Pvt. Bradley Manning-hero
(At least in Berkeley)
Sometimes I wonder why we don't just make Berkeley the capital of California. This month, the city council of the wackiest city in the wackiest state has been mulling over a proposal to declare the Army private who is locked up over allegedly passing hundreds of thousands of secret documents to WikiLeaks a hero. Yes, according to the wackos on the Berkeley city council, Pvt. Bradley Manning is a hero (assuming he's the culprit). Apparently, the "city fathers' have nothing else to do than pass meaningless resolutions in favor of one screwball idea after another.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F12%2F15%2FBA3O1GR6TO.DTL
Yet, not all the Wikileaks supporters are in Berkeley. Down in Hollywood, dopey movie maker Michael Moore thinks so highly of Julian Assange that he has sent $200,000 over to the UK to post his bail. To Moore, Assange is a hero. This week, he appeared on (guess who) Keith Olbermann's "Meltdown" to sing the praises of Assange.
Then there is this hysterical piece by UC-Irvine professor Mark LeVine in Al-Jazeera:
"Indeed, if there's anyone who deserves the next Nobel Peace Prize more than the courageous American soldier, Bradley Manning, who is alleged to have given the documents to Wikileaks in the first place, I'd like to know." (LeVine)
Next thing you know, someone will propose a holiday to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
First of all you need to get your facts straight: the Berkeley city council has not declared Manning a "hero." This was a proposal put forward by the Berkeley "Peace & Justice Commission," a volunteer committee. The Berkeley city council decided to not even vote on the resolution and instead tabled it.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, don't assume that this has any sort of widespread support amongst the general population of Berkeley. This sort of political masturbation is almost always driven by a small but vocal minority that resides in Berkeley. Check out the debate that occurred in the comments of this post on one of the most prominent Berkeley blogs. Also on that same blog, an informal (and admittedly unscientific) poll was taken about the value of the Peace & Justice Commission, the results of which can be seen here.
What you should take away from this is that many people, if not a majority, in Berkeley feel that these sorts of things are an embarrassment for the city. There are also many that feel that while they may personally agree with the sentiments of such a resolution, that it falls outside the jurisdiction of the city government, and that it's a waste of their time and residents' tax dollars that could be better spent tackling local issues that ARE within their jurisdiction.
-A Berkeley Resident
A holiday to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg? I'll support that.
ReplyDelete