Jolie Rouge

Initiative Targets Military Recruitment
November Ballot Proposal Would Limit Where Centers Could Be Built, Require Public Hearing[/b]
By TAYLOR FIFE -- Contributing Writer
Thursday, January 24, 2008

In response to a Marine Corps recruiting office established in Berkeley last year, local activists are trying to make it more difficult for future recruiting centers to open in the city.

If passed by a majority of Berkeley voters, a proposed initiative would require military recruiting offices and private military companies in Berkeley to first acquire a special use permit. To obtain this permit, a business must hold public hearings and a public comment period.

If the initiative passes, recruitment offices could not be opened within 600 feet of residential districts, public parks, public health clinics, public libraries, schools or churches.

Currently, a recruiting office is held to the same standards as most other businesses, which do not require a public hearing or have limits on where offices can be established.

The author of the initiative, Berkeley-based lawyer Sharon Adams, modeled the initiative after current zoning law that restricts the location of adult-oriented businesses. "In the same way that many communities limit the location of pornographic stores, that's the same way we feel about the military recruiting stations," said PhoeBe sorgen, an initiative proponent and a member of the city's Peace and Justice Commission. "Teenagers that really want to find them will be able to seek them out and find them, but we don't want them in our face."

The initiative lists complaints against the military including the invasion of Iraq, abuses at Abu Ghraib, discrimination based on sexual orientation and recruiters who mislead potential recruits about benefits and duties.

Recruiters from the office declined to comment.

The primary purpose of the new zoning law would be to protect young people from undue influence from military recruiters, supporters say. "We feel that as a community we need to protect the youth," Adams said. "We're trying to level the playing field."

Berkeley Councilmember Dona Spring said she supports the wording of the initiative, but said she would prefer the issue be passed by council so it can be enacted faster rather than waiting for the initiative to be placed on the ballot in November. "I think we should just go ahead and pass it," she said. "We can't take everything to the voters."

But some proponents are hesitant to pass the ordinance through the council because they feel it might be watered down by other council members.

In addition to making it more difficult for future military recruiting centers to be established, Spring also said she would support action that would remove the current office, which is in her district. "I do want to do something, whatever we can do, to shut down an agency that offends our public standards," she said. "It's a detriment, it's a danger to the public."

Code Pink has staged demonstrations against the recruitment center every Wednesday in front of the center on Shattuck Avenue since Sept. 26.

The Marine Recruitment Center, which has been located in Berkeley since mid-2007, is the only military recruitment center in Berkeley.

Proponents hope that this ordinance will become a template for communities around the country to follow. "We hope this is a model for other places," Adams said. "I have already gotten e-mails from people trying to duplicate this."

Contact Taylor Fife at tfife@dailycal.org.

http://www.dailycal.org/article/1000...ry_recruitment

Contact info for the Berkeley “Peace and Justice Commission:”

Manuel Hector, Jr.
Health & Human Services
(510) 981-5110
E-mail: MHector@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Like all good communists, they are all about the rights of an individual to make a choice, until they make an unacceptable choice. Then the vanguard must guide them to the “correct” position.

All their talk about “Freedom of Speech” and “Freedom of Dissent” is actually “Freedom to speak only if I agree with you and you tow my line.”



Recruiters all but outlawed in Berkeley

From The Daily Cal’s website:
This is how they intend to make it more difficult: “If passed by a majority of Berkeley voters, a proposed initiative would require military recruiting offices and private military companies in Berkeley to first acquire a special use permit.

To obtain this permit, a business must hold public hearings and a public comment period.

If the initiative passes, recruitment offices could not be opened within 600 feet of residential districts, public parks, public health clinics, public libraries, schools or churches.”

Also, military recruitment offices have been compared to “pornographic stores“:

For those of you who aren’t acquainted with the non-residential areas of Berkeley, this process would make getting a recruitment office nearly impossible. First, the proposed recruitment office would have to have a special permit that they’d have to obtain through the “public hearing and public comment” process, which means entangling themselves in Berkeley’s sizeable and slugglish bureaucratic net. If they were successful, the 600 foot regulation basically covers anything they could be next to. The assumption that they have to be far away from public entities like schools, parks, and clinics indicates that the city still believes recruiters are “preying” on poor, weak, minority citizens. However, churches? Those aren’t “public” in the same way the other institutions are, and shouldn’t be put in that category (the whole church and state thing).

My elementary analysis: This is the “nice” way of banning military recruitment without actually doing it. I hope the public outcry is loud. But what am I saying, this is Berkeley.

http://www.californiapatriot.org/blo...d-in-berkeley/

Didn’t America fight a Civil War? Pesky little jurisdictional questions about the authority of the Federal government versus local/state entities were answered almost 145 years ago.

The Marine recruitment center in Berkeley is for officers and is eligible only to college graduates. Minorities, the poor, and impressionable teenagers are not being recruited, as the “activists” certainly know.



What about this scenario: A natural disaster hits the area and local leaders call for the National Guard to help them. Officials tell them:

Quote:

“To help you it is necessary to set up a command post and office area to coordinate the effort. We’ll send the National Guard in when all the necessary paperwork has been filled out and the public hearings have been held. We don’t want to violate your rights and city ordinances. Have a nice day.”

I be they’d howl like scalded cats, but I bet it wouldn’t change their minds about the military.

---

But I’d like to hear what our illustrious presidential candidates, both democrats and republicans, have to say about this initiative. Who knows, we may learn something...

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

City Council Passes Motions Criticizing Marines Office
By ASAF SHALEV - Contributing Writer
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Members of the Berkeley City Council showed their opposition to a Marine Corps recruiting office in Downtown Berkeley last night.

Council members supported the two resolutions-one supporting anti-war protests and the other criticizing military recruitment practices-citing opposition to the war in Iraq, deceptive recruitment practices and the right to protest. "By taking a stand against recruitment we are protecting the health and safety of our youth," said PhoeBe sorgen, a member of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission. "I see the protest as taking a proud and courageous stand."

Code Pink, a national anti-war grassroots organization, will be granted a parking spot for their regular Wednesday afternoon protests and will not need to apply for a sound permit for the next six months, under one resolution.

The other resolution more directly criticizes the presence of the center in Berkeley. The city manager was directed to send a letter to the U.S. Marine Corps saying they are "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" in the city.

In addition, the city attorney has been directed to investigate whether the city's anti-discrimination laws can be enforced at the center, based on the military's consideration of sexual orientation in hiring.

Marine recruiters did not return calls for comment yesterday.

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who voted against both resolutions, said perpetuating the conflict in front of the center would harm nearby businesses.

Ziba Fanaian, manager of Z & S Beauty Studio, said the anti-war activists are disruptive when they create noise and block the sidewalk. "Sometimes it is very crowded," she said. "It is not easy for us, for business."

Council members condemned the war in Iraq and recruiting practices that make false promises to potential recruits. "If we can provide a space for ordinary people to protest this barbarity, we ought to do so," said Councilmember Max Anderson.

Councilmember Betty Olds voted against the resolution to criticize the military, while Councilmember Kriss Worthington voted against the requirement to send a letter to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli voted for both resolutions but said he was concerned about the council's opinion on the war influencing the procedural aspects of the resolution, which was the first of its kind ever passed in the city. "We are not talking about the legality of the Iraq war," he said.

The City Council's decision echoes mounting opposition to military recruitment in the Berkeley.

Local activists have proposed an initiative for the November 2008 elections that would require military recruiting centers to acquire a special use permit.
"The Marines ought to have better sense than to come here," Olds said.


Contact Asaf Shalev at ashalev@dailycal.org.

http://www.dailycal.org/article/1001...ing_marines_of




Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
SHAMEFUL: Berkeley City Council Attacks Marines!
Move America Forward

MARINES ATTACKED IN BERKELEY, CA[i]
City Calls Marines “Unwelcome Intruders” [i]

SAN FRANCISCO – The City of Berkeley, California has passed two resolutions attacking the United States Marine Corps, calling the Marines, “uninvited and unwelcome intruders in the city.”

The Berkeley City Council voted to condemn the Marines on Tuesday night (January 29th) as part of a campaign by anti-war activists to shut down a U.S. Marine Recruiting Center located in the city of Berkeley.

The votes by the Berkeley City Council were immediately condemned by Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org), the nation’s largest grassroots pro-troop organization. “It is disgraceful that in the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, anti-military activists would attempt to silence the same military men and women who serve this country and give their lives to protect the free speech rights of all Americans, including these ungrateful and despicable people on the Berkeley City Council,” said Melanie Morgan, Chairman of Move America Forward.

The actions by the Berkeley City Council followed continuous protests by Code Pink and other anti-military organizations that vandalized and defaced the U.S. Marine Recruiting Center in September 2007.

One of the two resolutions passed by the Berkeley City Council last night granted a parking spot in front of the Marine Recruiting Center to be used by anti-military activists to harass Marine recruiters. The anti-military activists would not need to apply for a sound permit for the next six months – allowing them free reign to disrupt the day-to-day operations by the Marines.

Move America Forward organized a counter-protest in support of the Marines last October that attracted over 400 pro-troop supporters who stood in solidarity of the Marine Recruiting Center. “We have hundreds of thousands of military men and women serving honorably overseas to protect our freedoms. Imagine how they feel when they go to turn on the news and see that they are being stabbed in the back by shameful people here at home, it’s disgraceful!” said Catherine Moy, Executive Director of Move America Forward.

This release posted at: http://www.moveamericaforward.org/index.php/MAF/MAFNews

CONTACT: Mary Pearson: (916) 441–6197 or Email: mary@MoveAmericaForward.org



Well, then, when San Francisco/Berzerkeley and the bay area psychos are hit with an earthquake, terrorist attack, protest/riot, or other catastrophe that would require law and order be maintained by the military or national guard, they can fend for themselves. However, you know some brass somewhere loves this fight knowing the likely waste of money it is to put a recruiting center right in the middle of their liberal day care.

Maybe we should give California what it wants?

Close down all the military bases, move the troops and bases one state over.
Deny government contracts to companies operating in California, pull all federal funding and federal offices and personnel and send those salaries and the tax base somewhere else where it’ll be appreciated by the local economy.

I’d love to hear how John McCain would reconcile his opinion on this matter.

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Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

gmyers

What the military needs to do is if this country is ever invaded let Berkeley protect themselves since they don't want them in their community. I bet they'd be the first one to protest if the military didn't prorect them if that happened. Or since they don't want them to recruit people maybe they should reinstate the draft and not give them a choice anymore.

freeby4me

If they want recruiters to set up shop anywhere they want, STOP LYING TO OUR YOUNG PEOPLE TO GET THEM TO SIGN UP. To do that is beyond sick.

__________________
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PrincessArky

wow I just dont know what to say other than I am shocked

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January 16, 1940 to April 29, 2009

wobblypops

This is why main stream USA hates California, for the most part.

If Berkeley doesn't want to support the military that makes their freedoms possible, then we should revoke the freedoms within the civil limits of Berkely. Just pull all the police, fire dept's and EMT's out and let the gangs and thugs take over.

Then we'll see how much Berkeley values freedom.

tigger4

Exactly. I had a recruiter sit at a table and tell my son that he should join up in ROTC now and the military when he graduates. My son said well won't I go to Iraq. The recruiter said oh no hardly any of the recruits go to Iraq, we send them to college then they might go to Iraq. Yeah, right. If that is true, where in the hell are all of these 18 and 19 year old kids that are getting killed coming from?

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freeby4me

Yup, they'll lie to get them to sign up, they'll tell them "oh yea you'll be able to work on such-N-such or oh yea I can guarantee you wont go to this or that place. Bull ****. They cant promise squat and to do so is bull ****. It should not be allowed.

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tigger4

No, it shouldn't be allowed. And I am shocked at the parents that believe the bull**** that the recruiters put out. We are in the middle of two damn wars, what makes you think your child isn't going to go to one of them?

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Vee030473

In response to all the negativity about recruiters,I have a few things to say.
First off,there are some terrible recruiters out there,but there are also alot of recruiters that do their mission the way it is meant to be done. A recruiter does just that,recruits. He/She does not,as far as Army recruiters,lock you in the MOS you have chosen,that is the job of a MOS counselor,who is always a civilian.When you have chosen and locked in your MOS,you do basic training and your AIT(advanced individualized training),if you pass through that,then you are in the MOS you have chosen.Mind you I am only speaking about the Army. No recruiter can promise you that you will never see combat but then again what person would believe anyone when they say,"Oh youll never see combat." It is the military,that is a part of being in the military. Especially when there are two wars going on,and we are also still in Bosnia as well as Africa. My husband has been an active duty recruiter for almost 3 years and in that time,of recruiting over 36 people,3 have gone to Iraq and 1 to Afghanistan. None of them were surprised they were going there. I just think it to be so odd that the same people that say they support the troops are sometimes the same people that put down recruiters. Recruiters are troops as well and over 95% of them have been on multiple deployments to Iraq,Afghanistan,Bosnia,Africa and Korea and other missions. But their contribution does not count for support as soon as they become a recruiter. In every job,in every walk of life,there will always be the ones that make a certain profession look bad,and those are always the ones that get the attention. Not the ones that do their job the way it is meant to be done.

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freeby4me

They are salesman. I understand they're supposed to be slick and smooth and fast talkers, but we're not talking about selling someone a car. We're talking about peoples LIVES.

Its one thing for someone to think about this, go and seek out information and ask questions but to be lied to, about what their job could be. Thats wrong.
And ANYONE can "support the troops" and not agree with something that they do.
I personally wish them nothing but the best and safety through everything. Do I agree with the war itself? No. You can be supportive and against something at the same time.

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