Posted on 02/18/2008 6:35:49 PM PST by jazusamo
The Berkeley city council has made national news by telling Marine Corps recruiters that they are unwelcome in that bastion of the academic left.
It is a shame that Berkeley is not on some island in the South Pacific, because then they could be given their independence and left to defend themselves.
As it is, members of our armed forces who put their lives on the line to defend America are also defending people like too many in Berkeley for whom the very word America, and the American flag, bring only sneers.
Unfortunately, Berkeley is not unique. A professor at Harvard who put an American flag on his car after 9-11 provoked looks of astonishment from his colleagues. They wondered what was wrong with him.
All across the country, there are professors who push for keeping military recruiters off campus and for banning ROTC. Apparently if they don't like the military, then other people -- such as students -- should not be allowed to make up their own minds whether they want to join or not.
Liberals in general, and academics in particular, like to boast of their open-mindedness and acceptance of non-conformity. But they mean not conforming to the norms of society at large.
They have little or no tolerance to those who do not conform to the norms of academic political correctness. Nowhere else in America is free speech so restricted as on academic campuses with speech codes.
In Berkeley, as elsewhere, the left has learned to cloak their anti-military intolerance with the magic words, "We support the troops." The liberal media use the same line when they undermine the military.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Thomas Sowell Beserkeley ping!
Sowell. True American.
Ha. I was in before the ping for once!
Right, as always.
Right, as always.
LOL! You were waiting for the post. :)
And a salute to the MAF for countering the stalinist thugs of the Code Punko.
Correct, as usual. Next stop Lib Fascism.
I wish I knew more about how FR worked, so at the risk of being wrong about this.....
It surprises me somewhat that a gathering of about a thousand Freepers hasn’t descended upon the Berkely City Council. Don’t you/we do such things here?
Hank
“waiting for the post”
Serendipity. I are a FR addict!
Bump to that and another Salute!
Sowell "gets it".
There aren’t any freepers in that part of the country! They all moved years ago.
I’m not sure of the numbers but this last Tuesday there were many FReepers, members of Move America Forward and veterans protesting all day before the Council meeting in Berkeley and 50 (I believe) addressed the Council at their meeting that night.
It is a shame that Berkeley is not on some island
Agreed, somewhere in the South China Sea!
Well said, Dr. Sowell!
bikini atoll
Beautiful!
That really ticks me off when I hear that, why say it when nobody asked? Because they don't.
This is what I’d call a Grand Slam.
Berkeley, you are not welcome in America
All those folks are to be lauded. Great job.
But it’s sad that there weren’t 20 times that many of us there. In CALIFORNIA? I know I’d have been there if I lived within a hundred miles.
On the other hand, I don’t know how I would have known about it.
I’m thinking more and more that if we - as a movement, not just FReepers - don’t wake up and ratchet up the aggressiveness level several notches, we’ll lose our country. We have to get as good at agitation and mischief-making as the left.
Hank
Well done, Tom, Well done!!
Whyinhellisthismannotpotusa?
Ditto.
My tag line says it all
I think the problem is most of us has jobs & kids, and unless the event is really conveniently located, we can’t do it. I’d have LOVED to be there— if my kids weren’t so young, I’d travel to all these event.
Who if I’m not mistaken served in the US Marine Corps.
Bump!
“I’m thinking more and more that if we - as a movement, not just FReepers - don’t wake up and ratchet up the aggressiveness level several notches, we’ll lose our country. We have to get as good at agitation and mischief-making as the left.”
Don’t think I’m not doing everything I can to piss off my other kid. He’s my only other hope. Fortunately, he thinks for himself, and he tends to agree with our assessment.
You are not mistaken.
My thoughts exactly. Sowell hit it out of the park.
>> But they mean not conforming to the norms of society at large.
Nor accepting, respecting, and honoring the devotion and sacrifice that provides for their freedom.
Had not America responded to Beserkeley, the situation would have been far more tragic. But from what I can tell, the pedantic ninnies got their asses handed to them and that’s a good thing.
Yes, they have asses handed to them though they won’t issue an apology.
I believe the icing on the cake was the businesses, large and small that voiced their displeasure with the mayor and Council. When people get hit in the pocket book they tend to get very upset.
That was an excellent column by Dr. Sowell, thanks for posting the link, Smooth.
Thanks seconded.
Heres a glimpse of what I found in my viewfinder...
Ya know some that read your statement will believe it.
You should post some kind of disclaimer when you make stuff up.
Instead of posting things from your imagination as facts.
Thanks
Great column. I wish Berkeley was on an island and we could disown it.
"Liberalism" - as Big Journalism has redefined that once-great word - is nothing but arrogance and ingratitude.Liberals have whined about how we should all sacrifice if we are in a war - by which they mean, we should raise tax rates. IOW, they use that excuse, or any excuse, to advocate what they already wanted to do in the first place. IOW they do not thereby sacrifice a thing.
If a sacrifice is required, it is that our young men arm and train themselves to respond to emergencies - and accord them respect for doing so. That last is, however, too painful for liberals to bear.
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