http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/berkel ... index.html

Berkeley, the famously liberal college town in California, has taken aim at Marine recruiters, saying they are "not welcome in our city."

Republican lawmakers in Washington fired back this week, threatening to take back more than $2 million of federal funding to the city as well as money designated for the University of California-Berkeley, the campus that became a haven of protests during the Vietnam War.

The battle erupted after the Berkeley City Council approved a measure last week urging the Marine recruiters to leave their downtown office.

"If recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders," the item says.

It goes on to say the council applauds residents and organizations that "volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley."

Outside the Shattuck Avenue recruiting station earlier this week, a handful of protesters with the anti-war group Code Pink camped out, strumming a guitar as they sang anti-war songs and held signs against the Iraq war.

"Time to end the war, time to end the war, time to end the war right now," they sang to the beat of "I've Been Working on the Railroad."

One giant sign said, "No Military Predators in Our Town." Another message on a pink placard read, "Join the Marines. Travel to Exotic Lands. Meet Exciting and Unusual People -- And Kill Them."

Zanne Joi peered out from under her straw hat. "This Marine recruiting station is trying to recruit our youth to go to Iraq to kill and be killed. And we are against that," said Joi, a member of Code Pink Women for Peace.

"This is part of a multi-pronged effort to end this war."

Protester Sharon Adams added: "This recruiting station recruits people to go fight and then once they fight and they serve their country, our country doesn't take care of them. That's a shame."

But not everyone here supports the protesters.

Forrest Smith, who described himself as a veteran of U.S. Special Forces, said his son recently returned from a tour in Iraq and his daughter served in Afghanistan.

"My position on this is the Marines are the best thing we have," said Smith, decked out in Army fatigues.

He blasted the City Council for its action. "It's clearly an abuse of power."

A group of young students who strolled down the sidewalk shared that sentiment. They derided one of the protesters who argued the United States was involved in an illegal war in Iraq.

"Where's the logic in that whatsoever?" one of the young men said. "That's our national security, and you're here protesting the Marines."

Another said, "It makes me sick. It makes me sick."

Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command, told CNN there is "no plan for that office to move."

She said recruiters are there to "provide information to qualified men and women who are looking for opportunities that they may benefit from by serving in the military."

"The Marine Corps is here to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which does guarantee the freedom of speech," Franklin said. "In terms of the situation in Berkeley, the City Council and the protesters are exercising their right to do so."

In Washington, a group of Republican lawmakers have introduced the Semper Fi Act of 2008 -- named after the Marine motto -- to rescind more than $2 million of funds for Berkeley and transfer it to the Marine Corps.

"Like most Americans, I really get disturbed when taxpayer money goes to institutions which proceed to take votes, make policy or make statements that really denigrate the military," said Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, a co-sponsor of the bill.

He told CNN he believes the bill will pass. "I think it's going to have significant support."

The bill's co-sponsor, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, said in a written statement, "Berkeley needs to learn that their actions have consequences."

Berkeley's declaration, which was introduced by the city's Peace and Justice Commission, accuses the United States of having a history of "launching illegal, immoral and unprovoked wars of aggression and the Bush administration launched the most recent of those wars in Iraq and is threatening the possibility of war in Iran."

It adds, "Military recruiters are salespeople known to lie to and seduce minors and young adults into contracting themselves into military service with false promises regarding jobs, job training, education and other benefits."

Out on Shattuck Avenue, it appears the protesters have no plans to leave anytime soon. "We are the civilian population; we control the military," Adams said. "We the people have to take back our control of the military."

Maybe Michelle Malkin can post the home addresses of some of the protesters again.

Hm. No military recruiters? No military assistance when in the event of a natural disaster.

For a second there I thought W was nailing the G Chord.

Just a half step off Mr. President, just a half step......

Military assistance in times of emergency would likely come from the national guard, which is a state militia during peacetime, no? Huzzah. Perhaps I'll go visit the Marine recruiting station just to say hello.

I wonder if the City of Berkeley grants the same freedom of speech rights to anti-abortion protestors... or do they have to stay a certain distance back from a clinic?

As much as I hate this war, what is wrong with these people? We need people to sign up for the Marines. Like I always said, if somebody else wants to fight, let them fight, because I don't want to fight. If some moron wants to go over and act like a human target, that is fine by me.

This whole thing is ridiculous, I mean just look at the woman by the sign. Good Lord, ha ha.

Nothing says 'serious political activist' like giant gold hoop earrings.

Heh. College Republicans at SFSU. Are there any significant number of Republicans in the arts? I mean really.

"I wanna grow up in a country where we don't kill other people!"

A lot of these kids looked like they were in highschool.

Those Republican kids probably deserved to get their ass kicked, if only for the use of crappy punk music in the video.

I took a sound design class in film school, and we regularly talked about cultural theories with regards to the use of sound in film. It was really interesting, but there was always this one kid who ended up on the side of more conservative viewpoints. Dude barely realized he was in over his head.

I find these statements very disturbing:

Berkeley, the famously liberal college town in California, has taken aim at Marine recruiters, saying they are "not welcome in our city."

Republican lawmakers in Washington fired back this week, threatening to take back more than $2 million of federal funding to the city as well as money designated for the University of California-Berkeley, the campus that became a haven of protests during the Vietnam War.

The article is about the actions of the Berkely City Council. There is no mention of any official sanctioning of these protest activities by the University. To threaten one of the country's premiere public university's in this way is unforgivable demagoguery. Even if individual students spearheaded these activities, the student's themselves are not agents of the university. UC Berkeley is in fact a Morrill Land-Grant University and supported ROTC even during the Vietnam War. If our lawmakers cannot make these kinds of distinctions, then their ability to understand to complexity of the international monetary system is in doubt.

Those kids looked like they were having a good time, and I'm sure the College Repubs were doing nothing at all to antagonize them, whatsoever, or put in a video.

Looking at some old protest videos from Berkley:

Free Speech Movement - 1964

Mario Savio is a legend on the Berkeley Campus, and he's honored today with a lecture series. And he was absolutely right about the fact that the President of the University is an employee of the State of California. That's all that he is, no matter what his ideology may be. Clark Kerr was fired as President of the Board of Regents for refusing to expel students who were involved in protest activities. The fact is that the students themselves are entitled to their opinions. The events surrounding the Free Speech Movement made this very clear. But they are not agents of the University as a whole. What should the administration have done? Well, Clark Kerr wrote a book about all of the mistakes that he made. But the bottom line is that his main concern was providing an education to the students who attended the University. And that includes providing an environment in which students are given the opportunity to think and speak freely.