While perusing through the Internettubes I came upon a " a quarterly, independent, radical, newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988 by the Slingshot Collective." called SLINGSHOT.

One contributor of the site, one "Susan Saxaphone" (MY, how original!) was recounting how she was recruited to participate in a protest of the Berkely Marine Corps recruiting station. "I sat down in a plastic pink lawn chair in the street and lazily waved a sign saying "You can't go to school in a body bag." So far, so very banal.

What interested me was when she recounted, "I put out my cigarette when Linda Maio and Max Anderson walked up to the picket. These two Berkeley City Council members gave stump speeches urging the protesters to keep the banner high."

Of course, Ms. Saxaphone was all atwitter on how even the local government was "speaking truth to power". I, however,was, and I believe any sane person should be, outraged.

This is a case of having American elected officials encouraging insurrection against our military men and women here in America. I wonder if any of those officials heard a single word of the oaths they took when they were seated in office. This is nothing but plain sedition in time of war, compounded and aggravated by the fact that it is being done under color of authority.

Yes, elected officials do have the same rights of free speech as anyone else, but to engage in anti-war/anti-military protesting goes beyond the pale. If an elected official feels that strongly against a general public policy, they should resign their post and then protest to their hearts content. That is what a person of honor and integrity would do ( I know, I know, what politician knows the meaning of those two words, other than as lip service throwaway terms in stump speeches?)

Both Linda Maio and Max Anderson should face some consequences of their actions; at the very least, they should be removed from office. I'm sure that some of my more bloodthirsty acquaintances would prefer to go "rope,tree, miscreant officials; some assembly required" on their asses, but hey I have started to consider the environmental consequences of that action and feel it would be too damned bloody smelly after the bodies had been hanging for a week or so. I would be more content with building concrete cells,allowing only a 1" X 15" slit for bread, water, and air and putting said offenders within to reconsider their actions for a decade or three. Thats just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 01:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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