Berkeley: City of Tolerance and Love
Good old Berkeley, it should take Philly’s slogan and adopt it as its own. Then it could be Berkeley the city of brotherly love unless you are a marine in which case we want you to drop dead.
(CNN) — Berkeley, the famously liberal college town in California, has taken aim at Marine recruiters, saying they are “not welcome in our city.”
Republican lawmakers in Washington fired back this week, threatening to take back more than $2 million of federal funding to the city as well as money designated for the University of California-Berkeley, the campus that became a haven of protests during the Vietnam War.
The battle erupted after the Berkeley City Council approved a measure last week urging the Marine recruiters to leave their downtown office.
“If recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders,” the item says.
It goes on to say the council applauds residents and organizations that “volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley.”
It is a good thing that no one in Berkeley is homeless and that there aren’t any drug problems there. It is a good thing that the schools are amazing and that there are a wealth of amazing jobs for the people to choose from.
Good to know that the perfect city exists.
Jack February 10, 2008 at 8:03 am
FY,
That is the thing. If they could say that the Marines were doing something it might be one thing, but they can’t.
This is no different than refusing to serve someone because of their skin color.
Friar Yid February 9, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Yeah, that is pretty low. I thought there was some legitimacy when San Francisco barred the Marines from schools (most of my reasons which involve questions of information reliability and the ability of average young people to make intelligent decisions about their future), but actually “evicting” them (or even talking about it) from your precious city limits takes things to a whole other level. Not only is it petty and insulting, it once again contributes to the widely held perception that Berkeley is mostly populated by jackasses.
The irony is that if there was a specific issue people were having with the Marines, like who they’re targeting for recruitment, or the methods being employed, or larger issues with militarism vs. pacifism, or whatever, then a place like Berkeley with its great reputation for academia ought to be ground zero to have a DISCUSSION about it, not boot them out!
(Incidentally, speaking of petitions, I got a whole earful of one the other day.)
Sigh…