BEARS WIN!
34-2 stomping of Southern Mississippi...
Recap...
Photos...

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I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on which Senators are on which committee. I scrambled it down at 8 in the morning after a long over twelve hour meeting (so let me know if I made a mistake and I will change it):

Finance: Senators Adnan Iqbal, Paul Lafata, Miya Keren, Alina Azizian, John Wilson, Rocky Gade, and Olivia Layug.

Constitutional and Procedural Review: Senators Devin Andre, Gene Chung, Bahar Khanjari, Alicia Criado, Lauren Hubbert, Imad Ahmed, and Misha Leybovich.

University and External Affairs: Senators Peter Tadao Gee, Mo Kashmiri, Christine Lee, Charles Chen, Sun Lee, and Ricardo Valencia.

In other interesting news, Senator Miya Keren removes her affiliation from the Student Action Party. This now leaves the senate with six CalServe, six Student action, and eight independent senators. But since the status of Senator Sun Lee is unknown, the Senate holds 19 senators allowing any single group the ability to block any item that requires a 2/3 vote, which includes financial allocations.

Stay tuned early next week for my first "Diary of a Senator."Email This Post!

I'm going to start adding some new members to Calstuff over the next month or so. If you're interested in writing for Calstuff, e-mail me.Email This Post!

The first Senate meeting concluded after 12 hours of bad feelings and arguments. Short version-- every single group -- publications, service, government, whatever-- was cut by .7 percent. That made $7000 of the budget deficit. The other $3000 came from the Greek Philanthropy Fund.

More tonight with details and Committee Appointments.Email This Post!

The EBE has a neat piece on Professor Cain's total media presence during the recall. At times, searching 'Berkeley' in Google News will produce results almost half Cain-esque.Email This Post!

The Researchers who got in so much trouble for releasing that 'Conservatives = Pee Fetishists' study are defending themselves in the WP.Email This Post!

Berkeley Blogs, run by Linkstew, has returned. Email This Post!

As the Daily Cal notes, it looks like I have the only online copy available of the ASUC Budget. The only version on the ASUC's site is incomplete, plus the version given to Senators has discrepancies. And who knows if my version is correct?

The debt was not the only discrepancy in this year's budget. Because last year's final budget meeting lasted more than 25 hours, ASUC Senators had discrepancies with the budgets listed in the minutes. A different copy of the final budget was posted on UC Berkeley student and former Daily Cal columnist Kevin Deenihan's Web log.

My version was the one forwarded to the Daily Cal by Lauren Hubbert shortly after the Budget meeting concluded.

If the Senators had any heart they'd do something very nice for Mr. Litwack, the ASUC's stenographer. During the budget meeting this pretty elderly guy was kept up for 40 hours, 23 hours of straight typing. That's dedication. Rename the Senate Chambers after him or something. Email This Post!

Three cheers for Ms. Stein's Column today. It's everything a column should be: witty, topical, and most importantly, doesn't use personal problems as somehow indicative of a larger trend.

The Planet has somehow kept all the bias of a paper owned by an activist while also somehow throwing out the fun anger of being a crusader. It's dogmatic, strident campaigning... for neighborhood architecture controls. For the removal of cell phone antennas. It's like all the activists from the 60's, with mortgages and three kids, but still essentially looking for something to bitch about.

Also interestingly, it somehow completely manages to ignore the existence of that 'big bad behemoth Cal.' The Planet almost never runs Cal-themed stories unless the University is threatening to build near some neighborhood. This may be an intelligent Executive decision-- the niche of the Planet is the City, the niche of the Daily Cal is the University. The two would be better off not competing. But it's also very possible it's a purposeful tunnel vision, to ignore the bane of neighborhood activists's lives-- Eminent Domain.Email This Post!

The Daily Cal profiles the bloggers today, including me.

There's a typo. I never said Professor Ross read Calstuff. I mentioned Professor Ross as one of the few Professors actually interested in Campus affairs, not in Calstuff in particular. He may read it; I doubt it.

But it's a good article. Mr. Farivar chose not to include my overall analysis about the imminent death of the Berkeley Politics Blogosphere. The truth is that the explosion in blogging occured over a year ago-- in Spring 2002. Since then, the numbers have dwindled to me and a few others. I'll be retiring sometime this year. I don't see the Berkeley Blogs as inherently stable. Either the writer gets bored with Cal-only topics or gets tired of Blogging entirely.

Christ, have I really been doing this for nearly two years?Email This Post!

How are those Minority Groups getting the impression that the Daily Cal is all white people?

With investments in this new campaign, the athletic department begins to resemble the creators of Saved By the Bell: The New Class—riding the wave of its previous success for as long as it can.

But just like The New Class, all our favorite stars are missing and we are left with nervous anticipation to see if Mr. Belding, played by the honorable Coach Jeff Tedford, can carry this rookie cast all the way to glory. (Things are looking up for the team, that still has one more appearance on ESPN this season).

Isn't an Opinion column supposed to have an opinion? This one closes with 'Well, this marketing campaign may fail.... OR, it may NOT! Also, the team winning would be, in the august opinion of the Daily Cal, good.'

The athletic department has entered into a risky venture that could backfire if promises of a new glamorous team yield nothing more than memories of football seasons past (every year before last year).

Or it could do something that few expected but many would enjoy—make football a central part of life at Cal. That potential alone makes this endeavor worth the money.

What a waste of space.. especially when the death of Professor Ogbu was there calling out for some form of introspection on his life, his department, or his work.Email This Post!

Warning! Not for my Cousins to read!

New Sex on Tuesday Columnist. I never actually read them, especially when they spend a column talking about bias and theory instead of nasty, dirty sexxxxxxxxx talk. I understand Ms. Desmarais' desire to be pushing the boundaries; part of the broad sexually-enlightened coalition that is pushing back the shroud of 'abstinence until death' frightfulness that she seems to feel covers most of America.

Space confines me to brutal oversimplification, but here's the gist. Mainstream society frequently tells us that sexual organs and most forms of sexual expression are dirty, bad and not appropriate topics of polite conversation. This message manifests itself in many ways, from Pat Robertson claiming that homosexuality will unleash the wrath of god in the form of terrorist bombs and natural disasters, to the use of words such as "cock" or "cunt" as insults, or complaining about being deeply "fucked" by your final. This quietly shared belief keeps effective sex-education out of our schools, pushes folk with "untraditional" sexual tastes into fringe groups and makes people ashamed of enjoying the occasional rim-job.

But this is Berkeley. Heck, this is Northern California. Pat Robertson has made few inroads here. Just about every sex act, especially in the Co-ops, is enjoyed all the time and with numerous people. Use of the word 'fuck' isn't used to denigrate the sex act in general, but vague signifier that you'd like to violently assault something or someone, loosely tied to the unpleasantness of the violent sex that 'fucking' implies. Rimjobs are considered dirty because of the association of butt feces with unpleasantness. And the fringe groups are fringe not because people are having sex but want to keep it 'simple.' Berkeley students don't seem to have it easy meeting the opposite sex and having a relationship with them, much less being comfortable enough to suggest a menage-a-trois. Maybe your average Engineer would want to get a Hot Carl. It's unlikely he'll be in a position to ask.

The fact of the matter is that Berkeley is already as sexually liberated as it can be-- intellectually. What's holding us back is biological or emotional. I don't know that a sex column about intellectual and linguistic inhibition can do much about this. Email This Post!

Senator Leybovich passes this along:

2nd semesterly ASUC BOOKSWAP:
Come check out the 2nd semesterly ASUC BOOKSWAP!!!
Buy/sell/barter/swap your books with other students and save/make money without the middleman!
Thursday August 28
11 AM - 4 PM
Upper Sproul Plaza
Contact: ASUC Senator Misha Leybovich at asucbookswap@uclink.berkeley.edu

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If you're still looking for housing, rooms are available at 2422 Prospect. $3300/semester, pool, cook, all utilities paid.Email This Post!

The brand new Squelch is out.

Special credit for this issue must go to Graphics Editor Rebecca C Brown for putting in by far the lion's share of the work. When the rest of us were sick, flaky, or at band camp, she was there.

Notes: the Cover was taken in Leconte, and that's a picture of former Elections Chair Tommaso Sciortino. He was actually wearing black briefs for the shot; they were digitally removed and a tiny fleck of pubic hair carefully photoshopped in. The Back Cover is a parody of People magazine. I wrote two articles, three newsflashes, and the small text. (The text underneath the staff box = small text.) See if you can guess which of my newsflashes went under a pseudonym.

The first meeting of the year is Wednesday at 7 in, I think, 109 Wheeler. Don't take my word for that until later today when I've had a chance to check.

Viva Squelch!Email This Post!

The new US and World College Rankings are out. Cal stayed on top of the Public School rankings-- albeit now tied with U. Virginia-- and was ranked 21st overall.

University of California, Berkeley retained its spot as the nation's top-ranked public university in U.S. News & World Report's annual college ranking, although it shares top billing with the University of Virginia, which ranked second in the last survey.

The magazine's ``America's Best Colleges'' rankings are based on a formula that includes graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, peer review and other factors to determine the standings.

Universities are ranked in a variety of categories.

UC Berkeley and Virginia tied for No. 1 on the listing of the top 50 public universities. On the listing that includes both public and private institutions, the campuses tied at 21st place.

Marie Felde, UC Berkeley's director of media relations, said the campus has been at the top of the public ranking for at least the past decade.

``As in the past, Berkeley has ranked as the No. 1 public university in most of the surveys,'' she said.

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Calapalooza was as interesting as always. Some things:

The Student Advocate Office is acting without an actual Advocate at the moment. The heads of the four 'clusters' of service are collaborating to keep the office running until one is appointed.

Senator Gade has made the switch from the Fresno Party to the Squelch Party. Sorta. The correct way to refer to him would be 'Senator Gade, Fresno/Squelch Party.' It also looks like he'll be posting a bi-weekly Senator's Journal on Calstuff.

New Squelch should, barring incident, be out on Monday.

This is a good a time as any to reiterate: Calstuff is always looking for new talent. If you'd be interested in writing for it, e-mail me. I'll set you up. The rules are: 1. only write about Cal-related things, and 2. no Libel.

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High Schooler Violence

Breaking, Aug 21, 12:20am: Gang violence has started early this term outside Pike. A college sophomore questioned a youngster regarding whether he was concealing something in his sweater. Quickly another sucker punched him in the back of the head and issued threats, sending him to the pavement unconscious. He suffered seizures, concussion and a gash before regaining himself ten minutes later. Expectedly, others were crowding around gawking, some we're giving bad medical advice, and police (who were on frat row close by) were slow to respond. The assailants were chased down Durant, but got away after hitting the few people brave enough to give chase.

Freshmen are advised to face the reality of living at Cal– this is no isolated incidence. Some high school kids come here (especially to parties) to steal and injure. In fact, it is often a rite of passage for these people to enter such gangs. They can be recogined easily by their youthful looks and peculiar dress including do-rags, baggy clothes, big jackets, etc. As much as I almost refuse to admit, any group of five or more high-school-age black males could be part of a gang. They can be in larger groups that also include women (of all colors), and even college students too, allegedly.

Their MO is routine. They want alcohol, they want access, and they want their way. They initiate violence upon being refused entrance to what they perceive to be a party, or when asked to leave, or when refused drink. In at least one occasion, they flashed a gun at a fraternity party. (I strongly recommend reading the link to start the paragraph, by the way).

Be prepared. If you are throwing a party, the best defense is to try to prevent them from entering, but to avoid violence. Call the cops at the first sign of threat and let them know who you are dealing with. It is not good to confront them unless you are prepared to take on at least half a dozen, most likely armed.

*For the record I was attending the victim, who fell within a yard of me.Email This Post!

UCLink hasn't formally acknowledged it, but it's been under siege by the latest round of worms. The strain of keeping the network free and clear knocked down the servers for hours today. Hopefully, things will be back on track soon. Email This Post!

One of the joys of Google News is seeing which stories get picked up by outlets across the country. Happy to say, this brief on a Berkeley teacher arrested for Prostitution is being played all around America.Email This Post!

Interesting quotes from ASUC President Primm in ANG Papers:

Associated Students President Kris Cuaresma-Primm adds that as many as half of the new students fresh out of high school arrive with college credits earned in "AP," or advanced placement, courses. "Although they're in their first year at UC Berkeley, they may actually be almost a sophomore or even a junior," Cuaresma-Primm said.

"And there are those of us, like me, who came in on the 'dumb jock program.' We may have been here four years, but we're still juniors. So that's why we don't think of ourselves as freshmen or whatever."

Cuaresma-Primm, who was elected student body president last spring, says he's a "sixth year" senior. "I came on a wrestling scholarship," he said.....

Cuaresma-Primm told the assembled new students that Berkeley indeed is a special place. "Elements were discovered here," he said. "The co-founder of Apple Computer (Steve Wozniak), the one and only Beaver of "Leave It To Beaver" (Jerry Mathers), and the original Incredible Hulk (Bill Bixby) ... were all UC Berkeley graduates," Cuaresma-Primm said.

The experience at Cal may change you, he added. "How many of you have attended an anti-war rally? How many have seen a naked, 60-year-old hippie? An animal rights protest?

"You may see all of that on the way to your next class," he said. "Let me be honest with you. I don't know how they got me up here in this suit. If you're a freshman, sign up for your free football season tickets, and vote no on Prop. 54. And who knows, you might be the next Naked Guy at Cal. We haven't had one for a long time.

The Free Freshman Season Tickets deal is a new one.. I don't think it was available a few weeks ago.Email This Post!

Hey Daily Cal, thanks for the press release on the wonders of eFollett's NEXT-DAY DELIVERY! (woo!) What a journalistic bonanza of hard-hitting coverage.

Follett says its online bookstore is updated daily with the newest titles requested by professors for their courses.

Using a course number, a student can draw up the course titles for any class they take.

Ned's Den has books by course control number, typically weeks before eFollett. So does locally-run ComeGetUsed.But speaking for myself, I get my books used off Amazon. You can get some really cheap books. The story doesn't mention A) what partnership made this possible and B) What the return process is like. Is it at the ASUC Bookstore? Probably.

A much more interesting story would be in the disparity of the Copy Shops. Why does Copy Central get all the work? There's tons of copy places out there that only do a few readers. It would obviously be more efficient if they were farmed out, so those 40 minute waits at that one single Copy Central on Bancroft were a thing of the past.Email This Post!

Near-Candidate Swaney e-mails

Kevin,

I collected 120 signatures, 80 of which were from people who told me that they were independent/non-partisan. I needed at least 65 signatures from these independents, but there were at least 15 that the registrar of voters classified as being not registered California voters or not independents.

Liz

Understandable. I think I'm a registered Democrat, but I'm not COMPLETELY sure. I might've put Independent for kicks. I'm sure many others have the same problem.Email This Post!

The final certified list of California Governor Candidates is out: Cal student Liz Swaney is not on it. I'll see if I can find out why. Ms. Georgy Russel is, however.

Thanks to Calstuff Correspondant IBS for the catch.Email This Post!

**BREAKING**

The Injunction that the Education is a Right group filed has been denied. This was an injunction to prevent the University from collecting additional fee increases from Professional students while the lawsuit was proceeding. Senator Kashmiri writes in that the injunction lost because the damages were monetary in nature, and therefore refundable if the lawsuit was successful. They would've had to demonstrate the damage was irreperable to win.
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The East Bay Express has a long article on Senator Kashmiri's lawsuit. The Injunction Hearing is today; hopefully someone will give me the lowdown on that before the day is over. Senator Kashmiri is still undecided on whether or not to attend class this semester; fees are due on the 15th.

What will the rate hikes do to the students? Kashmiri, the eldest child in a family with three college-age students and only one working parent, already funnels his student aid checks to his younger brothers. He estimates he'll be $100,000 in debt by the time he graduates, and worries that if he can't stop the fee hike he'll have to take a few years off to work and save money.

There's also a lot of gloom and doom -- fully justified -- on the future of the UC system.Email This Post!

21 years young today.

The only thing to do now is kick back and hope nothing horrible happens to give 'August 13th' a reputation. My Dad turned 50 on September 11th, 2001.. and that's Caljunket's birthday too.Email This Post!

The latest article on ASUC Judicial Council rulings has **errors**

The decision, however, is not binding but is just an advisory opinion since Lee was unable to attend the hearing, said Mike Davis, assistant chair of the Judicial Council.

No he didn't! Senator Lee's attendance at the Council meeting was irrelevant. The Opinion would've been advisory if she had in the room shouting 'Look at me! Look at me!' Reason being, it is EVP Gomez's decision about whether or not to disbarr Senator Lee.

ASUC Executive Vice President Taina Gomez, who chairs senate meetings, can decide whether Lee's reasons to miss meetings are sufficient. She could take yesterday's opinion under advisement in making her decision, Davis said.

What this means is the Council has no power to make a judgement in advance of her decision, in the same way a Judge cannot strike down a law in advance of it being passed. What they can do is make an Advisory opinion, stating that the Council WOULD consider it Unconstitutional to disbarr Senator Lee from serving if she has a medical excuse. However, it would be Constitutional to disbarr her if she cannot attend classes due to the fee increases.

Note also that EVP Gomez can decide that the Fee Increase reasons are sufficient for her to continue serving in the Senate. But this doesn't mean Senator Lee is off the hook-- anyone can sue once she violates the mandatory Attendance amounts, and the J-Council would probably order her removed from the Senate.

Also,

The Council found her reasons for missing meetings because of medical circumstances are valid, as ASUC bylaws state that senators can be excused for meetings if they present a valid medical excuse.

ASUC Constitution, not Bylaws.Email This Post!

If you're going down University past San Pablo towards the Bay, be aware of an ongoing police standoff.Email This Post!

Mr. Kadhim responds on The Volokh Conspiracy. His self-defense is not very encouraging.

The reference to the Protocols was not part of the core of the class material. It came about as a result of an un-invited monologue by Ms. Klein, as I was explaining the social of the "Iraqi oaths" for students. I was merely telling the students about the Iraqi conventional wisdom, as opposed to the other side.

As you know, this issue of authenticity and the identity of the author -- or authors -- of the Protocols has not been settled between the Middle Eastern disputants (that is to say, no one said to the other, "you are right.").

The noise between Egypt and Israel about the TV show (A Knight without a Horse) recently is only one good example. The show presented the conventional wisdom which I mentioned. It was not endorsed by the government of Egypt, but by many Arab intellectuals and the masses.

I am not in the business of endorsing one view over the other, at least in that debate that happened in the class.

Being misunderstood is a frequent risk all of us, teachers, have to run. It is interesting however, that in a small room, only one student heard one thing and all other students heard another!!!

Unfortunately for clarity, there are two ways to parse this. The first-- and damning-- way is to conclude that Mr. Kadhim is well aware of the Protocols and has not made his mind up one way or another. Or, to put this another way, to Mr. Kadhim the 'Zionist Jews' may or may not control the Universe. Even more damning-- and not contradicted by the letter-- would be to say that Mr. Kadhim believes that the Jews control the world, but is undecided whether or not the Protocols is a real document. But the letter doesn't prove that either.

The other way-- and the one that provides an escape-- is that Mr. Kadhim mentioned that the authenticity is in doubt between disputants in the Middle East, and that he's not interested in spending class time denouncing the Protocols as a fake. He just wants to teach some Arabic.

On balance, the first reading seems more likely. It doesn't take much effort to take a stand on the Protocols of Zion, yet Mr. Kadhim carefully doesn't do so. Simply to entertain that they may be true demonstrates a worldview where all banking is run by the Jews, etc etc. It seems a lot more likely that Mr. Kadhim is saying 'I have not taken a stand on if the Protocols are true' then 'I have taken a stand against them, but am too busy teaching class to be Mr. Condemn anti-semitism.' If he wrote to put controversy to rest, surely a simple 'I was showing the class about an ongoing debate, but do not believe in the Protocols myself, whatever Ms. Klein may say' would have done so. Instead it's left vague-- almost as if Mr. Kadhim wants to keep his job but doesn't want his friends to read him saying 'I don't believe in the Protocols.'
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Ms. Klein sent me her letter to the DC's Editorial Page in response to the Daily Cal's Friday article on the possible anti-semitism incident. Quoted in full:

Editor-

(Regarding "Student Alleges Anti-Semitism Taught in Arabic Language Course" 8-8-03)

In the 8-8-03 article, Mr. Kadhim never actually denies believing that the "Protocols" is a true document. Regarding his claims that he presented it the context of Iraqi conventional wisdom, he is not telling the truth. I do not recall the word "Iraq" being mentioned even once in the entire discussion. If I am as "brilliant" as my peers describe in the Daily Californian, surely I am able to distinguish between a discussion on Iraqi culture and worldview, and an instructor presenting his personal views to the class as truth. There was no room for ambiguity in Mr. Kadhim's remarks. I asked him repeatedly if he was certain that he believed the "Protocols" to be a document written by Jews. He assured me that he did. Hoping desperately that there must be some mistake, I phrased the question differently and asked him if he didn't believe it to be a forgery. He laughed and said, "Who would have forged it, Muslims?" I tried to explain that it was proven to have been forged by the Tsarist sercet police, but he cut me off and changed the topic. Mr. Kadhim may really believe that the "Protocols" are part of Iraqi conventional wisdom, although that is not what he presented to the class. I'm willing to give the Iraqi people more credit, though. The Iraqi public is on the whole highly educated and I find it hard to believe that they would buy such utter nonsense as the "Protocols".

I find it shameful that no other student save myself had the decency to speak against Mr. Kadhim's anti-Jewish diatribe. One student is quoted as calling me "belligerent". If belligerency means standing up to hatred and bigotry, then I will wear the label with pride.

Signed,
Susanna Klein

I would love to believe Ms. Klein's claims without any other verification, but spitting on an SJP member while parading around in a ridiculous suicide bomber outfit has killed her credibility with me-- and with most others. It's perhaps unfortunate, but this case calls for independent verification.Email This Post!

Apparently a Cal Student-- not just a recent Cal Grad--- threw her hat into the ring for the upcoming Gubernatorial excitement.

including Elizabeth Swayney, a 19-year-old University of California, Berkeley political science student, who noted her political experience is generally limited to holding elected offices in high school.

Actually spelled 'Swaney.'

She has a website. Her biography is weirdly unclear. She lists her school as UC Berkeley, and her accomplishments in her first year of college as

Last year in college, Liz continued to be involved in community service, teaching English to children that were native Spanish speakers. She was also the sports editor of her college's newspaper and continued to be involved in her school's rowing team.

This doesn't sound like Berkeley. I think she must've transferred in from somewhere else. She wasn't registered at UCB last Spring, anyway.

She also lists a '25% increase' in fees this year for students. Since it's her number one issue, you'd think she'd know the increase was actually 30%, and that leaves aside earlier raises + additional hits for law students, out of state, et al.

On the other hand, way to enter Cal with a bang. Email This Post!

More on that possible anti-semitism. Looks like I rushed to judgement too quickly! I was taking the word, after all, of someone more pro-Israeli then basically anyone else on campus -- she was the idiotic 'suicide bomber' spitter that embarassed all the other pro-Israeli groups so much. And the class is backing the Professor up.

Several other students in the class also submitted a complaint, about Klein, however, claiming she was disruptive and that she also accused classmates of being anti-Semitic on several occasions.

Klein is affiliated with DAFKA, a pro-Israel group on campus. In April, Klein was cited on suspicion of battery by UC police during a pro-Palestine rally.

Police said she dressed up as a suicide bomber and spat on a student during the rally, in which she said she felt threatened when she was physically restrained from walking through Sproul Plaza.

She appeared to be "extremely belligerent," wrote one student in the complaint to the chair of the Near Eastern Studies Department.

We'll see! I don't like either side now.Email This Post!

Moron alert

Info on the Angel's Trumpet.Email This Post!

A Berkeley Professor and former Iraqi Soldier appears to have finally publically crossed that thin line between 'Anti-Zionism' and 'Anti-Semitism,' by approvingly quoting that famous Jew-hating litmus test 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'. The Professor, Abbas Kadhim, teaches Arabic 15. Here's the account

He then launched into a long speech about how much he loves Jews and Judaism, but he hates Zionism. I asked him how this was possible, and he responded by claiming that Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism, but was invented by European Jews. He claimed that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion serve as an example of Zionist philosophy. I was simply astounded. I concluded that he was joking and asked him, laughing, if he was joking. He responded that he was completely serious. I was astounded, and asked him how
he could possibly believe something so absurd. He asserted that everything that Zionists have done so far has progressed exactly according to the Protocols, and that it therefore must be a true document. I could not believe my ears. I asked him again, "Are you sure you believe it was written by Jews?" He answered that he did indeed, although he felt it important to clarify that he only meant "Zionist Jews."

So he only hates those Jews who secretly control America, the Financial World, and are moving towards world domination? That's a relief! What a parody of the 'I hate Zionists, not Jews,' line touted as the antidote to anti-semitism in the 'anti-Zionist' community. If there's such a muddle that being 'anti-Zionist' can mean adherence to such a racist line as the Protocols, it's probably time to close up shop and give up entirely.Email This Post!

The Daily Cal completely misses the story about Berkeley's recent hacker vulnerability. The story is not that the NetAdmins are overhauling the system and closing some ports-- who cares about that technical stuff? The story is that 50 to 100 computers (Nice broad range) have already been compromised by trojan systems! That's a big freaking story! What kind of systems were invaded? Registration? Payroll? Finance? Bearlink? There's any number of systems with vital student information on them, and '50 to 100' were invaded-- that the NetAdmins know about at this point. My financial and personal information is on a system on campus. And we're talking about virtual control of the entire PC.

"It's not clear exactly how many compromised machines there are," Lant said. "Right now I know of 50 to 100 machines across campus" that have been invaded by the rogue code.

The flaw in the Windows NT, 2000 and XP operating systems, first disclosed by Microsoft Corp. two weeks ago, allows hackers to gain access to vulnerable PCs through a process know as a remote procedure call (RPC). Once connected to a vulnerable machine, a hacker can "essentially take it over and do anything they want to," Lant said, including access any information stored on the computer or corrupt its files. Networks to which a compromised machine is connected also are at risk.

I got this from the official Berkeley press release, not dragged out by astute reporting. And the Tri-Valley Herald, a terrible newspaper, adds to that. (UPDATE: The story's from the Oakland Trib. My bad! Serves me right for assuming the Herald wrote an original story.) (They put the 50-100 machines in the second line.)

Campus Information Systems Security Officer Craig Lant said 50 to 100 computers on the Berkeley campus already have been successfully attacked by hackers exploiting a recently discovered flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

"There may be more. We won't know until we shut down," he said.

Lant estimated that more than half of the 40,000 computers on the Berkeley campus use some form of Windows.

"We're getting close to 1,000 scans a day from outside -- many of them looking for Windows machines to attack," Lant said.

He noted it doesn't appear any data has been destroyed on the hacked computers, but it is early in what amounts to a very serious war between security experts and outlaw hackers.

It's very possible that the compromised computers are harmless library PC's. That might be worth looking into.Email This Post!

Z. Alexander Sharpe is da winner of this week's Calstuff Trivia Contest:

Unless I'm mistaken as to the nature of your question, the other Bears in the student directory that were, presumably, made up by the directory's programmers are Ursa Bear and Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear. Ursa is majoring in Law, while Fuzzy Wuzzy is majoring in Anthropology. Oski's major is a tad trickier; I'm not certain, but I believe the Student Registration database used to have him down as a Social Welfare major, though I may be thinking of the display of graduation paraphernalia in the lobby of MLK. In any case, it now has him marked as a Triple Major, though, as with all multiple-majors in the Registration Database, it does not detail what those majors might be. I hope this is sufficient to answer the trivia question. Sincerest regards,

-Z. Alexander Sharpe.

The easiest way to answer this one was through the handy-dandy Registration Status website, with all the options checked. Email This Post!

Lighterside notes a little-known exception to the hated English R1A series requirement.

Did you know that you don't have to take part 2 of the Reading & Composition requirement? This seems like a big secret. Basically, if you have a 3.3 or higher overall GPA, have taken an R1A class, and can submit 2 or more essays (at least 10 pages) with instructor's grades and comments along with a rationale for why R1B should be waived, then you qualify for having your petition reviewed. Here's the form. I hope this helps someone.

I never had to take the R1A/B series thanks to good luck on the AP English test. As far as I'm concerned the requirement makes little sense. All reports indicate that the classes are taught by barely-trained Graduate students with unlimited choices of usually stupid or tangential subject matter and nearly-full discretion to interject whatever bias they choose. Email This Post!

Cal Trivia!

If you've been to Berkeley's online directory, you've probably already seen that 'Bear, Oski' has an entry. (E-mail not available.. tsk).

What you might not know is that two other of Oski's cousins lurk in Berkelery's directories.

What are their names and what are their majors? (I want Oski's major, too!)

First correct entry gets a Calstuff Favor!

ADDENDUM: Oski has a Cal ID number, which means that he has a Bearfacts profile. Anyone who successfully guesses Oski's password gets a super-giganto Calstuff Favor. It can't be that hard to guess-- Bears can't type.Email This Post!

Here's a few more Cal Alumni or Professors that fell somewhat short of (both) fame and fortune.Email This Post!

The Daily Cal has the Glennel Givens story today. None of his friends seem to think he did it.

Grant described Givens as the kind-hearted, intelligent "outdoorsy-type," who dabbled in acting and played some instruments.

Others said they can't understand why Givens, who wrote his thesis on police brutality in the African-American community, would allegedly turn to robbing banks after graduating from a prestigious university.

"He was … definitely going to go somewhere," said UC Berkeley senior Bianca Almonte, who knew Givens for about three years. "I'm still in shock."

But the details in other papers today don't look good for the 'mistaken identity' thesis. The police have gone into greater detail as to why they shot Givens, and it's fairly conclusive. The money was found with him, after all:

When Oakland officers Shawn Knight and David Burke and Berkeley Sgt. Craig Juster ordered him to come out, police say, Givens pointed a gun in Knight's face. The three officers fired several times, hitting Givens, who was pronounced dead at Oakland's Highland Hospital.

Police said the stolen money was found near Givens and that the handgun he had was loaded.

Not only that, but he's suspected of numerous other bank robberies and has a record of petty theft while he was still attending Berkeley.

Berkeley Police spokesman Officer Kevin Schofield said Givens is a suspect in as many as eight other bank robberies in Oakland and San Francisco.

"The Berkeley Police Department had one prior contact with the suspect last May when he was arrested for petty theft," Schofield said.

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