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Thursday, January 31, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 3:40 PM

I don't understand the need to get Beyond Party Politics, as the new Berkeley Party claims to be doing.

Don't they read The Nation or any number of Liberal think-pieces? Two of the largest Leftist themes in the past two decades are that 'the personal is political' and 'think Globally, act Locally.' Among other things, this either promotes or realizes that everything on a small-scale level is political. So why the sudden distaste with Democracy in action?

I respect the Progressives and the Moderates in the Berkeley City Council-- they have consistent agendas, and you know where they stand. They work hard, if not always think hard. But this crew is self-contradictory from the start. They want to move beyond politics, to a local neighborhoody focus, right? So why:
Elliot Cohen, a member of the city’s Peace and Justice Commission, said current party politics prevented Berkeley from fulfilling its “historic role” as a trendsetter.
He cited the Free Speech Movement and the campaign against apartheid in South Africa as two social movements that began in Berkeley.

Aren't these two goals a little contradictory? And don't these people realize there aren't any obvious issues like Apartheid anymore? Trying to be a leader in the Anti-War earned Berkeley a trip to Purgatory.

The 'transparency and democracy' goal won't get anywhere with the voters, and the building height limit is already being enforced. What's left appears to be people who can't get in with either of the two other parties.

A party that would have a shot would be a strictly 'law and order, bread and butter' based party that tried a straight talk sort of thing. I don't know if it'd get anywhere, but it's worth a try.
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# posted by Kevin @ 3:17 PM

So Daniel won't be running for Prez. In typical Daniel form, he announced this with a big emotional speech embracing the entire ASUC as various degrees of horrible.

Naturally, I'm disappointed. But some new opportunities have arisen. Presenting: the Kevin Deenihan Presidential Run!

Boback mentioned that Zack is looking to give up being Squelch Signatory. Since I'm the only one who cares about the ASUC and Squelch, he's gonna let me be Party Chair instead. I nominate myself for President, I accept, welcome aboard!

Of course, this is only if APPLE / Cal-SERVE don't find someone else to run for Prez. If they do, I'm all behind that. Otherwise, Deenihan run!

I don't expect to **win**, naturally. But I do expect to run a reasonably serious race for a Squelch campaign. And I also expect to get some serious votes. Plus, if by some miracle I win, I will serve to the best of my ability.

SQUELCH 2002!



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Wednesday, January 30, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 4:50 PM

What will Daniel do tonight during his well-publicized Presidency announcement?

Wish I knew. On Sunday he seemed really down on running, mainly for personal reasons. I don't know if much could've changed between then and now. But why would he make an announcement for a 'No?'

My best guess is on 'No,' but here's hoping I'm wrong.
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# posted by Kevin @ 4:46 PM

White guy watch:

It's depressing that the police blotter in the Planet always reads 'the suspect was a young black male, aged between 20-25' EVERY TIME! The one exception was for a young black female, and she had her boyfriend with her.

This feature will announce the first non-Young Black male in the blotter, whenever that should happen.
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# posted by Kevin @ 4:43 PM

When and why did the Daily Cal get on our side so much? This article on Food expenditures could be written as an APPLE/Cal-SERVE press release.

I don't think it's a very well-written article. It lacks nearly any context for the claim that food waivers are excessive this year. They are, of course, but some simple data on how much was spent on waivers last year would be nice.

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# posted by Kevin @ 4:41 PM

That's an interesting newsflash, since it shows that the Daily Cal is breathlessly hoping for a Daniel Frankenstein presidency. Probably not so much because of love of Daniel, but because they also think it's him or Wally.

Me, I'm a Daniel partisan. But only because I want to be his Chief of Staff.
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# posted by Kevin @ 4:39 PM

Although I mostly hate President Adeyamo, or Cutter W, with a holy passion, he does have a taste for great quotes.

"Daniel Frankenstein is a senator, and I am the president of the Associated Students of the University of California. The actions of the senator will not determine how I, the president, will act," Adeyemo said.

Bit of a crisis in identity? Wally? 'I, the President, who is the President of the ASUC, declare that the President, me, shall not be affected by non-Presidents!'


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Tuesday, January 29, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 5:10 PM

Out in the paper world, I have a letter in the Daily Cal vis a vis the Cara Kim pile on. It's near the bottom of the page.



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Monday, January 28, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 10:51 PM

This just in: Republicans are also wimps!

They cancelled the Clinton protest!

Flimsy excuse: 'Most of our top guys have class then.'

Did classes stop Mario Savio? Or the People's Park protestors? Or just about any one of the stupid Lefty protestors over the past forty stupid years, stupid? No! They said 'Protesting the transformation of a drug-ridded No Man's Land into a useful facility is worth me skipping class!' And they were RIGHT!

No free cigars... no.....
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# posted by Kevin @ 10:45 PM

God Bless Google department:

This is part of my hit counter's report:

'MOST USED SEARCH ENGINE: Google'
'MOST USED KEYWORD: Topless'

Topless?
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# posted by Kevin @ 10:36 PM

This week's Community Journalism award goes to the Daily Planet, which printed an opinion letter last week from an enraged parent. He claimed his daughter had been beaten up by five girls-- whose !names !were !given !in !the !letter!

I'll quote the letter, with names asterixed so as to not a total hyprocrite.

'On Thursday Jan. 17 at about noon during lunch period, our daughter Ashley M. Barlow along with another student was assaulted, brutally beaten and orally discriminated by five girls. The five girls identified are of African-American decent with the names of: *********, ********, *********, ********* an *******; all fifth- graders.

Of course, it turns out the allegations were vastly overblown, and the five elementary school girls were falsely accused of horrible things.

'We have been informed that because of this letter and our negligence in allowing it to ever be printed that these youths have been subject to criticism from the community. '

Good thing they were informed, or the Planet would've never realized it...

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# posted by Kevin @ 10:29 PM

The other great itty-bitty involves Mayor Dean's hosting of a NY Firefighter in a nationwide 'See our City' thank-you effort. Among more innocent Berkeley functions like Chez Panisse and, well, another restaurant, she'll be taking him to a production of '"Culture in Clash in AmeriCCa," a play about social and political activism.'

Can't wait!
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# posted by Kevin @ 10:26 PM

Lots of fun itty-bitties in today's Daily Cal. I'm generally pleased with the newest Daily Cal columnist, Bryan Ritchie, who has a solid investigative column on the student body's weird relationship with uber-Liberal Kriss Worthington. Writing is a bit functional, but anything with a near avoidance of 'I' and 'Me' gets my vote.

Strangely, it appears this semester's crop of writers is a regular Caucasian crop: five white people. 3 guys, two girls. I can't fault the choices, but it surprises me. The Daily Cal is liberal. Very pleased with the writing quality, tho.

Unfortunately, former APPLE-er Paul Thornton has decided not to take a slam at Cutter Wally because his GF is close friends with Wally's Chief of Staff. When the COS heard of the column idea, she apparently held a hissy fit, and Paul caved. Wimp! True punditry knows no friends or girlfriends!

I'd take an easy whomp at the silly lawsuit against the school via some deaf guys, but my roommate has beaten me to the punch. I fault his writing, tho. Successful online punditry involves casual 'Bah!'s thrown at obviously goofy people, not thoughtful analysis.

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Sunday, January 27, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 5:47 PM

There is some good news related to WallyGate. The Republicans will be holding a 'Who Cares about Clinton' protest outside Zellerbach. If their plans come together, it'll be a pretty smashing shindig. Plans include free cigars, having a dance floor called the Lincoln Bedroom, and tons of women wearing stained blue dresses.

Tactically speaking, I think they're making a mistake. Clinton very obviously wants the attention; why give it to him? But if they are going to protest, this is the best kind of protest they could hold. The theme trys to compensate for the attention-seeking.

Of course, the props and stuff are all concerned with the minutiae of Clinton's term, so it kind of contradicts everything they're doing. Still, free cigars!
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# posted by Kevin @ 5:43 PM

Clinton's speech on Tuesday is now being simulcasted at Haas Pavilion, which I'm sure will be of major comfort to the hundreds of people denied tickets in the WallyGate fiasco. The screens in Haas are poor quality jumbotrons, and with this short notice I seriously doubt they can set the system up without technical difficulties.

And there's also issues of who gets to ask questions.

STUDENT: Mr. Clinton, I have a great question for you on globalization!
CLINTON: (On giant screen) Yes, I believe I hear a question from that nice Wally person in the front row, here in comfortable Zellerbach hall.
STUDENT: Damn it! Damn it all to hell!

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# posted by Kevin @ 5:40 PM

I have a vicious head cold, so excuse lack of posting. Nothing vitally important happened.
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Thursday, January 24, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 4:07 PM

My officemate Cara Kim got slammed today for being slow with records.

I'm kinda sympathetic towards Cara; she works harder than anyone else in the ASUC. But she's tone deaf towards complaints and apparently isn't very good at what she does.
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# posted by Kevin @ 4:06 PM

Fallout from the Ticket fiasco today, or 'Ticketgate' as Anthony calls it.

Cal Performances got grumbled at, but its President Wally who really got a good spanking. Turns out he cut in line and let about 40 of his interns do the same. The otherwise boring Tremaine de Serra authored this beautiful cartoon, which is now on my wall.

I have a feeling this one has legs. Before Wally's problems were boring: fiscal malfeasance and lack of effort. Now he's tethered to a specific, thoughtless act. And I'm gonna hang him with it.

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# posted by Kevin @ 4:03 PM

Due to the miracle of skipping Math, I was able to catch today's anti-Globalization protest after all. And good news; it was even more pathetic than I'd hoped!

I didn't get out there until 12:30, so I missed some horrible singing thing. I could hear it from my classroom in nearby Dwinelle, and it was pretty much Folk music mixed with Cat. That stopped and I walked down to Sproul.

'Gee,' I thought, 'I hope there's some screechy white girl at the mike.' And sure enough, there was! And only a sad 20 or so protestors, it looked like. They had the steps of Sproul, but the early semester rush of tabling kept them cut off from the plaza.

All in all, I'm happy.

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Wednesday, January 23, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 7:03 PM

My longish article on problems in the ASUC is online. Check it out.
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# posted by Kevin @ 6:51 PM

I won't be attending the Clinton thing on the 29th. Neither will almost everyone else.

The doors opened at 10 AM this morning. And I should be specific: there are only two doors. And one teller working. Since I had class, I wasn't able to get there until 9:35, which I didn't consider all that late. But nonetheless, the line snaked up and down Lower Sproul. Up and down and up and down.

Those of us with 8 or 9 AM classes, or who had to teach one of those, were entirely screwed. Almost all faculty was shut out as well, since they didn't expect an hour long line. Those in line got screwed because of Cal Performances inability to prepare for a rush on tickets.

All in all, disheartening for anyone who isn't Bill Clinton.

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# posted by Kevin @ 6:44 PM

I'm making it my mission to spank the heck out of former APPLEr Paul Thornton's Daily Cal columns. Today he took on Bill vs. Bush.

Frankly, I've got no complaints if he's gonna bash Bush and cheer on Clinton. I'm much that way myself, although I'm happy to approve of Bush's handling of foreign policy thus far.

But what is it about Daily Cal Columns that make ordinary, well-adjusted people write incessantly about themselves? "I" and "Me" is the most common word I see. Last semester I seriously considered counting how many times the columnists said a personal pronoun. At least one said it every 6 words.

When I see the former president on television or hear him speak at an event I get this sense of familiarity and security that I don't get when today's leaders try to relate to their American audience.

Three 'I"s in one sentence... c'mon, Thornton! You're better than this!

Update: Apparently the Editors cut his column to pieces. They even add I's and Me's to make it more 'personal.' Wow. Paul is gonna try and send me the original column, so we'll see.
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# posted by Kevin @ 6:38 PM

My roommate, Dave Duman, has decided to start his own blog. I suppose its nice to be called 'Semi-Legendary.' And I'm sure his reference to 'I'm not as reactionary, I guess' doesn't refer to me at all.

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Tuesday, January 22, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 5:31 PM

It's hardly fair for the newly returned Daily Cal to print letters received right before they went on Winter Break. But it is pretty funny.

'Bush promised us that there would be body bags coming home from Afghanistan. Yet the Americans don't seem to want to commit any ground forces, frankly because we have become accustomed to wars where we suffer little or no casualties. The Northern Alliance's 12,000 fighters just aren't going to be able to defeat the Taliban's 50,000 fighters. We are going to have to commit major ground forces if we want to have any chance of beating the Taliban.

This is not going to be another Vietnam. It's going to be harder than Vietnam. The Taliban is proving to be more tenacious than even the Viet Cong. Americans must realize that we could well loose more than the 50,000 American lives we lost in order to loose in Vietnam, in a war that could last more than the 10 years it took the Russian to loose in Afghanistan. And the point is to capture or kill bin Laden, which may not even happen at all. '


Lord, I hope this guy sent this pre-Xmas Break. But even in early December, the Taliban had pretty much fallen.
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Monday, January 21, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 10:57 PM

You are now entering a strange shadow world... where statements don't mean anything, and every word is carefully considered so as to not cause any complaint. This world is.. the Berdahl zone.

Chancellor Berdahl, Berkeley's incredibly uncommittal Chancellor, actually came forth from the shadows for an interview.

We'll start with the Weirdest Sentence:

And there's a fact to that, and it's an unavoidable fact.

Onwards to the Comma Semicolon Comma Award:

At the same time, I think there are a lot of things that we can do and need to do that are part of this undergraduate initiative that I've been talking about in terms of student advising, provision of small classes for freshmen and freshmen seminars, provisions for capstone senior seminars for students to deal with the culmination of their work as undergraduates here, all of which would draw them in more contact with faculty.

Factual Blooper Award:

I think it was the chief of staff of the president who said, "People have to watch what they say."

(Actually, it was the President's Spokesman, Ari Fleischler (sp?), who said that.)

Stating the Obvious Award:

We have a very large and diverse Asian American population on this campus.

Number of substantial things said: 0

Oh well.



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# posted by Kevin @ 4:50 PM

Interesting story about being a Journalism major-- and an 'Internet' Journalism major at that-- at UC Berkeley.

Myself, I've pretty much given up on anything softer than Economics. After I take one History class this semester, it's nothing but Math, Stat, and glorious Economics for me.

Thanks to Ken Layne for the link.
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# posted by Kevin @ 1:02 PM

Classes start tomorrow, which means this site will revert to its staple: tons and tons of exciting internal Student Government action! Yeah!

The Daily Cal starts tomorrow, and word on the street is they have something good on the current Administration. I share an office with the ASUC Secretariat, who's ducking meetings to avoid a reporter. I'm looking forward to it... and I'm sure you are too!
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# posted by Kevin @ 12:58 PM

Matthew Edgar writes in another Clinton protest sign:

You are missing the sign that will make your protest
more topical: "You Killed Buddy - PETA Hates You"

Mm... Bizaare Conspiracy Theories!

But the more I think about it, the more convinced I am Clinton is angling for the free publicity only a Berkeley protest can provide.

Turns out he's touring California giving speeches for the usual tens of thousands those things command. But for Berkeley, he's speaking for free! For free... or looking to get on the Nightly News? Trust no one!



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Sunday, January 20, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 12:21 PM

The first protest on Sproul plaza this semester looks like an anti-Capitalist thing in conjunction with the World Economic Forum in New York. It's at Noon on Thursday, so I won't be able to attend.

I hate these people more than any other. At least the Anti-Wars are protesting Death, wrong as they are. The Anti-Capitalists are protesting Prosperity.

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# posted by Kevin @ 7:56 AM

The rarely-ending battle between University and City went up another notch on the mutual hatred scale.

The University almost always wins battles like this. The City Council has the will, but not the muscle.
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# posted by Kevin @ 7:47 AM

Holy Flurking Schnit! Can it actually be an article taking famed anti-Affirmative Action Linguistics Professor John McWhorter seriously as a Linguist?. I wonder how the opening phone call went:

REPORTER: Hello, Professor McWhorter? We'd like to talk to you about...
MCWHORTER: Fine. **SIGH** As an African-American myself, I feel that race-based standards are detrimental...
REPORTER: No, no! We want to talk about your Linguistics work!
MCWHORTER: ...Wha? Oh, great!

The book being reviewed looks extremely intelligent. Glad to see Berkeley hires powerhouse linguists instead of Chomsky-ites.

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# posted by Kevin @ 7:35 AM

Hey, how comes no one is planning to protest Clinton?

I'm looking around, and unless I'm missing some obscure announcement by the Palestinians or Greens, it appears he'll go entirely unprotested.

And if I'm Clinton, I'd find that insulting!

After all, I was leader of the free world for eight years. My lieutenants, Madeline Albright and Janet Reno, both got protested. I presided over a dramatic expansion in free trade, the economy, and other Capitalist things. I know Berkeley hates my policy on Iraq and my efforts for the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Yet despite all this, I don't rate one lousy protest?

So here's what I'm gonna do for Bill: if I can find 10 or so people to go with me, we'll make protest signs and picket his appearance. (E-mail me if you want to join in.) I'm thinking of protest signs like 'Generic Protest,' 'You probably did something we hate,' and 'I hate America' with 'America' crossed out and 'Clinton' added.

Berkeley doesn't offer honorary degrees; we offer unrelenting hostility. And even we Democrats need to support that.
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Saturday, January 19, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 1:14 PM

I live on Dwight and Telegraph, four blocks south of campus. So my walk to class gets me hit up for cash about three times. It also takes me past this guy.

What a strange, Republican article.

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# posted by Kevin @ 12:31 PM

Despite repeated promises, I shan't be posting any topless Klein pics.

I'm not all that worried about Playboy's legal team; Mr. Hefner is smart enough to know that this would fall under 'free publicity.' But Ms. Klein might get angry at me, and like every other writer for the Heuristic Squelch I want a shot at her.

Other note: Clinton is speaking at Cal on the 29th, and student tickets are free! Bonus!
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Friday, January 18, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 8:37 PM

The following was received by my roommate, a Bench denizen. (The Bench is Cal basketball's student cheering section.)

Dear Bench Member,

The Athletic Department and the Men's Basketball program in particular has
always appreciated the valuable role The Bench plays in each home game. The
enthusiasm and support displayed is absolutely vital to the success of the
program.

Unfortunately, Sunday's win over Stanford was marred by a number of serious
incidents that embarrassed our University, our basketball team and The Bench.
University police has identified the Bench member who physically assaulted a
Stanford basketball player during the post-game celebration on the court and
this person will now face criminal and student conduct charges as well as a
permanent ban from the remainder of our home basketball games.

We expect Bench members to practice good sportsmanship and to represent the
University, basketball team and The Bench with both pride and passion.
Behavior such as chanting "You...Suck!" at an opposing player or yelling
profanities at the opposition or game officials is in extremely poor taste and
WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Membership in The Bench is a privilege that is granted and we reserve the
right to monitor and if necessary, terminate student participation in this
group.

GO BEARS!

Cal Athletics


This menace to society didn't tackle a Stanfurd player and shove an Oski doll up his butt. He gave the player a smack on the back of the head and flipped him off, during a wild celebration on the behalf of everyone. Yet Cal-- possibly at Stanfurd's urging-- is pressing criminal charges. Thank Goodness he didn't yell 'You suck' at the same time or he might be facing crucifixation.

And no chanting at a bad foul? Name me an NBA or college game-- any sport-- where Refs don't get chaff. 'Youuuuu Suck!' is TAME; we chant ''A**hole! A**hole!' at football games.

Noam Chomsky is behind this somehow!
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# posted by Kevin @ 7:31 PM

Mark your calendars, Noam Chomsky is coming to Berkeley! March 19th and 20th, 4 PM, Zellerbach Hall.
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# posted by Kevin @ 1:35 PM

Turns out the newest SF Weekly narrowly beats Calstuff to the punch vis a vis the collapse of the Anti-Wars.

The piece, by Matt Palmquist, is well written, and gets into the details of the personalities involved. Great, revealing quotes abound:

"It's not like there's some secret cabal in Chicago that tell us what to do," Snehal says, in breathless, practiced soundbites that bespeak a semester spent talking to the media. "I wish there were, it might make it easier for organizing.'

From Cantor: 'Why are the chants the same as when we bombed Iraq? We're just regurgitating the same crap we always regurgitate. This time was supposed to be different."

The article misses the input from other Lefty groups that Rory picks up on, but Palmquist's personality-driven, disorganized movement seems more accurate than Rory's commie-fest.





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# posted by Kevin @ 11:34 AM

Mr. Reynolds assumes I'm joking about Sex on Tuesday columnist Rachel Klein being in Playboy

Glenn, no joke! She's topless in the October 1999 issue of Playboy, the Pac-10 issue. Bottom left corner of page 128.

Her blurb: 'Kappa Kappa Gamma gal Rachel Klein (who loves astrology, hates asparagus, and hopes to be 'wealthy enough to buy the clothes I want')

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# posted by Kevin @ 11:15 AM

Posted here in somewhat edited form is reporter Rory Miller's The Pepsi vs. Coke of the Antiwar Movement: Two Brands, One Communism, soon to be printed in the Cal Patriot Rory is, obviously, a hardcore Conservative.

I don't agree with a lot of his conclusions, certainly. I don't feel that the Anti-War groups are coordinating Communism on a nationwide scale, as the bottom half of the article argues. Rory probably overstates the level of control by the Socialist groups in Berkeley; the recent fights over excessive control argue against that. But the conclusions are a matter of opinion: the goldmine here is the level of detail about the growth of the Anti-War movement and who controls it.

It seems interesting to get into the details of the internecine Anarchists vs. Socialists battle that underlies part of this. Reporters covering the WTO riots like to comment on how the protesters don't seem to have much in common. Articles in the Nation and Mother Jones like to complain about the same problem and put forward vague proposals. But I don't think they really understand how deep the ideological rifts between these warring Leftists go. They hate each other. Anyone out there with info on this?


The Pepsi vs. Coke of the Antiwar Movement: Two Brands, One Communism
by Rory Miller

David Horowitz, a persona non grata on the Berkeley campus due to his slavery reparations ad campaign last spring, took out another ad at the beginning of the U.S. led War on Terrorism just as the antiwar movement on campuses was building steam. He charged that, like the antiwar protests during the Vietnam War, this new wave of antiwar protests were being masterminded by communists and socialists who hoped to use the broader leftwing public outcry against the war to further their own ends. Since the vast majority of students who would be in the Berkeley Coalition to Stop the War would already have written Horowitz off as a right-wing nutcase, his letter fell on deaf ears. Now, with the seeming unraveling of the Coalition, outsiders can begin to prod the seamy underbelly of the movement. What we find there is not far from what Horowitz himself had said.

EARLY WARNING SIGNS

The first warning signs were obvious from the beginning, during the shameful 9/11 candlelight vigil. Besides the cavalcade of speakers denouncing “U.S. capitalist imperialism” and proclaiming that “the U.S. is still the world’s greatest terrorist” several ominous items appeared. First were little red flyers being passed out to the crowd by various members of the campus’s left-leaning fringe declaring such things as “as freedom fighters, we stand in solidarity…” Allow me to translate: the terms “freedom fighters” and “solidarity” are big red labels that shout “Marxist.” Besides this, there was the hawking of the Socialist Worker, a newspaper published by the International Socialist Organization.

In the following two weeks, a series of statements were issued on the local version of the Indymedia website. Indymedia is a fun read for anyone with a good sense of morbid curiosity for what goes on in the minds of the extreme left. Conspiracy theories, tired old “destroy capitalism!" rants, and harping on such topics as police brutality, living wages, anti-Jewish sentiment, and other such fads. These statements were signed by Ronald Cruz. Mr. Cruz, currently a first year graduate student in the School of Education is a BAMN (Bring Back Affirmative Action by Any Means Necessary) member. Mysteriously, after a week or so, these announcements dried up.

BAMN had tried its usual tactics of subverting and taking over other groups to use as a front for its own agenda. However, this time they were caught and ejected from the Coalition. Nothing unusual there, except for another defeat in what is shaping up to be a bad semester for BAMN. However, when one considers that BAMN is a front group for a Trotskyite group known as the Revolutionary Workers’ League and that it was ousted at the behest of the rival ISO, we begin to get into the backroom politics that have driven so many members away from the Coalition in recent weeks.

COALITION POLITICS PART I: THE ISO

ISO is only one of the major players in the Coalition, which, according to the discussion on their own email lists, are the ISO, Students for Justice in Palestine, and a group known as Left Turn. These three groups dominate the direction of the Coalition, as noted on one of the discussion lists by Christopher Cantor, one of their leaders, who wrote, “Thus far, I dont [sic] think that alternative viewpoints (alternative to the core groups in the coalition - SJP, ISO, LT) are being represented, or even respected.” These three groups have, often to the protestation of rank and file members of the Coalition, come to dominate both the leadership and agenda of the Coalition.

First we have the International Socialist Organization. They, like the other prominent Marxist group the Spartacus Youth League, are a relatively tiny cadre of people who try to expand and influence other campus organizations. A main contact is one Snehal Shingavi, an English graduate student. Snehal is one of those kinds of people who are drawn to activism like a moth to a light. He was one of the “organizers” of the 9/11 candlelight vigil, managing who would go up to the open microphone. Last year, he was one of the members of SJP involved in locking down Wheeler Hall and disrupting all the classes within. He helped with the Green Party Senate Campaign of Medea Benjamin. He was one of less than ten protestors who disrupted the campus wide memorial service with his signs and demands for attention (he carried the one that said “Don’t let them turn tragedy into war”). I personally witnessed Snehal steal the Daily Cal during the most recent rounds of thefts. Now Snehal is one of the major players in the Berkeley Coalition to Stop the War.

Since the ISO doesn’t hide their dedication to Marxism, let’s see how they fare on the other big charge levied often against the antiwar movement- is the ISO anti-American? The answer to this is, unsurprisingly, a resounding yes. In their short “Where We Stand” section, one of the headings is “Revolution, not Reform” where it reads “The structures of the present government–the Congress, the army, the police and the judiciary –cannot be taken over and used by the working class.” The next time you hear some claptrap coming out of the Stop the War Coalition that “dissent is patriotic,” remember that one of three big organizations within it is most assuredly not patriotic, instead advocating the destruction of the very government that provides them the opportunity to express their beliefs.

A good example for the charge that the antiwar movement is lead by the ISO and other Marxists in order to further their own agendas is the California Schools Against the War (C-SAW) conference held Veteran’s Day weekend at our campus. Immediately after the conference ended, the Indymedia website was flooded with posts from people. They charged that the ISO had hijacked the Conference. One thread on Indymedia sums it up nicely. According to the myriad of people who posted, the ISO not only dominated the discussion and silenced dissent, but also rammed through many resolutions that the assembled people did not understand fully and refused to explain the resolutions to attendees when asked. According to several posters, this happened at sister conferences across the country, including in Boston and Chicago. Is it not highly suspicious that members of ISO did this at simultaneous conferences, and that they all pushed for a national conference? Most likely, the ISO hopes to use the student antiwar movement to provide a support framework for their own socialist revolution.

COALITION POLITICS PART II: SJP

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) are another infamous Leftist group on campus. Besides managing to almost single-handedly marginalize an entire issue (the Palestinian problem), SJP, like BAMN, is one of those supposedly single issue groups that manages to be involved in nearly every single protest on campus. Besides the siege of Wheeler Hall, SJP was involved in the invasion of the Daily Cal offices (over Darrin Bell’s terrorists in hell cartoon) and recently held a rally on Sproul to celebrate “Intifada Week.” during Yom Kippur. Snehal is a member of SJP. Isn’t it puzzling how the same few people show up in all these different clubs? I find it entertaining that many of them belong to a club that supports armed violence by the Palestinians against Israel (which they call an aggressor state) yet also belong to the Stop the War Coalition, which opposes armed violence by Americans against an aggressor. One has to wonder whether they are truly ideologically committed to peace or if they are simply opposed to anything that would help preserve our country.

COALITION POLITICS PART III: LEFT TURN

The last group in the Stop the War trinity is named Left Turn, whose motto is “from anticapitalism to revolution”. In their new online pamphlet “No to Bush’s War,” besides offering a fairly long defense of bin Laden, they included a section entitled “Marxism and Terrorism.” Here we learn that Left Turn and all “good” Marxists reject terrorism. Not because it’s evil, mind you, but because “[t]o free the world from oppression and injustice requires not merely getting rid of particular ministers or blowing up military or other targets, but tearing up the roots of the capitalist system itself. The only force with the power to do that is the collective strength of the working class.” In other words, they oppose terrorism only because it distracts from their goal of communist revolution. They see terrorists as misguided Marxists, who have rejected the “unified working class” for airplanes and bombs. This equation of terrorists and killers to Marxists is fitting in a way.

THE ANSWER?

Beyond the antics of sectarian Marxists at Berkeley, we see a similar pattern emerge in the national antiwar movement. The major alternative in nationwide organization to the framework that the ISO is setting up is run by the ponderously named International Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism (International ANSWER). Included groups are the “small ‘c’ communist” Green Party USA, Left Turn (again), and a whole slew of political parties that include the terms “socialist,” “workers,” “people’s,” or “communist.” ANSWER itself is a project of the Washington, DC based International Action Center (IAC). There's also find substantial proof of the anti-American sentiment of the antiwar movement’s leaders. On the announcements section of the San Francisco branch office of the IAC’s website we find this statement: “Bombing a poor country? Killing Children? Cluster bombs? This is not ‘fighting terrorism.’ This IS terrorism!”

Additionally, the IAC is a proponent of every Progressive cause under the sun, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Vieques, Affirmative Action, the “right to a job” and many others too numerous to list here- the full list is on their website . It was founded in 1992 by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsay Clark. Mr. Clark is one of those never ending hate-America crackpots who, among other things, initiated a war-crimes tribunal that tried and found guilty President George Bush and Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf, among others, all while refusing even to condemn Saddam Hussein. He routinely rails against capitalism, free trade, and the other cornerstones of free economic development.

The reason for all this goes back to authoritarian Communists, this time a group known as the Workers’ World Party (WWP), that has established, through Ramsay Clark, the IAC as a front group. The history of the WWP and their continued support of dictatorship, including Stalin’s rule, the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, the KGB coup against Gorbachev’s opening of society, Saddam Hussein, and Slobodan Milosevicis detailed by a left-wing anarchist writer who is as much opposed to the authoritarian Communist as he is to the American. Clark and the WWP were influential in the last major antiwar movement during the Gulf War, and, through ANSWER, have taken a major role in the current movement.

Another major member of ANSWER is the Bay Area’s own Barbara Lubin, executive director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance and outspoken antiwar activist. We at The Patriot have had the distinctly unpleasant experience of encountering her in person when we spoke against the Berkeley City Council’s resolution to condemn the U.S. War on Terrorism. She too is more than a little bit red. In the December 8th issue of the People’s Weekly World, the weekly newspaper of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), there is an article describing the People’s Weekly World Northern California banquet on November 18th, where Barbara Lubin will be among three honorees. The banquet included Congressional citations provided by the darling of the antiwar movement, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who has a long history of support for Communist dictatorships, most notably her actions on behalf of the dictator of Grenada while a congressional aide to former representative Ron Dellums (D-Oakland).

IN CONCLUSION

So it comes down to this, antiwar folks. You have your choice of either communism or…communism. It’s the Coke vs. Pepsi choice of the antiwar movement. Of course, I don’t suggest that all of you are stupid enough to adhere to thoroughly repudiated economic systems and dictatorships masquerading as popular democracy. However, you should be aware of who you look to for guidance and what their true motives are. Let me tell you, it isn’t an ideological love of peace and pacifism that drives these Communists to lead the antiwar movement, otherwise groups like the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) would be more prominent in the Coalition. No, it’s because you all are tools to be used to advance the coming of the Revolution. Workers of the world, unite!





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Thursday, January 17, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 11:19 PM

I like to bug the Leftists, but this is probably the second worst letter to the Editor I've seen in the Daily Planet. And it's very much by a Republican

Seven phrases in air quotes.
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# posted by Kevin @ 8:42 PM

Anyone want to take a shot at interpreting the results of this large online Lefty mags readership poll?

This is a self-selected survey, so who knows how relevant it is. But can it be true that only 25% of readership is under 29? And that 51% are over 40? And apparently this is 'much younger' than the numbers at Mother Jones and the Nation.

Predictable but still interesting is the ethnicity data: at least 77% white. Only 11% is minority, leaving 12% who responded otherwise. Those people are white.

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# posted by Kevin @ 11:00 AM

Where's the outrage?

I make a living until classes start again by criticizing predictable Leftist behavior.. so what should I do when they stop being predictable? The arrests of the SLA folks, which I predicted would cause massive outrage and claims of McCarthyism from the Lefties at Indy Media, has not arisen. In fact, there's been no articles at all on it.

These are people who built Bush's pretzelgate incident into a conspiracy theory. What's wrong?
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# posted by Kevin @ 10:57 AM

I get a quiet sense of satisfaction from this Berkeley Anti-War meeting. It's all there: the ongoing bureaucratization, the loss of momentum, nit-picking, etc.

One guy at the Cal Patriot-- I forget his name-- did some investigative reporting on the infighting within the Anti-Wars between Anarchists and Socialists, conflicting personalities, and so on. There's some good info in there.. I'll try to dig it up.

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Wednesday, January 16, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 9:39 PM

This dragging up of the 1970's is odd timing.

Don't forget the Berkeley angle to the Symbionese Liberation Army; Patty Hearst was kidnapped from a Berkeley apartment, starting the whole mess. She's a big society hostess in SF now, safely pardoned by Clinton in that final batch of excuses. Mr. Paganini tells me the kidnappers got her address from a big file cabinet that was kept in Sproul Hall, containing every student's address.

2418 Dwight, BAMN!
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# posted by Kevin @ 9:34 PM

At first I thought it was an easy call to spank the Elementary school leaders who took their charges on a little mock-protest yesterday for MLK day.

But I know my corporate masters wouldn't care: creating a cadre of young hip progressives educated in traditional disobediance is perfectly fine by them. They can market to that. Obviously the parents of the youngsters don't mind. And 'Destroy Racism' is not a radical waste of time, merely overpursued. It doesn't even look like these kids are being trained to be victims. They've just added Racism to a long list of childhood bogeyman that surround the neighborhood.

Mm... mainstreamed dissent...
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Tuesday, January 15, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 1:12 PM

Destroy the Mainstream media!

Why do these people feel like it's so hard to get alternative media? I watch tons of it with very little effort...

At least this guy recognizes that part of being interesting is style. The quote about Chomsky is great.
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Monday, January 14, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 7:27 PM

Marching Orders Watch

A new feature for everyone out there: the Editorial Page of the Daily Planet is typically literate, but also extremely predictable. Here's the concept: whenever a letter includes the four words 'Oil,' 'Corporate,' 'Profits' and 'Bush,' it gets on the list. 2 bonus points for whenever a letter has something 'in gratuitous quotations,' or calls Afghans 'Afghanis.'

Four bonus points for the reciting of any one of the following questionable citations:
1. Bush gave $200 million to the Taliban for drug eradication efforts
2. 3700 Afghan Civilians have died
3. The vicious Afghan winter

Keep your eyes open!
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Sunday, January 13, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 9:19 PM

The march to Senator Feinstein's office, mentioned in an earlier item here, apparently went as expected. A nice part was that the Anti-War groups had to compete with the Anti-Global groups for protestors, and lost out. (Only 30 people marched) I like the list of questions for Feinstein, most of which center around a 'How often do you beat your wife' theme.
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Saturday, January 12, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 5:29 PM

Cabbies in mandatory sensitivity training? Isn't that assuming that our city's cab drivers-- many of whom are struggling immigrants-- are prone to being jerks?
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# posted by Kevin @ 11:49 AM

The constant warring inside hard-Lefty groups over Democratic procedures catches me by surprise on occasion. The activists involved are massive sticklers for everyone having their say, no matter if there are huge logistical problems for it. For instance, the biggest discussion on the Berkeley Anti-War Discussion group in the past two months is about whether a few of the higher-ups decided on a meeting place and time without proper input. People are getting really pissed over this.

I approve. It shows that hard-Leftys have learned from the mistakes of the Stalinist-friendly Lefty groups of the past. Of course, from a strategical standpoint the insistence on complete concensus makes hard-Lefty groups ineffective and slow-moving. And it also means the complete-Democrats are unable to make common cause with the Stalinist-line Socialists and the reasonably hierarchical mostly-Lefty groups, which is also fine by me.

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# posted by Kevin @ 11:40 AM

I actually visited famed hard-Lefty radio station KPFA last night. A friend of my roommate's co-hosts an all-funk music show from 10-12 every Friday night.

Not sure what I expected, but the building they host in is remarkably nice. Certainly the lingering smell of the bud follows you around, and the people hanging around look like like they usually burn down places like it. But the building was very well-appointed, with attractive wood panelling, granite floors, and good choices in art. It'd look exactly like a ski lodge if it wasn't for the omnipresent newspaper clippings and slogans everywhere. Their technical equipment is top-notch as well, from what I could tell.

The show itself was good
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Thursday, January 10, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 9:31 PM

Four Co-High School Principals? Well, their school.
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# posted by Kevin @ 7:29 PM

Went home to Pleasanton, a little white upper-middle class town east of Berkeley. There's always a good bit of culture shock. When I was leaving Berkeley, a drunk homeless guy grabbed the car window before I could motor away, then did a little dance while holding his beer can. On the other hand, the receptionist in the Pleasanton Dentist's office asked was my hygenist 'the Asian?' Of course, the receptionist was black, so who knows.

I went home for the first time after 9.11 about a week and a half later, for a football game. I made a point of remarking that it was good to be back 'in America.' That's a little bit bitter, but Berkeley felt so weirdly out of touch then. Every town in America, it seemed like, was suffering and reaching out. Berkeley was the only one in denial, still working the same relatively petty concerns of the past. In many ways I'm glad that the Activists are finally focusing on relatively sane concerns like Constitutional Rights; it shows that Berkeley has admitted things are different now.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 12:19 PM

What does the Japanese Anti-War movement think they'll get out of advice from Berkeley's Anti-War leaders?

Lets review their track record:

1.Councilmember Dona Spring, after her Anti-War Resolution passed, bravely backtracked and claimed it wasn't Anti-War at all.
2. The Student movement has steadily lost membership and not held a successful rally in two months.
3. Attempts to organize have been blown apart by factional infighting between Socialists, Anarchists, etc.
4. Following the Council vote, the City Council has ignored the war as much as possible.

Not that the Anti-War movement is getting much traction anywhere, but it's certainly not getting any here.
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# posted by Kevin @ 9:50 AM

People's Bark News Berkeley, one of those Lefty newsletters for 'our news,' contains several links to what appears to be a Serbian Nationalism website called Emperor's Clothes. The common thread is that apparently Slobodan Miloslevic was resisting Great Power Imperialism, and the Lefties in Berkeley are cheering his heroic resistance on.

It's hardly a coincidence that far-Leftism and far-Rightism are linking to each other. They have a lot more in common then most people think.
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Tuesday, January 08, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 12:58 PM

Why is everyone on the right so completely sure that the new Comprehensive Admissions is an underhanded way of affirmative-ing in Minorities?

Just to review, Comprehensive Admissions is the new way students are admitted to the UC system. The main change is that instead of '50 -75 percent' being admitted on academic criteria alone, now everyone is graded on more nebulous life achievement stuff. Horowitz's claim: this is an underhanded trip around Proposition 209.

But their whole thesis is based on one unproven hypothesis: that admissions staff is hopelessly Leftist and biased towards Minorities. Okay, maybe this is true. It seems probable that the kind of people drawn to admissions are the warm-hearted Liberal types with a passion for social engineering. But it's not hardly proven.

And I can think of numerous groups that will benefit from this a lot more than minorities will. How about immigrants-- especially refugee immigrants? My friend Catherine emigrated from Chechneya to Israel to Canada to California. This is all essay gold. And it certainly seems like lower grades-- higher social types like the Artists and Band kids will benefit big time from not depending on bad SATs.

The people who'll get screwed are the quiet grade grubbers: Engineers. Pity poor Johnny Computer Science; he can't depend on grades and SATS to get him in anymore, and exciting clubs and life experiences are not his cup of tea. Not surprising that Engineers-- who pay no attention to University politics-- ended up with a system that will probably screw them over.

So unless Horowitz's nightmare of 'significant life experiences' being defined as 'being a minority' is true, minorities will only increase their representation if they do in fact have the kind of social and artistic achievements that will be rewarded under the new system. Do they? Damned if I know; what kind of social and artistic achievements can you do in inner-city Oakland? Are they enough?

And how come Asians aren't pissed? Every Asian I know believes the stereotype that their major strength is high grades and SATs. Certainly the Regents knew it. They've done extremely well under the current system; doubtful that the new one will benefit them. After all, someone has to lose out.
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Monday, January 07, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 8:57 AM

Why is Senator Feinstein meeting with a bunch of 9.11 deniers? These are people absolutely convinced that Bush and the CIA both planned and executed the attacks. What's there to talk about?

Two possibilities: First, that they got on her schedule as activists upset about Ashcroft's doings, which a Democratic Senator can support. Second, that they're just meeting with her staff, which isn't that hard. Staffers will have a meeting with just about anyone, and will nod politely the entire time.

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Sunday, January 06, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 10:24 AM

Need proof that the Berkeley Anti-War groups are on their way out?

There's the direct proof; namely that they only managed one lame protest in December, as opposed to four or five in October. And that one was a complete bust for two reasons: one, they no longer have the manpower to hold large rallies, and two, it was held on campus *during dead week.*

Out of two long semesters, they pick one of the six days when absolutely no one is on campus to try and get some publicity.

But here's my favorite example: The Berkeley Anti-War Coalition runs two newsgroups, one for discussion and one for announcements. The announcement one sent 217 messages in October. But they were down to 90 in November and had a pathetic 34 in December. In contrast, the Discussion list had 120 messages in October, 162 in November, and 171 in December. What's more, the announcements are now about internal organization stuff and efforts to coordinate some sort of larger apparatus with other Anti-War groups.

And once again, a Lefty group devolves into endless internal discussion with half-hearted membership. Rebirth of the 60's my ass.
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Saturday, January 05, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 10:56 PM

Hardboiled is the hard lefty 'Asian-Pacific Issues' magazine on campus, so it's no surprise they start seeing Asian and Pacific Islanders everywhere, even if this means destroying the ideals of mulitculturalism. The last issue had an Editor's Note calling for Berkeley's rich diversity of Asian cultures-- over 60 groups, apparently-- conglomerate into one faceless 'Asian' mass for purposes of organization.

I'm not sure what they think all these Asian culture groups will get out of this. 'Hello, President of Cal Malaysians? You know that rich culture of yours? C'mon down and we'll lump you in with everyone from India to Korea to the Phillipines so we can advocate Socialist ideals. Vegetarian dinners will be served'

Even supposing there are pan-Asian issues to deal with, isn't this tantamount to letting the racists win? Going to the people who treat all Asians as a giant tan lump and saying 'Well, we're actually a huge amount of cultures and ethnicities that happen to share some physical characteristics, but if you want to deal with us as 'Asian' we can do that. But we're going to be Socialist about it.'

All for the cause, I suppose.



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# posted by Kevin @ 10:35 PM

Yet more proof that the intellectual standards of the Lefties in Berkeley are slipping.
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Friday, January 04, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 9:46 AM

It's always interesting to screw around on Lefty newssites for awhile. Not so much because of what they're saying; I know in advance the stream of anti-corporation stuff that will be published.

What's interesting is how it all fits together into this massive world of corporate control and conspiracy theories. A friend said to me last night, 'Why don't the Leftists read Leftist political theory anymore?' Doesn't seem they do: all their theories about the world comes down to the US government looking for a profit. Or Bush specifically. Gone are the days of intricate class relationships; it all boils down to oil profits, or trying to redeem Enron stock. It's pretty reductionist; at least Che and friends said there were many ways workers were being controlled and exploited. Now it's all profits. Yawn.

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Thursday, January 03, 2002
# posted by Kevin @ 1:00 PM

Are the links to the left working? Let me know if they aren't.
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# posted by Kevin @ 12:57 PM

Just to clarify an important term: ASUC = Associated Student Body of the University of California
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# posted by Kevin @ 12:17 PM

Heavens, I'm back at Berkeley!

This is Kevin Deenihan, Sophomore at UC Berkeley and an Intended Economics major.

Berkeley is indeed a silly place, entirely worthy of commentary. It is a microcosm of life under Progressive rule, its ethnic breakdown foreshadows America's by some twenty years, and it HQ's most of the major movements on the Left and even a few of the thinking Right. So lots of interesting stuff to talk about.

But since I don't really have the hookup for all that, I'm going to spend most of my time talking about Cal's silly student government, which I have a position in. I'll also be chronicling the events of student election's this Spring.

Should be good fun.
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