First, I'm glad that someone is still reading what I'm writing, even if it is only monthly at this point.

Second, I completely agree with you. I know that athletics are important to a well-rounded university; I know that lots of people need this gym--not just athletes, but their trainers and masseuses, too; and, while I did not personally know that the oaks were planted after the university was built, I appreciate you having the journalistic integrity to do some research before posting anonymously on this anonymous blog. What I'm trying to give here is a different perspective, one that doesn't take all this bullsh*t so seriously. It's been nothing but "those goddamn mangy hippie tree-sitters" and "If I Were A Tree I'd Die For Cal Football" for the past 2 years, almost, and I think that's ridiculous. People are more up-in-arms about building a gym (and, I guess, office space) than they are about things that really matter--like, I don't know, the war? I'm putting aside reason, for example, the fact that none of the protesters were affiliated with the university, that they were all crazy, that the stadium needs to be seismically retrofitted, and that those women's lacrosse players need to have a gym to change in, so that it looks more like it really should: A squabble between two opposing viewpoints that, while costing everyone and their mother millions of dollars, isn't really going to mean that much in the long run.

"If the Democrats had their way at that time we would have let the South go."

Oh, if only. I fault Democrats for this every day.

Anonymous, if you're a U.S. historian and you haven't yet noticed the complete role reversal of the Republican and Democratic parties in the last decades, you are on some seriously crazy shit, because it is distorting your entire view of reality. Could I possibly get my hands on some? It sounds like fun.

I will not call you son or daughter, because I hope no son or daughter of mine would troll the internets looking for inflaming posts on college blogs to write essays about the injustices of Code Pink. I'd like to think they'd go to a reputable news source or, at the very least, one that capitalizes with some regularity.