BERKELEY TREE PARTY: OVAH

An inaccurate statement at best. Especially now.
Today, save a moment for
The lunatic and dedicated.
Their moment has abated,
Replaced with order, stability.
Dumpster Muffin, down from her tree.
This is the only way it can be.









1
Whohah says:
Is that Subcommandante Wayne up there?
Also, great minute-by-minute can be found here: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10419085
September 9th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
2
Big Ern McCracken says:
Hopefully I can retire early enough so that I can become a campus police officer at Cal Berkley.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
3
DrHolthz says:
What’s the over/under on how many times they have to clean up/ rebuild the new facility after the enviro-nut jobs vandalize the place?
September 9th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
4
BurritoBrosShits says:
That dog just popped a boner….
God I hate hippies.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
5
Big Ern McCracken says:
Chalk it up on the big board known as life:
Sports 1 – Hippies 0
FYI: Classic slideshow:
http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/cct/2008/flash/treesit_0909/index.html
September 9th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
6
meatybob says:
You know, I have been on campus at Berkeley, and its not some incredible majestic-looking campus. It is nice, but just a hodgepodge of buildings. So, WTF?
Anywho, instead of sitting in these trees, if these sitters would have spent time actually going around planting more trees, I am sure more good would have come from the latter.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
7
Doug says:
This calls for an LSUFreek fark of the climactic scene from “Shane” with the little boy yelling, “Duuuumpster Muffin! Come back, Dumpster Muffin!”
September 9th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
8
yoyofutbawl says:
NOOOOOOO!!!!!
I suppose Dumpster will move in with Ayr & Hawk.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
9
hlh says:
poems are made by fools like me,
but only God can make a tree
–Kilmer
Bark and roots and spreading leaves,
ten to one muffin has PID
September 9th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
10
Lars says:
Just look at the caption:
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11412661
September 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
11
hlh says:
From the “you cannot make this shit up” dept:
The secret truth, he explains, is that the Illuminati and Masons are behind the idea to build on the site, because the grove is at the intersection of compass lines connecting the Haas School of Business (money) with Alcatraz (state violence) and the Lawrence Berkeley lab that gave America nukes.
Indeed.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
12
skinnyphatman says:
Re: the economist…
“The university has responded by building two fences around the grove—to protect passers-by from falling objects (and excrement)”
Uh, thanks. Actually, a sign would have worked just fine. “Warning: Flung Shit Possible.” I would sure steer clear.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
13
PSUrob says:
That should put these damn hippies (who aren’t even students) on the field as practice dumbies for the Stanford Cardinal to work over.
God damnit do I despise hippies.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
14
calbearsfan says:
As a Cal fan I’ve been following this for way too long, but am quite happy that it is finally over. The bull that the hippies claim they are fighting for is idiotic. These trees were landscaping that was planted when the stadium was built (the oaks at least).
Watching some local news coverage of the whole thing was hilarious though slightly embarrassing. Best quote I caught “People were hugging trees and crying.” Way to play to stereotypes Berkeley, way to go. Sometime literally living up to your name is just icing on the cake.
But how about Jahvid Best? Yeah! 200yds & 3TD’s on 14 carries! Yeah!
September 9th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
15
Beef says:
What, no “chop block” tag?
September 9th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
16
hlh says:
Yes calbearsfan, I see your point. 66-3 is impressive. However, if Washington State would have had another field goal the score would have been 66-6.
Then Chief Howling Wolf’s premonitions would be validated. Masons, Illuminati, Antichrist, etc.
/glad I don’t live in the land of fruit and nuts
September 9th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
17
Fyt4Cal says:
More doggerel, with apologies Cal’s late great Ted Haley.
To the tune of “Stanford Jonah”
When the tree-sit days are done,
And the training day’s begun,
There’ll be music in the air;
When our team runs off the field,
Stanfurd knows her fate is sealed,
For the Golden Bear has a brand new lair.
When whirring quick chainsaws,
Cut like Oski’s sharpened claws,
And the last live oak finally falls, Hey! Hey!
Then you grab your hat and shout,
You let folks know you’re about,
You know the 5-star recruits’ll answer Tedford’s call.
So…then… it’s…
Up with the Blue and Gold,
Down with the hippies;
California’s out for a victory.
We’ll drop our battle-axe on
their every tree, Chop!
When we meet them, UCPD will surely beat them.
Down in People’s Park there’ll be no sound,
When our our new digs rise from the vale.
Like our friend Mister Jonah,
Those tree-tards will be found
In the bowels of the Berkeley jail.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
18
kleph says:
this story is 1000X better when read while listening to this.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
19
Turd Ferguson says:
Even though they’re gone I’m still mocking the tree sitters when Cal comes to play Missouri at basketball.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
20
Vandy J says:
The real outrage is that the cost of this entire sideshow is up around $60 million. However, I am willing to bet the University can make this up by rounding up the sitters in question, putting them in a dunk tank, and charging alumni and season ticket holders $50 a ball.
Hold on, I’ma sell all my AAPL, be right back…
September 9th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
21
evanshall says:
Suck it hippies!
To reemphasize calbearsfan’s post above, the people behind the whole 21 month tree protest (and pretty much all protests in Berkeley) ARE BY AND LARGE NOT STUDENTS. I’m a 2002 graduate of Cal. Most Cal students are just there to get their degree and get out. Most of us aren’t “activists”. It’s all the nutjobs that moved into Berkeley during the 60’s and 70’s.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
22
bradluen says:
Just a note of thanks to the fraction of Cal football fans who haven’t been assholes toward people they disagree with for the last couple of years! You guys rule!
September 9th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
23
Ian says:
This is great news, coupled with the huge win over Wazzu, it’s a great time to be a Cal fan and student.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
24
SeanF says:
Yep – I bet the facility will be so much more beautiful than the trees. Hooray for the bloated corporate college infrastructure!
September 9th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
25
Mike says:
TREEmendous news for all Cal fans. The university and UCPD were patient, took down the last of these misguided treetards humanely and thus avoided any fanfare that might have been granted to the treetards. A lot of wasted money and misguided publicity for this bunch, but now It’s onward and upward for the Golden Bears.
I am often amused by a few folks around the country who might think that these tree dwellars were students or other persons that actually had a cause. It was all about publicity for them. Can any normal functioning person, student or worker actually spend 21 months in a tree anyway? This was just a temporary domicile for the homeless.
I was glad to see that ABC gave them no mention that I recall during Cal’s win over Michigan State.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
26
Not You says:
@Mike:
Sir, how dare you defile the good name of… Dumpster Muffin.
Okay, I suppose the name itself started out defiled. Carry on then.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
27
Roaminggator says:
Hmmm….living in trees, flinging their doo-doo, hooting and hollering…makes you wonder where they fit on the evolutionary ladder.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
28
slims says:
Where the hell did all these other Cal fans come from?
Oh well, keep them coming.
My favorite parts of this story, as a Cal Grad:
1) The amount of paper used in a legal battle to save less than 4 dozen trees, some of which are going to be transplanted and others which will be replaced three-fold.
2) The *wooden* treehouses, made by the “locals”, which ended up crippling the trees and endangering their health even if they survived.
Though if there is anything the progressive community knows at Berkeley, it’s how to win a Pyrrhic victory.
Oh yeah, football stuff… Cal recruiting up + OOC wins against the SEC, Big 10, and ACC (hopefully – will be at Maryland) in the past two years = new Cal football era. We won’t get USC this year, but it’s coming.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
29
gurn says:
Maybe I’m just a dumb Southerner.
But what kind of school allows smelly fucktards to do shit like this for years at a time?
Fucking liberals.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:45 am
30
Brian says:
Maybe they will put solar panels on the roof of the new building. Cali has some great incentives. Hell maybe the building will be LEED certified. A nice solution that would soothe both the Boosters (economics) and the tree squirrel people (crazy granola chompers).
September 10th, 2008 at 8:07 am
31
kleph says:
a school that abides by the law.
the reason this has been such a protracted struggle isn’t because the university hesitated to evict the sitters but because they were obligated to abide by a court ruling to not begin the construction of the new facilities.
if they evicted the hippies but were still bound by the injunction from cutting the trees then what’s the point? the idiots would have just climbed up them again. yesterday demonstrated how much a circus that would be. why do it more than once?
and that lawsuit was as much a pissing match between the university and the city of berkeley as anything else. of course the hippies acted like it was their cause but they sure as hell didn’t have the money to fight the battle legally.
so when the appeals court ruled for the university and – last thursday – lifted the injunction then officials moved to evict the hippies and cut the trees at the same time.
but, yes, you are correct. down in the south we do have quite a different way to handle such situations.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:14 am
32
beckett929 says:
#29 –
Thats what I couldn’t believe when I first found out about this! Like Alabama wouldn’t have cut down those trees with those idiots still in them to expand their football complex…. commitment people, go balls deep or go home!
September 10th, 2008 at 8:19 am
33
sb says:
bradluen @ #22…how long were you in that tree? And is your sentiment extended to those who didn’t respond with their own flung dung?
I believe we can leave the world a better place than we found it, but the point the treetards were making wasn’t a point.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:59 am
34
The Contrarian says:
I’m shocked and appalled that no one posted a link to the nude tree protest from 2007.
Be warned: the above post is NSFW and features lots of hippies in various states of undress.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:43 am
35
Brian O'Blivion says:
I think I saw Dumpster Muffin at a Hillstomp concert a couple years ago. Or at least it looked like her. But who the hell can tell the difference?
September 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm