The Berkeley City Council recently passed several measures targeting the only Marine recruitment office in town. Instead of defending the recruiters' property rights after they were subjected to defacement (bloody handprints and misspelled signs slapped on their windows) and aggressive picketing and nonstop bullhorn harrassment by the radical anti-war group Code Pink, the city fathers voted to sabotage the center further by granting the protesters special parking privileges in front of the center to facilitate their protests and offered them a free sound permit for six months. In a way that you might treat a porn shop, the council members decided that the protesters needed special license to impede the work of the recruiters, apparently oblivious to federal law that makes it a crime to obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. Shamelessly, the council maintained that they were not against our troops, but only against our government's (read Bush's) policies. Give me a break. This vote was political and partisan. Let's be clear. Code Pink has a right to protest. But the council has no right to grant special rights to one group at the expense of another, and especially not to flaunt federal law. This council acted like a special interest group, not a governing body. Shame on their stupidity, and shame on the message that they are sending their and our children. Seriously, where is their common sense?
