[tomder55]

It will be another noisy day in Berkeley, Calif. as pro-military and anti-war protesters gather outside the city council chamber to weigh in on three anti-military resolutions the council passed last month.

Move America Forward, a pro-troop group, is leading a contingent of pro-military and veterans' groups in what it describes as a "giant, all-day, protest."

The controversy involves a Marine Corps recruiting station that moved to the liberal bastion of Berkeley in December 2006.

At its Jan. 29, 2008 meeting, the Berkeley City Council passed three controversial resolutions: One said the Marine recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

A second resolution encouraged the city to go after the Marines by enforcing a local law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (Federal law says homosexuality is incompatible with military service.) It also encouraged protests aimed at the recruiting center.

And to facilitate those protests, the city council also voted on Jan. 29 to give the group Code Pink a free parking space in front of the recruiting station so it would have a place to conduct its weekly protests -- with bullhorns. (A free sound permit was included with the free parking space.)

At tonight's meeting, the city council will consider whether to revoke the resolution calling the Marines "unwelcome and uninvited intruders."

But that's not enough for Move America Forward and other military supporters, who are demanding that the city council rescind all three anti-military resolutions it passed on Jan. 29 -- not just the one denouncing the Marines as intruders.

"Members of the Berkeley City Council have said they meant no disrespect towards the members of the U.S. military and only meant to protest the war against terrorism, but their actions belie their words," said Melanie Morgan, Chairman of Move America Forward.

"If they are not attacking our brave troops, then why not rescind all the resolutions they passed calling on citizens to work to close the Marine Recruiting Center in town? If they truly believe in free speech rights for all Americans, why not rescind the special privileges they granted only to the anti-military group Code Pink...?"

Move America Forward says the Berkeley City Council is not interested in supporting the troops: It is just trying to "take the heat off themselves" following a national backlash against their actions.

Councilwoman Linda Maio, who led the fight against the recruiting station, said she didn't expect the controversy to "explode" the way it did. She said the council received 24,000 emails on the topic.

"But we'll take the heat and the attacks," the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Maio as saying. "Even though we're under a lot of pressure, I think it's fair to say this war is a misuse of our young people. And we'll stand up for that."

The controversy reaches all the way into the halls of Congress, where Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina (and other Republicans) introduced a bill that would strip Berkeley of pork barrel spending.

The Semper Fi Act of 2008 would rescind over $2 million in hidden earmarks for Berkeley in the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill, and transfer those funds to the Marine Corps instead.

U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

Senate Democrats have so far blocked Republican efforts to advance the Semper Fi Act.

Instead of adjourning at the end of the day as usual, the Senate "recessed" twice last week, a move that slows the process of adding new bills to the calendar, The Hill newspaper reported.

"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 Sen. DeMint's spokesman Wesley Denton. "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."

Reid's office says the recess was called, not to block Semper Fi, but to give Democrats the flexibility to map their floor strategy on various bills.

Fury Builds in Berkeley Over City's Anti-Military Resolutions -- 02/12/2008

Here is a pix of Mayor Tom Bates participating in a Code Pinko rally with protesters who call our Marines war criminals ;who has said the City Council did not mean to "offend the marines"



YouTube - Code Pink calls marines war criminals

[Dark_crow]

Berkley has always been like a 'sewer is to cockroaches' and I don't see that changing. A cesspool of treasonous $%#@^ I'm sending this guy for a visit.

[speechlesstx]

Did you by chance read the recruiting chief, Captain Richard Lund's open letter to Code Pink? I love this part:

The fact is this: any independent nation must maintain a military (or be allied with those who do) to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. Regardless of what your opinions are of the current administration or the current conflict in Iraq, the U.S. military will be needed again in the future. If your counter-recruitment efforts are ultimately successful, who will defend us if we are directly attacked again as we were at Pearl Harbor? Who would respond if a future terrorist attack targets the Golden Gate Bridge, the BART system, or the UC Berkeley clock tower? And, to address the most hypocritical stance that your organization takes on its website, where would the peace keeping force come from that you advocate sending to Darfur?

[Galveston1]

One problem today is that treason is not identified as such. The thing at Berkeley is just another in a long line of liberal (communist?) attacks on this country. Newspapers publish any classified information they can get, no matter what it does to national security or how much it encourages our enemies. (definition of treason) Just too much to get into here.

[Dark_crow]

Suppression of first Amendment Rights is a treasonous act.

[Galveston1]

Is revealing classified information protected?

[Fr_Chuck]

Perhaps the federal government should consider stoping all federal funds to Burkley and all other Federal support, I doubt the coucils opiinion would be very popular then.