Code Pink

Code Pink describes itself as a grassroots women's peace organization. That's all well and good, I guess. Who doesn't want peace? The main web page for Code Pink claims that they want to not pull military funding, but reallocate funds to veterans aid. Again, who doesn't want this?

It's the Bay Area Code Pink that we really need to worry about. http://www.bayareacodepink.org

They have made it their personal mission to "SHUT DOWN recruiting in our town."

"CodePINK found out last September '07 that Marine Recruiters had invaded our peace-loving, anti-war town of Berkeley and set up an officer recruiting station targeting youth from U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley City College, and other colleges in the Bay Area. We have been holding "How Berkeley Can U BE" (see the Calendar) daily and weekly events and actions in front of the M.R.S.* (Marine Recruiting Station) to halt business as usual at the station."

That is directly from their website. The wording of it tells you just how little they know about the people they are protesting. It's called a Selection Office, ladies. As is: applicants work very hard to apply for the Marine's officer programs and if they are fortunate they are selected to begin training. This is not an enlisted recruiting station, and if it was, so what? The wording throughout the site is eyebrow raising, to say the least. They act like the Corps is out snatching children off the street and giving them rifles. Not so much. On the enlisted side, a person must be 18 (the age of legal consent) or 17 with parental consent. They may be young, but they are still adults. They are old enough to vote, own a car or house, have children, get married, buy tobacco, and do just about anything short of get drunk. But they aren't old enough to decide to join the military?

That's just the enlisted side, and OSO (Officer Selection Office) is another ball game. These are older applicants (nope, not recruits!) who cannot complete the program until they have graduated college. These are college educated individuals who, according to Code Pink, are too weak minded and young to sanely decide to join the military. I personally find that insulting. I had to hunt my original OSO down, he did not find me. Candidates pursuing the officer routes are usually self-motivated individuals who have decided to pursue this life path without the influence of a "recruiter."

So Code Pink, you're missing your own point.

The main page for the organization professes many good goals, one of them is anti-discrimination. However, the Bay Area Code Pink seems to think (with the support of the majority of city council) that the military is one life choice people shouldn't be allowed to make in Berkeley. From the people who claim a desire of equality, they say military service is not a viable option for Berkeley residents and all military recruiters need to leave the city. So city residents who want to join the military either out of a sense of civic duty, family tradition, a need for college funds, economic hardship, or a need for discipline are out of luck. This is one lifestyle choice the city of Berkeley simply cannot abide. If the hypocrisy of this is still lost on you, then, well...perhaps you should join them.

Code Pink advocates civil disobedience (thank you Gandhi for teaching them big words) but makes a point of instigating arguments with candidates attempting to enter the OSO. They are disrupting local businesses and trying to prevent American citizens from exercising their right to join the military. To make matters worse, the city council is corrupt enough to back them.

This is the link for the city council, http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/council8/ if you would like to give them a big hello. Councilman Wozniak is one of the few who stood against the mob. Two others did as well, but their names haven't yet been released.

Contact your local Congressman and let him know of your displeasure. Code Pink isn't quite bright enough to take that step, let's show them we have above average intelligence.