Posted on 02/21/2008 8:04:25 AM PST by SmithL
The council sparked a national outcry Jan. 29 when it voted 6-3 to tell the Marines they are "uninvited and unwelcome intruders." The action spawned Republican-backed bills in Washington and Sacramento to take away money from the city and a huge protest before a second meeting, where the council tried to undo some of the damage by retracting the statement and replacing it with new language.
Now Councilman Gordon Wozniak is planning to ask his colleagues to approve an item requiring that all items coming from the city's Peace and Justice Commission be heard twice before the City Council before they are approved.
His proposal tentatively comes before the council on Tuesday.
The commission is just one of 45 boards and bodies that make recommendations to the council. But Wozniak wants to put the breaks on that commission because it is the most prolific -- and the most controversial.
"When the council makes statements in the name of the whole city, there should be more opportunity to comment before a decision is made," said Wozniak, who opposed the statement against the Marines. "In terms of the anti-Marines Corps recruiting station, some of the nasty language could have been caught so we wouldn't have suffered this embarrassment. It would have provided a second look at it."
At the Jan. 29 meeting, the City Council passed four other items from the Peace and Justice Commission, including one asking the United States to reorient its drug policy away from supply and instead see it as a health issue; one condemning Firestone Natural Rubber Company for its labor policies in Liberia; and one calling for the withdrawal of California National Guard troops from Iraq.
And in 2007, the council passed all 10 items from the Peace and Justice Commission, with some amendments. The council passed items calling for the prosecution of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on war crimes charges; an item declaring May 15 a day to celebrate war resisters and conscientious objectors; an item calling Berkeley a sanctuary for conscientious objectors; and an item protesting the use of cluster bombs, among others.
Councilwoman Dona Spring, who voted for the item asking the Marines to leave, doesn't like Wozniak's proposal to restrict the Peace and Justice Commission.
"It needs to be defeated," Spring said. "It makes no sense at all. It's discrimination. Don't hold the Peace and Justice Commission responsible for the Marines item. The City Council passed it. If you don't like it, just vote 'no.'"
Steve Freedkin, who was chairman of the Peace and Justice Commission for three years until this month and a member of the commission for seven years, also doesn't like Wozniak's proposal. Freedkin resigned his post on the commission after the Jan. 29 meeting to go back to work, he said.
"I raised the question with Councilmember Wozniak: What happens the next time another commission brings up something controversial?" Freedkin said. "I hope he can come up with a different way of addressing his concerns, and I'm going to meet with him on that. I don't think he is the guy who wants to spend twice as much time on every Peace and Justice Commission item."
Freedkin said that, in retrospect, the Marines issue could have been handled better. He said the language of the item was changed at the last minute, and should have gotten more consideration.
"I don't think the intent was to create the level of controversy that was created," Freedkin said. "The intent was to support the community's calls for ending military recruitment in downtown Berkeley for a number of reasons, including the fact that military recruitment is about keeping the Iraq war going."
Wozniak said the Peace and Justice Commission shouldn't have gotten as much attention as it did recently.
"My concern with the Peace and Justice Commission is they really don't do much," Wozniak said. "They don't examine and come up with a consensus. They think they actually try to push the envelope and be more radical than thou and say Berkeley is more on the cutting edge than say a Santa Cruz or something."
That kind of talk riles Spring.
"He doesn't really like the Peace and Justice Commission, and he doesn't like Berkeley taking a stand," Spring said. "It's small-mindedness."
Sounds like the kind of outfit you'd expect to find running re-education camps.
Peace and Justice Commission? snicker snicker
Just like the Taliban comission that whips women who don't wear their burka just right.
That is what the council has taught the country about Berkley's level of competence and patriotism.
The petition
We, the undersigned condemn the Berkeley City Council’s treasonous attack on US Marine Recruiters stationed in their city. We ask that Congress cut off funds from any and all municipal entity within the confines of the city of Berkeley, California, until such time as the city council withdraws it’s action.
The City Council has voted to tell the Marines their downtown recruiting station is not welcome and “if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome guests.”
The measure passed last week by a vote of 8-1.
The council also voted to explore enforcing a city anti-discrimination law, focusing on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
In a separate item, the council voted, also 8-1, to give the Marxist protest group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cutoffberkeleynow
If you wish to, please share with your friends or e-mail to your address books. You DO NOT have to donate at the petition site, there will be a page asking for one for the site after you sign, just back out or exit. Your signature will already be on the petition.
http://www.fourfriedchickensandacoke.blogspot.com
No, the p & j commission needs to be eliminated and the room they met in disinfected.
I have about had all I can take from Berkeley and their circus. I am a former Marine and I have a son on recruiting duty. I am taking the Berkeley (and Toledo) actions personally. I am offended at their insults, mischaracterizations and slander.
Is their a lawyer out there who could advise me if I can make a case out of defamation of character or slander/libel? I don’t care about the money; I want them to understand that when you hurt others, there is a price to pay.
Dona remains unrepentant and unreconstructed. I'm sure there are others, as well.
Sorry, Woz, but you’re peeing up a rope. When they force you out, be sure to bring the flag and turn off the light. Until then, give the windmill a good conservative drubbing. Bravo Zulu.
"To err is human. It takes the Berkeley City Council to really screw things up."
He may have a decent head on his shoulders.
Peace and Justice Commission = In order to evolve into a society in which people love each other without ‘isms,’ it is necessary to brutalize different classes into appropriate awareness.
Just the thought of any city having a Peace and Justice Commission really creeps me out.
Spring said, "Just to be fair, I emulated all my heros in Congress and voted yes before I voted no."
I wouldn’t get too torqued off at Toledo. Unlike Berkeley, the issue there wasn’t a problem with the city government as a whole, but just with the mayor.
No. 1 The community of Berkeley was unmasked to be the treasonous bunch of liberal leftists and left over, burned out hippies who hate the USA because we are not socialists.
No. 2 Military recruitment is about keeping America safe all over the world not just a war in Iraq.
No. 3. I think the citizens of Burkely should all be given free passports and one way tickets to whatever socialistic, communist country of their choosing. Goody-bye and good riddance.
With Communism, the government makes such choices for you.
Don't give them a choice. Ship them off to North Korea.
"Berkeley has always been an island of sanity in terms of the war madness that has prevailed in this country. The U.S. is now a terrorist. According to the Taliban these are terrorist attacks."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.