Friday, February 01, 2008

Bill Clinton got it right this time

Ici.

Good for him.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Berkeley takes on the US Marines

That's the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted 6-3 Tuesday night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."
Of course, if the community really does find them unwelcome, they wouldn't find anyone to recruit, so they would go away. Is the City Council really concerned that people will sign up, thus sullying Berkeley's good name? The idea that Berkeley produces enough recruits for the Marines to justify a recruiting station must really frost some people.
In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy.
Which policy is at the order of Congress. The Marines are not free to change it. So, shouldn't the Berkeley City Council really be encouraging protests at the nearest federal building, telling the feds that they are uninvited and unwelcome intruders?
And it officially encouraged the women's peace group Code Pink to impede the work of the Marines in the city by protesting in front of the station.
Isn't deliberately impeding lawful activity, such as that at an abortion clinic, a federal offense? Protest is fine, impeding not, as I understand the law.
In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m.
Might this be contrued as viewpoint discrimination if they refuse same to protesters protesting the protestors? Or protesting the City Council and the Mayor?
Councilman Gordon Wozniak opposed both items.
Must be some kinda extreme right wing radical. Maybe even a Democrat. One who supports Hillary. Reguar scum of Gaiea type....You don't suppose he could even be opposed to jihadi victory?
...For about the past four months, Code Pink has been protesting in front of the station.

"I believe in the Code Pink cause. The Marines don't belong here, they shouldn't have come here, and they should leave," said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates after votes were cast.
Wait'll the jihadis do something really ugly in Berkeley. Of course, that will be a result of the Marines' provocation, it won't be the jihadi's fault.
The resolution telling the Marines they are unwelcome and directing the city attorney to explore issues of sexual orientation discrimination was brought to the council by the city's Peace and Justice commission.
The recommendation to give Code Pink a parking space for protesting and a free sound permit was brought by council members Linda Maio and Max Anderson.
I don't suppose the Berkeley City Council would do the same for a pro-Marines or pro-war group which wanted to protest in front of the City Council building.

Nah. That would accept free speech for people they disagree with.

Doug Oakley wrote the story for the Contra Costa Times.

UPDATE: Since the Berkeley City Council doesn't like Marines or apparently any other normal people, shouldn't it then instead be thanking the Marine Corps for paying "anti-social" types to join up and leave Berkeley? If enough of the opposition ends up living elsewhere, Berkeley will finally be able to enact some progressive policies into law.

Last summer I noted that Berkeley is quite friendly toward the large numbers of sadly brain damaged people who use Golden Gate Park as an open air toilet and hotel...oh...wait...maybe those were the Berkeley City Councilcritters... Who knew?

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

I'm glad I wasn't swimming in Lake Michigan last night

I mighta gotten chilled:
While perhaps not record-setting, the temperature change in southeast Wisconsin was remarkably chilling, given the accompanying wind.

"If you consider the average wind chill around Southeast Wisconsin this morning of around -25 to -30, you could argue that this temperature drop was far more significant than the 50 degrees," said Michael Westendorf, a meteorology professor and director of Innovative Weather at UWM . "Go from 46 with no wind in the afternoon to -4 with a -25 wind chill, makes it more of a 70-degree temperature drop..."
It's the wind,not the cold. Yep. Just like the humidity.

Will Oklahoma imprison Paul Jabob et al for circulating political petitions?

They are trying. In any case, unless the law gets struck down as unconstitutional, they will chill petitioning in Oklahoma. That seems to be the purpose, tho I am sure that the politicians will vigorously disagree in public.
National term limits leader and initiative rights advocate Paul Jacob,(Susan Johnson, president of National Voter Outreach, and Rick Carpenter) were indicted in Oklahoma October 2, 2007, on felony charges of violating the state’s statute requiring petition circulators to be residents of Oklahoma.
It all hinges upon an apparently flexible definition of what constitutes residency.

In 2005, they were, as Paul's account says, petitioning for ballot status for an "initiative that would have set a cap on state government spending that could only be lifted by a vote of the people." My impression is that politicians and certain corporate types didn't think that was funny, so the definition was interpreted more tightly than in the past.

I worked a bit with Paul on the Libertarian Party's 1980 Ed Clark for President Campaign. He isn't the kind to shrink from another fight.

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

Back to the North Shore

We drove out to Malaekahana State Recreation Area again today, this time with Greg, to scope out our final choice of a camping spot for his birthday party next month, stopping along the way to check out a few of our regular spots.

As usual, clik on the pic for a bigger version.

Malaekahana Weathervane:

 


Malaekahana Couple:

 


Pipeliners waiting for the right one:

 


It was windy, but it looked like they were having fun:

 
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Of course, we had to stop to make sure that Fumi, our favorite Black-Crowned Night Heron, was still in good form. He was, so we all relaxed and had shrimp plates for lunch. It turned out that one can order the Garlic Butter Shrimp plate cooked with oil instead of butter, making it at least a bit less deadly, and less guilt inducing. Fumi, tho, being a purist, had shrimp sashimi.

 
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