If I only had a tactical nuke...

Disturbing.

 

I try not to pay much attention to the news.  Here in the information vacuum of Iraq, it’s nice to catch up on sport scores every once in a while and I’ve tried to stay on top of the debates for the primaries when I can.  The news we do get, for the most part, is comparable to a bad tabloid full of sensationalism and grim accounts of a world that has seemingly gone crazy than a recount of facts that pertain to the public.  The title of this article is a prime example:

 

Berkeley to Marines: You're 'not welcome in our city'

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/berkeley.protests/index.html

 

For those of you who can’t follow the link, here is an excerpt that sums it up:  

 

The Berkeley City Counsel decided that 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."

 

Now I don’t want to make this a forum for a debate over the war.  Nobody likes war, especially those who actually get the bullets and rockets thrown at them.  You’ll find no bigger supporter of peace than you will in a soldier, because they actually have to fight for it.  If you want to be a proponent for peace, ditch the hippie slogans, take a shower and bring your issue up with the folks who make the decisions on whether or not we go to war (lawmakers, congressmen, senators, etc).  American servicemen and women don’t make the policy to act on the training they’ve received, and neither do the recruiters.  What good does it do to block a recruiter from giving information about opportunities to young Americans who actually have an interest in serving their country in a constructive way?  Would you go down to the police academy and protest them enlisting more officers because you don’t agree with the speed limit on your street?  

 

It infuriates me when I see stuff like this.  What are the residents of Berkeley going to do if something bad happens in their town?  What will they do when someone comes and tries to take away their precious rights they hold so dear, like free speech, wearing Birkenstocks and optional bathing?  Maybe then they will wish that they didn’t stop the recruitment of individuals to defend those freedoms on a daily basis, on foreign or domestic soil.  I’d like to see them beg for a Marine to protect them then.

 

Okay.  Deep breaths.     

 

On a good note, the article explains that the law makers are trying to take $2M in federal funds away from the city, which goes to show you that one can affect more change through the law than by holding up a pink handmade sign and chanting anti-war slogans.  Folks of Berkeley, take your fight to Sacramento or Washington DC and let the Marine recruiters in your town do their job of making the blanket of freedom you ungratefully enjoy stronger.  

 

“People sleep peaceable in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” – George Orwell