Liberal City Eases Anti-Marines Stance

AP via AOLNews ^ | February 13, 2008

[rightwingintelligentsia]

BERKELEY, Calif. (Feb. 13) - City council members who were criticized for telling Marine recruiters they don't belong here have moderated their position, saying they oppose the Iraq war but support the troops.

The Berkeley City Council voted two weeks ago to send a letter to a downtown recruitment station advising the Marines they were not welcome.

After a marathon session that stretched into early Wednesday, the council decided against sending the letter, saying it recognizes recruiters' right to be in Berkeley. The council members say they still strongly oppose the war and the recruitment of young people, but "deeply respect and support" the men and women of the armed forces.

Some on the council had pushed for issuing an apology. Others rejected that, saying they just wanted to clarify their position.

Councilwoman Linda Maio said the council opposes recruitment, not the military. "It's behavior that we oppose, not the people," she said.

The meeting drew hundreds of people on both sides of the issue who rallied outside City Hall from dawn until well into the night.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Some pics at link.

Good work, FReepers and Move America Forward!

[antiRepublicrat]

Councilwoman Linda Maio said the council opposes recruitment, not the military.

There's a serious mental disconnect here.

[VRWCmember]

The council members say they still strongly oppose the war and the recruitment of young people, but "deeply respect and support" the men and women of the armed forces.

Lying, cowardly, festering piles of excrement. You cannot simultaneously deeply respect and support the men and women of the armed forces if you strongly oppose the recruitment of young people to serve in those armed forces. If you strongly oppose the recruitment of young people, then you must not respect what it is to which they are being recruited.

[alecqss]

Exactly. She is, in other words, for military, but without recruitment. Statement would a good joke would it appear in Scrappleface; in real life it’s just idiotic.

[Slapshot68]

“Councilwoman Linda Maio said the council opposes recruitment, not the military.”

Right....it’s like opposing the interview, not the job.

Loons.

[alecqss]

Logically she should also support colleges provided there will be no student admissions.

[backtothestreets]

Good!

With Berkeley there will be a next time. There always is. When that day comes, I've a suggestion I posted to a related thread last night:

It’s time to play for all the marbles. I posted the following to the California state FR board, and thought it appropriate to add here too. Berkeley has an Achilles’ heal. It’s just a matter of finding it. It could be it is hard to locate because it may not be in Berkeley, nor connected to city government directly.

The single largest, and most influential institution in Berkeley is not the city government. That institution is the University of California, Berkeley.

Legislation introduced in the Senate in an effort to strip earmarked funds from the city is a token gesture in support of the Marines amounting to a few million dollars. If we’re going to play poker, let’s up the ante. Go after the government funding of the largest and most influential institution in Berkeley.

The University of California, Berkeley, manages both Lawrence Livermore Lab and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Between the two, their annual operating budgets total around $4 billion. I’ve no fact on what portion of that goes to the University for managing the two facilities, but from prior experience in federal contracts, would think about $320 million of the operating total is for the management service provided.

If Berkeley does not want to be associated with our military, help them achieve their goal by yanking these contracts from the university. Afterall, Lawrence Livermore Lab and the Los Alamos National Laboratory produce and maintain our nuclear weapons.

I say help Berkeley along with their goal. No, these contracts are not directly tied to Berkeley City government, but you can bet they are indirectly tied. Pull these contracts.

Keep it in mind for when the Berkeley City government does something like this again.

[Bitsy]

I hope everyone here has emailed berkeley!

[lonestar]

What’s scary is .... all the village idiots aren’t on the village council!

[smoothsailing]

To all who are interested...

VIDEO Link to entire Bezerkely City Council meeting last night with sound if you can stand it. Item #25- Berzerkestan vs. USMC starts about 2 hrs. and 35 minutes into the video. You can fastforward to that point.Good Luck.

[rbg81]

So they support the troops, huh? Sure they do. They want to support them by hanging them by a rope in the gallows. These guys are like cockroaches who scatter when you turn on the light.

[2ndDivisionVet]

The petition

We, the undersigned condemn the Berkeley City Council’s treasonous attack on US Marine Recruiters stationed in their city. We ask that Congress cut off funds from any and all municipal entity within the confines of the city of Berkeley, California, until such time as the city council withdraws it’s action.

The City Council has 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.”

The measure passed last week by a vote of 8-1.

The council also voted to explore enforcing a city anti-discrimination law, focusing on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

In a separate item, the council voted, also 8-1, to give the Marxist protest group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cutoffberkeleynow

If you wish to, please share with your friends or e-mail to your address books.

http://www.fourfriedchickensandacoke.blogspot.com

[caveat emptor]

I just sent an email to the Berkeley city council: clerk@ci.berkeley.ca.us

My wife and I lived in Berkeley during the early to mid 60s, and continued to visit there regularly into the early 70s after we moved away. Poor students. Great life there at that time. Movies one night a week at Studio A and B - the original ones on Telegraph Ave. - and had a Mexican meal at the restaurant next door. Got interested in politics when the Berkeley Co-op started pushing fluoridation using a lobby group from Sacramento.

My wife participated in the FSM (not me). Used to argue politics with Mario Savio (RIP) - we both were students in the Philosophy Department. Listened to KPFA. Worked graveyard at the Rad lab. Played tennis at the Rose Garden (sigh!). Drank our first good coffee at Peet's. Sheesh, I'm starting to tear up. We're still using Danish flatwear that we bought on Telegraph Ave in 1961. Last visited there in early 90s. It had gone, er, downhill since we lived there, but still have fond memories of the place.

That said, leave the Marines alone. America needs them.

I didn't mention this to them, but I also bought my first pistol, a Beretta sub-compact .22 cal, for my wife to put under her pillow while I was working graveyard.