U.S. Senator Wants to Revoke Funding From City of Berkeley, Calif., for Vote to

[Brother Jerry]

I think if they want to protest then we should give them a free flight to Pakistan, Isreal, Iran, Syrai, Iraq, and a host of others in which conflict is going on....let them stand in the streets and wave their peace banners.....  15 minutes in a fox hole will change their entire perspective.

[Soldier4Christ]

Showdown in Berkeley over Marine recruiting
Demonstrators pour into town ahead of tonight's City Council meeting

Berkeley is hunkering down for what is expected to be its largest and most raucous protest in years as hundreds of demonstrators from near and far pour into town for Tuesday night's City Council showdown over a Marine Corps recruiting station downtown.

Protesters from all sides of the debate over the Iraq war - from the anti-war Code Pink to groups supporting the troops and the war - have promised to spend the day in front of old City Hall, drumming, singing, chanting and exchanging barbs with bullhorns.

"Nothing has really gotten the press or the world's attention about war protests like this has," said Lisa Rubens, historian at the Regional Oral History Office at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. "There's been this wonderfully out-of-proportion, knee-jerk response. It's clever, inflammatory and symbolic."

The council, at the request of members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli, is scheduled to decide tonight whether to revoke a letter it approved two weeks ago telling the Marines they are "unwelcome intruders" and should leave their post, which is one block from the UC Berkeley campus.

Some groups protesting the council's earlier action want it to go further - by apologizing to the Marines and revoking permits to allow Code Pink a parking space outside the recruiting station on Shattuck Square and the use of a bullhorn at its weekly protests there.

Anticipating big and rowdy crowds, the city is advising staff members who work at Maudelle Shirek City Hall to leave by 3 p.m. and keep public meetings to a minimum. The city also is setting up barricades so staff can get in and out of the building safely and is beefing up police, fire and paramedic services throughout the day.

Code Pink activists got an early start on the demonstration by camping out Monday night on the lawn at City Hall. About 60 activists, including a few of the tree-sitters from UC Berkeley's Oak Grove, danced, sang, listened to jazz and drank carrot juice as they pitched their tents for the night.

"This is a great gift to us to be able to ignite a national debate," said Medea Benjamin, Code Pink spokeswoman. "We're drawing a line in the sand on Shattuck Avenue and saying the war stops here."

Berkeley has hosted big and rowdy war protests for decades, but today's activities are the first anyone can remember that are drawing demonstrators from multiple and extreme sides of an issue. Code Pink, which once organized a breast-feeding playgroup at the Marines station, will share the City Hall lawn with AM radio hosts, the American Legion and outraged veterans from across the nation.

"It's an indication that the '60s are not completely dead in Berkeley," said Charles Wollenberg, chair of social sciences at Berkeley City College and author of "Berkeley: A City in History." "The tragedy is that the issue of the war seems to have gotten lost. The issue instead has become Berkeley itself, and I don't think that's what the City Council had in mind."

Councilwoman Linda Maio, who led the charge to tell the Marines they weren't welcome in town, agreed.

"We did not expect it to explode like this," she said, adding that the council received more than 24,000 e-mails on the topic. "But we'll take the heat and the attacks. 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."

This is hardly the first time Berkeleyans have taken on the U.S. military.

A similar protest occurred in 1959, when UC Berkeley students protested the mandatory ROTC classes on campus. As a result of the demonstrations, the military classes were no longer required for all male students. The victory emboldened students to conduct one of the nation's first Vietnam War teach-ins, and by the late 1960s Berkeley had become a center of campus anti-war activism.

One regular at Berkeley demonstrations who will be noticeably absent from today's rallies is Country Joe McDonald, a Navy veteran and Vietnam-era peace activist famous for singing his "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" at Woodstock in 1969. He says he will sit this one out.

The issue has very little to do with the Marines and a lot to do with political grandstanding and NIMBYism, McDonald said.

"The council said the Marines can't recruit here, they should recruit somewhere else," he said. "And if there's a problem, we still want you to help us. It's astounding. It allows everyone to make fun of Berkeley again."

He said protesters on both sides are driven by "civilian guilt."

"Most people yell and scream about this issue because they're trying to show how patriotic they are," he said. "At this rate, Berkeley's going to be a damn noisy place."
Council to meet on Marines letter

The Berkeley City Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Maudelle Shirek City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley. An overflow crowd is expected for discussion of the Marines recruiting center, which is expected to begin about 9 p.m. For those who don't get inside, the city will broadcast audio from the meeting from loudspeakers outside City Hall.

[Soldier4Christ]

Marines refuse to retreat, Berkeley backtracks

New York Times best-selling author and military analyst Buzz Patterson believes the city of Berkeley, California, is backtracking from its hard stance against a Marine recruiting station because they were afraid of losing $2.3 million in federal funding.

The recruiting center opened about one year ago and quickly became a target in the ultra-liberal city. On January 29, the city council voted 6-3 in favor of a resolution telling the Marines they were not welcome in the city, and if the recruiters chose to stay, they would do so as "uninvited and unwelcome intruders."
 
A group Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill who were outraged at the resolution devised a plan to yank $2.3 million in federal funding from Berkeley programs. Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson (USAF-Ret.), who took part in some pro-military counter-rallies at Berkeley, says he is pleased that apparently the mayor and two members of the council got the message.
 
"When the Republican senators and congressmen threatened to take $2.3 million away from the city of Berkeley, that got the very liberal city council's attention," says Patterson, "because $2.3 million is a lot of money. So they are now backtracking on that [resolution] because they see their pocketbooks being depleted."
 
Patterson believes the council took hard-line action to try to intimidate the Marines into leaving. "Berkeley ... has made [the Marines'] existence there very, very miserable. It just reeks of anti-Americanism and anti-military sentiment there," he adds. "And I think the Berkeley city council sends a very clear signal hoping the Marine Corps would actually voluntarily move out -- which they're not going to do."
 
The city of Berkeley plans to discuss softening the tone of its resolution at its Tuesday night council meeting.

[Shammu]

On January 29, the city council voted 6-3 in favor of a resolution telling the Marines they were not welcome in the city, and if the recruiters chose to stay, they would do so as "uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

Hmmmm "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" oops thats the wrong thing to say to a Marine.   They stay out of spite, for that comment.

New York Times best-selling author and military analyst Buzz Patterson believes the city of Berkeley, California, is backtracking from its hard stance against a Marine recruiting station because they were afraid of losing $2.3 million in federal funding.

Let them lose the money, there "Rich" in money anyway.......

[Soldier4Christ]

Marines find Ramadi more welcoming than Berkeley
California city officials would banish them

"The Marines are unwelcome here." These weren't the comments of a banana republic dictator or the rantings of a religious radical. These were the words of Tom Bates, the elected mayor of Berkeley.

It's difficult to match up the animosity of the residents of Berkeley, Calif., USA, with the residents of Ramadi, Anbar, Iraq. I met Ramadis who were so happy to have the Marines among them that they literally hugged and kissed them on the streets. Children made high-five signs when they saw Marines of the 3rd battalion 7th Marines on patrol and residents insisted they come in to drink chai and eat goats the hosts were willing to kill in their honor.

One resident grumbled the Marines of the 2nd battalion 5th Marines never stayed long enough after dinner. Iraqis are very hospitable and dinner can last several hours and long into the night.

Of course, Ramadi was no cakewalk. In 2005, the Marines told of having to run during the entire patrol. A moving, erratic target made it harder for an eager sniper to pick off a Marine. That was a tough time for the 3rd battalion 7th Marines Kilo Company, as told by Cpl. Tar Po.

Po was born in Burma. His family fled that Southeast Asian nation because of the political situation. Thanks to an aunt, the corporal's parents moved the family to California when he was just five years old. Po sailed through the school system until he hit a few bumps in his teenage years.

"I was hanging out with the wrong crowd," said the corporal, in his early 20s. He participated in the JROTC to join the Navy, but decided to join the Marine Corps after meeting a gunnery sergeant who impressed him.

"He kept me out of big trouble," said Po, who later confessed that he wanted to join the Corps to "blow things up." His teenage years were turbulent and the corporal still regrets putting his parents through so much grief. He joined the Marine Corps on an "open contract" and eventually became a 0311, "a grunt", a rifleman.

Like many young men and women recruited during a time of war, Po had no illusions. Most of the people I spoke to in Iraq and Afghanistan had joined after the start of hostilities. They signed up during a time of war.

We were standing in Ramadi, the sun was beating down hot and we were in full battle rattle. After loading up the vehicle for a convoy we headed for the chow hall, a makeshift building where Marines served meals out of robust Mermite containers. It was going to be a long day.

"I wanted to come to Iraq," said Po in a quiet voice that made him seem younger.

Choosing to come to a war zone is difficult enough for war protesters back in Berkeley to understand, but it makes sense to any military recruiter. To Po's generation, the generation whose parents posted "Baby on Board" signs in their rear window, the idea of risk and danger are not only appealing, for the few, there is a yearning to rise to a challenge so as not to fall to mediocrity.

Po got his share of danger when on Oct. 11, 2005, while rolling down Michigan Avenue, his convoy was hit by a pressure plate IED. .

After such a severe injury, Po could have left the Marine Corps. He could have gotten out and no one would have blamed him. His scar was an impressive gash across his arm, there were marks from the needle surgeons had pushed in and out of his skin. But Po chose to go back.

After only a couple of weeks in country, Po was injured again during a patrol. His arm was split open. Within hours, he was out of the country, on a military flight to Germany, at least that is what he was told. He actually doesn't remember much until he got back home to California.

It's one thing to go into the "unknown" to test one's limits, this is the motive for many who seek adventure or just want to see what they can stand. It's quite another to be wounded seriously and head back to a war zone.

At home, Po spent much time recuperating, but rest wasn't always on his mind.

"I really felt that I had let the other Marines down, like I wasn't doing my job."

The events that changed the corporal's life weren't strictly limited to his wounds.

"I respect my parents more than ever, they were there for me the whole time. I'm sorry I put them through so much."

After surgeries, therapy and much pain, the next question was obvious.

"No, I've never regretted becoming a Marine. It's one of the best experiences of my life."

Down the Bay from Berkeley, the Fremont Marine recruiting station is next to a shopping center, and just a stone's throw away from the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station. This is an affluent area nestled near a chain of hills that run along the San Francisco Bay. If you visit the recruiting station, you'll see a few Marines hanging out with a couple of "poolees", young men and women who are about to join the Marine Corps. These are the ones who have passed the battery of tests that the majority of applicants will fail.

"Of every 10 people who are interested, only about three are qualified," said Staff Sgt. Felton C. Williams, the U.S. Marine Corps recruiter for the Fremont area. After completing the first part of the process, the screening, the poolees will become recruits at Marine basic training. Anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of those recruits will not finish the initial training.

Groups like Code Pink and The World Can't Wait shouted for a ban against the Marines and yet young men and women will seek out the Corps, looking for something they can't find elsewhere.

"It's business as usual. We aren't planning to move that office," Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin said Monday. "We've been recruiting qualified men and women for 232 years. That's not going to stop now."

"We failed our city," said Gordon Wozniak, who was one of three council members who voted against the original declaration. "We embarrassed our city."

"It hurts to see what some of the people back home, saying the war is pointless," said Po wincing, the gash on his bare arm impossible to hide. It was a bright sunny day in Ramadi and we were about to convoy to a meeting at the city council. In fact, we were going near the road where Po was wounded.

"They just don't know," said the corporal. If anyone had the right to complain about the presence of Marines in a city, surely it was this young Marine who was on his second tour.

Who will defend the citizens of Berkeley should they come to some danger? The answer is those same Marines who are willing to be wounded and still return to duty. After a couple of days and a bit of pressure, the mayor of Berkeley and most of his city council members have capitulated in defeat. Fortunately, as "intruders" the Marines are made of much tougher stuff. If the Marines were able to tame Ramadi, a city that was proclaimed the religious capital of al-Qaida in Iraq by members of that organization, the Marines won't be swayed by a couple of people protesting.

Despite all the commotion about Berkeley, there was an upside to this story.

"More people inquired about becoming a Marine officer," said Officer Selection Officer Captain Richard Lund with some hesitation. Not everyone who wants to become a Marine can, but those who do, like Cpl. Tar Po, truly are the few.

[nChrist]

              ROFL!

So, the actions of the Berkley NUTS have enhanced the recruiting efforts! BUT, their funding still needs to be cut.