The insanity continues....

Berkeley, CA, is well remembered as an anti-war community in the 1960s. Now, 40 years later, it has proven its anti-war reputation is well deserved. One wonders how many of those "Code Pink" anti-war protesters at the Marine recruiting station are leftovers from the hippie years.

After Berkeley City Council passed their anti-military provisions last week, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) proposed legislation to end all earmarks and federal funding to the Berkeley area. In a press release on Thursday he said:

“This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families. The First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money. If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer funded handouts. I am currently drafting legislation to ensure that American taxpayers aren’t forced to pay for this insult by rescinding all of the earmarks for Berkeley in the Omnibus Appropriations bill, and to transfer the funds to the Marine Corps.” That totals $2.1 million that would be saved if not sent to Berkeley ... money that would go to the Marine Corps.

The insanity continued as three Code Pink anti-war protesters padlocked themselves to the Marine recruiting station door Friday for over seven hours, blocking the door for anyone who wanted to enter. Arrested by police, they defiantly announced they would continue to protest. Mary Ann Thomas, 64, said they had made a great statement by blocking the door. Let's see ... Ms. Thomas would have been in her 20s in the 1960s at the height of the anti-Vietnam era....

There were those who wanted to go inside the recruitment station but were shouted at and turned away by the protesters blocking the door:

Heated words were exchanged whenever people tried to enter or leave the office, but the protest was peaceful.

"You guys are just cannon fodder!" the chained protesters shouted at three teenage boys who walked past the office and said they wanted to go inside. "They want to train you to kill babies!" The teenagers turned around and left.

At one point, UC Berkeley student Kyrolos El Giheny walked up to the front door and tried to go inside to talk to Lund about a possible Marine career. He was unable to get past the chained protesters.

"They told me, 'No business as usual today,' " El Giheny said. "It's kind of nutty. It's really an infringement on my rights."

The city of Berkeley has heard from conservatives nationwide protesting their treatment of the Marines. City Council removed their contact information from their website because they had received so many phone calls. If you contact anyone on this list please be polite.

Members of the Berkeley City Council
www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil
(510) 981-6900

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.
demint.senate.gov/public
(202) 224-6121

Code Pink
www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?list=type&type=3
(415) 575-5555

Marine Corps Headquarters in Virginia
www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/homepage?readform
(703) 614-1492