Local officials in this liberal city say it's time for the U.S. Marines to move out.

[HOLLiS]

Berkeley council becomes home to intolerance

Article Launched: 02/13/2008 12:11:51 PM PST
Contra Costa Times OP-ED

I have no doubt that the members of the Berkeley City Council have acted with conviction and sincerity in their actions relating to the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting center the past two weeks. I have met many of the members of the council, and honestly believe they are good, honorable people.
But that doesn't change the fact that many on this council are, to steal a line from John McCain, agents of intolerance. It was a term coined to describe members of the far right-wing in this country who espouse a moral superiority over all who see the world differently, but the Berkeley City Council has proved sadly during the Marine furor that the phrase applies equally well to the far left.



Read the rest here:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news...6?source=email

[Snaquebite]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6VeLpMloUs

A Gold Star Mother of two sons, one a Marine and Marc Alan Lee who was the first SEAL to lose his life in Operation Iraqi Freedom. She lays into the Berkeley City Council.

[Gypsy]

Thought this was well written, a tad tongue in cheek in parts.

A Pro-American Sector of California

Ken Delfino
P O Box 1690 – Colfax, CA 95713-1690


February 13, 2008


To: Interested parties

Re: Berkeley, CA 12FEB2008

Following a fun-filled 20th Anniversary Celebration luncheon at the Kiwanis Club of Suisun City, I headed for the East Bay Sheep Ranch (EBSR) aka Berkeley, CA. The purpose of this trip was to participate with fellow veterans and Pro-Americans in voicing our displeasure with the disrespect displayed by the ESBR council toward the United States Marine Corps

The ESBR HQ for the evening was on Martin Luther King Blvd (MKLB) across from Martin Luther King Park (MKLP). After circling the AO for about 15 minutes, I was fortunate to find a parking spot on the north flank of MLKP. Centered in MLKP and facing ESBRHQ was a garrison-size 48-star flag donated for use buy a WWII veteran. At the time of my arrival, the temperature was about 65 degrees under a cloudless sky.

Traffic flowed north and south on MLKB with the anti-Marine group in front of their HQ and the pro-Americans facing them. Both sides were pretty laid back at this time. There was one person I was looking for, Debbie Lee, mother of Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class (AO2) Marc Lee, our first SEAL KIA in Iraq on 2AUG2006. Debbie and I were introduced on the Internet while I was involved with the dedication of the Cupertino Veterans Memorial in Cupertino, CA. You all received an AAR on that Veteran’s Day event from me.

As I arrived at MLKP, Melanie Morgan, one of the creators and stalwarts of the Move America Forward organization was speaking. I approached her to thank her for her leadership on behalf of our troops and I also met Debra Johns, the mother of a Marine who has three OIF tours under his belt. She is from nearby Granite Bay so I had to introduce myself. Debra joined the Move America Forward movement in direct counter when Cindy Sheehan became the media darling. Debra created a country tour called “You Don’t Speak for Me Cindy!” and has spoken at rallies in support of the troops.

This was my first participation at a politically based demonstration and I was prepared. I had my pockets stuffed with water, trail mix and Jelly Belly packs and I had my own sign, which read, “DON’T TREAD ON US!” and the statement “Your RIGHT to protest is secured by the very people whom you are protesting!!” I am proud to say that MANY photographed it and I’m wondering where it will show up!

At 1700 the Berkeley Police Department (BPD) closed off MLKB diverting traffic to skirt the north and south flanks of MLKP. Two lines of BPD fully decked out in riot gear with batons, helmets and faceguards took up positions between the opposing forces as both sides moved into the streets. With BPD positioned halfway between the center stripes and lane markers. We moved up to the lane marker and that was the extent. At this time we started hearing the recycled chants of the left…”No War for Oil”, “Give Peace a Chance”, “One, Two, Three, Four…we don’t want your -*****- war”, etc, etc, etc. The mantras were repeated and we countered with “Proud to be and American” the Marine Corps Hymn, Star-Spangled Banner, God Bless America, America the Beautiful, etc, etc, etc.

More people started arriving for both sides and the situation remained calm until some of their adults started to try to get a couple of BPD agitated. They tried to push their way past their lane stripe and were verbally warned to “STEP BACK”. Two of them stepped into that DMZ and Helmet #118, the shortest of all BPD on the line, stepped forward and pushed them back. One of them started yelling at 118 and made the mistake of stepping into the DMZ again and immediately four BPD reserves flanked 118 and moved on the lady who just didn’t get it!

They gave ground and BPD stepped back. It was then that I noticed that the left-wing front-liners were ALL YOUNG FEMALES. They were singing the Kumbaya “Give Peace a Chance” trying to hypnotize us with their two-fingered arm waving. Yep…these must the grandkids of the demons of the ‘60s! Behind the kids were the female adults and older males with some agitators yelling undecipherable epithets from the rear of the pack. I looked to my left and right and noticed some guys wearing 25th ID and 9th ID patches, Vietnam vets and I asked them if they noticed how the opposition were placing kids and old folks on the front line…like the VC did!

The opposition was outfitted in lovely orange outfits…I found out later on, in sympathy for the “downtrodden” at GITMO!!! The kids were mostly from Berkeley High School and it was said that they had been there earlier in the day –when classes were in session! Then there were the Code Pink pinkies. They skirted BPD’s perimeter and came over to our side to yell in the face of some vets. BPD let the yelling continue until one of the pinkies either intentionally or accidentally poked her finger in the chest of one of the vets. He punched her back in the chest and BPD moved in immediately between the two, but not attacking either. Pinkie was escorted back to her lines.

Later in the evening, two big kids came up to mouth off at another veteran and when one kid’s arm came up, the kid received a quick jab to the nose, which bloodied him and knocked him back.

The meeting started at 1900, but there were 25 items on the agenda and the issue of the letter to the Marines was item #25. It was estimated that they would get to that item around 2100. So two more hours of confrontation continued with their side continuing their verbal attacks against BPD and us. There was one rap song that was playing loudly referring to “Kill the Cops!” and I could not believe the restraint BPD had. The operator of the boom box played the song loudly and cut off the verse where they all yelled, “Kill the Cops!”

BPD’s body language spoke volumes to me…those personnel facing us appeared to be in a more ‘relaxed’ state with their arms folded and batons under their arms. Those facing the other side had their batons low with hands on both ends. With the rap songs they were listening to, it was not surprising.

During the course of the evening I spoke with several veterans…mostly Vietnam veterans and some Desert Storm and a few OIF and one OEF vet. Among those vets were a female LCPL who is a student at UCB. She was there with several members of the UCB Veteran’s Club which is about 100-members strong. I also met a vet from the Mobile Riverine force with whom we had worked some of the same rivers. I asked a lady decked out in digital cammies if she was a vet or on active duty. She said, “No, I’m representing my husband who is in Afghanistan.

I moved to an open front-line spot with my sign next to a fellow wearing a cap with the CIB. We chatted for several minutes with kids on our side that had signs “Berkeley Sucks” and “Waterboard the Liberals”. I was curious as to why these teens were on our side so I approached them and asked them. They simply stated, “They’re all assholes and commies!” I told them, that’s the answers that can be expected from the other side and that if they were going to join the veterans and Pro-American side, then they should know some background beyond what they were not being taught in school.

[Gypsy]

Con't.

I clarified some issues with the kids about the one-sided “Lies” issue and asked them if they knew the definitions of ‘treason’ and the reasons for ‘impeachment’. It was hard to keep their full attention, but we told them about the importance of RESEARCHING to counter their peers’ indoctrination. The other reasons the kids were there was to honor the service of their dads and grandparents who were all veterans of either Vietnam or Korea.

The CIB gentleman and I continued to chat for about 45 minutes before I thought to ask him who he was with and it turns out he is with the Special Forces chapter 23 out of San Francisco. Being an Associate Member of Chapter 89 out of Redding, I missed the joint Christmas dinner at Travis AFB last year where I would have met him! Although we weren’t in a bar, we showed each other our Challenge Coins…mine with the 89th and his from 5th SF!

At around 2045 we were told we could move across the street to the front of ESBR HQ. The anti-Marine group was on the LEFT side of the entrance and we were on the RIGHT. We were separated by barricades and a line of BPD, which primarily lined up facing them. There was a phalanx of 10 BPD scattered on the steps leading into the building. We were moved there so we could listen to comments coming from the speakers from both sides…with each speaker having one minute. The time was 2115 when they started on Item 25.

Debra Johns started for our side and in honor of her Marine son. There was plenty of back and forth with some eloquent speakers and some who displayed idiocy perfectly with there taking off on tangents that had no relevance to the topic at hand.

At one point we started hearing some slogan chanting behind us and we turned around to find the anti-everything crowd had snuck in behind us. I was toward the back of our group and ignored them for a while until some high school or college males started up with their chants. There were about 15 high school girls directly behind me lining up to do their Kumbaya singing again. They started and I finally turned around and firmly planted my sign in front of them…they could not avoid reading it! All I did was stare down one of them who looked away and then stared down the next one who turned around and left. Several vets came to the back and all we had to do was stare everyone down…and they eventually left!

One of the more important speakers was the president of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce who stated that since word of “The Letter” came out on January 29th and Code Pink was allowed to harass the Marine Recruiting office, business was down 26% and one nearby hotel reported a major reduction in room rentals!

Another person I spoke with on our side was a young lady who owned a Bridal Shop located four doors down from the Marine’s office. Because of Code Pink’s activities, she has had a huge reduction in business and this is a very busy time for their line of work. Other Berkeleyites told me that the council really “doesn’t care” about the state of the business community. I asked them how come they keep electing these types of politicians to office and was told, “they outnumber us!”

Earlier in the day, one bearded fellow with a “God Bless America & SUPPORT THE TROOPS” sign was seen mingling with the students who seemed to like him. Yes, he was a veteran and one of those conservative “islands” in the sea of political academia in Berkeley. He spent most of his time on our side, but knew many on their side.

At 2355 the council recognized they had more speakers and moved to extend the meeting to 0030 in order to accommodate everyone. At 0020 the last speaker spoke and the council moved to debate the issues. The mayor admitted he made a mistake in the tone of the letter and was quick to point out that he still was against the war, but the Marines had a right to be there. He also stated that BPD did, in fact arrest all Code Pink personnel who had chained themselves and blocked access to the station. I did not have pen and paper with me so I was unable to take notes on the comments by each of the council members. The fog had come in and the temperature was pretty cold and I probably couldn’t have written anyway. When debate was completed, the vote was 7-2 to rescind sending the obnoxious letter to the Marines. On another vote where some of the council stating that an apology to the Marines was necessary, hot debate took place among them and in the end, the vote to apologize was: YES-3, NO-2, ABSTAIN-4. Five AYE votes were required to pass. There were several recurring and incorrect (in my opinion), comments uttered by speakers and council members. The main comment that was repeated was “ILLEGAL WAR” (which was approved by Congress and backed by the United Nations). Councilwoman Maio referred to a “badly thought out” war and yet I find her nowhere on the Pentagon or DoD website!

After the second vote was cast, defeating the Apology, the Berkeley H.S. teacher previously mentioned came shook our hands and thanked us for coming. He said after seeing the sea of flags, banners and Pro-Americas posters, he no longer ‘felt alone’! He is a born and raised Berkeleyite…and a rare patriot in that city.

This ends my After Action Report. I’ll be happy to entertain any questions or comments.

Ken Delfino
Colfax, CA
A Pro-American sector of California

United States Navy (RET)

[JustinW20]

Had to share...

[Ret10Echo]

Berkeley Dean Defends Law Professor
April 11, 2008 - 2:05pm
By PAMELA HESS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The law professor who wrote one of the seminal "torture memos" that cleared the way for harsh and what critics call abusive and illegal interrogation techniques is safe in his job, the dean of the school says.

University of California-Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley, Jr., took sharp exception to Professor John Yoo's legal analysis for the Bush administration's Justice Department in a message posted on the school's Web site. But Edley said the responsibility for any resulting breaches of law rested with Yoo's clients _ then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush.

"Yes, it does matter that Yoo was an adviser, but President Bush and his national security appointees were the deciders," Edley wrote.

"Assuming one believes as I do that Professor Yoo offered bad ideas and even worse advice during his government service, that judgment alone would not warrant dismissal or even a potentially chilling inquiry," he said.

Yoo had no immediate comment on Edley's Web site posting.

Yoo wrote a secret memo for the Pentagon dated March 14, 2003, which the Pentagon released last week under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. It outlines the legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban detainees overseas _ so long as they did not specifically intend to torture their captives.

Yoo also referenced one of his earlier legal theories, now repudiated by the Justice Department: that the U.S. military was not required to observe constitutional protections against unlawful searches and seizures during domestic operations.

He built upon an earlier Justice Department memo that he helped draft which narrowly defined torture, and lowered the bar for how so-called enemy combatants could be treated.

"My sense is that the vast majority of legal academics with a view of the matter disagree with substantial portions of Professor Yoo's analyses, including a great many of his colleagues at Berkeley," Edley wrote. "If, however, this strong consensus were enough to fire or sanction someone, then academic freedom would be meaningless," he added.

While affirming Yoo's right to continue teaching at Berkeley and practicing law, Edley said Yoo had allowed politics to triumph over law.

"What troubles me substantively with the analyses in the memoranda is that they reduce the Rule of Law to the Reign of Politics. I believe there is much more to the separation of powers than the promise of ultimate remedies like the ballot box and impeachment, even in the case of a Commander in Chief during war. And I believe that the revolution in sensibilities after 9/11 demands greater, not reduced, vigilance for constitutional rights and safeguards," Edley stated.

The House Judiciary Committee has asked Yoo to testify in May on the recently released memo, threatening to subpoena him if he refuses.

Yoo received tenure at Berkeley in 1999. He took a leave of absence from 2001 to 2003 to serve as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel and returned to the school in 2004.