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Here is an e-mail received from Brian Dennard. He is the CEO of Meridian Development Group who swiftly denounced the Jan 29 Berkeley City Council declarations in his Jan 31 letter to Mayor Bates.

Dennard has since established Brigade America where he is compiling a listing of businesses supporting a Boycott of Berkeley. The hyperlinks on the page are not formatted correctly, but it's easy enough to copy the URL to visit webpages and Google businesses where the website is not listed.

Brigade America goes to Berkeley:

Today, March 22, 2008 something happened in Berkeley that I thought I’d never see in my entire life. Eight hundred plus Pro-Troop demonstrators, at least 450 of whom arrived on Motorcycles, waved flags, sang the national anthem, actually said the Pledge of Allegiance, and spoke out over loudspeakers on Shattuck Avenue in support of our American soldiers and their right to recruit all over the country. A young Marine who had recently returned from Iraq was put up on the platform. He had been receiving hugs from Gold Star Mom’s (mothers of fallen warriors), thank you’s and semper fi’s all day and was pretty choked up. He said the Vietnam Vets never had a homecoming welcome like this and stopped to thank all of the Vets present for their service (there were many), as well as recognizing the many Gold Star Mom’s and Dad’s present, and the many American’s who turned out to support the troops, whether they agreed with the war in Iraq or not.

Code Pink who had been out in force on the 12th of Feb. numbered “6” today.

Berkeley, the bastion of anti-military, anti patriotic thought and action, saw something today that I don’t think has ever happened in that city before. One Berkeley dad was out there with his sons and by the looks on their faces you could tell they had come to Shattuck Avenue to look at new species- people who and appreciate love our soldiers. Cars drove by honking and waving at all the American flags and the police stood guard in front of the Marines Recruiting Station although today they didn’t need to, because today, everyone was just going in to say “Thank You.”

I thought you’d all like to know about it. Berkeley felt like Montana today and that is nothing short of a miracle. It felt great to be there.

Best to all,
Vici Wayne
Brigade America
http://www.pipelinenews.org/images/bkdevelop.jpg

Brian Dennard posted to me on Feb 9^th on a thread about the upcoming rally across from the Berkeley City Hall, planned and executed on Feb 12^th to weigh in at the City Council meeting that evening.

I think you may have posted on that thread

Brian, thanks for coming to Berkeley yesterday and laying out verbally to that city how you and your company are responding to their un-American anti-Military pro-code pink pro-antiAmerican actions, and pointedly their wish to drive out the USMCOSO from Berkeley and deny the Marines their right to do business where ever they chose to.

Your comments were awesome and welcome by everyone in the crowd.

Well except for the Head of the Chamber of Commerce, who is kinda like Obama.

He says he disagrees with the City Council and the Mayor, but will NOT chastise the lefty loonys or the Mayor or the Council (he and the Mayor are now BFF's) but a Support The Troops and The Military Rally (which did not require the use of riot gear by the police as the leftist liberal protests do) apparently makes him "cringe."

Thanks again, it was good to see you there.

USMC Brat, thanks for the link to his site. I forgot he was going to do that.

What a great site!

A great story from Brigade America

Justice triumphs - Courtroom combat in the Riverside Press-Enterprise:
     The U.S. justice system should not tolerate even minor assaults on
     military personnel. In the case of an Illinois Marine, we're glad 
     to see the system work, even if it took an Internet-generated push. 
     Thanks to a few Marines,both active-duty and retired, the story ends 
     well.
On Dec. 1, Chicago lawyer Jay Grodner took offense at "Semper Fi" Marine Corps license plates on a black BMW. So the anti-war activist keyed the car. The car's owner, , saw him do it and had him arrested.
The police wanted to charge Grodner with a misdemeanor. McNulty held out for a felony charge, which the damage warranted. The prosecutor felt it was a minor case and urged the parties to make a deal, but neither was inclined to do so.
Complicating matters was the fact that McNulty was en route to Camp Pendleton for his second deployment to Iraq. He was slated to report Jan. 2. The case was set for Dec. 31.
At this point, a military-affairs blogger, BlackFive , posted the story. A BlackFive reader attended the Dec. 31 hearing and reported a crowd in the courtroom supporting McNulty, along with a new prosecutor -- Patrick Kelley, USMC 1969-72. Grodner also had the misfortune of having his case assigned to Judge William O'Malley, USMC 1961-64.
The case was resolved Monday when Grodner pleaded guilty. The judge couldn't resist a little lecture.
From the transcript:
"You probably also wondered why there was a whole crowd of people here today, Mr. Grodner. That's because there is a little principle that the Marine Corps has and has had since 1775, when they had fought and lost their lives so that people like you could enjoy the freedom of this country; and that is a little proverb that we follow, that no Marine is left behind.
"So, Sgt. McNulty couldn't be here, but other Marines showed in his stead. Take him away."
Grodner will do community service, spend a year on probation, pay restitution and then, if his promise to a newspaper columnist can be believed, move to France.
To the online Marine community, congratulations on a gratifying victory. And to Sgt. McNulty, come home safe. Semper Fi
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