30 Comments

• 1. extramedium  |  February 1st, 2008 at 4:05 am

  You do realize that UC Berkeley is a state institution and entirely separate from the City of Berkeley, don’t you? If you’d like to hurl some anger at UC Berkeley, I’d suggest you write a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger - though I doubt you meant to harm the University of California system just because you are mad at the flakes on the Berkeley City Council. Perhaps you’d like to defund them all except UC Irvine, which is firmly planted in conservative Orange County.

  The Berkeley Council has a long history of making non-binding pinko political statements, but conservatives never seem to tire of taking the bait. Give you something to seeth about, I guess.

• 2. keefer  |  February 1st, 2008 at 4:33 am

  Ahhh California, the land of fruits and nuts, mostly fruits. Berkely, SF, LA; what’s the difference?

  You’d think ol’ Arnold, a staunch “conservative,” would do something about his state. Oh wait, he just did–he endorsed McLame, another staunch “conservative…”

• 3. 3IDVET  |  February 1st, 2008 at 5:47 am

  IMO if they want them out take em But if anything happens in sf their on there own..Let them deal with what ever comes their way..

• 4. Money » Pull Every &hellip  |  February 1st, 2008 at 5:52 am

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• 5. OhioOrrin  |  February 1st, 2008 at 6:23 am

  nothing more than a bunch of politicans saying just what their voting base wants to hear.

  consider romney in michigan saying he’s gonna bring back those auto jobs.

  at the end of the day, nothing more than lies, pandering, & pablum for the thoughtless.

• 6. js  |  February 1st, 2008 at 8:04 am

  I dont think they have the lawful authority to tell the Federal Government that they can not be there.

  Its the Governments inherent right to recruit from each state.

• 7. Rana Quijotesca  |  February 1st, 2008 at 8:30 am

  I don’t see why you would take money out of an education institution for something that the surrounding town did… It would be similar to saying, “the people in DC aren’t being Patriotic, let’s pull funds out of Georgetown!!” “I don’t like what Athens is doing, let’s pull money out of UGA!!!”

  Letting your anti-education bias show through again…

• 8. sam  |  February 1st, 2008 at 8:50 am

  Mark is just an idiot. He can’t write to many good things about the Republican Party these days, so he just writes articles that show his incompetence.

• 9. Richard Ayers  |  February 1st, 2008 at 8:58 am

  Hear! hear! Pull the money now! Berkley has been a terrible left-wing wacko cesspool for decades. Why in the world is the government helping it?

• 10. Adam B.  |  February 1st, 2008 at 9:02 am

  Yes, Berkeley is being somewhat unreasonable, but your moral reasoning is primitive and probably more “hate”-filled than what you have labeled as the “hate-America left”. If Berkeley doesn’t want a marine recruiting station in their town, that’s their right, and you don’t have to agree with them. But to suggest revoking all federal help because they offended an institution you respect is harsh, unwise, and frankly unreasonable. This is the sort of angry, intemperate, prejudicial rhetoric that has plagued humanity since the start, and I’m glad to see it’s alive and well on this blog.

• 11. Dasein Libsbane  |  February 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am

  Charming; the city of Bizerkely has designated our military unwanted, uninvited, intruders for the crime of supporting and defending the Constitution and the people of this country and the radical left wing can’t wait to stop by and accuse Mark of “angry, intemperate, prejudicial rhetoric” for pointing this out. This is a clear case of projection at it’s clinical best.

  To the point of the thread; the University of California is a) the major employer in the city of Bizerkley; b) recipient of more than half of their money from the Federal Government; and c) actively involved in the governance of the city and surrounding incorporated areas. By contrast, UC Irvine is a newcomer to Orange County and the 16th largest employer in the area; UC San Diego is barely involved in city matters, as is UCLA. UC San Francisco is active in the city as is UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz. UC Riverside is a partner as is UC Davis. If you object to UC policy you wouldn’t approach the Governor, you’d direct your inquiry to President Dynes or the Board of Regents.

  Every campus in the UC system has had difficulty with recruiters, notably UC Santa Cruz, so Mark’s suggestion that Federal money be withheld is valid. Having said that I would not use this method for two reasons; 1) I’m opposed to any secondary boycott or punitive action not aimed directly at the offender. And 2) I work for the UC and wouldn’t want my job in jeopardy because of these loons.

  I suggest, instead that a few dozen retired Marines mill around the recruiters’ office and protect their right to express their opinions on the subject.

  If you’ve ever been to Bizerkley, even the locals think the Code-Pinko’s are nut-cases; no one listens to them except CNN and CBS

• 12. Baxter  |  February 1st, 2008 at 10:21 am

  typical liberal,yell about “Anti-education bias” while
  saying nothing about the pathetic Anti-military bias that is shown in majority liberal local government and education facilities.
  The Solomon Amendment is law and appears to mean nothing to places like Berkley,Yale,University of Washington and many other institutions that talk about free speech but don’t practice it when the person/group does not share their viewpoint.
  Students throwing pies at speakers,standing up and
  yelling them down,converging on recruiters by yelling and screaming or vandalizing their centers by throwing rocks and paint,feces,and writing really clever statements calling our Soldiers killers and assassins is how liberals practice free speech.
  Liberals use every legal loophole they can find to push their socialist agenda.Then cry when the same
  tactics are used against them.
  Liberals can’t have it both ways.If they want to shut down the recruiting of our military which is a part of our government and shed it’s blood for the
  freedoms we all enjoy,than they should not receive the benefits(money) that accompany that support.
  Liberals whine and cry about our military being broken,not having enough equipment,over extended
  deployments and then do everything they can to cut
  off funds for our troops,block equipment shipments through protests,and try to shut down our recruiting centers that would provide more Soldiers that in turn
  would shorten deployments.
  Clinton gutted our military in the 90’s closing base’s and cutting our armed forces by over 400,000 while
  Osama declared war on us.Then liberals blame it on
  Bush when we don’t have enough military for proper deployments.
  Guess our super intelligent liberal leadership never saw a problem coming with the
  Twin Towers getting bombed,our embassies getting
  bombed,our battleships getting bombed,and our
  Soldiers getting dragged through the streets in Mogadisu.Nothing to see here,now watch me play
  the saxaphone baby.
  Liberals regularly refer to our Soldiers as stupid,cold-blooded murders.
  Liberals vandalize recruitment centers across the country.Harass our Soldiers and vandalize their personal property.Yell and scream about anything negative they can find about our Soldiers and their mission while ignoring the building of hospitals,schools,and freeing millions of people around the world.
  Liberals put bogus stories on the front pages of their papers portraying our Soldiers as mindless killers and make movie after movie showing our Soldiers as rapist and murders.
  The ironic part is that liberals bumper stickers,anti-war rallies,propaganda films and hollywood heroes have not freed one person from the nazis,communist,and jihadist that have and are
  killing millions of people around the world.
  Our men and women in uniform have done this,the
  very people liberals do everything they can to kick out of our cities and schools.
  I think the Russians put this in pretty good perspective the other day when referring to liberal hero George Clooney the peace activist:

  ” Representatives of Russia and other countries at the meeting objected to an actor telling them how to
  handle the crisis (Dafur) .. and he was asked not to speak at all”

  They apparently understand that it takes serious,experienced, and relevant people to solve these problems,not actors whose only influence is in
  hollywood, people magazine and the Democratic party.Clooney can talk about it at the Oscars where all the liberals will pat each other on the back about the difference they are making while the real difference makers(our men and women in uniform)actually are out there making
  a difference.

• 13. Dasein Libsbane  |  February 1st, 2008 at 10:24 am

  And, as far as a military recruiting office in Bizerkley, don’t you agree that this is the height of irony? I mean, seriously, how many of the maggot-infested-good-time-rock-and-roll-hippies in Moscow-by-the-Sea are actually going to sidle up to the bar and plop their name on the dotted line to become America’s finest? The Gyrines have got to be thinking this is the easiest gig in the Corps; go to a Bizerkley recruiting station and sleep the day away, the only interruption is having to listen to a gaggle of dried out harpies screeching their tired 60’s rhetoric once each week, sweet!

• 14. SteaM  |  February 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am

  Councilwoman Dona Spring, however, said she would love to step up the pressure even more against the Marine recruiting office.
  “We’re not condemning the men and women who serve, we are condemning the U.S. policy that is teaching the Marines and other military people to torture, oust other countries’ political leaders and do other evil things.”

  Interesting. This seems to be a bit harsh and I don’t think I would vote for something like this were I on a city council. They do mention how they feel it is a bit predatory in terms of the proximity of the nearby high school. But at the same time… the city council is voted in by citizens. If they piss off the citizens with stuff like this then they lose the next election. If the group wants to protest that is well within their rights. Of course their’s a balance their as well. They can go too far with it and disrupt the peace of neighboring businesses etc. Of course not to mention that protesting can always go too far as is the case with pro-lifers that blew up abortion clinics… of course that is just sickening.

• 15. Dasein Libsbane  |  February 1st, 2008 at 11:21 am

  “predatory in terms of the proximity of the nearby high school”

  I guess those recruiting stations placed strategically near retirement homes, nursing facilities, and mental institutions didn’t generate the interest they thought it would.

• 16. Jonathan King  |  February 1st, 2008 at 12:49 pm

  I live in Berkeley, work at UC, and support the decision of the city council 100 percent. Once again, the city of Berkeley is pointing the way to a more reasonable future for the rest of the country to imitate. As everyone knows, the Armed Forces like nothing better than to paint a rosy picture for targeted youth, an overwhelming percentage of whom, once they buy the scented turd, end up in Afghanistan or Iraq, slaughtering civilians and in return being slaughtered, for no reason whatever except that Dick Cheney thinks his friends can make a buck in the process. Don’t get started with us on this “defending the Constitution” crap … there is not a single thing about our involvement in Iraq that meets any constitutional test whatever, apart from demonstrating how the balance of power in our system can be thrown completely out of whack by a singleminded, maniacal executive and a supine, cowardly Congress. More to the current point, you militarists, who get off on the notion of a Powerful Nation thrusting its Mighty Member at any nation that annoys us, really ought to take a deep breath and understand that the actions of one small city, unless they are adopted nationwide, mean absolutely nothing to the continued ability of the armed forces to sucker fresh meat to the slaughter in every other location across the country. By the same token, it’s our hope here in Berkeley that the perverse federal “right” to lure citizens to their deaths as cannon fodder, irrespective of local opinion, will eventually be reconsidered nationwide. (By the way, I am neither a Democrat nor a “liberal,” which should pose some challenges to any potential responders…)

• 17. Bob  |  February 1st, 2008 at 1:23 pm

  Right your not a liberal democrat and my mother is Mother Theresa. You just pretty much hit all the talking points of the KOS crowd. Being a Navy Vet, I can tell you that yes that military recruiting does tend to put a better shine on things that my not be all that great but to say that the military does not offer anything good is absurd I recieved a wonderful education while I was in, I knew that at any point in time I could be called to war, that is what the military is supposed to do. Your obvious distain for the military in your writing is very transparent. So don’t try writing this tripe and expect us to belive that you are not a liberal.

• 18. SteaM  |  February 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm

  Right your not a liberal democrat and my mother is Mother Theresa. You just pretty much hit all the talking points of the KOS crowd.

  I knew that was coming. Very predictable of this crowd Jonathon.

  Just remember, as Colbert put it so nicely: “realisty has a liberal bias”.

• 19. Dasein Libsbane  |  February 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm

  Colbert may have put it nicely but you certainly didn’t.

  Jonathan King’s uber-liberal post,” end up in Afghanistan or Iraq, slaughtering civilians ” is exactly what one would expect from Berkeley’s Office of Public Affairs. As I said earlier, UC Bizerkley is intimately involved in the direction of that community. Sadly, once firmly ensconced in the bastion of liberal looneyness that is Bizerkley useful idiots like Jonathan King actually believe they’re not liberal. I invite everyone to read the Berkeleyan and decide for themselves.

• 20. Dasein Libsbane  |  February 1st, 2008 at 2:18 pm

  Around here we (UC) have a saying, “never put anything in writing you don’t want to see on the front page of the local newspaper.” Although in Berkeley Mr. King’s unflattering description of the US military would be considered heroic, I wonder how UCOP is going to feel about him using his office and position to proffer a University position on this issue.

  You will be available to the Press when they call and ask how the University stands on the issue, won’t you, Mr. King? I’m sure you cleared your statements with Cindy Major.

• 21. Kahn  |  February 1st, 2008 at 2:36 pm

  extra - you pick who you despise and we’ll pick who WE despise. The PEOPLE of UCB and the City of Berkeley are the same.

• 22. AAR  |  February 1st, 2008 at 3:05 pm

  Berkeley is and has been nothing more than a haven for a bunch of out-of-control anti-American Liberal nuts!

  Send in the Marines, declare martial law, and install a pro-American government!

  If the Berkeley idiots don’t like it, they can board the next boat for China!

  America doesn’t need their type!!!

  AAR

• 23. SteaM  |  February 1st, 2008 at 4:51 pm

  AAR,

  Hey, China has all the cool toys and even WalMarts now so you guys could all go there since you love buying their products so much already.

  But seriously, the City Council is voted in by the voters. If the people in that City don’t like this desicion it’s up to them to complain, get signatures to petition it to put it to vote or to simply vote them out next time the Council elections come around.

• 24. AAR  |  February 1st, 2008 at 6:15 pm

  “… the City Council is voted in by the voters.”

  Being that it’s Berkeley, my guess is that the voters agree with the City Council. Those who voted for the nutty anti-Americans would be on the same boat to China — with a swift kick from the Marines to speed them on their way!!!

  AAR

• 25. Baxter  |  February 1st, 2008 at 7:25 pm

  “end up in Afghanistan or Iraq slaughtering civilians”

  More of that great liberal intelligence at work.
  Because we all know that there was no “slaughtering” going on before the military went in.To the liberals who have to ignore the facts on the ground and rewrite history in trying to make their ignorant ideology make sense everybody was flying kites and singing campfire songs until the war monger Bush showed up.

  Just ignore the almost 1 million people that Saddam
  slaughtered with torture/rape rooms, assassination,and weapons of mass destruction.
  Just ignore the women who were not allowed to vote,get an education,killed for showing so much as an ankle or looking at another man.
  Just ignore the fact that Osama and Saddam had declared war on the west and Saddam had invaded other countries to kill their people and steal their resources(unlike America which has given each country the ability to have a free government and
  society through voting and representation by men and women).
  Unlike the Jihadist,we don’t target civilians are we
  would have simply made a parking lot out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Unlike the terrorist that liberals hold signs up at their rallies showing support of,we are not strapping
  bombs on men,women, and children and sending them off to markets and schools to blow them up.
  Unlike the terrorist,we do not hide among the civilian population and launch attacks from hospitals
  and Mosques,we use intelligence and precision weapons to limit civilian casualties.
  The facts on the ground show that our Soldiers have brought hope and freedom to countries
  once ruled by murderous dictators.The same way we
  brought freedom against the nazis and communists.

  Compared to other armies and forces like the UN who hold bags of rice and flour over the heads of starving men and women and will not release them
  until they have raped their children first(Somalia,Sudan and other countries experienced this on a huge scale,not the actions of a couple of bad apples).
  The men and women of our Army,Air Force,Navy,Marines,National Guard,and Coast Guard
  have served with bravery and honor,delivering hope
  and freedom to places around the world that had none until we showed up.
  This is a lot more of a contribution than the hateful,bigoted,liberals that profess to stand for freedom but don’t have the strength or intelligence
  to carry out the means to obtain it.

  One Soldier has done more for the spread of Freedom around the world than all the liberal
  activists combined.

• 26. Mark Noonan  |  February 1st, 2008 at 9:16 pm

  Jonathan,

  Perfectly fine - you’ve got the perfect right to despise the Marines, or anything you like…but for Berkeley to do this and still expect federal money to come…well, that is absurd. The Marines are federal - and you can’t pick and choose which parts of federal you want…its all or nothing. So, I’m sure you’ll be starting a petition drive to have Berekely divest itself entirely of all federal monies, right?

• 27. Mark Noonan  |  February 1st, 2008 at 9:18 pm

  Baxter,

  Heck, I’ll say that our liberals haven’t assisted in the liberation of anyone since at least World War two…not only that, but they’ve actually assisted in the enslavement of populations since then.

• 28. Barak  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm

  Jonathan is right! He is neither a Democrat or a liberal. He is actually a product of failed liberal policy. Hater, Traitor, instigator, I could go on, but you get the idea.

  Just to set the record straight, Kriss Worthington and 1 other council member voted NO. I sent letters to all of them. He responded, and the vote was actually 6-3.

  Also, this is the first year in many that Jonathans beloved UC had record CONSERVATIVE enrollment that actually bypassed liberal/Democrat enrollment.

  Christian & Conservative groups have exploded on campus and hold almost weekly gatherings that grow in leaps and bounds.

  The Californian published an article not a month ago in which an devout atheist contributor attended a religious and cultural debate. In his final words to describe this debate, he tells of a warm feeling that overtook his heart as the representitive of the Christian faith got up and began to talk about the Love of God. If this is what it’s all about, give me more!

• 29. FmrMarine  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm

  When the big cali earthquake comes, keep the troops out of these liberal bastions of hate.
  Let their modern Sodom and Gomorrah sink into the sewer which it belongs.
  Let them loot murder, rape pillage each other while begging for our “Marines” to come and save their rotten A$$ES, just refuse, Tell them our Marines are kicked out by law!

• 30. FmrMarine  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm

  steam
  is that how NAMBLA works?

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