' refusal to admit acknowledged homosexuals or atheists. No other nonprofit is subject to this fee. If the Sea Scouts had signed a loyalty oath to Berkeley's nondiscrimination code, they could have continued to use the marina free -- as any other nonprofit is allowed to do. But they've refused to surrender their constitutional First Amendment right to live by their own principles.

Should be an interesting case. As a Boy Scout myself, I'd prefer for local municipalities to stay out of the ongoing internal struggle between the asshole Texas headquarters that enforces rules like this and decentralized troops that understand flexibility. It is not helpful when the HQ and their Conservative allies can turn the struggle into a freedom of speech issue. It gets the courts and wavering civil libertarians behind them.Email This Post!

KEEP THINGS STRAIGHT HERE

There are at least four people with access to this blog. If you wish to criticize a post, be sure to direct your ire at the right person. I.e., don't blame Kevin.Email This Post!

GOD HATES TOLERANCE

I caught the god hates gays and America rally. It was nothing out of the expected for anyone who knows anything about the Westboro Baptist Church and Berkeley. About 20 protesters toted signs praising the Beltway Sniper, Sept 11 terrorists, Jesus, and AIDS. They were nothing to talk to; the adults tried to get the police to prevent me from talking to anyone (I was trying to make trouble they said!) but a few young teens were eager to give me incoherent answers and bad theology. They're basically Puritans, just a little more hypocritical.

They were met by about four dozen anti protesters including a majority homosexual contingent, curious liberals, and, of course, the omni-present BAMN and Sparatcus Youth League (and, expectedly, SYL was all 30 and 40 yr olds). Unfortunately, there were no conservatives or Christian groups there to prove that the Fred Phelps bunch misrepresents the right and Jesus.

I had a lot of fun with a GOD HATES STANFURD sign, getting laughs and a cheer when I stood with the Krazy Kansasns. That's the way these people need to be treated: with disregard instead of seriousness. Whenever anyone offers you a chance to go spoof a protest, take advantage of it.

Pictures.Email This Post!

The Anti-Barak protest seems to be coming together.

We believe that everyone who is opposed to the policies that Ehud Barak represents should come together to protest his speech. We are organizing the following: the largest possible rally/open-air teach-in to coincide with his speech in Zellerbach. Several University professors will make presentations on the nature of Barak's policies. Please come with signs, banners, and friends to show your opposition to Barak's policies and help build the anti-war movement in this country.

Interesting how careful they are to state they're protesting 'Barak's policies.'Email This Post!

I missed the God-Hates-Fags Protest today, disappointingly. By the time I got to the spot, around 1, whatever had occurred was already gone. Any pictures or accounts would be greatly appreciated.Email This Post!

Here's a must-read in Friday's Daily Cal.

ASUC Senators Pay for Own Cupcakes Way to improve morale!


If you continue to the letters to the editor, you'll read that hispanics and blacks are underacheiving liars. Of course, this is according to the pro-racial preferences crowd, who time and time again imply (usually on accident) that minorites are incompetent, thereby requiring easier admissions policies.

Here's a gem:

"Your recent article "UC to Spot-Check Extracurriculars of Applicants" reveals yet another desperate attempt by elitists to disqualify the most minorities possible from entering higher education in California (Nov. 13). This is obviously a response to the very minor gains in enrollment by some minorities under the comprehensive review process."

How would minorities be the most hurt unless they are the applicants most likely to cheat? If I wrote that I'd be called a racist. Keep in mind that comprehensive review was implemented solely to give minorities a boost.Email This Post!

Here's a fun AIM image for you. It's kinda PG-13.

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Column. Eh...Email This Post!

If you're on campus at 5:30, make sure to see expensive ASUC boondoggle 'Ocean's Eleven' outside on Lower Sproul. Yes, outside! On the cold, cold ground! On Lower Sproul, where no one ever walks! This in the middle of a budget crisis.

I'm truly amazed at this idea. Some intern must've sat down and said 'Hey, you know what'd be fun? Sitting outside on the dirty ground in the cold and watching a mediocre movie we've all already seen.'

All this despite knowing that everyone enjoys going to see flicks in Wheeler Hall, with a larger screen, climate control, and comfortable seats. Plus they have better movies. In fact, they must've been thinking 'Lets do something like the Wheeler movies, only with NOVELTY VALUE!'

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Mr. Thornton writes a nice column on the Berkeley vs. Yale approach to the 'Real World.'

But one striking similarity exists between Yale and UC Berkeley—the exorbitant amount of depressed students juggling academics and their own health.

It's enough of a similarity to characterize the two campuses. In that regard, Yale and UC Berkeley are twins.

For some strange reason, UC Berkeley seems to implicitly celebrate this. No, you won't find CalSO counselors and campus administrators trumpeting the prospect of clinical depression to incoming students.

Instead, we call it the "real world." Most students and administrators cite this as one of UC Berkeley's greatest strengths, something that instills in students a sense of self-reliance.

I find it to be more of an excuse.

It's an excuse for the lack of services the university offers aside from academic opportunities. UC Berkeley admits students, sets them up in lackluster residence halls for a year and thrusts them into a fast-paced learning environment.

I'm completely opposite. I like the 'Real World' part, the sink-or-swim approach. Advisors are for wimps. 4 years of housing are for weenies and Regent Scholars-- but I'm repeating myself.

I get this based on personal experience. Given half a chance I would've coccooned myself for four easy years of reasonably high grades and dorm living. Instead, I got out into Berkeley, got the nerve to join a Fraternity, put my balls out on page 3 of the Daily Cal, that sort of thing. Gained a lot of self-confidence. So it really worked out for me. But then, I ended up swimming.Email This Post!

The sordid history of University/City relations will actually get some hard data behind it.Email This Post!

Courtesy of Stayskal.

I hadn't known how widly the Patriot's coverage had spread across the news sphere. Drudge had it, the Washington Times will have it, some national radio shows discussed it, and so on around the globe. Meanwhile, the Daily Cal had nothing on it. (Which isn't bad, exactly. The DC is writing for a local audience, who didn't give a damn. The Patriot is writing for a wider audience, who very much do care.)Email This Post!

President Atkinson is resigning.Email This Post!

Greenthink has a scoop on the newest University residence theme program.Email This Post!

Mr. Fung writes

Notice it says "open air rally/teach-in" to COINCIDE with Barak's speech. It doesn't say anything about a shouting match. You're full of misdirected, underinformed rage, Mr. Deenihan sir. :-)

About this BSTW letter

We believe that everyone who is opposed to the policies that Ehud Barak represents should come together to protest his speech. We propose the following: the largest possible rally/open-air teach-in to coincide with his speech in Zellerbach.

My rage is informed and directed! One man's rally is another's shouting match. But Mr. Fung may well be right that this may well be a respectable, intellectual protest of the kind I said it wouldn't be in my column.

Therefore, a group of fringe activists announced its intention to screw it up for all of us... They intend to turn a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity into a nasty yelling contest of the kind UC Berkeley has seen so much of recently.

Actually, I intended to write

Therefore, the Events Committee of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition announced their intention to f**k it up for all of us. ' We would like to organize the largest possible rally and an open-air teach-in to coincide with his speech in Zellerbach' they wrote... They intend to turn an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity into a nasty yelling contest of the kind Berkeley has seen so much of recently

But I couldn't get that draft in due to e-mail problems.

But I'll believe this 'peaceful' thing when I see it! After all, a poster advertising the event was already stolen from the MLK Balcony. But here's the deal: if the Barak thing goes off without a hitch, I'll apologize to Mr. Fung and owe him a Calstuff Favor.

My main argument-- that ISO and crew use these events to cover up their incompetence-- stands.Email This Post!

Widely varying accounts of the Children's Crusade march. The Planet runs it as a sweet, 'only-in-Berkeley' moment of community togetherness, with only the last few paragraphs devoted to eye-rolling. They devote a much larger article to the continuing flag crusade.

Drivers honked and flashed peace signs. Folks stopped their bicycles to cheer on the procession as it marched up Milvia Street toward City Hall. Children leaned out the windows of their after-school program at the Calvary Presbyterian Church to wave.

The Patriot, in an impressive show of news-saviness, runs it as a disturbing 'only-in-Berkeley' moment of thought control. Their website was down, probably because of an Instapundit / Wall Street Journal link. Mr. Sexton finds lots of great quotes proving that this is sick.

Though most students at the rally could not even name Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, many seemed certain the pending U.S. led war in Iraq is about oil.

Celia, age 6, who could not spell her hyphenated last name, told the crowd President Bush “wants to make war because he wants oil.”

“What is so important about cars anyway,” she asked.

Later, when asked if she could name the president of Iraq, Celia, stumped, turned to a friend and asked, “Is it a boy or a girl?” Her friend, equally puzzled, responded, “I think it’s a boy.”

Noah, who declined to give his last name, also age six, asserted the looming war is not only about oil, but also “other things, like Bush wanting land.”

“It is like us squashing ants,” he said.

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Berkeley is such a big fan of getting pre-schoolers and ages down involved in politics. Because 3 year olds, carefully pointed and prodded by their parents, believe strongly in a multilateral solution to Middle East Conflict.

Please Join Us!
Children's Peace March

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

Native American proverb

What & Who: Children, parents, school staff, and community allies from Berkeley, Oakland, and Marin will march and gather together to hear the voices of children speak out for peace and against current war efforts. Children around the world want and need peace in order to survive. Children in the Bay Area want community resources to go towards good schools, parks, housing, gardens and playgrounds.

Children attending local preschools and elementary schools will deliver their songs and messages of peace to their elected officials who represent their interests nationally, statewide, and locally. Confirmed officials include Assemblywoman Aroner, Congresswoman Lee's education aide, Mayor Dean, Councilmember Worthington, Councilmember Hawley, School Board Member Doran. Local and national media are invited to attend.

Participating children attend the New School of Berkeley, Berkwood Hedge, Jefferson Elementary, Washington Elementary, Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary, Rosa Parks Elementary, Malcolm X Elementary, Marin School (other preschools and elementary schools are also invited to participate).

When & Where:

November 12, 2002
3:30 pm
Martin Luther King Jr. Park then March to Berkeley City Hall

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Anne Wagley is such a holier-then-thou demon. She's declined to endorse either Wozniak or Katz, preferring instead to maintain her-- and her allies in the 'Berkeley Party' -- precious insulation from actual politics. Mr. Katz's campaign is obviously surprised, although perhaps they shouldn't be. Wagley's allies in the Architectural Heritage/Anti-Development crew are harshly against students and she'd take a lot of heat from them if she endorsed a relatively pro-development candidate.

The good news and bad news for Mr. Katz is that the Daily Cal is strongly backing him-- writing the most eloquent editorial I've seen in the Daily Cal thus far.

Perhaps the Daily Cal should do an article on Mr. Katz's tactics in the upcoming race. It presents an interesting puzzle: how do you revitalize fundraisers, mobilize your political faction, etc? What are general Progressives doing about this race?Email This Post!

The Opinions page has two interesting letters. Mr. Henchman-- my ASUC Dad-- has the 'Hey, wait a minute, this is grossly illegal' one.

The other one is about my column--- he liked it.

I could not agree more with Kevin Deenihan's column "Putting up With It" (Nov. 8). Since coming to Berkeley, my interest in politics of any kind has decreased significantly, and I find myself to be one of the many "apolitical" students on this campus.

I bring this up not only to praise myself but to point out something weird. Lots of the (few) letters I get start something like 'Let this come as an antidote to the mountains of hate mail I'm sure you're receiving.'

Lord knows you'll probably get a huge amount of crap over it (I couldn't imagine being a conservative on that campus -- it's hard enough at the UA), but I admire your courage for putting it out.

You know how many hate mails I've ever gotten?

1

And that one was from a hard-core Conservative, pissed that I dissed BCR in my Ribbons column! He just sent me a nice letter over the Barak column, too.

Question is: why? The 'dreaming Republican' view is that this proves Berkeley is actually turning Conservative, and the vast majority of the campus agrees with my bitching out hard-core Leftists. But we all know this is wrong. First of all, no one reads my column, making widespread adoption of Deenihan-ideology unlikely.

My own opinion is that the Liberals/Progressives that go into the 'Strongly Disagree' category have decided to give up on the 'Shady Cal.' Note how rare it is in general, lately, for the Daily Cal to get a letter that's very far left of center. Having failed to change it after last year's protests, the Progressive element has essentially written the Daily Cal off as a tool of the Overclass, and don't feel any particular need to write disapproving letters to the lowly Friday Columnist. That leaves people outside of Berkeley the only ones who both 1. Read the Daily Cal on Friday and 2. Care enough to write in.



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From Da' Katz Campaign

Kevin --

I'd like to thank Paul Hogarth for helping to get out the message about the run-off. However, I do have a few clarifications:

1. Ballots will actually be mailed Friday, November 15th and should be received that Saturday 11/16 or Monday 11/18 at the latest. This mailing will include all registered voters as of 10/21/02. So, students should look out for the envelopes and send them in right away. The envelopes will have a red stripe at the top that reads "CITY OF BERKELEY MAIL BALLOT ELECTION".

2. For any voter who registers between 10/21-11/18, their ballot will be mailed on November 20th and should be received by 11/21.

3. Any voter who does not receive a ballot in the above timeframes (or loses their ballot) should immediately call the City Clerk's office at 510.981.6900. They will mail out a second ballot to the voter.

4. The deadline to cast ballots is December 3, 2002. This is NOT a postmark deadline. Ballots must actually be received in the clerk's office by this date. That means that all students must mail their ballots in BEFORE they leave for Thanksgiving break. After that time, you must drop your ballot off in-person at Clerk's office, located at 2180 Milvia Street.

5. We do need help retiring our campaign debt and raising money for the run-off. Individuals may give up to $250 for the previous election and an additional $250 for the run-off election. We will also be accepting credit card contributions online shortly. Please note that all contributions received will be credited toward retiring our debt up to the $250 per person limit. Contributions in excess of that limit will be credited toward the run-off election.

I hope that helps clarify election procedures.

Noah

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Bears win!
AP's account...
Daily Cal's account...
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Column

Honestly, Mr. Snehal and Mr. Jeffrey are such counterproductive activists. It's no wonder there's so many jokes that they're actually CIA agents bent on discrediting Berkeley as a font of dissent.Email This Post!

Mr. Kipnis has by far the best analysis of the Hernandez ruling.Email This Post!

EXPERIENCE PAYS

Ever wonder if the university is bieng unfair in closing the trial of Roberto Hernandez to Cal students at large (while allowing qualified media presence)? I wager it's a matter of experience, especially with the "Third World Liberation Front" of which Hernandez was part. In 1998, the group, which held rallies, hunger strikes and building seiges (that dwarf SJP) on behalf of ethnic studies department funding, seized a courtroom were some unethical demonstrators were under trial. It amounted to extortion, IMHO.

Can the university discriminate and allow some students in, and not others? That would ultimately be unfair and ineffective, especially if the university is truthful in asserting that some witnesses and judging panel need to remain anonymous. The question should now be: what kind of reporters are allowed? Have they written pro-university articles perviously, or are they of mixed perspective? More if I determine an answer.

Here is a former blogger and Satelite editor's account.Email This Post!