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!

PROTEST PETITION

A group opposing recent deportations of South Asians will protest tomorrow. One of the sad complaints is alleged destructions of families wherein the parent(s) are sent away leaving their American-born children to the state. Don't expect much action however, as students make themselves extra scarce on Fridays, especially in the rain. It may even have less real students than a BAMN rally (ok, so that's a bit harsh).

Here is their petition, if you don't want to get wet.Email This Post!

ProgCal asks the tough question about EVP Han Hong.

Now Han, answer me this, why in God's name did you want to be Executive Vice President if senate meetings bore you so much that you maneuver to end them early?

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The ASUC's financial crisis continues. Reactions differ on who leaked. The Daily Cal is doing a little 'gotcha!' dance of glee. Mr. Falcone is denying everything. Mr. Gabriel is breathing fire. The Senators are shrugging. (Interesting note: it appears Senator Leybovich has acquired the position as the Daily Cal's go-to guy for good quotes.)

This leaves two unanswered questions on the radar: why did this screwup happen, and who's going to pay for it? The Daily Cal has some on the second question:

The $40,000 budgeted toward previously postponed improvements to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union will most likely be included in the proposal, Gabriel said.

"There is a way to work with what we have this year," he said. "There are ways for us to solve this problem without hurting student groups. I have emphasized this to the senate."

If Mr. Gabriel can pay this debt without cutting the budgets of student groups, I'll give him the vaunted 'Calstuff ASUC Politician of the Year' award. But I don't think it's possible without borrowing money, which would be even worse.

The other question is: how did this happen? It appears blame is spread pretty evenly, but a good deal can be put on the shoulders of last year's Finance Officer, Thai Anthony-Lam. The chain appears to start on the Professional part of the ASUC on the fourth floor. There, someone neglected to mention that the Prop just passed applies to every year, and isn't just a one-off thing. Then blame passes to Mr. Anthony-Lam, who didn't notice that the ASUC had a financial obligation still. Blame goes from there to the 20 Senators who passed the Bill without noticing the missing debt. Blame also probably applies to the many observers who had reason to know but didn't speak up.

I wonder who was the first ASUC person to find this out. It must've been an interesting conversation. 'Hello, Mr. Berdahl? You said you have a check for $300,000 here, but I don't see it... We have $3,000 for BRRC, is that you?' Email This Post!

From Mr. Paul Hogarth:

Andy's going to need a lot of money to win this runoff. He also needs the money to come in soon, so that we will be able to print out enough literature to get the message out.

The runoff will be completely vote-by-mail, and all voters in the district will be getting their ballots mailed to them around November 22nd. People need to know that it is not junk mail -- and that they shouldn't just throw it away.

Residents of District 8 can also register to vote for the run-off election, even if they are not currently registered at their address and did not vote in November. The deadline to register on time is November 18th.

There are a *lot* of students in the district who are either not registered, or are registered back at home. I personally convinced two friends of mine today who live in District 8 to re-register for the run-off. We will need a lot more people to be doing that if we're going to win.

All campaign contributions should be sent to:

Katz for Council
2310 Piedmont Avenue, #303
Berkeley, CA 94704

The maximum legal contribution is $250 per person.

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Kevin's discrimination in what he prints on Calstuff goes for me too, both here and on potatochucker. Everything told to me is under the table unless I ask or the permission to publicize is implied. Anything that is mere rumor is usually ignored, otherwise mentioned with disclaimer.Email This Post!

Team Squelch falls to Team Rally Comm in the ongoing Bear's Lair Trivia Challenge. That marks the end of a two week reign of terror. But no worries: Simpsons and Literary Trivia heavy guns Praglib and Calstuff return next week.Email This Post!

The final enrollment/ethnicity numbers for Fall have been released.Email This Post!

Tsk Tsk Nitpick Department:

Far And Away My Favorite Name In Cal Sports: When you hear "Attila Banhidy", don't you think he should be invading the Moors or some such?

'Moors' is an old term referring to Spanish Muslims. It's since fallen out of usage because there aren't any Spanish Muslims any more. However, Attila the Hun wouldn't invade the Moors because they're way the hell near the Atlantic ocean, and you can't 'invade' the Moors because they're a people, not a geographic concept.

I sure hope someone got fired for that one. :)Email This Post!

Hardboiled's new issue is out. As usual, their 'take no prisoners' motto usually boils down to 'criticize other Asians as not Progressive enough.'

Actually, the article analyzing the Asian Political Association, AAA, and API is reasonably good in terms of writing. Of course, you have to accept two hypotheses. 1. Asian organizations should embrace an extremely wide selection of ethnic groups from India to Korea to the Phillipines. 2. All Asian groups should include a Radical political component.

I'm not sure how this sour criticism is playing with the Asian groups Hardboiled is trying to unite.

The Daily Cal has a scoop (Wow, I wrote that twice in a week) on plagirism in an innoucous article on the Japanese equivalent of the Hilton sisters.

The W article, entitled "Made in Japan," at one point stated that "Kyoko is said to have owned a shipping business, the sale of which made her independently wealthy—but she has refused to disclose what she shipped or who bought her company."

The Hardboiled article stated in an unattributed assertion that "at one point Kyoko is said to have owned a shipping business which she then sold to earn her wealth. But she never revealed what she shipped, or who bought the company."

W magazine is currenly investingating the plagiarism allegations, said a copyright lawyer for publication company Conde Nast, which along with W also owns Vanity Fair, Wired and The New Yorker.

I highly approve of this quick posting of time-sensitive scoops, then letting the blogs know. Very media savvy.Email This Post!

Mr. Savage has a an eloquent critique of the Daily Cal internal struggles.Email This Post!

I should probably post my Rules of Calstuffing. They're pretentious, but they've mostly kept me out of trouble.

1. The Truth is paramount. If something posted is false, remove it. If I can't prove it either way, either take it down or put up both sides of the argument.
2. If something is on the DL, I wouldn't tell it to God. If it's 'not on Calstuff,' then I can happily discuss it, but it won't go on Calstuff.
3. E-mails are fair game unless otherwise noted. Stuff said in person or on AIM are on the DL unless otherwise noted.
4. Never say anything I wouldn't say to someone's face.
5. Only people with very public positions are fair game for Blogging. Club Presidents are fine, Club Members are not.
6. Honor before Journalism.

That's pretty much it.Email This Post!

Brandon has an excellent post on the mechanics of runoff voting.Email This Post!

BSTW wants to protest the Barak speech. I'm sure we're all shocked.

Subject: IMPORTANT Call for a united protest against Ehud Barak

OPEN LETTER TO CAMPUS ACTIVISTS ­ PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

LET’S ORGANIZE A PROTEST AGAINST EHUD BARAK SPEAKING ON CAMPUS (NOVEMBER 19
at Zellerbach)!

Don’t be fooled. Although the campus is promoting former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s speech on campus as “Peacemaking in the Middle East”, Barak is anything but a man of peace. Not only has he overseen military aggression against the Palestinians, but Ehud Barak is actually coming to campus as part of a nation-wide tour to promote the US war with Iraq. A recent article in the Stanford Review quotes him saying the following (http://www.stanfordreview.org/Archive/Volume_XXIX/Issue_1/News/news1.shtml):

"To the best of my judgment, the course that has been set by the Bush administration is the right one," he said. Several times, Barak returned to the merits of removing Hussein from power, stressing that no one can be sure when Iraq's leader will acquire "a crude nuclear device, similar to those which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki." "If we wait too long [to deal with Iraq], we may be making a very grave mistake," he noted warily. "We must act while we still can." "Previous violations of many United Nations Security Council resolutions provide the legitimacy to remove [Hussein]," he said, defending the "moral and strategic clarity" of Bush's motives for a strike against Iraq.

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:

We would like to organize the largest possible rally and an open-air teach-in to coincide with his speech in Zellerbach. Concerned activists from every possible group that opposes Barak’s policies should come to the next meeting of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition, November 7th at 6PM in 2062 VLSB, to help plan and organize this protest against Barak.

Please send concerns, comments, and queries to ucbstopthewar@hotmail.com

Signed,
The Events Committee of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition

A better question might ask why Barak has turned Hawkish recently. Perhaps it has something to do with Arafat destroying his political future and hopes of peace in his preference for Intifada.Email This Post!

Local Elections Wrapup:

Bates over Dean....
Worthington over Weinberg...
Wozniak a little bit over Katz....
Measures O, P defeated....
Riddle, Issel, Doran win school board... Email This Post!

Runoff in District 8!

Before the election most everyone was whispering that if it went to a runoff between Mr. Katz and Mr. Wozniak, even if Andy was leading, that the race would be basically over. Students are hard-pressed to vote once, and Mr. Katz is out of money. So here we go on all that.

District 8 voters will participate in an all mail-in runoff election, receiving ballots from the city clerk's office by Nov. 22. Voters will have to mail in or drop off their ballots at the city clerk's by Dec. 3.

On the money issue,

The amount of money each candidate can afford to spend in the next few weeks could tip the election, although Katz was unwilling to concede this.

"The most important thing is people power and not just the power of money, (but) now I'm running against a well-funded opponent," Katz said.

But things are hardly at all hopeless! Mr. Katz has several new factors that could tip the balance in his favor. He can count on the support of an energized and excited Progressive faction that has lots of time to spare helping him campaign. He has a good shot at picking up the Wagley voters. If he can do all that and somehow manage to keep students out there then he could well win this thing.

This depends on funding. Now that I have money to give and I've discarded journalistic pretensions, I'd like to pledge $75 to the Katz Runoff Campaign. And I'm calling out the other bloggers to give.Email This Post!

The Daily Cal has a scoop on the ASUC's financial meetings. Bravo to them for putting it online, too.

This failure represents a violation of UC policy requiring the ASUC to return one third of the money generated by a student fee increase to need-based financial aid programs.

The controversy stems from the 2001 passage of Proposition 2, which raised the student activity fee by $17.50 per student per semester. Proposition 2 money has subsequently gone to the ASUC for distribution primarily to student groups.

The ASUC budget for 2002-03, which last year's senate decided upon, did not make any allowances for this substantial portion of the nearly $1.9 million budget to be returned in this manner.

Question is: how did the Daily Cal find out? Someone must've slipped them a tip.

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Today's the Day! Remember to vote!



Many of the bloggers have posted their election picks, as have I. For complete coverage, check out this site for the speediest election updates tonight.

Regrettably, I won't be able to blog winners until tomorrow morning, since I'm consumed with Frat I-Week stuff and have a DeCal tonight.Email This Post!

CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

As I mentioned on Potatochucker, Kevin has invited to post on Calstuff while I neglect my blog for a bit.

Now on with something interesting: more paper thefts. About 12:00, a number of Daily Cal editors scrambled around Sproul Plaza piecing together the details and cause of today's Daily Cals being junked, bouncing from trash can to trash can pulling many out and putting them back in their bin (hope you didn't read it while eating). Today's Daily Cal had the editorial boards endorsements.

Anyone with information is strongly encouraged to write me at mcmc@uclink.berkeley.edu, or, better yet, go to the sixth floor of Eshelman and talk to the Daily Cal in person.Email This Post!

An Australian paper runs a story on a certain famous Berkeley website.Email This Post!

As Election Day draws near, I'd like to remind readers of the promise of American Democracy, as embodied by Clinton/Kang:

My fellow Americans..Tonight I say we must move forward, not backward, upward, not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.

Calstuff's Electoral Choices:

Governor: Scott Adams (Write-in)
He's an experienced Enterpreneur, he's a trained Berkeley Economist/Businessman, he's a California resident who's brought lots of money into the state. What's not to like?

Lieutenant Governor: Bruce McPherson
He's pretty much a Democrat, plus he'll attend Regent meetings.

Ninth Congressional District: James Eyer
I can't vote for Udinsky or Lee. As Libertarians go, Eyer seems non-nutty.

For Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Three. Shall Stuart R. Pollock be elected to the office for the term proscribed by law?
Strong yes.

Berkeley Mayor: Shirley Dean
People keep telling me 'Ooh, she's anti-Rent Control!' like it should mean something to me. As a Frat Boy, I kinda own my house now. I want to squeeze our boarders relentlessly! Also, I appreciate someone who tells a class full of students that she belongs to a secret organization.

City Council: Andy Katz
Students 4 ever.

School Board
Lance Montauk (The Choice of Bloggers!)
Dunno... Issel?
Nancy Riddle

Berkeley Measures
I: Yes
J: Yes
K: Yes
L: No
M: No
N: Errr, No
O: No
P: NoEmail This Post!

Somewhat unusually, the Daily Cal's Science section has been scooped by Dave Barry As he writes,

I think we all agree that the answer is: Yes. When technology goes too far, ordinary citizens must take action. But the question is: How do we define ''too far?'' I will tell you. We define ''too far'' as ``when scientists start putting weapons on cockroaches.''

This is actually happening, according to an article in the Sept. 6 issue of Science magazine, brought to my attention by alert reader Richard Sweetman. This article states that researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have been ''mounting tiny cannons on the backs of cockroaches.'' That is correct: These researchers have been outfitting live cockroaches with backpacks containing ``plastic tubes filled with explosives.''

Of course the researchers have a scientific reason for doing this: They are on LSD.

No, really, it has something to do with figuring out how cockroaches have such good balance. (You almost never see a cockroach fall off a bicycle.) The researchers have used their findings to construct a working robot roach that is, according to Science, the size of a breadbox. Swell! If there's anything this world needs more than armed cockroaches, it's giant mechanized cockroaches!

NEWSPAPER STORY FROM THE YEAR 2004: ``A homeowner in Santa Rosa, Calif., was found shot to death in his kitchen Friday. Police said the man apparently was felled by 500 rounds of small-bore cannon fire, mostly in his ankles, indicating that this was the work of the gang of armed research cockroaches that escaped from a Berkeley lab. Police said the motive in the slaying was apparently a Ring Ding. In a related development, an escaped robot cockroach broke into an Oakland Wal-Mart and made off with an estimated 17,000 AA batteries.''

Ask yourself: Is that the kind of story you want to read in your newspaper? Me too, as long as it's California.

For those interested, here's the actual article (UCB Student Proxy Server setup required,) and here's a quote from it

They outfitted the beasts with jetpacks, 2.5- cm-long plastic tubes filled with explosives, triggered by electrical wires that delivered 10-millisecond bursts—the length of a single roach stride. They then watched how the bugs recouped when suddenly knocked off balance by the tiny blasts. From videotapes of hundreds of cockroach runs, the researchers found that the roaches “didn’t even break their stride,” says Jindrich.

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The Contra Costa Times runs a nice little condescending article about what it's like to be a Republican at Cal. As usual, they take the complicated intermix of politics and culture and Cal and condense it into one pretty little 'Everyone is Liberal' stereotype. This ignores a lot of the more interesting stuff on campus, including Republicans and Moderates banding together against Progressives, and the influence Conservatives have on student government.

They deride the Cal Berkeley Democrats' publication, Smart Ass, for what they consider its anti-American rhetoric.

"Smart Ass is what we use for toilet paper at the frat house!" one said recently.

They deride the Smart Ass because it's lame. It's not all that anti-American compared to the rest of campus publications. Also, because the Smart Ass goes after the Patriot.

They feel it on Sproul Plaza where protests against everything from sweatshops to Israeli policy make news.

When was the last time we had a Sweatshop protest here that made news? I honestly can't remember one.

The article does actually get it right, briefly. Naturally, this came from actually asking a Cal student what he thought.

Hsiao considers himself more apolitical than political, although he does have opinions. Several students interviewed said the bulk of their Cal classmates fall into that category. Like Hsiao, they feel buried under their academic responsibilities. It's people on the far left and on the far right who make the most noise, they say. .

The 'Oh, but' part near the end is interesting

The Berkeley College Republicans aren't in lockstep on all issues, especially social ones. So they tend to avoid discussions about abortion and gay marriage, Norman says. And for all the intolerance of conservative viewpoints they see on campus, the pamphlet tables on Sproul Plaza have a curiously high number of religious groups sitting behind them. Folks at the anti-abortion table say that for the most part, passersby are respectful.

As for the Berkeley College Republicans, it's not as if the Cal Berkeley Democrats treat them as outcasts, remarked one student Democrat. The two groups plan on bowling together this year.

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New York has won the US Olympic bid for the 2012 Olympics, beating out the Bay Area. Boooo.Email This Post!

UPDATE: Mr. Manley says that the Board had nothing to do with his endorsement of Mr. Katz. No vote was held, and no members voiced complaints about his endorsement. Actually, his endorsement angered no one to his knowledge but Mr. KG Barnett, a BCR member.

Bret Manley, the Berkeley College Republican's President, is facing possible impeachment and definite complaints following an internal BCR battle over local election endorsements.

Mr. Manley has been a consistent supporter of Andy Katz in District 8 elections, mainly due to Greek issues. Mr. Katz is Greek, and is thought to be more sympathetic towards their position in the constant neighbors/Greeks battles. BCR in general, however, is much more sympathetic towards Katz's opponent, Gordon Wozniak, the Moderate candidate and generally more Centrist person. Mr. Wozniak has spoken to a BCR meeting. Mr. Wozniak is also supported by the Republican Chair for the Bay Area.

However, Mr. Manley has put his name to a Katz campaign mailer urging all District 8 Republicans to vote for Andy. This is despite BCR's Board unanimously asking Mr. Manley in advance not to put his name to the letter. Angered by his rejection of their request, the Board will be meeting on the matter within the week. Impeachment is possible but fairly unlikely.

Breaking...
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Thanks go to Mr. J.S, the first ever to send me something off my Amazon Wish List. He will get fawning coverage from here on!Email This Post!

Here's two more internal Daily Cal letters. The first is former Editor Millie Lapidario's response to Mr. Hernandez.

Daniel,
Despite your earlier e-mail that stated you didn't expect me to reply, I called you last night to clear up some major misconceptions. You, however, did not respond.

It's interesting that you've judged me without bothering to hear my side of the story. Through your conversations with the Daily Cal's current management, you may have the impression that the only issue here is the new deadline policy. But if you read the letter we sent to our writers and the letter Leta wrote to SEB, you would have realized that the issue here is the lack of contracts at the Daily Cal.

Virginia basically advised Ron to fire Leta because of a dispute over the new deadline policy. With the way Ron and Virginia have been managing the paper, anyone can easily be fired for any reason. How can a newspaper be legitimate when free speech is being stifled within the newsroom?

Perhaps your skills as a journalist in finding the truth have not yet developed. You have not been to the Daily Cal newsroom this semester and therefore, have no understanding of our experience working with Virginia as the managing editor. She is incredibly rude, overzealous, and has proven her destructive nature by pushing to appoint her close friend, Mike Meyers, to the City Editor position. Meyers has never held as assistant editor position, has written columns illustrating his bias against the progressives in the City Council, and is not a registered UCB student.

I have already attempted to resolve the problem internally, repeatedly talking to Ron throughout the semester about my dissatisfaction with management's tyrannical method of running the newsroom. Each time, he has dismissed all of my concerns and refers to Virginia to make most of his decisions.

In our fight to obtain contracts for Daily Cal employees, we ARE following the credo "whatever is good for the paper." If we didn't care about the paper, we would have simply quit and never looked back. But the fact is, the two people who head The Daily Cal have abused their power almost beyond repair. Contracts would ensure that this could never happen again to another dedicated and valuable Daily Cal employee. By not having many of our writers this week, Ron and Virginia will hopefully recognize the value of every employee's contribution to the paper.

Below, you'll find a letter we wrote to SEB explaining our position. If you would like to discuss the matter further, I'd be happy to talk with you over the phone. However, attempting to intimidate me by stating that I have ruined my chances of working for the LA Times or any other newspaper is unnecessary and quite presumptuous for someone who has only been working at a major publication for a few months.

--Millie

The second is the letter sent by the Rebels to the Daily Cal's Senior Editorial Board.

Dear members of the Senior Editorial Board,

We are writing to you to clarify what we are standing for and what we hope to achieve. This is not about deadlines.
Our end goal is to ensure that all writers, editors, and staff members obtain contracts. Leta was fired on Monday without ANY formal discussion or feedback from SEB. Mike Meyers was appointed City Editor without ANY formal discussion or feedback from SEB. Only three SEB members selected Leta's replacement, one of whom is friends with Mike. This is a clear conflict of interest. Millie, who would have been working very closely with Mike, was never part of the discussion. Once Mike took the position, he chose not to pick one of the then assistant news editors--which rendered one of them automatically dismissed without just cause. Neither of the assistants were ever notified ahead of time that this was a possibility.
Contracts would make sure that there is a clearly delineated process for all personnel issues, including firing and promotions to editorial positions. THIS IS NOT ABOUT DEADLINES, which the AP article erroneously stated. The process for evaluating staff should also be clearly written in order to avoid what happened to Leta, as explained in her letter to SEB Monday. If evaluations are to be used as evidence for a firing, they must be comprehensive and represent the staff that initially hired the staff member in question. It is highly unusual for an evaluation not to include the people who work closest to the staff member in question.
In the end, why would anybody oppose the implementation of contracts? This has nothing to do with money or deadlines or even regaining our positions.
This semester, we wrote an editorial supporting contracts for UC lecturers and clerical workers. Now, we are asking you to extend the same reasoning to your own workplace.
"Prioritizing talks with labor unions may cost the university more money, but it will also help stop the degradation of UC Berkeley's educational infrastructure," the editorial states. Well, prioritizing contracts may have cost our positions, but it will also help stop the degradation of The Daily Californian.

Sincerely,
Millie Lapidario
Leta Shy
Jennifer Kline
Ben Barron

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Column

I promised a funny column, and that's what I wrote.Email This Post!

Cal Blogging has been superb lately. Too Much Logic has been poring over Measure O, the Coffee Initiative. CalWatch has been covering the Scharzenegger visit and the aftermath of the Daily Cal rebellion. And ProgCal, in response to the Patriot's recent 'Activist Trading Cards' gives as good as they do.Email This Post!