Are Republicans as equal as the Code Pinkos?

I guess we'll see. They've asked for a protest permit with the same privileges as the Code Pinkos... in Berkeley. Who's betting that their request will be denied?

The Berkeley College Republicans are looking to get the same permit privileges that anti-war group Code Pink use to protest outside the Marine recruiting center in Downtown Berkeley.

Working with Councilmember Kriss Worthington, the group is asking for sound waiver permits and a parking spot reservation outside the center on Wednesdays from 12 to 4 p.m., the same time Code Pink protests outside the center, said Kimberly Wagner, activism chair for the Berkeley College Republicans.

“(Code Pink’s) claim is that they’re protecting free speech,” she said. “I kind of don’t feel they are, they are inhibiting the recruitment center in general. It’s important that they are not unopposed, that there are people willing to fight them. Even though it’s Berkeley, the liberal center of America, there will be people (opposed).”

Worthington is working to have the item appear on an agenda in May.

My guess is that their request will be denied.

The group is also circulating to make the recruitment center a protected zone -- sure to go over well with the Berkeley libs.

While I'm glad that someone in Berkeley is standing up to the Code Pinkos (it sure as hell needed to be done), I can't help but wonder what the Marines think. I highly doubt that they ever anticipated that opening a recruitment center in Berkeley would bring on this much attention or put them in this kind of political crossfire. And I doubt that they want this much protesting going on in front of their office, even if it is to support them. It's great that the College Republicans are doing this, but I don't see how it improves the situation for the Marines -- do you?

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Previous:
Video of the Day
Video of the Day: "Peaceful" protesting in Berkeley
Medea Benjamin finds that the Marines can be useful
"We've served this nation to protect the likes of ingrates like you."
Berkeley moonbats are attacking the police now, too
The Code Pink wackos strike again

Video of the Day: "Peaceful" protesting in Berkeley

Here's some video of the mature, peaceful, patriotic, fair-minded protestors in Berkeley.

Wait, did I say mature, peaceful, and patriotic? Make that foul-mouthed, violent, America-hating, military-despising, close-minded protestors in Berkeley. See some great catchphrases, hear some wonderful insults being tossed around, and watch as a mob of people chase two Republicans away yelling "Hit them!" and trying to start a fight.

Caution for language.



Hat Tip: Moonbattery

Medea Benjamin finds that the Marines can be useful

Code Pink has settled comfortably into Berkeley, able to protest our troops willing to fight and die to ensure that they can protest their very existence. Thankfully, not everyone in Berkeley agrees with the Code Pinkos, and someone in a white volvo came by to show his distaste -- by spitting on Code Pink (while I don't think spitting on people is all that great of an idea -- kind of disgusting, actually -- I'm glad to see that there are some Berkeley residents who are as disgusted with them are we are). An altercation ensued, and guess who Medea Benjamin wanted to come and help?

You guessed it:

“While we were at the protest in Berkeley from 12 to 4 PM a white volvo drove by and a man spat upon code pink. They chased him down the street and got into a verbal altercation. The police were NO WHERE in sight. That’s not the best part, ready for this? Medea Benjamin yelled and I quote “Marines!” she actually yelled for our help because this man had stepped out of his car. Lol. I even asked her if she was yelling Police and she told me “I said Marines” then put her arm around my friend Allen (the Marine vet) Ironic? Ok back to the emails!!

As Van Helsing at Moonbattery so astutely notes, this is only too typical of moonbats like Medea Benjamin. They scream in righteous indignation to protest our military, but the second we're threatened, who is it that will be the first in line to ask for their help? It's funny, ironic, and sickening, all rolled into one sorry bunch.

Hat Tips: Michelle Malkin and Moonbattery

"We've served this nation to protect the likes of ingrates like you."

They don't belong here; they shouldn't have come here; and they should leave.
- Berkeley mayor Tom Bates

Move America Forward is fed up with Berkeley, like many of us disgusted with their treatment of the military there.



The Army veteran in the ad, John Bringuel, is no stranger to the military hatred festering in Berkeley. In 1965, he spoke up against the anti-military bias there, and forty-three years later he's standing up for the military again. Hot Air
has an excerpt of his 1965 letter concerning the Berkeley ingrates:



Why the animosity towards Berkeley instead of the Code Pink traitorous moonbats? Because Berkeley isn't just looking the other way, they're active participants, encouraging the moonbats and publicly declaring that they want the Marines -- who they call "uninvited unwelcome intruders" and "barbaric" gone. The Berkeley City Council passed a resolution claiming that the recruiting office "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders." They've also given the moonbats their own designated parking spot in front of the office as well as a sound permit, so they can be as loud and disruptive as they wish.

Jim DeMint, as I mentioned yesterday, is moving to block all earmarks to Berkeley until they stop this atrocity.



Visit Move America Forward's website and sign the petition there. This situation has gotten disturbingly little attention in the mainstream media, but that doesn't mean you can't make your voice heard. Maybe it's time for the Berkeley City Council to start stocking up on white feathers:

Berkeley City Council
2180 Milvia Street
Berkeley, CA 94704

Mayor Tom Bates
2180 Milvia Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us

The Code Pink wackos strike again

Wherever there's a chance to attack our military, there will Code Pink be. When a new Marine center opened in Berkeley, Code Pink made sure the show them how they support our troops:

Marine Captain Richard Lund recruits college students and graduates as candidates for officer positions in the marines. But carrying out that job in Berkeley is not always an easy task.

He has listened to a variety of complaints from members of the anti-war group Code Pink in recent weeks.

"We are so shocked and horrified that the Marines have come to Berkeley to prey on our children," said Zanne Joi, a Code Pink member.

Last week, the Code Pink group protested by defacing the recruiting center and calling the recruiters liars.

In the face of all this, one might ask why would any recruiter want to come to Berkeley?

Lund says that the office is close to the UC Berkeley campus and a BART station that it is convenient for recruits.

But what about the Berkeley attitude?

"It was a little bit of a consideration," Lund said. "But this is my home. This is America. I'm from the Bay Area. I don't mind being in any city, any neighborhood. To me it's all home."

The Marines did receive a couple of visitors who approve of their presence.

"It seems to me by trying to shut down recruiting on or near college campuses, you're really violating the principles of free speech. And I find that repugnant," said Berkeley resident Nancy Klein. "But we have to be a little bit crazy here, it's kind of our persona."

Here is how they defaced the center:





And the complaints the article spoke of? Code Pink wacko Diane Budd, who apparently was one of the organizers of the attack, was rather open on their motives, and it wasn't just to complain:

Donning pink hats, T-shirts and badges, a group of 10 braved rush-hour traffic on Shattuck Avenue to protest against the recruitment office located at 64 Shattuck Square.

“If there are to be no wars, there can be no warriors,” said Dianne Budd, one of the organizers.

“We found out a few days ago and decided to make their lives miserable,” she said, pinning up “RECRUITERS LIE, CHILDREN DIE” posters on the office windows. “We want people to know that it’s here and we want to shut them down. If people had been in there we were ready to hand out information about GI rights. We just want to speak the truth.”

As Budd and her fellow organizers held a pink banner with “No military predators in our town” written on it, hundreds of cars, buses and trucks honked their support and waved.

No one came to drag the protesters away as they stood waving banners and talking for almost two hours.

“It’s my first-amendment right,” Budd said smiling. “Who’s going to stop me?”

They sure got a nice, warm welcome from the moonbats inhabiting Berkeley. And remember, don't ever, EVER, question their patriotism.

Richard Lund, the recruiter in charge of the center, is firing back though. He wrote an open letter to the Code Pink wackjobs. Unlike just about anyone in Code Pink, he was intelligent, reasonable, calm, collected, and uninsulting (and in my opinion, makes them look even stupider than they make themselves look all on their own). Here's an excerpt, but be sure to read the entire thing:

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.

...

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.

Michelle Malkin is asking for any Bay Area patriots to go to the recruitment center and show your support:

It would be nice if folks in the Bay Area could show up and counter-protest the Code Pinkos and show Capt. Lund some support. As they say: Eagles Up!

If you aren't too fond of counter-protesting, or perhaps you don't think you have the time, you can still show Capt. Lund some support. Stop by, thank him for his service. Make a phone call to the recruitment center to say thank you, let him know that what he's doing is appreciated. If you can spare an hour or two though, show the Code Pink moonbats what real patriotism is and counter-protest.

Hat Tips: Michelle Malkin, Stop the ACLU

Another Code Pink hunger strike

Cindy Sheehan's famous hunger strike included coffee, ice cream, and Jamba Juice smoothies. The hunger strike was so effective, that Michelle Malkin was able to gain weight when she jumped on board!



But, alas, the Code Pink wackos never give up.

Well, at least until they get hungry, and then they can run merrily over to Jamba Juice and get some blended strawberries, mangoes, or whatever else kind of smoothie they want, because that's how real hunger strikes work and all.

This time though, they don't even seem to know what exactly they're protesting:

"Code Pink, a national grassroots peace movement inspired by Bay Area women, organized the protest to call for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and immediate impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Protesters walked from the bridge to the Pacific Heights home of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., set up camp, cooked one last carbohydrate-heavy meal and began a hunger strike. About 40 gathered on some terraced steps near the senator's home, along with a half-dozen police officers.

"We have about eight people who are going to stop eating, including me," Code Pink spokeswoman Nancy Mancias said.

On Wednesday, the group plans to relocate the hunger strike to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home on Broadway, where they will urge the San Francisco Democrat to hold a town hall meeting with constituents.

Code Pink leaders believe both lawmakers should be doing more to bring the troops home and to rally other Democrats to call for an end to the war.

"Feinstein voted for the war spending bill, and even though Pelosi didn't, she's not doing enough to convince others to join her," Mancias said.

...Their hunger strikes have drawn worldwide attention. In summer 2006, the group was invited to meet with members of the Iraqi parliament in Amman, Jordan, to discuss diplomacy."

So... they're having a hunger strike to get Nancy Pelosi to meet with constituents? That's it?

These loonies have hunger strikes for everything, but -- surprise, surprise -- even though almost none of their goals have been met, they are all eating! I mean, we're still in Iraq but I haven't seen one Code Pink moonbat keel over from starvation yet.

As John Hawkins notes at Right Wing News::

Do these Code Pink loons even understand the whole concept of a hunger strike? You don't just, not eat for a few days, or eat smoothies and ice cream for a few days, like Cindy Sheehan, and then start eating again even though your demands aren't met. You're supposed to withhold sustenance from yourself until you get what you want or keel over dead.

Stupid Code Pink hippies -- they practically protest full-time and they can't even do that right.

You know, maybe this is just a method to try and lose weight for them. It could be the new fad diet: the Protest Diet! Find something that pisses you off and say you're going on a hunger strike to end it. Don't eat for a few days, lose five pounds, and then quit, all the while making yourself seem like you really, really care.

Considering the moonbats are so fond of not eating, why don't they just become Catholics? We fast all the time, especially during Lent. But then, they wouldn't be able to make themselves feel all important and influential that way, so I guess that's out, too.