[Rhodes22-list] Marines & Berkeley - More Political Scum - A reply

[Brad Haslett]

Rik,

As long as you're in the reading mode, I've got another one for you I'll
attach. We ARE looking at the tip of the iceberg and Western Civilization is
under attack.  I'm not going to waste my time or anyone else's arguing about
whether we should be in Iraq, should have been in Vietnam, or the US Civil
War for that matter. We ARE there (Iraq) and the same crowd that snatched
'defeat from the jaws of victory' would like to put another notch on their
belt, damn the consequences.  John Kerry was "only" off by 3 million souls
how many South Vietnamese would be killed when we left.  The same people who
cry for us to do something in Darfur want us out of Iraq.  Where is the
logic in that?  I'd love for us all to have a group hug, sing folk songs,
and celebrate peace, but there has never been a point in history where that
was possible. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the IRS but if I chained myself
to the front door of their building here in Memphis I'm guessing it would
take the MEM police about two minutes to arrive and tazer me into a new
attitude.  The idiots in Berkeley and others have their right to protest,
the right to their own opinions, but the Berkeley city council doesn't have
the right to encourage and allow defacement of property. The CodePinkers
love to invoke the name of Hitler - I fail to see the difference between
their actions and Kristallnacht.

Brad

-----------------------------
February 03, 2008 Forty Years of the Tet Offensive *By* *David
Warren*<http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/author/david_warren/>

Breaking the negotiated annual truce, for surprise, Viet Cong and North
Vietnamese regulars launched the Tet Offensive, in the night of 30/31
January 1968, named for the Vietnamese lunar new year. This campaign
continued in various forms through September of that year, ending in total
military defeat, for the aggressors. And a brilliant propaganda victory, for
the same.

Thinking back on the Vietnam War this last week. And while I was doing so, a
young leftist friend wrote to me, on an entirely unrelated topic, taunting
with a remark about 2008 being, "The last year of the American Empire" -- as
if it started and ended with George W. Bush. He does not seem interested in
the question: By whose Empire will that vacuum be filled?

My friend does not even think of himself as a leftist, only as a person with
an "open mind." We agree on that, but define "open" differently, for to my
mind, a skull without a brain inside is completely open. The more brain, or
more precisely, the more brain used, the more resistance it can offer to the
importation of nonsense.

Forty years have now gone by, which one might figuratively characterize as
the forty years of the Tet Offensive, against Western Civ. The West has done
fairly well in the field: we have still not lost a purely military encounter
with any of the enemies of the West. Going back farther, the French didn't
even lose their battles in Algeria. Rather, Charles de Gaulle decided they
were not worth fighting.

The Tet Offensive was a desperate ploy by the Communist enemy in Vietnam.
Tens of thousands of his troops were flung simultaneously at more than 100
South Vietnamese towns, and into the heart of Saigon. The Communists
announced a general uprising, but that did not occur. The tide was actually
turned within a few days by the U.S. and South Vietnamese armies. As they
re-took town after town, they discovered massacres the Communists had
committed while in possession. The enemy's real object had been to
decapitate a whole society.

My friend, Uwe Siemon-Netto, a German Lutheran pastor and also life-long
journalist, was there as a reporter. Entering Hué as the smoke was clearing:
"I made my way to university apartments to obtain news about friends of
mine, German professors at the medical school. I learned that their names
had been on lists containing some 1,800 Hué residents singled out for
liquidation.

"Six weeks later the bodies of doctors Alois Altekoester, Raimund Discher,
Horst-Guenther Krainick, and Krainick's wife, Elisabeth, were found in
shallow graves they had been made to dig for themselves.

"Then, enormous mass graves of women and children were found. Most had been
clubbed to death, some buried alive; you could tell from the beautifully
manicured hands of women who had tried to claw out of their burial place.

"As we stood at one such site, Washington Post correspondent Peter Braestrup
asked an American TV cameraman, 'Why don't you film this?' He answered, 'I
am not here to spread anti-communist propaganda'."

The Tet Offensive ended not only in a huge allied victory in the field --
some 45,000 of the Communist soldiers had been killed, and their
infrastructure destroyed. It was victory after an event that showed
sceptical South Vietnamese, and should have shown the world, the nature of
the enemy our allies were fighting.

Walter Cronkite, the famous news anchor of CBS, led the American media
reaction. After a very brief visit to Saigon, in which he got himself filmed
wearing flak jackets, he returned to the United States, declaring before his
huge prime time audience:

"It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out
will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honourable people who have
lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."

The media turned a tremendous victory into a tremendous defeat. Yet seven
more years would pass until an America, which had by then abandoned Vietnam,
and a Congress, which had cut off military supplies to the South Vietnamese,
watched the helicopters removing America's last faithful servants from a
roof in Saigon's old embassy compound. The South Vietnamese Army had
surrendered, to another Tet Offensive, as it ran out of ammunition.

We have seen this "Vietnam syndrome" writ large, through the intervening
years. We see it today in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Romans, too, had a
facility for winning ground battles.
 otiosus at sympatico.ca

(c) Ottawa Citizen


On Feb 3, 2008 10:06 AM, Rik Sandberg <sanderico1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Brad,
>
> Excellent article. For those who think we have problems in Iraq and
> Afghanistan now .... just wait, IMHO we are just looking at the tip of
> this iceberg. I hope I'm proved wrong.
>
> Rik
>
> Brad Haslett wrote:
> > Ed,
> >
> > It may be too late for Europe but perhaps not for us. PC has run amok!
> > "Youths" burn cars and incite riots in Paris but the newspapers won't
> > mention that they are 99% Muslims. If you take the position in this
> country
> > that you don't think it a good idea to upset 10,000 years of tradition
> that
> > marriage is between opposite sexes, you're labeled 'homophobic'. My
> > experience is that the people who preach tolerance the most are in fact
> the
> > most intolerant.  I'm including an article on what gays are facing in
> Europe
> > today.  I especially detest those who would rather see third world
> countries
> > remain 'victims' and stuck in the 19th Century instead of joining the
> modern
> > world.  Who's being insensitive here?
> >
> > Brad
> >
> > ------------------------
> >
> > *by Bruce Bawer <http://www.brucebawer.com/>*
> >
> > One day last month, I gave a talk in Rome about how the supposedly
> liberal
> > ideology of multiculturalism has made possible the spread in Europe of
> the
> > highly illiberal ideology of fundamentalist Islam, with all its
> brutality
> > and – among other things – violent homophobia. When I returned to my
> hotel,
> > I phoned my partner back home in Oslo only to learn that moments earlier
> he
> > had been confronted at a bus stop by two Muslim youths, one of whom had
> > asked if he was gay, started to pull out a knife, then kicked him as he
> got
> > on the bus, which had pulled up at just the right moment. If the bus
> hadn't
> > come when it did, the encounter could have been much worse.
> >
> > Not very long ago, Oslo was an icy Shangri-la of Scandinavian
> > self-discipline, governability, and respect for the law. But in recent
> > years, there have been grim changes, including a rise in gay-bashings.
> The
> > summer of 2006 saw an unprecedented wave of them. The culprits, very
> > disproportionately, are young Muslim men.
> >
> > It's not just Oslo, of course. The problem afflicts most of Western
> > Europe<javascript:void(0)>.
> > And anecdotal evidence suggests that such crimes are dramatically
> > underreported. My own partner chose not to report his assault. I urged
> him
> > to, but he protested that it wouldn't make any difference. He was
> probably
> > right.
> >
> > The reason for the rise in gay bashings in Europe is clear – and it's
> the
> > same reason for the rise in rape. As the number of Muslims in Europe
> grows,
> > and as the proportion of those Muslims who were born and bred in Europe
> also
> > grows, many Muslim men are more inclined to see Europe as a part of the
> *
> > umma* (or Muslim world), to believe that they have the right and duty to
> > enforce sharia law in the cities where they live, and to recognize that
> any
> > aggression on their part will likely go unpunished. Such men need not be
> > actively religious in order to feel that they have *carte blanche* to
> > assault openly gay men and non-submissive women, whose freedom to live
> their
> > lives as they wish is among the most conspicuous symbols of the West's
> > defiance of holy law.
> >
> > Multiculturalists can't face all this. So it is that even when there are
> > brutal gay-bashings, few journalists write about them; of those who do,
> few
> > mention that the perpetrators are Muslims; and those who do mention it
> take
> > the line that these perpetrators are lashing out in desperate response
> to
> > their own oppression.
> >
> > Never mind that Europe, far from oppressing Muslims, offers personal
> > freedoms and welfare-state benefits far beyond those available in any
> Muslim
> > country. Never mind that few if any Europeans – certainly not gay
> > people<javascript:void(0)>– are doing any Muslim-bashing. Never mind
> > that Hindu and Buddhist
> > immigrants, or immigrants from South America <javascript:void(0)> or
> China,
> > feel no compulsion to react violently against their "oppression." No,
> > assaults by Muslims always have to be construed as defensive – as
> > expressions not of power but of weakness, not of aggression but of
> > helplessness. To suggest that the culprits, far from being fragile,
> > sensitive flowers who've been pushed over the line by something *we*
> did,
> > are in fact bullies driven by an overweening sense of superiority and a
> > deep-seated malice – both of which they've been carefully taught at
> home, at
> > school, and, yes, in the mosque – is *verboten*.
> >
> > One familiar response is: "Well, non-Muslims beat up gays, too!" Yep –
> > indeed they do. Yet for a while there, in much of Western Europe,
> > homosexuality was on its way to being a non-issue. In Amsterdam in the
> late
> > 1990s, I was delightfully surprised to discover that when groups of
> straight
> > teenage boys passed gay couples in the streets, they *just walked
> > past*without any reaction whatsoever. The sight of gay people didn't
> > upset,
> > threaten, amuse, or confuse them; the familiar, insecure urge to respond
> to
> > open homosexuality with some kind of distancing, disdainful word or
> gesture
> > – and thereby affirm to one another, and to themselves, their own
> > heterosexual credentials – was simply not part of those kids' makeup.
> For
> > me, it was a remarkable experience. Amsterdam then seemed to me the
> leading
> > edge of a new wave in the progress of human civilization.
> >
> > Alas, it is now very clearly the opposite. The number of reported
> > gay-bashings in Amsterdam now climbs steadily year by year. Nearly half
> > Muslim, the city is a front in the struggle between democracy and
> sharia,
> > under which, lest it be forgotten, homosexuality can be a capital
> offense.
> > Things have gotten so bad there that even on the part of the exceedingly
> > politically correct, there has been a degree of acknowledgment that *
> > something* has changed, and is still changing. After a group of
> Amsterdam
> > Muslims beat up Chris Crain, the six-foot-five editor of the gay
> newspaper *The
> > Washington Blade*, in May 2005, the head of the Netherlands' leading
> > gay-rights organization admitted that tolerance of gay people in that
> city
> > was "slipping away like sand through the fingers" and that "gays and
> > lesbians are less willing to walk hand-in-hand because they might be
> beaten
> > up."
> >
> > I can testify that this is true. Yet politicians, journalists,
> activists,
> > and others who cling to the multicultural mindset can't bring themselves
> to
> > acknowledge the Islamic foundations of all this bullying. Instead, they
> > offer the same kind of nonsense that was served up by a Human Rights
> Watch
> > spokesman after the Chris Crain incident. "There's still an
> extraordinary
> > degree <javascript:void(0)> of racism in Dutch society
> <javascript:void(0)>,"
> > that spokesman said. "Gays often become the victims of this when
> immigrants
> > retaliate for the inequities they have to suffer."
> >
> > So powerful is the determination to turn away from the plain and simple
> > truth that Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen recently commissioned a study by
> the
> > University of Amsterdam. Its purpose? To try to figure out what motives
> > underlie the increase in attacks on gay men and lesbians by
> Dutch-Moroccan
> > men in Amsterdam. "Some researchers," wrote a reporter for UPI, "believe
> > they [Muslim gay-bashers] lashed out at local gays after feeling
> stigmatized
> > by Dutch society." In other words, as the straight-talking Norwegian
> > immigration expert Inger-Lise Lien put it sardonically when I showed her
> the
> > article, "it's the assailant who's the real victim."
> >
> > As for Cohen, he would appear to be operating out of pure cynicism. This
> is
> > the same mayor, after all, who has called for the Netherlands to reach
> some
> > "accommodation" with its male Muslim residents that would allow them to
> > oppress their wives, sisters, and daughters – though he hasn't been
> entirely
> > clear as to just where he would draw the line. (Beatings? Rape? Forced
> > marriage? Genital mutilation? Honor killing?) Given such an
> extraordinary
> > record of pragmatism, it seems safe to assume that Cohen would also be
> more
> > than willing, in the name of peace in our time, to turn away with
> respectful
> > discretion when Muslim gangs beat the living daylights out of the
> occasional
> > *flikker*.
> >
> > In any event, another mayor, London's Ken Livingstone, has already
> blazed
> > that trail. In 2004, playing host to Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
> who
> > has supported the execution of gay people, Livingstone hailed him as a
> > "progressive." When gay activists called him on this ridiculous
> assertion,
> > Livingstone retaliated by putting out a dissertation-length report
> > whitewashing Qaradawi and smearing his critics as racists.
> >
> > Even as Europeans in positions of authority persist in denying the plain
> > facts about Muslim attitudes toward gay people, leading European Muslims
> > keep reminding us what those attitudes are. Take Norway's Asghar Ali,
> deputy
> > chairman of Norway's Islamic Council. Ali, who also holds high-ranking
> > positions in Norway's ruling Labor Party and in the powerful Norwegian
> > Confederation of Trade Unions, and has worked in an advisory capacity on
> the
> > government's Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, would seem to be a
> > model of successful assimilation. Yet at a November 2007 debate arranged
> by
> > the gay student organization at the University of Oslo, he refused to
> reject
> > the death penalty <javascript:void(0)> for gays. When asked about this
> > issue, the head of the Islamic Council, Senaid Kobilica, said that
> Norwegian
> > Muslims needed to discuss it and consult religious authorities. "While
> this
> > process is underway," Kobilica said, "I ask for understanding and
> respect
> > for the fact that I am unable to comment, either about my personal
> position
> > or about the position of the Islamic Council of Norway." Understanding
> and
> > respect, that is, for his unwillingness to say flat out that he did not
> > believe gay people should be murdered.
> >
> > Perhaps younger, well educated Muslims are more enlightened? Another
> > participant in the University of Oslo debate, Muslim Student Association
> > head Usman Rana, said that he personally didn't support making
> homosexuality
> > a capital crime, but that he would not criticize other countries'
> practices.
> > "There is unfortunately a tendency in Norway to degrade religious
> people,"
> > Rana told *Universitas*, the college newspaper. "It is due to an extreme
> > secularism among the Norwegian public. I fervently hope that our
> > participation [in the debate on the death penalty for gays] helps to
> create
> > a more nuanced view of Islam. The Norwegian public needs to become more
> > liberal." Once again, it's the assailants – or, in this case, the
> would-be
> > executioners – who are the real victims.
> >
> > The Norwegian public may not yet be "liberal" enough to suit Rana, but
> the
> > European establishment has been exceedingly so. Though Kobilica's
> refusal to
> > condemn the execution of gays caused a brief stir in the media, the
> > Norwegian government has made no move to withdraw the Islamic Council's
> > annual subsidy of half a million kroner (about $100,000). Government
> > officials and journalists continue to treat the council with deference,
> to
> > view it as the Voice of Muslims, and to pretend that it is a voice of
> > moderation. Once the flap over executing gays died down, moreover,
> > politicians and others returned soon enough to the mantra about Islam
> being
> > a religion of peace.
> >
> > It's very clear what's going on here – and where it's all headed. Europe
> is
> > on its way down the road of Islamization, and it's reached a point along
> > that road at which gay people's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit
> of
> > happiness is being directly challenged, both by knife-wielding bullies
> on
> > the street and by taxpayer-funded thugs whose organizations already
> enjoy
> > quasi-governmental authority. Sharia law may still be an alien concept
> to
> > some Westerners, but it's staring gay Europeans right in the face – and
> > pointing toward a chilling future for all free people. Pim Fortuyn saw
> all
> > this coming years ago; most of today's European leaders still refuse to
> see
> > it even though it's right before their eyes.
> >
> >
> > Bruce Bawer's book While Europe
> > Slept<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767920058/pajamasmedia-20
> >is
> > now in paperback. His website is at
> > www.brucebawer.com.
> >  ———
> >
> > On Feb 3, 2008 7:19 AM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >> Brad:
> >>
> >> I know that Rik will blast his horn that I am rude, and others will say
> >> crude, inconsiderate, etc.  However, in reading the prior discussion I
> can
> >> have to say that John's line of reasoning made me think of the
> following
> >> quote off the internet:
> >>
> >> "Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional,
> illogical,
> >> liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream
> media,
> >> which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick
> up
> >> a
> >> turd by the clean end."
> >>
> >> Ed K
> >> Greenville, SC, USA
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Brad Haslett-2 wrote:
> >>
> >>> Robert,
> >>>
> >>> Attached is a letter to the Berkeley newspaper from the Captain who
> runs
> >>> the
> >>> USMC office there.  Written in October, it details the reasons for
> >>> locating
> >>> there.  Berkeley is the worst of the Bay Area but by no means the only
> >>> lunatic city.  My son gets treated shabbily in Alameda while wearing a
> >>> USCG
> >>> uniform.  I respect people's feelings against war in general and this
> >>>
> >> war
> >>
> >>> in
> >>> particular, though I disagree with their reasoning, but to treat
> anyone
> >>> wearing the uniform badly is just plain wrong.  These CodePinkers are
> >>> hopelessly stuck in the 60's and their behaviour now is just as
> >>>
> >> disgusting
> >>
> >>> as it was in their youth. They have no more legal right to harass a
> >>> recruiting office than they do an insurance office or flower shop.
>  The
> >>> city
> >>> council of Berkeley is obviously aiding and abetting these loons and
> >>>
> >> they
> >>
> >>> should be held accountable, ie, cut off federal funding to Berkeley.
> >>> Perhaps then the 'sane and rational' citizens of Berkeley, assuming
> >>>
> >> there
> >>
> >>> are some, will throw the bums out or suffer the consequences of their
> >>> decisions.
> >>>
> >>> Brad
> >>>
> >>> PS - Kudos to your grandson and the USMC!
> >>>
> >>> ---------------------
> >>> Commentary: An Open Letter to Code Pink * By Richard Lund (10-02-07) *
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> While the protest that you staged in front of my office on Wednesday,
> >>> Sept.
> >>> 26th, was an exercise of your constitutional rights, the messages that
> >>>
> >> you
> >>
> >>> left behind were insulting, untrue, and ultimately misdirected.
> >>> Additionally, from the comments quoted in the Berkeley Daily Planet
> >>> article,
> >>> it is clear that you have no idea what it is that I do here. Given
> that
> >>>
> >> I
> >>
> >>> was unaware of your planned protest, I was unable to contest your
> claims
> >>> in
> >>> person, so I will therefore address them here.
> >>>
> >>> First, a little bit about who I am: I am a Marine captain with over
> >>>
> >> eight
> >>
> >>> years of service as a commissioned officer. I flew transport
> helicopters
> >>> for
> >>> most of my time in the Marine Corps before requesting orders to come
> >>>
> >> here.
> >>
> >>> Currently, I am the officer selection officer for the northern Bay
> Area.
> >>> My
> >>> job is to recruit, interview, screen, and evaluate college students
> and
> >>> college graduates that show an interest in becoming officers in the
> >>>
> >> Marine
> >>
> >>> Corps. Once they've committed to pursuing this program, I help them
> >>>
> >> apply,
> >>
> >>> and if selected, I help them prepare for the rigors of Officer
> Candidate
> >>> School and for the challenges of life as a Marine officer. To be
> >>>
> >> eligible
> >>
> >>> for my programs, you have to be either a full-time college student or
> a
> >>> college graduate. I don't pull anyone out of school, and high school
> >>> students are not eligible.
> >>>
> >>> I moved my office to Berkeley in December of last year. Previously, it
> >>>
> >> was
> >>
> >>> located in an old federal building in Alameda. That building was due
> to
> >>>
> >> be
> >>
> >>> torn down and I had to find a new location. I choose our new site
> >>>
> >> because
> >>
> >>> of
> >>> its proximity to UC Berkeley and to the BART station. Most of the
> >>> candidates
> >>> in my program either go to Cal or to one of the schools in San
> >>>
> >> Francisco,
> >>
> >>> the East Bay, or the North Bay. Logistically, the Shattuck Square
> >>>
> >> location
> >>
> >>> was the most convenient for them.
> >>>
> >>> Next, you claim that I lie. I have never, and will never, lie to any
> >>> individual that shows an interest in my programs. I am upfront with
> >>> everything that is involved at every step of the way and I go out of
> my
> >>> way
> >>> to ensure that they know what to expect when they apply. I tell them
> >>>
> >> that
> >>
> >>> this is not an easy path. I tell them that leading Marines requires a
> >>> great
> >>> deal of self-sacrifice. I tell them that, should they succeed in their
> >>> quest
> >>> to become a Marine officer, they will almost certainly go to Iraq. In
> >>>
> >> the
> >>
> >>> future, if you plan to attack my integrity, please have the courtesy
> to
> >>> explain to me specifically the instances in which you think that I
> lied.
> >>>
> >>> Next, scrawled across the doorway to my office, you wrote, "Recruiters
> >>>
> >> are
> >>
> >>> Traitors." Please explain this one. How exactly am I a traitor? Was I
> a
> >>> traitor when I joined the Marine Corps all those years ago? Is every
> >>> Marine,
> >>> therefore, a traitor? Was I a traitor during my two stints in Iraq?
> Was
> >>>
> >> I
> >>
> >>> a
> >>> traitor when I was delivering humanitarian aid to the victims of the
> >>> tsunami
> >>> in Sumatra? Or do you only consider me a traitor while I am on this
> job?
> >>> The
> >>> fact is, recruitment is and always has been a part of maintaining any
> >>> military organization. In fact, recruitment is a necessity of any
> large
> >>> organization. Large corporations have employees that recruit
> full-time.
> >>> Even
> >>> you, I'm sure, must expend some effort to recruit for Code Pink. So
> >>>
> >> what,
> >>
> >>> exactly, is it that makes me a traitor?
> >>>
> >>> 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?
> >>>
> >>> Finally, I believe that your efforts in protesting my office are
> >>> misdirected. I agree that your stated goals of peace and social
> justice
> >>> are
> >>> worthy ones. War is a terrible thing that should only be undertaken in
> >>>
> >> the
> >>
> >>> most dire, extreme, and necessary of circumstances. However, war is
> made
> >>> by
> >>> politicians. The conflict in Iraq was ordered by the president and
> >>> authorized by Congress. They are the ones who have the power to change
> >>>
> >> the
> >>
> >>> policy in Iraq, not members of the military. We execute policy to the
> >>>
> >> best
> >>
> >>> of our ability and to the best of our human capacity. Protesting in
> >>>
> >> front
> >>
> >>> of
> >>> my office may be an easy way to get your organization in the headlines
> >>>
> >> of
> >>
> >>> local papers, but it doesn't further any of your stated goals.
> >>>
> >>> To conclude, I don't consider myself a "recruiter." I am a Marine who
> >>> happens to be on recruiting duty. As such, I conduct myself in
> >>>
> >> accordance
> >>
> >>> with our core values of honor, courage, and commitment. I will never
> >>> sacrifice my honor by lying to anyone that walks into my office. I
> will
> >>> never forsake the courage that it takes to restrain myself in the face
> >>>
> >> of
> >>
> >>> insulting and libelous labels like liar and traitor. And, most
> >>> importantly,
> >>> I will never waver from my commitment to helping individuals who
> desire
> >>>
> >> to
> >>
> >>> serve their country as officers in the Marine Corps.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Captain Richard Lund is the United States Marine Corps' officer
> >>>
> >> selection
> >>
> >>> officer for the northern Bay Area.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Feb 2, 2008 9:47 PM, Robert Skinner <robert at squirrelhaven.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> As my grandson said on his way to his third
> >>>> tour in Iraq as a LtCol USMC, "Just another
> >>>> day at the office."
> >>>>
> >>>> I hope that the USMC takes no official notice
> >>>> of this foolishness.
> >>>>
> >>>> /Robert
> >>>> ----------------------------------------------
> >>>> Brad Haslett wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Robert,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Here's an update on Berkeley-
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/02/BALTUQKOE.DTL
> >>
> >>>>> I posted the link rather than the text so you can see the photos.
> >>>>> Yesterday, protesters chained themselves to the door of the Marine
> >>>>> recruiting office for 7 and 1/2 HOURS!  Since when is it legal to
> >>>>>
> >> close
> >>
> >>>> down
> >>>>
> >>>>> a business and where are the Berkeley police for 7 and 1/2 hours?
> >>>>> Congresswoman Lee protested Sen. Demints proposal to de-fund
> Berkeley
> >>>>>
> >>>> by
> >>>>
> >>>>> saying it wasn't right to deprive children of lunches and citizens
> of
> >>>>>
> >>>> first
> >>>>
> >>>>> responders.  I'd say these people don't need to be having children
> >>>>>
> >> and
> >>
> >>>> if it
> >>>>
> >>>>> takes over 7 hours for the police to respond, they don't need them
> >>>>>
> >>>> either.
> >>>>
> >>>>> Brad
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Jan 31, 2008 6:59 PM, Robert Skinner <robert at squirrelhaven.com>
> >>>>>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>> Sorry to hear about this stupidity - but it looks as
> >>>>>> though the Leathernecks picked a poor beachhead.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Any town that does not welcome the Marines does not
> >>>>>> deserve them.  What kind of dweeb confuses the loyal
> >>>>>> Marines with the leadership and policies that they are
> >>>>>> sworn to follow?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I, for one, am damned glad to have a fellow Marine
> >>>>>> next to me under any circumstances, whether or not we
> >>>>>> share political views.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> /Robert
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Brad Haslett wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Boys and girls, here is a perfect opportunity to solve our energy
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>> problem.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I say we take spent nuclear fuel and dump it right smack in the
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> center
> >>>>
> >>>>>> of
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Berkeley.  That, or pull every last federal dollar out of that
> >>>>>>>
> >> scum
> >>
> >>>>>> infested
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> city.  Brad
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> ----------------------------
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Berkeley council tells Marines to leave
> >>>>>>> By Doug Oakley
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> STAFF WRITER
> >>>>>>> Article Launched: 01/30/2008 01:48:16 PM PST
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Hey-hey, ho-ho, the Marines in Berkeley have got to go.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> That's the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted
> >>>>>>>
> >> 8-1
> >>
> >>>>>> Tuesday
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue
> >>>>>>>
> >> recruiting
> >>
> >>>>>> station
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay,
> >>>>>>>
> >> they
> >>
> >>>> do
> >>>>
> >>>>>> so as
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> uninvited and unwelcome intruders."
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> prohibiting
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> Marines
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. And it
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>> officially
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> encouraged the women's peace group Code Pink to impede the work
> >>>>>>>
> >> of
> >>
> >>>> the
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> Marines in the city by protesting in front of the station.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> designated
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> six
> >>>>
> >>>>>> months
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> p.m.
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> Councilman Gordon Wozniak opposed both items.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The Marines have been in Berkeley for a little more than a year,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> having
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> moved from Alameda in December of 2006. For about the past four
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> months,
> >>>>
> >>>>>> Code
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Pink has been protesting in front of the station.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "I believe in the Code Pink cause. The Marines don't belong here,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> they
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> shouldn't have come here, and they should leave," said Berkeley
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> Mayor
> >>>>
> >>>>>> Tom
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Bates after votes were cast.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> A Marines representative did not respond to requests for comment.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The resolution telling the Marines they are unwelcome and
> >>>>>>>
> >> directing
> >>
> >>>> the
> >>>>
> >>>>>> city
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> attorney to explore
> >>>>>>> ------------------------------
> >>>>>>> ------------------------------
> >>>>>>> issues of sexual orientation discrimination was brought to the
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> council
> >>>>
> >>>>>> by
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> the city's Peace and Justice commission.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The recommendation to give Code Pink a parking space for
> >>>>>>>
> >> protesting
> >>
> >>>> and
> >>>>
> >>>>>> a
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> free sound permit was brought by council members Linda Maio and
> >>>>>>>
> >> Max
> >>
> >>>>>>> Anderson.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Code Pink on Wednesday started circulating petitions to put a
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> measure on
> >>>>
> >>>>>> the
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> November ballot in Berkeley that would make it more difficult to
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> open
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> military recruiting offices near homes, parks, schools, churches
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>> libraries
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> or health clinics. The group needs 5,000 signatures to make the
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> ballot.
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> Even though the council items passed, not everyone is happy with
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> the
> >>>>
> >>>>>> work of
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Code Pink. Some employees and owners of businesses near the
> >>>>>>>
> >> Marines
> >>
> >>>>>> office
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> have had enough of the group and its protests.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "My husband's business is right upstairs, and this (protesting)
> >>>>>>>
> >> is
> >>
> >>>>>> bordering
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> on harassment," Dori Schmidt told the council. "I hope this
> >>>>>>>
> >> stops."
> >>
> >>>>>>> An employee of a nearby business who asked not to be identified
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> said
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> Wednesday the elderly Code Pink protesters are aggressive, take
> >>>>>>>
> >> up
> >>
> >>>>>> parking
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> spaces, block the sidewalk with their yoga moves, smoke in the
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> doorways,
> >>>>
> >>>>>> and
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> are noisy.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "Most of the people around here think they're a joke," the woman
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> said.
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> Wozniak said he was opposed to giving Code Pink a parking space
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> because
> >>>>
> >>>>>> it
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> favors free speech rights of one group over another.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "There's a line between protesting and harassing, and that
> >>>>>>>
> >> concerns
> >>
> >>>> me,"
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> Wozniak said. "It looks like we are showing favoritism. We have
> >>>>>>>
> >> to
> >>
> >>>>>> respect
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> the other side, and not abuse their rights. This is not good
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> policy."
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> Ninety-year-old Fran Rachel, a Code Pink protester who spoke at
> >>>>>>>
> >> the
> >>
> >>>>>> council
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> meeting, said the group's request for a parking space and noise
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> permit
> >>>>
> >>>>>> was
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> especially important because the Marines are recruiting soldiers
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> who
> >>>> may
> >>>>
> >>>>>> die
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> in an unjust war.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "This is very serious," Rachel said. "This isn't a game; it's
> >>>>>>>
> >> mass
> >>
> >>>>>> murder.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> There's a sickness of silence of people not speaking out against
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> the
> >>>>
> >>>>>> war. We
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> have to do this."
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Anderson, a former Marine who said he was "drummed out" of the
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> corps
> >>>>
> >>>>>> when he
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> took a stand against the Vietnam War, said he'd love to see the
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> Marines
> >>>>
> >>>>>> high
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> tale it out of town.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "We are confronted with an organization that can spend billions
> >>>>>>>
> >> of
> >>
> >>>>>> dollars
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> on propaganda," Anderson said. "This is not Okinawa here; we're
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> involved
> >>>>
> >>>>>> in
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> a naked act of aggression. If we can provide a space for ordinary
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> people
> >>>>
> >>>>>> to
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> express themselves against this kind of barbarity, then we should
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> be
> >>>>
> >>>>>> doing
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> it."
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> E-mail Doug Oakley at doakley at bayareanewsgroup.com
> >>>>>>> __________________________________________________
> >>>>>>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>> --
> >>>>>> Robert Skinner  "Squirrel Haven"
> >>>>>> Gorham, Maine         04038-1331
> >>>>>> s/v "Little Dipper" & "Edith P."
> >>>>>> __________________________________________________
> >>>>>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>> __________________________________________________
> >>>>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Robert Skinner  "Squirrel Haven"
> >>>> Gorham, Maine         04038-1331
> >>>> s/v "Little Dipper" & "Edith P."
> >>>> __________________________________________________
> >>>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> __________________________________________________
> >>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >> --
> >> View this message in context:
> >>
> http://www.nabble.com/Marines---Berkeley---More-Political-Scum-tp15205877p15253374.html
> >> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >>
> >> __________________________________________________
> >> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>
> > __________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
> >
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>