It’s been almost a week since the Berkeley City Council voted to exercise its free speech rights by telling the Marines, who actually protect those rights, to get out of town, and the cockroaches are still scurrying to avoid the backlash.
The council members who voted for the reprehensible resolution calling the Marines recruitment center “unwelcome intruders” and ordering city staff to find a way to sue the Marines over gay rights, are now making excuses as they start to feel consequences from their actions.
Mayor Tom Bates now says the resolution “did not adequately differentiate our respect and support for those serving in the armed forces and our opposition to the Iraq war policy.”
After receiving, by his own admission, more than a thousand e-mail messages blasting him and the rest of the West Leningrad council, Bates nicely offered to help the Marines negotiate an early end to their lease on the recruiting office, which has a year and a half to go.
Councilwoman Linda Maio said of the resolution, “I don’t think any of us paid enough attention to it, and people want to rewrite it to more accurately portray our sentiments.”
Councilman Max Anderson said, “People are trying to spin it that we’re against the troops, but what we’re talking about is this hideous war.”
In Berkeley, as with liberals everywhere, supporting the troops means despising everything the troops are fighting for, everything they do and the government they represent — you know, OUR government.
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has suggested he might introduce legislation to strip Berkeley of all its federal funding, from money for public safety to school lunches. The moment Berkeley officials started realizing their anti-American actions could cost them money, they put in a call to the liberals’ Superfriends network, drawing “outraged” responses from Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Barbara Lee.
The liberal fringe, meanwhile, went nuts and started chaining themselves in front of the Marine recruitment station to block access. Utilizing their city-supplied parking space and free noise permits, the socialists of Code Pink (which really should just take the plunge and change its name to Code Pinko) have continued to harass the Marines and their supporters. The Berkeley police on Friday finally arrested three who were blocking the recruiting station door.
Through all of this circus, the Marines have maintained their usual class and dignity. As Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin said, “We take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, and part of the Constitution is the right of free speech, and the fact that they are exercising their rights solidifies our resolve to continue what we are doing.”
The men and women of the armed forces put their lives on the line to protect the rights of us Americans, even the rights of the aging hippies of Berkeley to try to prove they are still relevant. As such, members of the military deserve the highest regard and respect.
The Berkeley council and its puppetmaster whackos in Code Pink should back off.
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