thedrifter
04-02-08, 05:39 AM
April Fools! Marines staying put
CodePink makes bogus announcement saying recruitment center closing
By Kristin Bender
STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 04/02/2008 03:02:18 AM PDT
BERKELEY -- CodePink should be turning red.
That seems to be the consensus of many who were on the receiving end of a bogus announcement Tuesday by the anti-war group that the embattled U.S. Marine Corps recruiting center in Berkeley was caving to the pressure of weekly protests and leaving town.
"If you want to be taken seriously as an organization of serious protest, then you don't play jokes -- even on April Fools' Day," said Robin Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley, who has written about the politics of language.
CodePink and other anti-war groups have been protesting the U.S. Marine recruiting center in downtown Berkeley for months, hoping to force the recruiters to leave town.
A CodePink official defended the hoax Tuesday.
"In CodePink, we tend to have a sense of humor," said the group's co-founder, Medea Benjamin. "We tend to joke about a lot of things. It keeps us going, where other anti-war groups have gone by the wayside."
Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin with the Marine Corps Recruiting Command in Washington, verified Tuesday that there are no plans to relocate the Berkeley office, which is conducting business as usual.
The April Fools' hoax -- certainly not the first from CodePink -- started Monday evening when the group posted a news release on its Web site, http://www.codepink4peace.org, boldly announcing "Marine Recruiting Center Leaving Berkeley: Agreement Reached with Landlord, City, and Protesters."
The release said Sasha Shamszad, the owner and landlord of the Marine recruiting center, "has reached an amicable agreement with the Marines to redeploy from Berkeley," and that further details would be given at a noon news conference Tuesday.
The release included false quotes attributed to Shamszad.
Reached by telephone Tuesday, Shamszad said, "Someone is in la la land here. There's a lease involved here. We live in a society where contracts are a big deal. These people are my tenants, and I'm a professional. Once they have a lease, unless they break the rules, you can't get them out."
The center's lease runs through December 2009, subject to termination if the government cannot provide funding, Franklin said.
CodePink also invented quotes from a civilian Marine Corps employee, Michael Applegate, the director of the Marine Manpower Plans and Policy Division. The release quoted Applegate as saying the downtown Berkeley office is not a good use of taxpayer money. Applegate was not available for comment Tuesday, but Franklin said officials aren't angry about the hoax.
"It's a protest group that has very strong feelings, just as all protest groups do, and this is just one thing that they've done," Franklin said.
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said the publicity stunt had people calling his office and others in the city. Although Bates initially supported giving CodePink a permit fee waiver and a free parking space at the Marine center for their weekly protests, he criticized the prank.
"I think they have hurt their credibility with this farce," he said.
But Benjamin disagreed.
"We do believe in putting out some positive ideas of what we want to see and what better way to do it than April Fools' Day," she said.
Benjamin said she hopes the hoax will move people to action.
"We've got a topsy-turvy world, and if more people got out and joined us, this wouldn't be an April Fools' joke. (It) would be reality," she said. "The Marines would be gone from Berkeley, the war would be over, there would be impeachment of (President) Bush and (Vice President Dick) Cheney, and we'd be upholding our Constitution."
What's more, Benjamin said, "We do these types of things every April 1."
And on other days as well.
In October, CodePink distributed a phony news release saying Blackwater USA, a private military contractor, was creating a new "Department of Corporate Integrity" that would put the mercy back in mercenary, according to published reports.
CBS News, the Associated Press and other news organizations ran with the story, according to published reports about the hoax.
Staff writer Doug Oakley contributed to this story. Reach Kristin Bender at 510-208-6453 or kbender@bayareanewsgroup.com.
APRIL FOOLS' PRANKS
Tuesday, Google and Virgin Group announced the launch of Virgle Inc., a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars. On Google's Web site, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin encouraged people interested in being an early settler to submit a 30-second YouTube video about why they should be chosen to go on the interplanetary adventure. No word if there were any takers.
In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in "USA Today" saying customers could buy a Whopper for left-handed people featuring condiments designed to drip out the right side. Customers ordered the new burger, although some continued to request the "old" right-handed burger.
In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in six U.S. newspapers, including the "New York Times," announcing that the fast food chain had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." Many were outraged. By midday, the company issued a statement confessing to the hoax.
Sources: Wikipedia, Google
Ellie
CodePink makes bogus announcement saying recruitment center closing
By Kristin Bender
STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 04/02/2008 03:02:18 AM PDT
BERKELEY -- CodePink should be turning red.
That seems to be the consensus of many who were on the receiving end of a bogus announcement Tuesday by the anti-war group that the embattled U.S. Marine Corps recruiting center in Berkeley was caving to the pressure of weekly protests and leaving town.
"If you want to be taken seriously as an organization of serious protest, then you don't play jokes -- even on April Fools' Day," said Robin Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley, who has written about the politics of language.
CodePink and other anti-war groups have been protesting the U.S. Marine recruiting center in downtown Berkeley for months, hoping to force the recruiters to leave town.
A CodePink official defended the hoax Tuesday.
"In CodePink, we tend to have a sense of humor," said the group's co-founder, Medea Benjamin. "We tend to joke about a lot of things. It keeps us going, where other anti-war groups have gone by the wayside."
Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin with the Marine Corps Recruiting Command in Washington, verified Tuesday that there are no plans to relocate the Berkeley office, which is conducting business as usual.
The April Fools' hoax -- certainly not the first from CodePink -- started Monday evening when the group posted a news release on its Web site, http://www.codepink4peace.org, boldly announcing "Marine Recruiting Center Leaving Berkeley: Agreement Reached with Landlord, City, and Protesters."
The release said Sasha Shamszad, the owner and landlord of the Marine recruiting center, "has reached an amicable agreement with the Marines to redeploy from Berkeley," and that further details would be given at a noon news conference Tuesday.
The release included false quotes attributed to Shamszad.
Reached by telephone Tuesday, Shamszad said, "Someone is in la la land here. There's a lease involved here. We live in a society where contracts are a big deal. These people are my tenants, and I'm a professional. Once they have a lease, unless they break the rules, you can't get them out."
The center's lease runs through December 2009, subject to termination if the government cannot provide funding, Franklin said.
CodePink also invented quotes from a civilian Marine Corps employee, Michael Applegate, the director of the Marine Manpower Plans and Policy Division. The release quoted Applegate as saying the downtown Berkeley office is not a good use of taxpayer money. Applegate was not available for comment Tuesday, but Franklin said officials aren't angry about the hoax.
"It's a protest group that has very strong feelings, just as all protest groups do, and this is just one thing that they've done," Franklin said.
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said the publicity stunt had people calling his office and others in the city. Although Bates initially supported giving CodePink a permit fee waiver and a free parking space at the Marine center for their weekly protests, he criticized the prank.
"I think they have hurt their credibility with this farce," he said.
But Benjamin disagreed.
"We do believe in putting out some positive ideas of what we want to see and what better way to do it than April Fools' Day," she said.
Benjamin said she hopes the hoax will move people to action.
"We've got a topsy-turvy world, and if more people got out and joined us, this wouldn't be an April Fools' joke. (It) would be reality," she said. "The Marines would be gone from Berkeley, the war would be over, there would be impeachment of (President) Bush and (Vice President Dick) Cheney, and we'd be upholding our Constitution."
What's more, Benjamin said, "We do these types of things every April 1."
And on other days as well.
In October, CodePink distributed a phony news release saying Blackwater USA, a private military contractor, was creating a new "Department of Corporate Integrity" that would put the mercy back in mercenary, according to published reports.
CBS News, the Associated Press and other news organizations ran with the story, according to published reports about the hoax.
Staff writer Doug Oakley contributed to this story. Reach Kristin Bender at 510-208-6453 or kbender@bayareanewsgroup.com.
APRIL FOOLS' PRANKS
Tuesday, Google and Virgin Group announced the launch of Virgle Inc., a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars. On Google's Web site, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin encouraged people interested in being an early settler to submit a 30-second YouTube video about why they should be chosen to go on the interplanetary adventure. No word if there were any takers.
In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in "USA Today" saying customers could buy a Whopper for left-handed people featuring condiments designed to drip out the right side. Customers ordered the new burger, although some continued to request the "old" right-handed burger.
In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in six U.S. newspapers, including the "New York Times," announcing that the fast food chain had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." Many were outraged. By midday, the company issued a statement confessing to the hoax.
Sources: Wikipedia, Google
Ellie