Andrew Quinio offers up this week’s Daily Cal Counterweight. Check it out

The Governator may wind up leaving the way he came in: through a recall. A local doctor is about to initiate the recall process, as per NBC11:

It was a recall election that swept Arnold Schwarzenegger into office.

Now, a Berkeley doctor is using the same tactic to try and sweep him out.

Dr. Kenneth Matsumura announced he’s serving notice to the governor Friday.

Schwarzenegger will have 14 days to reply.

The doctor says he’ll then start collecting the million or so signatures needed to force an election.

He cites the governor’s efforts to cut nurse-to-patient ratios and his borrowing of money from the education budget as reasons for his recall drive.

If the doc wants a million signatures, he can probably find them in the Bay Area alone. The question is whether the rest of the state wants to go through another recall election. I read somewhere that since the recall process was created, every California governor has had recall attempts made against him; multiple times even. Only in Gray Davis’ case did a recall election actually happen, let alone be successful. Is this more wishful thinking on the part of disgruntled left-wingers, or will it be the real thing?

Here’s some local news from Santa Monica that we really don’t care about. Yet it includes an anecdote that we might be able to relate to:

Yaroslavsky told a story about his daughter to illustrate one of Friday morning’s recurrent themes — the unwillingness of many to look at and interact with homeless people.

While walking down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, Yaroslavsky’s daughter got into a conversation with a homeless man. After they’d talked for 20 minutes, she offered him some money.

He refused, saying, “I don’t want your money. You’ve given me something much more important, your respect.”

She later told her father that in the 20 minutes she and the homeless man sat on the curb talking, “dozens of people walked by and none of them made eye contact.”

If you’ve ever lived in Berkeley (or any other urban area), then you’ve probably had your fair share of experiences with homeless people. This guy’s description is pretty accurate: people avoid the homeless.

Honestly, I don’t look at homeless people. If they’re trying to attract my attention, I actively avoid them. For instance, one time I was walking down to the McDonalds on University. Some homeless lady started asking me for change. I kept my eyes focused on the Golden Arches and ignored her. I was hungry, but I would’ve done the same in any situation. She scolded me, “I’m human too, you know.”

Since when did it become an obligation to acknowledge some random person on the street? Maybe it’s the polite thing to do. But if you’re just asking for money, don’t expect politeness. And don’t expect to influence us by targeting us individually. You have your cup and your sign, which should be good enough. So I’m walking by and a bum yells at me asking for change. I totally saw his whole setup and everything, and the decision not to give him my change was made years in advance. So why does he expect to change my mind? Sudden onset of guilt? “Oh, now that I think of it, I do have some spare change. Here’s a dime.”

What it all boils down to is, and let me turn the woman’s quote upside down: “They don’t want our respect, they want our money.” What gets you a hot meal or a handle of Jack? It sure as hell isn’t respect. If they wanted our respect, they’d find another profession besides panhandling.

All I’m saying is that I don’t owe you anything. Sure, you’re “human” but I’ve seen you on that corner for the past two years. Do I need to wear this shirt before you get the picture? Ok, I wouldn’t really wear that shirt nor do I think that you’re human excrement, but you’re still not getting my change.

Now before you start forming any opinions about me, let me add that I gave a bum half of my Doritos bag this one time. What do you guys think? Am I scum? Do you ignore the homeless even more than I do? Time to confess.

This isn’t a Xanga or LiveJournal, so you’ll never catch me posting the results of quizzes like “Which Alcoholic Drink Are You” or “What type of underwear would you be?” We’re not going to sink that low… yet. But here’s a political test that CalJunket linked to. My results are below. How did you do?

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an… Economic Conservative (93% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Inside Higher Ed has an interesting article entitled, “New Politics of Race at Berkeley“:

Berkeley has had a lot of Asian American students for years, but never so many as now. Last year, according to the Office of Student Research, Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander students made up just over 40 percent of the student body. This year’s freshman class was just under 48 percent Asian, a record high, according to admissions officials, who said that, once the final tally of registered students is completed, the number of Asian and white students on campus will be nearly the same…

Students from some of the underrepresented groups on campus have taken notice. Jacquelynn Thomas, a black third-year student who works in the Black Recruitment and Retention Center, is not thrilled that, of the 23,000 undergraduates on campus, the number of black students has been stagnant between 800 and 1,000 in recent years. Thomas did say, however, that she felt it is sometimes easier to be on a campus where the massive number of Asian students means there are fewer white students.

Last year, Thomas took part in a “Black Out” protest, where black students dressed in black and silently blocked hallways as their way of protesting their lack of a voice on campus. “Caucasian students were more vocal against us,” Thomas said. “Like the Berkeley Republicans, they’re a strong group, but it’s all Caucasian. It’s easier to cope [as a black student], the Asians are more apathetic, less hostile.”

Dude, I don’t even know what to say to this. Interesting article, nevertheless.

Have you heard about CalTV!?

How do you get your information? Is it fair and balanced? Do you resort to the most trusted name in the news? Do you even turn on your television to watch news anymore?

Today, the news media can’t catch up with our generation. We are internet saavy and want things on demand. Here at Berkeley we are going to try something different. It’s called The CalTV Project. We are combining digital video and daily news. Every day we are going to have articles, one from somewhere in the World, then in the US, then California, and finally in Berkeley. Then we are going to reach out to our campus and capture voices about each issue and broadcast it online.

You know, I always like to hear from new groups trying to cover news from the Berkeley-perspective (speaking of which, have you started your new blog yet?). I look forward to seeing more from CalTV.

For example, here’s some of their current programming. Believe it or not, random students on Sproul have an opinion on the “housing bubble.” If you ever wanted to know what a theater major thinks about Alan Greenspan and the cyclical nature of the market, check the lower right. On to foreign policy. White MCB/African American studies major Johnathan Perry (lower left) gives us his opinion on the “so-called War on Terror” and how it relates to the situation regarding A.Q. Khan in Pakistan. Finally, campus issues. Two guys (lower right), think AlcoholEdu is a waste of time except for the part that tells you how much you should be drinking. A freshman (upper right) thinks the booze ban is a good idea even though it will cause more trouble because people are going to drink anyway. She also endorses AlcoholEdu because it was “very informative.”

Circle takes the square… Can’t wait to see what they cook up next.

The Oakland Tribune recently profiled the editor-in-chief of the Daily Cal, the campus newspaper that is one of our favorite targets. This article is less about the newspaper, and more about how Adeel Iqbal keeps to his faith in college. More power to him, but this makes for some humorous quotes:

But as a young male at Berkeley, his faith frequently comes into consideration when choosing how to participate in college life.

Iqbal says he doesn’t engage in sexual contact with women, nor will you find him at home with a woman cuddling in front of the television.

That doesn’t mean, however, that he isn’t interested in the opposite sex.

“I’m a boy. That ain’t going to change,” he says with a smile. “(Being Muslim) doesn’t mean I can’t meet women or girls. I work at a newspaper in college — you meet women every day. It’s natural. … That doesn’t mean you’re going to be making out, or getting … drunk, or doing the upside down hokey-pokey.”

Upside Down Hokey-Pokey on Tuesday just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

One of Iqbal’s first assignments at the Daily Californian required him to cover the X-plicit Players annual “Nude and Breast Freedom Parade” at People’s Park in Berkeley.

He confessed he was a bit taken aback when one of the female organizers began to undress during the interview.

“I just kept my head down in my notes,” he says.

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

The Daily Cal site is down, but something in one of the articles bugged me enough that I’ll retype the offending part here. From the article, “Medical Marijuana Legality Still Controversial in Berkeley”:

Others said legalizing medical marijuana would create more opportunities for the drug to be abused.

“It would backfire, and would be abused like a variety of other prescription drugs, such as Vicodin,” said UC Berkeley freshman Justin Effref.

So let’s keep it illegal, because obviously that’s what’s stopping people from abusing it. And maybe we should make these prescription drugs illegal too, since they’re obviously being abused by some folks. Don’t even get me started on non-prescription drugs, like cold medicine. I’m sure that stuff gets abused like crazy, so let’s just make everything illegal. Oh wait, you’re saying that some people actually have legitimate medical reasons to take these things? Well too bad, because legalizing a drug just creates “more opportunities for the drug to be abused.”

In other news, the LA Times is reporting “Pot Use Down Where Medical Use OK.”

I guess the only thing that has “backfired” is Effref’s logic.

There’s some pretty good new shows on TV this season. This show may or may not be one of them:

The cops of San Francisco’s Deviant Crime Unit chase the city’s creepiest criminals. Do I hear you asking ”how creepy?” Well, the pilot starts with a Berkeley professor who uses poisonous Egyptian spiders to paralyze women before he rapes them.

Ok… Catch Killer Instinct on FOX this Friday.

Remember Kris Cuaresma-Primm, the CalSERVE senator who became ASUC President two years back? Remember how he got arrested for public drunkenness during his term?

Now that I’m done with the setup… Today, the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies has named Kriss Cuaresma-Primm the 2005-2006 Anheuser-Busch Fellow.

What a fitting honor.

Just a reminder: On Thursday, the Berkeley College Republicans and the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition will be holding a debate on whether military recruiters should be allowed on campus or not. It starts at 7:30 PM in 145 Dwinelle.

You might remember the dueling protests on this issue last semester.

Feel free to discuss the issue here before and after the debate.

Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed two Cal alums to fill the vacant spots on the Board of Regents of the University of California. As part of the position, they will have influence over the policies of the UC system as a whole, from affirmative action to student fees. Who knows whether these new regents will stay in the background or take an activist role like former regent Ward Connerly. Whatever they choose to do, they might be around for a long time to come, as their terms expire in 2017. A press release from the Office of the Governor is available. Here’s a brief bio for each of the new regents:

Russell Gould is senior vice president for Wachovia Bank, where he supports the Bank’s investment, banking, trust, custodian and investment management services in California… He served as a member of the Regents of the University of California from 1998 to 1999, as a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, on California’s Constitution Revision and Performance Review Commissions and is currently a member of the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles Board. Gould, 55, of Los Angeles, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Gould is a Republican.

Leslie Tang Schilling is president of Union Square Investments, Inc., a commercial real estate investment and management firm she founded in 1981… In addition, she is co-founder of Toys for the Tenderloin and director of the Asia Foundation and the Committee of 100. Schilling, 50, of Woodside, earned a Master’s degree from American Graduate School of International Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Schilling is registered American Independent.

UPDATE: The LA Times has posted an article with a little bit more info. One item of note is that Schilling is replacing Haim Saban, creator of the Power Rangers and billionaire Democrat donor.

My “friend” wanted to pass this along to you blog readers because he spent a good amount of time looking for it and I he doesn’t want it go to waste. He wants you all to know that the October Playboy is out and it contains it’s annual “Girls of the Pac-10” feature. Two lovely Cal Bears, Cynthia Popper and Catherine Kelly, grace the layout. The other Pac-10 schools are also represented, with two from Stanfurd, five from UCLA, and more than a dozen from Arizona State. But you know what they say: quality over quantity… So check it out on newsstands now to see if we have been adequately represented to the rest of the nation. It’s a matter of school pride to pick up a copy. That can be your excuse. Let me borrow it when you’re done.

The latest Dems to hop onboard the Lakoff Express are Howard Dean and Barack Obama. From the LA Times:

Judge John G. Roberts Jr. may confront an unexpected opponent this week during the hearings on his nomination as chief justice of the United States — Hurricane Katrina.

Although Roberts is expected to win confirmation, critics have begun to voice a new criticism of President Bush’s nominee after the storm that demolished parts of the Gulf Coast…

A quick reminder for those late to the game: Professor Lakoff has been hawking this frame since last week. The left-wing grassroots have taken on to it with alarming speed. Now the politicians join the act as Lakoff pulls the strings.

Speaking about the black residents of New Orleans, who were the storm’s most visible victims, Dean said that Roberts’ “entire legal career appears to be about making sure those folks don’t have the same rights everybody else does.”

“That’s probably not the right thing to do,” Dean continued, “two weeks after a disaster where certain members of society clearly did not have the same protections that everybody else did because of their circumstances…. I know Judge Roberts loves the law. I’m not sure he loves the American people.”

Obama, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” picked up the same head-and-heart theme: “I think what we do need to ask ourselves is whether he has the heart, the breadth of perspective and the recognition that historically the role of the court has been to look out not just for the powerful but also the powerless…

“There is an underlying concern that a judicial philosophy that ignores the possibilities of racial discrimination or gender discrimination, a political philosophy that typically errs on the side of the powerful, rather than the powerless, that’s a judicial philosophy that can … exacerbate some of the problems that we have in this country,” Obama said.

To what depths will the Dems sink to? According to Dean, not only is Roberts a racist, but he also hates people. And Barack “Gotta have heart” Obama thinks that a conservative judicial phillosophy will favor the powerful over the powerless, like we did when our side gave the thumbs up to expanded eminent domain in the Kelo case… Somewhere on campus, Professor Lakoff is enjoying his de facto role as the Dems message man. The joke’s on him, however, as when was the last time that Lakoff was on the winning side?