http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/beserkeley/ en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:39:19 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409758/posts Ever since George W. Bush rode off into the Dallas sunset, there’s been a void on the national scene. Even Dick Cheney has largely faded from sight. The other Republicans, the ones still in Congress are annoying, but predictably so. But just in time, there’s a replacement in Bush’s old slot of The Man You Love to Hate. Based on his behavior in the last three months or so, not to mention in the last several years, Joe Lieberman is the winner and new champ for that title. The web sites are all over him. MoveOn used his name as... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409758/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:39:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409752/posts An attack on UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s house and conflicting reports as to why students were arrested at Wheeler Hall Friday, Dec. 11, have added a new twist to ongoing protests against university budget cuts. Student organizers of Live Week—a week-long “open occupation” of Wheeler Hall where students tried to create an open university by holding talks, forums and music shows all day—condemned the 4:30 a.m. arrests during which UC police locked in 66 protesters, cited them for trespassing and later took them to Santa Rita jail. Almost all were reportedly released later. Although campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof said... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409752/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:31:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409748/posts The Berkeley City Council postponed discussion of the most controversial item on its Dec. 15 agenda. Councilmember Jesse Arre-guin’s request that City Manager Phil Kamlarz report on the city’s involvement in approving an amendment to state Senate Bill 113, the Local Government Omnibus Act, signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger Oct. 11, was tabled on a 5–2 vote. The council will not get a chance to vote on it until January. The state omnibus bill traditionally includes only non-controversial provisions. This year, however, the bill included an amendment, requested by the University of California, that would exempt UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium and... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409748/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:27:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407621/posts Weekend vandalism at the UC Berkeley chancellor's home has complicated a philosophical battle over the best way to protest student-fee hikes and budget cuts. UC police arrested eight people Friday night after demonstrators broke windows and other property at the campus home of Chancellor Robert Birgeneau while he and his wife were inside. At least six of those people are expected to be charged with multiple felonies for what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called "terrorism." The incident has further roiled an already uneasy campus that has been hit by budget cuts and tuition hikes this year. The arrests were the latest... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407621/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:19:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406697/posts Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger described Friday's attack on the home of the University of California at Berkeley's chancellor as a "type of terrorism" that will not be tolerated. Protesters angry about budget cuts and fee hikes vandalized Chancellor Robert Birgeneau's home on campus at about 11 p.m. Friday night, according to the university. "California will not tolerate any type of terrorism against any leaders, including educators," Schwarzenegger said in a statement released Saturday. He added that the incident was a criminal act, and participants will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law. . . . At about 11 p.m.... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406697/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:04:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405427/posts BERKELEY -- UC police arrested 65 protesters from a campus building early today, ending a weeklong occupation designed to draw attention to fee hikes and budget cuts throughout the University of California system. UC Berkeley police, joined by officers from other UC campuses, began arresting the protesters at Wheeler Hall at 4:40 a.m., said campus spokesman Dan Mogulof. "There was no force, no confrontation, nobody resisted," Mogulof said. "At most, it was a wake-up call: They were sleeping." The demonstrators had intended to stay through at least tonight, but police decided to move in early today because of a widely-publicized... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405427/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:57:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404279/posts BERKELEY -- The city of Berkeley mailed coat hangers to 20 members of Congress today in protest of the anti-abortion amendment in version of the federal health care bill. San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404279/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:30:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399069/posts The Free Speech Movement lives on at UC Berkeley - 45 years to the day after a barefoot, 21-year-old student named Mario Savio energized thousands from atop a police car by exhorting them to do all they could to stop the administration's restrictive policies. Today the issue is less about freedom of speech than about freedom of access to a quality education, as thousands of students have protested rising tuition, employee layoffs and course cutbacks in recent weeks. "We're the ones fighting for this to be a public university that everyone can afford!" Ronald Cruz, a Berkeley activist, told a... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399069/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 05:26:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399075/posts BERKELEY — Calling UC Berkeley's 1960s turmoil "a dead movement," protesters on Wednesday knocked a tribute to the Free Speech Movement off the steps of Sproul Hall and voiced their own concerns about student-fee hikes and other issues. Exactly 45 years after the face of the movement, Mario Savio, spoke to thousands on the same steps, a few dozen demonstrators forced student-government leaders to cancel their commemoration. The same protesters later read a line from Savio's Dec. 2, 1964, speech in unison. Organizers of the invading demonstration said it was time to focus on "a living, breathing movement" rather than... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399075/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 05:39:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397874/posts The Nov. 28 New York Times article about the efforts of a few pro-Israel activists to shut down the Daily Planet for its publication of reader contributions critical of that nation's policies provided a fair introduction to the story but failed to fully elucidate the nature of the campaign. Though the first stirrings of this censorship campaign began several years ago, it did not begin in earnest until this year, when PR professional Jim Sinkinson began a more organized and deliberate campaign to intimidate advertisers. The Planet first alerted its readership to Sinkinson's efforts in a March 19 editorial. The... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397874/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 21:06:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397415/posts BERKELEY -- Berkeley activists can sue federal agents for their role in a 2008 raid in which officers seized their computers and records in search of alleged threats by animal-rights advocates, a federal judge ruled Monday. The activist group Long Haul Inc. can try to prove that the search of its Berkeley offices exceeded legal boundaries, that agents misled the judge who issued a search warrant, and that it was targeted because of its left-wing views, said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. An unaffiliated group with offices in the same Berkeley building, East Bay Prisoner Support, also won the right... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397415/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 05:39:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394485/posts A student group at UC Berkeley’s school of law Tuesday called on the U.S. Justice Department, the Pennsylvania Bar and the University of California to “conduct full and thorough investigations” of former government lawyers who crafted the Bush torture memos, including John Yoo, a tenured faculty member at their school. Comprised of a coalition of student groups and individuals, the Boalt Alliance to Abolish Torture (B.A.A.T.) has gathered over 275 signatures which call for investigations into “potential violations of professional and ethical duties, as well as possible criminal conduct.” Both the Pennsylvania Bar Association where John Yoo is registered and... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394485/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:49:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394482/posts The UC strike reached its peak at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, when students and custodians dumped days-old trash from the different campus buildings outside California Hall, where UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau works, to protest recent custodian layoffs. Although California Hall was locked and looked deserted, a couple of people could be seen peaking out from behind the blinds. “Tell me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like!” shouted Kathryn Lybarger, an organizer for the workers union, as students threw used paper cups, apple cores and banana peels at the front door. “What does a regents’... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394482/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:45:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393477/posts Amid complaints of police brutality and heavy criticism about the university's handling of a massive protest and takeover of a campus building Friday, the university announced it will ask for an independent investigation of police actions that could bring about changes to the way officers handle protest crowds. The announcement came on a day when about 75 protesters, a few of them wearing casts and splints on their arms and fingers, gathered outside an Oakland courthouse to denounce what many say was abusive behavior by police at a UC Berkeley protest Friday. "The police broke my hand Friday," organizer and... Oakland Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393477/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:00:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393181/posts As part of the ongoing protest over the University of California's 32 percent fee increase, UC Berkeley students marched to UC President Mark Yudof’s office in Oakland Monday afternoon and staged a sit-in, demanding to meet with him. The students went to Yudof’s office after finding out at the Alameda County Superior court that burglary charges against three Wheeler Hall occupiers had been reduced to a misdemeanor. UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof confirmed that there were students in Yudof’s office “who were engaged in peaceful conversation with officials there.” Mogulof said Yudof was not present. An employee at the UC... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393181/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:26:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390752/posts BERKELEY -- UC Berkeley students took over a campus building in protest this morning, a day after the University of California regents voted to raise tuition by 32 percent.An undetermined number of protesters have barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall, which houses the English department. Several demonstrators wearing bandannas opened a window and used a bullhorn to denounce the regents' decision. San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390752/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:52:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2381290/posts OAKLAND -- The Alameda County judge who presided over the dispute between UC Berkeley and tree-sitters seeking to block a construction project, Barbara J. Miller, was found dead Friday at her home in Oakland. She was 58. Judge Miller was found a little after 6 p.m., Oakland police said. The cause of her death has not been determined. Judge Miller was elected to the Superior Court for Alameda County in 1996 after having been a commissioner of the court since 1987. She served as presiding judge in 2004 and 2005. During her years on the bench, Judge Miller's best-known case... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2381290/posts#comment Sun, 8 Nov 2009 04:12:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373960/posts Berkeley once again dipped into U.S. foreign policy Tuesday when its City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking the Obama administration to withdraw troops and private armed contractors from Afghanistan and cease drone attacks on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The issue proved to be the liveliest of the evening, with members of the public protesting when councilmembers Susan Wengraf and Linda Maio suggested postponing the item to correct ambiguous wording in the resolution. Code Pink, CopWatch and Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, which recommended the resolution to the council, voiced their support for immediate troop withdrawal. Melody Ermachild Chavis, author of... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373960/posts#comment Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:40:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2361608/posts A group of UC Berkeley law students will launch a torture accountability initiative next week dedicated to holding the authors of the infamous torture memos accountable, reinstating respect for the prohibition against torture and ending executive abuse of power and impunity. Called the Boalt Alliance to Abolish Torture (B.A.A.T.), at their kick-off Oct. 13 the group will host a panel of lawyers and legal academics to discuss the memos crafted by the Bush administration’s legal counsels at the Department of Justice, including Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo. Yoo, who spent the previous semester at Chapman University, returned to the UC... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2361608/posts#comment Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:03:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2358871/posts John Yoo is back teaching at the University of California Berkeley Law School this semester and there doesn’t seem to be much anyone can do about it. A few UC faculty members have pronounced that they consider this to be disgraceful, and some of the more colorful citizen protest groups have trained their sights on Yoo’s public appearances and even hounded him at home, but the Law School itself seems to be paralyzed. One would think that being an obviously incompetent or dishonest practitioner of the legal trade would be enough to disqualify him from teaching impressionable students, but law... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2358871/posts#comment Fri, 9 Oct 2009 19:21:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2350853/posts Berkeley would become the first city in the United States to independently try to comply with U.N. treaties on torture, civil rights and racial discrimination, if the City Council passes a measure on the issue tonight. The measure would require the city to file biennial reports to the United Nations on how - or whether - the city meets international human rights standards. In Berkeley, that could include its record on homelessness, the achievement gap among different racial groups at Berkeley High and the presence of John Yoo, a UC Berkeley School of Law professor and Berkeley resident who authored... SFGate.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2350853/posts#comment Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:45:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2339501/posts Berkeley has finally come up with an answer to the question posed by the annual parade: How Berkeley Can You Be? The answer is: Very Berkeley - as long as you don't sell beer off the back of floats, toss candy to kids or walk naked down University Avenue. Those restrictions, plus some unexpected permit fees, ended the 13-year run of the How Berkeley Can You Be? parade and festival, a bacchanalian romp through downtown that featured everything from flame throwers to Nobel laureates to motorized couches. Daunted by the new restrictions, organizers have decided to cancel the event, slated... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2339501/posts#comment Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:28:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336625/posts A couple of weeks before Van Jones resigned his Washington job, I happened to have a casual conversation with an old friend about a media organization we’d both been instrumental in founding in the distant last millennium. He was complaining that the group had, rather soon after it began, turned into an arena for ambitious self-promoters instead of being the advocacy organization which its founders intended. Most of this happened in the 15 or so years when I was too preoccupied with earning a living to pay attention, but I believed my friend’s annoyed recital of pointless power struggles within... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336625/posts#comment Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:50:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336081/posts BERKELEY — Six months after Tristan Anderson, a former UC Berkeley tree sitter and Bay Area activist, nearly died after being struck in the head with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, friends are holding a benefit Sunday to raise money for his recovery costs. Anderson, 38, remains at a rehabilitation hospital near Tel Aviv and continues to have setbacks and infections after skull surgery last month, supporters said. The operation came after doctors learned Anderson was suffering from post-traumatic hydrocephalus, a blockage of the ventricles — open spaces in the brain — that causes poor circulation of cerebral... Oakland Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336081/posts#comment Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:54:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320417/posts Opponents of a downtown Berkeley development plan were still on the streets Wednesday gathering the 5,558 signatures needed by Thursday to put the plan to a citywide vote. City Councilman Jesse Arreguin, 25, who is behind the campaign to overturn the Downtown Area Plan, which allows for taller buildings, more housing density, more open space and which imposes green building requirements, said he is "cautiously optimistic" his group has enough signatures to go forward. Arreguin was at the Downtown Berkeley BART station Wednesday gathering signatures. Shadowing Arreguin and holding a sign that said "Don't Sign The Petition," was 27-year-old Salvan... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320417/posts#comment Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:50:50 GMT