East Bay Kabuki Theater

Just when I think no place could be more annoying than San Francisco, this weekend's showdown in front of the Marine recruiting office in Berkeley reminds me that it could be worse. Does anyone take Code Pink seriously anymore or are they a covert effort of the Religious Right to alienate all progressives? Most people I know in Berkeley are decidedly tired of them and see that the Marine recruiters are not the ones setting the agenda in Iraq but just doing a job.

While pro-troop followers consider the suspension of Code Pink's parking space outside the recruiting office a victory, ultimately both sides lost in a pathetic imitation of civic discourse. And the Nazi salute during the playing of the national anthem was not exactly a return to Berkeley's leftist heydays but just a pathetic example of bad kabuki theater. Just think how ugly such confrontations will be by late October.