It's actually pretty simple. They're playing out a little psychodrama where THEY are the heroic freedom-fighters butting heads with the Man. It's not about what they're really stadning for - it's about how it makes them FEEL deep inside that counts. It wouldn't matter if the Berkely PD handled the kids with Nerf gloves, saying 'pretty please with sugar on it' - the Code Pink folk see rampaging goons, cracking heads with no provocation.

It's not about reality - it's about their feelings.

You and the photographer are the only hysterical persons involved in this deal. Those pre-pubescent 13yos are a great big threat aren't they?

But then your the folks that support the dope in the WH who have no respect for the Constitution so why would you think that anyone should be allowed to demonstrate their point of view - unless it's all about guns I suppose. Or killing doctors and others in clinics with bombs.

Geez you people need to get a life.

Could be worse, about 15 years ago I lived in Colorado and some hippies were getting so incencensed about the "secret" US Radar installation (so secret you could see the geodesic cover while driving down I70) outside of Denver that they decided to occupy it. The congress critter from Denver, Pat Schroder(sp?) went on TV to whine that the MPs had bruised the hippies wrists whilst pulling them off of the fence they were trying to climb.

The fence with the sign stating in big red letters that deadly force was authorized to prevent unlawful entry.

Pat was pissed about the bruised wrists, I thought they should be greatful that the MPs did not shoot them.

Like I said, Brian - it's not about reality, it's about feelings. They were sticking it to the Man, people!

From Al Quaeda's Fantasy Ideology...

My first encounter with this particular kind of fantasy occurred when I was in college in the late sixties. A friend of mine and I got into a heated argument. Although we were both opposed to the Vietnam War, we discovered that we differed considerably on what counted as permissible forms of anti-war protest. To me the point of such protest was simple -- to turn people against the war. Hence anything that was counterproductive to this purpose was politically irresponsible and should be severely censured. My friend thought otherwise; in fact, he was planning to join what by all accounts was to be a massively disruptive demonstration in Washington, and which in fact became one.
.
My friend did not disagree with me as to the likely counterproductive effects of such a demonstration. Instead, he argued that this simply did not matter. His answer was that even if it was counterproductive, even if it turned people against war protesters, indeed even if it made them more likely to support the continuation of the war, he would still participate in the demonstration and he would do so for one simple reason -- because it was, in his words, good for his soul.
.
What I saw as a political act was not, for my friend, any such thing. It was not aimed at altering the minds of other people or persuading them to act differently. Its whole point was what it did for him.
.
And what it did for him was to provide him with a fantasy -- a fantasy, namely, of taking part in the revolutionary struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors. By participating in a violent anti-war demonstration, he was in no sense aiming at coercing conformity with his view -- for that would still have been a political objective. Instead, he took his part in order to confirm his ideological fantasy of marching on the right side of history, of feeling himself among the elect few who stood with the angels of historical inevitability. Thus, when he lay down in front of hapless commuters on the bridges over the Potomac, he had no interest in changing the minds of these commuters, no concern over whether they became angry at the protesters or not. They were there merely as props, as so many supernumeraries in his private psychodrama. The protest for him was not politics, but theater; and the significance of his role lay not in the political ends his actions might achieve, but rather in their symbolic value as ritual. In short, he was acting out a fantasy.

It only proves that liberalism is truly a mental illness. Just look at it as BDS that has progressed to an incurable mental illness. President Bush will be gone in 10 months but the mental illness will remain with the liberals until death. The code stinko's and the ditch witch will have to find something else to scream about. Will they turn on the next president? Most likely since they have no other life.

What a striking disconnect at play here--let's protest the ones who protect our privilege to protest. Meanwhile, back in the REAL world........

"My assessment: I saw neither brutality nor favoritism on the part of the police, who seemed to act as professionally as possible, considering the circumstances."

Of course there wasn't! All it takes is one person to yell "fire!" to get a crowd to react.

Well, any excuse to get out of class or be seen on camera, I suppose. Medea Benjamin obviously has become an attention junkie under the guise of "wise counselor". And I never knew Code Stink had their own "spokesclown." How kid-friendly! :p

Looks like their website codepink4peace.org has been taken down by an attack. Nothing a little DDOS can't take care of.

- Anonymous

Is BERKELY looking to become a leaper colony althogh the leaper would be more welcome anywhere since berkeley insists to be a village run by liberal idiots

I have a nephew leading a platoon in Iraq, and two sons who are police officers stateside, so goody, I get to have an opinion.
I am proud of my families contribution to the security of the U.S., but disappointed that the Berkeley mayor and city council doesn't support our men and women in uniform, any uniform. Remember, this is the city that would not allow their fire trucks to fly our flag after 9/11.

The perfect ending?...

The Berkeley PD (who did next to nothing to protect pro-troops folks and mostly just stood by while moonbats attacked) get overrun by the riotous Berkeley natives.

Police call on the Marines at the recruitment center for help.

A few butt-stocks to the heads of these wastes-of-skin, and it's all over.

Yes, I would condone that. The only way to stop a raging animal is with force... or a tranquilizer dart... Not as fun, but still amusing.

A friend asked me "you would be o.k. with that being done to fellow Americans?"

I answered "certainly not!"

I would just like to point out that these people are voting constituents of the Democratic Party.

And that's all I have to say about that.

JumpinJoe

I didn't know 13 yos had been given the vote. When did that happen?

I'll tell you exactly why this happened (assuming no one has mentioned it yet). It's because the Berkeley cops let the Code Pinko protesters get away with murder (figuratively speaking). When the cops did nothing - NOTHING - when Code Pinko blocked the recruiting office entrance, it emboldened the commie rat bastards. This was the only natural consequence of the cops eventually deciding to do their jobs. That is why this happened. That is why the protest focus shifted from the Marines to the cops.

Can I pick which of those photos will be used for Friday's caption contest? Pleeeeeeeze?

JFO, how would you know the ages of those pictured? Is 13 the age of the girls you date? They look like college kids to me. They should be spanked and sent to bed without supper.

I didn't know 13 yos had been given the vote. When did that happen

Oh, so every moonbat participating was 13 years old. Thanks for that clarification.

"I simply cannot understand how it is that these people feel they need to go after our military and our police, who need and deserve our support. I will never understand it. "

Can't, won't, or don't want to? How hard is it to grasp the concept that a lot of your own fellow citizens think that the United States at the very least symbolizes - when it isn't outright the cause of - some of the worst things the world has to offer. These people truly believe.

Go listen to people like this blather on about some of the things you love about this nation - social mobility, the idea of meritocracy, personal liberty - and listen to them instead describe and denounce them as "tools of oppression", "wielding private power over others", or "inequality". If you start a business and pursue the American dream, get an education, or even grow up with a good family that does their best to help you on your way -- to them (zero sum idiots that they are) you're accumulating unequal wealth and power, which is inherently controlling and oppressive for those not as well off as you.

They do not live on the same planet as you. They are abysmally educated, especially the ones in college (where like-minded kook professors wind them up with more bullshit). They'll believe inane, contradictory tripe like you wouldn't believe; somewhere Orwell is laughing at us.

And there are a lot of them.

If you cannot understand these people, you won't get much further than the "deer in the headlights" stage in any effort to combat them.

JT, my $0.02:

It's not a new piece, but see On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs. There's lots of good meat in there that I won't gnaw on for this topic. WRT one of your (implied) questions:

I simply cannot understand how it is that these people feel they need to go after our military and our police, who need and deserve our support. I will never understand it.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence.

...

[T]he sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

These people are sheep, and the police and the USMC are sheepdogs. Some sheep are content with the fact that they're sheep; they recognize it as a choice, and accept the consequences that come with it. They also accept reality, and thank the sheepdogs for their selfless service.

Then there are the sheep that are livid at this very concept of sheep and sheepdogs ...and wolves. The whole sheep-sheepdog-wolf analogy stands in stark counterpoint to their picture of reality (that which we tend to refer to on the whole as modern "liberalism"), which is predicated on one keystone belief: that humans are innately, intrinsically good. Confrontations with sheepdogs force these sheep into an examination of the falsity of this concept, and as we've seen, some people would rather rage that you, them, they, the WORLD is wrong and mean and oppressive ...before they ever stop to (re)examine their fundamentals.

Well... crud. My second <blockquote> didn't work.

The next two paragraphs after the ellipsis should have been blockquoted as well:

[T]he sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

Morrismo, Kipling pointed that out long before these days.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country," when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
But Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

What day was this? Are those high school students on a liberal teacher's field trip?

Looks like they have confirmed a DDOS on the site. Cudos to whom ever shut them down.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/20/16188/1322

- Anonymous

JOIN THE BOYCOTT of california products at the- bring berkeley to its knees blog. the city council ignores the thousands of emails it has been sent, as liberals do. wines, fruits and vegatables represent a multi-billion dollar industry, with much of the money going to the berkeley area.

http://www.thoughts.com/standagainstberkeley/blog/bring-berkeley-to-its-knees-67659/