Berkeley still trying to honor activist - Shirek fans suggest various tributes after GOP snub

Maudelle Shirek may not get her name on a post office in her hometown, but the city could name a different building after the godmother of Berkeley progressives.

She is so revered in one of the nation's most liberal cities that a committee of city officials and citizens has been meeting for four months to find ways to honor Shirek, who left the City Council last year after 20 years and was known for her political activism on national and global issues.

On Wednesday, the day after Republicans in the House of Representatives rejected an effort to name Berkeley's main post office after the 94-year-old Shirek, her fans back home vowed to come through.

"What the Republicans didn't have the decency to do, we as a city will do,'' said City Councilman Max Anderson, who holds Shirek's old seat representing south Berkeley and is leading the tribute committee.

Ideas include renaming old City Hall, commissioning a mural of important Berkeley women featuring Shirek and staging an event honoring Shirek in December.

...Anderson and many others in Berkeley were stung by the House's 215-to-190 vote Tuesday against renaming the downtown Berkeley post office after Shirek.

Lead opponent Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Shirek did not represent "American values'' and cited Shirek's advocacy for freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer. King told a reporter that Shirek also had an "affiliation with the Communist Party" because she supported an Oakland Marxist library that also is used for organizing various political activities.

..."The red-baiting we're seeing here is ludicrous, to say the least," said Patenaude, who seemed to be enjoying the attention. "We were pleased that we annoyed the Republicans. We really want to annoy people like that.

I apologize for the length of this post, but this really got my blood up this morning...

They had a half page article on this in the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe (I know...I know...I generally don't read it, but I needed something with my Bacon and Eggs...) I have excerpted the gist of their comments. I didn't post the link since you have to have an account to read it. (If you wish, you can go to www.bugmenot.com to get a password and then read the article after you sign in at:

Boston Globe Article on Renaming Post Office

I had not heard about this subject until today, but this was typical of the biased, slanted reporting we unfortunate conservatives in Massachusetts have come to expect from The Boston Fishwrap...

"Throughout her long life, the 94-year-old granddaughter of slaves has been a crusader for civil rights, the poor, senior nutrition, affordable housing, and various antiwar movements, and social causes."

''She's been arrested time and time again because she never backed away from fighting for social justice,"

''We revere Maudelle Shirek like we revere Martin Luther King Jr.," Lubin said, a sentiment echoed by others who consider Shirek the conscience of a city where ''thinking globally, acting locally" is a mantra."

"In this city of activism, Shirek is a venerated icon."

''That a Republican from Iowa could launch a campaign to deny naming a local post office after this 94-year-old civil rights leader, who until recently was the oldest and one of the longest serving elected officials in California, is just shameful," Lee said in a prepared statement. ''Mr. King's campaign of innuendo and unsubstantiated 'concern' is better suited to the era of Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover than today's House of Representatives."

"The Des Moines Register expressed regret for twice endorsing King for Congress, calling his opposition to rename the Berkeley post office ''bizarre" and ''a petty, mean-spirited act of political retribution against a 94-year-old woman. ''Political vindictiveness doesn't get much more petty than that," the paper said in an editorial calling for challengers to oppose King next year."

''We're doing for Maudelle what the Republicans in Congress did not have the decency to do..."

''They've stepped on the wrong side of history," Anderson said of the congressional Republicans who rejected the measure, 215-190. Hoping for another vote soon, Anderson urged Republicans to ''wipe off their feet and take the steps to do what's right." But Lee couldn't predict how quickly the matter can return for another hearing. ''She deserves to have this post office renamed after her," Lee said in an interview. ''There cannot be enough tributes to Maudelle Shirek in the city of Berkeley."

Now, Massachusetts has the distinction of being the Eastern bastion of moonbat liberalism, with Madison, WI being the Central and Brekeley, CA being the Leftward or Western examples.

This just made me angry when I read it. I do not know what they are re-naming this post office from, probably some infantryman who gave his life in Korea or something along those lines.

But the point is, this is a federal facility. MY tax dollars are paying for it. I do not believe this woman should be honored in this country with my money, given her communist sympathies as well as her support for America's enemies around the world.

I am glad for them in Berkeley that they find her behavoir and politics admirable, and I say let them name every single road, city hall, parking lot, school, holiday, city roadway and senior center after her. I do not give a hoot if they name the entire city after her.

I do not want a federal post office named after her.

And one more thing, from the article:

"''Mr. King's campaign of innuendo and unsubstantiated 'concern' is better suited to the era of Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover than today's House of Representatives."...King responded by saying that McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator who launched hearings to uncover communist sympathizers in the 1950s -- and was later censured by the Senate -- was an ''American hero."

But back home in Iowa, there was a backlash. The Des Moines Register expressed regret for twice endorsing King for Congress, calling his opposition to rename the Berkeley post office ''bizarre" and ''a petty, mean-spirited act of political retribution against a 94-year-old woman. ''Political vindictiveness doesn't get much more petty than that," the paper said in an editorial calling for challengers to oppose King next year....''To say that Joe McCarthy is a hero is frightening and shocking," said Lubin, who said Shirek, a registered Democrat, is no communist, despite her nominal connection to the Marxist library and the fact that she once had dinner with Cuban President Fidel Castro.

I view their statements as a slander against Joseph McCarthy, who is, and should be considered a true American hero who gave his life and reputation in defense of his country, something those anti-American POS in Berkeley don't understand.

Go to:

ProtestWarrior.com

This site graphically shows the scum we are fighting against, and how we should do it!

With thanks to FlashBunny.org

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