Up in Berkeley, CodePink and the City Council are doing their best to elect a Republican President. I’ll assume you’ve read about it elsewhere, but the short version is that they are protesting a USMC recruiting center; apparently they chained themselves to the doors yesterday.
I enjoy the theater of politics, and civil disobedience like this is really just theater. Bad theater, in this case, but I appreciate it nonetheless.
But personally, I’d love to see countertheater, and wonder why no one is protesting at CodePink’s headquarters:
If I get up the Bay Area, maybe I’ll go make a giant papier-mache puppet and go visit.
There used to be a really good Chinese restaurant not too far from there…
Zombie, who is like the Jane Goodall of the Bay Area, has a photo essay on “Code Pink vs. The Marines.”:http://www.zombietime.com/code_pink_vs_marines_10-7-2007/
A.L.: maybe the salient reasons that no one is protesting at CodePink’s headquarters are mainly two:
1. No one knows where it is.
2. No one really cares.
Outside the all-too-easily-outraged fringes of the blogosphere, inane anti-war, anti-military stunts like CodePink’s (I mean, it’s Berkeley!) get something like zero traction in the media: which is odd, because this sort of dumb street theater is (by the standards of the Vietnam Era, anyway) pretty rare. And, in general, hugely ineffective.
As Gertrude Stein observed (about Oakland, not Berkeley; but it’s close!) there’s no there there.
Sorry: my bad – I didn’t read the post title clearly enough: Point No. 1 is taken care of.
Point No. 2 still stands, though.
Well AL, those people are the future cabinet members of the Obama Adminstration!
Heck Obama (and Hillary) aren’t that far from Code Pink.
Why aren’t people protesting? Because Democrats love those nuts and protect them. Heck Berkeley gave Code Pink their own parking space. Heart and soul of the Democratic Party. Gotta love it.
Any college student who really, truly wants to become a Marine officer will not be deterred by these protests. If a student is deterred, he or she probably wasn’t worthy of leading Marines in the first place.
China Village
1335 Solano at Ramona
Some of the best Szechwan I have ever eaten is at this modest restaurant on the corner. Go get some. Before I moved to Massachusetts I used to be there a lot, near my brother’s office. Prepare thy tongue for hot hot hot.
I dunno if it was China Village I used to go to, but there was a terrific place in Albany my homies and I would go every so often. Progressive politics = great food !!!
Solano and College Avenues have some outstanding Chinese restaurants. I haven’t been down there in a few years and don’t remember the names, but the food is great. Google Chinese Restaurant reviews Berkeley area. If you like northern Italian, Milano in Emeryville.
China Village
1335 Solano at Ramona