Posted on 02/09/2008 8:00:26 AM PST by coffee260
OK, so 200 Marines stationed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, piled on to five buses and came to Toledo, Ohio, yesterday to practice some urban patrol exercises. The Toledo police knew about the request for the three-day exercise well in advance, but somehow Mayor Carty Finkbeiner didn’t see the memo requesting permission for the event. So when when the first bus arrives at 3:20 p.m. and Staff Sergeant Andre Davis steps off, he is greeted by a city employee and told that the mayor wanted him and his soldiers out of town by 6 p.m. “I wish,” Sgt Davis drily remarked, “they would have told us this four hours ago.”
Indeed.
I gather that Mayor Finkbeiner (a Democrat, readers will be surprised to learn), like the folks in Berkeley, California, can’t think of the United States Marines without having the first lines of “The Destruction of Sennacherib” float through his head (“The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold …”) “The mayor asked them to leave because they frighten people,” said Brian Schwartz, the mayor’s spokesman.
Gee, isn’t that a shame?
Lance Corporal Brandon Bukrey-McCarty recalled how useful such training was when he had been deployed in Fallujah in 2006-2007. The training, he said, “got me used to looking up on rooftops, looking around every alley, every open door.”
Too bad, Brandon! Carty Finkbeiner thinks having U.S. soldiers in town will frighten the voters, so your comrades will just have to do without that training.
The company’s commanding officer, Major Jeffrey O’Neill, was disappointed by Carty Finkbeiner’s cold shoulder—it would, he noted, be difficult to find a suitable alternative venue for the exercise—but “we’re Marines,” he said, “We’ll adapt and overcome.”
I have no doubt about that. I hope part of the adaptation will be to present the City of Toledo—or maybe Carty Finkbeiner himself—with the $10,000 tab that the aborted exercise cost the Marines.
Mayor Finkbeiner can boast on his official website that Tony Packos Restaurant in Toledo was “made famous on the television show M*A*S*H.” But when he has an opportunity to help the men and women who in real life protect this country, including the City of Toledo, he refuses to grant them the sort of permit he would routinely give to a bunch of anti-American activists who wanted to organize a protest march down Main Street. I think it’s disgusting. If I lived in Toledo, I’d be wondering when Carty Finkbeiner was up for re-election and would look forward to sending him out on a 6:00 p.m. bus at the earliest opportunity.
Hat tip for this item to Instapundit.
Please do not besmirch the proud term “preppie” by association with Mayor Asshat. Prep clothes do not a Preppie make.
I am of the Prep persuasion, and I would welcome the presence of U.S. armed forces in my city.
Just as an observation, keep a lookout for the flavor of postings here on FR if and when Obama or Hitlery are elected. I'm sure an assault weapons ban is laying in the congress "TO DO" box, and you will hear moaning from Freepers stating they will fight to the death. Well, when an APC with a few Marines goes door to door on your street, just following orders, we will see how conservatives feel about the military. I used to think the military wouldn't follow illegal orders, but then you have Wes Clark come out of the woodwork. There is bound to be more like him. When you have a private having orders screamed at him under penalty of courts martial, will he follow orders, or martyr himself? These are things nobody really wants to ponder, but our forefathers did. That is what the Posse Comitatus Act was designed to take care of. Our own military fired upon Americans protesting in Washington for their military benefits, and IMHO, Waco. Letting the FBI use military vehicles and helicopters with machine guns qualifies to me.
It may sound like I'm siding with the mayor, but that's not true. I just remember what it was like when the shoe was on the other foot. If we won't fire on illegal invaders at the border, in a time of war, why would we kill Americans defending their Constitutional rights?
Knowing what we know, why would anyone vote for Hillary? But they are! They have just forgotten.
I haven't.
I never will. The military doesn't belong in US cities, never has, never will.
Maybe he thought the marines were the LSU Tigers or the Florida Gators and he wet his Depends..
Perspective definitely plays a big part in this. I think our feelings have more to do with how we feel about our commander in chief—whether we trust him or not.
Most of the military people I know are above reproach, honorable to a fault. But then, most of the regular people I know are the same way.
OTOH, there are a lot of weapons around here. The military, if it ever came down to taking weapons from civs, might get more than they bargained for.
LOL your correction gladly accepted.
Ahh, the last time I checked, that's sort of part of the job description...
You know, if more liberal cities keep messing around with the Marines, we might have to do some real Urban Assaults - just for fun, of course...
I can almost guarantee a riot the first day. At least we would be flushing out the enemy. Their uniform is a brown T shirt with Che on it carrying a Mexican flag. They will be shouting "Viva Aztlan!". The reaction to troops in Michigan would most likely be a different one. If the troops were allowed in Toledo, perhaps it would be Jackson, Sharpton, or the Black Panthers having a conniption. Didn't they have trouble with the KKK and the Panthers awhile back?
The only reason I'm posting on this is to try to take the emotion out of the topic. If we react emotionally to what is happening now, we can be hypocritical, when the shoe is on the other foot. Our laws should be designed to fit righteousness, not expediency. If US troops are good today, they should be good when they are coming after you. It was very traumatic for me in the Clinton years. I thought my country was coming apart at the seams. As far as I'm concerned, America barely survived those years. Imagine how I feel when talking heads are praising Clinton as the greatest politician of our time. He was impeached, for goodness sake! Our country was attacked more than once, and he did nothing, Saddam threw the UN inspectors out, and he did nothing, But what was important then was shooting a woman in the head because her husband was entrapped by the BATF, and then a year later, killing men, women, and children in Waco, for what,....exactly? Blowing up US warships and putting bombs in US embassies meant nothing, but murdering women and children were top priorities.
The military by itself isn't evil, but who is giving the orders, is a whole nuther kettle of fish. When I say Democrats are insane, people believe I'm just being proactive or controversial. These same people have forgotten, that they murder babies, want God removed from this country, want sodomites to have your children, believe porn is free speech, but the Bible is hate speech, and on and on. There is hardly a subject where they can even meet minimal standards of logic. They say they are as patriotic as anybody but want to LOSE ALL WARS! They don't want the US to win, ANYWHERE! How many conservatives have EVER burned the American flag? They say they are tolerant of religion, but have hissy fits if you quote a Bible verse and remove church tax exemptions if they even say you should be against abortion. All the while they go to their churches of Satan worship and dare anyone to say they can't. We now have Satan worship and witches in the military, but you can't end a prayer in the name of Jesus?
Right now, with Bush at the helm, the military would be welcome almost anywhere in America, but soon, all that will change. When you have someone who calls evil good, and good, evil, we will see what Americans feel about having the military running up and down our streets.
I just pray there will be Godly, patriotic men and women at the military helm when illegal orders are given, because they WILL be given. The trial at Nuremberg showed what can happen with the military "just following orders".
Why did Marine Staff Sergeant Davis bring soldiers with him? He really should have brought Marines. :)
OK, I'll read the whole story.
A fair question. What is the process for approval?
Mayor Fink probably makes the M.A.S.H reference so proudly because M.A.S.H was an anti-war movie and series. These liberal morons cannot understand that they would not have the freedom to think and act so foolishly if it weren’t for the United States Marine Corps, the Untied States Army, the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the United Stated Coast Guard, and civilians like Mike Benge and many others who put it on the line when duty, honor, and country called. Mayor Fink needs to get a grip and stop drinking the leftist Kool-Aid. He is suffering from the mental disorder of liberalism. He should leave this great country and go where he cannot suck the Liberty that others sacrificed so much to give him and his ilk. He is a Liberty Sucker, nothing more, a leech. Get rid of him.
And, I'll say no more.
I am also a native of Ohio, not that far from Toledo, and have been there many times. I emailed the scumbag mayor also. No more Tony Packo’s for me.
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BTTT!
Please read the article linked in post 92. The police had been notified and had distributed notices to the public and local businesses on Tuesday.
Not that its up to you, but on what are you basing that proclamation (other than your own flaming paranoia)?
The men back from Baghdad would tend to disagree with you on the utility of urban training.
Don’t bother. Strickland, Brown and Rinovich won’t listen.
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