From the San Francisco Chronicle:

“As the right-wing blogosphere railed and a U.S. senator vowed financial retaliation against the Berkeley City Council for its effort to boot the Marine Corps out of town, three war protesters ratcheted up pressure from the left by chaining themselves Friday to the front door of the downtown Marine recruiting office.

The demonstrators snapped their locks shut at 7 a.m. and spent the next 7 1/2 hours blocking the door, waving and chanting as hundreds of cars driving by honked in support. Finally, at 2:30 p.m., police snipped the chains and arrested them.

Two of the three were cited for blocking a business and released, and the third was booked into jail on an unrelated traffic warrant, police said”

Oh boy. These guys have the works: orange prison suits, chains, the usual cadre of anti-Bush/anti-war/abu ghraib signs, etc. The most delicious part is how the right-wingers here on the interweb are supposedly the ones going ballistic, not those restricting the movement of others. I am not surprised that Berkeley is the first city to do this. Some of the reaction came from Republican Senator Jim DeMint, who is working on a counter-measure:

“Conservative bloggers and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., also believe more articulation is necessary - from the opposite side of the political spectrum.

DeMint began drafting legislation Friday to cut $2.1 million in federal funding to Berkeley in a current congressional budget bill and transfer the money to the Marine Corps. The funding would include $750,000 for prospective ferry service, $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District nutrition education fund and $243,000 for the Chez Panisse Foundation, which promotes nutritional awareness in school lunch programs.

“The First Amendment gives the city of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money,” DeMint said in a statement.” Any thoughts on this?

The “ballistic” right wing response is apparently innapropriate, according to Council Member Donna Spring, who said “I guess they’ve never heard of free speech,” in response to those who left her critical phone messages. So her right to speak should be defended but not those who disagree? GatewayPundit is another “ballistic” blogger.

Cal even got a mention in a message from Melanie Morgan: “we have been contacted by Marine groups across Northern California, Cal Berkeley Young Republicans, SF State Young Republicans and a tsunami of e-mails in support”.

The action is going down Tuesday Feb 12th, when folks will be marching on the next Berkeley City Council meeting. Come along if you wanna see something fun.

I have been putting this off, but the blogroll needs to be updated. After Ben’s post yesterday that officially declared Calstuff in a state with zero or less writers following months of inactivity, the Berkeley blogsphere needs some good news.

If you have a unique perspective on things, start a blog.

The Daily Squelch is out there, bringing you SQUELCH! goodness on a daily basis.

Also, Bears Necessity has been active for a while. They actually link here, which is more then the Daily Clog can say.

Do you know of any vaguely Cal related blogs? Drop a link.

I’m not sure how many of you have checked out this year’s Best of Berkeley…but I’ve noticed that there is no Best Blog award.

I can only wonder…does this has anything to do with the Daily Clog’s arrival?

It’s too bad. Nothing motivates improvement better than a little bit of friendly competition.

Here’s an interesting article I read from the blog A Western Heart called “America - the country”. The author, an Aussie, took a vacation to the States and had some interesting observations and some compliments for our fine homeland.

America is a funny place, when we were in New York we stopped for a bite at Grand Central Station, I observed a couple of bums walking around the place. At first I felt sorry for them and made a mental note to give one of them a few dollars, after we finished our meals we had some left over Mexican something or other so we offered it to one of the passing bums. To my surprise the fellow asked what it was before taking it, he then opened it up and ate a bit of it before discarding it and moving on to the next table. Wow, in America beggars can be choosers. Needless to say I chose not to part with my hard-earned dollars

That should be familiar to many of us in Berkeley, as at least I am often asked not even for money but to “spare some pot”. Matthew K, the author, comments on the massive sizes of our burgers and trucks, laments our driving ability, and marvels at America’s sheer size. But my favorite bit, and the one I think is the most relevant and most easily overlooked today is this:

What I got from America, to sum it up in one word, is that it’s YOU. Make of America what you will, you can make something of yourself or you can stuff it all up. No one is going to come running after you to wipe your ass and hold your hand, you are responsible for you. The working life in America seems a bit harsh to me who gets a certain amount of annual leave and entitlements, but then America didn’t get to Number One by piggy backing off someone else and whinging and carping about what my country owes me.

It’s nice to know there are people in the world who aren’t pissed off at us. Things like this help me to forget being told the rest of the world hates me by the nice anarchists on Sproul.

On Wednesday the Daily Cal ran a piece about Berkeley Blogging. I have a few comments to make, considering I have been doing just that for a year.

First I should mention I feel left out. The Daily Cal did not mention us at California Patriot. Even though last year we got an honorable mention in their Best of Berkeley (the best was the live journal community, but I don’t think they are a blog), we are not news enough. I would think a student run conservative blog that discussed Berkeley would be worth a note but I apparently. I would be curious to know how many links the Daily Cal gets to their site from here compared to the other mentioned blogs.

My ideas of blogging are similar to Beetle’s. What makes a blog unique is the coverage of things or informed analysis that you can’t find elsewhere. Anyone in the country can write about national politics and events, but a person who knows and talks to the movers and shakers in a field or carefully follows an obscure topic has something beyond the normal fare. Beetle has the best coverage of the ASUC in the world because he talks to some of the important people and has followed everything the ASUC has done for the past several years.

A Case Study: ASUC Mess Over the Summer

One interesting example of blogs’ usefulness was seen in the ASUC elections mess last summer. The only print paper that covered it regularly was the Daily Cal, and they only published twice a week, and even then some bad reporting or a desire to not assign blame obscured what was happening. The blogs filled this vacuum. Calstuff, Beetle Beat, JKoo, a few others, and me provided information as it happened and filled in the gaps. There were also people who were directly involved in the happenings writing online, like Ben Narodick and Andy Ratto along with experts in everything ASUC, like Beetle.

One of the other advantages of having these online updates and commentaries is dialogue. Any incorrect information or bias could immediately be challenged. A lot of the stuff online placed the Student Action party and some of its members in a negative light (I was one of them and still stand behind my conclusions). People engaged in discussion about this assignment of blame presenting arguments and countering them. There were so many anonymous supporters of Student Action they got the term SA-anon bots. There were cries of bias against SA, but at any time a Student Action supporters could have started a blog to counter what was said, (I even offered to publicize such a blog but was not indulged by anyone).

In short, the blogs and their interactive format were the best and most timely source of information. In this way and for these reasons among others, print newspapers are being overshadowed.

Another advantage of the online medium is the possibilities for links. So far in this post I have linked directly to half a dozen different articles or websites I have mentioned. You an instantly look at the sources I mention and not simply take my word on what they say.

There is also decal in progress this semester about blogging. If you get a chance check them out. The Catalytic Triad has even posed a few thoughts on blogging.

Yesterday at our BCR meeting, the board hosted an early Primary to help members sort out the potential Republican candidates. The format was statement, crossfire, and a final vote, and the results were interesting. Candidates to support included Brownback, McCain, Giuliani, Romney, and “Dark Horse”. Supporters for Brownback were non-existant (Because Fullmer wasn’t there), but the other camps were fairly evenly divided.

After initial statements and some crossfire, the trend of the evening seemed to be differentiating between representing traditional conservatism and defeating Hillary. Those in the Romney camp as well as half the dark horse-ers favored defending conservative principles, while some of the McCains and Giulianis compromised on social conservatism as a way to defeat Hillary (who actually got one vote during the evening).

Our primary had Romney win in the initial voting rounds and again in a run-off, but not by a huge margin. It was a thought-provoking discussion, and I was happy to see others are thinking similarly, as I found this morning. Right Wing News had a “Most & Least desired Republican candidates of 2008″ post where they surveyed a sampling of conservative bloggers. The voters ranked the candidates in a points system, and were given the following to select from, including any non-mentioned candidate:

Sam Brownback
John Cox
Jim Gilmore
Newt Gingrich
Rudy Giuliani
Chuck Hagel
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
George Pataki
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Tom Tancredo
Tommy Thompson

The lowest scores were dropped, and the votes for “Most desired” ended up something like this:�

14) John Cox (4)
13) Jeb Bush (5)
12) Jim Gilmore (5.5)
11) Ron Paul (8.5)
10) Condi Rice (11.5)
9) Mike Huckabee (14)
Tommy Thompson (15.5)
7) John McCain (19)
6) Sam Brownback (20)
5) Tom Tancredo (31.5)
4) Duncan Hunter (35.5)
3) Mitt Romney (43)
2) Rudy Giuliani (45)
1) Newt Gingrich (52)

Now I’m not just posting this to get back at the Romney folks from last night (I was in the Giuliani camp), but because the results are really interesting. Gingrich was one of our dark horses, as well as Tancredo. This may just be a result of internet-savvy people hearing more about the little guys than others, but maybe not. Now here’s what I’d like to do, if you don’t mind.

Please comment, of course, but list your pick. If you’re a Dem or an “other”, give us whatever analysis you’ve got on it. Sciency-types say that the outcome gets more “correct” the larger the population, and I’m curious.

across the Bay Area… mzmeg of Baseball and Brioche mentions us in a post entitled ‘My Blog Can Kick Your Blog’s Ass‘:

Blog #4 Cal Patriot Blog, UC Berkeley College Republicans

Let me put it this way, any 19 year-old college student, who’s parents are most likely footing the bill for his/her development of rampant fascism, should not get to start out any essay/paper/blog entry with, “as a fiscal conservative”.

I’m all for freedom of expression but that statement makes me want to forkstab a motherfucker or (see above for American History X description) It really chaps my hide that the Patriot is linked and not Baseball and Brioche. My blog can beat up the CP blog because I have the real slim shady’s on my side. Imagine:
1) Barry Bonds vs. George Bush in a thumb war (Bonds wins)
2) Lou Seal vs. Condoleeza Rice in a hoola hoop contest (Conde loses, barely)
3) Arnold vs. Omar Vizquel in a Dance Dance Revolution-off (Not even close, Omar is still on the machine)
4) Meg’s Female Friends vs. Cal Patriot Staff in a knife fight….

As a fiscal conservative… any time, any place, it’s on! Just remember that we Republicans play dirty…

Alex Marlow wrote an essay about blogging for one of his classes last semester. I helped out a bit, so allow me to quote Alex quoting myself:

The news culture has changed; an unbiased news source used to be considered ideal, whereas now some people crave the partisan debate. Berkeley blogger Patrick Rodriguez said, “blogging isn’t always about pushing your views though. A big part of it is see how other people react to the things you post. Half the fun of blogs are the discussions that your commenters start. You never know how the discussion will evolve, but you’ll always learn something new in the process.”18 I have written newspaper columns for a political magazine on campus, and the climax of the excitement occurs when you first see the article in print. When I post on my blog, the excitement is when I begin to see what topics are discussed in the comments section. The comments sometimes break down my argument, they sometimes affirm it, and other times they enhance it. Blogging allows for the development of news to be more rapid and more multi-sided than does typical news outlets.

Check out the whole thing.

Hello fellow members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy! My name is Tommy Owens. I’m from San Francisco. A sophomore this August, I am an intended Political Science-History double major. My hobbies are shred guitar (Malmsteen, Satriani, Vai, Lynch, Van Halen etc..), learning German, the Cal Greek system (Go Greek!), history, and, of course, politics.

I am a Conservative Republican, and have been for a few years now. I believe I became one in the days following 9/11, when I saw some very liberal members of my family and some of my moonbat high-school teachers blame the attacks not directly on Americans, but on U.S. foreign policy. They attempted to put themselves in the terrorist shoes (cough cough….Richard Reid) and justify not the attacks themselves, but the motivation for the attacks.

I had none of this. I joined the San Francisco Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign around May or June 2004. I voted for Dubya with pride, and despite all the bad news and scandals, I’m still glad I did. I joined Berkeley College Republicans within the first couple weeks that I arrived at Cal. I began to write for the Cal Patriot a few months afterwards; I currently serve as a Deputy Opinion Editor.

I’d like to acknowledge all the Bloggers and Cal Patriot Writers and thank them for allowing me to contribute. I look forward to blogging soon. My first will be posted in the next couple of days.

At the California College Republicans Convention in Anaheim some members of the Berkeley College Republicans and a few Patriot writers caught up with Jon Fleischman. As publisher of the Flash Report, Fleischman shared his thoughts about College Republican clubs and the importance of blogs. Fleischman started his involvement in politics as a College Republican and continued by working for many different elected officials. His website the Flash Report grew out of an email newsletter Fleischman started and is now one of the most widely read sources for California political information. The blog includes commentary from such political experts as Berkeley’s own Dan Schnur.

Even though Fleischman has a website to run, he still enjoys speaking to College Republicans.

For most of this past year, the Berkeley Blogosphere had been spiraling into the abyss. The number of blogs continued to dwindle; longtime Berkeley Blog fixtures closed up shop. Dark days indeed for those looking for campus and political commentary…

Then something happened. New blogs started sprouting right and left.

Alex Marlow has been pulling triple duty: writing for the Patriot, blogging on his own blog, and hosting his own podcast. He’s been doing a great job covering campus issues in an entertaining way. He’s a natural at this.

Nathan at the The Berkeley Experience started a few months ago and is already making an impression. He provides a fresh left-of-center voice that has been sorely missing from the Berkeley Blogworld. What I like most are his multimedia posts on campus events and figures. For example, here are some videos from the recent nude sweatshop protest, and here is his profile of campus funnyman Stoney Burke (plus some great footage). Also, here are some of his thoughtful posts on the nature of blogging and a slice of his life in the co-ops. Make it a point to read his blog.

The Middle East is one of the hottest subjects around, so it’s no surprise to see a few Berkeley blogs covering the region. Berkeley Forum shares with the world and Iranian-American perpsective on global news and domestic issues. They also occasionally cover the campus (such as the ASUC video I linked to previously) and present guest posts from professors. Another Berkeley Blog is Cal Divest, which focuses on trying to get the UC to divest from Israel. It’s a niche blog, but those interested in the topic from a student perspective should consider following it. Other issue-oriented Cal groups may want to follow suit and start a blog.

Last but not least is the UC Berkeley LiveJournal Community. They’ve been around for a while, but they have just recently been awarded the Best Blog in Berkeley by the Daily Cal. Some would argue that it’s not really a blog (which would mean the award would go to the runner up… namely us… next year then), but it’s the place to check if you want to know anything at all about campus.

Before I finish, let me give a shout out to some old favorites. I don’t know how he does it, but Beetle has been blogging for years and he still has funny and insightful things to say almost every day. Truly a Berkeley Blog icon. Then there’s CalStuff. It was a little slow-going earlier this year, but things are picking up again. Plus, the comment threads there are always priceless. I can’t imagine a Berkeley without CalStuff, so go blog for them!

Also, I’d just like to say that Chris, Mickey, and Ben are doing an awesome job blogging alongside of me. I can’t wait to see where this blog goes in the future.

So do yourself a favor and check out all of the blogs that I listed. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to start your own. If you don’t know how, I’m sure any of us would be happy to show you the ropes. I hope to see a bunch of new arrivals next year. Let me know if you start a Berkeley Blog or if you already have one that I’ve overlooked. Happy blogging. Back to work…

There’s a new wave sweeping the blogosphere.

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish paper that sparked the Muhammad Cartoons Controversy, is once again defending freedom against those that hate it. They have published a manifesto signed by a diverse group of high-profile figures. Blogs from all over the world are republishing the document as a show of solidarity.

It’s Islam Awareness Week on the Berkeley campus. Perhaps this is the perfect time to discuss this issue. Let’s prove the Daily Cal wrong: symbolic gestures can play an important part in this great debate.

Full text below.

(more…)

Beetle has started updating his blog again, so go check it out. Meanwhile, I’m gonna pull a CalStuff and take a break until school starts. Hopefully, this semester will provide tons of posting material. And if not, we’ll try our best to manufacture a controversy or two. Keep up the commenting. Late.

An interesting new initiative from Dan Gillmor of the Bayosphere:

Starting in 2006, I’ll be putting together a nonprofit Center for Citizen Media. The goals are to study, encourage and help enable the emergent grassroots media sphere, with a major focus on citizen journalism.

I’m thrilled and honored that the center will be affiliated with two superb universities in a bi-coastal partnership.

• Here on the Pacific Rim, where I live, the center will collaborate with the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. As an I.F. Stone Teaching Fellow, I’ll do a class next fall, and my principal physical office will be at Berkeley as well.
• Our Atlantic-facing partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University Law School, where I’ll be a Research Fellow. I’ll visit there regularly — at least once a month — to work with other fellows, faculty and students.

We also plan to sponsor regular gatherings at both locations (and, I hope, elsewhere in my travels) for people interested in citizen journalism.

Why do this? We need a thriving media and journalism ecosystem. We need what big institutions do so well, but we also need the bottom-up — or, more accurately, edge-in — knowledge and ideas of what I’ve called the “former audience” that has become a vital part of the system. I’m also anxious to see that it’s done honorably and in a way that helps foster a truly informed citizenry. I think I can help.

Seems like a good idea to me. It’s good to see our campus keeping up to date with the latest trends. Maybe the arrival of this center could help engage the local community, by encouraging new student blogs and publications and whatnot.