Progressive At Cal
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Daily Cal
Kevin Sabet of SA fame graces the Daily Cal with his presence once more to denounce medical marijuana. Obviously, by allowing terminal cancer patients pain relief and giving them back their appetite Berkeley has turned “its back once more on children and the vulnerable.” Please Kevin…
Berkeley needs to start paying its workers properly and treating them well. My support goes out to these workers in their struggle and I encourage every student to back them.
Kudos to Brooke, Anand, and the rest of the Senate for cracking down on the stipends of executives. Anyone notice that AAVP hopeful Tony Falcone opposed this? Hmm… I wonder why he wouldn’t want executives to have large stipends…
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Monday, April 29, 2002
Blog War!
First Front: SA
I’ve awoken the insufferable SA blogger, CalASUC, with my comments on Wally. CalASUC came back to the world of blogs to offer up pathetic excuses to my charges (I’ll talk more on this later). CalASUC then goes on to attack CalStuff, Gabe Green, and others. I have to agree with CalAnon, “Hey Student Action, Keep your attack dog on a leash.”
Second Front: Angry Clam
Angry Clam has decided to turn a political debate into a personal attack on this anonymous poster. Interestingly enough, I’ve found a strange ally against these attacks and against Angry Clam’s comments on taxation and nuclear weapons: Godless Capitalist .
I did want to say a few brief things about Fascism and Communism. But, before I began my brief synopsis of some of the differences between fascists and communists, I’d like to pose another question to Angry Clam: do you believe anarchists and libertarians are the same?
Fascists are nationalists; communists are internationalists.
Fascists are overtly conservative (they want to restore earlier national glory); communists are overtly progressive (they want to forge a new history according to the Marxist belief of history). This is perhaps the largest difference between the two groups, because it affects each one’s understanding of history, human nature, science, etc.
Fascists are pro-capitalism (that’s right, believe it) – corporations (like Japanese Zaibatsu) play a central role in their socio-economic structure. Communists obviously are not. (Probably, as a good Goldwater Republican, you will argue this point. But, just try to imagine this: it is possible to have a totalitarian regime in the socio-political sphere and not in the economic sphere.)
A central doctrine of the Fascii (bands of youth that comprise the basic building block in fascism) is violence to others. Violence is seen as an end in itself. However, in Communism, violence is a means to achieve another end.
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Saturday, April 27, 2002
Angry Clam Fubbles:
Rory, please learn to speak precisely. If you meant only to destroy “taxes on production” you should have stated that, not “Taxes: Thing to be destroyed.” I never denied nuclear warfare would be cheaper (in the short run, of course) than conventional warfare. I just mentioned that it would cost something; and remember, Rory, you said NO TAXES WHATSOEVER. Once again, learn to speak precisely or learn to deal with the consequences.
Also, you nicely dodged the second quick question I threw at you “who subsidizes your college education again?”
Your post at 10:41 am was what brought about my comment about the presumption of innocence. Here, you obviously infer that RH is guilty (that is not true, by the way.)
The comment about political science is not elitist. I’m just trying to help you out. It’s actually quite embarrassing that a UC Berkeley student doesn’t understand this concept.
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A Few Quick Notes to the Clam:
You state “Taxes: Thing to be destroyed.” However, you advocate using nuclear weapons as part of the standard military arsenal. Nuke’s ain’t cheap, Rory. Also, who subsidizes your college education again?
In this country, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. RH has not been found guilty (nor will he, due to his innocence). Hence, don’t imply that he assaulted an officer.
You seem to have trouble discerning the polar differences between fascism and communism. I recommend a political science course. (Interestingly enough, Soviets compared the US to fascists and fascists compared the US to Soviets…It’s a common mistake of either fringe to see everyone else as part of the same group.)
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Friday, April 26, 2002
By Golly, It’s Wally
Wally Adeyemo manages once again to shoot himself in the foot. Considering the overt arrogance of this individual, the Cal electorate had to be amazingly ignorant to vote him into office.
Cases of Arrogance:
-Around the time Daniel Frankenstein announced he was not going to run (against best-bud Jessie) for President, Wally stated something to the effect of “I am a big shot President; I am better than you.”
-Wally goes around making a big point of telling people how he handpicked the Student Action slate (like that’s even something to be proud of). He also alludes to the fact he will pick SA’s candidates next year (he says the Presidential candidate will be an ASUC outsider).
-During elections, much to the shock of those present, Wally was invited to the Black Students’ Leadership meeting in Senate chambers. Wally had a great chance to help out Jimmy, Jackie, and Pierce by showing he actually cares. Instead, he kept nodding off in slumber.
-CalStuff’s Kevin noticed that one “H*byalum” had checked his aim subprofile. When Kevin messaged this person, he was quickly blocked. Apparently, Wally is top good to say hello.
-etc, etc
Furthermore, One Campus is a disgrace. I salute Anand and the rest of the senate for killing off that pestilence. Now, perhaps student funds will go to something other than banquets for the homeless.
Also, which student “campus leaders” were at this event, other than the President of the “Asian American" Assocation?
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Thursday, April 25, 2002
Fair Pay: Clerical works here at UC Berkeley get paid considerably less than the market rate, according to this article discussed by Nolo. UC Berkeley needs to learn how to prioritize; top executives should not be getting raises when the University can't pay its employees a decent wage. Also, the University needs to allocate some of its “unrestricted funds” to the employees now.
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Response: AngryClam responded to my quick notes on Barry. Here’s an excerpt from his email “and those nukes were a good idea. Had we used them we would have a much better world today and South Vietnam would be free, just as South Korea is.” I think that speaks for itself…
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Goldwater: A couple quick notes on Barry Goldwater…
I’ll give him credit for standing up against the Religious Right in the 1980s. However, it must be kept in mind that Goldwater was one of the most prominent advocates for extreme Conservativism. He paved the road for the Religious Right.
Let us not forget who Barry Goldwater was. While accepting his nomination for President in 1964, he stated something like “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” Goldwater advocated using atomic weapons in Vietnam and was a huge hawk when it came to the Soviet Union. Thank God he lost or the Cold War would have gotten quite hot.
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Daily Cal: In the spirit of the Berkeley Blogs, I’ll comment on today’s Daily Cal.
Here’s some good news in the fight for medical marijuana. The drug war is stupid for so many reasons and the federal ban of medical marijuana is just one of them. I see little reason for denying terminal cancer patients and others in dire pain the ability to find relief.
An American Hero.
As usual, Feinstein shows her xenophobia.
Hmm… Bush refused to talk about Death Row in Texas... a shocker. You’d think “W” would be proud of his state for leading the pack.
Interesting column, but with opening sentences like “If you had designed the American flag or written the lyrics for "Happy Birthday," you would probably make sure to pursue your legal right to royalty payments,” it’s hard to take this piece seriously, even though the subject needs to be discussed.
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Definition of Progressive: I should begin my so-called Progressive at Cal blog with an explanation of what I mean by the term “progressive.”
The progressive movement began in the 18th century during the French and German Enlightenment. Progressives (such as Voltaire and Condorcet) believed that the “ancient regime” was fundamentally flawed. They also believed that society could change – it could progress, it could be enlightened. The early progressives advocated free speech, the separation of church and state, more democratic government institutions, and much more.
Today, the progressive tradition continues. We progressives believe that the world is not perfect. There is a lot of stuff that needs improving, but we remain confident that if we work hard the future will be a better place.
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Greetings
Welcome to the "Progressive at Cal" blog. Since I started reading the Berkeley blogs a couple of weeks ago, I've noticed a definite lack of progressive voices. (CalAnon seems to be decently liberal though -- kudos for being anti-RPI.) A couple of the blogs are seriously rightwing: AngryClam describes himself as a Goldwater Republican while Godless Capitalist reminds me of a certain member of the Louisianan nobility.
I have decided to follow CalStuff’s suggestion and create a blog of my own. For now I’ve chosen to post anonymously. This probably won’t last long for two reasons. One, I imagine that I will have trouble not dropping personal information here and there. Second, my political arguments are pretty recognizable to those who know me. I’m not saying many people know or care who I am (probably very few do), but we’ll see.
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