Letters to the Editor
-
can i call for..
A ban on federal funds to towns whose school districts teach creationism?
-
I thought conservatives were for local government
I fail to see how this action meshes with the conservative ideal of the primacy of local government.
-
So maybe Berkeley can stop sending taxes to the Feds?
Taxpayer money includes money sent by residents of Berkeley, after all. So if they're not eligible to receive, I assume they're no longer obligated to provide?
-
It seems like such a trivial thing
For trifling people to yell about. I suppose though that when you grace the planet with your Berkeley enrollment dropped like dew from the heavens, you come to expect that the universe does indeed revolve around you.
Do you find it ironic, biting or arch that when you kick the USMC off the college campus then they run right out recruit the lower middle classes? We do, we find it almost sardonic.
-
as an anti-war Berkeley resident
I was nevertheless disheartened by the initial Council action. It's the wrong way to fight the war - it undermines the notion that one can oppose the war while respecting soldiers sent by reckless politicians.
Every so often the Berkeley govt. is inexplicably compelled to throw some red meat out there to enrage the right. Might as well poke ourselves in the eye with a sharp stick.
-
Say what you will
Sure, the Berkeley City Council shouldn't have been so harsh, especially since it's not the recruiters' fault that our government prefers to start unnecessary wars and shield the children of the powerful from fighting in them. However, free speech is free speech: the government has no right to restrict the free expression of ideas by anyone, anyone at all. So, if the Berkeley City Council is encroaching upon the Marines' right of free speech by barring them from the city... what do you call it when a bunch of conservative senators threaten to withhold millions of dollars from the city for expressing its opposition to war?
By the way, the Berkeley City Council retracted their letter very quickly. Are the Senators going to retract their threats, or are they going to punish Berkeley for being feisty?
-
punaise
Hits the nail right on the head. I live in SF and find these sorts of gestures to be totally counterproductive. The Marines and other branches of our armed forces are not the problem; they have no choice about where and when they fight. The problem is the leadership in Washington, most particularly that at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Way to feed the right-wing meme that those who oppose the war hate America/hate our military. Nice going, Berkeley.
-
A lot of conservatives
hate big government only until it does something they like, such as making a war, giving money to big corporations, or legislating morality. Then they want the long arm of the law to be very long indeed.
I have no problem with what Berkeley did. I find it infuriating that the military recruits on school grounds. Obviously, they have to recruit, but doing it on school grounds is their way of making an end-run around parents. It's a disgusting practice.
For those who disagree: How would you like it if a highly organized group of hardcore pacifists were given free rein to recruit on school grounds, trying to convince your kids to go overseas and engage in highly dangerous protest marches in hot spots around the world?
-
Who'd have thought soldiers were such fragile souls?
Goodness, a city council passes a resolution and Senator DeMint and the entire Marine Corps collectively clutches it's pearls. I think this reaction might shine some light on the reasons for our failures in Iraq, eh?
Wherever Chesty is, if he actually ever cried it would probably be bitter tears of shame.
-
Hey Berkley
If your so opposed to things the government does why don't you REFUSE that 2.1 million in earmarks. After all it's dirty money isn't it? Oh wait, I forgot you're socialists so sucking on the federal tit is what you do best. BTW, I'm libertarian so I don't think you shouldn't be getting anything anyway.
-
Berkeley Resident
As a Berkeley resident who is anti war, I also resent the attitude that somehow it's ok to recruit young men from the Valley, Oklahoma or Texas and not Berkeley. We have to be against the war, but we own this mess as much as everyone else does. Shut your eyes as long as children from other states and cities are dying, we are still Americans and we are still guilty. All your feigned rage does not absolve our guilt. Fight against the war, not side issues. Your anger is wasted.
-
Which direction are conservatives headed, again?
There's a conservative organization called "Move America Forward"? If they're interested in moving America forward aren't they, by definition, progressive? I suppose "Move America Forward" sounds better than "Move America Backward" or "Regressives for Change", etc.
-
@ ChillyDogg
How much do you think Berkeley residents contribute in Federal taxes? Somehow, 2.1 M sounds like a low ball estimate. Let me guess, you're from one of those states that are net beneficiaries of places like California. You know, the states that actually contribute to all things federal, like the military...
-
Marines+US Military just tax-payer financed Killers for the Bush Nazis!
Berkeley City Council knows that the Bush Regime is carrying out an illegal,murderous war in Iraq for the sole purpose of "stealing" that country's O-i-l!!! If the US Marines are claiming that they don't know this and if they will not acknowledge that the only reason they're in Iraq is (as is the rest of the US Military) to murder innocent men,women and children to aid & abet the Bush Nazis take over of the oil fields in that country,then they're just as corrupt and criminal as the Bush Regime is!
-
Meaningless
A. Who cares what the Berkeley City Council does or doesn't do
B. Jim DeMint is an idiot
-
@Strangely Enough
Did you even read all of my comment? I'm libertarian, I don't think anyone should have to pay taxes anyway. But if you take the good (the cash) you have to take the bad (The Marines). They want to have their cake and eat it too.
-
@one guy
great post. You should get a star. Your analogy was well-night perfect. I can just see wingnut heads exploding, if they were ever to read it.
We don't think much about a lot of things. Our armed forces are one such thing. We automatically support our perfect right to kill anyone we want..or, at least, we support the people who do the killing. We never think about it any other way. A tribalism so primitive we should all be ashamed of it.
It's always been a race between our forebrains and our hindbrains.. I often despair that our hindbrains will succeed in killing us all before our forebrains can get the situation under control.
And, can we please take people like Jim De Mint and shoot him up into orbit and leave him there? Just leave him there, circling the globe. If he promises to behave like a civilized human being (unlikely), then we'll let him come home.