Berkeley, Bastion Of Common Sense

By Semperpapa

The City of Berkeley, California, has never been known as a place where common sense was a guiding force, unless anti-American posturing was the subject.
The latest grandstanding of the people in political leadership on the City Council was a resolution that would allow two Guantanamo Bay prisoners to relocate to the city after they were cleared of wrong doing.

The resolution was defeated in the last minutes of voting by 4-1 with 4 councilmen abstaining from voting. Supporters of the resolution wanted to send a message of redemption for the "abuses" committed by the federal government.
Had it passed, the resolution would have allowed two detainees, a Russian ballet dancer and an Algerian chef, to settle in Berkeley and receive funds for assimilation in the mainstream lifestyle of the city.

The City of Berkeley is well known as the bastion of progressive liberalism, defying just about every principle of decency since the 1960s. With this vote, the Council has slightly redeemed itself, even though the abstention of the 4 council members from voting is a measure of their lack of conviction on a subject that should have shown no doubt.

Berkeley is the place where the anti-American organization Code Pink demonstrated against the United States Marine Corps recruiting office, Code Pink being an organization with close convenient ties with the terrorist group Hamas.
It is also the city where the US Military has been attacked from the very City Council that voted the resolution down.

So, has Berkeley become the latest bastion of common sense? Hardly.
What the whole thing demonstrate is that the place remains one of those societal tumors that occasionally flare up.
Too bad, though, as it looks like UC Berkeley lost the chance of adding two more docents to their Liberal Arts or Political Science departments. Better luck next time.

Just my thoughts!