Don’t spend any money there.
Game’s on in Berkeley!
That persistent odor is the scent of aging hippies. And those are gourmet organic lunches designed to imbue the poor kiddies with a sense of entitlement, and communications equipment for police whose goal is to remain ‘neutral’ in the face of crime against the Marines. If Ms. Joi really believes our military has not ensured her freedom of speech, she’s wrong. Overprivileged elitist Berkeley Peet’s latte lib.
Reid’s move delayed rap on Berkeley
Senate Democrats left two days of legislative business officially open last week, hobbling GOP efforts to bring up a bill punishing a liberal California city for scolding Marine Corps recruiters. Republicans said Democrats clearly wanted to avoid being forced to choose between the Marine Corps or Berkeley, Calif., known for its liberalism and fervent anti-war positions.
Instead of adjourning at the end of a day as usual, the Senate “recessed” twice, a move that, under Senate rules, slows the process of adding new bills to the calendar. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not adjourn until last Friday, effectively pushing back floor consideration on the GOP bill until Tuesday — the same day that the city council is likely to tone down its call for Marine Corps recruiters to leave town.
“The only reason to recess is to block something, and the thing that got blocked by Reid’s stall tactic was the Semper Fi Act,” said spokesman Wesley Denton, referring to the bill introduced by his boss, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
“Democrats have chosen not to defend the Marine Corps, but to pander to anti-war protesters and Berkeley officials that are actively trying to impede military recruitment.”
But Reid’s office says that recessing was done to give the majority the flexibility to map out broader floor strategy on a range of bills for the coming week.
Reid spokesman Jim Manley said the decision to recess resulted because of discussions over whether to start the process of bringing to the floor a short-term extension of an electronic surveillance law. The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on amendments to a bill overhauling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
“Democrats are working to provide the intelligence professionals with the tools they need to protect the nation from terrorism, while Republicans have done everything in their power to block the Senate from finishing the debate over the warrantless wiretapping program,” Manley said. “And all that Sen. DeMint can do is complain that we recessed instead of adjourned last week? We should be the ones complaining.”
The process of recessing is very unusual in the 110th Congress. The only times the Senate went into recess were on Sept. 12 and before and after a number of quick “pro forma” sessions held late last year and in early January, in a tactic to keep President Bush from making recess appointments.
When the Senate adjourns, a legislative day officially comes to an end. To bypass committee consideration of a bill, a senator can request that a bill be placed on the Senate calendar two legislative days after it is introduced.
Once a measure is on the calendar, a senator can request the Senate to approve a bill by unanimous consent, or force at least one member to object to its passage.
But on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7, Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) closed the chamber’s doors by recessing until the next day, a move that, unlike adjourning, does not change the legislative day.
That tactic effectively delayed an effort by DeMint and five other conservatives to bring forward a bill, introduced on Feb. 6, that would strip Berkeley of $2 million worth of earmarks inserted into the $516 billion omnibus spending bill Bush signed into law at the end of 2007. According to three GOP aides, DeMint signaled on Feb. 6 that he would request that the bill be placed on the legislative calendar before the decision was made to recess, rather than adjourn, for the night.
“Berkeley needs to learn that their actions have consequences,” DeMint said.
The California Democrats who sponsored the earmarks, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Barbara Lee, say they will fight for the funding, which includes a lunch program at a Berkeley school district, ferry service and a new endowment at the University of California-Berkeley.
“Senator DeMint may not like what the Berkeley City Council has to say, but to punish the children, police, first responders and university for something they had nothing to do with is just plain wrong,” said Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for Boxer.
Republicans introduced the bill to reprimand the city for its decision to tell the Marine Corps in a letter that a recruiting office was “not welcome” in the city and that the recruiters were “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”
The council also voted to make it easier for the anti-war group Code Pink to protest against the recruiters, assigning a parking space once a week for six months in front of the office and relaxing noise restrictions so that the activists can more easily interrupt the Marines’ activities.
The votes lit up conservative blogs around the country and provided fodder to right-wing talk show hosts who have long disdained Northern California. Republicans are eager to push the bill because they believe it forces Democrats — especially presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) — to make the choice between Code Pink and the Marines.
“It’s embarrassing for them,” said a Republican leadership aide.
By adjourning last Friday, the measure will be placed on the calendar on Tuesday, the same day that the Berkeley City Council meets to decide whether to rescind the letter.
Democrats could argue that the city council’s action will make the Senate bill irrelevant, effectively limiting national attention to a single day.
Nevertheless, Democrats say that the bill is nothing more than an effort by the GOP to create a distraction amid a heavy legislative agenda.
“Talk about failing to see the forest through the trees,” Manley said.
They don’t want Marines.
Well Marines don’t want them!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
EAGLES up! I have a florescent yellow poster/sign with BOYCOTT BERKELEY on one side and APOLOGISE! on the other. I’ll be there after work!
Can’t wait!
Of the four things the Berkeley City Council did regarding the Marines, at least one is actually (I think) illegal: urging Code Pink to “impede” the activities of the Marines. Code Pink certainly has the right to informationally picket the Marines, but not to physically impede them as in fact has actually happened.
Since the Berkeley City Council thinks that impeding lawful activity is merely an expression of free speech, I suggest the protesters at tomorrow’s meeting should also “impede” the council’s actions -— perhaps by physically occupying the city council chambers and city hall and thereby preventing these outlaws from carrying on their despicable business.
This is very, very worrying - for Ithaca.
The title of “city of evil” looks to be up for grabs!