The Culture Fix

Back in the day when I shared an apartment in SF's Chinatown with a heroin addict and a sailor one of my favorite day trips was catching the BART to Berkeley for a stroll down Telegraph Avenue and grabbing a slice of Blondie's Pizza. Berkeley hasn't changed much in my lifetime, and while I wasn't fortunate to attend college there I did like to take in the weirdness from time to time. It is a different brand of weirdness than, say, Utah, but it was every bit as unique.

It seems that the City of Berkeley passed some sort of amendment inviting its citizens to gather and protest at the Marine Corps recruiting office, being that the Marines are warmongers and babykillers and all. Good fun, except free speech in these dark times does not include disparaging the military, this despite the fact that this administration hasn't exactly been good to them.

Enter the wingnuts from the GOP. They want to introduce legislation, the Semper Fi act, which would stop $2 million in federal tax subsidies for Berkeley and instead transfer it to the Marine Corps. Utah's own Priesthood delegate to the U.S. Congress, Chris Cannon, happily signed on and was immediately called to task by the Salt Lake Trib's Paul Rolly.

Though it's only 728 miles between Temple Square in Salt Lake City and downtown Berkeley, they might as well be on opposite sides of the galaxy. If you're looking for something more exotic in the way of a culture fix, flip a coin for either one.