Do They Really Hate Us at Home?
Somebody tell me that this is just a bad dream…
Berkeley Finds A New Way To Make War Politics Local
NY Times
By Jesse McKinley
BERKELEY, Calif. — While the City Council here has little — read, no — sway over foreign policy and distant wars, local parking is a different matter. And so it was that a parking space directly in front of the recruiting station here for the Marine Corps was awarded on Tuesday night to an antiwar group in the hope of running the Marines out of town.
Having failed in recent years to impeach President Bush and stop the war in Afghanistan, members of the City Council approved a resolution that encourages people to nonviolently “impede, passively or actively,” the work of the recruiters.
To that end, the council awarded the group, Code Pink, exclusive use of the parking spot for four hours one afternoon each week, for the next six months, to stage its protests. “If you’re going to join the Marines, you’re going to join the Marines,” said Zanna Joi, an activist with Code Pink, which favors cotton-candy-colored garb and in-your-face tactics. “But you don’t have to join the Marines from our town.”
In taking on the Marines, the council also directed the city attorney to investigate legal means of ousting the recruiting station, calling the Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” in this bastion of liberal politics, 1960s free speech and high-minded nonbinding resolutions.
Tom Bates, the city’s mayor and a former Army man himself, said the vote represented his constituents’ longstanding — and frequently vocal — distaste for current military activity.
“Berkeley has been opposed to the Iraq war since the beginning; it’s overwhelmingly unpopular in this community,” Mr. Bates said. “And people feel this is an opportunity to express their discontent.”
One of the nine council members, Gordon Wozniak, opposed the resolution and the parking spot.
“I believe in free speech, and I certainly respect the right of Code Pink to protest,” Mr. Wozniak said. “But I’m also concerned we treat all sides fairly, and I think the Marines recruiters are just doing their job. They’re not evil people.”
Mr. Wozniak, a retired nuclear scientist who opposes the war in Iraq, added that those advocating the parking spot were engaged in the same type of selective treatment that many war opponents object to.
“A lot of the same people who voted for this felt Bush bent the rules,” Mr. Wozniak said, referring to the president’s unfounded claims that Iraq had chemical, nuclear or biological weapons.
This is hardly the first attempt by Berkeley’s civic leaders, many of whom fondly remember the city’s antiwar heyday in the 1960s, to express their unhappiness with the whole concept of war. In 2006, the City Council and voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure calling for the impeachment of Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, citing “high crimes and misdemeanors” related to the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism.
In 2001, the City Council also called for an end to the bombing of Afghanistan just weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, something that earned some council members anonymous death threats.
Despite the vote on Tuesday, Mr. Bates said it was not clear if the city could actually force the Marines to move out of town.
“They still have a year and a half on their lease,” he said.
That said, the resolution also calls for the city attorney to look into possible violations of the Berkeley municipal code regarding sexual discrimination by the Marines, and asks the city manager to write the Marine commandant and tell him that Semper Fi fans are “not welcome in our city.”
Maj. Wes Hayes of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command in Quantico, Va., said the corps had not immediately been aware of Berkeley’s actions, but added that they would have no effect on recruiting efforts.
“It’s business as usual,” Major Hayes said.
Inside the Berkeley office, a small storefront a block from the University of California campus, a pull-up bar sits near the window as does a pile of weights, part of the physical fitness test for any potential leathernecks. A poster on the wall reminds recruiters not “to fear the winds of adversity.”
After being open earlier in the day, the front door was locked and the window blinds drawn on Thursday afternoon, at least for a while, as Code Pink protesters chanted happily outside.
Brandon Rousseau, an information technology consultant who works across the street and has a cousin in the Marines, said both sides had a right to go about their business.
“Even if that were a Nazi recruiting station,” Mr. Rousseau said, “they have a right to do that in America.”
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
Yes. They suck but the dog pile is just mounting.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:56 amJim DeMint is sponsoring bill to cut off Federal funding for Berkley - Write your congressman and senators in support of no tax dollars to a city that clearly does not appreciate the freedoms they have in this country and acknowledge who provides those freedoms.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:03 amclearer and clearer, us and them
time to choose a side
February 1st, 2008 at 7:19 ami just vomited all over my computer… those pinko-commie bastards need some “re education” therapy… marine style!!!!
i.e. getting a boot shoved up their behinds!! SIDEWAYS!!:lol:
February 1st, 2008 at 7:50 amI like Texas Mom’s idea. My idea would get me thrown in jail.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:28 amThis is from Senator DeMint’s web page:
DeMint to Berkeley: Support Our Marines or Lose Federal Funds
January 31st, 2008 - 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.”
February 1st, 2008 at 8:36 am“This is OUR town” (emphasis added). Such is the hubris of the left - especially the Pinkos. It’s all their’s. The Whole Town. There is no room for dissent against them. There is no room for diversity (except if that diversity supports their political aims). These people take politics and strip it of anything even remotely noble. Code Pink puts the C in Crass.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:20 amIvan the Kafir, they also put the C in cunt. This is beyond bitch.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:08 amThere needs to come a time that we like popeye say “That’s all I can stand…cause I can’s stand no more….” It is time to kick the bitches to the curb…Marine-style…soldier-style…whatever… Knock their teet in…
Or do like the really old days and send the women after them.
Let the men bring the tar and feathers and the split rail. Let the women bring the bull whip. Find a nice barn in the hills. Shut the door, and let the women have-at-it.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:28 amwhy don’t they just secede form the union if they hate us and our military so much?
February 1st, 2008 at 10:43 amEveryone, write your Senators — do what you can to get Code Pink stopped!
February 1st, 2008 at 11:03 amThis is insane.
Despite the vote on Tuesday, Mr. Bates said it was not clear if the city could actually force the Marines to move out of town.
@ LMcG (Texas Mom) & jam
Thank you for this info:
This is from Senator DeMint’s web page:
“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.”
U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina)
Thank you and I hope the Marine Corps gets ALL of the funds!
*I will do my part to help that along! I guess when you give an idiot enough rope they do indeed eventually hang themselves!
February 1st, 2008 at 8:15 pm