<p>[Showdown</a> looms in ‘treasonous’ Berkeley - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/12/berkeley.marines/index.html]Showdown”>Showdown looms in 'treasonous' Berkeley - CNN.com)</p>
<p>What a joke…they’re only hurting their own cause in my opinion</p>
<p>With a son at UC Berkeley who lives just around the corner from this recruiting station, I’ve been following the story for a while now. I think the City Council totally blew it and have dug themselves an idiotic and deep hole. Apparently it was a commission that presented a report to the City Council, which was subsequently approved:</p>
<p>from today’s L.A. Times:</p>
<p><<wozniak termed=“” the=“” commission=“” a=“” “rogue”=“” group=“” whose=“” members=“” hid=“” declaration=“” among=“” hundreds=“” of=“” pages=“” given=“” to=“” council=“” members.=“” “it=”" was=“” inappropriate=“” language,“=”" he=“” said.=“” “i=”" don’t=“” think=“” many=“” even=“” read=“” it.“=”">></wozniak></p>
<p>This comment from a poly sci prof. sums up my feelings:</p>
<p><<“You’d think the council would stick to city matters. It’s OK to speak out as an individual, but when you do so as an institution, you jeopardize a lot of things – from federal money to the reputation of your community,” said Bruce Cain, a political scientist at UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>“The politicians are speaking for people who elected them on a different basis. They didn’t run on a foreign policy platform, but on city issues. It’s not fair to citizens for them to speak without a mandate.”>></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-marines12feb12,0,3940373,full.story[/url]”>http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-marines12feb12,0,3940373,full.story</a></p>
<p>But it will make for good television, I’m sure.</p>
<p>Even if the next terroist attack occurs at Berkeley, I am not sure the people there would come to their senses. Berkeley is a true cesspool of igorance.</p>
<p>Well, that’s overstating things a bit, razorsharp. There are many intelligent people living in Berkeley and a few on the margins of rational thought who are yet very vocal (and allowed to be so). The outliers get all the press. The City Council is getting a justly deserved wake-up call to be more vigilant.</p>
<p>I just returned from the Marine Officer recruiting station where I had traveled this morning in the hopes of taking the recruiters stationed here out to lunch. I don’t know any of them, and I’d never been there before, but I figured I wanted to lend my support and this was how I was going to do it. As it turns out they weren’t in, but as I was speaking with one of the three Berkeley police officers assigned there these past few days I noticed something interesting. </p>
<p>In the short two or three minutes I was there three other gentlemen showed up, pulled on the locked office doors, turned to the officers, and asked if they knew where the Marine recruiters were. It seems they had all come, individually, to take the Marines out to lunch also. I didn’t stick around to see how many other people would show up with the same plan in mind, but judging by what happened while I was there I’m willing to bet those Marines won’t have to buy their own lunch anytime soon.</p>
<p>^^^^ Well done!</p>
<p>And there is currently a bill in one House or the other with this message…</p>
<p>“Berkeley wants Marines out; Federal Funds Don’t Flow to Berkely”</p>
<p>Look forward to seeing this play out…</p>
<p>
[FOXNews.com</a> - Berkeley City Council to Revisit Vote Against Marine Recruiting Station - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum](<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330419,00.html]FOXNews.com”>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330419,00.html)</p>
<p>Though I’m by no means any kind of super pacifist, military recruiting does concern me.</p>
<p>Though there are some people who really want to go into the military a priori, I also think there is a large contingent of people targeted by recruiters who don’t entirely understand what they are committing to when they sign up; active and forward recruiting exacerbates that issue, and while it achieves the end goal (more people for the armed forces), I’m not sure it’s good policy or particularly ethical.</p>
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<p><em>sigh</em> Only in Berkeley.</p>
<p>I hope many, many people take them to lunch, continuously, so that they can’t do their jobs well. (Isn’t placing a Marine Recruiting Station in the middle of downtown Berkeley a prime example of government waste?)</p>
<p>First I totally disagree with what Berkeley has done and how they have worded this and handled it. To call any part of the armed forces that protect this country ‘unwelcome intruders’ is quite unforgivable. </p>
<p>Having said that I have to admit to agreeing to a certain extent with 1of42. When my son was 17 he had a recruiter come to the house and some of the stuff he said was mendacious to say the least. Such as you would not have to go to Iraq if you did not want to. You get to choose what you are trained in so you would not have to go into a war zone. The army is just like joining a corporation - you get to choose your job. Yeah - right. A lot of other things that I can’t remember now (4 years ago). That really annoyed me and swimcatsdad (who was in the reserves himself back in the Vietnam days though did not go to Vietnam). If he had chosen that route we would have supported him but I did not like some of the misinformation he was given and we were glad the discussion took place in our house (presumably because of his age?) so we could point out a few truths.</p>
<p>They prey on the insecurities of young people, and exhibit a consistent and insistent pattern of lying and deceit aimed at children that we would, in other circumstances, more normally associate with…</p>
<p>(I won’t go there.)</p>
<p>Even though this is a silly move on Berkeley’s part that will ultimately accomplish nothing, I fully support it because the reactions from the right so far have been pretty funny.</p>
<p>Socialists?..</p>
<p>barrons: What does an economic ideology have to do with military recruiting?</p>
<p>I hope Congress pulls through and cuts funding to Berkeley. While they’re at it, they can cut funding from Toledo, OH too since the mayor is “too scared” to allow training to take place…</p>
<p>1of42, why don’t you go back to Canada? You hate US rules and you hate the US government. Why don’t you just leave?</p>
<p>I’m a Navy Veteran yet when a Navy recruiter called my house looking for my then 17-year-old son I told him that he was welcome to call my son when he (my son) turned 18. Until that time I would not allow him to take unsolicited phone calls from military recruiters.</p>
<p>Believe me when I tell you that if my son had come to me and expressed an interest in joining the military I would not have discouraged him. In addition, I would have gladly allowed the recruiter to speak to him. Since that had not happened I simply would not allow them to speak with my son.</p>
<p>I understand recruiters have a job to do and are under tremendous pressure to produce numbers. I don’t blame them for doing their jobs. I do strongly disagree with the federal law requiring schools to give recruiters personal information on their students however. Rather than this being an opt-out situation it should be opt-in.</p>
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<p>Why don’t you get off CC? You obviously hate me.</p>
<p>When you answer that question, you will have the answer to yours.</p>
<p>Though, your question is flawed from the start, since I don’t particularly hate the US government or many of its laws. Even if I did, I have things to gain here, so I stay. That is the answer to your question, by the way - even if I hated America’s laws, its government and its people [I don’t, though your method of interaction here is starting to make me dislike you], I happen to like its best universities - and I plan to use the H1B visa to work here after undergrad, since I do actually like this country. The cool thing about having opinions is that just because my opinion of America is good overall does not mean I must like everything about the country.</p>
<p>Eventually, you will mature enough to be able to handle a political disagreement without resorting to personal attacks. I eagerly await that day; I suspect you have lots of interesting things to contribute.</p>