ProgCal Quiz!

How many students did ASUC External VP Anu Joshi and the GA register to vote for this year's special election? (in 4 weeks)

How many students did Anu and the GA register to vote last year?

The winner gets to post on this blog. Email.
- posted by Progressive @ 4:03 PM |

 
Looking for a Dean Supporter

The national Dean campaign blog has this blog on their sidebar. I do not want to disappoint them. Any active Dean supporters on campus want to blog on Dean issues? Email me.
- posted by Progressive @ 8:16 PM |

 
Student Action, BCR: Don't Talk

The past week has been beat-up on CalSERVE week. Berkeley students should realize a couple of things. For instance, Lauren Hubbert is really not one to be throwing criticism around. How can you, of all people, say "This move comes just weeks after an emergency budget meeting cut student group funding by $7,000"

Lauren, do not think that your mistake has been forgotten. Who typed in a period instead of a comma at last year's budgetting meeting? Who cost the ASUC $7000? Why you did.

MORE TO COME
- posted by Progressive @ 12:50 AM |

 
Prop 54, conservative agendas, and CalServe comes out swinging

Interesting article in the DC today, "Mental" Ward Connerly seems to be giving up hope. Which is a good thing, as Prop 54 needs to die. But lets play with it a bit, and let me deconstruct Prop 54 for you.

Prop 54 would ban the collection of racial identity information by the government (it is currently allowed and one cannot be required provide the information ). The whole race-blind society idea is flawed, and its a cheap cover for a conservative agenda. Prop 54 doesnt make society race-blind, it makes government race blind. As long as a government is operating, progressives would like it to work to address issues of racial inequality in society. Prop 54 makes it illegal for the government to get the information it would need to do that. So basically, Prop 54 would be a victory for conservatives, since they want social ills such as racism to remain unaddressed by government.

But an interesting extension of this would be that an ideologically pure conservative should also want to get rid of the "Sex/Gender" boxes on govt forms, age boxes, pretty much every box. Government shouldnt need to know your sex, doesnt that create a sex-aware society and hence a sexist one? Ditto for age. Nationality. Etc.

And this is where the conservative agenda runs out of steam. Conservatives care more about preserving "traditional values" than about small, non (social) interventionist government. They care about knowing whether two people getting married are both males so they can stop those folks from getting married! They care about knowing what nationality a potential citizen is so they can discriminate against middle easterners in the supposed "war on terror". Basically, their ideology is totally bankrupt. Conservatives want government to meddle, collect information, in an effort to make sure their particular way of judging the world is entrenched as government *policy*.

Here's an Anti-Prop 54 Website with more practical info.

Also, an interesting footnote: If Ward is giving up and Prop 54 is dead in the water, that frees up our new progressive student government. Not only that, it is a huge victory, and will put some serious wind in their sails, not to mention leave behind it some organizing framework on the ground for the next challenge. Education not Incarceration? Fee Hikes? Student Rights? The question is, will Cal Serve assume an activist role, use its momentum and position to organize the campus and produce large mobilizations, or will it work behind the scenes through political channels. In my opinion, the former is the appropriate way to go.
- posted by Mano Negra @ 11:59 AM |