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thedrifter
01-31-08, 06:32 AM
Berkeley council tells Marines to leave
By Doug Oakley

STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 01/30/2008 01:48:16 PM PST

Hey-hey, ho-ho, the Marines in Berkeley have got to go.

That's the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted 8-1 Tuesday night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. And it officially encouraged the women's peace group Code Pink to impede the work of the Marines in the city by protesting in front of the station.

In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m.

Councilman Gordon Wozniak opposed both items.

The Marines have been in Berkeley for a little more than a year, having moved from Alameda in December of 2006. For about the past four months, Code Pink has been protesting in front of the station.

"I believe in the Code Pink cause. The Marines don't belong here, they shouldn't have come here, and they should leave," said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates after votes were cast.

A Marines representative did not respond to requests for comment.

The resolution telling the Marines they are unwelcome and directing the city attorney to explore issues of sexual orientation discrimination was brought to the council by the city's Peace and Justice commission.

The recommendation to give Code Pink a parking space for protesting and a free sound permit was brought by council members Linda Maio and Max Anderson.

Code Pink on Wednesday started circulating petitions to put a measure on the November ballot in Berkeley that would make it more difficult to open military recruiting offices near homes, parks, schools, churches libraries or health clinics. The group needs 5,000 signatures to make the ballot.

Even though the council items passed, not everyone is happy with the work of Code Pink. Some employees and owners of businesses near the Marines office have had enough of the group and its protests.

"My husband's business is right upstairs, and this (protesting) is bordering on harassment," Dori Schmidt told the council. "I hope this stops."

An employee of a nearby business who asked not to be identified said Wednesday the elderly Code Pink protesters are aggressive, take up parking spaces, block the sidewalk with their yoga moves, smoke in the doorways, and are noisy.

"Most of the people around here think they're a joke," the woman said.

Wozniak said he was opposed to giving Code Pink a parking space because it favors free speech rights of one group over another.

"There's a line between protesting and harassing, and that concerns me," Wozniak said. "It looks like we are showing favoritism. We have to respect the other side, and not abuse their rights. This is not good policy."

Ninety-year-old Fran Rachel, a Code Pink protester who spoke at the council meeting, said the group's request for a parking space and noise permit was especially important because the Marines are recruiting soldiers who may die in an unjust war.

"This is very serious," Rachel said. "This isn't a game; it's mass murder. There's a sickness of silence of people not speaking out against the war. We have to do this."

Anderson, a former Marine who said he was "drummed out" of the corps when he took a stand against the Vietnam War, said he'd love to see the Marines high tale it out of town.

"We are confronted with an organization that can spend billions of dollars on propaganda," Anderson said. "This is not Okinawa here; we're involved in a naked act of aggression. If we can provide a space for ordinary people to express themselves against this kind of barbarity, then we should be doing it."

E-mail Doug Oakley at doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com

Ellie

thedrifter
01-31-08, 08:06 PM
Berkeley hands Marines their marching orders
Council says recruiting station not welcome
By Doug Oakley, STAFF WRITER
Article Created: 01/31/2008 02:41:16 AM PST

BERKELEY — Hey-hey, ho-ho, the Marines in Berkeley have got to go.

T That's the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted 6-3, with Gordon Wozniak, Betty Olds and Kriss Worthington dissenting, to tell the Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

It also voted 7-2, with Wozniak and Olds dissenting, to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines and to encourage the women's peace group Code Pink to protest in front of the station.



In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m.

Councilman Gordon Wozniak opposed both items.

The Marines have been in Berkeley for a little more than a year, having moved from Alameda in December 2006. For about the past four months, Code Pink has been protesting in front of the station.

"I believe in the Code Pink cause. The Marines don't belong here, they shouldn't have come here, and they should leave," Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said after votes were cast.

A Marines representative did not respond to requests for comment.

Code Pink on Wednesday started circulating petitions to put a measure on the November


ballot in Berkeley that would make it more difficult to open military recruiting offices near homes, parks, schools, churches libraries or health clinics. The group needs 5,000 signatures to make the ballot.

Even though the council items passed, not everyone is happy with the work of Code Pink. Some employees and owners of businesses near the Marines office have had enough of the group and its protests.

"My husband's business is right upstairs, and this (protesting) is bordering on harassment," Dori Schmidt told the council. "I hope this stops."

An employee of a nearby business who asked not to be identified said Wednesday the elderly Code Pink protesters are aggressive, take up parking spaces, block the sidewalk with their yoga moves, smoke in the doorways, and are noisy.

"Most of the people around here think they're a joke," the woman said.

Wozniak said he was opposed to giving Code Pink a parking space because it favors free speech rights of one group over another.

"There's a line between protesting and harassing, and that concerns me," Wozniak said. "It looks like we are showing favoritism. We have to respect the other side, and not abuse their rights. This is not good policy."

Fran Rachel, 90, a Code Pink protester who spoke at the council meeting, said the group's request for a parking space and noise permit was especially important because the Marines are recruiting soldiers who may die in an unjust war.

"This is very serious," Rachel said. "This isn't a game; it's mass murder. There's a sickness of silence of people not speaking out against the war. We have to do this."

Anderson, a former Marine who said he was "drummed out" of the corps when he took a stand against the Vietnam War, said he'd love to see the Marines high tail it out of town.

"We are confronted with an organization that can spend billions of dollars on propaganda," Anderson said. "This is not Okinawa here; we're involved in a naked act of aggression. If we can provide a space for ordinary people to express themselves against this kind of barbarity, then we should be doing it."


Contact Doug Oakley at doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-08, 05:14 AM
Treason in Berkeley
Posted: February 1, 2008
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Melanie Morgan
2008

Society for years has endured the freakish antics of Berkeley dwellers. Naked people streaking in the streets; smelly hippies begging for money as they sing drunken renditions of '60s anti-war songs; adults sitting in trees like a bad zoo exhibit.

But the Berkeley City Council and instigators from the extreme left have crossed the line this time. The council Tuesday night passed two anti-military, anti-American resolutions and agreed to send a letter to the city's only Marine recruiting office saying the military are "uninvited intruders."

This is treasonous, hateful behavior that steals the First Amendment rights of the Marines, the very group that protects our constitutional rights. What galls me most is that Berkeley is the birthplace of the modern free-speech movement and now it is has drawn battle lines in the war against the First Amendment.

http://www.wnd.com/images2/marinetape.jpg

The first resolution says that the Marine Corps recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

The socialist council also gave the anti-American Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m. The goal is clear – to harass the Marines until they are forced out of Berkeley.

Nice misappropriation of public funds.

Business people are sick of the Code Stinkos, who make noise, disrupt business with their aggressiveness and "yoga moves," and generally pollute the area.

(Column continues below)


"My husband's business is right upstairs, and this (protesting) is bordering on harassment," Dori Schmidt told the council. "I hope this stops."

The only councilman who showed restraint and a scent of common sense was Gordon Wozniak. He opposed giving Code Pink a parking space because it favors free speech rights of one group over another.

"There's a line between protesting and harassing, and that concerns me," Wozniak said. "It looks like we are showing favoritism. We have to respect the other side and not abuse their rights. This is not good policy."

I have dealt with these beasts up close and they are one scary bunch to confront in person. The pro-troop organization I lead, Move America Forward, went to Berkeley in October with more than 400 patriotic Americans to support our Marines, who opened their recruiting center in Berkeley about a year ago. We waved our American flags, sang "God Bless America" and "The Star Spangled Banner," spoke out in support of our troops, and showed love and respect for our military while a paltry gathering of Code Pinko's burned flags and yelled anti-American epitaphs.

Code Pink was so embarrassed that patriotic Americans outnumbered them in their own backyard that they wanted a rematch. A representative from Code Pink e-mailed and asked if I would debate Medea Benjamin, a socialist who loves Cuba's dictator, Fidel Castro. She is also responsible for sending more than $600,000 to terrorists' families in Iraq.

I said I would be happy to take on Benjamin, but only after we agreed to certain details that would protect against an ambush from the left – such as having a fair moderator, a proper venue and inclusion of a representatives from the Marines. Code Pink reneged on this agreement and proceeded to go out and lie about my involvement. Even after I explicitly told them I would not debate Benjamin based on their failures to live up to our agreement, Code Pink continued to tell the media and the public that there would be a debate on this issue.

Code Pink demonstrated once again why they cannot be trusted by any fair and reasonable person interested in honest debate on the important issues facing our nation, especially when it relates to our military. All Code Pink was interested in was orchestrating a ploy to raise money for their treasonous activities.

To make matters worse, Code Pink has now kicked off a campaign for an initiative that would restrict recruiting centers in the same way cities contain pornography shops. Comparing our military to pornography peddlers is slanderous and outrageous. What is really obscene is the conduct of Code Pink and their allies.

Berkeley Councilman Max Anderson has pushed the idea of giving special favors to Code Pink, which has done so much to cripple America's efforts to protect herself against radical Islamic jihadists. Yet Anderson had the nerve to say that our Marine's are committing "barbarity."

Anderson should take a look at Saddam's torture and rape chambers if he wants to see real barbarity. His libel against our troops is unacceptable, and decent people across America should let him know that this degradation of our troops will not stand.

You can do your part by registering your outrage with the city of Berkeley, contacting officials via e-mail and phone.

Meanwhile, the feds should cut off federal funds to Berkeley faster than the warmed-over hippies can say "barbarity."

Ellie

jinelson
02-01-08, 10:45 AM
U.S. Senator Wants to Revoke Funding From City of Berkeley, Calif., for Vote to Boot Marines
Friday , February 01, 2008




WASHINGTON —

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says the City of Berkeley, Calif., no longer deserves federal money.

DeMint was angered after learning that the Berkeley City Council voted this week to tell the U.S. Marine Corps to remove its recruiting station from the city's downtown.

"This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families," DeMint said in a prepared statement. "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," he added.

In the meantime, a senior Marine official tells FOX News that the Marine office in Berkeley isn't going anywhere.

"We understand things are different there, but some people just don't get it. This is a part of the military machine that gives them the right to do what they do, but what they are doing is extreme," the official said.

DeMint said he will draft legislation to rescind any earmarks dedicated for the City of Berkeley in the recently passed appropriations bill — which his office tallied to value about $2.1 million. He said that any money taken back would be transferred to the Marines.

DeMint's office provided a preliminary list of items that would be subject to his proposal:

— $975,000 for the University of California at Berkeley, for the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, which may include establishing an endowment, and for cataloguing the papers of Congressman Robert Matsui.

— $750,000 for the Berkeley/Albana ferry service.

— $243,000 for the Chez Panisse Foundation, for a school lunch initiative to integrate lessons about wellness, sustainability and nutrition into the academic curriculum.

— $94,000 for a Berkeley public safety interoperability program.

— $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District, nutrition education program.

The Marine official, speaking with FOX News on Friday, said Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway scoffed at the news, but there are no plans for to protest the City Council's decisions. There are definitely no plans to move the recruiting station either.

"To actually put something into law that encourages the disruption of a federal office is ridiculous. They are not going to kick a federal office out of its rightful place there, and this is not going to discourage those young patriots who want to be Marines," the official said.

The Berkeley City Council this week voted to tell the Marines their downtown recruiting station is not welcome and "if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome guests," according to The Associated Press.

The council also voted to explore whether a city anti-discrimination law applies to the Marines, with a focus on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents open homosexuality in the military.

The council also voted to give the antiwar group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months, as well as a protest permit.

The Marine recruiting office in Berkeley has been open for about one year, but has been the subject of recent protests by Code Pink members.

FOX News' Justin Fishel and Trish Turner contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,327466,00.html

LMFAO I love General Conways politically correct response. I also would love to see every dime of federal money witheld from that bastion of commie American hateing puke bucket of a slime ball city. This will be interesting to watch.

Jim