Boris: What's The Deal With Berkeley Now?

Okay, I knew Berkeley was a bit out of the mainstream, but today I read on the net that after the attack, the Berkeley fire department took the American flag emblem OFF the trucks! Now they are debating whether to put them back on. They say essentially, "Well, we might have to go to a fire where there are war protesters, and the flag might incite them to attack a fireman or a truck." I couldn't believe this when New York firemen were dying trying to save some of the thousands killed in the attack. This is a total disgrace and shows the fire department to be run by a bunch of cowards. I don't want to take cheap shots at Berkeley, but this is not a bunch of protesters, but is the fire department. So I don't think this is a cheap shot, but the citizens of Berkeley should see that a lot of people lose their jobs over this. But I suspect they won't. Perhaps the Berkeley fire department could loan a few guys to New York to relay how bad this really is.


And I'm not one of the people who thinks we need a flag-burning constitutional amendment.

Lighten up, HDPM. Let's not worry about who's showing the flag and who's not. My wife put a flag on her car. It looks like a toy flag. After one day it's frayed and I swear it's colors are fading. She paid $30.00 for it at the car wash. $30.00 for a toy flag! I'd rather she would have given the money to the Red Cross or a group raising money for the victims in N.Y.


So a lot the flag-waving mania is apparently not being generated by patriotic fervor.


More important than the fire department flag, is the fact that there was a demonstration in favor of peace in Berkeley today. Apparently 2,000 people. Also they were apparently drowned out by people chanting USA. So there are a lot of people in the Berkeley area who are not lefties. And the spirit of democracy lives.

yes, I saw that story too. I don't really know what motivated the fireman to remove the flag. I saw an interview with the mayor and she was obviously embarassed and was trying to persuade the fire dept. to put the flags back on.


I'm also confused as to why a someone attending a peace rally would have any objection to a fire truck or a car or a person wearing an American flag. It doesn't make sense to me that a person advocating peace is anti-american. I think the USA is the greatest country in the world. The last time I made a serious political statement was when I participated in a protest against the Gulf war at the University of Montana. many of the protesters proudly carried the US flag. I see no contradiction. Politics makes me puke; so does war for the most part.