The tree cutting is supposed to make room for a new stadium (albeit to bring in more revenue for the school) despite the fact that it will be in close proximity to the Hayward Fault. Even worse, the area is home to a Native American burial ground.
It is sad that UC Berkeley is determined to build this stadium. Even the current stadium (that ginormous one where all the football games are played) shows damage from the Hayward Fault.
Barack Obama makes a great point in the video I'm posting below. We heard a heck of a lot of trash talk about Barack Obama and his community organizing days but they didn't talk about US--US as in the people who are are taking the heat from the sub-prime mortage crisis, people who don't have health insurance, people who are paying hire gas prices, etc.
The speakers at the RNC merely reiterated the modern Republican platform, (which you can easily Wiki at your own leisure,) jeered at Obama's poor resume because apparently all since graduating from college was community organizing, strategically avoided talking about Bush Jr., praised Reagan and all he's done, and chanted "U-S-A" at every chance they could like they were watching Michael Phelps swim for gold.
Everyone is saying it and I'm going to echo it right here: John McCain and company aren't talking about the issues. They're trying to appeal to the person who doesn't really pay attention to politics and pays more attention to ads than anything else for their political information by playing on cultural clues and identities. How many times in the past week and half have we heard "hockey mom," "PTA mom," or "moose hunter"?
Now I'm not trying to poke fun at these kinds of credentials, I mean we all know Theodore Roosevelt was a wild one who enjoyed roughing it out in the wilderness and hunting, and we have him to thank for the Panama Canal.
But seriously, Sarah Palin? She doesn't even have an iota foreign policy experience which her supporters seem to believe. Honestly, her credentials as a hockey mom makes me feel like anyone can be vice president or even the president. Why would we want that? Don't we want someone who understands the common person's problems and aspirations and yet shows exceptional talent for balancing those with problems of the nation as a whole?
Did her time as a governor of Alaska and as a mayor of the town of Wasilla give her the kind of experience that will allow her to make decisions on domestic policy and understand the ramifications they may have on our foreign policy? You can't think about American jobs without thinking about NAFTA or Most Favored Nation Status, AND without thinking about human rights and then the United Nations, and so on and so on and so on.
Behind all the "rhetoric," who is the real Sarah Palin? Just Ask Anne Kilkenny. Supposedly a friend of the family, (and an enemy of Sarah Palin since 1996,) she rips Palin's experience and credentials in one biting letter.
I'm always skeptical of The Source...but it is still an interesting read--almost movie-like.
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.
Before throwing away any credibility I have by calling her a quack, I would like to recommend some light reading.
Go to Amazon or your local library and read Lisa McGirr's Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. It is about conservative movement in the 1960s started by community organizers or grassroots activists to get people like Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, oh and Ronald Reagan (who has practically become a god to the RNC zealots) elected into office.
Look, community organizing happens become real, common people are pissed off at the government which keeps screwing them over or is not paying real attention to them. It is about initiating change from the bottom-up, you know, kind of like the community organizers of the Civil Rights Movement.
But in Sarah Palin's world, she has more experience than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because he didn't have real responsibilities. He only helped organize the community to get them to stand up to racial discrimination and thereby initiating a strong movement against decades and decades of injustice in America towards African Americans.
I don't even want to get started on the kinds of responsibilities Governor Palin has which makes her so much more qualified than the other candidates.
On Day 3 of the RNC, Mitt Romney declared that America is "the greatest nation in the history of the earth."
I sooo totally agree. I'd like to add that I believe California is the besterest state and it has the most awesomest legacy in the entire world. Oh, and Earth is like infinitely the most preminent planet in the universe.
This is just for kicks and giggles. Remember when the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia last year? Well around the same time, SNL went to work and actually came up with something funny.
So here it is, the Labor Day Video: "Iran So Far," a love song featuring Andy Samberg (as himself?), Fred Armisen as the President Ahmadinejad, Adam Levine providing some vocals, and a special cameo appearance by Jake Gyllenhall.
Joe Biden has a new tv ad--"Scranton." Watch the short clip below where he talks about growing up in this lovely Pennsylvania town and how Barack Obama grew up with the same awesome/Amerrrican values. What a coincidence!
I first heard of Scranton three years ago, when The Office debuted in America. Watch the clip of Michael and Dwight in "Lazy Scranton" as they rap about the dopeness that is Scranton and simultaneously pay homage to the SNL Digital Short, "Lazy Sunday."
