I have half a thought that the residents of Berkeley are so upset about their local US Marine Corps recruiting station because it’s where the city’s rebellious teens may go to act out against their parents. Rebellion nearly everywhere else in the country takes the form of drugs, vagrancy and irresponsibility. Berkeleyites are mostly known for those behaviors, though, so what’s a rebellious teen in that city to do with his angst? Join the Marines, do something useful with his life.

Matt Sanchez, from whom I swiped the front page image, blogged about one council member trashing the Marines as “unwelcome intruders,” prompting the former Marine to declare that Berkeley has seceded from the union.

I think that’s about right. I also think that if a majority of residents in Berkeley really believe that the US military is unwelcome, then the US government should rescind all of the federal funding that goes to Berkeley for any reason. Military, law enforcement, streets and highways, the university — all of it. Every cent.

Sen. Jim DeMint is drafting legislation to that effect, though it doesn’t go quite far enough for me.

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) released the following statement in response to the decision by the City Council of Berkeley, California to evict the U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Station from the city.

“This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families. The First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money. If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer funded handouts. I am currently drafting legislation to ensure that American taxpayers aren’t forced to pay for this insult by rescinding all of the earmarks for Berkeley in the Omnibus Appropriations bill, and to transfer the funds to the Marine Corps.”

Michelle also reports that the American Legion is weighing in against Berkeley’s noise. This is all federalism at work, but federalism can cut both ways: Berkeley doesn’t want federal defense, then Berkeley doesn’t get federal bucks.

Update: Berkeley is biting back in its inimitably moronic way.

“We are the defenders of democracy, the upholders of the Constitution,” said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink. “If it weren’t for people like the people in Berkeley, standing up for what they believe, we’d be living under Hitler.”

Riiiight. I guess that’s why Code Pink shoveled $600k for “humanitarian aid” in Fallujah, right, Medea.