 Berkeley mayor offers to help Marines leave
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates offered Friday to help the U.S. Marines leave town by negotiating an end to the lease for their recruiting station, even as he backpedaled on a City Council resolution declaring the Corps "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" in the city.
| Spotlight's rather unflattering, huh Tom? |
In the face of an onslaught of pro-military criticism from around the country, Bates, a retired Army captain, also issued a statement that said the City Council's resolution Tuesday night "did not adequately differentiate our respect and support for those serving in the armed forces and our opposition to the Iraq war policy."
| Right. It's really no problem respecting and supporting those serving while simultaneously denigrating their accomplishments and heaping vilification upon them personally. |
He said he would ask the council to modify the resolution at its next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 12.
| Getting too many emails containing the word "fcuk" in the subject line, are you? |
A Marines spokeswoman said Friday that the Corps has no intention of abandoning its space at 64 Shattuck Square that has been the subject of protests for months.
| "Actually, we kinda enjoy pissing them off like that. We've got an office pool going on when we get the first case of apoplexy out of them." |
In an interview Friday, Bates said he has received more than 1,000 e-mails on the resolution, mostly from "the right wing that has really seized up on this and mobilized to pound us."
| Wonder why. You disrespect the Marines and babble useless blabber about the war instead of, you know, taking care of your city. This is what happens. |
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has threatened to introduce legislation to strip the city of federal funds -- including money going to UC Berkeley, money for school lunches in the Berkeley Unified School District and money for public safety -- as a result of the City Council's vote. "This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families," DeMint wrote on his Web site. "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. 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."
A spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., called DeMint's comments "just plain wrong."
"Sen. DeMint may not like what the Berkeley City Council has to say, but to punish the children, police, first responders and the university for something they had nothing to do with is just plain wrong," said Natalie Ravitz, the spokeswoman.
| To allow the hacks haunting city hall in Berkeley to hide behind the kiddies, cops, medics and the university is even more wrong. So bite me, Boxer! |
| And it isn't a matter of free speech. The City Council endorsed efforts by Code Pinko to harrass the Marines. |
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said the congresswoman would also fight any attempt to strip her district of funding. "She's very focused on making sure federal funds are delivered to the district and support the programs that are needed in the district," said Cleve Messidor, who could not say whether Lee supported the council's action.
Like we say down south, "A hit dog will holler".
Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services for Berkeley Unified, called DeMint's threat to pull $87,000 earmarked for the nutrition education program shameful. "For somebody in the government, an elected official, to take away a program that's not only helping kids in Berkeley but is a model for kids across America, is just a travesty," Cooper said.
| For Berkeley to abuse the men and women defending their right to be stoopid is even more of a travesty. Eat me, Annie! |
Conservative blogs blasted the council and Berkeley in general all day with comments such as one on "Gathering of Eagles": "These cretins disgust me."
Members of the council who voted to condemn the Marine Corps station were unbowed. "I guess they've never heard of free speech," Councilwoman Dona Spring said.
| Matter of fact, we have. We're exercising our freedom of speech to call you a bunch of dumbasses, if not worse. You, being a flavor of gummint, are enjoined constitutionally from stopping us. Sticks in your craw, doesn't it? |
"I've had a lot of nasty phone messages today, threatening me with things like saying, 'I'll take you out.' But they can go ahead. I don't feel scared."
| Probably because the phone messages said no such thing. It's so easy to be brave when your enemy's a straw man... |
| Does she have the recordings? The usual pomo-leftie response to having the citizens call them is to claim they've been 'threatened'. I never believe it until I hear the recordings or see the letters. |
Code Pink said it has begun to circulate a petition calling for a Berkeley ballot measure that would make it more difficult to open and operate recruiting stations. The measure would be modeled after anti-pornography laws, organizers said, mandating that - like porn shops - new recruiting offices be subject to public hearings before they would be allowed to locate near homes or schools.
| Federal gummint trumps local shitbags... |
The Marines, meanwhile, were not ready to back down. "It's just another protest," said Marine Corps Capt. Richard Lund, head of the recruiting office.
| "We knew they were dishpits before we got here. All they're doing is living up to their cliche, just like we try to live up to ours. I like ours better." |
| "I've been to Fallujah. I fought in Fallujah. I've helped rebuild Fallujah. You, Berkeley, are no Fallujah." |
As he spoke in the early afternoon, with the protesters still chained to his door, a small band of demonstrators on the sidewalk shouted at passing cars and students at Shattuck Square: "Marines out of Berkeley! Marines out of Iraq!"
| "Let al-Qaeda have it! Let the Iranians have it! No blood for oil! Where's the hippy poossy?" |
Heated words were exchanged whenever people tried to enter or leave the office, but the protest was peaceful. "You guys are just cannon fodder!" the chained protesters shouted at three teenage boys who walked past the office and said they wanted to go inside. "They want to train you to kill babies!"
Haven't heard that particular duck quack in many a year.
"And how many babies did you kill in Vietnam, Fred?"
"No more'n I could eat." |
The teenagers turned around and left.
| Intimidating teenagers. Wow. The lefties' triumph of the will, so to speak. |
At one point, UC Berkeley student Kyrolos El Giheny walked up to the front door and tried to go inside to talk to Lund about a possible Marine career. He was unable to get past the chained protesters. "They told me, 'No business as usual today,' " El Giheny said. "It's kind of nutty. It's really an infringement on my rights."
| Your rights don't count. Only Code Punk rights count. |
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