Letter to a Local Newspaper Writer (K Bender)

I had a nice talk with someone this morning who was supportive of this effort - so this afternoon I wrote to one of the local newspaper people who have been covering this mess. Since no one showed up on Tuesday, I wanted her to have an idea of what happened. Also this morning I found a site called protestshooter.com that is pictures of events like this, but some local person. Anyway - here's today's letter:

"I went by the Marines' Office on Tuesday to see what kind of turn out they got for free food. While Code PINK publicity for the event may claim victory for the Pink Ladies, there was no food and ALL the students from Berkeley High who showed up were in support of the Marine's presence in Berkeley. Code Pink was a little confused to see them, but the students were polite (and hungry) and Code PINK really had nothing else to do, so there was some good discussion.... There are tons of pictures of the event on a site called protestshooter.com... though I think the point of those pictures was to document the non-event nature of the event.

Another person who showed up on Tuesday was the Berkeley City permit guy, who did not allow un-permitted activity, including standing in the street, blocking the sidewalk and distributing free food. His behavior was calm and professional for the entire time I was there, even when a Code PINK member yelled to Medea Benjamin from across the street that "the problem" was that "he's being a JERK!". Police on the scene also gently re-directed jaywalkers, enforced smoking bans and other city rules. I was really pleased to see Berkeley Police and Permit Department enforcing existing regulations, evenhandedly and firmly. (I hope they can do the same tomorrow when World Can't Wait! arrives to provoke them. A balanced, "neutral" but not passive police presence is crucial for dealing with WCW - a group that seeks out violence they can frame as brutality and arrests they can characterize as unjust).

It distressed me that Rebecca Lyman (CodePINK) tearfully cried harassment Tuesday night at the Berkeley City Council meeting. The gist of her remarks was that IF the Police were just following Berkeley laws, she'd like to see some flexibility in enforcement of those laws -- for Code PINK. I'd encourage you to find her statement from Tuesday night -- to see what constitutes harassment to her, and her friends. Rebeca Lyman also appears on YouTube accusing Marines of war crimes and various other things --- maybe she doesn't know what THAT means, either.

I'm writing you with additional information you might not have, because you and Doug Oakley have done such a good job covering this. If you are interested in talking to Pro-Marine High School students, email me and I'll direct you to my son and group. They are truly radical in the current context. I hadn't seen them in action until Tuesday, and was quite pleased at their ability to have discussions with Medea Benjamin et al without losing either their tempers or their senses of humor.

Thanks for helping to keep Berkeley accountable. It could be a full time job, but you seem to get a lot else done, too.

There is No Free Lunch!!!!

Well, we tried. Code PINK had a party today and (almost) nobody came -- but we were there!

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/25/18481608.php

I tried to invite the Berkeley College Republicans to come too (see below). My son invited every red, white and blue blooded kid he knew of at Berkeley High to attend, too -- since the party was in part to show appreciation for Berkeley High kids showing up on 2/12/08.

"With apologies for short notice, I'm writing you (as President of the BCR) to point out that Code PINK is having a FREE APPRECIATION LUNCH tomorrow, in front of the Officer Selection Office at Shattuck Square. As a Berkeley resident who supports the Marines in Berkeley...well, I'd love to see you and 50 of your friends show up at noon to enjoy the party...maybe a few minutes before noon, to be sure the vegan meatballs don't run out.

I think we all qualify to attend -- who doesn't love peace? I didn't see anything here about how best to obtain peace... but I know my plan doesn't involve kicking the Marines out of town. I have contacted the City Council and suggested to them that they not attend such a partisan event, and certainly try to avoid further exposure on YouTube.

Please spread the word - if you can suggest others I should contact, please do that as well. I'm asking my 16 year-old Berkeley High son to post something on all his various anti-PINK, anti-City Council, anti-narrow minded hypocrisy and pro-USMC Facebook groups.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/25/18481608.php"

Oh, and there was no food, because there was no permit to give food away. And there was no parking space because there was no permit for the parking space (on Tuesdays). The BPD was even enforcing the jaywalking laws!!!! There was a nasty little dog that should have been on a leash...but, nobody's perfect!

I Lost my Post(s). It Must Be That Berkeley Karma

I posted this on a blog by Amy Proctor earlier, and then ended up at the site for a group called "Protest Warriers" which is pretty outrageous:

"I'm here in Berkeley with my family, living as ex-patriot Americans in the People's Republic. The City Council has gone mad, and their encouragement has now made it possible for World Can't Wait! to surplant Code PINK in front of the Recruiting Office.

World Can't Wait! as a group seems willing to be punched - so they can claim brutality, or arrested - so they can claim injustice. Despite the problem with the Berkeley Police mistaking "neutral" for "passive", my sympathy is with them. They are caught between the 60's and the Anarchists.

I would like to start a group (Berkeley Marine Sanctuary) for people who support the presence of the USMC in Berkeley. My goals are 1) to supply material aid to the Marines (cookies and handshakes seem to be appreciated), 2)to support the Police in enforcing existing laws to control the protesters or put them away, and 3)to start asking Berkeley's quiet people to speak up, so the Council doesn't mistake volume for numbers, next time. I can be contacted at a yahoo email address, berkeleymarinesanctuary (at) yahoo (dot) com.

I met Roger Young yesterday - retired career Army and dad of a Marine - he has now driven up from Orange County twice to be sure someone counter-protests the World Can't Wait! thugs. In honor of the loose law enforcement, I double-parked upstream of the water boarders and megaphones, to thank Roger for his presence in Berkeley, and to apologize for being home with a sick kid while he was out on the sidewalk. I asked him if he was hungry and he said folks had been bringing him food and coffee coupons all day (yay!), so he was "all set". When I told him I was from Berkley, he smiled and said "but you seem so NORMAL!"

How sad is that?"

The World is a Close as a Google (or Yahoo) Search!!!

Well, I compiled my links and said profound things...and then lost them all. I'll be briefer, sadder, wiser this time:

http://www.zombietime.com/berkeley_marines_2-12-2008/ (excellent photo essay from Tuesday's demonstration)

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/09/18478091.php (why is our City Council member calling on college students to come protest his own meeting?)

http://www.americanthinker.com/kyleanne_shiver/ (Just found this this morning and enjoyed it. On the importance of picking your fights).

There were a lot more words last time, but lets just get this posted and out!!!!

Job Security - but there's just so much Information!

I apologize for not writing sooner, but I have been using a lot of time just following the ongoing drama of Marines in Berkeley. I assume you all have been following, too, if only what's been on the news. At the risk of ruining the punchline of my story I will tell you right away that I wondered at 1am on Wednesday if I was out of a "job" because the Council backed down and admitted that the Marine Office had the right to be located in Berkeley.

Well, job security isn't really that great if its a job you don't want to be necessary...but it looks like we'll be here awhile longer.

I'm going to put in some links to stuff I've found that I thought was particularly useful or descriptive concerning the demonstration on Tuesday and what has gone on since. Of course, if you are reading this you have the same capability to find those sources -- I would encourage anyone to try a Google search for "Berkeley vs. Marines" or "Code PINK vs. Marines" to see what you turn up.

In my opinion local papers have been more fair than I expected (I didn't expect much), with the best coverage from Doug Oakley of the San Jose Mercury News. The local television stations have been fascinated in their fashion, at 5:00am Tuesday there were 6 television trucks plus print journalists, etc. following a protest which at that time numbered about 50 people on each side of Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park. I was there, because I found out the night before that my college-aged daughter was coming by to drag my high school-aged son to the protest... so I got to do the right thing AND see my kids. The little guy was home with dad and we were back for breakfast before either one noticed.

The other assembled anti-war groups A.N.S.W.E.R. and World Can't Wait! almost made Code PINK look reasonable. That is the biggest condemnation I can give. There were people of goodwill on all sides, and there were people hellbent on getting attention by behaving badly, or in a shocking fashion - which is sometimes hard in Berkeley. Its not true that "all" the pro-troops demonstrators were from somewhere else, but some were and came amazing distances to be there. I'll try to add links to some stories. Its sad that Medea Benjamin of Code PINK can dismiss people who sacrificed so much to be here as "outsiders" instead of hearing something in the fact that they were committed to BEING HERE.

World Can't Wait recruited hundreds of high school students into their ranks at lunchtime using of a ploy Code PINK has condemned (when used by the military) --- FREE STUFF! It was sad to see hatred and vulgar language coming out of 15 year-olds who had just been given t-shirts and bandannas by World Can't Wait! in exchange for their participation -- during lunch and beyond. Next week I will have to ask the school what their policy is on the kids who were photographed while cutting school (right across the street) and shouting "1,2,3,4, We don't want your F***ing War!" at senior citizens who may also have been Veterans of Foreign Wars. I ran into my son and his friends at lunchtime, too. A group later dismissed by an anti-war blogger as "short haired para-military youth." The blogger probably thought she was being open-minded and loving, because she didn't ACTUALLY call them neo-Nazi skinheads....My son does have short hair, and he did wear a shirt with a flag on it....so I guess that's proof that there's something sinister about him. Nice shirt, too - from the Jelly Belly Factory, with "Proud to Bean American" on it.

Some teachers brought their kids out to participate in the protest as well. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! I've tried in the past to get teachers at Berkeley High to behave in a more professional manner and they don't see it. The worst ones cannot conceive of stifling their own opinions to the higher calling of behaving like an adult and creating a safe place for students to have their own opinions. When my daughter was at Berkeley High the issue was complying with Ed Code to put a flag in every classroom. The Superintendent of Schools and the Principal came down on the side of flags being an unnecessary expense and infringing on teachers' personal rights --- but put up the flags when money was threatened. Last year they proudly folded again under federal pressure to comply with the "Opt-Out" legislation attached to "No Child Left Behind" and again it was because money was threatened. Berkeley was the last high school in the country to use an "Opt-In" strategy with military recruiters, "return this form if you want to be contacted", and by last year the Department of Defense had had enough arrogance and ended the stand-off with a single phone call. (Oh to have been a fly on the wall!!!) Berkeley is horrified that Sen DeMint has threatened to take our Earmarks - and now the State wants to take $3.3 in transportation money because the City ceded space on a public roadway to a private political group....well. There is a precedent. Its worth it if it works.

Oh wait, arrogance and unprofessional behavior...that reminds me. Berkeley City Council doesn't get it, either. Indeed, a large part of the communication I've had with the BCC in the past two weeks has been respectfully reminding them that while they are entitled to their personal opinions, they are pledged to perform objective public service. Gordon Wozniak is the only one who actually expressed that concept publically on Tuesday night, but Mr. Capitelli and Mrs. Olds actually do believe it. Of the rest, most don't get it but only Max Anderson actually seems to have a personal hatred of the military, based I think on his own experience (which I'll have to research). More than ever, its clear that our Mayor is clueless, which leads to his doing evil things without comprehension. The rest of them are just a waste, at least on this issue.

Oh! There is a Person Behind this Blog!

I’ve been reminded to tell you who I am. I’m a mom, and I live in the kind of neighborhood Council member Betty Olds did when she said that during the Vietnam War she and the other moms all found a psychiatrist to declare their kids “crazy” in order to avoid the draft.

Now my neighborhood runs heavily to Volvos and Prius Hybrids, Spanish speaking gardeners, Peet’s coffee, skateboards and play dates where at least one adult is a nanny. Oddly enough, we have none of those things at our house, except the play dates, We drive American cars and eat too much red meat; even more conspicuously we have an American flag out front. I feel guilty about leaving it overnight without proper lighting, but I do it.

In a town where the School District apologized for caving in to the feds on “Opt Out” for military recruiters, and had to go buy classroom flags when a parent finally sued them …well, if you want to be really radical in Berkeley, be a conservative. My husband and I have a daughter 19 and sons 16 and 6.

I wrote to Betty Olds’ staff yesterday and will end with what I told them about why this issue matters so much to me.

“I have a kid at Cal, one at Berkeley High and one in Kindergarten. Appeasing terrorists doesn't work for me because it's my 6 year-old who will be drafted into the next war if we walk away from this one with a ‘kick me’ sign on our backs.”

Did I mention that I get carried away sometimes?

WELCOME TO THE SANCTUARY!!!

Many thanks to all of you who have expressed support for the USMC Officer Recruitment Office at 64 Shattuck Square, Berkeley. I'm happy to say I may be in a race to publish the whole story (from my perspective as one who never wears pink) before the Berkeley City Council finds a way to wiggle out of their initial, completely unacceptable, statement of nonsupport. The City Council was surprised at the level of angry response they received in the first few days after their remarkably cavalier and thoughtless resolutions were passed, a week ago today. Some members have explained the response away by calling those who emailed them "Right wingers" and "Not from Berkeley". As of this morning the Chamber of Commerce had received mail and phone calls from 146 individuals planning to boycott the City in any way they could. A Councilmember dismissed those angry people as "probably" not from here or planning come here, anyway. If you want details from that part of the story, email me and I'll look up the link.

For those of you without a scorecard, this is the current run down. Within the City Council, Gordon Wozniak gets the points for never supporting either the anti-marine or pro-Code Pink resolutions. Betty Olds and Kris Worthington objected to the sending of a nasty-gram telling the Marines we don't like them, but yes on the rest. Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli are the Council members now officially calling for the undoing the vote. Linda Maio and Max Anderson sponsored the resolution giving Code Pink a parking space and noise permit for the next 26 Wednesday afternoons. While Maio says the wording was poor and should be reconsidered, Max Anderson stands by his votes, as do Dona Spring and Darryl Moore. Tom Bates, the Mayor of this town, not only voted for both resolutions, but made a statement before they passed that has been repeated in several different sources, "I believe in the Code Pink cause. The Marines don't belong here, they shouldn't have come here, and they should leave," said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates.

The thing about a statement like that out of the City's Mayor, is that it really makes his subsequent call for a gentler rewriting of the resolutions sound ingenuous and false. Better he should fall on his rubber sword as a man of integrity, who was just WRONG -- to apply his personal opinion to a City issue. Code Pink is complicit in all this because they are loud and fairly consistent in their loudness. This blog is in part my penance for having tolerated Code Pink and The World Cant Wait in silence, long enough that Tom Bates could believe their opinions were popular, mainstream, or even rational. Like Mayor Bates, Code Pink is entitled to its opinions, but not to assume that they represent the rest of us.

Of course, the resolution to boot the Marines started with Steve Freedkin, Chair Emeritus (since 2/1/08) of the Peace and Justice Commission. There was much made at the Council meeting of the fact that this was Freedkin's last meeting as Chair, and there were several items from the Commission before the Council that night, ranging from boycotts, recall of National Guard Troops from Iraq, to Declaring Berkeley a Sanctuary City for users and providers of Medicinal Cannabis. The URL for the Agenda is here: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=11042 There is also a video of the whole meeting. Trust me, its REALLY LONG. From the above link you can find the text of the Peace and Justice Commission's recommendation to the Council. They also take liberty with facts vs. opinions...stating the latter as the former. Its sad, but a learning experience for the rest of us. I will not stoop to that --- but cannot expect any more than that from those who would damage this City, and more importantly this Country.

I need to go make eye contact with my 6 year-old right now, so will stop for awhile. I urge you to look around for information on Code Pink and The World Can't Wait while I'm gone. There are a couple of amazing YouTube videos related to all this, plus one on Breitbart.com (and probably YouTube by now) showing the WCW (orange prison jumpsuits) chained to the doors of the USMC Recruiting Center on Friday. I had seen still photos, but the video really makes a point about reasonable behavior. Try to be kind to the "neutral" police officer. He was following orders from a City Council almost entirely absent from the scene, and a Mayor whose email was set to "bounce" because of the huge amount of traffic he provoked.

Time to Step Up and Say Something

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=02-01-08&storyID=29069

Berkeley has bitten off more than they can chew here. News at 11.