Berkeley Republicans Poke the Diversity Bear

And in the process hilarity ensues:

Hundreds of students packed UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza on Tuesday to express their views on the use of race and gender in university admissions decisions and to weigh in on the tone of debate.

The dialogue in the bastion of the free-speech movement was triggered by a bake sale -- sponsored by the Berkeley College Republicans -- that promised goods priced according to the buyer's race, ethnicity and gender.

The event, which was met with anger by many students, was timed to counteract a phone bank in support of a bill on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk that would allow the UC and Cal State University systems to consider such factors, as long as no preference is given.

Opponents of the legislation formed a protective wall of sorts around the Republican student club's bake sale table in the plaza. Under the event's pricing structure, whites were supposed to pay $2 for the same pastry that would cost Native Americans just 25 cents. (The group, however, accepted whatever people chose to pay.)

"It's kind of ugly," said 21-year-old gender and women's studies major Tatianna Peck, who held a sign protesting the exclusion of "queer people" from the Republicans' pricing structure.

"It's extremely reductive and forcing people into a defensive position instead of an honest place of listening," she said of the bake sale stunt. "It's just kind of a shame."

Some protesters gave out cupcakes in hopes of creating "an environment where people can come have dialogue with respect and sensitivity," said Damaris Olaechea, 24. The anthropology and rhetoric major said she, along with her roommate, baked hundreds of "cupcakes of conscience" to hand out in that spirit.

Several hundred students -- many of them African American or Latino -- dressed in black and staged a silent protest, lying down for an hour in the midday sun.

Siesta time!

It's just so easy to rile up Berkeley kids. Like taking candy from whiny babies.

Marrying For Tuition

I'm not sure it's worth all this just to go to Berkeley:

Students worldwide compete to attend the University of California, Berkeley, considered one of the best universities in the United States.

But economically, in-state students have a huge advantage over non-Californians, for whom tuition costs an additional $22,000 a year (as of 2010-11).

The financial stakes are so high that some out-of-state students are employing an unusual technique to meet the University of California’s strict residency requirements: they’re getting married.

These marriages do not technically break any laws, but students are understandably hesitant to speak publicly about them. The Bay Citizen was able to find nine such couples.

U.C. students from out of state must meet three requirements to establish residency — physical presence, intent to stay and financial independence — a complicated process that takes at least two years. The independence test is the hardest to pass.

When students marry, they can automatically claim themselves as independent, provided their parents do not claim them as dependents on their taxes. After that, gaining in-state tuition is a breeze.

A few years ago, a student from the Midwest believed she could not afford the annual $30,000 in student fees (including $20,000 in out-of-state tuition), so she posted on Facebook that she was looking for a husband.. (The woman requested anonymity out of fear of repercussions from U.C.)

An out-of-state student whom she did not know responded to her post, and they married in 2007, the summer before her junior year. She graduated in 2009 and estimated that the marriage had saved her $50,000. The couple has divorced.

Of course there is another way to get in-state tuition - come here illegally.  Sneak across the border from Mexico and you can get pretty much whatever you want from the state university system.

Berkeley to Offer Special Benefits for the Confused

Needless to say, this doesn't surprise me at all:

While other cities are slashing employee benefits, Berkeley is slated to add one more: paying for sex-change operations.

The City Council is poised to vote tonight to set aside $20,000 annually for city workers' gender-reassignment surgery. The procedure is not covered by the city's two health insurance providers, Kaiser and Health Net.

"We offer all kinds of benefits to our employees. This brings our benefits in line with what's just and fair for the transgender community," said City Councilman Darryl Moore, who originally proposed the idea in 2007.

As part of the new program the city is purchasing a mobile health care vehicle to deal with these unfortunate souls:

Berkeley Suffer a Bout of Temporary Sanity

But it's only temporary:

The Berkeley City Council Tuesday night indefinitely delayed a vote on whether to bestow hero status on a soldier who allegedly released classified information to WikiLeaks.

Some council members in this famously liberal city said they were concerned about the way the resolution was written and wanted more time to investigate. Others said it was premature to hail Pfc. Bradley Manning a hero when he has not admitted to being the source of the leaks.

“My problem with the recommendation as it stands is we’re being asked to proclaim somebody a hero who hasn’t said he wants to be recognized as a hero, who hasn’t said that he did it,” said Councilman Kriss Worthington, who added that he did consider a hero whoever was responsible for the leaks.

“I think this should come back to us if he actually says that he did it.”

You'll notice it never occurs to any of these people that perhaps they shouldn't honor this guy because he's a traitor. No, they just want him to admit to being a traitor before they pass the declaration.

Only in Berkeley

The nuts that run the Gay Bay suburb of Berkeley have never met a traitor they didn't love:

“The Berkeley City Council will consider a resolution that would declare the Army private suspected of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks a hero and call for his release. The council plans a vote Tuesday on the resolution in support of Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is being held in a military brig in Virginia. A city commission already has approved it. Bob Meola, who authored the resolution, tells the San Francisco Chronicle that Manning is a patriot who deserves a medal.”

I suggest they give him a medal, put it around his neck, and then hook the ribbon to a nice high branch on a nearby tree.

The Kooks in Berkeley Submit Themselves to UN Authority

From the land where meaningless gestures are a daily occurrence:

Berkeley became the first city in the United States, and possibly the world, to agree to international human rights treaties on Tuesday night, after the City Council approved a measure usually reserved for countries.

After a brief but spirited debate, the City Council voted unanimously to allow unpaid interns to report to the United Nations on how, or whether, Berkeley complies with treaties on civil liberties, racial discrimination and torture.

The council also agreed to take the first step in raising parking revenue by voting unanimously to add 420 meters and increase the parking meter rate 25 cents an hour, to $1.50.

But the decision to comply with the U.N. treaties generated the most energetic response from council members and the public.

"This is extremely important," said Councilman Max Anderson, who represents south Berkeley. "This is the way Berkeley should be talking. This should be an inspiration to other communities."

Actually, the parking meter increase is going to have more effect on the world than Berkeley's obsequious pledge to the UN.

A Berkeley Liberal Repents

You need to read the whole letter from a former Berkeley liberal who saw the light and came over from the dark side. You'll find it here.

Berkeley Taxpayers Pay $196,000 for Dog Poop

It couldn't happen to a nicer place:

Dogs do the darndest things.They poop, they hump and they sniff in all the wrong places.

And now you can see them do all of the above every time you cross the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 80 in Berkeley, Calif., thanks to the largesse of the taxpayers.

Artist Scott Donahue of Emeryville, Calif., was paid $196,000 by Berkeley's public arts program to create two large statues, which feature small, artistic medallions that show dogs doing what dogs do best.

"Various things," Donahue said. "Biting each other, chasing each other…. One dog is defecating, two dogs are fornicating."

But with the country in a deep recession and California on the verge of bankruptcy, some taxpayers are questioning the money Donahue got for his work. His total budget was $196,000 — 1.5 percent of the total budget for building the pedestrian bridge. And all of it came from taxpayers.

Meanwhile, we'll all be paying higher taxes and fees because the state will continue to fund this kind of stupidity.

Nuclear Free Zones Have Unintended Consequences

The peaceniks that run Berkeley, CA are making life difficult for their public library:

Berkeley's public library will face a showdown with the city's Peace and Justice Commission tonight over whether a service contract for the book check-out system violates the city's nuclear-free ordinance.

The dispute centers on a five-year, $63,000 contract the library wants to sign with 3M, an international technology company based in Minnesota, to service five scanner machines library patrons use to check out books.

But 3M, a company with operations in 60 countries, refused to sign Berkeley's nuclear-free disclosure form as required by the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act passed by voters in 1986.

As a result, the library's self-checkout machines have not been serviced in about six months. Library officials say 3M is the only company authorized by the manufacturer to fix the machines, which were purchased in 2004.

The library asked the Peace and Justice Commission for a waiver, but at its Jan. 5 meeting the commission voted 7-1, with two abstentions, to reject the request. The library is now appealing the decision to the City Council.

"We would not ever have selected 3M on our own, but we were thrust into this," said Donna Corbeil, director of library services. "We're not happy about it, but right now there's no alternative."

I just find stuff like that really funny.

No Fruit For You!

Berkeley, CA, is the surely the land of fruits and nuts, and it looks like they even have their own version of the Soup Nazi - the Fruit Nazi.

BERKELEY -- As most veteran customers know, it takes a pretty thick skin to successfully navigate the Berkeley Bowl, this strident city's most popular grocery store.

Outside, petitioners seeking signatures for ballot measures have come to blows with opinionated residents. In the tiny parking lot, nicknamed the Berkeley Brawl, frustrated motorists have been known to ram one another's cars. At the checkout, people have thrown punches and unripened avocados at suspected line-cutters.

When one shopper was told she couldn't return a bag of granola, she showily dumped its contents on the floor. Culyon Garrison, who works at the customer-service desk, recently had a loaf of bread thrown at him.

The produce emporium -- one of the nation's most renowned retailers of exotic fruits and vegetables -- creates its own bad behavior. Kamikaze shoppers crash down crowded aisles without eye contact or apology for fender-benders. So many customers weren't waiting to pay before digging in that management imposed the ultimate deterrent: Those caught sampling without buying will be banned for life -- no reprieves, no excuses. (Not even "I forgot to take my medication.")

Raphael Breines, who was ejected last year for eating on the premises, said he couldn't decide between two types of apricots, so he sampled both. Security stopped him in the parking lot.

"They treated me like a thief," said the 37-year-old park planner, who was photographed and required to sign a no-trespass agreement. "Technically I was stealing, but I wasn't trying to hide anything. I was just deciding which type of apricot to buy."

Breines, a longtime customer, sent an apology letter, asking to be reinstated. His request was denied.

Store manager Larry Evans says the policy is a fair response to doctors, lawyers and college professors who help themselves to bags of cookies, nuts and vitamins, stick their fingers in pies and guzzle from bottles of sake, assuming the rules don't apply to them.

"There's a sense of entitlement to this town," Evans said. "People think, 'If I want to do it, I'll do it, just try and stop me.' "

Seven years on the job, he said, has given him insight into the city's sometimes sharp social elbows.

"Berkeley residents are angry -- they're mad at the president, the economy, all kinds of stuff. And this is the place where it seems to get released, the local supermarket."

I can't think of a better way to describe the angry left and their attitudes toward other people than what you'll read in this article. Berkeley, which is supposed to be the land of peace and harmony, is teeming with people who are at least one banana short of a bunch and are ready to go bananas at any moment.

How much does this story remind you of "The Mango" episode of Seinfeld:

JERRY: Bad peach?

KRAMER: It's terrible!

JERRY: Did you get that at Joe's?

KRAMER: Yeah, of course I got it at Joe's.

JERRY: That's surprising, his fruit is usually the best.

KRAMER: You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna return this.

JERRY: You're returning used fruit?

KRAMER: Jerry this peach is sub par.

[location: Joe's]

JOE: So what do you want me to do?

KRAMER: I want restitution.

JOE: Restitution? You want restitution? Why should I give you restitution?

KRAMER: Because it's no good.

JOE: When you put that fruit out, that's where it ends for me.

KRAMER: It's still your fruit, you gotta stand behind your fruit.

JOE: I stand behind my fruit.

KRAMER: So...

JOE: Hey, you got a bad peach? That's an act of God. He makes the peaches. I don't make the peaches, I sell the peaches. You have a problem? You talk to him.

KRAMER: You know this whole place is going vrrrrrrrrrrrrt, downhill. I could have come in here last week with a bad plum but I let it go.

JOE: Well let me put a solution for you: do your business elsewhere, I don't want your business.

KRAMER: Oh now you don't want my business.

JOE: No, I don't want your business and from this moment you're banned from the store, you're banned!

KRAMER: But what am I gonna do for fruit?

I'm beginning to think you can find all of life somewhere in a Seinfeld episode.

Berkeley Tree Sitters Must Pay

All those dummies who spent months in the trees at UC Berkeley are finding themselves with big fines for their actions, and most of the money will go to the school they were protesting:

Berkeley's infamous tree-sitters have been hit with a rude surprise since they came down to earth: Judges are socking them with thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees.

Ironically, much of the money - which could total more than $10,000 per sitter - is going straight to the University of California, the very institution the tree-sitters were protesting as they tried to save a grove of trees outside Memorial Stadium.

"It's really vindictive," said an attorney for some the sitters, Dennis Cunningham. "They don't have this kind of money."

Maybe, but university lawyer Michael Goldstein isn't making any apologies.

"We've asked the judge to throw the book at them," Goldstein said flatly.

UC Berkeley estimates it spent more than $800,000 on police and other security measures during the 22 months sitters were up in the trees. The university spent $40,000 alone on the scaffolding that went up around the final tree during the last day of the protest this month.

I was afraid the school would let them go without penalties, so it's surprise to me to see them play it tough. Good.

More Gay Bay Immaturity

I'll be in the Gay Bay this weekend where immaturity and tantrums pass for political speech:

A group called the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco has launched a ballot initiative that would rename a city sewage treatment plant the "George W. Bush Sewage Plant."

A petition is being circulated that would put the measure up for a vote in November. If it passes, it will rename the city's Oceanside Treatment Plant for the 43rd president of the United States.

Republican Party spokesman Leo Lacayo said it's just another move from the "hate Bush crowd."

"First of all, it's insulting," Lacayo said. "Second of all, it demonstrates to what lows some people will reach in order to oppose this president and the policies that have kept this country safe during his mandate."

Virginia-born activist and ordained minister John Rinaldi, a co-sponsor of the petition who ran unsuccessfully for mayor last year under his nickname "Chicken John," said the initiative would turn "every toilet in San Francisco into basically a shrine for George W. Bush and all his great achievements in his eight years as our commander in chief."

When you add this nonsense to the Code Pinko Anti-Marine Witch Rally in Berkeley, it's hard to come up with a good reason why either of these cities shouldn't be nuked from the face of the earth.

The Berkeley Showdown

Things are coming to a head in Berkeley as they attempt to undo the damage they did to their city by trying to drive the Marine Corps recruiting station out of town. There will be a meeting Tuesday night that should be quite a show. The Code Pinkos will be going up against the Move America Forward crowd as both sides try to get their cases heard before the idiots on the city council.

Best of the Web had this interesting item regarding the Code Pinko protesters:

Code Pink announced they would have what they called a "24-hour peace-in" leading up to Tuesday's city council meeting. They will be camping out but will have a lot of company. A group of pro-troop protesters will also be there.

"I was under the impression that we have the right of free speech," said Xanne Joi of Code Pink. "To me, I thought free speech meant you get to say what you want without recrimination."

Once again a lefty mistakes the right of free speech for the right to be heard, a right which doesn't exist. The activist types often think that free speech means they can say what they wish without criticism. However, my right to criticize your free speech is part of my free speech.

My guess is that both sides will be doing a lot of speaking, and neither side will do a lot of hearing.

Toledo, OH Has Something in Common with Berkeley, CA

Can you name two cities that want to throw out the Marines? I'm sure you could name Berkeley, CA give the previous posts here about their war on the recruiting office. Well, now you can add Toledo, OH:

A company of Marine Corps Reservists received a cold send-off from downtown Toledo yesterday by order of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.

The 200 members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., planned to spend their weekend engaged in urban patrol exercises on the streets of downtown as well as inside the mostly vacant Madison Building, 607 Madison Ave.

Toledo police knew days in advance about their plans for a three-day exercise. Yet somehow the memo never made it to Mayor Finkbeiner, who ordered the Marines out yesterday afternoon just minutes before their buses were to arrive.

"The mayor asked them to leave because they frighten people," said Brian Schwartz, the mayor's spokesman.

"He did not want them practicing and drilling in a highly visible area."

The only people frightened by Marines are lefties with an irrational fear of the military, or people who are doing things they shouldn't be doing. Which one (or both) apply to Mayor Finkbeiner?

UPDATE: Not all of Ohio is allergic to Marines. Read this heartwarming piece from a Marine Dad and his experiences with the people of Columbus, OH.

Congress Moves to Cut Off Berkeley's Earmarks

The effort by the Berkeley City Council to drive the Marine Corps out of the city has finally crossed a line with some members of Congress:

Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Oklahoma), John Cornyn (R-Texas), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), and David Vitter (R-Louisiana) introduced the Semper Fi Act of 2008. The bill would rescind over $2 million in hidden earmarks for Berkeley, California in the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill, and transfer the funds to the Marine Corps. U.S. Congressman John Campbell (R-California) is introducing a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

Last week, the City Council of Berkeley voted to oust Marine Corps recruiters from their downtown office, saying the Marines were “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” Berkeley officials also voted to give the radical protest group Code Pink space outside the recruitment office and urged them to “impede, passively or actively” the work of Marine Corps recruiters.

One earmark provides $243,000 in taxpayer dollars for the organization Chez Panisse to create gourmet organic school lunches in the Berkeley School District. Chez Panisse is dedicated to “environmental harmony” and their menu features “Comté cheese soufflé with mâche salad,” “Meyer lemon éclairs with huckleberry coulis,” and “Chicory salad with creamy anchovy vinaigrette and olive toast.”

Another earmark would spend $975,000 in taxpayer dollars for the University of California in Berkeley Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, to create a new endowment and cataloging the papers of Congressman Robert Matsui. U.C. Berkeley currently already has a $3.5 billion endowment.

Democrats will never let this bill pass, but given the way the city is backpeddling, I think it got their attention.

Berkeley's Waving the White Flag

The city of Berkeley isn't too excited about the national attention they've gotten because of their attempt to drive the Marines and their recruiting office out of the city.

BERKELEY, Calif. -- As six Republican senators devised a plan to yank $2.3 million in federal funding for Berkeley programs, the mayor of the famously liberal city apologized Wednesday for his hard stance against a Marine recruiting center.

Two City Council members vowed to soften their stance as well.

At their Tuesday council meeting, leaders will discuss scrapping a letter that might be perceived as targeting the center or the Marines.

The letter said that the recruiting center was not welcome on Shattuck Avenue and that the Marines were uninvited and unwelcome intruders.

"That letter will probably be pulled back and maybe more moderate language will be put in place which is appropriate I think," said Berkeley mayor Tom Bates.

"Subtly stated in the resolution is perhaps an impugning of the soldiers fighting for us in Iraq and other places," Berkeley City Councilman Laurie Capitelli. "And that was never the intention but that really needs to be cleared up. As I walked to my car that night I realized I regretted it and I had made a mistake."

Bates said the city didn't mean to offend anyone in the armed forces and the focus should have been on the war not the troops.

Move America Foreward is planning a counter demonstration at the City Council Meeting on Tuesday, and the Code Pinkos are panicked that their precious City Council will fold under pressure (as they already are). The Council and the Pinkos are trying to stack the meeting room with antiwar nuts to freeze out the patriots and keep them from both attending and speaking.

It should be a fun meeting.

DeMint: "Cut Off Berkeley's Federal Funds"

Yesterday I proposed that the city of Berkeley, CA be turned into a Navy bombing and shelling range with the residual mulch to be spread over the farm fields of the San Joaquin Valley. That was in reponse to the city's efforts to drive Marine recruiters out of the city and reward those who regularly protest there. Senator Jim DeMint has a slightly less draconian option:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says the City of Berkeley, Calif., no longer deserves federal money.

DeMint was angered after learning that the Berkeley City Council voted this week to tell the U.S. Marine Corps to remove its recruiting station from the city's downtown.

"This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families," DeMint said in a prepared statement. "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."

"If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer-funded handouts," he added.

In the meantime, a senior Marine official tells FOX News that the Marine office in Berkeley isn't going anywhere.

I still like my idea better.