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!