Michael Bray

Author of A Time To Kill

Special Speech Rights in Berkeley

February, 2008
Special Speech Rights in Berkeley

Marines out! Sodomites in! That is the message of the city of Berkeley to the nation. On 29 January, the City Council passed a resolution 8-1 which tells the U.S. Marine Corps that its recruiting station is “not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”

The Council also voted to encourage, on the other hand, the radical anti-war group Code Pink in its efforts to drive out Marine recruiters by giving Code Pink protestors a free parking space in front of a recruiting station, along with a free sound permit for protesting once a week. Marine recruiters at Berkeley have been facing harassment from protestors who regularly block nearby sidewalks, generate excessive noise, and disrupt area business along with the recruiting efforts.

Finally, the Council voted to explore whether a city anti-discrimination law applies to the Marines, in view of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that, under the reign of Clinton, soften but did not abolish the age-old exclusion of sodomites in the military by prohibiting recruiters from asking recruits to state whether or not they regarding themselves as homosexuals.

On 6 February, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint sponsored a bill which would rescind over $2 million in hidden earmarks for Berkeley, California in the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill, and transfer the funds to the Marine Corps. U.S. Congressman John Campbell of California is introducing a companion bill in the House of Representatives. Senator DeMint issued the following statement in response to the Resolution:

“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”

This action reminds us of Berkeley’s ideological sister city, Oakland (see our Oakland City Council story at http://www.uncleraisin.com/UR/CA/Oakland01.asp), which passed an ordinance to suppress the speech of anti-abortionists outside abortion facilities. And so it was no surprise to find Library Trustee Ying Lee, former Berkeley councilmember and former aide to Communist and former Oakland. Mayor and former U.S. Congressman Ron Dellums participating in the anti-marine protest.

What is it about Leftists (who are almost guaranteed to be pro-abortionists as well) and free speech? The hypocrisy is glaring. They threw real blood on the Senate floor in the 60s to expressing their opposition to Viet Nam, but they can’t tolerate pictures of dead babies.

Now comes opposition to the war in Iraq and two Leftist city councils are showing their true colors on “free speech.” Free speech is for Left-wingers. No rights for the Right.

Now it isn’t that we don’t like to see a city express itself and even agitate for the distinctive views of its citizenry. We think it healthy to stand down the feds from time to time because (Lord knows) they make mistakes. What we despise is the fact that Leftists advocate for evil (sodomy) and practice hypocrisy, supporting the speech of pacifists and sodomy advocates and suppressing the speech of anti-abortionists.

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